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MisterSaturnine
2008-02-23, 02:47 AM
I had a thought or two, one thing led to another, and now I'm thinking of making a bard who is pretty good at all those special attack actions--namely, tripping and disarming. As a result, he'd be a bit martial.

I was thinking of taking a few levels of Swordsage to mix in with bard levels, wield a whip (and a rapier for melee combat), and take Improved Disarm and Improved Trip (and Adaptive Style if I go into Swordsage).

Also, I hear about the feat Versatile Performer (which sounds intriguing) but I don't know what it does.

Leon
2008-02-23, 03:08 AM
Versitile Performer allows you to count Ranks in one type of Perform as another Ex: 6 Ranks of Perform(sing) = 6 ranks of Perform (Dance), of a number in total to your Int Mod

Ie, Int 16 can have 3 etc

Book: Complete Adventurer

Kizara
2008-02-23, 04:56 AM
And where is this feat found? (for the lazy)

Amiria
2008-02-23, 05:44 AM
Complete Adventurer

ZeroNumerous
2008-02-23, 08:19 AM
May wanna look into Snowflake Wardance(Frostfell) for a bonus to your attack rolls.

Leon
2008-02-23, 10:18 AM
May wanna look into Snowflake Wardance(Frostfell) for a bonus to your attack rolls.

Epic Of The Lost King (Complete Scoundrel) is a good follow up to a Wardance (if you have the music slot to spare and need to stop being fatigued)

DementedFellow
2008-02-23, 10:42 AM
Epic Of The Lost King (Complete Scoundrel) is a good follow up to a Wardance (if you have the music slot to spare and need to stop being fatigued)

Or have a warforged Bard and take the Charisma hit. Bards have, in my opinion, a very slow spell progression, so assuming you have a high enough starting charisma score, you could not miss the -2 for a while. And pumping the stat increase back into charisma could stave that off even longer.

But on the other hand, you're probably wanting to take a human bard because of the bonus starting feats.

mabriss lethe
2008-02-23, 02:18 PM
Look at the whip dagger from sword and fist if the DM will allow it. It uses the same proficiency as a whip and is functionally identical, except it deals regular damage (1d6) and isn't hindered by enemy armor.

GrassyGnoll
2008-02-23, 03:26 PM
Versitile Performer allows you to count Ranks in one type of Perform as another Ex: 6 Ranks of Perform(sing) = 6 ranks of Perform (Dance), of a number in total to your Int Mod

Ie, Int 16 can have 3 etc

Book: Complete Adventurer

Do the extra ranks count for prerequisites for PrCs like Shadowdancer and such? I'd still invest in it, if only for a near instantaneous ability to play a cathedral organ.

MisterSaturnine
2008-02-23, 03:30 PM
Look at the whip dagger from sword and fist if the DM will allow it. It uses the same proficiency as a whip and is functionally identical, except it deals regular damage (1d6) and isn't hindered by enemy armor.

Ooh, that does sound nice. I'll have to look into that. And this is mostly an exercise in character building, on hand in case I ever find a DM.

Thanks the Versatile Performer thing...that sounds *REALLY* nice. I'm definitely gonna have too look into Complete Adventurer. Probably gonna take Snowflake Wardance (and reflavor the name).

Arbitrarity
2008-02-23, 07:06 PM
Actually, crusader can be handy for a bard. The second level is nice for charisma to will saves, if needed, and Song of White Raven really enhances buff capabilities. If you can wrangle it, grab Song and Silence Virtuoso (much better than the Complete adventurer version), which grants all bardic music for a one level dip.

Improvisiation with a decent CL helps a lot, for attacks, etc.

A build I wanted to use sometime was something like bard4/crusader1/swordsage1/Jade Phoenix Mage 1/Virtuoso 1/JPM 2/Sublime Chord 1/Abj Champ 2/JPM 7. Excellent BAB, spellcasting, and music, though without many uses of music.

sonofzeal
2008-02-23, 07:34 PM
Actually, crusader can be handy for a bard. The second level is nice for charisma to will saves, if needed, and Song of White Raven really enhances buff capabilities. If you can wrangle it, grab Song and Silence Virtuoso (much better than the Complete adventurer version), which grants all bardic music for a one level dip.

Improvisiation with a decent CL helps a lot, for attacks, etc.

A build I wanted to use sometime was something like bard4/crusader1/swordsage1/Jade Phoenix Mage 1/Virtuoso 1/JPM 2/Sublime Chord 1/Abj Champ 2/JPM 7. Excellent BAB, spellcasting, and music, though without many uses of music.
Crusader's a good choice. You need a high Bab to disarm, so Swordsage isn't much help with that. If you DO take Swordsage though, take the second level and get that juicy Wis-to-AC. Even if that's only a 1 or 2, it's still great to have.