Bard 2nd Life Build

[FalexiaSutter]

Hey all. So I have a level 26 pure bard spellsinger right now and it is a blast to play. I'm thinking about TRing it into an even better version of itself and I wanted advice.

So right now it's sort of a jack-of-all-trades with a focus on crowd-control:
Human, charisma-based with strong focus on crowd-control (using songs and spells), and with moderate healing and melee dps. I've found I can solo most stuff on EH without much issue (haven't really tried EE). Only issue is the occasional purple named that takes forever to kill because my dps isn't enough.

So here's what I'm thinking for the TR:
18 bard/ 1 fighter/ 1 favored soul (or cleric) who uses two-handers
Fighter level is for feat, proficiency, and haste boost
Cleric is pretty much for divine might (for a cha-based secondary melee character, this seems fantastic), but also get nightshield and protection from evil

Feats:
Past life: Bard
Power attack
Improved critical something
Cleave
Great Cleave
Spell Penetration
Greater Spell Penetration
Heighten

Epic feats:
Inspire excellence
Overwhelming critical
epic spell penetration

Epic destiny feat:
Lasting inspiration
?

Race:
Not sure. Human means extra feat. Dwarf dragonmarks look useful. Drow for extra cha, spell resistance, and +1 enchantment dc? Elf for spell spen and +1 enchantment dc? I have no idea.

Stats: Since I don't know what race I am, I just put how much I plan to spend for each stat.
Str 10 spent, +5 tome
Dex 0 spent, +1 tome
Con 6 spent, +2 tome
Int 2 spent
Wis 0 spent
Cha 16 spent, +4 tome, all levels here

Skills:
Balance, Bluff, Diplomacy, Concentration, Perform, UMD, 1 tumble at level 1 (Add heal if Drow or Human)

So, any thoughts/ advice for the build? I'm not sure if I want to go with cleave/ great cleave/ and overwhelming critical, or if I want to drop them altogether, or go with another fighting style... Most of all I want my DCs for crowd-control to be excellent, but I also want to do decent damage...

[BoBoDaClown]

If you want to run hard, your build would probably work, although i would switch spell pen for spell focus feats, since all mobs get a save, and you can use songs in a pinch vs high sr.

If you want to run challenging content you are missing too much for the 'excellent' dcs you are after, so you probably couldnt do a cc role. If you eant excellent cc, you need to focus your build on it.

I would certainly add empower healing and quicken, so you can main heal.

Personally, running tough content, i dont want to be half good at many things, i want to be good enough to take a healer, dps or cc slot. So i build bards for either dps and healing, or cc and healing.

[Nayo]

Hmm all good ideas. It seems like an easy fix if I take your advice:

Drop cleave, great cleave, and overwhelming critical. Swap for Spell focus: enchant, GSF: enchant, and epic spell focus.
Then drop spell pen and greater spell pen for empower healing and quicken.

Hmm. Originally I thought the split might work, but now I'm thinking pure would be better for what I want.
Pure nets me: +1 att/ dam for song, +2 spell penetration, a 4th, 5th, and 6th level spell, and the spellsinger cap (+2 cha, heal, wail of the banshee, +10 universal spell power).
What I had before gets me: Armor + weapon proficiencies, +1 feat, haste boost, divine might, a couple of buffs (which are easily scrolled anyways if needed...)

Seems like pure is a clear winner to me now that I spell it out...

[Panzermeyer]

Currently I am running my TR project as a
17 B/2 F/1C

I am running as a Half-Orc.

I am having so much fun with this build that I decided to take him to 28 and ETR with him. And still having so much fun I plan to run a few ETR lives in the martial sphere running LD to get those EPL out of the way.

This toon is awesome.

I wanted a bit of a solid DPS build that was a Bard. And I got that.
My CC works great on EH. Ming Fog and disc balls or Fascinate and Otto's Dance for the win. My fascinate DC is in mid 70's.

I know my disco balls are not the strongest, but with mind fog I tend to nab at least 70% of the trash in the CC.

I am a STR build. With all levels ups having gone into STR. My Cha doesn't quite hit 30 I don't think.

I went H-Orc to leaverage the racial tree bonuses to THF. He hit's like a truck. Though currently I run in Fatesinger all the time, and so do not take down stuff like those in LD or FotW.

If I redid him I would likely only go 1 F. As I went 2 F for the tactics enhancement, but never ended up taking it.

With Divine Might and Skaldic Rage my Str jumps up to over 60+. About the only thing I have trouble with is the bard typical, undead. But my DPS is good enough then, that I take them out quicker than your average bard.

My mass heals are hitting for 200-300 depending on what I throw.

I do have 3 wizzy lives, 3 sorc lives, 1 cleric, and 1 fvs. So I have a +7 to SP currently. I did not take any SP feats or enhancements. I break Drow SR about 50% of the time. Other than that I have rarely found that SP is something that I missed. Fascinate will work despite SR as will Song of Capering.

Likely in hind site FvS would be better than Clr. Going 1 Ftr should be more than enough. I managed to get in some of the THF fighting line. But my glancing blows are not super high DPS, so I could have stood to lose it.

I'd drop the Spell Pen lines and go Empower Healing and Quicken.

If you go STR then that would make you pretty good at DPS (not the best) give you solid CC and solid healing.

That would be a good generalist bard for EH content. If you want to regularly run EE and solo it, this build would be lacking in the focus in anything good. But for EH content this would be a solid well rounded multi-tasking build that you will have fun with.

I'd either go Human for the feat and heal amp. Drow for the higher stats and SR. Or H-Orc for the melee boosts. Either of these would work. Won't bother with Dwarf or Elf unless it is strictly for flavor.

[Panzermeyer]

My bard build was originally loosely based on this post. And it provides some useful info.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/424103-Str-based-THF-melee-bard-New-Player-Friendly

[Nayo]

Thanks for the feedback panzer. It's good to hear from someone who has tested a build along the same lines. :)

[Panzermeyer]

Thanks for the feedback panzer. It's good to hear from someone who has tested a build along the same lines. :)

Definitely it is a fun fun build and I plan on making a first life toon with this same build since I am having so much fun with it.

I think it can survive quite well in EH without a big TR grind.

A few past lives for the extra ability points would be nice.

However I do not see any in particular being super vital.

Though I will admit after writing this post, I am sure my +7 to SP from past lives has been a big part of my success in getting past SR without any feats. But great thing about bards is that there are non-SR options for CC, and a failed SR check with otto's dances doesn't break fascinate.

I would additionally recommend if you have a +20 LR stone from the last update. To switch your toon to a wizzy toon and go with the Wizzy active PL feat rather than the bard PL life. This will give you a +1 DC to all your spell schools not just enchantment.