The Bard

The Bard is such a fun class to play as. It is arguably the best jack of all trades in the game, capable both in combat, scouting, social and spellcasting, it is a fantastic class that is often overlooked.

The Base Bard

As I previously mentioned, the Bard is often overlooked as a class in favor of others that have ironically more flashy abilities in terms of pure damage. Let us demonstrate how foolish they were to overlook the Bard.

Class

Bard 20

Race

We are going for Human. Put that floating +2 in Charisma. Extra Skill and Feat are useful.

Ability Scores

Throw everything into Charisma and do not look back.

15Point-Buy

Str 8/Dex 14/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 18

20Point-Buy

Str 8/Dex 15/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 19

25Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 14/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 20

Traits

Maestro of the Society gives us 3 extra Rounds of Bardic Music each day, Reactionary help our Initiative helping us buffing the party as rapidly as possible.

Favored Class Bonus

Humans have an alternative FCB giving us One Extra Spell Known per level. This.

Is. Crazy. Good.

It does need to be one spell level lower than our highest spell level but that’s fine.

Skills

So, with the Bard’s Versatile Performance, we can roll certain Perform instead of certain other skills.

With that in mind, our skills will be distributed between the following skills:

Perform (Dance, Keyboard Instrument, Sing), Stealth, Perception, Use Magic Devices and Spellcraft.

Feats by Level

1-Lingering Performance

Human Bonus-Point-Blank Shot

3-Precise Shot

5-Rapid Reload(Light Crossbow)

7-Rapid Shot

9-Deadly Aim

11-Crossbow Mastery

13-Weapon Focus(Heavy Crossbow)

15-Snap Shot

17-Combat Reflexes

19-Improved Snap Shot

Lingering Performance is so vital to the Bard that just like Power Attack for melee classes, this should be a class feature. As we are a buffer, we will stay on the rear, but it doesn’t mean we can’t contribute with the Precise Shot, Rapid Shot and Deady Aim feats. Early on we will be using mainly a Light Crossbow, therefore choosing it as our target for Rapid Reload, but as soon as we hit Crossbow Mastery, we can switch to a Heavy Crossbow.

From there, the Snap Shot line of feats allows us to threaten and do Attacks of Opportunity with our Crossbow, feeding into Combat Reflexes.

Spells gained by Level

As we are a spontaneous spellcaster, we have to choose our known spells carefully. Here is my list of recommendation gained through all levels:

1. Ghost Sound, Read Magic, Lullaby, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Sleep, Cure Light Wounds
2. Light, Summon Instrument–Abundant Ammunition
3. Oath of Anonymity, Mending–Grease
4. Silent Image, Allegro, Hold Person 5-Touch of Gracelessness, Invisibility 6-Vanish, Mirror Image
5. Ventriloquism, Tactical Miscalculation, Glibness, Haste
6. Suggestion, Jester’s Jaunt
7. Urban Step, Invisibility Sphere
8. Whispering Wind, Major Image, Song of Healing, Greater Invisibility
9. Feather Fall, Remove Curse, Hold Monster
10. See Invisibility, Freedom of Movement
11. Witness, Dimension Door, Mass Suggestion, Mass Cure Light Wounds
12. Shatter, Cure Critical Wounds, Seeming 15-Break Enchantment, Resonating Word 16-Amnesia, Mind Fog, Greater Shout
13. Tiny Hut, Mirage Arcana, Project Image
14. Persistent Image, Mass Cure Moderate Wounds
15. Music of the Spheres, Greater Heroism
16. Contagious Suggestion, Archon’s Trumpet, Pied Piping

Equipment

A Light Crossbow and a Chain Shirt, as your main Performance is Singing you won’t need an instrument.

Final Thoughts on the Build

We are a capable Support spellcaster, with a wide variety of buffs, debuffs, battlefield control spells, we can act as a secondary healer, and we are still contributing to combat via our Crossbow, our Bardic Music and we can readily act as both scout and face, making us a potent Jack of All Trades build!

Hastur’s Archaeologist

But what if we tried to make our Pathfinder Bard into a Call of Cthulhu character?

Introducing the Archaeologist archetype which is not only extremely thematically appropriate, it sends the bard into a wildly unexpected direction in terms of powers and builds.

Class

Bard (Archaeologist) 20

Race

We will once again chose human, and once again we will put our floating +2 into Charisma.

Ability Scores

Round up Constitution if odd, then everything in Charisma.

15Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 14/Con 10/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 18

20Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 14/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 19

25Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 14/Con 13/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 20

Traits

Fate’s Favored let us increase any Luck bonus we receive by +1. As an Archaeologist, we replace Bardic Music for Archaeologist’s Luck, which grants us a Luck Bonus on Attacks, Damage, Saving Throws and Skill Checks. At low level, this trait essentially doubles that Luck bonus. Trap Finder essentially gives us the Trapfinding ability from the Rogue, which is both great and thematically appropriate for us.

Favored Class Bonus

We will put our FCB into Skills as we will be skill-monkeying a lot

Skills

Disable Devices, Acrobatics, Stealth, Perception, Use Magic Devices, Bluff, Sense Motive and Diplomacy will be our go to skills.

Feats by Level

1-Weapon Finesse

Human Bonus-Lingering Performance

3-Weapon Focus(Whip)

5-Whip Mastery

7-Improved Whip Mastery

9-Piranha Strike

11-Extra Performance

13-Extra Performance

15-Spell Focus(Enchantment)

17-Greater Spell Focus(Enchantment)

19-Improved Initiative

We are literally playing an Archaeologist, Of course I am going to plug in Whip Mastery and Improved Whip Mastery in there, as we are Proficient in whips as a Bard. Everything else is what you would expect from a regular Dex-Based Melee fighter. Also, Lingering Performance and Extra Performance does in fact add to your Archaeologist’s Luck as it specifically counts as Bardic Music for feats. Finally, the Spell Focus chain allow our Enchantment spells to be extremely hard to resist.

Rogue Talents by Level

4-Fast Stealth

8-Stand Up

12-Improved Evasion

16-Defensive Roll

20-Another Day

Fast Stealth cranks our scouting ability into the damned stratosphere, Stand Up is great against trip effects, as an Archaeologist we gain Evasion so might as well take Improved Evasion. Defensive Roll and Another Day are abilities that can save our life once a day each.

Spells Gained by Level

So the theme of our spell list is going to revolve mostly around Lovecraftian horror and being an Archaeologist

1. Ghost Sounds, Lullaby, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Sleep, Disguise Self
2. Sift, Charm Person
3. Prestidigitation, Summon Monster I
4. Suggestion, Summon Monster II
5. Detect Thoughts 6-Invisibility
6. Haze of Dreams, Assume Appearance, Summon Monster III
7. Charm Monster
8. Claim Identity
9. Dream Shield, Charm Monster, Summon Monster IV
10. Identify, Sleepwalking Suggestion
11. Hold Monster
12. Deep Slumber, Dream, Nightmare
13. Enthrall, Summon Monster V
14. Dream Reality
15. Dimension Door, Yellow Sign, What Grows Within
16. Dreadscape, Summon Monster VI
17. Night Terrors
18. Mind Fog
19. Greater Oneiric Horror, Life of Crime

Equipment

Chain Shirt, a Whip, a few Daggers and the Hat.

Final Thoughts on the Build

So, Paizo has something for Lovecraft. I am extremely okay with this as I too love the man’s work. It also turns out that the Bard gets a lot of Lovecraftian spells surprisingly enough. Do not forget the Hat.

The Arcane Duelist

So, the Bard has a neat Archetype called Arcane Duelist which turns the bard into a functioning anticaster melee build. A gish bard sounding like a fun build, I decided to go for it!

Class

Bard (Arcane Duelist) 20

Race

We will be going for a Moroi-Born Dhampyr, and no, we won’t be trying to emulate D, that’s going to be an Inquisitor build. That +2 in both Strength and Charisma is just great and a Dhampyr Mage-killer is just a very nice concept idea so we’re running with it.

Round up Strength then everything in Charisma

Ability Scores

15Point-Buy

Str 17/Dex 10/Con 10/Int 8/Wis 8/Cha 18

20Point-Buy

Str 17/Dex 11/Con 10/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 18

25Point-Buy

Str 17/Dex 10/Con 10/Int 9/Wis 10/Cha 20

Traits

Maestro of the Society for extra Bardic Performance rounds, Reactionary for higher Initiative.

Favored Class Bonus

We are a melee character with 10 in Constitution and D8 hit dice. HP it is.

Skills

Perception, Perform(Dance) Spellcraft, Stealth, Use Magic Devices. Just do it.

Feats by Level

1-Toughness

Arcane Duelist Bonus 1-Arcane Strike Arcane Duelist Bonus

2-Combat Casting

3-Power Attack

5-Improved Initiative

Arcane Duelist Bonus

6-Disruptive

7-Improved Counterspell

9-Weapon Focus (Longsword)

Arcane Duelist Bonus 10-Spellbreaker

11-Martial Weapon Proficiency (Shield)

13-Lingering Performance

Arcane Duelist Bonus 14-Penetrating Strike

15-Shield Focus

17-Improved Shield Bash

Arcane Duelist Bonus

18-Greater Penetrating Strike

19-Weapon Focus (Shield)

Toughness because let’s be honest, your hp sucks otherwise. Arcane Strike and Power Attack will be amplifying your damage output significantly, and the Arcane Duelist bonus feats make you a great anti spellcaster build freely, so we double down on that notion with Improved Counterspell. Finally, we will be using a shield so Improved Shield Bash and Shield Focus are great feats to add to the mix.

Spells

1. Read Magic, Detect Magic, Lullaby, Prestidigitation, Sleep, Cause Fear
2. Spark, Duelist’s Parry
3. Mending, Cure Light Wounds
4. Cure Moderate Wounds, Umbral Weapon
5. Scare
6. Versatile Weapon
7. Feather Fall, Fear, Dispel Magic
8. Haste
9. Cure Serious Wounds
10. Shatter, Greater Invisibility, Cure Critical Wounds
11. Grease, Dimension Door
12. Freedom of Movement
13. Displacement, Mass Cure Light Wounds, Greater Dispel Magic
14. Mirror Images, Greater Bladed Dash
15. Greater Heroism
16. Echolocation, Mass Cure Moderate Wounds, Animate Objects
17. Blink, Dance of a Thousand Cut
18. Greater Shout
19. Unwilling Shield
20. Zone of Silence, Veil

Equipment

A Longsword, a Heavy Shield and a Chain Shirt

Final Thoughts on the Build

So we can buff ourselves to the point where our at first fairly low hp/AC doesn’t really matter, we can throw several fear spells, heal, and we can counterspell and absolutely destroy spellcasters in melee. Our damage is also quite significant between our Bardic Performance, Arcane Strike and Power Attack, with the ability to ignore some DR, we are a solid melee character and support build.

The Necrodancer

This one’s for you Div, as you ask, here’s a Necrodancer build.

We’re going with the two Archetypes Dirge Bard and Shadow Puppeteer, and with the Umbral Agent Prestige Class. Our leveling should like as follow:

Bard (Dirge Bard, Shadow Puppeteer) 10/Umbral Agent 10

Race

We are going for the Wayang race. This lets us take the Shadow Puppeteer Archetype, plus it gives us a few fun bonuses like to the DC of our Shadow Subschool spells and it allows us to Immediate Action switch our healing from positive to negative energy.

Ability Scores

Round up Constitution if odd then everything in Charisma.

15Point-Buy

Str 7/Dex 16/Con 12/Int 12/Wis 10/Cha 16

20Point-Buy

Str 7/Dex 16/Con 13/Int 13/Wis 10/Cha 17

25Point-Buy

Str 7/Dex 16/Con 13/Int 14/Wis 10/Cha 18

Traits

Maestro of the Society for those juicy extra Bardic Performance rounds, Reactionary for more Initiative.

Favored Class Bonus

We will be avoiding melee, allowing us to put our FCB into Skill Points.

Skills

As always, Perception, Stealth and Use Magic Devices are too good to pass up. Perform(Dance) is going to be our go to Perform, and as we need at least 5 points in Bluff, and 7 points in both Knowledge(Nobility and Religion), we can max out Bluff and then put everything else into Intimidation.

Feats by Level

1-Lingering Performance

3-Weapon Finesse

5-Spell Focus(Illusions)

7-Greater Spell Focus(Illusions)

9-Deceitful

11-Improved Initiative

Umbral Court Agent Bonus 11-Tenebrous Magic

Darkness Domain Bonus 11-Blind Fight

13-Solid Shadow

15-Agile Maneuvers

17-Toughness

19-Extra Performance

Lingering Performance is an absolute must, Spell Focus on Illusion spells make your illusions really, really difficult to resist. Weapon Finesse and Agile Maneuver help with your eventual Spiked Chain and Umbral Court Agent abilities.

Umbral Court Agent

So, you get to Shadow Jump like a Shadowdancer, while continuing to increase your Spellcaster level. You also get a powered up Darkness Domain, but without the spells, and we get a bunch of nasty effects such as your Shadow Chains and Unnerving Gaze.

Spells by Level

1. Ghost Sound, Prestidigitation,Detect Magic , Lullaby, Dancing Darkness, Sleep
2. Mage Hand, Silent Image, Ray of Enfeeblement
3. Read Magic, Shadowtrap 4-Invisibility, Shadow Anchor 5-Umbral Weapon
4. Mirror Image, Limp Lash
5. Shadowfade, Assume Appearance, Shadow Enchantment
6. Shifting Shadows
7. Penumbral Disguise
8. Misdirection, Animate Dead, Shadow Conjuration, Shadowform
9. N/A
10. Obscure Object, Shadow Jaunt
11. Shadow Dragon Aspect
12. Motes of Dusk and Dawn, Cloak of Shadows, Shadow Evocation
13. N/A
14. Ghostbane Dirge, Shadow Walk
15. Shadowbard
16. Shadow Step, Greater Shadow Enchantment, Shadow Transmutation
17. N/A
18. Martial Marionette, Baleful Shadow Transmutation

Final Thoughts on the Build

We are the master of Darkness, capable of animating shadows, walk through them, pin our adversaries and do quite a lot of shenanigans with them.

We are also no slouch as a necromancer, with spells like Animate Dead and our Dance of the Dead Bardic Performance, we can either temporarily or permanently animate zombies and skeletons to fight for us. Finally, we can summon chains from the shadows and pin down and slowly suffocate our targets, all the while dancing like a maniac, cackling as they are dragged into the shadows, our realm.

The Noble Courtesan

So, Bards have the reputation of being le horny. But also, of being able to seduce anyone. We are doubling down on that trope.

We will take the Geisha Archetype. We will also take all ten levels in the Enchanting Courtesan PrC.

Our Leveling should look like this:

Class

Bard (Geisha) 5/Enchanting Courtesan 10/Bard (Geisha) +5

Race: We will be going with Kitsune. Kitsune Magic works extremely well with our focus on Enchantment spells and effects. And since we have very few combat abilities otherwise, the Kitsune feats will allow us more flexibility on that matter.

Ability Scores

Round up Constitution if odd, everything else in Charisma.

15Point-Buy

Str 8/Dex 14/Con 13/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 18

20Point-Buy

Str 7/Dex 16/Con 13/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 19

25Point-Buy

Str 6/Dex 16/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 20

Traits

Maestro of the Society and Reactionary are our two go to traits for the same reasons as usual.

Favored Class Bonus

We will be putting those in Skills as our Constitution is actually fairly decent.

Skills

Perform (Dance, Sing and Keyboard Instrument) will all combine greatly with Versatile Performance, Stealth and Perception are both no-brainers, we also need at least 5 points in Bluff and Sense Motive, and 2 points in Knowledge(Arcana). Once we take our PrC, investing in Sleight of Hands is not a bad idea at all. Craft(Alchemy) will also be extremely useful for poison purposes.

Feats by Level

1-Weapon Finesse

Bonus Geisha Feat 1-Scribe Scroll

3-Lingering Performance

5-Spell Focus(Enchantment)

7-Piranha Strike

9-Fox Shape

11-Swift Kitsune Shapechange

13-Greater Spell Focus(Enchantment)

15-Toughness

17-Improved Initiative

19-Vulpine Pounce

Weapon Finesse and Piranha Strike are two no-brainers due to our mediocre strength, Lingering Performance is a damn must and Spell Focus just makes our already difficult to resist Enchantment spells even harder to resist. Fox Shape enables our Fox Shape as a Kitsune, Swift Kitsune Shapechange and Vulpine Pounce let us change forms and Pounce in the same round which is huge for damage output.

Geisha

As a Geisha, we can use certain of our Bardic Performances as a Tea Ceremony which makes the effects last for 10 minutes. A ten minute Inspire Courage is nothing to laugh at. We also get to be proficient in a single Monk Weapon. Take the Fighting Fan for thematic reasons.

Enchanting Courtesan

We can hide our spellcasting via Bluff and Sleight of Hands checks. We become extremely proficient with Poisons and can raise our spells when people are unaware of our presence or don’t consider us a threat. And if we deliver our Enchantment Spells by touch, enemies will have the hardest of times to resist them.

Spells Gained by Level

1. Ghost Sounds, Prestidigitation, Lullaby, Detect Magic, Charm Person, Sleep
2. Daze, Comprehend Languages 3-Unwitting Ally, Dancing Lantern 4-Detect Thoughts, Suggestion

5-Enthrall 6-N/A

1. Invisibility
2. Fumbletongue, Glibness, Charm Monster
3. Haste 10-Fear
4. Seducer’s Eyes, Dominate Person, Dimension Door
5. Innocence, Mass Charm Person
6. Freedom of Movement
7. Displacement, Death Pact, Greater Heroism
8. Alter Self, Mind Fog
9. Phobia
10. Hold Monster, Mass Charm Monster, Irresistible Dance
11. Enticing Adulation, Overwhelming Presence
12. Waves of Ecstasy
13. Mass Suggestion

Equipment

A Fighting Fan, good clothes that will allow you to fit within noble society.

Final Thoughts on the Build

You can fight decently well yourself, but you are ten times more adept at forcing others to fight for you instead. As a mastermind behind the scenes, buffing your allies and completely overwhelming your enemies senses into complete obedience, you control the flow of events. Being the single best social build I can think of in Pathfinder, between your crazy high Diplomacy and Bluff checks and your impossible to resist Enchantments, social scenes will pose no problem to you at all.