Which Dilettante to take?

[Naesa]

I want to make a healing/cc bard but with enough melee ability to solo effectively when I don't feel like grouping.

Paladin seems an obvious choice for the +2 saves, but will +2 saves be very important throughout my career?

Fighter seems nice to skip master's touch, but master's touch doesn't seem like that big of a deal except to use a spell slot and having to cast it multiple times if the quest requires multiple weapons

Sorcerer and Favored Soul would make sense but I can't think of anything that this gives that umd wouldn't.

Rogue sounds neat, but I'd have to get dex to 13 and will 1d6 extra damage really be all that much in the end?

Barbarian maybe?

Stick to human for the extra regular feat and skills?

I dunno, what do y'all think? Discuss~!

[Valindria]

Barb is worthless. No one should ever take barb. You can get a 1/- DR set of gloves from a quest in korthos.

Generally speaking (unless something changed) the only ones that I saw some potental in were

- Fighter
- Monk (certain AC builds or someone who loves kamas/throwing stars )
- Paladin
- Sometimes Rogue


As far as bards go most of the time an extra feat (going human) would be better than what the HE offers. I would say in your case Human or Fighter.

[Stitch78]

Barb is worthless. No one should ever take barb. You can get a 1/- DR set of gloves from a quest in korthos.

Generally speaking (unless something changed) the only ones that I saw some potental in were

- Fighter
- Monk (certain AC builds or someone who loves kamas/throwing stars )
- Paladin
- Sometimes Rogue


As far as bards go most of the time an extra feat (going human) would be better than what the HE offers. I would say in your case Human or Fighter.

Half-Elven Dilettante: Paladin
■Prerequisites: Half-Elf, 13 Charisma
■Benefit: You have spent enough time among holy warriors that you know their chants by heart. You can add up to 2 points of your Charisma bonus to all saves. This bonus does not stack with the Divine Grace ability. You are able to use wands and scrolls as if you were a level one paladin, and for item use purposes you count as a level one paladin in addition to any other classes you possess.

I can see a +2 stacking bonus to saves being useful to almost any bard build, particularly those who splash rogue or monk for evasion. There are builds that take Iron Will as a feat to boost saves. Not sure its a good enough reason to go HE though.

[AyumiAmakusa]

Fighter

[Crazyfruit]

By healing/cc, do you mean Spellsinger or Virtuoso?
Are you combat capable or focused solely on healing & crowd control?
Pure or splashing a few levels of other classes?

Etc. Can't recommend any without knowing your character

Re: barbarians, the DR will improve with enhancements apparently. It could be well worth it (in the future) for a non-warchanter. DR's pretty tricky to fit into equipment sometimes.

I've had some bard friends looking forward to taking bard (again), for an extra 3 fascinates. That could be an option if they stack with songs.

[Dylvish]

Went fighter with mine. Was just too nice having all those weapon profs open up. Bards already get a slew of wands to use, +2 saves is nice but (imo) not as good.

[Stitch78]

Went fighter with mine. Was just too nice having all those weapon profs open up. Bards already get a slew of wands to use, +2 saves is nice but (imo) not as good.

Hmm, someone will have to confirm but the fighter feat on a dorf should also provide dwarven axes to any class that doesn't get martial weps proficiency, as dorf's treat dwarven axes as martial weps.

[Dylvish]

Hmm, someone will have to confirm but the fighter feat on a dorf should also provide dwarven axes to any class that doesn't get martial weps proficiency, as dorf's treat dwarven axes as martial weps.

That is correct, but dorf can not take the fighter feat. The feat is racial for the Half Elf. Dwarf would have to take a Fighter Level (or barb / pally / ranger).

[unbongwah]

The only ones I see being useful are fighter on a pure bard or bard / rogue so you don't have to keep casting Master's Touch and only if you're NOT going for khopeshs or rapiers (though that'd be easier to justify if HEs got the elf enhs to scimitars & falchions); rogue for the SA dmg (if not going for rogue already); or paladin for the saves boost (though I really hope they add some enhs to boost it so it doesn't stay capped at +2). I suppose wizard or sorcerer could be useful early on so you can use arcane wands right away, but I'd certainly swap either out once your UMD is high enough.

[Valindria]

The only ones I see being useful are fighter on a pure bard or bard / rogue so you don't have to keep casting Master's Touch and only if you're NOT going for khopeshs or rapiers (though that'd be easier to justify if HEs got the elf enhs to scimitars & falchions); rogue for the SA dmg (if not going for rogue already); or paladin for the saves boost (though I really hope they add some enhs to boost it so it doesn't stay capped at +2). I suppose wizard or sorcerer could be useful early on so you can use arcane wands right away, but I'd certainly swap either out once your UMD is high enough.

Unless something has changed, my understanding is there is no way to swap it later in life.

[muffinlad]

Unless something has changed, my understanding is there is no way to swap it later in life.

I can confirm this, as I tried it last night. I went with Bard, assuming I could (with the benefit of acting like a level 1 bard...) buy the perform skill. Because even at half ranks and a large charisma bonus, I would occasionally be able to facinate things that my spells may have not work on (beholders)...but, oh lordy...I was wrong.

No perform skill, tried it about 100 times, facinated fewer than 12 things with a maxed out charisma. I could have been rolling badly I suppose (I did not check), but it stunk, so I went to Fred for the change out...no dice.

Re-rolling the whole toon today.

muffinselfinflictedwound.

[AylinIsAwesome]

I can see a +2 stacking bonus to saves being useful to almost any bard build, particularly those who splash rogue or monk for evasion. There are builds that take Iron Will as a feat to boost saves. Not sure its a good enough reason to go HE though.

Since when can Bards splash in Monk?

[unbongwah]

Unless something has changed, my understanding is there is no way to swap it later in life.

They should be swappable, but weren't as of late Sept on Lamy. Dunno if they fixed that in time for U7.

[Stitch78]

That is correct, but dorf can not take the fighter feat. The feat is racial for the Half Elf. Dwarf would have to take a Fighter Level (or barb / pally / ranger).

/facepalm.

Yes, indeed a dwarven half-elf would be a mighty fine weilder of dwarven axes indeed.

[AyumiAmakusa]

Since when can Bards splash in Monk?

After the Monk Rebellion.

[Arlathen]

Personal Opinion? If you multi-class your Bard, then Paladin is the way to go (assuming you multi-class for Evasion). Really helps your Will and Fort saves, and bonus on top of Reflex for Evasion is never a bad thing.

But I'm no Bard expert, so I'll let others pronounce judgement

[Gorbadoc]

Re: barbarians, the DR will improve with enhancements apparently. It could be well worth it (in the future) for a non-warchanter. DR's pretty tricky to fit into equipment sometimes.

Can you cite a thread or post? I remember seeing it confirmed by the devs that Dilettante feats should be swappable, but I haven't seen them actually confirm plans for Dilettante enhancements. This, despite the fact that the enhancements are a key selling point.

Also, I'm hoping that, in the future, Bard Dilettante will grant Perform as a cross-class skill. I haven't seen the devs mention this, but without some access to Perform, the Fascinate ability literally isn't worth the time it takes to cast. I'm not about to roll any characters based on this hope, but three charges of Oops! would be pretty sweet on the Paladin Intimitank I have in the back of my mind.

[Rav'n]

/facepalm.

Yes, indeed a dwarven half-elf would be a mighty fine weilder of dwarven axes indeed.

Not to derail...but WC II on a Dorf DOES open up Dorv'n Axes for a Pure Bard... or Bard/Rogue multi-class.

[HojoZ]

Personal Opinion? If you multi-class your Bard, then Paladin is the way to go (assuming you multi-class for Evasion). Really helps your Will and Fort saves, and bonus on top of Reflex for Evasion is never a bad thing.

But I'm no Bard expert, so I'll let others pronounce judgement

Too bad pallies have to be Lawful Good and Bards non lawful

Imagine the saves on a 16/2/2 CHA based Bard/pally/monk...