When Ravenloft came out, I started tinkering with various Bard builds. Below is what ended up being my favorite of them: an Int-based Deep Gnome Illusionist build that combines decent defenses (Evasion, Stalwart Defensive stance, Displacement, 25% Incorporeality) with decent offense (Vistani SWF) and solid control (Color Spray, Phantasmal Killer, Otto's Irresistible Dance) with retaining trapping skills. With the improvement to Shadowdancer melee power in cores, it becomes even stronger.
The "new player rating" for this build is "not likely". It absolutely requires one of two non-base races (Gnome or Deep Gnome). It is significantly weakened by the absence of two non-base trees (Vistani Knife Fighter and Harper). While not strictly necessary, I do use tomes to permit taking Precision with an otherwise disqualifying Dexterity. It requires Charisma gear to even cast the Bard spells. On the plus side, it can be done fairly easily with a 28-pt. build since it only really uses three stats (Intelligence, Constitution, Wisdom).
For past lives, none are essential. Both Drow and Gnome racial past lives provide +Intelligence and any number of racial AP can be easily spent in effective ways - this is a build so short on AP that it doesn't go to T4 in any tree. Deep Gnome past lives provide up to +3 Illusion DC. The build, as written, presumes epic completionist (for the fifth twist), but it can easily be skipped. Heroic past lives can be useful, but none of them do more than slightly increase melee damage/defense.
Gearing can be done mostly from Ravenloft with a few stray oddities (Paramnesial Lenses/Pansophic Circlet, Deep Demise can all come in handy). However, balancing out the many different features required (offensive DC casting, defensive stats and melee) generally requires Slavelord's Crafting at the very least. In most cases, DC casting should have priority - you have to land the Color Spray, you want to do 5% more damage with your gear choices. In theory, Cutting Jibes could make Color Spray even more likely to land, but it's tricky to use.
Most of the basic concepts should be familiar:
1. Color Spray/Phantasmal Killer. Color Spray is arguably the best CC in the game - not subject to SR, costs 2 SP (with free metamagic), 8 sec cooldown, AE Stun/Blind/Silence. Phantasmal Killer isn't a particularly strong instant kill - it is subject to Spell Resistance (this build ignores Spell Penetration, so it's not useful against SR enemies) and requires two saves based on two of the most common immunity categories (Mind-Affecting, Fear). However, being able to instantly render a room of enemies helpless is incredibly useful and this build can cast it at level 6 with +4 DC from Spellsinger.
2. Shield Mastery + SWF Swashbuckling + Stalwart Defensive Stance. These synergize nicely into an offensive/defensive package - so much so that they're a nearly universal feature of modern Bard builds.
3. Vistani Knife Fighter (Fan of Knives). At higher levels, Fan of Knives will often do as much damage once every 15 seconds as you would Cleave/Great Cleave for that entire duration. The basic SWF dagger abilities are also incredibly strong compared to other options. Note: If you're constantly running into situations where you need to switch to throwing daggers (oozes, annoyingly unreachable enemies, bosses that you can't close to melee with), Harper Strategic Combat II becomes a better choice than Two Steps Ahead.
4. Charisma-less Fascinate. Using Fascinate on enemies normally subject to mind-affecting spells requires heavy investment in Charisma. However, the Spellsinger core extensions generally don't because (oozes, undead, constructs, vermin) have such abysmal Will saves that they can't beat your Perform DC anyway. The build could be done by only investing in Intelligence, Constitution and Wisdom. However, I choose to favor Charisma (a little bit) for the possibility of using Suggestion - the spell is unworkable without a heavy focus into Charisma, but the song is still a possibility.
The below is primarily a solo build. For a group build, scaling back the offense (dropping to as low as 3 in VKF for Rapid Slash) and scaling up the CC/Support (20+ in Spellsinger for Sustaining Song/Arcane Might/Song of the Makers) probably makes more sense - your friend the Monk is far better at chewing through crowds of enemies than you are, so your values lies more in your ability to stop them in their tracks than being able to personally kill them as fast as possible.
The level of Rogue can also easily be a level of Ranger. With a single AP in DWS, you get the die of Sneak Attack back, you gain access to the Heal skill (and some positive spellpower from that point in DWS), you gain another Favored Enemy (in theory, between VKF, Deep Gnome and Harper, you could have 4 Favored Enemies with a single level of Ranger; in practice it's more of a "gee, that's nice" bonus) and you gain +1 BAB. However, this would eliminate the trap skills.
Twists can be rearranged as desired. Legendary Shield Mastery is almost always going to be a choice. However, an option such as replacing Reign with Sense Weakness is entirely reasonable. The Shadowdancer tree has little to recommend it beyond the cores and a few stray abilities at the top. A more trap-centric build would probably take Technician + Skill Mastery rather than the physical skills.
The heroic feats are largely set-in-stone. The Epic feats are a bit more flexible, depending on need. Scion of the Feywild and Scion of Air are roughly similar in terms of their value - there's no "Scion of Illusion" (at least not one that increases Illusion DC) and the build has no non-Illusion DC-based spellcasting.
Code:
Illusory Lyricist
16/3/1 Bard/Fighter/Rogue
True Neutral Deep Gnome
Level Order
1. Rogue . . . . . 6. Bard. . . . . .11. Fighter. . . . 16. Bard
2. Bard . . . . . .7. Bard . . . . . 12. Bard . . . . . 17. Bard
3. Bard . . . . . .8. Bard . . . . . 13. Bard . . . . . 18. Bard
4. Bard . . . . . .9. Fighter . . . .14. Bard. . . . . .19. Bard
5. Bard . . . . . 10. Bard . . . . . 15. Fighter . . . .20. Bard
Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt . . 32pt. . .34pt . . 36pt. . .Tome. . .Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . --------
Strength. . . . .6. . . . 6 . . . .6. . . . 6 . . . +7 . . . 4: INT
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . +7 . . . 8: INT
Constitution. . 14. . . .16 . . . 16. . . .16 . . . +7 . . .12: INT
Intelligence. . 20. . . .20 . . . 20. . . .20 . . . +7 . . .16: INT
Wisdom. . . . . 16. . . .16 . . . 17. . . .18 . . . +7 . . .20: INT
Charisma. . . . .6. . . . 6 . . . .6. . . . 6 . . . +7 . . .24: INT
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28: INT
Skills
. . . . . R .B .B .B .B .B .B .B .F. B. F .B .B .B .F. B. B. B. B. B
. . . . . 1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 .9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Perform . . .5 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 . . 2. . .2 .1 .1 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Spellcr . . .4 .2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 . . 2. . .2 .1 .1 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Disable . 4 . . 1. 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Open Lo . 4 . . . .1 .2½ 1½ 1 .1 .1. 1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Search. . 4 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
UMD . . . 4 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 . . 2. . .2 .1 .1 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Balance . 4 .1 .1 .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Jump. . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Swim. . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Tumble. . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .32 11 11 12 12 10. 9. 9. 6 12. 6 12. 9. 9. 6 12. 9. 9. 9. 9
. . . . .52 11 11 12 12 12 12 13. 9 13. 9 14 14 14 10 15 15 15 15 16
Feats
.1. . . . : Single Weapon Fighting
.3. . . . : Insightful Reflexes
.6. . . . : Shield Mastery
.9. . . . : Quicken Spell
.9 Fighter: Improved Single Weapon Fighting
11 Fighter: Improved Critical: Piercing
12. . . . : Improved Shield Mastery
15. . . . : Greater Single Weapon Fighting
18. . . . : Heighten Spell
21 Epic . : Spell Focus: Illusion
24 Epic . : Inspire Excellence
26 Destiny: Perfect Single Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Embolden Spell
28 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Precision
30 Legend : Scion of: Feywild
Spells
Bard- Expeditious Retreat, Detect Secret Doors, Focusing Chant, Feather Fall, Grease
- Blur, Invisibility, Hypnotic Pattern, Rage
- Haste, Displacement, Cure Serious Wounds, Remove Curse
- Dimension Door, Freedom of Movement, Neutralize Poison, Cure Critical Wounds
- Greater Heroism, Shadow Walk, Mass Cure Light Wounds, Greater Dispel Magic
- Otto's Irresistible Dance, Heroes' Feast
Enhancements (80 AP)
Deep Gnome (16 AP)
- Wariness, Intelligence, Wariness II, Intelligence, Retain Scroll Essence
- (none)
- Color Spray III
- Nimble Reaction II, Illusion Focus III
- Phantasmal Killer I
Swashbuckler (15 AP)
- Confidence, Swashbuckling, Uncanny Dodge
- On Your Toes III, Limber Up I
- En Pointe III, Fast Movement
- Skirmisher, Two Steps Ahead
Vistani Knife Fighter (14 AP)
- Knife Expertise, Knife Juggler, Knife Specialist
- Vistani Knife Training, Undead Hunter, Rapid Attack
- Bleeding Cuts, Haste Boost
- Fan of Knives
Spellsinger (13 AP)
- Spellsinger, Music of the Sewers, Music of the Dead
- Studies: Magical III, Lingering Songs III
- Marigold Crown: Blue
- Spell Song Trance
Stalwart Defender (13 AP)
- Toughness, Stalwart Defense
- Durable Defense III, Stalwart Defensive Mastery II
- Resilient Defense III
- Tenacious Defense III
Harper Agent (8 AP)
- Agent of Good I
- Harper Enchantment, Strategic Combat
- Know the Angles III
Warchanter (1 AP)
Destiny (24 AP)
Shadowdancer
- Acrobatic II, Intelligence
- Lithe II, Intelligence
- Shrouding Strike I, Grim Precision III, Intelligence
- Improved Invisibility I, Intelligence
- Untouchable, Sealed Soul, Intelligence
- Shadow Form
Twists of Fate (28 fate points)
- Reign (Tier 3 Fatesinger)
- School Specialist: Illusion (Tier 2 Magister)
- Unearthly Reactions (Tier 1 Magister)
- Legendary Shield Mastery (Tier 2 Sentinel)
- Draconic Presence (Tier 1 Draconic)