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DSCrankshaw
2007-11-23, 04:16 AM
I'm building a 10th level bard (one level away from Sublime Chord), and I was wondering what spells he should have. I'm particularly interested in some of the bard-only spells in the Complete Books and the Spell Compendium. There are a lot of them, and while a lot of them sound good, I've never seen them in action. Which ones are good? Which ones look good but aren't? Which ones are broken? Bards don't get that many spells known, so I need to choose carefully. I'd like a decent mix of debuffs, buffs, and maybe some illusion. Sonic spells are good, too, as it is the bard's thing, and I'm thinking of taking the Clap of Thunder reserve feat. Any thoughts? Any spells I should get scrolls for, even if I won't be spending a known spell slot for them?

I'm also willing to take advice on feats. Melodic Casting's a no brainer. I was thinking Versatile Performer, even though that's mostly a fluff feat (although it would allow some possibilities with Animate Instrument and some of the masterwork bonuses, while only investing ranks in Perform (sing).) Is Lyric Spell useful for a couple of extra high-level spells a day? Or does it drain bardic music uses too fast to be worthwhile?

nerulean
2007-11-23, 08:10 AM
I'm loving Versatile Performer and Melodic Casting, the latter for its awesome usefulness and the former for its fluff value.

As for spells, take Miser's Envy unless absolutely everything you're going to be fighting is mindless, in which case who'd play a bard? It incapacitates two opponents from a group as one turns on another and tries to steal his primary weapon. At only second level, there's no reason not to spam this spell. Your melée characters will also thank you for taking Inspirational Boost to buff your Inspire Courage. Distort Speech is good if you'll be facing a lot of enemy casters, and by this level you're starting to get the benefits of Improvisation. I've had some fun with Caterwaul, but since it's a cone your uses of it will be limited. You get Ray of Dizziness, too, which is excellent anti-melée. And don't forget the old fashioned buffs like Haste, and utilities like Invisibility. Glitterdust is useful too.

DSCrankshaw
2007-11-23, 12:17 PM
Thanks for the advice. Can you tell me which books these spells are in?

namo
2007-11-23, 01:03 PM
Spell Index (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lists/spells)

They're from the PHB and the SpC.

DSCrankshaw
2007-11-23, 08:33 PM
Thanks, but that doesn't cover everything. Caterwaul isn't in the spell index, for example, although I did find it in Complete Mage.