Feats for Human pure Spellsinger

[SetofBs]

I am trying to nail down the feats I would want to take as a Spellsinger. Goals of the build (in order of importance) will be:
1. Healing
2. CC
3. Melee

I don't mention buffs, because that's a given IMO. Starting stats will be 14 str, 16 con, 18 cha (and all level ups in cha), dump everything else. I thought of 16 str/14 con as well and am torn between those. Skills will be jump, balance, haggle, concentration, UMD, perform. Will melee with a two hander.

So far I am thinking:
1. Toughness, Extend
3. Spell Focus Enchant
6. Maximize
9. Heighten
12. Spell pen
15. Gr. Spell focus Enchant
18. Gr. Spell pen

Obviously this devotes no melee feats so melee may be too weak. So I thought of maybe doing something like:

1. Toughness, extend
3. Spell focus Ench
6. Maximize
9. Imp Crit
12. Heighten
15. Power attack (or maybe take THF at lvl 1 and move some of the other feats around?)
18. Spell pen

The order is debatable, and I'm just going off the top of my head so maybe they can be switched up a bit. I've never played such a support build, the closest I have is my Warchanter/trapper melee build. Therefore I'm not sure how much I will be able to/want to melee with my other responsibilities taking precedence much of the time. If I'm not going to melee much at all, then I probably should go with the former option.

My other question is to be totally healing spec'd do I want empower heal as well as maximize? I'm somewhat worried that at lower levels maximize will be too expensive SP wise.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[phalaeo]

IIRC, Spellsinger basically eats all your feats, minus one. Check the pre-reqs before you roll.

[Synthetic]

IIRC, Spellsinger basically eats all your feats, minus one. Check the pre-reqs before you roll.

It's one of not all.

I'd fit in power attack you should be fine with one spell penetration feat and as a bard you only have one good option for doing damage. So it's best to not completely ignore it.

[Irinis]

Check my Diva build. I highly recommend starting with less int and more con than I did though.

If your first focus is healing you might want to pick up emp heal as well as maximize.

[Jaid314]

melee is your third priority. do you want to be a dps melee, or a support melee?

example: you can put destruction on a DT armor and use an improved destruction weapon. you aren't so much dpsing the target, you're supporting others. in this case, you are obviously not worried about dps, though of course this is only helpful on certain targets. a better example might be a paralysing or vorpal weapon. i've also considered grabbing a cursespewing weapon of shattermantle (or improved in both) as a means of assisting casters. you might also opt for something like epic souleater, and so forth.

just what exactly you plan on doing in melee will determine whether you need to invest in melee feats or not. but yeah, if you want to contribute meaningful dps... you're going to want improved crit and power attack. your second progression looks fine if that's the case, although i would swap heighten and improved critical since you don't have the +8 BAB you need for improved critical until level 12.

[Aashrym]

I am trying to nail down the feats I would want to take as a Spellsinger. Goals of the build (in order of importance) will be:
1. Healing
2. CC
3. Melee

I don't mention buffs, because that's a given IMO. Starting stats will be 14 str, 16 con, 18 cha (and all level ups in cha), dump everything else. I thought of 16 str/14 con as well and am torn between those. Skills will be jump, balance, haggle, concentration, UMD, perform. Will melee with a two hander.

So far I am thinking:
1. Toughness, Extend
3. Spell Focus Enchant
6. Maximize
9. Heighten
12. Spell pen
15. Gr. Spell focus Enchant
18. Gr. Spell pen

Obviously this devotes no melee feats so melee may be too weak. So I thought of maybe doing something like:

1. Toughness, extend
3. Spell focus Ench
6. Maximize
9. Imp Crit
12. Heighten
15. Power attack (or maybe take THF at lvl 1 and move some of the other feats around?)
18. Spell pen

The order is debatable, and I'm just going off the top of my head so maybe they can be switched up a bit. I've never played such a support build, the closest I have is my Warchanter/trapper melee build. Therefore I'm not sure how much I will be able to/want to melee with my other responsibilities taking precedence much of the time. If I'm not going to melee much at all, then I probably should go with the former option.

My other question is to be totally healing spec'd do I want empower heal as well as maximize? I'm somewhat worried that at lower levels maximize will be too expensive SP wise.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I would go with the first list and drop greater spell penetration for quicken. DPS is tough to fit in with spell CC so melee with a focus on what the proc's are doing off the melee to help the other melee or casters.

Power attack will do you wonders if you want to increase actual DPS as an alternative. Greater spell pen is still the easiest feat to lose with the bard capstone to help make up for it.

[Sani_Medicor]

I am trying to nail down the feats I would want to take as a Spellsinger. Goals of the build (in order of importance) will be:
1. Healing
2. CC
3. Melee

I don't mention buffs, because that's a given IMO. Starting stats will be 14 str, 16 con, 18 cha (and all level ups in cha), dump everything else. I thought of 16 str/14 con as well and am torn between those. Skills will be jump, balance, haggle, concentration, UMD, perform. Will melee with a two hander.

So far I am thinking:
1. Toughness, Extend
3. Spell Focus Enchant
6. Maximize
9. Heighten
12. Spell pen
15. Gr. Spell focus Enchant
18. Gr. Spell pen

Obviously this devotes no melee feats so melee may be too weak. So I thought of maybe doing something like:

1. Toughness, extend
3. Spell focus Ench
6. Maximize
9. Imp Crit
12. Heighten
15. Power attack (or maybe take THF at lvl 1 and move some of the other feats around?)
18. Spell pen

You definitely don't need the THF feats. That just increases your glancing blow damage. Power attack won't do you much good without a high strength on anything other than trash mobs, because of the -5 to attack. I lesser reincarnated a level 15 bard this weekend and started with 16 str and 16 cha with level ups in strength. With a +3 weapon (I'm using greatswords), I was having to turn off power attack at times in Mired with Kobolds elite and Orchard of the Macabre. I took maximize and my cure serious and cure criticals were pretty nice (often 150-200hps) and I was rarely failing on heal scrolls.

[SetofBs]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think I will definitely go with the first list, but drop Gr. Spell Pen for quicken as was suggested, and maybe fine tune the order a bit. Not having quicken in there was an oversight by me. It seems my best bet is to just support melee with paralyzers and cursespewers and the like. I like that idea, it should also keep me from getting aggro'd much, which will be nice for a change.

[Chette]

Even the spell penetration feat I find generally not needed on my spellsinger. Remember that unlike other casters the highest level spell you can cast is level 6, so you can easily have a greater spell penetration item equipped for whatever spell you are casting. Throw in a few enhancement points and you'll be fine. It won't hurt you to have one feat for spell pen though :)

[TheDearLeader]

Even the spell penetration feat I find generally not needed on my spellsinger. Remember that unlike other casters the highest level spell you can cast is level 6, so you can easily have a greater spell penetration item equipped for whatever spell you are casting. Throw in a few enhancement points and you'll be fine. It won't hurt you to have one feat for spell pen though :)

One Spell Pen Feat + Two Spell Pen Enhancements on a Level 20 Spellsinger is +29 to your roll, with a Greater Spell Pen VI Item (My preference is The Mad Lute).

With Song of Arcane Heightening, its +30 to the roll.

This is enough to get most things in game, yes. The recent change to drow, however, means that you'd only be hitting them on a 15~16 or higher. Most other mobs? No-fail, or at worst failure on a 2 or so.

You're not worried about hitting Lailat Epic with your dancing balls, so raid bosses like her really aren't part of what a Bard has to worry about. Devils in Amrath/Chrono are your biggest concern, and this covers them.