Race choice for melee SS

[Bardgellor]

Hi, I want to start a new bard and I can't decide what race to play. Going to be a 32 pt. pure bard, THF with 6 build points in chr, 10-16 in str, and 6-10 in con and 0-4 in int. Not worrying about cc beyond fascinate and irresistible dance with full level spell pen (no feats). Planning on at least maximize for healing, maybe quicken. I am planning on 0-1 THF feats, but will have IC and PA. My twitch skills are mediocre, but I'm working on it.

My question is which race? As THF melee focused, then optimum races seem to be H-Orc, WF and Dwarf.

Dwarf and WF net +2 fort save a total of 80 hp. H-Orc nets 4 str and a total of +2/+7.

WF and H-Orc both have PA enchantments netting -3/+6. Dwarf gets +2/+4 with Great axes only.

WF get their immunities but are also not as good at self healing (although they wand and scroll heal just fine).

I have a great collection of 2-handers in all different weapon types and all the important greater banes, so I'm not too keen on limiting myself to great axes, although I could.

For melee damage, H-orc is the hands down winner. But with d6 hit dice, I am really worried about having enough HP to always be in the thick of combat. WF and Dwarf net out at an effective d10 hit dice compared to the H-Orc. On the other hand, is the +2 to hit going to be significant in epic content?

Thank in advance for your comments.

[Valindria]

I would say not WF. It's just not worth it. The SP regen song currently doesn't work on WF and heal spells heal you for less.

I would say Human or Half Orc

The extra feat gain from the human will help. You won't have -2 to CHA for you SS goodness. Generally speaking Humans are my favorites for bards.

Half orc is a good choice if you know you are not going to be serious about CC. I made a pure HOrc bard and I love it. http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=296332 It's a WC but could be a SS due to taking maximize. I guess I would say if you go the classic rocker path and decide you want to try WC, Virt, or SS you have the option to. The extra damage a HOrc adds is pretty nice. Starting with 20 STR and PA on at all times was great for leveling. I can still do some CC depending on the situation. I'll toss mass suggestion in a clump at times, as well as the staples of fascinate and OID.

[Steveohio]

I just asked the same question, and didn't get any diffinitive.

I will say though, I'm loving the half orc. Its self DPS exceeds all but the best geared at lvl trs so for (lvl 6) I almost always double the kill count

grab a carniflex or get a nice bursting pg weapon and icy burst it.

I made my build basically a cross between the classic rocker and the axesinger converted to an esos singer.
I have the same option to swap over to WC if I'd like to try it out also.

Also would recommend against WF due to the bugged song/healing penalty.

For Pure, human or half orc are the best choices, Dwarf if you are scared you might be abit squishy until your geared up.

[bartosy]

pure personal opinion.

1. Humans.

Bards are known to be featstarved humans get a free feat at creation and 1 skill point every level. Added to that you also get 2 different ability points instead of a fixed one so you can choose charisma making you have a +1~+3 charisma lead on other races excluding drow ofc. Also notable enh are healing amp and versatility and human toughness III.

Overall i would rate humans a 9 out of 10 for spellsingers.

2. Drows

The drows are a verry charismatic people if you're into goth like chicks and dudes. But what they got in prettieness they lack in hitpoints and strenght. Because of there feeble strenght they shine with weapons that don't weigh a lot like rapiers and shortswords and prick you in the dark. Notable strongpoints +2 charisma at start +2 int and +2 wis.. no idea.. i don't like drows a lot and nowadays they get 10+ lvl spell resistance too this however doesn't make them a lot better only a lill bit..

overall i would rate drows at 7.8 out of 10 for spellsingers.

3. Elfs

Elfs don't really care about humans and keep to themself a lot. Aloof and distant and a natural hatret for dwarfs elfs can be pretty functional bards. They got natural nice voices too bad bards don't sing in ddo they only need to know 4 chords on the lute they carry around with em. elfs can also be arcane archers. Arcane archers shoot arrows from a distance while they laugh at the melee bleeding in the front. Notable abilities scimitar/falchion atk and damage and asf reduction.

overal i would rate elfs at 7.5 out of 10 for spellsingers.

4. Dwarfs

Dwarfs drink a lot of beer and most of them are notorious alcoholics. Because of there booze addiction they sing constantly out of tune giving them a natural -2 charisma they are however verry sturdy creatures so gaining a +2 to con. notable abilities that are handy for a spellsinger are the con enh and the hp line dwarfs get.

overal i would rate dwarfs at 6.0 out of 10 for spellsingers.

[bartosy]

5. Halflings

Halflings and bards have great synergy. A halfling bard is pure win making him
a spellsinger is even more win hehe. Natural short so monsters often overlook em wich is a good thing if you wanna cast those dancing balls and mass suggestion. They also have some pretty nifty enh for hitting stuf and adding sneak dmg if your into that it will help out a lot i mean +4 to hit is quite a nice boost if you lack brute str added to that halfings also get the heroic companion buff wich is one of the most awesome buffs in the game and have great sync with songs. just throw a hc on the guy with the biggest axe and see things go down in front of you in seconds. Also an added bonus is the better saves enh and natural vs all the other races. Ofc when you're small you will be a bit frail but the saves help.

I would rate halfings at 8.6 out of 10 for spellsingers.

6. Warforged

Aka robotman. Robots lack a good voice and wf arent much better made for war they still have a crappy onboard ac97 codec build into there voiceboxes resulting in a -2 charisma. WF have there uses tho but not so much for spellsingers if the drop in charisma didn't hurt enough the spellsongvigor isnt working also. Strong points con and hp enh and some pa enh too but this doesnt make up for all the short commings not only can you cast heals on you that heals for a lot less but spellsong vigor isnt working also and -2 charisma to boot.. avoid.. if possible.

I would rate warforged at 3.5 out of 10 for spellsingers.

7. Half orcs.

The race that smash first and asks questions when things are on the ground diminished to a bloody pulp. Don't get me wrong orcs make great melee characters and the females got tusks hmm tusks.. but but.. they don't make the best casters tbh -2 charisma and the race ability points into str and enh into rage and power atk there more suited to become warchanters or barbarians. Maybe in the start you can make it work but later on you will strugle melee wise eventually. Probably with some end game gear and epic items you can make it work tho but then again so can any other race .. orcs arent special in that deparment.

I would rate half orcs at 6.5 out of 10 for spellsingers.

edit :

haha now i read its meant for melee ss my bad well i still would rate em like

1. human (extra feat epic dyna falc.)
2. halflings (sneak atk and +hit helps a lot you will need a healthy amount of +hit to hit stuf in epics and being a non warchanter and a bab 15 class doesnt help.)
3. half orcs or half elfs they both can make great melee spellsingers imo.. half orcs would be the more obvious choice here tho.