American Idol - New Player Friendly Spellsinger

[aristarchus1000]

On my guild boards, it is pretty common for new players to want to try to play a “battle-wizard,” but more often than not I find myself directing them to this build. I wanted to post it here to get additional feedback from Bard experts and the community at large.

The American Idol is just a fun poke at a relative novice trying to get into the big leagues.

At it’s core, this is a Strength based Spellsinger. It borrows heavily from people who came before me, and anyone considering a bard should read Irinis’ Bard Guide: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=275472 as well as the Classic Rocker bulid from Anthios888 for tips on playstyle. http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=249865.

Why Spellsinger on a strength based character? I know that the classic thinking is that melee should be Warchanter, spellcasting should be Spellsinger, and there are valid reasons for that from a min-max point of view. However, I really like Spellsinger on a strength based bard. The +4 UMD, +1 DC song, and 200 spellpoints is really, really helpful for new players with no gear, until they get better geared.

Bards really mature and shine when they can easily attain the 39 UMD needed to use no-fail Heal and Reconstruct Scrolls, and the +4 UMD really helps in a build that didn’t focus on Charisma. It is hard to reach that on a warchanter before the Greensteel CHA skills item. What is worse, pure bards are a bit squishie, and thus really can use a Greensteel hp item as well, which means you are waiting for 20 Shroud runs to get both, even if you have plenty of large ingredients to spare. That’s a long time for a new player or a even secondary character. This character requires no tomes, but certainly benefits if you can get your hands on them.

I think the spellsinger bonuses are really comparable to the Warchanter ones since Update 9, since spellcasters are more viable participants in epics (one cc was always viable, but 2 or 3 was less so in the past, but this is no longer true). Warchanters are better in Raids, but pure Spellsingers are a huge help as well, and in smaller quest runs, the +1 DC and versatility allow Spellsingers to shine pretty well in epics and difficult end-game quests.

The build, and further commentary after:

Dwarf or Human (28 pt build)
Bard 20

Starting Stats:

18 Str (16 build points) + (all level ups here)
8 Dex
14 Con (6 build points) (+2 if dwarf)
8 Int
8 Wis
14 Cha (6 build points) (-2 if dwarf)

If you have 32 pt builds, either put the points in Con for 20 extra hit points or dex (reflex saves)

Feats:
Toughness
Extend
Maximize
Power Attack
Quicken
Improved Critical: Slash
Empowered Healing

if Human: Another Toughness or Weapon Focus Slashing if you want freedom to swap to Warchanter with enhancement reset.

Enhancements:
Spellsinger

Skills:
Perform, Concentration, Balance, some in Jump and Tumble.

UMD at 20:
23 points
4 GH
5 or 6 (Charisma bonus)
3 Cartouche or Bunny Hat
4 Spellsinger Bonus
1 Focusing Chant
---
40 Dwarf, 41 Human, don't even need Focusing Chant.

This is Pre-Greensteel access to no-fail Heal/Reconstruct scrolls and all the goodies up to level 6.

Commentary:
RACE:
I think Dwarf is a strong new player option, F2P, with extra hitpoints (nice on a bard) and stacking +5 spell saves. Bards can be squishie, and this helps a lot, especially for a new player who may still be learning. +4 to damage with Greataxes is a plus.

Human is also a strong option. Skill boosts and the like are nice. Human does give a few more options if you think you might change your mind and go Charisma focused at some point in the future, you can easily switch by using a Lesser or Greater Reincarnate Heart.

Bards make nice “arcane melee” characters, since they have the key buffing spells that make melee characters shine, notably Rage, Haste, Displacement, Blur. The songs make increases their self and party damage output more. I like to recommend this build to those who desire to play “battlemages.”

A pre-Greensteel bard can reach 39 UMD as soon as he hits cap. 23 + 4 GH + 3 Cartouche + 4 spellsinger + 1 focusing chant + 5 Charisma bonus (dwarf 12 + 2 capstone + 6 item = 20 charisma (dwarf, 22 for human)) = 39. That means he can build a Greensteel HP item first, and be a reasonable contributer to end game content, even epics pretty much right away.

For melee, I generally prefer THF for bards, mostly due to the To-hits and the viability without THF feats. For the Dwarf, that’s a Greataxe, and for others, take your pick. Falchions have a better crit profile, but only if the damage bonus gets high enough, and I’m not sure a new player will be able to reach those thresholds early on. Divine Power clickies help but isn’t totally sustaineable. I’ve played a few builds and find that for non-pure dps, the THF feat line doesn’t offer as much, especially if you are willing to twitch.

This build provides excellent support, with Bard Enhancements to Scrolls and wands for primary healing, and Metamagic Enhanced, Quickened Mass Cures as needed for burst healing. It can swing any reasonable THF with Master’s Touch, eventually up to a Lit2 Greataxe or even an Epic SoS.

I can imagine, after a while, one may decide to switch over to Warchanter of the “Classic Rocker” type. After you have your Charisma Greensteel item, the UMD bonus from SS is less critical (although still nice, for item slot saving purposes). Also, there are some pretty nice Medium Armors in the game, so if you’ve managed to acquire some, this may tip the balance towards a Warchanter Bard.

I offer this build as a resource-light (but benefits from tomes and gear if you have it) build that is excellent for relatively new players interested in the end-game. You feel like a “full bard” very early, pretty much as soon as you hit 20 and get basic gear, which is nice. If this Bard ends up being your favorite character, and you choose to gear up further, this build provides the flexibility to be a very nice end-game and epic-running character as well. After 20 Shroud runs and two Tier 3 items, all bards shine, but this character will be very viable long before that. The character can be a positive contributor to most epic PuGs early, and it is a good way to learn epic quests since the expectations from the bard are relatively low, and you will get a chance to observe the roles of the various members in your group. As you get better, you may be able to handle the primary healing role as well.

This is a very well rounded character that contributes to a party in multiple ways. The only aspect missing is spell based Charisma based DC spells. Getting your Charisma score high enough to really make this worthwhile is quite a grind, but if you play this character enough to get that point, you can consider a lesser reincarnation into that if that becomes your cup of tea.

I would appreciate any thoughts and feedback.

[Zachski]

Hmm, this definitely seems like an interesting take on a melee bard. Definitely works as a battle arcane.

I may take it for a spin.

EDIT: Rolling up Dwarf 32 point, I actually put the extra points in Charisma instead of Con or Dex. So I have 18 strength, 16 con, 14 cha.

Just an option you may want to consider.

Mostly, I chose Dwarf for the Axe enhancements, which are additional damage, which I think is important to any melee character

[Luckness]

Other than some named items... notable exceptions like Carnifex at early game and Epic Sword of Shadows at end game... Falchion > Greataxe or Greatsword for THF. This recommends human or even elf (falchion enhancements). Only problem with the elf is their low HP, so I'm guessing that means human.

Having only one race option is obviously boring, however, so I guess I'm saying to include elf as well as dwarf and human as a race option (for some reason lots of new players like elves anyway, haha). Maximize and Empower Healing are sort of redundant, Maximize is the PrE requirement, so perhaps Empower Healing gets the axe for a 2nd Toughness.

It's also easily possible to start with 10 Charisma on a 28-point build, even if it is cutting it a bit close. Your calculations seem to forget the capstone for +2 Charisma and Charisma II enhancements for another +2. Without even having tomes, starting with 10 CHA... getting 20 CHA with enhancements and a +6 item.

23 ranks
4 GH
5 CHA modifier
3 Cartouche
4 Spellsinger
----
39 UMD (40 with focusing chant also)

Overall I really like it... there really is no reason not to use melee on a spellsinger, as it's not like they can deal good damage with bard spells, and not every situation will put you in full support mode. As you point out the option to go Warchanter is clearly there.

However, you should not sell short the ability of a Warchanter to hit a 39 UMD without much gear. The same pack that drops the cartouche also drops the Voice, which gives you +1 luck all the time. It doesn't take that long to get the money for a +2 CHA tome, and if the warchanter stays pure and starts with 14 CHA, that's 26 CHA from items and enhancements.

23 ranks
4 GH
8 CHA modifier
3 Cartouche (competence)
1 Voice (luck)
1 Focusing Chant
---
40

That's without any raid gear, and you can even drop 1 point.

[Zachski]

It's also easily possible to start with 10 Charisma on a 28-point build, even if it is cutting it a bit close.

This means casting no spells until you can pick up your first +1 Cha item or get the enhancement at level 2

That means an entire level without access to Master's Touch and thus without access to a two-handed weapon.

[Luckness]

This means casting no spells until you can pick up your first +1 Cha item or get the enhancement at level 2

That means an entire level without access to Master's Touch and thus without access to a two-handed weapon.

Yep.

Sorry that I don't optimize for level 1. ^^

[Zachski]

Yep.

Sorry that I don't optimize for level 1. ^^

That's okay, but this is a build for newbies and novices who are generally interested more in optimizing their initial levels than they are in optimizing the extremely distant level of 20.

[JasonJi72]

The racial bonus for falchions on elves would also be very nice for this build.

I like the concept of a melee spellsinger. Spellpoint regeneration, enough SP to heal, and the UMD bonus are very nice.

I made a character like this for fun, but never finished it. I think I was going for Spellsinger 14 / Kensai 6 with halfling dragonmarks. It was fun to play as I remember. There were a lot of questions as to why I went with spellsinger over warchanter though.

For a new player, I would suggest dwarf or human. I would go with human for the extra attack and damage boosts. Also, taking weapon focus would allow you to swap your enhancements to play as a Spellsinger, Warchanter, or Virtuoso. This way they could have a very versatile melee bard, while being able to try all of the bard prestige classes.

[Luckness]

That's okay, but this is a build for newbies and novices who are generally interested more in optimizing their initial levels than they are in optimizing the extremely distant level of 20.

That's a good point. Especially for a first or second toon, the game has enough rough patches not to introduce more.

But I'd be willing to put up with almost anything at level 1 if it had an advantage. That 5k xp goes fast. Today I wanted to make a 1 Barb / X Cleric character to unlock and zerg elites on a 2nd, completely f2p account. Without any points in Int and playing a dwarf, I saw that taking the cleric level first would allow me to maximize Concentration, the only skill that I really cared about. So I did it and took the greataxe from Jeets and set off for Korthos. Noticed the exclamation mark pointing out non proficiency and hoped for the best (a simple weapon would have been better but oh well). After doing the 3 first quests and hitting up the collaborator a few times, I was level 2 and on my merry way as a Barb splash, less than a half hour into the game.

I do agree that a decision that is painful all the way up and rewarding only at cap is a hard choice.

[aristarchus1000]

Thank you for the feedback, everyone.

I finished capping my character, a Dwarf version, and for purpose of experimentation I spend ZERO resources on him, no Tome, no Greensteel ingredients from my other characters, just random loot, and he did great. He was able to solo heal some quests (although not all of them, he can't do something like Stealer of Souls, for example, but he did easy handle the whole Reign of Madness line by himself).

Playstyle-wise, it works really well. The SP song gives a nice trickle of sps, and in most slower paced, non-zerg groups the sps you get back is quite substantial.

Responses:

Other than some named items... notable exceptions like Carnifex at early game and Epic Sword of Shadows at end game... Falchion > Greataxe or Greatsword for THF. This recommends human or even elf (falchion enhancements). Only problem with the elf is their low HP, so I'm guessing that means human.

Falchions indeed have better crit profiles, but if you are assuming greensteel, you lose 1d6 on base damage compared to Greatswords or Greataxes. With improved crit, a Falchion will do about 30% more damage from crits, while a Greatsword or Greataxe will do about 20% more. On a 0% fort enemy, the 3.5 loss of damage (1d6) is offset if you can do more than 35 damage per swing (not that hard).

However, many Raid bosses have 50% fortification, and some maybe even higher in Update 11. In a 50% fortified mob, you need to do more than 70 base damage per swing, which I think is very hard to attain in a Bard. Furthermore the most useful and easiest to attain epic weapon is the Epic Ancient Greataxe, which after the U11 upgrade will out-do most of the falchions available.

Finally... a pure Bard already has problems with hitpoints, which is part of why I recommend that this build their HP Greensteel item first. I believe that a pure elf bard is way too squishie, especially for a new player learning to play.

Maximize and Empower Healing are sort of redundant, Maximize is the PrE requirement, so perhaps Empower Healing gets the axe for a 2nd Toughness.

Not a bad suggestion at all, although I like big heals for emergencies, especially since we will have selectable metamagic feats for spells in the next update.

It's also easily possible to start with 10 Charisma on a 28-point build, even if it is cutting it a bit close. Your calculations seem to forget the capstone for +2 Charisma and Charisma II enhancements for another +2. Without even having tomes, starting with 10 CHA... getting 20 CHA with enhancements and a +6 item.

23 ranks
4 GH
5 CHA modifier
3 Cartouche
4 Spellsinger
----
39 UMD (40 with focusing chant also)

Very good point about the capstone, I did forget about that. However, I do not recommend spending the AP points on the Charisma enhancements, since the AP points are tight anyway if you want to get all the dwarf benefits. I did also note that I included a +2 Charisma Tome in my calculations, so I am going to swap that out for the capstone, so that a newer player doesn't feel the need to get a Tome early to get useable UMD.

However, you should not sell short the ability of a Warchanter to hit a 39 UMD without much gear. The same pack that drops the cartouche also drops the Voice, which gives you +1 luck all the time. It doesn't take that long to get the money for a +2 CHA tome, and if the warchanter stays pure and starts with 14 CHA, that's 26 CHA from items and enhancements.

23 ranks
4 GH
8 CHA modifier
3 Cartouche (competence)
1 Voice (luck)
1 Focusing Chant
---
40

You are right, it's possible, just harder to gear up for, and it uses up slots that I would use on other things, and does require a Tome. I really enjoyed not having to always equip the Cartouche, for example.

Thanks for the feedback all, and you all bring up a lot of good points. I'm mostly quoting and responding to Luckness, but +1 to you all who I feel gave some positive insight into the build.

As of now, I'm still pretty happy with the character build as it is, but you all did bring up some good alternative options.