Bard Advice

[Pixel Druid]

Looking for bard builds. 20 point buy 2 traits level 8 hopefully something that specializes and not the normal "jack of all trades" bard.

[holywhippet]

If you don't want jack of all trades you probably don't want a bard at all. What kind of specialty were you thinking about? Combat? Buffing?

[Pixel Druid]

Thinking an enchantment/debuff bard if possible, bard is one class I do not understand and on paper seems pretty bad to me, I was wondering if somebody could show me what makes them any good.

[Coidzor]

Bard > Warchanter lets you make your party and any minions you have hit a lot harder as a great force multiplier between Song of the Legion and Inspire Courage and/or Dragonfire Inspiration.

Bard 8/Virtuoso 2/Sublime Chord 2/Virtuoso +8 gets you basically everything about bardic music but also gives you casting that's on par with a Sorcerer's at high levels. So you can gate in an army of angels yourself while using Inspire Courage to make them even more badass.

Bard 4-6/Warblade or Crusader 14-16 with Song of the White Raven will get mostly full martial adept progression while also having full Inspire Courage (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=8936.0) and getting access to all of the neat little tricks to pump up the numbers on IC, which both makes you even more of a badass but also helps you make the rest of your party into badasses, especially if you focus on White Raven maneuvers and such.

Bonus points if you acquire or form a group of subordinate Dragonwrought Kobold Bards with Dragonfire Inspiration and all of the flavors of Draconic Heritage to give them every energy damage type and they're called Dragonforce.

[Optimator]

A variation which I love nabs Captivating Melody for free: Bard 6 Lyric Thurmaturge 3 Virtuoso 1 Sublime Chord 2 Virtuoso 2-10.

Grab Doomspeak and go to town debuffing/enchanting--extra credit for stacking with Arcane Spellsurge (works well with standard-action songs too, like Inspire Courage and Jarring Song). Grab Extend Spell and Metamagic Song and Extend all your buffs on the cheap. Stack Captivating Melody, a Veil of Allure, Snowsong, Nixie's Grace, and Inner Beauty to boost your save DCs. Stack Arcane Mastery, Song of Spell Power, Dispelling Cord, and CL-boosting Items and become a dispelling god--Sublime Chords get a few great spells early and Greater Dispel Magic is one of them.

One of my all-time favorite builds. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?211107-Spell-selection-help-needed&p=11617597#post11617597)

[daremetoidareyo]

Bard1/fighter1/bard3/warchanter 3/virtuoso2/seekerofthesong2/virtuoso8

Generic buff/debuff bard.

[Prince Raven]

Which edition and race?