I need a bit of help with the Bard.

[Metahuman1]

So, new game, I'm going to be applying with a Bard. I'm looking for suggestions for Good Archetypes.

I'm focusing heavily on lots of Bardic Music, particularly inspire courage, skill usage out of combat, and Magic.


Does anyone know of a good Archatype or types for this for me to look for?


We have access to all official 3.5 Material, and all material off the Pathfinder SRD. I'm human and starting at level 3. My stats are Str 6, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 12, Wisdom 11, Cha 20 with my human racial +2 bonus applied to Charisma.

Thanks!

[Spore]

So, new game, I'm going to be applying with a Bard. I'm looking for suggestions for Good Archetypes.

I'm focusing heavily on lots of Bardic Music, particularly inspire courage, skill usage out of combat, and Magic.


Does anyone know of a good Archatype or types for this for me to look for?

Honestly the Pathfinder archetypes don't add anything you want. Even the Arcane Duelist, one of the best gets rid of Bardic knowledge but if you can live with a hit to your knowledge checks (if you have a wizard for example) then the Arcane Duelist is very worth looking into. Other than that the main drawback of being an Arcane Duelist is having to wield a weapon every time you cast something. Getting off a reliable Charm Person while having a weapon in hand might trigger your DM into thinking you threaten the enemy (and thus getting the +5 bonus to his will save).

Short version: Either Vanilla or Arcane Duelist.


We have access to all official 3.5 Material, and all material off the Pathfinder SRD. I'm human and starting at level 3. My stats are Str 6, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 12, Wisdom 11, Cha 20 with my human racial +2 bonus applied to Charisma.

Thanks!

I cannot help you on 3.5 material although I have read about Dragonfire Insipiration many MANY times.You should look into taking the human favored class bonus at 4, until then I find skill points to be the supreme choice (to more cantrips anyhow).

[StreamOfTheSky]

Pretty sure all the good archetypes lose one or more of the things you want to focus on. That said, here are some of my favorites:

Dawnflower Dervish (Dervish of Dawn on d20pfsrd) gives double inspire courage bonus but it only applies to you, it also comes kitted out right from level 1 with dex to attack and damage w/ a scimitar without needing any feat investments on your part.

Thundercaller: It trades a lot of meh class features for other meh ones, but the standout is swapping inspire competence for the ability to drop a Sound Burst for 1 round of performance. The damage actually scales with level if you care, up to 9d8. Also, by RAW once you get the ability to perform as a move and swift, you could drop multiple sound bursts per round. Casters can widen, quicken, etc... the actual spell, so your DM may or may not balk at this.
One thing to clear up: it's "an effect similar to the spell sound burst (having the same range and area and allowing the same saving throw)." But it's not sound burst and is a Su ability, so arguably the save DC would be 10 + 1/2 HD +ability mod (almost certainly Cha) and "allowing the same save" just means having one to avoid the stunning. Or maybe it means it's forever stuck at DC 12 + Cha mod.

Archaeologist: Another selfish bard, this one instead gives your inspire bonuses (and more! also adds to saves and checks) as a luck bonus (fate's favored trait is a cheap additional +1) and lets you activate as a swift right from the start. The rounds/day doesn't go up with level, so Lingering Performance is a necessary feat tax to make it work. It also steals a ton of rogue class features and lets you basically play a rogue that traded sneak attack for spells and an amazing self-buff.

Dirge Bard: Other than losing versatile performance and jack of all trades, keeps all the stuff you want to focus on. It lets you learn some necromancy, use mind-affecting spells on undead, and at level 10 you can perform Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Diva: Again, loses a lot of the skill-based features. This lets you boost the DC of offensive bardic performances by spending more rounds, eventually cast in heavy armor, a weak ranged sonic attack performance (still a nice option), and the best feature... trading the no-save area Shaken performance for a single-target no-save Frightened performance!