Spellsinger or Virtuoso?

[Shadrir]

I am having a great time with my lvl 3 and 4 bards. I am planning one for virtuoso and one for spellsinger. However, I want to focus on just one for now. Which to choose? I had planned on being a spellsinger for hte casting angle but fell in love with my twf bard that I planned to make a virutuoso. I like the idea of being able to do everything a little bit from cc, to buffing, melee when I have to and heal as backup to healers. However, I don't like running out of spell points and I think the casting part is cool. which to choose?

btw, I really like the idea of using my songs. I like that more than I thought I would. I think its the fire and forget nature of them and the idea of having more uses and stronger fascinates that lowers saves is even better. How could I make a twf Virtuoso that can melee a little but still provide backup healing and debuffs on top of entrall for my party?

why should I go spellsinger over virtuoso?

Shadrir

[Shadrir]

no thoughts?

[Jaid314]

melee + heals/buffing is very doable on a virtuoso. debuffing is a *bit* trickier, but still possible; you just need to keep your spell pen up there, which usually means pure bard.

recommended feats (not in order):

maximise (i actually prefer empower healing, but if healing is really a focus rather than something you do from time to time, you want maximise)
TWF x 3 (obviously, if TWF is a goal, you need the feats for it)
improved critical: whatever you use (most will tell you khopesh is best DPS and therefore slashing. you probably won't have the feat to spare for khopesh proficiency, so i'd recommend rapier, scimitar, or kukri; scimitar and kukri will require the master's touch spell, or a splash, or half-elf fighter dilettante. alternately, if it's a dwarf, dwarf axes + master's touch will work also.)
toughness (just once, to open up the enhancements)
quicken (if you want to heal, you need those heals to be uninterruptable by damage)
human: empower healing is one option, or khopesh proficiency. i don't recommend you bother with regular empower, because none of your spells are for dealing damage right now as a bard. that said, if you think the devs are likely to introduce a damaging spell for bards, and don't mind paying a few extra SP for every spell, go nuts.

enhancements: well, on a bard, you've pretty much got most of your enhancements pre-selected whether you like it or not. focus on PrE prerequisites, then songs, then healing magic in your case (as well as picking up general stuff like toughness enhancements, and possibly melee enhancements depending on race). if you still actually have anything left somehow, invest however you like (music of the makers and music of the dead are popular choices for a virtuoso as well).

note that if you aren't prepared to make a feat swap at some point, you'll be stuck with no PrE until level 10 or so, when you can get all the extra song enhancements. otherwise, you'll need to figure out what feat you're going to eventually swap out after you can qualify for virtuoso with no feats.