TOPIC: Need help with a Bard Build (Red)

Heya folks, I need help with suggestions for a Bard Build which is primarily red. Any help? It's for my friend who enjoys signing rather terrible tunes and is more theatrical than myself.

I know a bard is meant to buff the group - but I dont know much else, or which tokens I should focus on? Weapon wise, instrument wise, armor wise, etc.

Also since we are so close to the deadline please help ASAP so I can order any last minute items ahead of time (please!)

Thanks much in advance!
-Fizz

Here is my Red Bard build for the Golembane run. Substitute for Shirt of Health and a Silver Weapon on the Lycans run. Please note where some UR tokens are thrown in, mostly around treasure pulls. Also note that you only get to 34 HP in this build with a 5th Level character and everyone in the party having Charm of Synergy.


Baldric the RED Bard
To Hit Damage AC To Hit Damage AC Fort Reflex Will HP
4 3 19 4 2 18 8 9 9 34

STR 11 5 16
DEX 14 1 15
CON 10 10
INT 10 11
WIS 12 11
CHA 17 17

Melee Mainhand: +1 Long Sword
Melee Offhand: Shield of the Tinkerer (+2 AC, +4 AC vs constructs)
Ranged: +1 Darkwood Longbow
Ranged Offhand: Archer’s Buckler (+1 AC)
Head: Hat of Escape (Enemy DC 12 Will to attack wearer)
Eyes: Lenses of Accuracy (+1 ranged to hit)
Ear: Earcuff of the Wind (cannot be surprised)
Ear: Earcuff of Intellect (+1 Will)
Neck: Torc of Natural Armor (+2 AC) [or Amulet of Wonder if you have it]
Back: +2 Cloak of Resistance (+2 saves)
Shirt: Shirt of Shielding (immune to retribution damage)
Armor: Chainmail of the Vale (+5 AC, may sleep in armor at no penalty)
Wrist: Bracers of Archery (+2 ranged damage)
Hands: Gauntlets of Ogre Power (+2 STR)
Finger: Ring of Riches (extra treasure pulls)
Finger: Ring of Fortitude (+4 Fort)
Waist: Belt of Ogre Power (+2 STR)
Feet: Boots of Free Action (immunity to hold, slow and other hindrances)
Ioun: Ioun Stone Beryl Prism (+1 saves)
Ioun: Ioun Stone Black Pearl (no magic hit bonus for opponents)
Ioun: Ioun Stone Faceted Amber (-2 to spell and missile damage)
Ioun: Ioun Stone Copper Cube (-1 shock damage)
Special: Censer of Sacrifice (cast remove curse)
Special: Rod of Seven Parts, Segment 5 (+1 STR)
Special: Rod of Seven Parts, Segment 6 (+1 DEX)
Special: Lyre of Echoes
Special: Lyre of Luck
Special: Lyre of Rage
Special: Magnificent Bard’s Instrument
Special: Satyr’s Pipes of Dancing (no bardsong)
Special: Triton Horn
Special: Bone Scroll Case
Runestone: Viper Runestone (no regen or healing)
Charm: Charm of Synergy (+1 or more HP)
Charm: Charm of Good Fortune (extra treasure pulls)
Charm: Charm of Heroism (+1 Level)

Thats a strong build, but is there a time you would use a weapon rather than the bardsong? with a good slide you can max out at about 12 points of damage, while with 5 sliding classes at +3 damage each(Magnificent Instrument) to each hit you always do 9-15 damage.

I would suggest using the Footman's set for armor. Excellent total AC (+9 when counting the set bonus) and -1 Cold damage. This frees up an Earcuff as well, as the Helm has the 'no surprise' built in. It is an uncommon set, so shouldn't be crazy hard to obtain.

As already mentioned, the one major hole in this is it's not using the Footman's Set. Footman's set is the best non-UR armor for the bard. It's commonly available for around 300 gp.

Footman's would let you use either the Earcuff of Abjuration or the Earcuff of the Vale in place of Earcuff of the Wind.

Other notes:

For non-UR builds Ring of Riches becomes either Ring of Iron Will or Ring of Frost, depending on your tastes.

The only time I really ever do anything other than sing in combat is if the party really, really needs some extra spell damage or one of the other bard spells cast. As such, if you're looking at something expensive, but useful - Bracelets of the Zephyr plus Lyre of Echoes lets you stop actively singing for a round and cast two spells, basically for free.

If your friend is really good at sliding (I mainly play Fighter) it can be useful to alternate Lyre of Echoes with your own attacks if you know the other party members aren't the best sliders.

Thanks so much to all of the responses! This makes my job of equipping my friend soooo much easier. Also thanks for the tips on strategy for the bard! I'll pass it along =)

Pretty solid advice. If the bard isn't token loaded I wouldn't worry too much about AC, and just choose saves. Saves are more likely to target "random person X" than one of the 2 primary attacks. Those will likely go to the wizard or cleric. While effects that hit the entire party are rare so are your chances of being targets so IMO go saves.

Echos' is the way to go because you can cast every other round, that's nice. Bracelets of Zepher would rock here.

Because the party size is so large, bard song is a no brainer, always choose to sing.

Bards can use all the scrolls so worth having some.

valetutto wrote: Echos' is the way to go because you can cast every other round, that's nice. Bracelets of Zepher would rock here.

Exactly. Lyre of Echoes allows you to attack in melee or ranged every other round, which for Red builds used in Hardcore difficulty is pretty darned good.

I didn't use the Footman set because the Chainmail of the Vale and Shield of the Tinkerer make up for the Footman AC bonus, at least versus Constructs (use Shield of Faerie Iron vs Fey in Lycans Afoot). And you get a nice bonus for sleeping in your armor. I can duplicate the 'cannot be surprised' bonus of the Footman Cap with another item in a different slot, aka - Earcuff of the Wind. But I cannot duplicate the 'sleeping in armor' bonus of the Chainmail of the Vale in another item slot. If you want to do something else with your earcuff slot, that's fine. Neither choice is weaker than the other, it comes down to strategic choice.

And yeah, Bracelets of the Zephyr rocks in this build, and I use it myself, but not everyone has it so I didn't include it in this post.