Making a bard for fun

[aeroplanefly]

I have a bit of experience with bards, so I thought while I still have VIP, I'd make another (I'd lose half-elf in March).

Half-elf Bard, rogue dil virtuoso.

Base Stats (assuming +3 tomes)
Str 10
Dex 16
Con 12
Int 8
Wis 8
Cha 18

Feats taken between levels 1-10

Toughness
Two Weapon Fighting
Skill Focus: Perform (to open up virtuoso PrE)
Precision

Feats to take after I use a lesser heart (when I get my int and dex tome, and after level 12 or 13)

Toughness
Two Weapon Fighting
Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Precision
Improved Crit Pierce
Empower Heal

It's a very unconventional build. High Cha and high Dex for damage using dex weapons (hoping that more will be available in future updates!).

The idea is to be a party buffer / healer / enthraller. While enthralling, I can either run back and play with the healers, or run around with the rogue and dish out my sneak attack damage (and heal along the way). Enchantment DCs will be less than a spell singer, so I won't load up on too much CC spells (Otto's sphere with mind fog and hypnotism to reduce will save). Bluff is taken to pull and to increase sneak attack damage when necessary, especially at low levels. I'd take my points out of bluff if I were to get a nice improved deception item.

Gear is an issue, as I'd like to dual wield while having considerable bonuses to my healing spells, but otherwise I would swap out some sort of healing lore item and shield in order to increase my healing potential.

And obviously harry beaters are an issue. There are few weapons out there between level 12-19 that are harry beaters that deal damage using dex, and the only few that I can come up with above level 20 are epics using either a material or good component (and hope there's an arty in the party, or carry a stack of planar / silver weapons and hope for the best).

Let me know if you can offer any advice (such as, do I really need all three TWFing feats?). Again, this is a build FOR FUN (and also for haggling when I hit cap).

Thanks =)

[tekkentroop]

Did you consider cha-based weapons? The rapier from sentinels comes to mind, its not that hard to make the epic version. The dynastic falcata is a lot harder to make epic and probably not that useful.

[aeroplanefly]

Did you consider cha-based weapons? The rapier from sentinels comes to mind, its not that hard to make the epic version. The dynastic falcata is a lot harder to make epic and probably not that useful.

I hadn't taken cha based weapons into consideration; I started this build pre-eveningstar (and didn't know about the Elyd Edge). As far as Dynastic Falcata and Elyd Edge... well I hadn't had much time to research it and... yes, Elyd Edge does sound like a weapon I would use for sure. Already has the material component, and has a red augment slot

Not to mention I can worry less about finding other devotion gear... this does the trick.

I will probably pass on the Dynastic Falcata, I won't have a feat for it, and I'm feat starved to begin with.

I might have to find two of these... one for each of my bards.

Now what I will be in search for is a light piercing weapon that will work for the build.

[unbongwah]

Long long ago, I came up with a CHA-based TWF Virtuoso inspired by Elan from "Order of the Stick." Sadly, he is if anything gimpier than he ever was (still no CHA-based weapons better than eElyd Edge, AFAIK), although a HE version w/rog dilly who goes Shadowdancer could get respectable sneak atk dmg.

I'd tweak the base stats to something like 12 / 15 / 16 / 8 / 8 / 16; and for feats I'd go TWF (1), Toughness (3), SF:Perform (6) (swap for Precision after taking Extra Song IV), ITWF (9), IC:Pierce (12), GTWF (15), ??? (18), Inspire Excellence (21), ??? (24). Skip the DEX weapons and just use regular rapiers (or even picks) until you get eEE; the difference in STR & DEX on this build will be negligible and as you've noticed there are darn few DEX-based weapons to begin with. Two feat slots are floaters, depending on what you want to beef up: if you want to be a healer, I'd add Quik+Max; if you want more melee DPS, I'd go Power Atk & Imp Sunder (or WF:Pierce and switch to WC); or just round it out with, e.g., Extend & something else.

As for EDs, I'd start Fatesinger, then move into SD for the extra sneak atk (which will stack w/rog dilly), Evasion (I'd aim for Cormyrian Red Dragonhide - Seeker +10, Heavy Fort, Toughness, and fire protection on one item is very nice to have), and Shadow Form (25% Incorp + 50% concealment from Displacement makes for pretty good defense).