Best Bard Armor?

[Micron]

I was quite excited about Epic Marilith Chain on my Warchanter at first but on second thought I'm not sure it's that hot. Seeker +10 is great of course but it's also the only thing it has going for it. DR 5/Lawful or Good - more or less useless, Ironskin Chant is better. Shatter +10 - never heard of anyone who uses Sunder, not sure many bards have high enough Str to actually land it in endgame content. Evil Guard - useless.

The only reason I personally decided to go for it in the end (besides the looks ) was the fact I'm crafting a Min II +45hp helm so I'll put Toughness on the blue slot once it's epic. For those who use Minos, I don't think it's worth it just for the Seeker. A Bloodstone + DT combo is better imo.

[Micron]

I went for Epic Vulkoorim Fighting Leathers but get arcane spell failure on scrolls despite the handy tip that bards "don't get spell failure in light armor" according to all sources. So I'm a bit concerned that Warchanters may still get arcane spell failure on scrolls in medium armor. It's difficult to reconstruct the tank when you fail 3x in a row.

Something's wrong with this. I just tested arcane scrolls on a Spellsinger wearing light armour (both epic and non-epic) and on a Warchanter II wearing medium armour. The Spellsinger had to roll an ASF check and the Warchanter II didn't. Seems it's the same trait, either one or the other isn't working properly. If somebody else can test this and confirm, I'll bug report it.

[Tuney]

Warchanter's 2nd tier PrE has a hidden SUPER boost. ALL I must repeat this part ALL Medium and Light armor they have equiped have a zero ASF, I think the reason they had to do it this way was to make it so they didn't have arcane spell fail if the use Medium armor.

[testing1234]

you can try to pick up the hound destruction armour a destruction armour for those to lazy to make the DragonTouched with +5res +2spell pene or guard and destruction. as hound goes fast to do its low amount of effort to do but can take long time real time to get good option if you have many toons to outfit/play while the DT armour is high playtime and low real time
hound BP not the best but good option if the bard isnt your main

[harold2560]

Epic marilith chain would be awesome for a warchanter. However i look at my bard (healy warchanter) as a character that really rounds out a party and everything he does is focused on helping the party succeed. I already have great damage songs to make everyone else do more dps, i can heal, i can haste...why not put destruction on dragontouched and effectively give the party another +4 to hit as well. No matter how much dps my bard might do by having epic marilith chain, i know the battleclerics, and other toons who dont have great to-hits in my group will do much more dps than i will if they can hit on 4 more attacks out of 20. So i think dragontouched is probably the best and most versatile option for at least my bard to use, as you can really consolidate alot of needs into that one peice....gfl or fort....except stat, stat or healing amp....destruction!

Bards are so versatile that it really depends on how you want to play your bard, and what content you mainly do. If your not doing alot of epic or elite stuff then destruction on your armor may not be a big deal for the party. Personally if im on my twf favored soul id be really happy if somone else in the party has destruction on their armor so i can keep my epic marilith chain on and do more dps.

[dkyle]

I went for Epic Vulkoorim Fighting Leathers but get arcane spell failure on scrolls despite the handy tip that bards "don't get spell failure in light armor" according to all sources. So I'm a bit concerned that Warchanters may still get arcane spell failure on scrolls in medium armor. It's difficult to reconstruct the tank when you fail 3x in a row.

Bards ignore ASF on Bard spells only. Reconstruct is not a Bard spell, so it is subject to ASF.

It's clear in 3.5 SRD, but unfortunately DDO's documentation is, as always, lacking.

Warchanter's 2nd tier PrE has a hidden SUPER boost. ALL I must repeat this part ALL Medium and Light armor they have equiped have a zero ASF, I think the reason they had to do it this way was to make it so they didn't have arcane spell fail if the use Medium armor.

Did not know this. Good to know.

[Irinis]

Something's wrong with this. I just tested arcane scrolls on a Spellsinger wearing light armour (both epic and non-epic) and on a Warchanter II wearing medium armour. The Spellsinger had to roll an ASF check and the Warchanter II didn't. Seems it's the same trait, either one or the other isn't working properly. If somebody else can test this and confirm, I'll bug report it.

Can you confirm using recon scrolls or fireshield? If you use a scroll from the Bard spells it will not have ASF, but if you use an arcane scroll we don't get, it will?

We will need to bug report but more info beforehand is the plan.

[Micron]

Can you confirm using recon scrolls or fireshield? If you use a scroll from the Bard spells it will not have ASF, but if you use an arcane scroll we don't get, it will?

We will need to bug report but more info beforehand is the plan.

I used Fire Shield scrolls for the testing. Couldn't use Reconstruct, there was no WF target at hand.

I'll post screenshots soon.

EDIT:

Spellsinger II wearing light armour: Reconstruct - ASF check. Fire Shield - ASF check. Teleport (last highlighted roll) - no ASF check even though Wiz/Sor spell.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_WJCBgDbxurk/TT...erII-light.jpg

Warchanter II wearing medium armour: Reconstruct - no ASF check. Fire Shield - no ASF check.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_WJCBgDbxurk/TT...rII-medium.jpg

[Tuney]

There should not be any Arcane spell fail for a Warchanter who has the 2nd tier (Unless using a shield.)

They have arcane spell fail lowered to zero. You can check this if you looked at your armor...

[Qezuzu]

Bard Spells are "simple" so they're not subject to ASF in light armor. Other arcane spells are "more complex" so they're harder to cast when you're restrained by armor.

I don't know about teleport. My Rogue, in EVFL, is not subject to the 15% ASF when using Teleport scrolls. It is definetely an arcane spell, not divine. She does have to make a ASF check when using Fireshield scrolls, but not GH scrolls (I haven't used one in awhile since I got the Draconic Necklace so I'm not 100% on that). I think it may have to do with the spell components (somatic, verbal, material, etc).

After a google search, we find:-

Somatic components are measured and precise hand motions that can be interfered with by wearing armor. This can cause Arcane Spell Failure, resulting in a ruined spell. Note that characters make the same arm gestures for all spells in DDO, so you can't tell which spells require this component by watching your character's animations.

So, it seems only spells that have a somatic component are subject to ASF. Teleport only has a Verbal component. Irresistable Dance only has a Verbal component as well. The wiki says you are unable to cast spells with a Verbal component if you are unable to speak (and there's no effect which does this). Fireshield has a somatic component, as do most of the arcane spells. But there's a good number that aren't affected by ASF, even if only Sorc/Wiz can cast them (theoretically. Wail of the Banshee only has a Verbal component, but perhaps no one noticed because there's [practically] no sorc/wizes that wear armor at the level for Wail).

WC and their 0 ASF, even for scrolls, might be because WC are strong and can ignore their armor's weight (or something), or because the devs did a shortcut and just lowered the ASF of armor when worn by a WC to 0.

[Micron]

WC and their 0 ASF, even for scrolls, might be because WC are strong and can ignore their armor's weight (or something), or because the devs did a shortcut and just lowered the ASF of armor when worn by a WC to 0.

That's the point, really. I'll wager that the 0% medium armour ASF on Warchanter II wasn't supposed to be anything else than an extension of the classic 0% light armour ASF that every bard has. So a word from a dev would be appreciated on whether it was an intention to remove all ASF from warchanters - incl. scrolls - or whether they just did that because they couldn't be bothered implementing it properly.

[Irinis]

...an extension of the classic 0% light armour ASF that every bard has.

Yeah except that we don't.

Can anyone recall the splash screen "Bards don't get spell failure in light armor" tip number off the top of your head?

It'll help for the bug report, either that screen is spreading misinformation and Warchanter II is bugged, or ALL Bards are supposed to be getting 0% ASF in Light and Warchanters are fine in Medium as well.

[Fishcatch22]

I'm surprised no ones realized that this thread is necro...

[dkyle]

Yeah except that we don't.

Can anyone recall the splash screen "Bards don't get spell failure in light armor" tip number off the top of your head?

It'll help for the bug report, either that screen is spreading misinformation and Warchanter II is bugged, or ALL Bards are supposed to be getting 0% ASF in Light and Warchanters are fine in Medium as well.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Loading_screen_tips

It's #67. The loading screen tip is an oversimplification of the rules. Many are. For example, another tip says there's no limit to the amount of coins one can carry, when in fact, the max is ~4 mil plat.

[Irinis]

It would be nice to get dev clarification on this since if it's NOT a bug that means Bards should not wear anything heavier than robes/outfits unless they're Warchanter II.