...And the only cure is MOAR COWBELL!

[Teh_das]

Hello, denizens of the Playground.

I have a character concept that I've been toying with, a half-minotaur bard who plays the cowbell (It was his fathers cowbell before him, and his fathers before his, and his mothers before that and she was just a cow!) Outside of the race, which I think I've decided on a Magic Blooded Half-Minotaur Spellscale (Ignoring the size increase and benefits from the half-minotaur), I want to focus on party buffing.

Can anyone give any advice for a build? I've heard of snowflake wardance and using dragon blooded for buffs, but outside of that, I don't have much experience with building a bard.

[Val666]

When you say: "Ignoring the size increase and benefits from the half-minotaur" you mean ALL BENEFITS? ._.

[atemu1234]

Why ignore the good things about the Half-Minotaur template? It's an excellent (read:broken) template that has very few downsides. You may as well just stick to Half-Minotaur Spellscale Bard, it's decent enough. As he's primarily musical, I recommend the Extra Music feat. As much as possible.

[Teh_das]

I mistyped. I meant that he'd ignore the size increase and the benefits of it, but keep the rest of the template (track, darkvision, stats, etc)

[atemu1234]

I mistyped. I meant that he'd ignore the size increase and the benefits of it, but keep the rest of the template (track, darkvision, stats, etc)

But those are benefits... and you may as well get it all.

[Grod_The_Giant]

But those are benefits... and you may as well get it all.

In the name of balancing a (self-admittedly) broken template?

In any case... here's a quick guide to Inspire Courage. At the most basic level, there's a spell for +1 (Inspirational Boost, SpC), a cheap item for +1 )Badge of Valor, MiC), and a feat that doubles your bonus (Words of Creation, BoED). Tack on Dragonfire Inspiration, and suddenly you're adding fistfuls of d6's to your party's attacks.

Snowflake Wardance is nice, as it gives you +Cha to attacks with slashing weapons held in one hand. Normally that restriction would be irritating, but it does work with TWF, which happens to work extremely well with those fistfuls of d6's from DFI.

[Socratov]

Ok, let's go.
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Greetings forumite for selecting one of my favourite classes to play in DnD 3.5. I see you have made a query into the build for your idea, based on a spoof documentary on Bruce Dickinson, Blue Oyster Cult, involving the character played by Will Ferrel. You also inquired about Dragon blooded and Snowflake Wardance, so I'll gather you don't want to use a casting based build. So, let's get cracking. If you have any additional information (pointbuy, available sources, that sort of stuff. We want to know anything and everything, right down the the colour of eyes you want for the character).

So, To make Gene Frenkle: we need a cowbell (masterwork, let's try to find some nice properties later), a human, a half minotaur and bard levels. I advise against Spellscale becuase you want silverbrow human to supplement your needs (more feats is better for bards).

Spoiler: Gene Frenkle

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Gene Frenkle

CG Silverbrow Humanoid with the Magic Blooded, and Half-Minotaur templates

Spoiler: Racial/template bonuses/maluses

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Bonus Feat at first level (Human),
Dragon Blood Subtype,
+2 disguise//always class skill,
Featherfall 1+1/5HD per day,
+2 Cha,
-2 Wis,
Low Light Vision,
+2 Knowledge Arcana,
+2 Spellcraft,
Detect magic,
Nystul's Magical Aura,
Nystul's Undetectable aura,
and read magic 1/day,
Track (bonus feat),
+4 Str,
+2 Con,
-2 Int,
+2 Wis,
Large size,
+10' movement,
Scent Ability,
Darkvision 60',
+2 Search,
Spot & Listen,
1d6 gore attack,
+4 to escape Maze Spell,
and always know North.

Ability Prioritization: Cha->Con->Str->Dex->Int=Wis
Pump your CHA as high as you can, it will just about do everything for you. next is Con, you have a small HD (d6/d8) so you want some extra HP to survive on the front line, next is STR, helps you hit, deal damage, carry around all the crap you find. While not very important, you have a piss poor Ref save so some dex might be welcome. just make sure you get no more then your max dex bonus on your equipment (and use items to do so). As Always, to prevent is better then to cure.

Bard X/Warrior Skald 10. Why not heartfire Fanner, Warchanter or whatever? Well, the latter needs you to use other perform skills then percussion, and the first, while awesome, doesn't give you as much in combat capability as you'd like, nor are you going to be doing a lot of casting. Warrior Skald gives more BaB, while continuing IC, so that's a good thing. Trust me.

ACF's:
Bardic Knack: with your reduced int you will have less skillpoints available, so use bardic knack to get around that and put the skillpoints into stuff you really use like perform, UMD synergy skills as well as social skills.
Trade Suggestion for Song of the Heart
Healing Hymn: with a decent cure X spell and bardic knowledge you can do some decent in combat healing if necessary, as well as have your party heal in 8 hours rest as much as a full day of bedrest. never leave home without it.
Savage Bard Substitution levels: it's a bit sturdier then the normal Bard. Just use 2 skillpoints to buy back your literacy (or wait until Warrior Skald).

Feats:
Human: jack of All trades: opens up all the trained only skills for your bardic knack.
1st: Dragon Fire Inspiration, bring on the damage
3rd: Lingering Song, +5 rounds of music after you stop performing, freeing up actions? Yes please
6th: words of Creation: double your IC//DFI, how can you not take this?
9th: Snowflake Wardance, now we're getting somewhere
Other feats: Extra Music, you will use lots of them through snowflake Wardance

Items:
a Masterwork Cowbell, making sure you get the accuracy bonus of a masterwork Horn. More +to Hit on IC means more d6 dice on your DFI.
Vest of Legends: More IC is nice, especially if you can't buy off the LA form Half-Minotaur and magic-blooded.
A nice slashing weapon: Longsword, enchant as you see fit.
Armour should be mithral Chainmail or mithril breastplate, whichever as you see fit (depending on your dex mod).
Badges of valour.
Usual Suspects (cape of Cha, belt of Con, bracers of strength/armour, gloves of Dex, save boosters)

spells: 1 cure X (more optional), Glibness, grease, Sonic Weapon, Inspirational Boost (SpC), and of course the divination spells like find macguffin (locate object), discern Plot place (locate city), summon Metagaming (Know Vulnerabilities) and so on.

I hope this helps. Rock on!

[Teh_das]

Now that's an awesome build, though I'm having trouble seeing where a few points come in.

Where is the +Wis coming from? the half minotaur template I found only comes with +4 STR, +2 CON, -2 INT.

Where is Warrior Skald from?

How would a masterwork horn give an accuracy bonus?