Inspire Heroics

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

Well, it appears that Inspire Heroics does NOT affect everyone in the party. I suppose this is more accurate with respect to the SRD, but still kind of a let-down.

I dunno, but I guarantee you I am not singing 6 of those every 7 minutes... Even if I maxed out the extra songs, that's just too expensive. Definately situational.

Has anyone else noticed this as well?

[TwilightOracle]

I can confirm that. I tried tonight an it appears that it affects one person (friend or self). It gives another option for bards, but probably as giving the tank a little boost before major encounters.

It was too good to be true.

[WillStone]

Sorry to hear that as I am a faithful bard lover myself. It does take a lot of the sting out of
knowing this now for my bard/ranger "enchanting archer" who will max out at 14 bard.

What are the new bard enhancement lines looking like for L15-16??

[Westerner]

Does Inspire Heroics stack with Greater Heroism for the save bonus? If not, you effectively have a +4 AC single target buff. Quite situational.

[Zenako]

Does Inspire Heroics stack with Greater Heroism for the save bonus? If not, you effectively have a +4 AC single target buff. Quite situational.

Pretty much that it looks like right now.

I would not be too surprised however to find the song changing from single target to AoE sometime in the near future. I mean, for most bards, this song will effectively only add 4 AC to party members, kinda in line with the net effects of other spells. IT does require 18 Ranks of actual Skill to get too. As it currently stands casting it on a "hero" like in Reaver will make sense.

[Hin]

I was not happy that inspire heroics was not a group buff. I was hoping the devs would choose to follow what they did with inspire greatness. I don't think 4 ac is game breaking. Most of the ac builds already have a pretty high dodge bonus to ac.

[Freeman]

I was not happy that inspire heroics was not a group buff. I was hoping the devs would choose to follow what they did with inspire greatness. I don't think 4 ac is game breaking. Most of the ac builds already have a pretty high dodge bonus to ac.

Since Dodge bonuses(From different sources) stack, it doesn't matter if they already have a high Dodge bonus, this will still give them an extra +4. Still, I agree that making it a group buff wouldn't be overpowering. Unless you've put a lot of effort into your AC, most mobs can still hit you easily by the time this song is available, so the +4 won't make a difference. Blur and Displacement are still much better defensive buffs. Only high-AC tanks will likely see a difference with this buff applied.

[Schmackdown]

I would not be too surprised however to find the song changing from single target to AoE sometime in the near future.

So maybe we should be(*gulp*) asking why Inspire Greatness hits the whole party if Inspire Heroics does not. IG in the SRD, AFAIK, is single-target until level 12, and maxes out at 4 targets at level 18. I wondered if Turbine just made it full-party to avoid trying to figure out how to target additional party members. Inspire Competence never hits more than one person, so I could understand that being single-target only, but Heroics is supposed to be able to hit two targets by level 18. Maybe it will just function like Rage and hit someone nearby.

As Freeman said, I really don't think it'd be too unbalancing to have it hit the whole group. People would still whine for GH anyway.

[Westerner]

As Freeman said, I really don't think it'd be too unbalancing to have it hit the whole group. People would still whine for GH anyway.

/signed
Bard buffs seem to be less well known than the heroism line. I had one barbarian ask for heroism when he already had better from IC.