Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lightblade 02-15-07, 02:25 AM	Hi, all. My main Greyhawk PC is Gimbo, a gnome Drd 6 / Brd 2 / Rog 2. He was going for Fochucyan Lyracist, but with the 20% penalty to gold i'll be seeing for all of 10th level, as well as the changes to wildshape, i'm thinking of Brd 7 / Rog 2 / Drd 1 / Sublime Chord 1 to... Fochucyan Lyracist. I've settled on the levels, so please no telling me i should make an AH or switch the rogue to shadowthrower or anything like that. Still, I've got a couple of questions: 0) Stats: I think i'll do something like buy (after racial bumps) Str 9 Dex 12 Con 15 Int 14 Wis 12 Cha 14, and put both bumps into CHA. (I lost a point of STR in the last core special, and i have access to craft special bracers of resistance that give +3 resistance (+5 vs death effects) for cheap, but they suck up 1 CON). Still, the fact that it's a bracer slot is the kicker. I'll need a cloak of CHA, and the last interactive I played gave access to the Vest of Legends, which i never thought i'd actually care about. I suppose i can drop my strength down to 7 (really 6) and be heavily encumbered until i can craft myself a belt of giant strength at 13th level, and start with a CHA of 15. Thoughts? 1) What feats should I pick up? I've got CWI already, so that needs to stay. Things that look interesting are: Practiced Spellcaster (Bard). Will that help my Sublime Chord Casting? Trivial Knowledge: I'll most likely have a rank in each Knowledge skill, rolling twice seems kind of neat. This would probably replace Gnomelore in spirit. Razing Strike, since the build just wanders into the requirements for it? Post Rebuild/later levels Melodic Casting, since the build is really short on skillpoints, even with a int of 14, having perform double as conc and being able to cast without starting the 5 round time limit would be nice. Clap of thunder: looks like Sublime Chords get many sonic spells. Would probably work best with Razing Strike, that is to say not often at all. 2) Spells to learn as a bard? The following are ones i'm looking at: 1) Inspirational Boost, Friendly Face, Improvisation, Feather Fall OR Grease Maybe Identify (to craft a Monacle of Perusal, because i can?) 2)Eagle's Splendor(for crafting), Glitterdust?(I have fairie fire) Silence (have access to the wand?) I dunno, could use advice at this level. 3)Too many good choices here. Glibness, Haste, Dispel Magic. Too bad i only get to pick 2. Well, that's it for now. Thanks in advance!
Mommy was an Orc 02-15-07, 09:20 AM	Remember, the way crafting rules work now, you can craft a Belt of Strength immediately. I'd go for a couple more of the Bard-style feats - Arcane Prep, even with Memento Magic wandering around, is really useful for a Bard/Sublime Chord - lets you use Rods of X without full round actions. It also lets you Pearl back spells - you know you'll likely use 3 Inspirational Boosts per day, and no more than 1 per combat with Melodic Casting. The way I'd build things is: Rogue 1 Druid 1 Bard 1-6 Rogue 2 Bard 7 That maximizes your skill points and puts Bard 1 at 3rd level for taking as many SpC spells as possible - sure, it is idiotic if you're playing it out, but... I'd pick up the following feats: 1: Improved Init - go first, you're a bard, you want to be singing before anyone else goes. 3: Arcane Prep 6: CWI 9: Melodic Casting 12: Practiced Spellcaster(Bard) Crafting: You buy scrolls of things for crafting. I like the following Bard spells: 1: Inspirational Boost, Improvisation, Grease, Invisibility(Swift), 2: Glitterdust, Silence, Harmonize 3: Haste, Confusion - as a Sublime Chord, you'll get Greater Dispel as a 5th level spell choice at 11th. Confusion is a good bard nuke.
Alpha_Nerd 02-15-07, 09:22 AM	I know you said you've already got the classes set, but I'd highly recommend switching from bard 7 to bard 5/lyric thaumaturge 2. You'are already thinking about Melodic Casting, and 2 levels of lyric thaumaturge get you captivating melody (swift action to burn bardic music attempt for +2 dc on enchantment/illusion spells) and an extra 1st and 2nd level bard slot.
Mommy was an Orc 02-15-07, 09:49 AM	I know you said you've already got the classes set, but I'd highly recommend switching from bard 7 to bard 5/lyric thaumaturge 2. You'are already thinking about Melodic Casting, and 2 levels of lyric thaumaturge get you captivating melody (swift action to burn bardic music attempt for +2 dc on enchantment/illusion spells) and an extra 1st and 2nd level bard slot. Except this is an FL build - at 11th, he gets Inspire Courage +3, 12th Inspire Greatness. Putting 2 levels into Lyric Thaumaturge puts those back to 13th/14th. In any case, if I were going to go Lyric Thaumaturge, I'd start off with Bard 4/Druid 1/Rogue 1, then do Lyric Thaum 2/Rogue 2/Lyric Thaum 3. Get the spell secret and better saves. You use Extra Music to qualify for LT.
kegdrainer 02-15-07, 10:29 AM	Since he's rebuilding, he can not use Lyric Thaumaturge unless he plans on losing a level and picking it up later.
Mommy was an Orc 02-15-07, 10:48 AM	Since he's rebuilding, he can not use Lyric Thaumaturge unless he plans on losing a level and picking it up later. Good point.
Lightblade 02-15-07, 12:35 PM	Remember, the way crafting rules work now, you can craft a Belt of Strength immediately. Except I need 2nd list Druid spells for the Bull's Strength, since it's not on the Bard list, and i'm not of the opinion it's on the Sublime list, either. I'd go for a couple more of the Bard-style feats - Arcane Prep, even with Memento Magic wandering around, is really useful for a Bard/Sublime Chord - lets you use Rods of X without full round actions. It also lets you Pearl back spells - you know you'll likely use 3 Inspirational Boosts per day, and no more than 1 per combat with Melodic Casting. The way I'd build things is: Rogue 1 Druid 1 Bard 1-6 Rogue 2 Bard 7 That maximizes your skill points and puts Bard 1 at 3rd level for taking as many SpC spells as possible - sure, it is idiotic if you're playing it out, but... I'd pick up the following feats: 1: Improved Init - go first, you're a bard, you want to be singing before anyone else goes. 3: Arcane Prep 6: CWI 9: Melodic Casting 12: Practiced Spellcaster(Bard) I'll take a look at Arcane Prep. Improved Initiative is also interesting, and it already follows the 3rd level rule. Any reason you ordered Melodic Casting and Practiced Spellcaster that way? I just leveled to 10, so i wouldn't have it anyway until 11th level; perhaps waiting just one more level would be worth not needing to retrain. Crafting: You buy scrolls of things for crafting. I like the following Bard spells: 1: Inspirational Boost, Improvisation, Grease, Invisibility(Swift), 2: Glitterdust, Silence, Harmonize 3: Haste, Confusion - as a Sublime Chord, you'll get Greater Dispel as a 5th level spell choice at 11th. Confusion is a good bard nuke. Fair enough, although Eagle's Splendor will come up in so much of the stuff I want to craft, i figured it was worht taking. (Cloaks of Cha, Vest of Legends, and Circlet of Persuasion are the ones that come to mind, that's a lot of gold in scrolls.) I suppose I can get scrolls of Glibness when I need to be lying through my teeth. Is harmonize really that helpful, given Melodic casting is in the build? One more question: with the amount of skill points i need to sink into prereqs, is it worth it to try to pick up some Search / DD? I had heard that i should have some basic proficiency in it, but i think that was back when a cleric could imbue me with DI. I guess there's Improvisation, but still...
copper_wyrmling 02-15-07, 05:46 PM	One more question: with the amount of skill points i need to sink into prereqs, is it worth it to try to pick up some Search / DD? I had heard that i should have some basic proficiency in it, but i think that was back when a cleric could imbue me with DI. I guess there's Improvisation, but still... Yeah, I think that was me, at a table where you were the only person with rogue levels and the rest of the party could've given you about +20 on the disable check if you'd just had one rank :( In the absence of divine insight, it's probably not worth any significant investment unless you have some way to get the DD check up to at least +20 when needed (since magic traps are DC 25 + spell level). However, one rank in DD might still be worthwhile - it at least lets you roll to assist a real rogue.