Throw your best Bard builds at me, please!

[Babuguuscooties]

Only restriction: I'd like to stick to good and or neutral alignments.

So: NG, CG, CN, TN only.

[Sun Wukong]

Strength based Fighter 4/Bard 26?

[Babuguuscooties]

Is Fighter vastly superior to AK? Just curious

[Sun Wukong]

Kind of since you get all armor and shield proficiencies at level 2, and can get those 3 extra fighter bonus feats.

[chad878262]

Bard 26/R4. Use mithral chainmail and get evasion/ expose weakness.

However, I enjoy B24/F3/R3. CL28 is fine and this way you get 2 bonus feats pre epic plus evasion and expose weakness.

[Babuguuscooties]

Bard 26/R4. Use mithral chainmail and get evasion/ expose weakness.

However, I enjoy B24/F3/R3. CL28 is fine and this way you get 2 bonus feats pre epic plus evasion and expose weakness.

That sounds pretty cool. Could I bug you to lay this build out for me up to level 10 at least? I'm gonna RCR him straight to level 7.

[Deathgrowl]

Bard26/rogue4
http://nwn2db.com/build/?276863

Can probably switch out pa/ipa to something else if you prefer.

Fill in skills as desired.

[Babuguuscooties]

Bard26/rogue4
http://nwn2db.com/build/?276863

Can probably switch out pa/ipa to something else if you prefer.

Fill in skills as desired.

what about northern hewing instead of PA, or like One hand or whatever that feat is? He'd use like a morningstar or longsword right?

[Deathgrowl]

Longsword. And shield if necessary (so one-weapon isn't useful).

[Babuguuscooties]

Longsword. And shield if necessary (so one-weapon isn't useful).

Oh okay, cool. What about northern hewing? I've never used it.

[Deathgrowl]

Never used it, myself. The description is a bit difficult to understand too:

Northlander hewing is a style of combat made famous by the Northern barbarian tribes, who are reknowned for the savage strength they can put behind each blow. You limit yourself to 2/3 of your attacks (rounded to nearest integer) each round but do maximum damage with the remaining attacks. You add your strength modifier as extra physical damage. Due to the strength you must put behind your blows you suffer an attack bonus and dodge AC penalty of 2.

So the first and obvious benefit is that a 1d8 longsword will automatically roll 8.

But "you add your strength modifier as extra physical damage"? Is this on top of the strength modifier already added? So this will be 2*strength mod (or 2,5*strength mod when twohanding)?

[mrm3ntalist]

You cant really go wrong with bard. There are so many ways to build it, even the STR ones. If you are not very familiar with bards, a "safe" way to go about it is Northlander Hewing coupled with CE/ICE and shield. Instead of shield you can opt for oneweapon and shield spell from items/potions/wands.

By far, the best dip for bard is rogue. Not only for evasion/EW but the skills it opens up in combination with the many skill points bards get. Disable device, open lock are always good skills to invest in.

[Babuguuscooties]

Thanks man, much appreciated

[Sun Wukong]

So the first and obvious benefit is that a 1d8 longsword will automatically roll 8.

But "you add your strength modifier as extra physical damage"? Is this on top of the strength modifier already added? So this will be 2*strength mod (or 2,5*strength mod when twohanding)?

Yes, you automatically maximise the base weapon damage dice, and any additional 'physcial' damage dice the weapon might have such as 1d4 piercing/slashing/bludgeoning.

And you will get your strength modifier as extra damage on top. Thus you would get 2*(STR MOD) with sword and board, and 2.5*(STR MOD) if you two-hand the weapon.

Anyhow, as for that Rogue 4/Bard 26 build, you could consider going for Rogue 3/Bard 27 because this build gets Inspire Competence +8 and Inspire Regeneration +5. Bards are popular classes and I think each bard could have a different inspiration active. Not to mention that having +8 to all skills is very nice, and sometimes you just need that extra regeneration.

[chad878262]

Bard 26/R4. Use mithral chainmail and get evasion/ expose weakness.

However, I enjoy B24/F3/R3. CL28 is fine and this way you get 2 bonus feats pre epic plus evasion and expose weakness.

That sounds pretty cool. Could I bug you to lay this build out for me up to level 10 at least? I'm gonna RCR him straight to level 7.

This is somewhat similar to Chord, but the leveling should be cleaned up to allow for more points spent on Disable Device and Search. The feats are not all the same and the stats are a bit different. Wouldn't want the same character anyway, right? However, this is a good starting point if you want to take a look. There are several ways you could go to drop Fighter from the build all together, such as dropping PA/IPA in favor of Northlander Hewing and then dropping either Blindfight or IKD which would give you the two feats you lose from F1 and F2. You could drop Extend Spell as well, which isn't on the Fighter Bonus feat list, but dropping it would allow you to keep either Blindfight or IKD. Note that there is a spell on the Bard list that can remove an enemies cover which would nullify the need for Blindfight in many circumstances. Bard spells/day are less than a sorcerer though so it's a decision you need to put some thought in to.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?276886