[3.5E] Need help with a Bard build!

[TerribleTribble]

Hello all,

Long time listener, first time caller. Here's the deal.

Playing an epic level campaign (30 level max), starting at 4, allowed +3 LA in creation. All books allowed, within roleplaying reason. Short story: On a magical island of good. No concept of evil until we leave the island.

I've gone with a Satyr Bard with the Draconic Template. Dice rolls were roll 5, drop 2. Ended with: 10 12 15 15 16 18

Plusses from Satyr: 0/2/2/2/2/2
Plusses from Draconic: 2/0/2/0/0/2

I'm looking at a caster type build, with a bit into the Master of Masks prestige class.

Beyond that, the choices are daunting. Seeker of the Song is probably out. Virtuoso, Lyric Thaumaturge, and Sublime Chord are in my strongly most likely lists.

I'm looking for any feedback/debate on how to go about this. The group is 8 strong. We have tank/melee/heals/rogue covered. A bit lacking on pure casters which is why I'm going this route.

Any help is appreciated, as you all seem to rock it out.

Thanks in advance.

[Keld Denar]

If you have a whole 3 LA to work with, consider Half-Dragon. Normally its a bad idea, but for you, it will save you a few feats. One of the big bardic feats is Dragonfire Inspiration which converts your +x/+x Inspire Courage into +xd6 fire damage. Well, its NORMALLY fire damage. If you have the Draconic Heritage feat or are a Half-Dragon, it changes to whatever type you can produce, or fire, per your choice. Battle Dragon, Steel Dragon, and Pyroclastic Dragon all have the option of Sonic for your breath weapon. Sonic is almost NEVER resisted, and also has the advantage of dealing full damage to object. Having your whole party do +xd6 sonic damage on all attacks, especially with a big party, is a real game winner.

On top of that, you'll want to fully augement your Inspire Courage. Check out this thread. You'll probably want at LEAST Songs of the Heart, Inspirational Boost, and a Badge of Valor. Any more and you'll start pushing the threshold of what your DM can probably stomach. Words of Creation is a huge boost, but comes with the goody goody two-shoes tag, which you may or may not want.

As far as builds, typically you see a lot of:

Bard5/Mindbender1/Bard+2/Virtuoso2/SublimeChord2/Virtuoso+8
or
Bard6/LyricThamaturge2/Virtuoso2/SublimeChord2/Virtuoso+8
or something similar. The key is to get 1-2 levels of Virtuoso in before you start Sublime Chord, so all of the +1 spellcaster levels for Virtuoso go toward advancing your superior SC casting. Both of these builds leave you epic-ready to take levels in Epic Virtuoso for moar epic bonus feats.. I don't exactly know what that gives you, but it can't be bad. This also prepares you to take Epic Spellcasting, which is the most win you can ever hope to accomplish at epic levels.

Build flows great. At low levels, you are a focused Inspirer. Your Inspire Courage bonus will vicariously DOUBLE your group's damage output. When that starts to become less and less potent, you'll go into a short cocoon and emerge a Sorcerer-1. A Sublime Chord casts arcane spells as if he were a Sorcerer one level lower essentially. So with 4 effective levels in Sublime Chord, you'll cast as a 13th level Sorcerer in most regards. This isn't a bad gig, considering how potent your songs were up until this point. Enjoy your 4th-9th level wizard spells all the way to epic.

Half-Dragon is actually kinda fun here, since you get Claw/Claw/Bite from the template. When you have Dragonfire Inspiration up, you'll be hitting HARD, even from level 4. Who cares if your claw damage is only 1d3 when you are adding 4d6 sonic damage to each hit! Since you have 3 attacks, thats essentially 3 times more damage than you'd get with a manufactured weapon.

[Telonius]

Well, I see a fairly big problem there... your ECL is going to be pretty high. Draconic template gives you +1 LA, and Satyr gives you +2 ... but Satyr also has five racial hitdice. Add in a level of whatever class you take first, and you're starting as a 9th-level character.

[Gabe the Bard]

Sublime chord is the best prestige class if you want more spellcasting, but you'll take a big hit to your bardic music unless you have a Vest of Legends. Bard 10 / Sublime Chords 10+ or just straight Bard are both good options. Some of the more complicated builds will eat up a lot of your skill points in the prerequisites.

[Greenish]

Sublime chord is the best prestige class if you want more spellcasting, but you'll take a big hit to your bardic music unless

…you advance it's casting with, say, Virtuoso, which advances music, casting and gives good skillpoints. It's class features are somewhat meh, but it fills a build up nicely.

[Eldariel]

…you advance it's casting with, say, Virtuoso, which advances music, casting and gives good skillpoints. It's class features are somewhat meh, but it fills a build up nicely.

Aye, the key is Bard 9/Virtuoso 1/Sublime Chord 2/Virtuoso +8. Gets you all the awesome songs and good progression.

[Keld Denar]

But the OP is specifically going into epic levels...

Bard8/Virtuoso2/SublimeChord2/Virtuoso+8 is epic ready with a full 10 levels of Virtuoso. This starts him gaining bonus epic feats faster than a build that doesn't finish a 10 level PrC.