Bardbarian, how would I start?

[Diroctive]

Hey everyone, just wondering how I would go about making a bard/barbarian combo. How many levels should be put into each class? Where should I put the points when I roll him? I've never multiclassed before so this would be a first, I just need a push in the right direction.

[Diroctive]

Also, I have 32pt. build, if that matters.

[stille_nacht]

max str max con, 10 int if you feel like it

i dont think barbs need any other stats...

[Hobgoblin]

he said BARDbarbarian hehe

[stille_nacht]

he said BARDbarbarian hehe

ohhh missed that

[wingmaker]

If your going just the two classes I would take at least 12 bard levels so you can get warchanter 2. Or you could at least 18 levels and hope for warchanter 3 to come out sometime rest in barbarian. Also you might want to look at The ghangis khan build http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=242633

[stille_nacht]

as of now id advise a 16/2/2 split for bard/ftr/barb or something similar, but play whatever you like most :]

[bigolbear]

id suggest getting realy angry and writing a song about it, works for me.

seriously tho im running a build that is 1 barb, 1 fighter planned 18 bard.

race was dwarf (not optimal, human or half orc ar probably optimal)
stats were: (i think.. tomes may have been munched)
18 str
8 dex
16 con
12 int
8 wisdom
12 charisma

point is u want lots of STR, lots of con and just enough charisma to cast.

important feats:
toughness (cos bards are squishy)
weapon focus slashing (gota grind that axe for a long time)
power attack.

important enhancements:
all the stuff you can to boost songs, songs are your strength not magic.
barb power attack.
axe enhancements if a dwarf, or other racial damage enhancements if another race.
warchanter prestige.
wand/scrol mastery because you wont have the mana for healing.
sprint boost
haste boost

important spells:
expidicious retreat (read as expidicious charge)
blur
displacement
haste
rage

the key is to realise that as a bardbarian your main strength is buffing and then being one of the meles. your job is to get every one riled up and angry (rage and songs) and make them fast and tuff (haste and blur and songs). you can play healer with wands if needed but its not your main strength and your crowd control spells will not be good enough to work well so its best not to bother or atleast rely on them.

Your biggest strenght is your song buffs - they will add a lot of mele damage to a group and even more to a raid.
Your biggest weakness is your personal defences, bards are a bit squishy for front line meles so you will need to invest in things like flase life items and extra hit point gear. you will also be some what vulnerable to magic so id recomend geting elemntal resist items (such as a cloak of fire res) and swapping them around as needed.

whatever class split you go for id recomend atleast 14 bard lvls as this will max out your song potential (for a multiclassed bard).

Also check out the axesinger build it is popular and effective, but im fairly sure its fighter/bard rather than bard barian.

[Diroctive]

Where does Intel come in making a bard or barbarian? Is you may tell, I've not made either one before. Also, why do I need a level of fighter, what would that give me?

[Trowa88]

Where does Intel come in making a bard or barbarian? Is you may tell, I've not made either one before. Also, why do I need a level of fighter, what would that give me?

Intelligence would give you more skill points, Bard have the second highest amount and 10 intelligence gives you 24 at level 1
Enough to max concentration, haggle, preform, umd, jump and balance which is generally all you need.

Fighter would give you an extra feat and haste boost 1 (attack speed boost clickie that stacks with haste).

[wolfy42]

It's been awhile since I made one but I have some experience here.

Warchanter 2 isn't exactly that important for a multiclass bard. In fact I would suggest almost going with a different speciality all together if your snagging 12 or more bard levels.

That being said if I remember right the magic levels for a bard are 14 or 16.

16 is mainly if you want otto's irresistable spell....which is very useful indeed. It basically lets you make anything dance (although SR can protect them). It's a great spell but it's almost the only thing you get for the extra 2 bard levels (although some do really like inspire heroics...it's probably not going to matter for your bardbarian at least).


For a 16 level bard split you only have 4 levels left over....so I would take 2 barbarian and 2 fighter or 1 barbarian and 3 rogue. Decent builds with alot of versatility.

To maximize your barbarian influence though I would go with 14 bard/6 barbarian. You get alot of bonuses for taking 6 barbarian levels, and you don't loose out on that much really. Basically you get yet another rage, power attack II, Power Rage II, Berzerkers Frenzy, extended rage, Barbarian con II, Hardy rage II, improved uncanny dodge (mainly for the reflex saves later on), Dr 2/- base (with the enhancement that gives you 3/- which is enough for splash damage).

In my opinion that is better then grabbing 2 extra bard levels...although the loss of haste boost does blow.

Back on the Bard though, you might consider not going warchanter especially with a barbarian combo. Warchanter is great to have at level 6, but both of the other options start to shine a bit more at 12 for a multiclass bard (you can btw easily switch later on so it's not a problem. Warchanter pretty much gives +1 rage, +1 to hit and +2 damage to your barbarian...which is nice but not all that important later on. In fact if you do go warchanter you might want to just stay at Warchanter 1 and level 2 does not give you nearly as much.


Spellsinger II though adds alot. 200 bonus spell points, spell point regeneration and +4 UMD alone is very worth it. The bonus to UMD at level 12 when it's starting to really shine is perfect and the extra spell points start to make a big difference at that point. If your going with a two handed build I would highly recommend going this path.

Concentrate mainly on buffing spells and healing spells and you'll be set. Your healing with be quite decent with heal scrolls through UMD as backup.

You might consider going either human (for healing amp III) or H-elf (for healing amp II and then grabbing monk dill for another 20% healing amp). Long term healing amp is going to be very important for your character. Human is probably the best since you really need the extra feat (without fighter levels your really struggling on feats) and the bonus skill point won't hurt.

As far as int...you really don't need to worry about int much unless your taking rogue levels. Even a 8 base int (saying your not going h-orc) will get you 5 skill points per level till 7 and 6 per after that. That's plenty to keep spot/UMD/Balance and perform all maxed and let you max/boost 2 others. More int is fine...but 8 won't kill you if you need the points elsewhere.

Even a H-orc (not a bad choice btw, especially if your going Warchanter) can get by with a 6 int in a pinch. 5 skill points per level (post 7) means you'll be pretty much down to the bare bones, but you can still keep UMD/Spot/Perform maxed at least.

H-orcs lose 1 feat, 1 skill point and 30% (possible) healing amp, but they gain quite a bit more damage with two handed weapons. You net 2 base strength, 1 enhanced strength (over human), 2 more strength while raged and 2 strength if under 50% health. In addition you get +4 damage with all two handed weapons. Add in Orcish power attack 3 and you have 6 extra damage from strength, 4 from two handed weapons and 6 from power attack.....for 16 extra damage per hit. That might be worth the loss of healing amp, a feat and a skill point.

If you do go with the H-orc build I'd recommend something like this for your stats:

Str 20 (16)
Con 16 (10)
Dex 08 (00)
Int 08 (02)
wis 08 (00)
Cha 10 (04)

Could switch the 2 int to wisdom or dex I guess. You could drop str to 18 btw and boost dex significantly if your going TWF or want ranged options (thrown weapons for instance). Actually with all the other bonuses to strength and damage I'd probably do that.....drop str to 18.....and pump dex to 15 (dropping int to 6)...oh blah, I'll rewrite it.


Str 18 (10)
Con 16 (10)
Dex 15 (08)
Int 06 (00)
wis 08 (00)
Cha 10 (04)


That lets you qualify for GTWF with just a +2 tome if you want to go that route, and gives you a bit better to hit with your thrown weapons

[unbongwah]

Hey everyone, just wondering how I would go about making a bard/barbarian combo. How many levels should be put into each class? Where should I put the points when I roll him?

What do you want out of him?

• Barb 2 / bard 18
• Barb 2 / ftr 2 / bard 16
• barb 6 / bard 14
• barb 6 / rogue 2 / bard 12
• barb 12 / bard 8

There's a lot of room for variations on bardbarians. What do you want to be able to do?