warforged warchanter, bad idea?

[NaturalHazard]

I was wondering if it would be a bad idea to roll a warforged warchanter bard, prob with a heavy fighter barb splash, like those 14 bard splits? Just was thinking about that double strike song, Hehe might even get into some all robot raids.

[RATRACE931]

I wouldnt do it JUST because of the doublestrike song, but this was the norm on Sarlona for max DPS bard builds until HORCs came out, 16 bard 2ftr 2 barb. Work very very well.

[NaturalHazard]

I wouldnt do it JUST because of the doublestrike song, but this was the norm on Sarlona for max DPS bard builds until HORCs came out, 16 bard 2ftr 2 barb. Work very very well.

no its not just for the song, but i got wf and not horcs.

[Gorbadoc]

It's not a bad idea at all. Something like:

20 bard

Str 16 (+levelups)
Dex 8
Con 18
Int 14
Wis 6
Cha 12

(Or if you're a hater, you can drop Hide, Move Silently, and Listen and put those Intelligence points into Strength).

As compared with a half-orc of similar specification, the biggest difference you'll feel while leveling will be the fact that your self-healing (wand AND spell) will be obnoxiously slow until you can UMD Repair wands. Also of note: Immunities, better hit points, one more skill, lower DPS. Given how lack of hitpoints is a traditional limiting factor for the bard who wants to beat on a boss, I'd say this warforged variant is neither better nor worse than its half-orc counterpart; just different.

Feats as The Classic Rocker (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=249865&highlight=classic+rocker) if you're a powergamer (yay solo healing Epics!), or dump the metamagics for THF if you're not crazy (crazy awesome?) enough to try to squeeze melee AND healing into one build:
1. Toughness.
3. Power Attack.
6. Weapon Focus (presumably slashing).
9. THF.
12. Imp Crit (presumably slashing).
15. ITHF.
18. GTHF.

TWF is also a good option, especially if you plan to farm double-shard tier 3 greensteel weapons. The necessary dexterity can come at the expense of intelligence and maybe strength (I'm leery of cutting constitution on a bard whose point is to function in melee range of bosses).

[Gorbadoc]

Splashing is certainly an option, but think carefully about what you plan to do with the build. Do you NEED those fighter feats to achieve whatever that goal is? Level 20 is +1/+1 attack/damage to EVERYONE, not to mention your Cure spells hit harder, your songs last longer, and I'm pretty sure you become more popular with the ladies.

If you're determined to splash, my preference would be:
16bard/2fighter/2rogue

Str 15 (+ levelups)
Dex 15 (& +2 tome for ITWF/GTWF)
Con 18
Int 8
Wis 6
Cha 12

All six combat feats plus the warchanter Wep Focus prereq (Toughness, PA, Wep Focus, TWF, Imp Crit, ITWF, GTWF). Extra two feats in whatever best suits your taste-- Maximize + Quicken if you're gearing up to solo heal epics, Khopesh + Extend if you want a more leisurely fighter/buffer play style, or think of something else.

Evasion + TWF is a good synergy to go for, since both use that higher base dexterity and both make you more effective on the front line.

[Gorbadoc]

Oh! And if you do decide you enjoy trying to heal and melee at the same time (seriously, I do NOT recommend it unless you're running with a static group that doesn't require much healing), you might find Spellsinger is a good choice for increasing the fraction of quests where you don't run out of spell points. EXCEPT FOR ONE PROBLEM: Last I checked, the Spellsinger's SP regeneration song didn't work on Warforged. Be sure to look into this BEFORE you go spellsinger.

[Vaardalia]

I am going to ask this in here too, as this seems like a good place. Can a Bard do well with a Base Char of say 18 at level 20, I noiced the 12 Char here, so it peaked my interest.

thanks!

[Gorbadoc]

I am going to ask this in here too, as this seems like a good place. Can a Bard do well with a Base Char of say 18 at level 20, I noiced the 12 Char here, so it peaked my interest.

thanks!

Um. Going in order:

No, this is a poor place to ask that; note that this topic is unrelated to your question. Starting a new topic would have made more sense.

A caster-specced bard wants maxed or almost-maxed charisma all the way. That means 18, 19, or 20 initial on a drow, 16, 17, or 18 on other races, plus every ability score increase at levelup (i.e. at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20). I know there are good discussions out there... look for caster bard builds. I don't know if I've seen any recently, though, so you may find outdated discussions. If you're interested in building a caster bard and still unsure how to go about it, definitely start a new thread on the topic.

While 'peaked' is also a word, you want its homophone, 'piqued'.

You're welcome.

[NaturalHazard]

Splashing is certainly an option, but think carefully about what you plan to do with the build. Do you NEED those fighter feats to achieve whatever that goal is? Level 20 is +1/+1 attack/damage to EVERYONE, not to mention your Cure spells hit harder, your songs last longer, and I'm pretty sure you become more popular with the ladies.

If you're determined to splash, my preference would be:
16bard/2fighter/2rogue

Str 15 (+ levelups)
Dex 15 (& +2 tome for ITWF/GTWF)
Con 18
Int 8
Wis 6
Cha 12

All six combat feats plus the warchanter Wep Focus prereq (Toughness, PA, Wep Focus, TWF, Imp Crit, ITWF, GTWF). Extra two feats in whatever best suits your taste-- Maximize + Quicken if you're gearing up to solo heal epics, Khopesh + Extend if you want a more leisurely fighter/buffer play style, or think of something else.

Evasion + TWF is a good synergy to go for, since both use that higher base dexterity and both make you more effective on the front line.

Cool thanks, hmmmm popular with the ladies? on a warforged? what would be the point? Unless they give me larges for my charm? lol. I was thinking 2handed weapon fighting to save on mats, though i would definately look at going 2 weapon fighting if i was rich.

[Emizand]

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=249865

Have a look at Robot Rock, think this mat be what you are looking for.

[EddieB_TBC]

I TR'd an old drow paladin build into a WF 16/4 BRD/FTR warchanter built around UMD and THF blunt, primarily mauls. He was an absolute riot to play up through the levels. He is currently a lot of fun to play in Amrath although I don't have boots for him yet so he's never (tried to) run a ToD, and I have not really done any epic stuff with him so I don't know about actual end game play yet. I will say he doesn't cast offensively very well, and heals mostly from heal/reconstruct and mcsw scrolls but, um, he isn't built for either of those two roles either. Probably the biggest reason I did not do the 16/2/2 is so he always has the option to step back and pop off a scroll or wand or whatever. Based on my experience playing him so far I don't see any real downside to playing a WF BRD warchanter and it is a lot of fun to boot.

[voodoogroves]

My WF War Chanter is capped and will be TRing soon, but I can confirm he's a blast. With epic raids being what they are, DQ and VON are great places to be a bard and as long as you have fascinate and solid songs you'll be a help. Being beefy and hitting like a truck helps too.

You can do it w/ pure Bard 20 if you go THF; mine is splashed w/ 2 Fighter but in retrospect I'd get rid of that. If I weren't gonig to TR him I'd consider LR. I'm not as much a fan of shallow splashes like I did - in the future I'd be 14/6 or 16/4 or the full 20 - just my personal opinion.

[Vaardalia]

Um. Going in order:

No, this is a poor place to ask that; note that this topic is unrelated to your question. Starting a new topic would have made more sense.

A caster-specced bard wants maxed or almost-maxed charisma all the way. That means 18, 19, or 20 initial on a drow, 16, 17, or 18 on other races, plus every ability score increase at levelup (i.e. at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20). I know there are good discussions out there... look for caster bard builds. I don't know if I've seen any recently, though, so you may find outdated discussions. If you're interested in building a caster bard and still unsure how to go about it, definitely start a new thread on the topic.

While 'peaked' is also a word, you want its homophone, 'piqued'.

You're welcome.

> >


So if I do not desire to be a "caster" bard, and just a run of the mill bard, will 18 charisma work out, or do I need to start at level 1 with 8, 8, 18, 8, 8, 18 to be competent enough to function well at level 20 as a bard?

[Angelus_dead]

So if I do not desire to be a "caster" bard, and just a run of the mill bard, will 18 charisma work out, or do I need to start at level 1 with 8, 8, 18, 8, 8, 18 to be competent enough to function well at level 20 as a bard?
18 charisma would be quite excessive for most kinds of bards.

[Jaid314]

18 charisma would be quite excessive for most kinds of bards.

yeah, probably the lowest you should start with is 11, but if you're feeling crazy (and have a +2 cha item/no min level in the bank, as well as eventual access to a +2 tome) you could make a pure bard with as low as 9 cha and always be able to cast spells even if you get disjunctioned.

not that i would recommend quite that low a value for any bard, really, but you *could* if you felt so inclined.

18 is only necessary if you're an offensive caster bard.

[NaturalHazard]

Splashing is certainly an option, but think carefully about what you plan to do with the build. Do you NEED those fighter feats to achieve whatever that goal is? Level 20 is +1/+1 attack/damage to EVERYONE, not to mention your Cure spells hit harder, your songs last longer, and I'm pretty sure you become more popular with the ladies.

If you're determined to splash, my preference would be:
16bard/2fighter/2rogue

Str 15 (+ levelups)
Dex 15 (& +2 tome for ITWF/GTWF)
Con 18
Int 8
Wis 6
Cha 12

All six combat feats plus the warchanter Wep Focus prereq (Toughness, PA, Wep Focus, TWF, Imp Crit, ITWF, GTWF). Extra two feats in whatever best suits your taste-- Maximize + Quicken if you're gearing up to solo heal epics, Khopesh + Extend if you want a more leisurely fighter/buffer play style, or think of something else.

Evasion + TWF is a good synergy to go for, since both use that higher base dexterity and both make you more effective on the front line.

im interested in doing this, level 16 bard better than 14?

[spartin]

i like my 16 bard levels for epics. the level 6 spells (see irrestable dance) come in handy.

my big bard advice is alowys: pick a focus and put all your resorces into it, wheather its melee, healing, or casting dc's. bad bards (and builds in general) try to do to much and end up not good at anything.

my starting stats on my favorite bard (16/2/2 brd/ftr/brb)
S: 18 (36 standing)
D:15
C:16 (537 hp standing, 597 raged up no madstone)
I: 8
W: 6
C: 8 (umd was a bit of an issue till shoud charisma skills item was made)

and for the guy who was asking i have no issues with my base 8 charisma war chanter. although he was made in the no ML +2 tome days. whitch helped at lower levels getting it high enough to cast spells.

[karl_k0ch]

im interested in doing this, level 16 bard better than 14?

Bard 15 grants Inspire Heroics (+4 AC and +4Saves), Bard 16 grants two level 6 spells (i.e. Ottos Irresistable and Feast/MCMW/SummonVI).

So what you lose from 16 to 14 is versatility and some buffs. And SP, of course.

[NaturalHazard]

thanks im actually not planning on investing a lot of greensteel into this charactor for a while, in fact use him to farm shroud for a bit, think that would work? just use holy silver weapons?

[karl_k0ch]

While your individual DPS will not be as good as with a MinII weapon, you will still contribute in an essential way to the groups DPS, especially in melee TWF heavy groups:

Inspire Courage will give a huge boost to Damage and to Hit (+3 base, +3 enhancements, +2/+1 Warchanter), so every melee will deal visibly more damage.

If you want to emphasize this role, and contribute via passive DPS, a pure Warchanter might be a better idea. With the WarChII weapon proficiency, you will also be able to swing a great sword, if you like.
It gives the best buffs and it needs only half the amount of weapons.

[NaturalHazard]

While your individual DPS will not be as good as with a MinII weapon, you will still contribute in an essential way to the groups DPS, especially in melee TWF heavy groups:

Inspire Courage will give a huge boost to Damage and to Hit (+3 base, +3 enhancements, +2/+1 Warchanter), so every melee will deal visibly more damage.

If you want to emphasize this role, and contribute via passive DPS, a pure Warchanter might be a better idea. With the WarChII weapon proficiency, you will also be able to swing a great sword, if you like.
It gives the best buffs and it needs only half the amount of weapons.

AI kinda like the rogue splash for evasion? I got some single handed weapons banked so not really much of a problem just dont have the mats for greensteel ones.