Respecing Bard, need advice please.

[r0ach221]

Hello all. I am planning on respecing my pure Bard into a hybrid Ftr/Brd/Rog. I'm troubled though because I respeced my Artificer and gimped them a bit, I don't want to repeat that mistake. I am a casual player who has never done Greensteel crafting, but I do own a fair share of adventures. I am willing to grind out gear required if any. I just want to know that my new toon won't be a gimped version of the Bard I had. Any constructive criticism would be nice, as well as reasoning behind choices (please don't just state: "Take so-and-so, it's OP")

Currently my Bard is: 1st life

STR 10 Tome: 3
DEX 13 Tome: 3
CON 14 Tome: 3
INT 10 Tome:
WIS 8 Tome:
CHA 20 +levelups Tome: 4

Skills:
Balance 23 ranks
Concentrate 23 ranks
Heal* 11 ranks
Perform 23 ranks
Swim 1 rank
Tumble 23 ranks
UMD 23 ranks

Feats:
Greater Single Weapon Fighting
Perfect Single Weapon Fighting
Precision
Improved Shield Mastery
Dodge
Toughness
Force of Personality
Lasting Inspiration
Epic Fortitude

-=- P.S. Some feats omitted because they were replaced by upgraded ones -=-

My gear is
Head: Epic Menos Legens
Eyes: Epic Mentau's Goggles
Body: Flawless Black Dragonhide Armor
Bracers: Health 10 of False Life 45
Ring1: Str 10 of Prot 10
Boots: Epic Boots of the Innocent
Gloves:
Ring2: Deadly 10 of Nat.Armor 10
Belt: Epic Chord of Reprisals
Cloak: Deadly 10 of Accuracy 10
Trinket: Planar Focus of Erudition - Ins Char 3
Neck: Shroud of Ardent

Weapon: Balizarde
Shield: Epic Swashbuckler Tier1

HP: 872
SP: 1336

Armor: 91
PRR: 108
MRR: 40
Dodge: 25%

Saves:
Fortitude: 51
Reflex: 56
Will: 59

Spell Resistance: 44
Fortification: 190%

Epic Destiny: Unyielding Sentinel
Twists: Sense Weakness, Dragonhide, Rejuvenation Coccoon

My typical hits against a Guild Training Dummy result in 117.5 average damage (crits omitted). What I am after with this respec is the ability to solo some EE content, and what I find I need is.... more. More damage, more PRR/MRR, more armor, more hit points. I have played this toon with this build since they implemented Swashbuckler (gear aside). I can solo EH quests easily, but the moment I step foot in EE... *splat*. I keep my buffs up, Displacement and all. I don't know if it's something I'm doing wrong, something I'm not doing, or just the limitations of the toon holding me back.

That being said, I am looking into respecing into a 10 Fighter, 8 Bard, 2 Rogue. Fighter for Vanguard/Stalwart Defender for more PRR / MRR and defense. Bard for Swashbuckling, T5 enhancements. Rogue for evasion. I have my +20 lesser heart to switch my classes around as needed, I just don't want to go ahead and do this before I make sure I won't gimp the toon and end up forced to reincarnate. I want to keep the base of the Bard for swashbuckling. I don't mind changing my stats around since Different Tack in SB tree will allow Char, Dex, or Int for dmg. Also, I should note, I have Harper tree unlocked so I can use that for Int to hit / damage. I'm just unsure of how to go about getting to the end result, and again, already gimped 1 toon respecing them.

[unbongwah]

First off, doing well in EEs is as much about gear, PLs, etc. as it is about tweaking your build. As a self-described "casual" player on a first-life char...well, let's just say you should probably dial your expectations back a bit.

Is there any particular reason for going CHA-based on this build? You don't have enough bard lvls to be a DC-oriented caster. It will boost your Perform DCs (and Will saves with FoP), but otherwise it doesn't seem like you will get much oomph out of it. Don't suppose you have Harper, do you?

Also, even if you're not going for the usual 15/3/2 or 12/6/2 splits, unless you want a ftr PL, I would recommend at least bard 10 for lvl 4 spells; CCW will be your main healing spell, combined with whatever ED healing abilities you pickup. Having DDoor is a pretty nice perk too.

US is a pretty weak ED; DC or LD is preferable.