so...you're a bard...what now?

[Rasman]

I've come to a conundrum. I simply have NO idea what to do with my bard. At level 10 he's already proven to be quite effective as a battlefield controller. His whip is full of trip and his songs make pummeling easier. But being limited to Pathfinder core, unless we ask for permission to take things from other books, I'm at a loss. I simply don't know what to do with him. I do know I want to continue his progression as a bard so he can continue to buff up his songs, but that's about it. Any thoughts/suggestions/guides you can throw at me would be appreciated; excluding Treantmonk's because I've already used it quite thoroughly.

[Yuki Akuma]

Well, if you're level ten, there's always Sublime Chord, if your DM will allow it.

[Defiant]

Disciple of Metal! Start bringing music to your sessions

[Critical]

PF's Arcane Archer is quite fine, though, it seems that it won't fit with your build.

[Ingus]

It depends on your alignment. I've a sweet Bard/Assassin standing by, not bad in combat and very interesting to play.
You can, instead, take a few levels in fighter (Combat Expertise + Improved Trip is a very classic) or rogue. You can go prestige if your DM allows it, so you can add some level in Virtuoso (defamation is a great class feature: good and very funny to play).

[onthetown]

If you've got the prereqs (or if your DM will let you retrain to gain them), try Sublime Chord for the last 10 levels. It gives you access to levels 4 - 9 of the wizard and sorcerer spellbook, not to mention you still further your bardic spells.

[LibraryOgre]

See, this may be my variant viewpoint, but... what are you wanting to do? You've got a fun, solid, build. The mechanics are solved. Now you can sit down, sink your teeth into story, and shake it until it stops rattling. Maybe a experiment occasionally... try different spell combos, or new tactics (especially tactics to deal with situations you're not optimized for... what happens if you encounter Oozes, which are immune to your songs and your whip?)... but once you've got your mechanics where you like them, there's not a lot of reason to change.

[Rasman]

If you've got the prereqs (or if your DM will let you retrain to gain them), try Sublime Chord for the last 10 levels. It gives you access to levels 4 - 9 of the wizard and sorcerer spellbook, not to mention you still further your bardic spells.

I actually have everything but the ranks in Astrologer, so I ACTUALLY might go with this, especially since I can get some cool crap with Wiz/Sorc spells that Bards definitely don't get. But I don't really want to crossover into areas already filled by the rest of the party since we have a Wizard and Summoner, so I might forgo this for either a more Archery or Melee based PRC or Feats.

See, this may be my variant viewpoint, but... what are you wanting to do? You've got a fun, solid, build. The mechanics are solved. Now you can sit down, sink your teeth into story, and shake it until it stops rattling. Maybe a experiment occasionally... try different spell combos, or new tactics (especially tactics to deal with situations you're not optimized for... what happens if you encounter Oozes, which are immune to your songs and your whip?)... but once you've got your mechanics where you like them, there's not a lot of reason to change.

I'm actually considering working on "critical" feats since my other melee weapon is a Rapier. Putting Keen on it and criting on a 15 or better is just wrong. I'm just not sure if doing this would be worth it or not. Are critical feats strong enough to make this worth it?

[Wagadodo]

I was going to play around with a fighter that was for all intense purposes going to be using a high crit weapon to get into the critical feats. You get to apply bleeding to a character that does 2d6 damage a round till they either get some one over to use a heal check. Which will prevent some one elses turn to be wasted, or resources to be wasted as they have use a cure spell to stop it. That is the I think the best one to take at the +11 bab option. The other criticals are defiantly designed with the fighter in mind, the higher BAB plus the fighter only feat that allows to apply two criticals. With all the other critical feats the only problem is that there is a save of 10 + BAB versus fort to negate the effect.

[gallagher]

step 1: cast glibness
step 2: bluff the DM, make him think that your homebrewed prestige class is actually underpowered, and has alot of flavor to make up for it. he might have alot of ranks in sense motive, or he could intimidate you, but your +30 will do more than compensate for this.
step 3: create a PRC with full BAB, full casting, and continued song progression. claim that these levels also stack with bard for knowledge checks. say that the class is not allowed to ever eat human flesh, which is what makes the class weak. this is important, so that the DM can walk away satisfied that you didnt get everything you wanted
step 4: ???
step 5: prophet

[Tyger]

step 5: prophet

Does this require proselytizing?

[gallagher]

Does this require proselytizing?

that aspect is clearly defined in step 4

[Divide by Zero]

Play a Lightning Warrior with bard song progression. It's already underpowered, so adding that ability shouldn't make it too strong.

[Myshlaevsky]

Play a Lightning Warrior with bard song progression. It's already underpowered, so adding that ability shouldn't make it too strong.

There's no way anyone could play such a weak character! It doesn't even get a familiar!

[Greenish]

There's no way anyone could play such a weak character! It doesn't even get a familiar!

You can take Leadership and pretend the cohort is your familiar! I know, it's a weak option, but it has flavour.