Bard/Cleric or Cleric/Bard

[darklunar374]

Does mixing this class offer any great benefits or do these just not mesh? I seen this build in the guides section of Ten Ton Hammer, I don't know if its any good or not though, http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/63600

It is for a dwarf Bard/Cleric but hard to tell even if this build will work as it was posted in 06. Anyways the build is about up the alley of what I am looking for if anyone has any inputs or a good build they know that would be much appreciated.

[Arianrhod]

They don't really mix very well. For one thing, casters (like cleric and bard) are best off if they stay pure, or mostly pure. Taking several levels of 2 different caster classes usually results in a caster that can't do anything very well.

On the other hand, splashing, as it's called, is generally done to give one class an ability that another gets at first or second level; for instance one might splash rogue to gain the ability to disarm traps, or fighter to gain heavy armor & martial weapon proficiency. Bards and clerics, however, get pretty similar abilities at low levels - mostly spells for healing and buffing. Sacrificing some of your higher level abilities to duplicate your lower level abilities is rarely a good trade ;)

[darklunar374]

Cool I appreciate the information on the subject matter. I was wondering then...Is there a way to make a bard as a effective healer as the cleric is?

[Arianrhod]

Cool I appreciate the information on the subject matter. I was wondering then...Is there a way to make a bard as a effective healer as the cleric is?

Well....

A good bard can be a better healer than a bad cleric. A great bard can be a better healer than a good cleric. Not sure there's any way for a bard to be a better healer than a great cleric, though. Clerics have the higher level cure spells, raise dead/res/true res, and at least as many possible healing enhancements as bards. Only thing bards have on clerics as far as healing goes is higher haggle skill, so they can afford more wands & scrolls :D

That said, a bard can be quite an effective healer. Take the healing spells, metamagic feats, healing enhancements, and gear up with stuff like Superior Devotion and Healing or Arcane Lore, and keep your Use Magic Device skill maxed so you can use wands like Lesser Restoration that aren't on the bard list & scrolls like Raise Dead that also aren't on their list. Some bards take a sorceror level for a small boost to spellpoints and lower level access to all the arcane wands - this can be handy if, for instance, you want to be able to repair Warforged characters with wands, but isn't essential by any means. Pure bards can heal just fine :)

[Tuney]

In terms of healing, what can make the cleric a better healer then a bard are three things. First is Clerics will have a high SP pool, second is a few more mass spells , third is somewhat moot point is they get an enchancment to lower empower healing's SP cost.

Scrolling spells bards will beat clerics and in terms of damage prevention both have compairable but differnt methods of performing it. Clerics will have a better selection of spells that will work on all one of the saves to disable mobs while bards primarily only really have will save but also gain blur and displacement to help dodge incoming physical attacks then fasinate/enthrall... though that requires a bit more teamwork hehe.

[hydra_ex]

Only the most healing specced bards, even if they have great skill, suffer from less spell points (70% at most) than a cleric.

I would not visit any external sites to DDO (unless they're respected DDO fansite, such as DDOwiki) for build ideas.


IMO, the only good caster splash now is x Cleric/1 Sorcerer or FvS. But even that is starting to loose its utility.

(I wonder though... 18Clr/1Sorc/1FvS...)

[rover223]

I"ve seen a spalsh of cleric in bards largely for the Divine Vitality enhancements, not worth it in my opinion but a bard could give out 12-16 of them depending on their charisma and be that kind of support too.

[Creeper]

I would never multiclass bard/cleric.


From personal experience with heal-type bard:

I recommend halfling for the dragonmarks.
Pick up empower healing.
Go spellsinger for the moral boost to spell points plus the 100 sp boost.
Use displacement on the tanks often (Clerics can't do this.).
Carry lots of heal, restore, and raise dead scrolls (pump points into umd.)
Make sure to max out your healing enhancement lines along with the wand/scroll boost.


All this makes a pretty nifty bard healer.

[Creeper]

Only the most healing specced bards, even if they have great skill, suffer from less spell points (70% at most) than a cleric.


This is definatly true, but with spellsinger and the bard capstone it is offset a bit.

Just as a crude example:
A cleric with 18 Wisdom at level 20 will have a base 1321 sp (no feats, enhancements, etc.)

A bard with 18 charisma will have a base 641 sp (no feats, enhancements, etc.)

Adding capstone to the bard adds approx 29 sp along with 100 from the first tier of spellsinger (Keep in mind additional tiers may not be that far away.) That narrows the gap to 770 vs 1321.
Clerics also get a potential +30 sp more than bards (80 vs 110) from sp enhancements. Bards also get a song adding +20 false hp to the whole party, makes a little difference at least.

So when you add the 10% morale discount the gap is lessened a bit....

Until you add a clerics potential empower healing enhancement discounts or divine healing..... :D

Again, IF the additional bard PRE tiers are added it should be lessened even more. Still a pretty big gap though.