Sitar and Rosewater: The Dwarven Mystic Bard

[Palanan]

I had the image of a dwarven bard who plays the sitar: a stargazing mystic in flowing robes, who washes his beard in rosewater and recites poetry to the evening sky.

I'd like him to be a divine bard, and I want him to have a celestial focus, perhaps court astronomer to a philosopher-king. What feats or archetypes would work for this?

[Grod_The_Giant]

What books are available? How optimized are you trying to be? Besides "hippie mystic," what sort of things would you like to do in and out-of-combat? (That last one's important-- bards can do just about anything if you build them the right way).

[jiriku]

The Versatile Performer feat from Complete Adventurer is pretty handy; with it, you invest skill ranks in only one Perform skill, but get "virtual skill points" in several other kinds of Perform. This would allow you to play the sitar, recite poetry, deliver impressive oratory, and suchlike without investing too many skill points. That's useful because bards are actually a pretty skill-starved class despite how many points they get.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant
What books are available?

I'm open to just about any 3.5 books, including setting-specific titles from Eberron and the Forgotten Realms, as well as Pathfinder material and even Dragon content. I'm willing to try anything fun, interesting and thematic.


Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant
Besides "hippie mystic," what sort of things would you like to do in and out-of-combat?

He's definitely a lover and not a fighter. Lore, purification, healing are all important here, as well as a focus on the heavens, perhaps something oracular. There should also be an element of scholarship and a deft political awareness.


Originally Posted by jiriku
The Versatile Performer feat from Complete Adventurer is pretty handy; with it, you invest skill ranks in only one Perform skill, but get "virtual skill points" in several other kinds of Perform. This would allow you to play the sitar, recite poetry, deliver impressive oratory, and suchlike without investing too many skill points.

Excellent, thanks--very helpful indeed.

[Grod_The_Giant]

He's definitely a lover and not a fighter. Lore, purification, healing are all important here, as well as a focus on the heavens, perhaps something oracular. There should also be an element of scholarship and a deft political awareness.
So mechanically, you want to focus on healing, and ignore physical combat?

[jiriku]

He's definitely a lover and not a fighter. Lore, purification, healing are all important here, as well as a focus on the heavens, perhaps something oracular. There should also be an element of scholarship and a deft political awareness.

It looks like almost all of your interests here involve making skill checks or assisting others with what they want to do. I'd suggest you take some time to look through Spell Compendium's bard spells. It has a number of spells that are right up your alley, including the excellent improvisation, inspirational boost, harmonic chorus, and hymn of praise that boost you or an ally. You could pronounce a prophecy of doom and ill-fortune on your foes via spells like mass curse of impending blades and unluck, while you could prophesy good fortune for your allies in battle either by using bardic music with Perform (oratory), or by casting superior resistance. If you're a smooth talker, glibness and voice of the dragon are both apt choices.

Complete Champion includes some cheap special holy symbols that can be used by any spellcaster. Consider the ones for Pelor or Boccob, which provide minor boosts to healing and divination, respectively. The regalia of the hero magic item set from the Magic Item Compendium includes a variety of effects that boost allies, improve bardic music, and provide sudden bursts of inspiration or aid.

[Psyren]

Subrace-wise, Dream Dwarf (RoS 88) sounds perfect for this, both because it thematically fits the slow and meditative mindset of this character, and because they don't have a Cha penalty to mess with your performance.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by jiriku
It looks like almost all of your interests here involve making skill checks or assisting others with what they want to do. I'd suggest you take some time to look through Spell Compendium's bard spells.

I appreciate the suggestions, thank you. Those all look worthwhile.

The one thing I'd add is that if possible, I'd like to incorporate something that gives the character a mechanical connection with the heavens--something along the lines of a +1 CL while under the stars, or the capacity to draw on celestial power, etc.


Originally Posted by Psyren
Subrace-wise, Dream Dwarf (RoS 88) sounds perfect for this, both because it thematically fits the slow and meditative mindset of this character, and because they don't have a Cha penalty to mess with your performance.

Dream Dwarf is perfect here. Dream Sight alone sells it for me, and the absence of any Cha penalty means he can make full use of diplomacy.

I may tinker a bit with the Spell Power, to give him +1 CL when he's casting certain spells beneath the stars. Still open to other minor benefits from a celestial connection. Are there any Pathfinder archetypes that might be thematic here?

[jiriku]

Tome of Magic includes the feat Nocturnal Caster, which grants +1 to the save DC of one school of magic at night. Since the effect is strictly weaker than Spell Focus, perhaps you might petition the DM to make it a +2 bonus. Getting +2 DC to whichever school you'll draw most of your spells from isn't too shabby. Knight of Stars and Servant of the Heavens, both from Book of Exalted Deeds, grant you a 1/day bonus from celestial inspiration, but both feats are really terrible. Again, perhaps your DM would be willing to accept a slight variation on the feat that boosts its power to make it competitive with typical feat options.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by jiriku
Tome of Magic includes the feat Nocturnal Caster, which grants +1 to the save DC of one school of magic at night. Since the effect is strictly weaker than Spell Focus, perhaps you might petition the DM to make it a +2 bonus.

This sounds like a great fit, thanks. And I'm the DM, so the +2 bonus is no problem. :smalltongue:


Originally Posted by jiriku
Knight of Stars and Servant of the Heavens, both from Book of Exalted Deeds, grant you a 1/day bonus from celestial inspiration, but both feats are really terrible.

I'm familiar with them, and I agree they're not worth the paper they're printed on. What would you recommend as a boost to make one of these worthwhile?

[Psyren]

I'm familiar with them, and I agree they're not worth the paper they're printed on. What would you recommend as a boost to make one of these worthwhile?

I would make it a 1/day reroll instead; either that or a larger, constant (or at least 3/day) boost.

[jiriku]

Agreed, a reroll is the way to go. A +x bonus is hard to scale over many levels, but a reroll offers about the same degree of utility at any level.

[Psyren]

Agreed, a reroll is the way to go. A +x bonus is hard to scale over many levels, but a reroll offers about the same degree of utility at any level.

Well, if it stacks with everything (untyped, luck or sacred bonus) and it's big enough (3+), it'll scale decently well, so long as it's constant.