Blade Chanter, twf drow bard fighter (A build by request)

[sigtrent]

From Sigtrent's Build Request Thread (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=117232)

Build Name: Blade Chanter
Author: Sigfried Trent
Requester: Caspr
Last Updated: 07/15/10

Key Words

Objectives
The requester wanted a drow fighter/bard that could solo and was decently durable. Durable is not easy with drow or bards but fighter should help out. For this build I targeted the bard spells for healing and buffing, CC is dependent on Fascinate and not spell casting.

Design
For this design I start with bard until the initial BAB run shifts over and I pick up mostly buffing ability which ends in heroism. Then I switch to fighter to pick up the warchanter prerequisites and pick up some hit points. Then its back to bard until mid levels, mostly to get the level 3 buffs and healing spell. In mid-late levels it gets more powerful healing and fleshes out its basic combat feats. Then we switch into fighter to get Kensai and finally back to bard to round out buffing.

I think this is a pretty nice progression for the character and all the way I try to keep fascinate viable as the main CC mechanism. The end result is not a powerhouse in DPS or healing but it is fairly competent at both and durability is good for a drow bard, if weak for a true melee. You should be able to just scratch out 400hp at level 20 if you gear for it.

To work in the decent healing I had to cut back a bit on combat feats so there is no OTWF here. Instead its expected to go Rapier/Shortsword. You could take the attack hit and go double rapier on most targets but the DPS advantage isn’t huge and matters more for going with effect weapons.

As party support you don’t get inspire heroics which is well loved, but your inspire courage is only slightly shy of a full bard and ahead of a non-war-chanter. And of course UMD lets you play backup heal/res to decent effect.


[b]Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.5.1
DDO Character Planner Home Page (http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO)

Level 20 Neutral Good Drow Male
(6 Fighter \ 14 Bard)
Hit Points: 286
Spell Points: 487
BAB: 16\16\21\26\26
Fortitude: 12
Reflex: 15
Will: 11

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(28 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20)
Strength 14 22
Dexterity 16 18
Constitution 14 16
Intelligence 10 12
Wisdom 8 10
Charisma 16 18

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 20)
Balance 7 14
Bluff 3 5
Concentration 6 27
Diplomacy 3 5
Disable Device n/a n/a
Haggle 7 27
Heal -1 0
Hide 3 4
Intimidate 3 5
Jump 5 22
Listen -1 2
Move Silently 3 4
Open Lock n/a n/a
Perform 7 30
Repair 0 1
Search 0 3
Spot -1 2
Swim 2 6
Tumble 4 5
Use Magic Device 7 27

Level 1 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Two Weapon Fighting
Spell (1): Cure Light Wounds
Enhancement: Bard Extra Song I
Enhancement: Drow Melee Damage I
Enhancement: Bard Song Magic I


Level 2 (Bard)
Spell (1): Expeditious Retreat
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Damage I
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song I
Enhancement: Bard Perform I
Enhancement: Bard Energy of the Music I


Level 3 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell
Spell (1): Focusing Chant
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Attack I
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Bravery I
Enhancement: Bard Wand Mastery I


Level 4 (Bard)
Spell (2): Cure Moderate Wounds
Spell (2): Heroism
Enhancement: Bard Extra Song II
Enhancement: Drow Melee Attack I


Level 5 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Focus: Piercing Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Bard Song Magic II


Level 6 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Power Attack
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Fighter Strength I
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness I


Level 7 (Bard)
Spell (2): Rage
Spell (1): Remove Fear
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Bravery II


Level 8 (Bard)
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song II
Enhancement: Bard Warchanter I


Level 9 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Spell (2): Blur
Spell (3): Cure Serious Wounds
Spell (3): Haste
Enhancement: Bard Song Magic III
Enhancement: Bard Wand Mastery II


Level 10 (Bard)
Spell (3): Displacement
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Damage II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II


Level 11 (Bard)
Enhancement: Drow Melee Damage II


Level 12 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell
Spell (4): Cure Critical Wounds
Spell (4): Freedom of Movement
Spell (3): Remove Curse
Enhancement: Bard Song Magic IV


Level 13 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song III


Level 14 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Critical: Piercing Weapons
Enhancement: Bard Perform II
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness II


Level 15 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Spell (4): Dimension Door
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Attack II


Level 16 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy I
Enhancement: Bard Perform III


Level 17 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Specialization: Piercing Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost II
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy II


Level 18 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell
Enhancement: Fighter Kensei I


Level 19 (Bard)
Spell (4): Neutralize Poison
Spell (5): Greater Heroism
Spell (5): Mass Cure Light Wounds
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Damage III
Enhancement: Kensei Rapier Mastery I


Level 20 (Bard)
Spell (5): Greater Dispel Magic
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song IV





Play
This is a build best played deliberately. Don’t go crashing into combat, take your enemies one at a time if possible and keep your buffs going. Utilize your UMD and caster checks to utilize buffs from outside bard or to get bard buffs like GH early. Keep res and heal scrolls handy once you can reliably scroll cast them.

Variations
You can drop fighter down as much as you like for more bard, giving up Kensei, weapon spec etc.. to pick up more bardness. Personally I think this is a pretty good mix of support and combat if you aren’t interested in control casting but want to play a buffing and heal support role in a party.

[EinarMal]

Just a couple of comments.

1. If you take fighter at 14 you can take GTWF which is well worth it.

2. Personally weapon finesse is a waste I would just skip it as your to hit is pretty good just based on 20 strength (22 with rage spell) , Extend is pretty much must have for a Bard.

This is really similiar to my original TWF build. I ended up re-rolling it into my current build which is strength based and much better in my opinion (at fighting). Finesse builds, besides rogues, really are not that great in my opinion. You do less damage and waste a feat on weapon finesse.

Dancing Dervish (This is my balanced TWF version posted in earlier thread)

(Drow Male Neutral Spellsinger Bard 12/Fighter 2)

Stats:
Str 16 (26=16 +1 Enh. +1 Tome +6 Item +2 Rage)
Dex 16 (22=16 +1 Tome +5 Item)
Con 12 (22=12 +2 Tome +6 Item +2 Rage)
Int 10
Wis 8
Cha 16 (30=16 +2 Tome +3 Levels +3 Enh. +6 Item)

Level Progression:
Brd. 1-4
Ftr. 5
Brd 6-13
Ftr. 14

Skills:
UMD
Perform
Diplomacy
Balance
Jump
Concentration

Feats:
1-Extend
3-SF Enchantment
5-(FB) TWF
6-GSF Enchantment
9- ITWF
12-IC Piercing
14-(FB)GTWF

Enhancements:
Bard Inspired Damage III
Bard Inspired Attack II
Bard Charisma III
Bard EOM I
Bard Concentration II
Bard Song Magic III
Bard Lyric of Song I
Spellsinger
Lingering Song II
Drow Melee Attack II
Drow Melee Damage II
Fighter Haste Boost I
Extra Song I

HP:
92(Levels) +20(Heroic) +10(Draconic) +30(GFL) +84(Con) = 236 (Raged)

SP:
325(12Bard) +210(Cha) +100(Magi) +100(Singer) +20(EOM I) =755

Spells:
1-Exp. Retreat, Hypno, Cure Light, Focusing Chant
2-Blur, Glitterdust, Rage, Cure Moderate
3-Charm Monster, Displacement, Good Hope, Haste
4-Hold Monster, Ottos, Freedom of Movement

To Hit @14:
BAB 11
Str 8
Weapon 5
Song 6
Chant 1
Haste 1
32

Damage @14:
Main:
Weapon 5
Str 8
Song 5
Racial 2
+20

Off:
Weapon 5
Str 4
Song 5
Racial 2
+16

UMD:
17(Ranks) +10(Cha) +5(Gloves) +4(GH) +2(Singer)= 38

Hold/Otto DC:
10(Base) +4(Level) +10(Cha) +1(Item) +2(Focus) +1(Singer) = 28

[EinarMal]

Even better if you want to go all out combat (and it really does work) is to forget CC casting and charisma and max out strength. Bards are far underated in the amount of carnage they can wreak if you build them for max DPS. This is a really fun build to play and my favorite.... This is the build that I am playing today as my TWF Bard (along with a Rogue version)

Warchanting Tempest

Goals:
Basically to be the biggest baddest TWF Bard on the planet. With 4 levels of fighter hit points are closing in on 300 and damage is top notch. At level 15 this build will take weapon spec for an additional +2 damage per swing.

(Drow Male Neutral Warchanter Bard 10/Fighter 4)

Stats:
Str 16 (30 =16 +3 Levels +1 Enh. +2 Tome +6 Item +2 Rage)
Dex 16 (24 =16 +1 Tome +1 Enh. +6 Item)
Con 12 (22 =12 +2 Tome +6 Item +2 Rage)
Int 10 10
Wis 8 8
Cha 16 (24 =16 +1 Tome +1 Enh. +6 Item)

Progression:
1-Bard
2-Fighter
3 thru 5-Bard
6-Fighter
7 thru 11-Bard
12-Figther
13-Bard
14-Fighter

Hit Points @14:
100(Levels) +20(Heroic) +10(Draconic) +30(GFL) +84(Con) +16 (Toughness) + 15(Fighter Toughness II) =275

SP:
275(10 Bard) +114(Cha) +100(Magi) +40(EOM II) = 529

Feats:
Extend
(FB) TWF
WF Piercing
(FB)PA
Toughness (Alt. would be stunning blow with weighted offhand weapon)
ITWF
IC Piercing
(FB)GTWF

Enhancements:
Inspired Attack II
Inspired Damage II
Inspired Bravery II
Warchanter
Fighter Toughness II
Drow Melee Attack II
Drow Melee Damage II
Fighter Strength I
Drow Dex I
Bard EOM II
Bard Lingering Song III
Fighter Haste Boost II
Figther Critical Accuracy I
Bard Charisma I
Bard Extra Song III

To Hit @14
BAB 11
Racial 2
Str 10
Weapon 5
Song 7
WF 1
Focusing Chant 1
Haste 1
TWF -2
PA -5
+36 (31 PA)

Damage @14
Weapon 5
Str 10
Song 6
PA 5
Racial 2
+28

[sigtrent]

Thanks for the alternate builds! I hope the requester finds the suggestions helpfull.

I can see going without weapon finesse. I suppose its partly something I'm accustomed to and here it is +2 to hit, but I agree it's not required. GTWF is nice, agreed although you could easily take it at 15 as well. I was focused on the CC part of the build more than the combat side as I feel it is more key to solo play than the pure damage is. That is also why I developed the crowd control first.

I'm not entirely convinced that Extend Spell is so essential for a bard. I do have it on my support bard, but not on my combat bard. I find that shorter durations are fine most of the time and Extend is mostly just handy for being lazy and not having to think about keeping buffs up. Indeed its a pain to have to switch it off to throw hold monster etc.. and since this build is really really focused on throwing holds and charms I think it would be more hassle to have to toggle it than to just not have it. (at least that is my expereince with my wizard who has extend but often needs to turn it off so I don't waste mana) Especialy when mod 5 rolls out and the first and second level spells are actualy more expensive to extend.

[sigtrent]

On the whole I think I liked the suggestion for skipping weapon finesse and taking GTWF so I implimented that.

[EinarMal]

Thanks for the alternate builds! I hope the requester finds the suggestions helpfull.

I can see going without weapon finesse. I suppose its partly something I'm accustomed to and here it is +2 to hit, but I agree it's not required. GTWF is nice, agreed although you could easily take it at 15 as well. I was focused on the CC part of the build more than the combat side as I feel it is more key to solo play than the pure damage is. That is also why I developed the crowd control first.

I'm not entirely convinced that Extend Spell is so essential for a bard. I do have it on my support bard, but not on my combat bard. I find that shorter durations are fine most of the time and Extend is mostly just handy for being lazy and not having to think about keeping buffs up. Indeed its a pain to have to switch it off to throw hold monster etc.. and since this build is really really focused on throwing holds and charms I think it would be more hassle to have to toggle it than to just not have it. (at least that is my expereince with my wizard who has extend but often needs to turn it off so I don't waste mana) Especialy when mod 5 rolls out and the first and second level spells are actualy more expensive to extend.

Yeah extend is probably just me being lazy for the most part! It is a pain recasting all those buffs twice as often. It does help with the shorter duration spells as long as the fights are close together. You can get 2-3 fights out of haste/dispalcement that way.

As far as soloing goes my combat Bard does ok with just fascinate assuming not in an undead quest. There typically are only a few "big" fights where I use it and pick them off one at a time. The rest of the time with only 2-3 mobs positioning and movement usually are fine.

The one thing I say about these builds is they are not easy you need some twitch skills. Otherwise if you just rush into the middle you will die a lot. On the other hand if you play smart I find them to be pretty durable (more so than you would think).

My first build and yours are now very close with mine being a bit more tilted towards combat. Both would be fine options, mine fights a little better and yours casts a little better. Personally I am addicted to haste so would choose Extend over MT so that I can stay constantly hasted. In groups with good DPS (Bard included), Bard Songs, plus constant haste equals easy quest. Haste is probably second only to Otto's sphere in terms of Bard spell power in my opinion if your group hits hard.

[Folderpirate]

From Sigtrent's Build Request Thread (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=117232)

Build Name: Blade Chanter
Author: Sigfried Trent
Requester: Caspr
Last Updated: 07/15/10

Key Words

Objectives
The requester wanted a drow fighter/bard that could solo and was decently durable. Durable is not easy with drow or bards but fighter should help out. For this build I targeted the bard spells for healing and buffing, CC is dependent on Fascinate and not spell casting.

Design
For this design I start with bard until the initial BAB run shifts over and I pick up mostly buffing ability which ends in heroism. Then I switch to fighter to pick up the warchanter prerequisites and pick up some hit points. Then its back to bard until mid levels, mostly to get the level 3 buffs and healing spell. In mid-late levels it gets more powerful healing and fleshes out its basic combat feats. Then we switch into fighter to get Kensai and finally back to bard to round out buffing.

I think this is a pretty nice progression for the character and all the way I try to keep fascinate viable as the main CC mechanism. The end result is not a powerhouse in DPS or healing but it is fairly competent at both and durability is good for a drow bard, if weak for a true melee. You should be able to just scratch out 400hp at level 20 if you gear for it.

To work in the decent healing I had to cut back a bit on combat feats so there is no OTWF here. Instead its expected to go Rapier/Shortsword. You could take the attack hit and go double rapier on most targets but the DPS advantage isn’t huge and matters more for going with effect weapons.

As party support you don’t get inspire heroics which is well loved, but your inspire courage is only slightly shy of a full bard and ahead of a non-war-chanter. And of course UMD lets you play backup heal/res to decent effect.


[b]Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.5.1
DDO Character Planner Home Page (http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO)

Level 20 Neutral Good Drow Male
(6 Fighter \ 14 Bard)
Hit Points: 286
Spell Points: 487
BAB: 16\16\21\26\26
Fortitude: 12
Reflex: 15
Will: 11

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(28 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20)
Strength 14 22
Dexterity 16 18
Constitution 14 16
Intelligence 10 12
Wisdom 8 10
Charisma 16 18

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 20)
Balance 7 14
Bluff 3 5
Concentration 6 27
Diplomacy 3 5
Disable Device n/a n/a
Haggle 7 27
Heal -1 0
Hide 3 4
Intimidate 3 5
Jump 5 22
Listen -1 2
Move Silently 3 4
Open Lock n/a n/a
Perform 7 30
Repair 0 1
Search 0 3
Spot -1 2
Swim 2 6
Tumble 4 5
Use Magic Device 7 27

Level 1 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Two Weapon Fighting
Spell (1): Cure Light Wounds
Enhancement: Bard Extra Song I
Enhancement: Drow Melee Damage I
Enhancement: Bard Song Magic I


Level 2 (Bard)
Spell (1): Expeditious Retreat
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Damage I
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song I
Enhancement: Bard Perform I
Enhancement: Bard Energy of the Music I


Level 3 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell
Spell (1): Focusing Chant
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Attack I
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Bravery I
Enhancement: Bard Wand Mastery I


Level 4 (Bard)
Spell (2): Cure Moderate Wounds
Spell (2): Heroism
Enhancement: Bard Extra Song II
Enhancement: Drow Melee Attack I


Level 5 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Focus: Piercing Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Bard Song Magic II


Level 6 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Power Attack
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Fighter Strength I
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness I


Level 7 (Bard)
Spell (2): Rage
Spell (1): Remove Fear
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Bravery II


Level 8 (Bard)
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song II
Enhancement: Bard Warchanter I


Level 9 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Spell (2): Blur
Spell (3): Cure Serious Wounds
Spell (3): Haste
Enhancement: Bard Song Magic III
Enhancement: Bard Wand Mastery II


Level 10 (Bard)
Spell (3): Displacement
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Damage II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II


Level 11 (Bard)
Enhancement: Drow Melee Damage II


Level 12 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell
Spell (4): Cure Critical Wounds
Spell (4): Freedom of Movement
Spell (3): Remove Curse
Enhancement: Bard Song Magic IV


Level 13 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song III


Level 14 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Critical: Piercing Weapons
Enhancement: Bard Perform II
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness II


Level 15 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Spell (4): Dimension Door
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Attack II


Level 16 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy I
Enhancement: Bard Perform III


Level 17 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Specialization: Piercing Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost II
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy II


Level 18 (Bard)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell
Enhancement: Fighter Kensei I


Level 19 (Bard)
Spell (4): Neutralize Poison
Spell (5): Greater Heroism
Spell (5): Mass Cure Light Wounds
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Damage III
Enhancement: Kensei Rapier Mastery I


Level 20 (Bard)
Spell (5): Greater Dispel Magic
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song IV





Play
This is a build best played deliberately. Don’t go crashing into combat, take your enemies one at a time if possible and keep your buffs going. Utilize your UMD and caster checks to utilize buffs from outside bard or to get bard buffs like GH early. Keep res and heal scrolls handy once you can reliably scroll cast them.

Variations
You can drop fighter down as much as you like for more bard, giving up Kensei, weapon spec etc.. to pick up more bardness. Personally I think this is a pretty good mix of support and combat if you aren’t interested in control casting but want to play a buffing and heal support role in a party.


Basically I'm looking to do this build as a halfing for all the extra damage enhancements that they have over drow. I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with whether or not the halfing build would use Weapon Finesse and backburner the STR or if it should just follow the path that the drow one takes and go for STR.

Any advice or input would be appreciated! :)

[karl_k0ch]

Why is 16 Cha needed? It seems a tad high if it only accounts for the SP increase. And healing will be difficult to maintain, nevertheless. 4 additional points in Cha will not change the fact that the SP pool is drastically shallow, if you want to do reliable healing, possibly for the whole group.

Going 16/16/14/10/8/12 seems to be a better choice for a Str-based Melee.

[Noctus]

Why is 16 Cha needed?

Its not. Waste of buildpoints.


Going 16/16/14/10/8/12 seems to be a better choice for a Str-based Melee.

Much better spread.




in red.

[Chette]

I'll second (or third or whatever) the comments regarding dropping Cha and boosting strength. Unless you are maxing charisma and taking feats in heighten and spell focus, etc, you're not going to be doing any DC casting. Your extra points in Charisma are netting you a few extra spell points and slightly higher charisma skills, but with decent gear you shouldn't be hard up for either of those.

Otherwise this seems like a fairly well rounded build. Good selection of melee feats and a bit of healing power. I would consider switching our empower healing for maximize though. Although it's not as sp efficient as empower healing, I think you'll find that your cures are otherwise not really able to keep up with the damage your taking in some higher level content, and you'll want to maximize your total healing output as opposed to your efficiency.

[Folderpirate]

How do you guys think a halfling version of this would pan out?