3.5 Band (All-Bard Party)

[Ameronth]

So, my brother and I are working a concept for a special D&D game. The concept is that the party of characters consists entirely of bards. They are a band. We would love to see some suggestions for character ideas. Our personal stipulations are: 5 level 6 bards total, "pure" bards (no multiclass aside from bard prestige classes). We're going for a Spinal Tap vibe. We have a frontman/lead mandolin by the name of Edward von Halen (working title) and a name for the band: Minstrel Psychal.

Thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

[Sian]

a Divine bard somewhere in the setup?

[Ashtagon]

Dungeon Magazine #99 is your friend.

[Zaq]

I played in an all-Bard party once, and it was a blast. Bards are versatile enough that you can have surprisingly little overlap even in an entire party. Have at least one person with Dragonfire Inspiration, and have at least one person with pumped-up Inspire Courage but no DFI, because the two stack (or rather, they don't need to stack, because they provide bonuses to different things). Also, Speak Language is a class skill for you guys, so have everyone take the same obscure language to use to discuss things privately. I recommend Buommi, from the Planar Handbook—it consists of wordless singing. If anyone asks, you can all Bluff that you're just practicing your harmony.

You'll want at least one melee person with Snowflake Wardance, and you'll probably want at least one ranged person with Charming the Arrow, if you're willing to play a killoren or another fey.

At least one of you should focus heavily on skills, but it wouldn't hurt you to have more than one person who can handle a given skill, so don't worry too much about doubling up. If nothing else, you can always aid another.

[Zubrowka74]

How about the drummer being a fear-based, black metal knock-off? There's plenty of builds out there. You could try fitting a level of Nightmare Spinner but I don't know if there's a trick to qualify in 5 levels without multiclassing.

[Hiro Quester]

It's way overpowered, but the disciple of metal bard is a thing of awesomeness. I've always wanted to adapt this concept to a 3.5 context.

Edit :
And for another flavor, check out the Heartfire Fanner PrC in dragon mag. 319, as I recall. Bard songs that give others temp use of fighter bonus feats. It's very useful to be able to give everyone the feat of their choice with a song. Two feats at third level. I played a bard/sublime chord/ heart fire fanner in my previous game. That song was often requested.

[Optimator]

Sounds like an awesome campaign--Bard is definitely my favorite class.

Melee Bards are awesome, be it a Gishy Snowflake Wardancer or a BardBlade/Bard'Sader. Even just going for Strength and Power-Attacking away an optimized Inspire Courage is functional. War Chanter works well for that. Dragonfire War Chanters are sick, even without Words of Creation. I'd steer clear of Warrior Skald. There are probably others that mesh well. The basic Bard spell list has a few gish gems like Greater Mirror Image, Greater Heroics, Empyreal Ecstasy, Snowsong... the list goes on. Doesn't come online until later levels (without Sublime Chord) but it's quite potent once you're there and you're a fully functional skill-y singing buffer up until then anyway. I'm sure there's a way to make a great Sublime Chord Swiftblade Gish. Loresong can sometimes be the superior choice for a melee Bard.

Bards can make potent volley archers. Inspire Courage with Rapid Shot, Power Shot, Deadeye Shot, and appropriate stats and spells makes for a delightful ranged threat/party buffer. A level of Targeteer Fighter is nice. Does anyone know if it can be combined with Drow Fighter? Grease under an enemy and pluck away! Gotta love the three G's! (Gibness, Glitterdust, Grease)

For a caster you obviously can't go wrong with a cookie-cutter Sublime Chord->Virtuoso. Prestige Bard with a Wizard base is amazing though. Take advantage of the spells Bards get early! (Greater Dispel Magic, Hindsight, Otto's Irresistable Dance, there are a few others) Also, many later level 6 Bard spells are balanced toward end-game level 7, 8, and 9 spells so take advantage of getting those early as well! Snowsong, Inner Beauty, and Nixie's Grace can boost your spell DCs, Empyreal Ecstasy is great for a buffer, there are many others. Doomspeak is amazing for the caster Bard, as is Metamagic Song with Extend and Quicken. There's always the ever potent Ur-Priest Sublime Chord Mystic Theurge.

I like the Arcane Mastery feat or Sublime Chords sionce it's so easy for them to boost CL (Inspire Greatness and Practiced Spellcaster is a fun combo!) and they get Greater Dispel Magic early. Dispel someone's Mindblank (quickened with Metamagic Song, a rod, or Arcane Spellsurge) and follow up with a DC-boosted Enchantment spell! I like a two level Lyric Thurmaturge dip on my Sublime Chords for the free feat. I'm also fond of Disguise Spell for Sublime Chords. Who's casting all the high-level spells? Couldn't be the guy with the fiddle! Nobody's going to make that Spot check. Add in Subsonics for a double-dose of subterfuge. Dispel any Arcane Sights in the vicinity and take over the world. Monarchs beware!

Ask your DM to allow Dirgesinger to advance Casting 5/5 (hardly overpowered!) and ask for spell research. Nab the Create Undead line, Animate Dead, Revive Undead, Animate Dread Warrior, etc. Corpse Crafter and perhaps another feat or three may be appropriate. Bardic Necromancer who buffs his own creations!! Use Undead Leadership and diplomacy to control your minions! The last ability of Dirgesingers is surprisingly potent. Useful for combat, useful for preventing resurrection, and 1,000,000 times better than Speak With Dead or Reveille! This build is great for fear-stacking too. Use Inspire Awe first off (the DC is huge) and follow up with Haunting Melody or the Fear spell or similar things (or all of them!) and use the other Dirgesinger songs. Doomspeak works brilliantly here too. Grab spells like Enervation, Ray of Sickness, Fear, etc and debuff the bejeezus out of everyone. Nightmare Spinner works well for this, as does that one witch PrC.

In a party like this a Seeker of the Song might not be half-bad, though there are better PrCs out there. The dual-song ability is always nice. As for skills, acquiring Trapfinding is easy. Check out all the Bard ACFs in Unearthed Arcana as well as Complete Mage, Complete Champion, Dungeonscape, etc. The one song that increases the Move Silently checks for the party would be appropriate for the skill guy. Virtuoso is good for the skill guy since they get 6 points per level. A Craven Rogue Bard IC melee blender sounds functional.

I like dropping Fascinate for the healing song from CC if I go for a Virtuoso since you get it back. I love Fascinate though! "Here, let me play you a song..." I like going for Perform: Comedy and fascinating. Shoot the **** with folks, crack a few jokes, and they're enthralled before they know it.

Stormsinger! I love the Stormsinger. See of your DM will be lenient with how many Bardic Musics the abilities take and blast things all day er'ry day. Control Winds is an absolute killer spell so having it always on hand is delightful. Boreal Wind is a surprisingly potent blast spell. Frostburn is just in general a kickass book, especially for Bards.

[Flickerdart]

Bards are a great candidate for Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar - the higher HD and BAB makes it better than a wizard's. With your awesome music, every extra body means a very chunky amount of damage, so consider Wild Cohort or just some trained war dogs you buy and Handle Animal.

[Troacctid]

For that matter, consider having at least one of the band members replace their buff songs with an animal companion. You don't need more than one Inspire Courage anyway.

[Hiro Quester]

Oh, also the front line will benefit from knowing Sirine's grace. Untyped charisma bonus to AC.

Since everyone in the party will probably have a decent, if not high, charisma, consider all the ways to use charisma in the x stat to y bonus thread.

The items my bard character got a lot of use from
Gauntlets of heartfelt blows (cha bonus in fire damage to all melee attacks)
Slippers of Battledancing cha to attack and damage (but check if your DM will let it stack with snowflake wardance). It helps to have pounce.
Your archer bard needs a bow of song (cha to attack and damage)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You would most likely want some slight multiclassing/dipping, ending up with Bard 8 at 10th level going into Sublime Chord. For example, one character can dip Ranger with the Trap Expert ACF so the party can find and disable traps. A few can get a Sorcerer dip with the Dragonblood Sorcerer 1 substitution level for Draconic Heritage so their Dragonfire Inspiration adds a different type of damage, since different damage types will stack. Additionally, those with a Sorcerer dip can use Wands of Wings of Cover to keep themselves and the others safe.

Alternatively, you could use this build (not necessarily evil, and necropolitan is optional) and make them a death metal band. That would be more of a 'pure bard' build for each of them, but with a much darker outlook.

[Suteinu]

Ashtagon: What in Dungeon #99 is so Bard-handy, just so I know what I'm looking for?

and Edward von Halen needs to obtain an Item Familiar: THE PICK OF DESTINY





Rock!!

[Ashtagon]

Ashtagon: What in Dungeon #99 is so Bard-handy, just so I know what I'm looking for?

It's called Hijinx. A minicampaign setting concept designed around bands.

[Telonius]

We're going for a Spinal Tap vibe.

I'd hate to be the guy who chose Perform (Percussion). Maybe a high-level character has a Contingent spell (Reincarnation) ready for him?

Anyway, an easy thing to do would be to specialize in weapons according to the role. Percussion guy could have a mace (maybe lightning maces?), lead guitar would be an axe, bassist would be maybe a longbow,

If anybody takes Snowflake Wardance, the backing song should be the Immigrant Song.

Magic Item Compendium has the Crystal Echoblade. I'd look into that; see if you can get the DM to slightly alter the cost and make different sorts of weapons have the same properties.



... you know, I just thought of something. It would require a couple of houserules, but it would be perfect for this kind of situation.

Red Wizard of Thay, from the DMG. Remove "human from Thay" as a prerequisite, and change the Tattoo Focus feat to remove the prerequisite and Region. (That way he could qualify for the class as a Bard, but wouldn't gain any benefits regarding school specialization).

Seriously, check out those abilities and tell me they wouldn't be perfect for the leader of a group of Bards to have. A one-hour jam session to power up spells? Badass tattoos that make people a part of the band? He could be the guy that concentrates on the offensive spellcasting, while the others go for Bardic Music or combat.

[Hiro Quester]

Red Wizard of Thay, from the DMG. Remove "human from Thay" as a prerequisite, and change the Tattoo Focus feat to remove the prerequisite and Region. (That way he could qualify for the class as a Bard, but wouldn't gain any benefits regarding school specialization).

Seriously, check out those abilities and tell me they wouldn't be perfect for the leader of a group of Bards to have. A one-hour jam session to power up spells? Badass tattoos that make people a part of the band? He could be the guy that concentrates on the offensive spellcasting, while the others go for Bardic Music or combat.

Hey.... That band use of circle magic would indeed be awesome. Esp the daily 1hour jam session to power up the group's spells. Cast a level 3 spell into the pool to power a +3 level metamagic, to maximize a disintegrate spell? Yes please!

The rule does say you cast a prepared spell into the pool (because wizard). But if that can apply to spontaneous bard casting, you'd have a powerful group there!

Edit: this is taking it past the OP stipulation of 5 level 6 bards, and only bard PrCs. But a great idea for a general all-bard group at higher levels, with dips into other classes.

[Flickerdart]

... you know, I just thought of something. It would require a couple of houserules, but it would be perfect for this kind of situation.

Red Wizard of Thay, from the DMG. Remove "human from Thay" as a prerequisite, and change the Tattoo Focus feat to remove the prerequisite and Region. (That way he could qualify for the class as a Bard, but wouldn't gain any benefits regarding school specialization).

Seriously, check out those abilities and tell me they wouldn't be perfect for the leader of a group of Bards to have. A one-hour jam session to power up spells? Badass tattoos that make people a part of the band? He could be the guy that concentrates on the offensive spellcasting, while the others go for Bardic Music or combat.

...


...


Metaconcert.

[newb]

Want to say their is a way to add a blade on to your instrument. Nonmagical

[kpumphre]

Complete scoundrel page 110 Instrument blade

[atemu1234]

Want to say their is a way to add a blade on to your instrument. Nonmagical

Then throw on magical enhancements (Shocking Burst, anyone?).

[Chronos]

Quoth Flickerdart:

Bards are a great candidate for Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar - the higher HD and BAB makes it better than a wizard's.

Even more importantly, a familiar gets all of your skill ranks, which on a bard, is considerable. When I played a bard, it was always nice to, for instance, be able to roll two sets of Gather Information. And then I really could know things because a little birdie told me. If nothing else, it's an easy Aid Another on every skill check you make.

One point to be careful of, DMing for this party: If you're not allowing dips in any non-bard base classes, you're probably going to be lacking Trapfinding. Yes, I know people say that spellcasters can deal with traps via summons, but that's not really true: If, for instance, the trap consists of an alarm that'll bring all the monsters in the dungeon to your location at once, it really doesn't help you if it was triggered by an earth elemental 30' away from you. So you'll either have to go to a lot of trouble to get Trapfinding on someone (the only non-dip method I know of requires 2 or 3 feats), or make sure not to include any traps they can't deal with otherwise.

[Fouredged Sword]

I would be very tempted to run an active healer. Healing Hymn + war weaver + cure light wounds X5 in that spell weave means you can heal the whole party 5d6+140 hp as a move action. You can fill the weave at the end of the day using leftover spell slots.

[M Placeholder]

If you want even more variety, you could include an Athasian Bard. Their whole shtick is master poisoner. If you have a player joining after Third Level, and the campaign is using the "Great Wheel", then go for it.


http://www.athas.org/products/ds3