Forger’s List of Amazing Bard Options!

Check out Forger’s Database for more lists, guides, and helpful info

The following list is intended to catalogue suggestions, items, feats, and traits that directly benefit the Bard.  Overlap with Skald is accidental.  Racial Options not yet added.

Please understand this is NOT a proper guide to bards.  This is a quick and dirty resource sheet for finding almost everything that specifically works AMAZING with bards or is just specifically designed for them.  Only a small amount of recommendations are included.

Summaries of feats/traits/items/spells are included to give you a quick idea of what will interest you.  Please read the actual descriptions (everything is hyperlinked) in order to maintain full understanding of options.

Combination of everything means at level 13+ the bard provides +8 on saves vs fear/charm (or better for himself with courageous) and a +9 on atk/dmg (better on himself with courageous), in addition to all other available benefits while using Inspire courage and Flagbearer together.  Bards are way more broken than people realize.

Consider a level of Swashbuckler.  Their weapon finesse ability won’t work with the elven branched spear, but panache and deeds offer a number of awesome benefits for a one level dip.

Inspired Swash (which focuses on the rapier) is an excellent option if you don’t want to devote yourself to being a pure buff based bard, as it provides weapon finesse and weapon focus with the Rapier at level 1, adds int as well as cha to panache pool total, and otherwise is still just swashbuckler.  Grants fantastic defensive options and a small pool of self skill buffs.

Another option is a three level dip in unchained rogue.  It offers both free weapon finesse and adding dexterity to damage in place of strength, both of which are things the Swashbuckler does not offer.  The rogue talent and sneak attack damage will also be useful.

Basic buff bard options - the following four items/enchants/feats work in conjunction with base bard’s abilities to grant a plethora of amazing buffing options.

Courageous weapon quality - bonuses against fear, improves any morale bonus by half the weapon’s enhancement bonus.

Flag Bearer- +1 atk/dmg and +1 saves vs charm/fear while holding flag.

Banner of the Ancient Kings - +4 effective levels for inspire courage, doubles bonus provided by Flagbearer Feat, grants rerolls vs mind affecting and +2 bonus, +4 init bonus

Dervish Sikke - Improve Bardic knowledge by +5 level, improve Inspire Courage/Competence by +1 (not level dependent)

Feats - the first two feats are optional improvements above and beyond what is offered by the basic buff bard options listed above.

Master Performer - Increase the bonus granted by bardic performance to allies by +1 (including effects like Inspire Heroics or Inspire Greatness)

Grand Master Performer - Further +1 increase to any bonus granted to allies by Bardic performance.  Yes, it stacks with Master Performer.

Lingering performance - Performance effects last 2 rounds after bard stops performing

Basic Harmony - better aid another checks if you both have this teamwork feat, -5 penalty for failure.

Compelling Harmonies - expend your own bardic performance to boost save dc of ally with this feat’s performance by +2.

Extra performance +6 rounds of performance.

Fire Music - Spells deal fire damage

Spellsong - conceal spellcasting with music

Discordant Voice - allies in 30ft of you during a performance deal an extra 1d6 sonic damage with weapon attacks (if they hit)

Harmonic Sage -  with dc15 knowledge engineering while inside artificial structure, gain choice of two benefits for performance, +1 DC or performances lingers for a round after you stop maintaining it.

Intimidating Performance - use intimidate or dazzling display (if you have it) as part of the move or swift action to start a bardic performance, use perform check in place of intimidate. Only used to demoralize.

Prodigy - +2 (+4 at ten ranks) to your choice of any combination of 2 craft and/or perform skills

Obscure Lore - grants +4 to bardic knowledge checks, is a 3.5 feat, use with caution and clear with DM beforehand

Breadth of Experience - Dwarf, elf, gnome only, 100+ years, +2 knowledge and profession checks

Fey Performance - When performing in nature, get better performances

Trait - Historian - Gain a +1 trait bonus on bardic knowledge checks and knowledge history is a class skill

Trait - Maestro of the society (Bard,Society) +3 rounds performance per day,

Trait -Optimistic Gambler (Campaign, Second Darkness) Effects that grant you morale bonuses last extra 1d4 rounds.

Trait -Community Minded (regional) - Morale bonus effects you grant via spells/abilities last extra 2 rounds

Trait -Fate’s Favored - increase any luck bonus by 1.

Items

Robes of the Resplendent Thespian - disguise armor as normal clothing, Bards get SR 18, +4 resist to saves, +2 CL to overcome spell resistance

Perfect Golden Lute - +10 perform string checks with this instrument, non bard can use countersong, fascinate, or distraction as 1st level bard for rounds = charisma mod.  Bard gets +2 DC all bardic performances, +6 rounds of perform a day.

Lyre of Building - once/day negate all attacks (including spell effects like disintegrate) against inanimate construction for 30 minutes.  Once/week can grant super construction.  Causes 30 minutes of work by one person to equal 3 days of work by 100 people.  Must make dc 18 perform (string) check every hour to continue providing benefit, once performance is stopped or check fails, must wait a week to use the lyre again for this purpose.

Bracers of the Glib Entertainer +5 perform checks, glibness 1/day

Staff of Accompaniment - +2 perform checks while performing bardic performance

Helm of Telepathy - detect thoughts at will, send messages, send suggestion 1/day

Tribal Warpaint - Green Paint improves morale bonus of inspire courage by +1

Poet’s Cloak - Raging song as 4th level skald!

Dervish Sikke - Improve Bardic knowledge by +5 level, improve Inspire Courage/Competence by +1 (not level dependent)

Doomharp - use Dirge of Doom at lower level or at correct level increase range to 60ft

Book of the Loremaster - 3/day +5 to single knowledge check when taking 10 or 20, bards only

Harmonizing - similar to lingering performance, bonus to perform, penalty to stealth, armor enchant

Rallying - Increase morale bonus from ability that grants saves vs fear to +6

Ring of Spell Knowledge - Learn more spells (max level 4) including spells not on your spell list, spontaneous casters only

Ring of Wizardry - double the class granted spells per day of a given spell level (1-4)

Tuned Bowstring - Maintain bardic performance while firing bow, use bow as masterwork instrument, add bow’s enhancement bonus to perform checks

Scarf of the Suggestive Dance - +5 perform dance, +1 dc fascinate and suggestion bardic performances

Strings of Spell Storing - similar to Ring of Spell Storing, can store up to 5 levels of spells.  DC 15 perform string check allows anyone playing the instrument the strings are equipped to to cast spells out of them.  These are a 3.5 item, use with caution, check with your DM beforehand.

Circlet of Persuasion - +3 to all charisma based skills

Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend Spell - Good for many common Bardic buff spells, doubling their duration to last through the whole fight and then some.

Spells

Shadow Bard - Create an illusion of a bard who performs a bardic performance using your stats.  Does not use your rounds of bardic performance.

Virtuoso Performance - at cost of 3/1 rounds of bardic performance, maintain two bardic performances at once for duration of spell.