Drow Singing Blades project - Research Phase -

[Doganpc]

The idea is to create a Drow Bard that sings with his blades
Originally I was thinking... Ranger 6, Bard 14. Enough Bard to cast useful spells and enough Ranger for Tempest. I'm still leaning this way as the side effect of having to take spring attack for tempest makes this a very twitchy play. However I got to thinking with 6 levels of Fighter would give me 4 feats of choice and free up other feats as I won't need dodge/mobility/spring attack as prerequisites. The negative here is a lot of granted feats and skills the Bard can't use... Armor, Tower Shields, Intimidate, Trip. Then there's 6 levels of Barbarian, which doesn't give me much in terms of prestige class but I do get 12hp, Constitution Enhancements (make up for weak Drow CON), and plenty of action points leftover to put into Racial Enhancements from the lack of Prestige Prerequisites. The major drawback is Feat starvation.

Done playing with Rogues for now, Have access to Monk, but they can't be multiclassed with Bard so thats out.

I'm still leaning Drow Bard/Ranger as the skill sets match well (Some Racial, Some Class). However, I'm not very good at seeing into the future with how various build combinations pan out and would like to hear opinions on all three flavors before I got committing to any one.

Dogan
Forever curious, Forever skinned.

[unbongwah]

Someone already has a drow tempest bard build; if you don't want rogue skills, just drop it and take an extra bard level. For barb 6 / bard 14, check out Frenzied Bardserker.

One advantage to going barbarian is FB + WC only requires three feats, while Tempest + WC takes five. But if you want dual-wield, then the FB + WC will take six feats vs T + WC which also takes six, so it's a wash.

If I were to make a barb / bard, I would probably go THF dwarf or WF. For drow I think ranger / bard makes more sense, even though it's really tight on feats.

[Diib]

I'm currently working on a bard/ranger/rogue with the exact idea of stacking tempest with warchanter.

You can see how she is doing so far here:
http://my.ddo.com/character/sarlona/songslayer/


What I've found? Glass cannon. I have enough healing, damage and trap ability to solo most things or do well in a pt. Only a so-so backup healer even when I switch out for Superior Devotion gear.... but very versatile. When I need to hang back and take down a boss with Manyshot, I can. When something needs to be sliced and diced I do a TON of hth damage. Just hope they don't hit me. Oh, and I can do traps.

I generally try to take care of my own healing when I'm in a pt because I can die so fast. And if I'm getting hit a lot I sometimes sit back with a bow till someone beefier has drawn hate before drawing the blades and rushing in. There is a cannon here. But it is glass. Dies easy.

Planning on TRing this baby and giving her more con. Or maybe just making it a warforged.

Hope that helps.
~ Diib

[Doganpc]

What I've found? Glass cannon. I have enough healing, damage and trap ability to solo most things or do well in a pt. Only a so-so backup healer even when I switch out for Superior Devotion gear.... but very versatile. When I need to hang back and take down a boss with Manyshot, I can. When something needs to be sliced and diced I do a TON of hth damage. Just hope they don't hit me. Oh, and I can do traps.

Seems like you almost need the evasion to survive... Barbarian feat starved but enhancement rich for a build without rogue skills you get from enhancements al +4 vs traps, +2 CON, +20hp. The Frenzied Berserker isn't as useful since its main benefit is to glancing blows from THF.

Breaking it down: Enhancements
Barbarian:
-Constitution II
-Sprint Boost II
-Improved Trap Sense II (Compensates for lack of Rogue)
-Damage Boost II
-Damage Reduction Boost II

Ranger:
-Tempest I
-Favored Damage II
-Dexterity II
-Devotion II
-Energy of the Wild (+20sp compensates lack of CHA)
-Energy Resistance Boost II (Bard's can't cast Energy resist)
-Skill Boost II
-Sprint Boost II

Fighter:
-Kensei I
-Strength II
-Item Defense II
-Fighter Toughness II
-Haste Boost II (redundant with haste)
-Critical Accuracy II (good synergy with stat damage weapons)
-AC Boost II
-Attack Boost II
-Flanking Mastery I
-Mobility Mastery I
-Armor Mastery I (+1 to Allowable DEX bonus of Armor, little more mileage out of armor)

I can see Fighter enhancements creating action point issues, granted you don't have to take all of them. Almost want to do a Ranger/Barbarian could be interesting.

Dogan
Tangent!