A Bard Handbook?

[SamTheCleric]

My google-fu has failed me... and searching on these forums brings up no definitive answer...

is there an up to date handbook on all things bard?

[BardicDuelist]

What do you need to know?

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=952766

Is the most up-to-date, although I disagree with some of the points.

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=816095

Is rather good, but seems to hinge on being Exalted (as does most IC optimization).

If you have any questions, why don't you post them here and I and other forumites will try to help.

[SamTheCleric]

I was mostly looking for a list of good spell selection and good feat selection. Things I may not see as I've never played a bard before and there may be something I miss.

[Keld Denar]

Feats?

Melodic Casting/Lyrical Spell both do about the same thing...Melodic Casting is better though, because it allows you to also use your perform check instead of concentration.

Song of the Heart is in an Ebberon book, but its not very campain specific. Increases Inspire Courage by +1, requires Inspire Competance so it can be taken at 6th level.

Dragonfire Inspiration in Dragon Magic is very nice. It converts your bardsong from a solid +x/+x hit/dmg to a +xd6 energy damage. This defaults to fire, however different draconic heritage feats/features can change it. Look into Silverbrow human as a draconic subtype human for use with this.

Snowflake Wardance from Frostburn allows you to add your Cha mod to hit. This is nice for the melee bard, especially one using Dragonfire Inspiration and TWF or Whirling Blade + Power Attack.

Subsonics means you can keep one bardsong running indefinitely without worry about giving advanced warning of your approach. Alternatively, a dip in Mindbender grants telepathy so you can sing in your friends heads.

Words of Creation is from the Book of Exalted Cheese. It doubles your bonuses on most of your bardic abilities in exchange for some minor non-leathal damage. Does not require you to be exalted (I don't think). When used with Song of the Heart, Insp Boost, Badge of Valor, a Vest of Legends, and Dragonfire Insp turns an army of commoners into a Armageddon Machine (TM).

Spell?

1st
Inspirational Boost...Increases your Inspire Courage by +1. ALWAYS cast this before you sing. Also works with Dragonfire Inspiration.

2nd
Glitterdust...one of the best 2nd level wizard spell is on your list, use it just like Batman
Alter Self...spell so powerful, it has its own guide. I'm sure there is some abuse with this and the draconic subtype if you go Dragonfire Insp.
Whirling Blade...Its in Spell Compendium, read it, learn it, use it, love it.

3rd
Haste...Sometimes Batman has more imporant things to do, give the melees something extra to do with their turn, like more damage. Stops being as good around level 11-12, but great up to that point.

4th
Solid Fog...Nothing says divide and conquer like gumming up the battlefield at will. Remains good almost indefinitely. Defeated by FoM, but that isn't commonly found on monsterous foes.

I'm sure there are others, but these are my personal favorites for these levels. That should hold you over until about level 8 on inteligent play.

[SamTheCleric]

Thanks!

[Illiterate Scribe]

Words of Creation is from the Book of Exalted Cheese.

It doubles your bonuses on most of your bardic abilities in exchange for some minor non-leathal damage.

I wouldn't exactly call it minor. Sure, its' only 3d4 non-lethal for inspire courage, but when inspire heroics is dealing you 18d4 per pop, it mounts up very quickly.

Does not require you to be exalted (I don't think).

Most certainly does.

When used with Song of the Heart, Insp Boost, Badge of Valor, a Vest of Legends, and Dragonfire Insp turns an army of commoners into a Armageddon Machine (TM).

Remember that you factor in multipliers before additions. Still nasty, but not that bad.

[Mr. Friendly]

I second the Snowflake Wardance, along with Slippers of Battledancing from the PH2 (or is it DMG2?); I had a campaign breaking Bard with this combo. Of course, he also had a level of Marshal and a level of Exemplar (his focus was Diplomacy, but I used Exemplar to be able to choose Iaijutsu Focus as a class skill for a level; it was a pseudo-OA game )

He was a game breaker on multiple levels; first his IF skill was so ridiculously high that he reliably added several d6 of damage. Second he had multiple ways of drawing new weapons to use IF again. Third between Snowflake wardance and the Slippers, he was adding something like CHA to hit and 2xCHA to damage (or maybe it was the other way around) and with his high hits he could power attack without worry.

That was how he broke combat.

Out of combat was even worse with his insane Diplomacy, Bluff and Forgery skills.

The DM really, really, really hated him and so did everyone else. Mission accomplished.

[Swooper]

*Bookmarks*

Actually, since the purpose of this thread has been pretty much fulfilled (unless someone knows about another bard handbook), I'm thinking I'm going to hijack it (sorry) in a slight tangent:

I've been slowly collecting bookmarks of class handbooks for future use as they are mentioned in threads like this, but I'm still lacking a whole lot of them that must exist out there. So, why not appeal to the nice people of the Playground to post links to every class handbook they know of (and hasn't been mentioned earlier in the thread)? So far I've got:

Bard
Druid
Factotum
Sorcerer
Spellthief
Warlock and
Wizard

Can you add to the list?

[Azerian Kelimon]

I'm pretty sure Gleemax has a druid and cleric handbook, and there's certainly a warrior's handbook.

[Illiterate Scribe]

This is pretty much the be-all and end-all of such threads.

[Swooper]

Ooooh, shiny. Figures that someone had done this already. Thanks!

[Keld Denar]

Yeah, the Surealodex (as they call it) contains the collective intelligence of almost the entire character optimization board. If you can't find it through there, it probably isn't worth knowing. Many builds, both practical and theoretical have been analyzed and weighted by many hands, and much wisdom has flowed. I reference it myself almost daily. Almost everything you need to know is only a CTR + F away.