I'm having a tough time trying to build a decent halfling crossbow bard. The concept is he is a rapper, and part of Borimir criminal organization in Sharn. So I want the following:
- Crossbow fighter, should be able to hold his own in a weapons fight
- Halfling
- He will probably be the party skill monkey. There is no Rogue.
- Level 9, 40,000 gp
- Point buy system 28 points.
- Any Ebberon, PHB or Spell Compendium spell.
My plan so far is:
- Halfling / Rogue (racial substitution) 1/Bard 8
- STR 10, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 12, WIS 8, CHA 18 (before items)
- Feats: Song of the Heart, Melodic Casting, Weapon Focus (xbow) and Crossbow Sniper.
- Bardic Knack Variant (from PHB2 I think)
- We play with all skills as class skills, so I'm taken mostly roguish skills.
- Openning tap, Conceal Spell casting, Cleaver Improviser.
- Gear: +1 Quick Loading light crossbow, Mithril Breastplate +1,
Crown of Flames (CHA +2), Item of Dex +2
Gloves of Giantfelling, Badge of Valor
Cloak of Resistance, Bling of protection, wand of reduce person.
Alot of +1 precise and +1 Bane bolts.
What I hate:
- Not having Precise Shot sucks. I can put it on ammo but that costly.
- He needs to do alot more damage. and hopefully get more HP.
- He just isn't hardcore enough. He seems to "giving".
- I'd love to find a way to channel spells or Bardic music into more damage.
I think if you want to be a good crossbow sniper, you should do more rogue levels. Take extra music if it's a big deal, but with lyric inspiration and the badge of valor, and song of the heart, you get a +4/+4 bonus with only 3 levels of bard. Of course, if you want to get it for free per the Eberron rules, I think you need to wait until Bard6 to get it (I'm hazy on that rule).
Either way, though, you're not going to do a ton of damage with your weapon. 1d6 SA is far from great. Personally, I'd lean toward either snowflake wardance or some tome of battle stuff (dex-to-damage).
I think melodic casting is AWESOME, don't ditch it. It means you don't have to keep concentration around, and it means you can cast spells and use scrolls. A commonly-overlooked flaw in melodic casting, however, is the fact that it won't let you use wands as part of your song.
If you're already going for melodic casting, and you've got skills covered, you might want to look into a few levels of Lyric Thaumaturge. You lose out on your inspire courage progression, but you gain (at LT3) a first- and second-level wizard spell for your repertoire. Wraithstrike helps a lot in this case. Lyric Thaumaturge, IMO, makes the bard a passable gish, with extra spells/day, and cherry-picking the best low-level wizard buffs.
LT 2 also grants that other feat that gives you a +2 DC on enchant/illusion spells. That's not bad either. Couple that with Spell Focus, and you can be pretty mean even with low-level spells, especially considering that many foes (humanoids, monstrous humanoids) have poor will saves. But that's an entirely different direction.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: a crossbow sniper is hard to pull off in the best situation, and this is far from the best situation.
Also, for items, get a Vest of Legends(DMGII 16k gold). It grants a +5 perform check (great synergy with Melodic Casting!) and counts the songs you have as if you were 5 levels higher. This makes you a 13th level bard. Next level you'll be 14th and have Inspire +3, which with Song of the Heart AND Badge of Valor makes you a +5. +5 bardsong is very very nice.
Another idea after you grab that 10th level as a bard is to take your 11th level as a Marshal (MH) and get the Motivate Dex minor aura. This gives your entire party a bonus to initiative and dex based checks (like tumble and balance). The big thing is the init, because teams that go first win first.
Also, don't neglect your spells. I've very very fond of bards using the spell Whirling Blade(SC, Bard2, Trans) for making ranged attacks. It uses your cha for hit, gains the bonuses of your bardsong, AND you can enchant it with fun stuff. I personally like Sudden Stunning (DMGII 2k gold) which allows you to make a swift action after a successful melee strike with the weapon to stun the foe for 1d4+1 rounds unless they make a reflex save DC (10 + 1/2 level + cha mod) which should be really high for a bard. Oh, and its useable +cha times per day. The synergy there is when you cast Whirling Blade, you attack as if you were making a melee attack, so you can trigger the Sudden Stunning property from it. That makes you a powerful disabler for your team, on top of your already powerful buffing. The fighters will love you, the casters will love you...who doesn't love an awesome bard?
I am definitely holding firm on crossbows. I know I can get a lot more out of bows, but I want the character to use a crossbow. I'm not that set on Crossbow sniper, but it does give me +2 dmg, which I really need.
I really like the idea of this vest. I'm considering grabbing one, dropping to Bard 6, and taking 2 levels of Fighter. Net result would be I'd gain Inspire Greatness, Point blank shot, precise Shot, and a few hp, but I'd lose my best spells and a lot of my other gear. It would definitely help the build a lot though.
This sudden stunning/whirling blade combo may be doable as well. Even without the spell it would be fun to use have a spiked gauntlet with sudden stunning to add a little force to my backhands. I'm definitely logging some quality time with the DMGII tonight.
Anyone know if there is a way to drop bardic music or spells to get more crossbow damage? I've seen it for melee, and there something in magic item compendium for bows, but no love for the crossbow.
Cool
Also, if you used bladed gauntlets as opposed to spiked gauntlets, you could Whirling Blade your fists, since they are slashing. +1 Sudden Stunning Bladed Gauntlets would be ~4300 gold and worth every penny.
Alternately, a Swordcane is an ideal pimp weapon, especially combined with the furry wide brimmed hat and coat. No one will suspect you till you cast Whirling Blade and blast them with your pimp cane (props for reference!).
As for adding damage with your crossbow....you do add your Inspire Courage bonus to hit and damage with your crossbow just like everyone else. The higher you make your Inspire, the more damage you'll do. Dragonfire Inspiration would add a bunch of d6 damage instead of +s, but you'd lose your to hit, and its elemental damage which gets cut sharply by fire resistance 10, and also requires an additional feat investment. Sadly, crossbows don't scale will with any stat, and there aren't very many feats that improve them that scale well either.
There is a feat in Drow of the Underdark called Hand Crossbown focus, which gives you the benefits of weapon focus and let you reload it as a free action, making it a much better weapon !
Yea, then you could stick it in your belt under your shirt, and when you draw it to fire, hold it sideways. That would have some major hollywood points, but probably wouldn't be very practical....
EDIT: You should also name your "piece" Beretta, or Desert Eagle 50 cal or something....
I've revamped my plan a little thanks to a pile of help from this thread. I'm now thinking Rogue 2/ Bard 7. And trading my sneak attack for fighter feats. That would give me Point Blank and Precise shot, as well as evasion. Since I've got no sneak attack I'll do away with crossbow sniper and weapon focus, taking rapid shot and Dragonfire Inspiration instead. I'll buy a 1000 gp weapon crystal for an extra 1d6 base damage and use dragonfire chanting when I need big damage.
Wyvernhand, the only reference I've found to a sword cane is in Cityscape. It says it's a rapier in a cane, which deals piercing damage. Is there a slashing swordcane somewhere? Whirling a pimp cane of stunning sounds so cool.
The question would be, can you Whirl it while sheathed in the cane, or are you required to draw it first? The spell discription makes no note of this, simply that you much hold the weapon as a focus.