Bards

[EphU437]

A bard in a campaign I'm running wants advice about how to develop his character.

From a power-build point of view, what is a bard best at?

What can a bard do to increase the effectiveness and uses of his bardic music? So far I have inspire spellpower, Ironskin chant, and the 1st level spell that improves insp. courage.

Does the bards suggestion ability benefit from spell-focus enchantment?

Thanks,
Eph

[Talya]

From a power-build point of view, what is a bard best at?

Spontaneous casting. Take Sublime Chord (C.Arc) as a PrC.



What can a bard do to increase the effectiveness and uses of his bardic music? So far I have inspire spellpower, Ironskin chant, and the 1st level spell that improves insp. courage.
Song of the Heart (Eberron) is a feat that boosts bonuses from inspire courage by another +1, stacks with the spell.
Chaos Music (I forget) is another feat that boosts all of your bardic music by 4 levels, not limited by level (although you still need to meet the skill requirements to play certain bardsongs.)


Does the bards suggestion ability benefit from spell-focus enchantment?

No. But that's a very good houserule that I have used in the past.

[Aerogoat]

Bard's a flexible class. It can serve as a solid base for just about any sort of build (Arcanist? Check. Tank? Check. Skillmonkey? Check). It's really just up to the sort of character you want to play.

Inspire Courage Optimization (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=816095) from the Gleemax boards.

[Thrawn183]

Tank? Please expouse upon this notion.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Tank? Please expouse upon this notion.

Bard/Barbarian/warchanter. You can even use Bardic Music while raging

[loves_to_laugh]

Bards can be just about anything. You just have to help build it in the right direction. For example with a barbarian. As long as you have a decent strength you would then get several bonuses if you inspired courage and raged.

[Aerogoat]

Bard does very well with multiclassing and Prestige classing very.
For melee, Bard/Crusader or Bard/Warblade are powerful melee combinations which allow full Inspire Courage progression. Snowflake Wardance or Slippers of Battledancing synergize Charisma with combat, as do Arcane Duelist dips. Swiftblade also works quite well.
For Spellcasting, Sublime Chord is superb. Recaster and Lyric Thaumaturge also help.

For a well-rounded generic Bard, Bard 8/Virtuoso 2/Sublime Chord 2/Virtuoso 8 casts spells as well as a Sorcerer, has 6 skill points per level (for the most part) and keeps a focus on Bardic Music. Add more Prestige classes to taste.

Melodic Casting is an excellent feat for most Bards.
Arcane Strike works well in most melee caster-heavy builds.
Song of the Heart, Dragonfire Inspiration and Words of Creation can be useful depending on your setting/party/concept.