Bard with Cleric Spells?

[CGDG]

I find myself in the curious position fo wanting to play a bard but wanting to have a little more healing oomph. Cerlics are the healing champions and have far better spells, for obvious reason. I'm looking at a bard/crusader multi-class but wishing I could somehow get more healing spells.

Is it possible to add cleric spells to the bards list?

[Kaeso]

How about the Divine Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantDivineBard) ?

[CGDG]

The divine bard is what I was originally looking at. I find myself in a difficult position now with balancing CL and ML. I don't plan on taking levels in Paladin or Cleric just to get into Ruby Knight Vindicator, but it'll be tough to manage keep both CL and ML up, especially when the character I'm looking at is supposed to be a tank.

[RhoTheWanderer]

A couple ways I've come across to add extra healing:
1. Healing Belt (MIC110; 750gp) is just plain awesome imho.
2. Bard=Cha-based casting plus various Cha-based skill synergies. Including UMD. Set yourself up for an average UMD check result of at least 20 (preferably a bit higher), grab some wands of the cleric spells you want, and you're good to go.

[HammeredWharf]

Arcane Disciple adds a domain's spells to your list. The Renewal domain is pretty decent for healing. However, due to your slow casting progression and Sublime Chord having a separate spell list, that feat is not as useful. I'd say scrolls and wands are your best options.

[CGDG]

That's likely going to be my route for healing. I'll go Divine Bard and take Healing Hymm, as well.

I'll start another thread for keping CL and ML up.

Thanks for the help.

[Troacctid]

The Crusader's Devoted Spirit maneuvers are basically healing spells. Just prepare your Crusader's Strike/Revitalizing Strike/Rallying Strike or whatever and go to town on the bad guys.

[RhoTheWanderer]

The divine bard is what I was originally looking at. I find myself in a difficult position now with balancing CL and ML. I don't plan on tkaing levels in Paladin r Cleric just to get into Ruby Knight Vindicator, but it'll be tough to manage keep both CL and ML up, especially when the character I'm looking at is supposed to be a tank.[Emphasis on Ruby Knight Vindicator added]
You're going for RKV? *releases a long whistle* Darn good PrC, but can be very MAD unfortunately. I was looking into trying to create a RKV a few months back, but I gave up due to not being able to get the stats right where I wanted them. You're going to need some way of turning undead to get into RKV IIRC, which means you're going to probably either take a level of cleric or find a PrC that grants Turn Undead (I think sacred exorcist does IIRC). And yes, with RKV (to the best of my knowledge) you would normally be stuck choosing between level 9 spells or level 9 maneuvers (i.e. can't have the best of both). However, replacing with divine bard, you wouldn't get away with 9th level spells anyway, and you're initiator level would still suffer. Personally, I'd either recommend going some combination of cleric/crusader/RKV, putting a rank in perform and call it a day, OR I'd take leadership and have my cohort be a bard (or thematically more appropriate perhaps, a divine bard), OR vice versa. Regardless, good luck and post your build at some point, because I want to see the end result. There's something I like about the idea of a bard/crusader/RKV.

Edit: I agree about the healing maneuvers. Between those, a Healing Belt, and 1/2 rank in perform. I'd say you'll probably be pretty well off.