Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 billplaysbards Jun 20, 2012 19:50:09	Gnome Bard Ability Scores STR 11 DEX 16 CON 12 INT 15 WIS 10 CHA 16 I have 32 skill points and cant cut down certain choices. Looking for suggestions: Bluff Diplomacy Escape Artist Gather Info Intimidate Listen Move Silently Sense Motive Sleight Of Hand Spell Craft Also cant decide between any feats. I cant decide which are pointless and whats not. Any help would be great! Thanks
#2 Tempest_Stormwind Jun 20, 2012 19:55:22	What are you wanting to do with the bard, and what books are allowed? Without that the best we can do is post a link to a handbook. dictummortuum.blogspot.ca/2011/08/bards-...
#3 billplaysbards Jun 20, 2012 19:59:32	Sorry, were playing 3.5 and i'm just making this bard out of the PHB. I'm not sure what books wouldnt be allowed. I want to make him sneaky and a thief but still a bard. Just good at tricking people and talking people into things he wants them to do.
#4 Tempest_Stormwind Jun 20, 2012 20:55:54	Sorry, were playing 3.5 and i'm just making this bard out of the PHB. I'm not sure what books wouldnt be allowed. I want to make him sneaky and a thief but still a bard. Just good at tricking people and talking people into things he wants them to do. Take a peek through the handbook link I posted; it's kind of advanced because bards are a diverse class, but you should be able to follow it. The two unique things they bring to the table - bardic music (especially Inspire Courage) and the unique bard spell list (most of the unique spells are related to sound, with a healthy dose of mind-affecting effects) - are hard to combine with a sneaky-sneaky thief, though not impossible. They lend themselves particularly well to the "charming rogue" approach to thievery. The stats you have are amazing for a Words of Creation-styled bard, for what it's worth. They aren't too sneaky, but they're downright amazing at Inspire Courage (they're able to double the bonus it provides; when combined with the numerous effects that increase its bonus (the Song of the Heart feat, the Inspirational Boost spell, and the Badge of Valor come to mind immediately) this can add up very, very fast. There's two reasons they aren't more common: they require 15 Intelligence (you've got that, but not all bards do) and the feat is in the Book of Exalted Deeds (although it isn't an [Exalted] feat, the book itself isn't held in very high regard).
#5 billplaysbards Jun 21, 2012 18:54:06	Awesome, ill look through it for sure. Maybe I wont be as sneaky but I want a good sleight of hand score and to be able to hide when needed.
#6 The_Fred Jun 23, 2012 8:39:44	By using Illusions, bumping Bluff and maybe looking to take social/deception things like e.g. Diguise Spell (not sure if you will be allowed that as it's not PHB) you can make quite a sneaky guy, if not in the same way as a stealth-master rogue. Deception and trickery are still right up your street. For skills, I would say put at least one point into Spellcraft and some of the Knowledges (you do have Bardic Knowledge, but it's nice to cover some of the key ones, if your party doesn't) so you can at least make checks, then focus on things like Sleight of Hand and Bluff. Use Magic Device is awesome, and I would rather have Tumble than Escape Artist, though a few points in the latter might be nice (hardly necessary though, I don't think). After that it's more about how many of the social skills (Diplomacy, Intimidate, Gather Info) you want to and are able to bump (I would say Bluff + Gather gives a more diverse set than, say, Bluff + Diplo).