Spoony Bard Gestalt

[lorddrake]

What would you pair to a bard 15 in a Gestalt, assuming low-to-mid optimization?

[D4rkh0rus]

What would you pair to a bard 15 in a Gestalt, assuming low-to-mid optimization?

Factotum or ranger.

[Socratov]

Marshall, factotum, DFA

[lorddrake]

Factotum or ranger.


Marshall, factotum, DFA

I like Factotum, but very low int.

As some background, the bard is a captain of a pirate ship who makes the crew love her. Thus, she has awesome charisma and can bluff, diplomacy through anything, basically. She uses a saber and has a barbarian, rogue and a cleric/monk friends/fighting crew.

[SPoilaaja]

Maybe try crusader and pick song of the white raven feat and if you need to extend your bardic song longer than 5 rounds, just pick up lingering song. Pick up Regalia of the hero magic items from Magic Item Compendium and to fully benefit from the set items, you could also take 2 levels of marshal on one side of the gestalt.

You'll end up with maneuvers, bard spellcasting, swift action inspire courage, Marshall auras, all good saves, great HD, full Bab(depending on the which side you pick up marshal on).

[Rebel7284]

Depends on the role, but Crusader is always nice.

[danzibr]

Maybe try crusader and pick song of the white raven feat and if you need to extend your bardic song longer than 5 rounds, just pick up lingering song. Pick up Regalia of the hero magic items from Magic Item Compendium and to fully benefit from the set items, you could also take 2 levels of marshal on one side of the gestalt.

You'll end up with maneuvers, bard spellcasting, swift action inspire courage, Marshall auras, all good saves, great HD, full Bab(depending on the which side you pick up marshal on).

Depends on the role, but Crusader is always nice.
Thirding Crusader. Bard 15//Crusader 15 would be a solid build. For more casting, throw in some Virtuoso and Sublime Chord on the Bard side.

A little bit of Paladin (like Paladin 2//Crusader 13) would be good, but... there are two problems. Bard's can be lawful, and it looks like it doesn't fit your flavor. Solution: Paladin of Freedom.

The more I think about it, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably go Bard 9/Virtuoso 1/Sublime Chord 1/Virtuoso 4 (advancing SC)//Paladin 2/Crusader 13.

Marshal is good, too, as mentioned. Depends on your role. Lose a little BAB, gain some nice buffs.

[Diovid]

I'd go with Marshal 1 / Bard 14 // Crusader 15.

The Virtuoso / Sublime Chord combo is nice but seems a bit out of place in a low-to-mid optimization environment.

[Rebel7284]

Also, if you are starting as a high level gestalt as a bard, consider the Gloura (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20031003e) race. At 7HD they cast as a level 7 bard and they only have 2 LA and great abilities (Unearthly Grace!) Ask the DM on how they treat LA in gestalt, but taking it all on one side is common.

[ganresorc]

with the bard, sorc/war weaver/Sublime Chord would allow you to save many actions, aid key members of your crew, and give some really nice singing bonuses, maitain SAD, and be pretty thematic. If you really want to focus on the pirate captain aspect of the character, the Scarlet Corsair and Legendary Captain prestige classes from Stormwrack a fairly good.

[Fouredged Sword]

Bard is a very broad class, so I like to pair it with another very broad class that can specialize and make things more interesting.

Bard 15 // Spellthief 1 / Duskblade 3 / Cloistered Cleric 1 / Chameleon 10

You get +6 to a stat, a floating feat, the ability to add spells to melee attacks, every spell 6 or lower in the game, all cast in light armor, sneak attack (+craven).

[Petrocorus]

Marshall or CG Paladin or a mix of them. It really fit the fluff and gives good Cha synergy.

[nedz]

These are probably not Low OP
Divine Bard // Cleric
or
Bard // Sorcerer

For higher OP add PrCs and go Cloistered Cleric.

Low-Medium OP
Barbarian // Bard
With Warchanter to raise the OP

[Grod_The_Giant]

It depends on whether you're doing an active or passive bard build-- are you planning on casting lots of spells in combat, or mostly relying on your music and a sword? If the former, you'll need a passive partner-- a bit of marshal, a bit of paladin of freedom, stuff that boosts what you were already doing. If the latter, than you want a strong active class, probably Crusader.

[almightycoma]

maybe swashbuckler into dread pirate for more classic captainy goodness

[Manly Man]

If not for the aforementioned low Intelligence, I'd have suggested Warblade, but really, Crusader's probably one of your best choices. No need to waste either spells known or your spells for the day on anything related to curing wounds, and you'll be incredibly hard to kill. With the decent Dexterity that you probably have (Bard, duh), you'd probably do best as a lockdown Crusader, making use of Thicket of Blades and a reach weapon. If you're allowed to use 3.0, see if you can get a daggertail whip, since if you're proficient with a regular whip you're proficient with one of them, and not only do they have the same special functions as a regular whip, they also don't have to deal with that silly business about armor. Otherwise, just go with a glaive, they're about as good of a reach weapon as you can get without getting into exotic stuff.

[Kennisiou]

Marshal 1/Crusader 14 is probably how I'd go. Gives you a fair amount of support options and also lets you combat fairly well.