Bard Build (please help)

[Paxsmickey]

I wanted to make a Warforged Bard with the thought of having a high UMD, Party buffing, traps, and some melee ability. I decided on the Virtuoso prestige over the warchanter primarily because I thought longer songs would be better than an extra +2 to damage, Warforged can't wear Medium Armor, and I intend to dual wield Kopesh, so I don't need a martial weapon proficiency.

1 Rogue level gives me trap skills, and one more gives me evasion.
2 fighter levels give me a bit more Hp, and 2 bonus feats.
leaving me with 16 levels of bard.

Character Generated Using: DDO Character Generator
Direct Link to Build: http://www.ddochargen.com/home.aspx?build=34910

Bard 16 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2
Male Warforged - True Neutral
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LEVEL 1:
Race Selected: Male Warforged
Alignment Selected: True Neutral
Class Selected: Rogue (Rogue 1)
Abilities Raised: STR: 15, DEX: 15, CON: 16, INT: 12, CHA: 12
Skills Ranks Raised: Balance +4 (4), Concentration +2 (2), 
Disable Device +4 (4), Haggle +3 (3), Jump +4 (4), 
Move Silently +4 (4), Open Lock +4 (4), Search +4 (4), 
Tumble +1 (1), UMD +4 (4)
Feats Selected: Toughness
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LEVEL 2:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 1 / Rogue 1)
Skills Ranks Raised: Disable Device +1 (5), 
Perform +3 (3), Search +1 (5)
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LEVEL 3:
Class Selected: Fighter (Bard 1 / Fighter 1 / Rogue 1)
Skills Ranks Raised: Disable Device +1 (6), Search +0.5 (5.5)
Feats Selected: Two Weapon Fighting, Oversized Two Weapon Fighting
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LEVEL 4:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 2 / Fighter 1 / Rogue 1)
Abilities Raised: STR: 16
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +1 (3), Disable Device +1 (7), 
Perform +1 (4), Search +1.5 (7)
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LEVEL 5:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 3 / Fighter 1 / Rogue 1)
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +2 (5), Disable Device +1 (8), 
Perform +1 (5), Search +1 (8)
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LEVEL 6:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 4 / Fighter 1 / Rogue 1)
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +1 (6), Disable Device +1 (9), 
Perform +2 (7), Search +1 (9)
Feats Selected: Exotic Weapons (Khopesh)
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LEVEL 7:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 5 / Fighter 1 / Rogue 1)
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +2 (8), Disable Device +1 (10), 
Perform +1 (8), Search +1 (10)
Tomes Applied: DEX: +2, INT: +2
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LEVEL 8:
Class Selected: Fighter (Bard 5 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 1)
Abilities Raised: STR: 17
Skills Ranks Raised: Disable Device +1 (11), Search +1 (11)
Feats Selected: Improved Two Weapon Fighting
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LEVEL 9:
Class Selected: Rogue (Bard 5 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Skills Ranks Raised: Disable Device +1 (12), 
Search +1 (12), UMD +8 (12)
Feats Selected: Power Attack
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LEVEL 10:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 6 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +1 (9), Disable Device +1 (13), 
Perform +2 (10), Search +1 (13), UMD +1 (13)
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LEVEL 11:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 7 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +2 (11), 
Disable Device +1 (14), Perform +1 (11), Search +1 (14), UMD +1 (14)
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LEVEL 12:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 8 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Abilities Raised: STR: 18
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +1 (12), 
Disable Device +1 (15), Perform +2 (13), Search +1 (15), UMD +1 (15)
Feats Selected: Improved Critical (Slashing)
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LEVEL 13:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 9 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +2 (14), 
Disable Device +1 (16), Perform +1 (14), Search +1 (16), UMD +1 (16)
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LEVEL 14:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 10 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +1 (15), 
Disable Device +1 (17), Perform +2 (16), Search +1 (17), UMD +1 (17)
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LEVEL 15:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 11 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +2 (17), 
Disable Device +1 (18), Perform +1 (17), Search +1 (18), UMD +1 (18)
Feats Selected: Greater Two Weapon Fighting
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LEVEL 16:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 12 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Abilities Raised: STR: 19
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +1 (18), 
Disable Device +1 (19), Perform +2 (19), Search +1 (19), UMD +1 (19)
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LEVEL 17:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 13 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Skills Ranks Raised: Concentration +2 (20), 
Disable Device +1 (20), Perform +1 (20), Search +1 (20), UMD +1 (20)
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LEVEL 18:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 14 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Skills Ranks Raised: Balance +1 (5), Concentration +1 (21), 
Disable Device +1 (21), Perform +1 (21), Search +1 (21), UMD +1 (21)
Feats Selected: Quicken Spell
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LEVEL 19:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 15 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Skills Ranks Raised: Balance +1 (6), Concentration +1 (22), 
Disable Device +1 (22), Perform +1 (22), Search +1 (22), UMD +1 (22)
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LEVEL 20:
Class Selected: Bard (Bard 16 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 2)
Abilities Raised: STR: 20
Skills Ranks Raised: Balance +1 (7), Concentration +1 (23), 
Disable Device +1 (23), Perform +1 (23), Search +1 (23), UMD +1 (23)
Tomes Applied: CON: +1
Enhancements Selected: Fighter Toughness I, 
Bard Extra Song I, Bard Charisma I, Improved Perform I, 
Warforged Healers Friend I, Racial Toughness I, Warforged Constitution I, 
Bard Extra Song II, Warforged Power Attack I, Improved Perform II, 
Warforged Healers Friend II, Racial Toughness II, Bard Charisma II, 
Bard Extra Song III, Bard Lingering Song I, Bard Wand and Scroll Mastery I, 
Bard Wand and Scroll Mastery II, Bard Wand and Scroll Mastery III, 
Bard Extra Song IV, Bard Lingering Song II, Bard Virtuoso I, 
Bard Virtuoso II, Warforged Power Attack II, Bard Inspired Damage I, 
Bard Inspired Damage II, Warforged Power Attack III, 
Bard Music of the Dead, Bard Music of the Makers, Bard Inspired Damage III, 
Bard Wand and Scroll Mastery IV, Bard Lingering Song III, 
Racial Toughness III, Bard Inspired Attack I, Bard Inspired Attack II, 
Rogue Dexterity I, Warforged Hardiness I
Stats at End of Level 20:
HP:290 SP:475 AC:16 FORT:13 REFL:17 WILL:8 BAB:+15/+15/+20/+25
STR:20(+5) DEX:18(+4) CON:18(+4) INT:14(+2) WIS:6(-2) CHA:14(+2)
Balance:11, Bluff:2, Concentration:27, Diplomacy:6, 
Disable Device:25, Haggle:5, Heal:-2, Hide:4, Intimidate:2, 
Jump:9, Listen:2, Move Silently:8, Open Lock:8, Perform:31, 
Repair:2, Search:25, Spot:-2, Swim:5, Tumble:5, UMD:25

Quicken isn't really going to help much, so I'd probably take extend instead (taking it at level 6, shuffling feats around to take oversized two weapon fighting at level 18)

I haven't played a bard before, and would like to try it out. I chose Warforged because I'm in a warforged guild, and because I like playing them.

Any Advice would be very appreciated,
-PaxsMickey

[katz]

looks pretty good at first glance. i will say it will be a bit of a long haul till you get virt 1, as it either has a requirement of extra song IV, and you absolutely cannot get that before 10th. if you don't want to wait, you could take skill focus: perform or negotiator, and just swap them out with the free feat token once you have enough AP to get extra song IV. or you could just wait a couple levels.

[unbongwah]

Looks like a pretty typical TWF bard build, tho WF is a bit of a novelty; hope you run with arcanes in your guild!

If you have any CHA gear you could pass to this toon, you could drop CHA to 8, giving you more pts for STR and/or CON. I would drop OTWF; under the new AC system, an extra +2 to-hit is (almost) meaningless. I also recommend taking one of the Virt pre-req feats by lvl 6, then swapping it out for another metamagic when you grab Extra Song IV; that way you don't have to backload Virt so late. I'm on the fence about whether taking Mithril Body would be worthwhile; on the one hand the MDB never changes AFAICT which sucks, but PRR is worth something these days. Your first epic feat should definitely be Inspire Excellence, IMHO; your second can be whatever you like. Finally, if you don't care about lvl 6 spells, you could go bard 15 / rog 3; get an extra +1D6 SA & some more skill pts.

[Paxsmickey]

Oversized Two Weapon fighting sounds much more important on paper, but With all the bard buffs -2 to attack is fairly easy to compensate for, so I think you're right that I should swap out that feat. My will saves are rather low, and I would have a decent charisma score, so maybe force of personality would be better there.

My skill points are stretched early on, but get sorted out at later levels, so maybe I take skill focus: perform to help with my lower perform skill early on, and then swap it out after level 14 like you suggested.

Proposed change:
At level 3 I take skill focus: perform instead of OTWF.
At level 6 I take extend instead of Exotic: Kopesh.
At level 14 I swap SF: Perform for Exotic: Kopesh.
At level 18 I take Force of personality instead of Quicken spell.

Does this look better?
I'd rather keep the 16th level of Bard, and while I do have some charisma gear I would rather not take any points out of it. I took a -2 for being Warforged, and I'd rather not lower the stat much more. I only used the tomes I did because those were the ones I have on hand. I would add more as I find them, but those were the only tomes I saw as being absolutely necessary.

[DethTrip]

Not sure why you want WF as human would be a much better choice. Extra feat, no penalty to healing and an extra skill point per level. Also no penalty to cha making balancing ability points easier. You also get the human ability enhancements which are nice. WF used to be much better. It sucks they nerfed them.