A little help wanted for 16/2/2 bard

[Qezuzu]

Alright, I'm making a THF bard. 34 point build, past life sorcerer. 18/8/14/14/8/14, half elf with Paladin dilly. 2 rogue and 2 fighter. Virtuoso PrE, combined with Torc+conc op+otto's ID for INFINITE DANCING. My aim is to make an extremely hard-to-kill bard, with good self healing, high evasion, and capable Song CCing.

My feats so far are:
Paladin Dilly
Toughness
Quicken
Maximize
Empower
Empower healing
Extend
Power attack
Imp. crit: slashing
TBD

Skills:
Balance
UMD
Perform
Haggle
Hide
Move silently
Search
Disable

I was just wondering:
What should my last feat be?
How should my level progression go? Rogue should be first, but what about the other three non-bard levels?
With epic antique and the STR and feats I'll have, I have 3d10+54 damage. I've never had a THF character before, is this decent DPS?
Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

[Fejj]

Hi! - You will love your bard for sure.

Some quick thoughts.
18 STR is a bit high. You could drop it to 16, and save 6 build points.
More con is good
More dex is good (evasion shines with a 30+ reflex save) dumping dex, i don't think you'll get out of it what you want.
14 INT seems high also, but you may need it that high to max out the skills you want.

Leveling, I like to get my melee base down first. For this build i suppose I'd go
R - B - F - F - B...... R at 12 - B ---> 20
I like evasion for Gianthold. So whenever you plan to go there, I'd have evasion.

DSP - Your a bard ... you add DPS to everyone arround you. But yes if played well, your DPS will be just fine to justify a slot. You are not uber DPS, your a bard.

Feats - hmmmm, as is your last feat I would pick Skill Focus UMD (swap once you get 40+) after 40+ UMD, i'd go with a wepeon focus, so you could swap into a warchanter if you ever wanted to.

For your PrE, you will need one of these - Focus: Perform, Negotiator, Bard Extra Song IV
So if you plan to take Virt I when you first can, be sure to plan for it.
SF - Preform - Feat avalable at lvl 1
Negotiator - Feat avalavle at lvl 1
Song IV - Enhancement abalable at bard lvl 10

Feats (a change) I don't see you getting much out of Empower, or Empower Healing. Your spell pool will go fast enough with quicken, and maximize on already.
that frees up three feats .... THF, ITHF, and GTHF could fit in nicely. Giving you two extra glanceing bows against your primary tartet, and others with a chance to proc full wepeon effects!

Well, good luck and have fun!

[Qezuzu]

Thanks!

DEX is dumped, but I can get +35 reflex with little effort.

13 base (16 bard, 2 rogue)
5 Paladin
4 GH
5 Resist Item
2 Luck
-1 Base DEX
1 DEX tome
3 DEX item
---
32

And then, Parasitic breastplate with the +10 bonus, for 37, if I feel it needs to be that high.

SF: Perform will be taken early, and then switched out so that extra song 4 can be used to qualify for Virt.

I'm told the THF line adds little DPS, but I've not seen the breakdown. I have all those meta magics for decent healing: when it's needed. I estimate that I can cast mass cure moderate or cure critical about 15 times, not including regen. This toon has sorcerer gear: this includes archmagi, 150 GS, and bauble. But if the THF line isn't that weak... I'll have heal scrolls, anyway, and sustaining song.

[Valindria]

I'm told the THF line adds little DPS, but I've not seen the breakdown. I have all those meta magics for decent healing: when it's needed. I estimate that I can cast mass cure moderate or cure critical about 15 times, not including regen. This toon has sorcerer gear: this includes archmagi, 150 GS, and bauble. But if the THF line isn't that weak... I'll have heal scrolls, anyway, and sustaining song.

The full THF chain gives you glancing blows on 3 out 4 attacks for 50% of your base damage.

I see what you are trying to do and I think it could work. I worry that your HP will be the limiting factor instead of self heals. Your IC is 6/6 where a pure would be 7/7. I like pure bards for Virts as the capstone and extra tick on IC are nice. Since you want evasion you'll have to lose that.

From bard level 12-end game is a breeze on a virtuoso. You could grab a vampiric bloody cleaver and with sustaining song never need to spend sp healing. Though with splashing bard 12 comes later.