Bard/Whirling Dervish

[roderickz]

After tweaking a bit here and there, I came up with this: http://nwn2db.com/build/?272286

Other than the classic oh god will that work?, I have a few questions:

- This guy goes with CL 27 - how much of a problem will that be on higher levels?
- Am I allowed to pick any skill for Whirling Dervish's Skill Focus feats? If not, which are available?
- 4 levels of Dissonant Chord were taken for better saves and minor boons. 5 would grant me Disjunction, but that would cost 1 AB - is it worth it? I don't think I understand how dispelling works in this case.
- I'm not really good with skill distribution, so any optimization tips would be really appreciated.

[chad878262]

- This guy goes with CL 27 - how much of a problem will that be on higher levels?

I would argue it is a bigger problem when leveling rather than at max level. At level 12 your CL is 9. At 16 your CL is 12 and at 20 it is 18. Some of the pre-epic leveling will be easier if you take Practiced spell caster at level 9 or 12 instead of waiting until 18. At level 30 with CL27 you will likely see between 0 and 3 wards get dispelled when hit by greater dispel so you will want an Oh $@#* button in case you get in to a jam. Boots of etherealness and a wand of invisibility would be a solid investment just in case since your CHA is not high enough to make your DC on Haven song a realistic fall back. However, the majority of the time I do not think CL27 is going to cause you a great deal of issues. If you are planning to wear the Mithral Chainmail +3 you won't be overly dependent upon wards for AC so mostly you will use Greater Heroism, energy immunity, Nixie's Grace, Bulls STR, Shadow Conjuration (Mage Armor), Mirror Images, Haste and Ethereal Visage. Depending on what get's stripped you should still have adequate defense in place to allow you to throw a quick displacement and buy time to reapply key buffs or hit Hymn of Requiem to keep yourself up. Thus you should be fine at high level, it's level 12-20 or so when I would be most worried.

- Am I allowed to pick any skill for Whirling Dervish's Skill Focus feats? If not, which are available?

Skill Focus should be available for any skill. It is only Epic Skill Focus that is limited.

- 4 levels of Dissonant Chord were taken for better saves and minor boons. 5 would grant me Disjunction, but that would cost 1 AB - is it worth it? I don't think I understand how dispelling works in this case.

Mord's is very powerful as it is a breach and a capped dispel. You've only got 19 Bard levels so the dispel is actually 1 weaker than a greater dispel (anything with CL29 or higher is immune). However, the breach should still be useful in some situations. You're a bard though, you don't really need bonus saving throws so I would argue B23 for a bonus epic feat might be worth more than what you get in 4 levels of DC. My opinion is DC works best as B25/DC5, but only my opinion.

- I'm not really good with skill distribution, so any optimization tips would be really appreciated.

Skills are ok, but if I was to take Spot I would max it as it is useful against Feint, Disguise, Stealth and DM events. However, with no able learner and max listen it's fine if you want to throw those points elsewhere. I would personally want at least 5 points in each of the lore skills as a Bard if for no other reason than RP/DM events.

[roderickz]

I would argue it is a bigger problem when leveling rather than at max level. At level 12 your CL is 9. At 16 your CL is 12 and at 20 it is 18. Some of the pre-epic leveling will be easier if you take Practiced spell caster at level 9 or 12 instead of waiting until 18. At level 30 with CL27 you will likely see between 0 and 3 wards get dispelled when hit by greater dispel so you will want an Oh $@#* button in case you get in to a jam. Boots of etherealness and a wand of invisibility would be a solid investment just in case since your CHA is not high enough to make your DC on Haven song a realistic fall back. However, the majority of the time I do not think CL27 is going to cause you a great deal of issues. If you are planning to wear the Mithral Chainmail +3 you won't be overly dependent upon wards for AC so mostly you will use Greater Heroism, energy immunity, Nixie's Grace, Bulls STR, Shadow Conjuration (Mage Armor), Mirror Images, Haste and Ethereal Visage. Depending on what get's stripped you should still have adequate defense in place to allow you to throw a quick displacement and buy time to reapply key buffs or hit Hymn of Requiem to keep yourself up. Thus you should be fine at high level, it's level 12-20 or so when I would be most worried.

You're right. I just changed that to lvl 12. Should cover that issue!

Mord's is very powerful as it is a breach and a capped dispel. You've only got 19 Bard levels so the dispel is actually 1 weaker than a greater dispel (anything with CL29 or higher is immune). However, the breach should still be useful in some situations. You're a bard though, you don't really need bonus saving throws so I would argue B23 for a bonus epic feat might be worth more than what you get in 4 levels of DC. My opinion is DC works best as B25/DC5, but only my opinion.

Just changed that. Although that leads me to another question: which epic feat should I take? Considering I have Prowess and Evasion, I took Expose Weakness - what's your opinion?

Skills are ok, but if I was to take Spot I would max it as it is useful against Feint, Disguise, Stealth and DM events. However, with no able learner and max listen it's fine if you want to throw those points elsewhere. I would personally want at least 5 points in each of the lore skills as a Bard if for no other reason than RP/DM events.

This was actually something I had serious doubts about. I think I was sacrificing some fun RP for mediocre Spot. Thanks!