Need 20th level Bard equipment!

[Quertus]

So, I need to outfit a 20th level character with items a Bard would take / want / have / like.

But I've got some inside information, so my choices are biased. So I need others to suggest gear.

One more wrinkle: monstrous Bard. Not all 20 levels are in Bard - there's some definite LA / racial HD going on. Despite this, they intend to (well, the party wants them to) act largely as a spell slinger / buff bot.

What would you equip this really bad Bard with?

[Cygnia]

Do they have a waist that they can wear a Belt of Magnificence +2/+4/+6? (Mini pg42)

Read a +5 Tome of Leadership

[noob]

So, I need to outfit a 20th level character with items a Bard would take / want / have / like.

But I've got some inside information, so my choices are biased. So I need others to suggest gear.

One more wrinkle: monstrous Bard. Not all 20 levels are in Bard - there's some definite LA / racial HD going on. Despite this, they intend to (well, the party wants them to) act largely as a spell slinger / buff bot.

What would you equip this really bad Bard with?

Get all the bardic music power booster items that can stack.
After that no matter how bad your la and racial hd are you will still contribute a lot in buffing.

[Maat Mons]

As a 20th-level character, get all the necessary magic items (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items).

Is this character using PC wealth-by-level, or NPC wealth-by-level?

[Quertus]

As a 20th-level character, get all the necessary magic items (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items).

Is this character using PC wealth-by-level, or NPC wealth-by-level?

PC, but we could make it a challenge, and go for NPC WBL :smallwink:


Get all the bardic music power booster items that can stack.
After that no matter how bad your la and racial hd are you will still contribute a lot in buffing.

I'm not familiar with bards - get the what now?


Do they have a waist that they can wear a Belt of Magnificence +2/+4/+6? (Mini pg42)

Read a +5 Tome of Leadership

Generally humanoid shape. Those sound pretty useful.

[Maat Mons]

Off-the-Shelf Items

Anklet of Translocation: 1,400
Cowl of Warding: 200,800
Hathran Mask of True Seeing: 75,000 gp
Necklace of Adaptation: 9,000 gp
Ring of Sustanence: 2,500 gp
Vest of Resistance: 36,000 gp
Wings of Flying: 54,000 gp

Commissioned Items

+1, Blueshine, Gleeming Mithril Breastplate: 21,700 gp
+1, Heavy Fortification, Proof Against Transmutation, Soulfire Bracers of Armor: 144,000 gp

Commissioned Modifications

+6 Charisma (added to cloak): 36,000 gp
+6 Constitution (added to necklace): 36,000 gp
+5 Deflection Bonus (added to ring): 50,000 gp
+6 Dexterity (added to bracers): 36,000 gp
+5 Natural Armor (added to vest): 50,000 gp

Total: 752,400 gp

[noob]

I'm not familiar with bards - get the what now?


Things like the Badge of Valor, the Vest of Legends, an harmonizing weapon,an custom item that grants the words of creation feat, a custom item that grants the Melodic Casting feat, a custom item that grants the Song of the Heart feat, get some way to cast the Inspirational Boost spell.
With all of those you might get something like +8 bardic inspiration(with a single bard level assuming you had 19 of LA + hd) and thus give +8 to attack and damage which is a reliable way to participate if the allies does a lot of attack rolls.
By the way words of creation is a key feat if you want a bardic music based bard: it doubles the effect of bardic music so if you were not going to be able to use it (ex: you are not exalted good) trying to take a sublime chord level is even more important.

[Maat Mons]

On further reflection, I see that I accidentally determined the price of the "Soulfire" Bracers of Armor as if they instead had the Deathward ability.

So to fix that, remove Heavy Fortification from the bracers, and upgrade them to actually have Soulfire. Upgrading from Deathward to Soulfire adds +3 effective enhancement bonus. But getting rid of Heavy Fortification removes +5 effective enhancement bonus. The net effect is to bring the price down to 100,000 gp.

That does leave you without Heavy Fortification. But it also leaves you with enough spare money to buy a Gemstone of Heavy Fortification (Draconomicon, p83). So it's all good.

[Hiro Quester]

JoshuaD’s bard handbook has a useful and well-categorized guide to items for a bard: https://www.joshuad.net/new-bard-handbook/#items