Bard of the Bow question [Archive] - Wizards Community

Bard of the Bow question [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
PsionicRanger
12-16-05, 06:07 PM is a bow wielding bard a good way to go? just wondering what to do with the lack of feats. I want to be "party-friendly" All core books allowed, all complete series, and mini handbook.

Any ideas for builds or is there already a thread you could link me to?
DDogwood
12-16-05, 06:14 PM is a bow wielding bard a good way to go? just wondering what to do with the lack of feats. I want to be "party-friendly" All core books allowed, all complete series, and mini handbook.

The lack of feats is an issue, and so is the lack of BAB. The most effective party-friendly bow-wielding Bard is probably the "Bardic Gish" - Bard 8/Sublime Chord 2/Arcane Archer 2/Eldritch Knight 8. This gives you good spellcasting, a respectable BAB, preserves a large portion of your party-friendly bardic goodness, along with an extra feat and some decent bow abilities to toss around.

I don't think an archer-bard will be as good an archer as a fighter, ranger, or cleric, but the ability to inflict damage while staying out of combat is handy for a Bard.
PsionicRanger
12-16-05, 06:28 PM Why no more than 2 levels of Sublime Chord?
X-Codes
12-16-05, 06:36 PM You don't need feats to play an effective archery bard just like you don't need feats to play an effective archery cleric. Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot are the only staples, and Precise Shot isn't actually included among those if you can get the precise weapon enhancement on your bow.

With Inspirational Boost and Words of Creation you get a +9 on attacks and damage from inspire courage at 20th or a +6 with Inspirational Boost and Song of the Heart. Once you get your Inspire Courage as high as you can, you simply get Lingering Song from CA and you can buff yourself well enough to be very effective, and your party will also become much more powerful as a whole. Lets not forget that you also get Haste.
Fingers Boggis
12-16-05, 06:56 PM One of the parties I DMed for a while back had a bard archer as its sixth member. She was very party friendly and pretty useful with a bow as well. The base of the build i think was bard 8/pal 2/sub. chord 2 and that was about as far as we got but Im pretty sure the intent was to go for sacred exorcist to get some Turning and Divine feats to add to the cha synergy.

But yeah if you've got the main aspects of party life covered a bardic archer will lift everyone elses game and contribute to damage and any social interactions themselves.

Fingers
sCRuLooSe
12-16-05, 07:14 PM Why no more than 2 levels of Sublime Chord?

The stuff you can take other than sublime chord 3-10 is better than sublime chord 3-10.

Personaly I would take the loss in BAB and take a full arcane caster progression with sublime chord to geth the 9th level spells. Take the obtain familiar feat and use imbue familiar with spell ability to give your familiar dispel magic and cast tensers transformation when you need the martial oomph for a heavy archer. Of course with the bardic bonuses you get, a BAB of +11 or +12 will generally be good enough without Tensers.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
PsionicRanger 12-16-05, 06:07 PM	is a bow wielding bard a good way to go? just wondering what to do with the lack of feats. I want to be "party-friendly" All core books allowed, all complete series, and mini handbook. Any ideas for builds or is there already a thread you could link me to?
DDogwood 12-16-05, 06:14 PM	is a bow wielding bard a good way to go? just wondering what to do with the lack of feats. I want to be "party-friendly" All core books allowed, all complete series, and mini handbook. The lack of feats is an issue, and so is the lack of BAB. The most effective party-friendly bow-wielding Bard is probably the "Bardic Gish" - Bard 8/Sublime Chord 2/Arcane Archer 2/Eldritch Knight 8. This gives you good spellcasting, a respectable BAB, preserves a large portion of your party-friendly bardic goodness, along with an extra feat and some decent bow abilities to toss around. I don't think an archer-bard will be as good an archer as a fighter, ranger, or cleric, but the ability to inflict damage while staying out of combat is handy for a Bard.
PsionicRanger 12-16-05, 06:28 PM	Why no more than 2 levels of Sublime Chord?
X-Codes 12-16-05, 06:36 PM	You don't need feats to play an effective archery bard just like you don't need feats to play an effective archery cleric. Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot are the only staples, and Precise Shot isn't actually included among those if you can get the precise weapon enhancement on your bow. With Inspirational Boost and Words of Creation you get a +9 on attacks and damage from inspire courage at 20th or a +6 with Inspirational Boost and Song of the Heart. Once you get your Inspire Courage as high as you can, you simply get Lingering Song from CA and you can buff yourself well enough to be very effective, and your party will also become much more powerful as a whole. Lets not forget that you also get Haste.
Fingers Boggis 12-16-05, 06:56 PM	One of the parties I DMed for a while back had a bard archer as its sixth member. She was very party friendly and pretty useful with a bow as well. The base of the build i think was bard 8/pal 2/sub. chord 2 and that was about as far as we got but Im pretty sure the intent was to go for sacred exorcist to get some Turning and Divine feats to add to the cha synergy. But yeah if you've got the main aspects of party life covered a bardic archer will lift everyone elses game and contribute to damage and any social interactions themselves. Fingers
sCRuLooSe 12-16-05, 07:14 PM	Why no more than 2 levels of Sublime Chord? The stuff you can take other than sublime chord 3-10 is better than sublime chord 3-10. Personaly I would take the loss in BAB and take a full arcane caster progression with sublime chord to geth the 9th level spells. Take the obtain familiar feat and use imbue familiar with spell ability to give your familiar dispel magic and cast tensers transformation when you need the martial oomph for a heavy archer. Of course with the bardic bonuses you get, a BAB of +11 or +12 will generally be good enough without Tensers.