Level 20 Check - THW Dwarven Bardess

[Jimpse]

Closing in on level 20 and wanted to make sure nothing was terribly wrong. Yet.



>info
Name: Hespith Race: Dwarf Profession: Bard (shown as: Skald)
Gender: Female Age: 0 Expr: 465125 Level: 19
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 79 (24) ... 79 (24)
Constitution (CON): 71 (25) ... 71 (25)
Dexterity (DEX): 76 (13) ... 76 (13)
Agility (AGI): 85 (12) ... 85 (12)
Discipline (DIS): 81 (25) ... 81 (25)
Aura (AUR): 71 (0) ... 71 (0)
Logic (LOG): 91 (25) ... 91 (25)
Intuition (INT): 36 (-7) ... 36 (-7)
Wisdom (WIS): 75 (12) ... 75 (12)
Influence (INF): 67 (-2) ... 67 (-2)
Mana: 57 Silver: 0



>info start
Level 0 Stats for Hespith, Dwarf Bard

Strength (STR): 70
Constitution (CON): 62
Dexterity (DEX): 70
Agility (AGI): 82
Discipline (DIS): 77
Aura (AUR): 62
Logic (LOG): 88
Intuition (INT): 23
Wisdom (WIS): 68
Influence (INF): 58



>skills
Hespith (at level 19), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 90 20
Combat Maneuvers...................| 50 10
Two-Handed Weapons.................| 140 40
Physical Fitness...................| 90 20
Dodging............................| 90 20
Harness Power......................| 86 19
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 5 1
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 90 20
Perception.........................| 90 20
Climbing...........................| 50 10
Swimming...........................| 50 10

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 19


At level 25, I will be able to start singling in Combat Maneuvers fully, and 1.33x in Air Lore. Mana Control & MOC are on hold until the later levels. From 21 to 50, I will single Minor Elemental, then pick back up with the Bard ranks from 51 to cap. Anything look horrible? I know THW isn't the easiest route, and dwarves don't make the best bards stat-wise..but I wanted to be a dwarf, and in my mind, a dwarf uses a large weapon. I'm making the most out of what my brain allows!

I will be hitting 20 in the next 24 hours. This is my second time in two months leveling a bard to 20, and I'd really rather not do it again - if there is any advice out there to help ease things along, I'd love to hear it!

Thanks!

[Tenser]

My personal preference would be to fully 1x in CM and pick up MOC earlier while leaving dodge to lag behind until later. But I don't think it's critical either way.

[Shaps]

Hunting to 50 is pretty straight forward and easy.

My recommendations would be:

-drop Manipulation and Telepathy Lore
-Get CM to 1x/Level
-Get 10 rank of MOC (this gives you MStrike and ignores 1 creature for the FoF mechanic)
-Switch from the Bard Circle and get 425 at 25
-With the left over MTPs, get Bard spells... My Bard at level 25 has 25 MnE and 10 Bard spells for maximum self sustaining defense.

These are all recommendations to make the process easier by prioritizing what is most beneficial early on. If you have RP reasons for why you have what you have, then by all means stick with it.

[Larch]

-With the left over MTPs, get Bard spells... My Bard at level 25 has 25 MnE and 10 Bard spells for maximum self sustaining defense.

I think you meant max AS with 425/1010. 425/1010 is 38 AS/55 DS and 415/1020 or 414/1021 would be 20 AS/73 DS in offensive with brig.

[Shaps]

I think you meant max AS with 425/1010. 425/1010 is 38 AS/55 DS and 415/1020 or 414/1021 would be 20 AS/73 DS in offensive with brig.

I meant sustainable DS. A bard at level 25 would not be able to run 1019 and all the other spells reliably at all, and they would have absolutely zero mana for anything else on a hunt. The fact she's a Dwarf makes that doubly so. A nice by product is the AS.

[Larch]

I meant sustainable DS. A bard at level 25 would not be able to run 1019 and all the other spells reliably at all, and they would have absolutely zero mana for anything else on a hunt. The fact she's a Dwarf makes that doubly so. A nice by product is the AS.

It's a fair point, I skimmed over the sustainable part. Not sure Dwarf matters too much, with stats set for growth a dorf has 1 less mana than an elf.

[Shaps]

It's a fair point, I skimmed over the sustainable part. Not sure Dwarf matters too much, with stats set for growth a dorf has 1 less mana than an elf.

Has to do with the negative bonus to Influence. It means songs renew much faster, depleting mana more rapidly on a hunt. Additionally the negative modifier means she will have a much lower CS and hidden roll factor (sleep) added to her spells.

All of the benefits to a Dwarf outweigh the negative Influence in my opinion, and post 50 it will not be an issue. As you said it's set for growth and grows like a weed.

[Shaps]

Fortunately .. INF items are cheap as all get out, so she can boost it artificially quite easily.

[Whirlin]

Missed this thread. A couple things.

By the maths, Bard songs will net you higher DS than MnE, predominantly due to outside spells, but even taking into account self-applying 414, the Song songs will yield a higher result. That being said, it should be noted that you're undertrained in spell research by 1 level, and your current level, you should have 20 Bard, 1 MnE ranks. +5 DS from MnE is a nice immediate boost. A bard can wear 1003, 1010, 1019 comfortably at 19 ranks. 1014 will dedicate any mana towards renewal probably moreso than openers. If you prioritize MNE circle up to 30 before Bard circle, by the maths, your AS/DS/CS will only be maximized 100 levels. Prioritization of Bard 20 > MnE 30 > Bard 35 results in 117 instances where the combinations are higher. By comparison, dumping 35 into Bard results in into 88 instances. This is all resulting in 1020/430, just various permutations of how to get there, and how to best front-load your spell research. The 20th level of bard is due to rounding on 1010 and 1014.
https://gswiki.play.net/Guides_by_Whirlin:_Two_Hander,_One_Hander,_Archer, _Pure,_Two_Weapon_Bard_Guide#Spell_Research_Traini ng


The 1 manipulation rank makes a ton of sense if using 1002 as an opener, as it lowers threshold by 3.2, and subsequent ranks are 1.2. That should remain, but definitely keep doing telepathy for 5 ranks for the 1007 threshold, or defer this til after telepathy, depends entirely on your playstyle.

I don't recommend MOC until you have the TP to dedicate to get it up to 55 ranks. It's an objective after you hit 60 Armor ranks AND unlock 1020/430. THEN you can pick up MOC... but I wouldn't really invest in it so early... the RT calculations for 2 hits/etc aren't really advantageous versus the TP cost, and Armor/Spell research is much more important to prioritize super early on. Reducing the MOC ranks should provide enough TP to get up to 1x CMAN.

Other than that, the build looks solid, nothing looks missing. Keep staying the course, dedicate extra TPs up to Armor use, and unlock ASG15 ASAP, and then work on getting up to 430/431 (your choice), and then things will open up for you greatly. It'll take a long time to get there, but, at least the earlier levels are easy. Your TP will free up a little more once you finish off lores, and you can consider dropping 10 ranks into a mana control or MIU depending on your access to self-chargers.