Need some help with a bard/dread pirate build.

[Calen]

I'm currently working on a build and had a few questions concerning dread pirate/bard.
The concept up to 20 is pretty straight forwards 14 bard 6.
12 str-18dex-10 con-16 int (dem RP skills) 8 wis-14 cha.

Here are my questions:

UMD: Does it have any benefit to cap this as a bard?
Does a higher UMD means a longer lasting scroll or make it harder to dispel?
He'll end up with 18 Charisma build wise.
If not what what would be an acceptable UMD amount (leave some skill points for lore/diplomacy and such).

Inspire+Rally the crew: On the test server I've managed to get +8 magic damage with a 20 bard 10 dread pirate build.
Is that a bug or are you actually giving this much?
As far as I know it caps at 6 for a bard.

Fight to the death:

If inspire+rally won't add more than 6, is fight to the death worth it?
Can't find how many times you can use it a day.
It's a toss up between 24 bard 6 dread or 20 bard 10 dread for fight of the death.
It sounds quite nice to have and heroic song +dread.


Appraise: Does the appraise option do anything at all?
This character has a high appraise RP wise and I suppose it has it's benefit in the epic shop.


Quite some questions, anyway thank you in advance.

[Theodore01]

B23,DP7 for another inspire courage or in regards to your casterlevel B26/DP4.

Perfect TWF (DEX25) could be an option.

UMD: you need 10 (including bonus from cha) for wands, 13 for class restricted items and more for casting scrolls.
Inspire+Rally: works like charm. no cap.
Fight to the death: normally barely needed, yery very situational.
Appraise: Buy cheaper and sell for a bit more. But with STR12(16) you wont carry that much.

[Valefort]

UMD: Does it have any benefit to cap this as a bard?

No, pump it high (see below).

Does a higher UMD means a longer lasting scroll or make it harder to dispel?

No.

He'll end up with 18 Charisma build wise.

If you want, be aware that it won't do much for him, power wise (a few more spells and very slightly longer Dread pirate abilities, that's it). If you're unhappy with your AC, AB or damage I suggest investing those ability points elsewhere.

If not what what would be an acceptable UMD amount (leave some skill points for lore/diplomacy and such).

The modified UMD score necessary to cast a lvl 9 spell with 100% success rate is 33. As a bard you have a positive CHA modifier and access to greater heroism (and inspire competence but generally you want to be able to cast these scrolls without having to turn that inspiration on) thus you can cut down the skill points invested in UMD accordingly.
If you end up with 18 CHA then you only need to invest 33 - 4 (CHA mod) -4 (greater heroism) = 25 skill points in UMD.

Inspire+Rally the crew: On the test server I've managed to get +8 magic damage with a 20 bard 10 dread pirate build.
Is that a bug or are you actually giving this much?
As far as I know it caps at 6 for a bard.

It's normal.

Fight to the death:

If inspire+rally won't add more than 6, is fight to the death worth it?
Can't find how many times you can use it a day.
It's a toss up between 24 bard 6 dread or 20 bard 10 dread for fight of the death.
It sounds quite nice to have and heroic song +dread.

Fight to the death is a poor's man chorus of heroism, so imo it's not that necessary when you can get the best version. The two might stack though, fun power up for everyone.

Appraise: Does the appraise option do anything at all?
This character has a high appraise RP wise and I suppose it has it's benefit in the epic shop.

Appraise does nothing apart from getting more gold in shops to my knowledge.

---

Now, time for the elephant in the room with your build idea : dispels.

On the server dispels are based on caster level and not on character level as in the vanilla game (which was a bug). That means that a bard 20 / dread pirate 10 will often be stripped to nakedness by a dispel magic spell in the epic levels. Even with practiced spellcaster added you'll get a CL of 24, which will result in many spells dispelled.

So I think you should get more bard levels, CL 27 or more is usually what is advised.

[Calen]

Thank you for the advice it helps a lot, I think I'll tweak him to 23 bard 7 dreadpirate.
At start I thought 20-10 would give him more AB and nicer group buffs.
Though this way I'll get 1 extra feat and have caster level 27, which means I could pick up hymn of requiem.

Charisma wise he'll have 15 base,but I count 18 with a +3 item.
This should give him enough spells to go around with.
I don't have higher level characters, or got really good gear so I try to build him with +3 AC/Stat items and regular +4 weapons in mind.

The character is meant to be a decent support char , though a bit of fine tuning won't hurt.
Skill wise I can free up some points now, UMD for one and maybe not max appraise.

I was revering to some appraise ability that says you can appraise items and monsters, but it doesn't do anything for now.
It would have been an unpleasant surprise to experience the dispel hell later on with the 20-10 build.
I did make one mistake, picking weapon focus short sword over toughness but I recall there are some toughness feat items out there.

If anything I don't dare doing another RCR haha.

[mrm3ntalist]

There is good advice from Valefort, so that should cover your questions.

I just want to add a build that is not focused on spell casting and CL.and was based on a spy character I was going to roll for a plot.

It is a stealth character, equally good using TWF and archery.

The AB for archery is 49 and the damage using a +4 EB mighty5 longbow is : +6Inspiration +5AA +4EB +5Mighty +1d8Base +1d6elemental arrows = ~28

The AB for TWF using shortswords is 27BAB + 9DEX -2TWF +1EP +6Inspiration +5AA +4EB = 50BAB with 12 attacks

The damage is + +6Inspiration +5AA +4EB +5STR+1d6Base +1d4elemental= ~26 Damage

Here is the build if it interests you = http://nwn2db.com/build/?255885

[Rudolph]

Can't find how many times you can use it a day.

This thread is very helpful, but leaves the above question re. Fight to the Death unanswered. Can anyone answer it?

Also, how come Theodore01 says this:

Fight to the death: normally barely needed, yery very situational.

Up to 5 AC sound pretty useful in many situations. Or does 'situational' here mean it takes too much time to activate? Or that it's limited to once per day or a crippling timer?

[Valefort]

You get 2 uses per day of Fight to the Death, it takes one round to activate and lasts 9-10 rounds.

Its power depends on your CHA mod, the HP gain is negligible and the AC is good if you have 16 CHA or more

[Theodore01]

Yeah, both my pirates had low -8 and 12 cha.
And as it only afffects allies - i guess thats why i never noticed any benefit