Ways to pump up my Bard's to-hit bonuses.

[Hogsy]

I have a BAB of +12, a Dex modifier of 9, my inspire courage gives me +14 and my weapon is +2. In total my to-hit bonus is 37. Currently at lvl17 I am finally bored of being a buffer/debuffer. I have realised that I need to be true to my heart and play everything as god intended. Martially. Anyway, we haven't had our down-time yet so I can pick up 3 feats right away. I'll be picking Vulpine Pounce that allows me to charge and full-attack and TWF along with Improv. TWF. I'll be using a finessable one-handed weapon(Probably my trusty Rapier) and a Kukri. In our campaign, we've home-ruled that weapon finesse adds dex to dmg(since it burns too many feats simply to use a different style of combat) and improved critical stacks with keen simply because one is through physical training and the other is through magic. Anyway, I'll be hitting 6 times(With Haste) at MainHand -2 OffHand -2/ MH -5 OH -5/ MH -10 / Full BAB(Haste). I want to find ways to increase my to-hit even further to ensure that -10 attack hits without upgrading my weapon or getting Weapon Focus. Are there any suggestions? I'm getting a +2 from Pounce but I think that only applies to the first hit(?) and even if RAW would allow that I don't find it very logical because the +2 to hit is supposedly from the charge's momentum.

My current attack sequence is: 1d6(S) 1d6(cold) 1d6(sonic)+25(Dex+Inspire Courage+Enh. Bonus) 12-20/x2.


I wouldn't have gone this route if I hadn't found that my character could actually get pounce but another reason for going this route is that my character feels powerless to help those around her. I've given her the Leadership feat and on a trip to hell her cohort died and his soul was trapped there. As a player I don't wish to bring that cohort back because he was a pretty munchkin character (Master of Many Styles/Nimble Guardian/Qinggong Monk. He'd wildshape into a huge cat /w pounce and use janni rush /w dragon ferocity to hit very very hard.) Anyway, he practically died nex to my poor bard without her being able to do anything about it. So now during the down-time she wishes to extend her training in the martial ways in order to be able to protect those she cares about.(I've built up to this in the past sessions since she's gone from never entering melee range of enemy to full-attacking in order to use Butterfly's Sting and give crits to my scythe-wielding fighter to actually using the crits for herself. I'll probably still give my crits to the x4 planet-busting ****meintheass fighter for the giggles tho and because my DM hates it when his creatures blow up after a crit from our Fighter.)



Off-question: Is it possible to give all the crits that I've confirmed with Butterfly Sting to an ally as long as they can make at least an equal number of attacks that round? And is it logical to assume I am an ally to my ownself and give crits gained through Butterfly's Sting to my own next hit?

[Geddy2112]

To hit bonus is +37 and you want more? How many tarrasque's a day are you fighting? Plus you have free dex to damage. Also, yes, vulpine pounce just means you get full attack on a charge, so you get the +2 bonus to all of them.

Yes, you give the critical hits to as many attacks as you can- score 4 hand out 4 to next ally that connects, and if that ally can't hit you keep passing them around until they connect. This ability targets the creature and not the PC. You do not count as an ally for this. You can also mix and match-taking some critical hits and handing others off.

[Hogsy]

To hit bonus is +37 and you want more? How many tarrasque's a day are you fighting? Plus you have free dex to damage. Also, yes, vulpine pounce just means you get full attack on a charge, so you get the +2 bonus to all of them.

Yes, you give the critical hits to as many attacks as you can- score 4 hand out 4 to next ally that connects, and if that ally can't hit you keep passing them around until they connect. This ability targets the creature and not the PC. You do not count as an ally for this. You can also mix and match-taking some critical hits and handing others off.


Well, if I didn't get free dex to dmg from finesse I'd just build a STR character and do the exact same thing so it's not really a big deal but it's how we've always played our games. But why would I count as an ally to myself for other abilities and not this one? It doesn't specify it. Has there been an errata? I mean, you could do some weird stuff with it like quick drawing a x4 weapon and hitting with that but that's not really how I've played my character up until now. I'm extremely squishy with just over 100 hp so I want to make sure I kill whatever I attack so it doesn't kill me. Most of the creatures we fight nowadays are custom and they have more than 40 AC hence why our to-hit is that high. Well, the bonus I gave through my IC ability was so high that my DM had to compensate for with a tad higher AC on our enemies. Anyway, I only want to increase my to-hit in order to make sure my -10 MH and OH hit(When I eventually get Greater TWF). But I figured I'd just get a Divine Marksman(?) as a cohort and use the Ranger's ability that grants half his FE bonus to his allies and use a wand of Instant Enemy at the same time. Thanks for the clarifications though, have a good day! ^^

[animewatcha]

Since this is pathfinder, how is Inspire Courage giving you +14 by itself?

[Hogsy]

Since this is pathfinder, how is Inspire Courage giving you +14 by itself?





I'm getting +4 from itself, +2 from Grand Master Performer which is from Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide and +1 from a 3.5 spell. Finally all that is doubled through Words of Creation (http://marksworld.zeemer.com/files/feats/featlibrary/wordsofcreation.html)

Words of creation isn't legal but it can be somewhat draining if you forget about it.
"When a bard uses the Words of Creation in this manner, it is extremely draining, and the bard takes 1d4 points of nonlethal damage for each rank in Perform required to produce the bardic music effect he is enhancing." Since bardic music doesn't have prereqs in PF I just use the prereqs it had in 3.5.

You can have up to +6 from lvl12 with Aasimar and Banner of the Ancient Kings along with Grand Master Performer(which is the "improved" version of Master Performer) pre-errata you could get the +6 from level11 or +4/5 at like lvl6 if you managed to get a Banner that early.


We're generally playing a very high-powered campaign so my DM didn't have a problem allowing me to use those feats now since we're battling colossal dragon gods with 2k HP and whatnot.

[Forderz]

A Permenancied Dimensional Blade to target touch AC?

You're level 17, figure something out.

[Hogsy]

A Permenancied Dimensional Blade to target touch AC?

You're level 17, figure something out.


Besides getting a ranger cohort for more boosts I figured I could also get a brilliant energy enchant on my weapon or take your advice and use Dimensional Blade on a wand or scroll.

[legomaster00156]

By RAW, the Words of Creation feat doesn't help a whole lot with Inspire Courage...

Inspire Courage: Double the morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear and the morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.

Inspire Courage (Su): A 1st level bard can use his performance to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to perceive the bard’s performance. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.

[Hogsy]

By RAW, the Words of Creation feat doesn't help a whole lot with Inspire Courage...



Well, crap. I thought they hadn't changed the bonus Inspire Courage gave since in 3.5 it gives a morale one. Non the less even if I don't double my Inspire Courage from +7 to +14 I could get around to saying it doubles the morale bonuses I give off as a character in general so I could get Flagbearer /w Banner of the Ancient Kings and have it double that so it drops down to +12, otherwise it's a rather useless feat I fought rather hard to get :P. Anyway, thanks a lot for the clarification! I didn't think they had changed much so I didn't read it thoroughly.