The Bardadin

[AnimeTheCat]

Hey all, Just throwing around the idea because it sounds incredibly fun and i feel that it can be quite strong in mid-tier games. As of now I'll fill in how far I've gotten for everyone to give input on, but i'm very open to suggestions. I would like to avoid ToB please so keep that in mind.



Level
Class
Feats


1st
Paladin of Freedom
Extend Spell (H)/Persistent Spell (1st)


2nd
Paladin of Freedom



3rd
Bard (Divine Casting)
Devoted Performer


4th
Paladin of Freedom



5th
Paladin of Freedom



6th
Bard
Divine Metamagic: Persist


7th
Bard



8th
Bard



9th
Bard
Lingering Song


10th
Bard



11th
Bard



12th
Bard
Extra Turning?



Class Abilities:
Smite 1/day (+Cha Mod attack/+12 Dmg)
Detect Evil (At Will)
Aura of Good
Divine Grace (Your Saves are going to be great)
Lay on Hands (Cha Mod X 4 - Not your best feature)
Aura of Courage (Redundant saves vs Fear, not stacking with Inspire Courage)
Divine Health
Turn Undead
Paladin Spell (yep, if the wis is high enough, just one/maybe two)
Bardic Music (12/day)
Bardic Knowledge (8+int mod to check)
Countersong
Fascinate
Inspire Courage +2
Inspire Competence
Suggestion
Bard Spells (3/3/3/1 or better depending on Cha which should be your highest stat)

So, I know this is kind of spread out but hear me out. As a buff caster you get 9 uses of essentially a lesser heroism per day. Netting you +1 attack, damage, and saves vs fear and charms. Now, I know that this doesn't stack with Heroism or Inspire Courage since they are all Morale Bonuses. At 9th character level you can (if you max out your Charisma) Persist Heroism on either yourself or someone else, and then at 12th Character level you can persist Good Hope on the whole Party. In the event you get stuck in an anti-magic field or if the effect gets dispelled you can just start inspiring courage to counter that since bardic music is a supernatural ability instead of a spell-like ability. Or, you could persist Haste on the party and use your bardic music to buff them.

I would like to point out that I know this is not as effective as a cleric, but I think it has such versatility that it makes up for it in some ways. Let me know what you guys think and where you think it should go from here.

[Droopy McCool]

I had a thought for a build similar to this, but didn't really work it out. One of the things I thought of using was Divine Bard, if only to be able to run around in heavy armour. It's a good idea though, and now the question what (if any) PrC are you gonna use?

McCool

[weckar]

Why divine metamagic and not Metamagic Song?

[AnimeTheCat]

I had a thought for a build similar to this, but didn't really work it out. One of the things I thought of using was Divine Bard, if only to be able to run around in heavy armour. It's a good idea though, and now the question what (if any) PrC are you gonna use?

McCool

That was a bit of what kind of input I was looking for. There's the amazing sublime chord for higher level spells. Sadly, it falls short of reaching 9th level spells. The only way it's possible to squeeze a 9th level spell in there is to take 7 levels of bard, max your knowledge (arcana) and listen ranks and forego the inspire courage +2. I don't think that's really so bad to be honest since you are getting such great things in return. Not bad for a little gish build I think. Not exactly gish since it only gets +13 bab at level 20. Still, I think it has potential to be incredibly fun.

[AnimeTheCat]

Why divine metamagic and not Metamagic Song?

Because of this:


You cannot use the Metamagic Song feat to add metamagic feats that would make the spell's effective level higher than the highest level of spell that you can cast normally.

So it's nowhere near as potent as DMM and it makeseems those 4 paladin levels very worth it.

[weckar]

It does have the advantage that you don't have to take it once per metamagic feat: It immediately applied to all metamagic you know.

[AnimeTheCat]

...if only to be able to run around in heavy armour.

You can get a mithral breastplate down to 0% ASF with fey craft and enchantments so that's a little better. Still not Dat plate though lol.

[AnimeTheCat]

It does have the advantage that you don't have to take it once per metamagic feat: It immediately applied to all metamagic you know.

True, that definitely looks better as a 12th level feat. The biggest problem is that i'm not looking to use a lot of metamagic feata, just persist primarily. What other metamagic feats do you suggest for a build like this?

[animewatcha]

level 1 spell, inspirational boost. You now have inspire courage +2.

-sidenote: becareful of the double posting. If need be use multiple quotes in the same post.

[atemu1234]

True, that definitely looks better as a 12th level feat. The biggest problem is that i'm not looking to use a lot of metamagic feata, just persist primarily. What other metamagic feats do you suggest for a build like this?

If you can get a DM to allow it, I'm a fan of Irresistable Spell :smallbiggrin:.

If not, then your options always include invisible spell, which is very potent.

Also, as a Cha-based caster, you get more Turn Undead attempts than the average cleric (who will, charitably, have at most 14 invested in Cha), which makes DMM even more potent than usual.

Maybe I should repost my Sorcadin build, see what you can make of it.

[AnimeTheCat]

level 1 spell, inspirational boost. You now have inspire courage +2.

Aha, excellent! Only downside is that will still get dispelled whereas inspire courage wont, but still. Great catch. What, if anything makes it better than good hope though? I'm sort of AFB so I can't look it up at the present.

[animewatcha]

Good hope ( while potent ) requires a bigger spell slot to use and is more in danger of being dispelled. Inspirational boost lasts as long as the music lasts. If an enemy wastes a turn ( at that high a CR ) to dispel an inspirational boost, then the enemy deserves to have a free round of stuff beating on them.

[AnimeTheCat]

Good hope ( while potent ) requires a bigger spell slot to use and is more in danger of being dispelled. Inspirational boost lasts as long as the music lasts. If an enemy wastes a turn ( at that high a CR ) to dispel an inspirational boost, then the enemy deserves to have a free round of stuff beating on them.

Ah, just got home and to my books. That's a great spell! Nice catch.

[AnimeTheCat]

I just found something good for this build. Healing Hymn ACF from complete champion. I think it fits the build better than fascinate.

[Troacctid]

Why aren't you an illumian? You get a better version of divine metamagic as a racial ability, and +2 to basically all your skill checks.

Also, taking 4 levels of Paladin to get divine grace and turn undead seems waaaay less efficient than taking 2 levels of Soldier of Light to get the same thing.

I would go with something more like:
1. Bard 1: Extend Spell
2. Bard 2
3. Bard 3: Obtain Familiar
4. Bard 4
5. Bard 5
6. Bard 6: Persistent Spell
7. Bard 7
8. Soldier of Light 1
9. Soldier of Light 2: Planar Familiar
10. Ardent Dilettante 1
11. Sublime Chord 1
12. Sublime Chord 2: Some feat
13. Ardent Dilettante 2
14. Ardent Dilettante 3
15. Ardent Dilettante 4: Some feat
16. Ardent Dilettante 5
17. Ardent Dilettante 6
18. Ardent Dilettante 7: Some feat
19. Ardent Dilettante 8
20. Ardent Dilettante 9

[AnimeTheCat]

Why aren't you an illumian? You get a better version of divine metamagic as a racial ability, and +2 to basically all your skill checks.

Also, taking 4 levels of Paladin to get divine grace and turn undead seems waaaay less efficient than taking 2 levels of Soldier of Light to get the same thing.

I would go with something more like:
1. Bard 1: Extend Spell
2. Bard 2
3. Bard 3: Obtain Familiar
4. Bard 4
5. Bard 5
6. Bard 6: Persistent Spell
7. Bard 7
8. Soldier of Light 1
9. Soldier of Light 2: Planar Familiar
10. Ardent Dilettante 1
11. Sublime Chord 1
12. Sublime Chord 2: Some feat
13. Ardent Dilettante 2
14. Ardent Dilettante 3
15. Ardent Dilettante 4: Some feat
16. Ardent Dilettante 5
17. Ardent Dilettante 6
18. Ardent Dilettante 7: Some feat
19. Ardent Dilettante 8
20. Ardent Dilettante 9

Could you explain the Illumian bit? I don't recall reading anthing like DMM or that when I read races of destiny, granted that was some time ago. What book is warrior of light in too because i'm not familiar with that class at all and a Google search brings up nothing official. Also, Ardent Dilettante seems like a slightly jumbled up class. It gets some cool abilities, no doubt, but if you take your first level of the class at 10th level you can't progress sublime chrd casting with it because the class feature says:


At each ardent dilettante level after 1st, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which she belonged before adding the prestige class.

There would need to be some rearranging to make it work to grant you 9th level spells. If the warrior of light class is legit and the illumian race does what you say it does, then yeah! That build is superior and thanks for sharing!

[Droopy McCool]

...if only to be able to run around in heavy armour.
You can get a mithral breastplate down to 0% ASF with fey craft and enchantments so that's a little better. Still not Dat plate though lol.

Well, using Wisdom instead also fit my character concept very well, and buying that stuff costs lots o' gp. Whatever floats your boat though, right? :smallsmile:

As far as Troacctid's proposed build, Soldier of Light is from Deities and Demigods. And personally I prefer human (for the bonus feat and because I'm apparently racist :smalltongue:), but I didn't even know Illumian did what he said. The more you know.

McCool

[Willie the Duck]

I like Troacctid's bid (at least in theory, as you point out, Ardent Dilettante is very complex, so I'd have to play around looking at the requirements).

The straight paladin4 bard 16 is interesting, but I wonder if the benefits you get are worthwhile at the level you are getting them. Yes, Persistent Spell and Divine Metamagic are a great way to buff. However, you're getting to use what? Persistent 3rd level buffs by 12th level? That's a lot of investment for a small payout.

[Telonius]

If you're going with the initial build, I would personally remove Devoted Performer. You're going to be a mainly-Bard with a few levels of a Paladin that doesn't care about your chaotic alignment. That means you're spending a feat to get (at most) +16 damage to a single hit once a day (if it hits, if it's evil), plus four extra uses of Bardic Music. Melodic Casting would be much more worthwhile.

Lingering Song, as well, is of kind of limited use. Unless you're dealing with combats that regularly last more than 6 rounds, it's a feat that doesn't do much for you. Song of the Heart, or something else like that, might be more useful.

[Metahuman1]

If you can get a white raven stance (dip Crusader or Warblade or burn a couple of feats.), Song of the White Raven is lovely because you can start and maintain your Inspire Courage as a swift action. Leaving you free to do other things like full attack with out having to worry about a fight lasting too long.

It also combo's nicely with Melodic Casting.

Words of Power is SO very awesome on a primarily bard build. And if you didn't dump Int and have access at first to masterwork tools and later just skill check boosting items that don't even need to be THAT big a skill boost, I recommend grabbing the Bardic Knack AFC along with Jack of all Trades and Knowledge devotion.

This should combo into being able to pretty much always go full power attack and have it paid for, and having an extra +1 to damage per level, so that it's always like having a fully paid for full power leap attack.




Maybe since you should Dip Crusader or Warblade, and since you've got 4 levels of paladin, you should see if you can work it out to qualify for Prestige Bard? Perhaps a few levels of Geometer to get all those lovely lovely paladin spells and get all those bard spells treated as Divine so that there Persistable and don't suffer spell failure?



Dragonfire inspiration can be a nice way to bolster damage, particularly with a harder to bypass energy type like sound. Seeker of the Song for 2 levels combo's nicely with this as you can activate it on the same action as another bardic music effect, and thus, active it AND inspire courage at the same time. Also again combo's well with Melodic Casting and Song of the White Raven.

[Troacctid]

Could you explain the Illumian bit? I don't recall reading anthing like DMM or that when I read races of destiny, granted that was some time ago.
It's the effect of the naenhoon sigils. Twice per day, you can use a swift action to apply a metamagic feat to your next spell cast with no spell level adjustment by expending a number of uses of turn/rebuke undead equal to the feat's normal spell level adjustment. It's cheaper than Divine Metamagic (you need 6 turning attempts to persist, rather than 7), works on all your metamagic feats, and you weren't using it more than twice per day either way.


What book is warrior of light in too because i'm not familiar with that class at all and a Google search brings up nothing official.
Deities & Demigods, page 208.


Also, Ardent Dilettante seems like a slightly jumbled up class. It gets some cool abilities, no doubt, but if you take your first level of the class at 10th level you can't progress sublime chrd casting with it because the class feature says:



There would need to be some rearranging to make it work to grant you 9th level spells.
Ardent Dilettante is just an example. You could use any number of prestige classes—Urban Savant, Stormsinger, Virtuoso, Unseen Seer, even Fochlucan Lyrist. Basically, since Sublime Chord lacks any useful class features after 2nd level, it's advantageous to switch to a full casting prestige class after that, so you can get better abilities along with your casting.

[AnimeTheCat]

The straight paladin4 bard 16 is interesting, but I wonder if the benefits you get are worthwhile at the level you are getting them. Yes, Persistent Spell and Divine Metamagic are a great way to buff. However, you're getting to use what? Persistent 3rd level buffs by 12th level? That's a lot of investment for a small payout.

I'm primarily theorycrafting at the moment, so this is a good point when compared across every available class. That being said when compared in a game to say tier 3-5 classes that persistent buffing looks mighty fine, even at 12th level. Even at 9th level when you can cast a persistent Heroism on the party fighter, that's pretty nice in a lower power (Tier 3-5) campaign. I'm in no way against Clerics, Druids, or Wizards. But I like to keep potent ideas in my back pocket for when I have players that want to play a lower power game or if there's just nobody who wants to play a T1 or T2 class. I am liking how all of this is going for making it playable in slightly stronger campaigns.


If you're going with the initial build, I would personally remove Devoted Performer. You're going to be a mainly-Bard with a few levels of a Paladin that doesn't care about your chaotic alignment. That means you're spending a feat to get (at most) +16 damage to a single hit once a day (if it hits, if it's evil), plus four extra uses of Bardic Music. Melodic Casting would be much more worthwhile.

Lingering Song, as well, is of kind of limited use. Unless you're dealing with combats that regularly last more than 6 rounds, it's a feat that doesn't do much for you. Song of the Heart, or something else like that, might be more useful.

With Paladin of Freedom, that makes a lot of sense. The only thing that isn't best about it is that the feat allows you to freely multiclass between bard and paladin. Granted the build doesn't include that but this is all ideal theory. Also, just by including the feat here, the build can be applied to any of the paladin classes. But I do see your very valid point.

Melodic Casting sounds good, but since it takes a standard action to start the song and combat normally lasts about 6 rounds anyway, wouldn't it be more effective to start the song on your first turn and then have the ability to end it at the start of your next? The musical effects will last for 5 more rounds and allow you to do whatever you want? otherwise Linger Song effectively does the exact same thing as Melodic Casting.

Song of the Heart, however, looks like a phenomenal feat that I never knew existed. Stack that with Inspirational Boost and you have a better than Good Hope supernatural ability (that, granted, eats a 1st level spell).

If I were to do this build without Devoted Performer I would need to take all 4 levels of paladin of freedom at once so that when I move on from there I don't have a real need to go back. Start with Bard 3/Take Song of Heart at 3rd/Paladin of Freedom 4 but then I can't take DMM till 9th because I won't have turn undead at 6th character level. If I took all 4 levels of paladin first and then took 2 levels of bard I still wouldn't qualify for Song of the Heart at 6th Character level, but I do qualify for DMM. Wait until 9th for SotH. What do you recommend since you seem to know those ins and outs better?


If you can get a white raven stance (dip Crusader or Warblade or burn a couple of feats.), Song of the White Raven is lovely because you can start and maintain your Inspire Courage as a swift action. Leaving you free to do other things like full attack with out having to worry about a fight lasting too long.

It also combo's nicely with Melodic Casting.

Words of Power is SO very awesome on a primarily bard build. And if you didn't dump Int and have access at first to masterwork tools and later just skill check boosting items that don't even need to be THAT big a skill boost, I recommend grabbing the Bardic Knack AFC along with Jack of all Trades and Knowledge devotion.

This should combo into being able to pretty much always go full power attack and have it paid for, and having an extra +1 to damage per level, so that it's always like having a fully paid for full power leap attack.

Maybe since you should Dip Crusader or Warblade, and since you've got 4 levels of paladin, you should see if you can work it out to qualify for Prestige Bard? Perhaps a few levels of Geometer to get all those lovely lovely paladin spells and get all those bard spells treated as Divine so that there Persistable and don't suffer spell failure?

Dragonfire inspiration can be a nice way to bolster damage, particularly with a harder to bypass energy type like sound. Seeker of the Song for 2 levels combo's nicely with this as you can activate it on the same action as another bardic music effect, and thus, active it AND inspire courage at the same time. Also again combo's well with Melodic Casting and Song of the White Raven.

Song of the White Raven RAW says:


While you are in any White Raven Stance, you can activate your bardic music ability to inspire courage as a swift action.

So all this really allows you to do is activate your music faster and doesn't seem like its worth the dip or the fit gouge to do especially when there's already number crunching going on if the build wants 9th level spells from Sublime Chord.

I'm not realty trying to build a character that can smash in melee combat like it seems like you're suggesting with Bardic Knack ACF and Jack of all trades (which is apparently a debatable combination) and Knowledge devotion. The idea behind this character is to be able to combat, but focuses on buffing through spells and songs (hymns/scripture/etc for flavor).

Since I have Paladin levels already, as a DM I would never let someone use the Prestige Bard class because that goes against the intended use of the base classes as prestige classes. It looks like a decent idea, but it wouldn't pass at my table. If it wouldn't pass at my table I wouldn't ask any other DM to do it.

Dragonfire Inspiration requires you to be of the dragonblood subtype which either requires race shenanigans or feat shenanigans. I love the dragonfire inspiration feat especially in dragon centric campaigns because the flavor is oh so tasty.

I'm thinking that, using the originally proposed build, I would go Paladin 2/Bard 1/Paladin 2/Bard 6/Sublime Chord 9 using SRD Bard (I missed the divine bard bit requiring wisdom the first time...) and SRD Paladin. Feats would remain about that same, just switching out Lingering Song for Song of the Heart. From there take Words of Creation (because it fits the flavor and is very good for buffing) at 12th level. I'm not sure what to go for at 15th or 18th level though, so those are still open. Possibly some metamagic feats or metamagic song since it can actually get put to good use now that you can cast higher level spells. IDK, what do you guys think?

[Hiro Quester]

Melodic casting lets you start a bardic music and cast in the same round (esp if you learn the 1st level spell Harmonize (RoS)--or make a custom magic item of permanent Harminize-- which lets you start a bardic music as a swift action).

E.g you can sing inspire courage and cast haste in the first round of a combat.

It also lets you make a perform check instead of a concentration check to get a spell off in combat, ebpnabling you to dump concentration as a skill.

It's basically combat casting for bards. You need this feat. Take it early.

Edit:
Seriously. Take sublime chord at 11th and 12th levels (or you won't get to Then change to a different bardic class that progresses casting, and music. It's not worth it after two levels.

Consider Heartfire Fanner (dragon 314) for fun new bardic music uses.

Even abjurant champion progresses SC casting, full BAB and grants free extend spell on abjurations.

[Troacctid]

Melodic casting lets you start a bardic music and cast in the same round (esp if you learn the 1st level spell Harmonize (RoS)--or make a custom magic item of permanent Harminize-- which lets you start a bardic music as a swift action).

E.g you can sing inspire courage and cast haste in the first round of a combat.
That's Song of the White Raven. Melodic Casting does the other thing.

[Hiro Quester]

It's harmonize spell (make a custom item) that enables bardic music as a swift action.

But it's Melodic casting that enables you to cast while singing. And to make a perform check instead of a concentration check to cast while in combat.

Esp if you have more than one bardic music ability to use, such as inspire greatness and inspire courage, you need this if you are going yo be using music AND spells to buff.

[Troacctid]

It still takes a standard action to use inspire courage, and a standard action to cast Haste, so you can't use them in the same round. It just means you don't need to stop singing in order to perform the verbal component for your spell, like you normally would.

[Hiro Quester]

Again, if you cast harmonize beforehand, or have an item granting its effect permanently, you can start bardic music as a swift move action. But you need melodic casting to be able to cast while singing.

EDIT.
With harmonize starting a bardic music is a move action, not a swift action. And it's a second level spell. I should not do this from memory.

[tiercel]

I'm not sure that going to such effort to get DMM: Persistent Spell is worth it on a build that won't see 2nd level spells until character level 8 and 3rd level spells until character level 11. Ditching this line of approach means Divine Bard is less attractive (you could ditch most of Wisdom, at least down to 12 if you want 1 paladin spell/day).

If Devoted Performer is in play, you don't really need Paladin of Freedom (plus vanilla paladin at least gets Spell Compendium spells for scroll/wand use) plus you might as well take advantage of your smite attacks with some Extra Smiting; you might even consider Paladin 5 to pick up another smite/day and the Charging Smite ACF (PHB II). If you're going all smitey in this fashion, then Killoren (particularly Killoren Destroyer) might be an interesting choice, though you may need to be careful of multiclass penalties if your DM keeps them in play.

If Smitey McBardadin is not your intention, dropping Devoted Performer and having only 2 Paladin levels might be more suitable.

[AnimeTheCat]

I'm not sure that going to such effort to get DMM: Persistent Spell is worth it on a build that won't see 2nd level spells until character level 8 and 3rd level spells until character level 11. Ditching this line of approach means Divine Bard is less attractive (you could ditch most of Wisdom, at least down to 12 if you want 1 paladin spell/day).

If Devoted Performer is in play, you don't really need Paladin of Freedom (plus vanilla paladin at least gets Spell Compendium spells for scroll/wand use) plus you might as well take advantage of your smite attacks with some Extra Smiting; you might even consider Paladin 5 to pick up another smite/day and the Charging Smite ACF (PHB II). If you're going all smitey in this fashion, then Killoren (particularly Killoren Destroyer) might be an interesting choice, though you may need to be careful of multiclass penalties if your DM keeps them in play.

If Smitey McBardadin is not your intention, dropping Devoted Performer and having only 2 Paladin levels might be more suitable.

Hmm, I actually never thought about throwing Extra Smiting in there. That seems quite good. One reason I'm avoiding Paladin 5 is because I'm not a fan of mounts at all. I know, that is a really silly reason. I just can't find an ACF that removes the mount. Basically your idea builds in beautifully, and maybe DMM Persist isn't worth it. That opens up 3 additional feats that I can take for better feats like Extra Smiting. Smitey McBardadin sounds like a ton of fun to play. Take Perform (Oratory) and you're basically reciting scripture and legends of the church to bolster your allies, after all, you did start your life as a paladin. I just really love the way this build sounds, and in T3-T5 play it seems very balanced and useful.

The only reason I was ever considering DMM Persist in all of this was to allow you to persist 4th-9th level Arcane spells from Sublime Chord. That's not something you get to see every day. I know an easier and more effective way to do it is with Cleric 1/Wizard X/Some PrC X, but this sounds so much cooler to me lol.

So, All that aside, I want to keep 4th level (Vanilla) paladin for, as you mentioned, spell compendium spells, but I think I want to avoid Paladin 5, even though it offers an additional smite, it wouldn't let me progress as far with Sublime Chord since it would be taking a caster level away from the bard progression. I think doing what a lot of people have recommended earlier in the thread and pick a class that progresses full spellcasting and gives some decent class features. That all being said, I understand a bit more about melodic casting and Will probably be taking it over Extend Spell, Persistent Spell, and DMM Persistent spell. And with those now off the table, I could really use suggestions for how to use my Turn Undead attempts. IIRC there's a feat that lets you expend one use of turn undead to grand everyone within a certain area some amount of fast healing for a while. Can anyone confirm/deny or state whether this is worthwhile for a feat? It does the optimal "don't heal durning battle" thing and lets me heal without casting spells to boot.

How else would you guys iron out this build? So far things that I know are wrong are:
1) If dropping the whole DMM thing, I have 3 more feats. 1 is going to be taken by Melodic Casting (lvl 6 feat most likely), human or 1st would be nice for Extra Smiting IMO.
2) There needs to be a good PrC to progress Sublime Chord casting and still grant class features
3) I need something to use my near worthless turn undead attempts on because, let's face it, paladins aren't that great at turning undead.

I would like to point out that I haven't forgotten about any of the other build mentioned like the bard/warrior of light as an illumian, or bard/crusader or warblade for White Raven stuff, I just don't feel like it fits this particular idea, if you know what I mean. They're both great ideas and I will likely use those ideas later on for certain and I do really like them. I just want to focus on the Bardadin, strictly speaking Bard/Paladin and taking advantage of everything you can get with that combination. Thanks for all the help everyone!

[Hiro Quester]

For another feat, consider snowflake wardance (FB). You dance across the battlefield adding your CHA bonus to attack rolls. It stacks with smiting, so you can really dish out damage, and have a much better chance of hitting.

You have to use one-handed slashing weapons, though. And you are fatigued afterwards, but that can be solved with a wand of lesser restoration (on the paladin list).

As far as classes that progress SC casting, Abjurant champion is one of the best for Full BAB plus Full casting progression. The first level ability --free extend metamagic on all abjurations-is pretty awesome. Some of the high level abilities (use spell slots to power attacks), are rather good too.

But for ones with more bardic flavor, I have always been a fan of Heartfire Fanner. It progresses all bardic music abilities you already have, and adds new ones of its own that grant free fighter bonus feats --plural-- to your party members, or free metamagic to the casters.


Edit: HFF is only a 5level PrC though, from Dragon 314. Add three levels of Abjurant Champion for more awesomeness.

Some others are good, like virtuoso, but you have to take the first level before SC, because it does not advance casting that first level.

Fochlucan Lyrist Is excellent, since it progresses both arcane and divine casting, and gives full BAB. But it has a high skill tax, and requires Evasion (though you can get a ring for that). And you need to know Druidic language (which Druids cannot teach to non-Druids without losing all Druidic abilities). If you can learn Druidic, and specialize in nature-lore, the class would fit very well with your Bardadin history and abilities. That would be a "talk to your DM " situation, though.

Another Edit:
A great item to have with this kind of build is Gauntlets of Heartfelt Blows (MIC). They add you CHA bonus in fire damage to every attack.

[Zylas]

Assuming fractional BaB and human

Bard 1 - Mounted Combat, Practiced Spellcaster
Cleric 1
Cleric 2 - Divine Inspiration (Dragon #333 p.85)
Cleric 3
Cleric 4
Cleric 5 - Initiate of Milil (CoV p.31)
Prestige Paladin 1
Prestige Paladin 2
Prestige Paladin 3 - Holy Mount (Dragon 325 p.62)
Cleric 6-16

Two levels behind a cleric in casting, but you get a full paladin mount, full bardic music, full paladin spells, and if you take sword of the arcane order at some point, you'd even get a few low level wizard spells too, to pretend you have the bard list.