The Bardly Basics?

[KitanoYuuki]

I have taken it upon myself to run a bard in our session. That being said, I know near nothing about bards. What type of stats do they usually have? What kind of feats do bards want? Are they particularly feat intensive? What do bards even bring to the party... outside of the entertainment?:smallamused:

[Florian]

I have taken it upon myself to run a bard in our session. That being said, I know near nothing about bards. What type of stats do they usually have? What kind of feats do bards want? Are they particularly feat intensive? What do bards even bring to the party... outside of the entertainment?:smallamused:

Ah, Bards...

Ok, generally speaking, bard is a Jack-of-all-trades-masters-of-none class and can be generally ruined by either being build too open or too narrow.

It´s pretty much important to keep in mind that the most important class features, Bardic Knowledge, Bardic Performance and Spells are mostly synergetic and run themselves. They are force multipliers that upgrade your team and, by extension, yourself.

For your first Bard, try keeping it simple by going the archery route, that´ll eat up your feats but simply works, and build around the basics of H-Elf, DEX > CHA > CON/STR
Don´t shy away from using a Net even when non-proficient, make liberal use of Haste, learn to love the feat Fire Music and have fun.

Later on, play a Goblin Bard :D

[Peat]

What does the rest of the group look like?

[KitanoYuuki]

What does the rest of the group look like?
Paladin, Synthesist, Pistolero. The paladin is the current face only because nobody else is anywhere near qualified and is very much excited to hear I'll be doing that. The synthesist hits things and is pretty standard. He took (some) knowledge skills, though isn't amazing at them. The pistolero shoots things and has a wicked sense motive and perception. Perhaps it isn't an optimal group, but I'm the only non-newbie player and the DM is good.

[Geddy2112]

For bards, it is generally a good idea to max dex/cha. Str is only important if you are building a melee bard(your party does not need this), con is important for frontlines but don't dump below 10, int is good if you need skills or bonuses to knowledge checks, a 10-12 is fine. You can throw wis down the drain, as you have good will saves and perception as a class skill.

Always have a performance that does not require hands! Nothing sucks more than needing a hand to cast spells or hold a weapon but not being able to do so. Sing, dance,comedy and oratory will work. Also keep in mind the versatile performance aspect of the class, as it will reduce your need for skill ranks. It is particularly good to get use of a non class skill like sense motive and handle animal. If your DM lets you use retraining, it becomes easy to simply put ranks in a skill like intimidate, but when you get the performance that covers the skill, move the ranks there and any ranks in the other covered skill to something else.

Eventually get a rank in every knowledge for the class bonus, but pick up and max the things the party does not currently have. Arcana, nature, planar, and religion are the big ones.

With the party as is, the last thing you need is more just damage. Carry a ranged weapon, a shortbow preferably if you have a positive strength(can shoot multiple times at higher levels)or a crossbow if not, as well as something for melee, just in case(I am a personal fan of the longsword for strength, or rapier for finesse). I would not put too many feats into either-the other 3 party members can kick major butt as it is. use your performance and spells to make it even better. I suggest getting a whip and going for trip and disarm shenanigans-if you take weapon finesse you can use dex to power said maneuvers through the whip, and they won't need the improved trip/disarm to not provoke an AoO since you can use the whip's reach to stay out of distance. You should be performing, casting, or buffing/debuffing first, and fighting second.

Second picking up haste as a spell, and discordant voice is a mandatory feat the moment you can qualify for it(retrain for it instead of waiting for level 11). Lingering performance is also pretty mandatory, doubly so when you can swift action start performances to stack them and save rounds/day. Flagbearer is a great feat if you don't mind tying up a hand in combat. Arcane strike is good for any combat style and ages well. Improved initiative is never bad, as is eldritch heritage, and toughness/dodge are better than nothing if you have a dead feat level. Consider prodigy-with the versatile performance, it basically gives a bonus to six skills, which is pretty nuts. You can also go dazzling display if you wanna debuff, which goes well with the whip. Breadth of experience is incredible if you qualify and want to be a knowledgemonkey.

[Peat]

Paladin, Synthesist, Pistolero. The paladin is the current face only because nobody else is anywhere near qualified and is very much excited to hear I'll be doing that. The synthesist hits things and is pretty standard. He took (some) knowledge skills, though isn't amazing at them. The pistolero shoots things and has a wicked sense motive and perception. Perhaps it isn't an optimal group, but I'm the only non-newbie player and the DM is good.

Groovy.

Bards can do a bunch of stuff but what they do best is Buff. They've got their songs, they've got their spells, they've got their knowledge checks to know what they're facing. And it sounds like your group will welcome the buffs so that's all gravy.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ogz8HL6GeguT-tN3-6HxXiF_G7mg_tyAQ59V9kPg6g4/edit?pli=1 - I'll chuck this out there as the best Bard guide I'm aware of.