Melee Bard

[cwolff]

Any tips on training this bard? He'll be Melee for a good long while though I figure I need to begin considering lores and when to switch to MnE


Race: Elf Profession: Bard (Post name shown as: Bard)
Level: 24 Gender: Male Age: 525

Experience:
Experience: 670187 Next level at: 725000 exp.
Exp. until next lvl: 54813
Fame: 573163 Deeds: 8 Deaths this level: 0
Your mind is becoming numbed.

Wealth:
Silvers: 0 coins

Skills:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 142 42
Combat Maneuvers...................| 35 7
Polearm Weapons....................| 152 52
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 25 5
Physical Fitness...................| 108 26
Dodging............................| 108 26
Magic Item Use.....................| 50 10
Harness Power......................| 102 24
Survival...........................| 50 10
Perception.........................| 102 24
Climbing...........................| 50 10
Swimming...........................| 15 3
First Aid..........................| 50 10
Trading............................| 58 12

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 25

Stats: Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 79 (14) ... 79 (14)
Constitution (CON): 75 (12) ... 75 (12)
Dexterity (DEX): 67 (13) ... 67 (13)
Agility (AGL): 77 (28) ... 77 (28)
Discipline (DIS): 91 (5) ... 91 (5)
Aura (AUR): 70 (15) ... 70 (15)
Logic (LOG): 91 (20) ... 91 (20)
Intuition (INT): 71 (10) ... 71 (10)
Wisdom (WIS): 66 (8) ... 66 (8)
Influence (INF): 71 (20) ... 71 (20)

[Taernath]

Generally you want to go MnE when you hit 20 Bard spells.

For lores, grab 25 ranks of Telepathy, then 1x in Air lore, particularly if you want to use sonic gear (you do).

[Roiken]

Many ways to get the job done, but I like going for 425 and 430 as fast as possible with that setup and having mirrors available ... you are heavy on dodge witch mirrors helps .. and low on cm. switching the two would be beneficial.. imho

[Zarston]

I agree with what Roiken and Taernath were saying. If I was going to cookie cut this guy, I would drop armor use to 1x, cut MoC, Trading, Survival, and First Aid. With the freed up points, I would go with what Roiken said and switch Cman and Dodging, then work towards bringing Dodge to 1x, mental mana control to 24, and Mental Lores/Air lore as much as you can spare until you get them to Taernath's suggestion. Then you can start peppering in your secondary training.

Spellwise, at least bring Spellsongs down to 1020, maybe even 1013 depending on how much you use the other songs, and work on getting 425 as soon as you can.

[Maviur]

Bards are OP(sleep/swing). By lvl 35 all my bards have 1035(swarm control) and 425 and the basics. Then play catch up. Lvl 41 now and swinging at 354 and crushing crap. There is so many things to hunt when your under 60.

[Taernath]

Bards are OP(sleep/swing). By lvl 35 all my bards have 1035(swarm control) and 425 and the basics. Then play catch up. Lvl 41 now and swinging at 354 and crushing crap. There is so many things to hunt when your under 60.

What does a training plan / stat placement look like for a 2x spells bard? I can't imagine you have enough mana to keep your spells rolling without outside support.

[cwolff]

Here's the closest I can get to that right now. If I drop dodge I bet he's pretty vulnerable and there'll be no room for cmans for a while.


At level 24: Ranks X # PTP MTP 24 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Armor Use 24 (1.0X) 2 5 0 24
Polearm Weapons 52 (2.1X) 2 6 1 52
Physical Fitness 26 (1.0X) 2 4 0 26
Dodging 26 (1.0X) 2 6 6 26
Perception 15 (0.6X) 2 0 3 15
Harness Power 24 (1.0X) 2 0 5 24
Spell Research 38 (1.5X) 2 0 17 38
Minor Elemental 25 (1.0X) 2 0 17 25
Bard 13 (0.5X) 13
PTP 848 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 848
MTP 1249 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1249
Total PTP Left 104 42 84 127 170 213 256 299 342 385 429 473 517 561 605 649 693 737 781 826 871 916 961 1006 1051 104
Total MTP Left 0 45 90 135 181 227 273 319 365 412 459 506 553 600 647 694 742 790 838 886 934 982 1030 1079 1128 0

[cwolff]

Well that ended up all out of order. Here's what I can do at level 24

Armor 24
Polearm 52
PF 26
Dodge 26
Per 15
HP 24
MnE 24
Bard 13

PTP's left 104

[Maviur]

XXXX (at level 41), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 160 60
Combat Maneuvers...................| 143 43
Polearm Weapons....................| 186 86
Physical Fitness...................| 143 43
Harness Power......................| 143 43
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 120 30
Climbing...........................| 70 15

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 25

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 35
Training Points: 6 Phy 0 Mnt (230 Phy converted to Mnt)

This is where my bards is now. CMs I did not have at lvl 35 and was just 8 armor. When you don't have to train in spells its easy to catch up on others. Now im going for MIU,arcane and mana control elemental. At the end of the day I feel most bards will be the same..Just something different to get there.
Just to be clear: I do have 2 basic accounts that help each other out with spells and healing.

[Druindar]

XXXX (at level 41), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 160 60
Combat Maneuvers...................| 143 43
Polearm Weapons....................| 186 86
Physical Fitness...................| 143 43
Harness Power......................| 143 43
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 120 30
Climbing...........................| 70 15

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 25

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 35
Training Points: 6 Phy 0 Mnt (230 Phy converted to Mnt)

This is where my bards is now. CMs I did not have at lvl 35 and was just 8 armor. When you don't have to train in spells its easy to catch up on others. Now im going for MIU,arcane and mana control elemental. At the end of the day I feel most bards will be the same..Just something different to get there.
Just to be clear: I do have 2 basic accounts that help each other out with spells and healing.

Very curious about this build. I'm 24 right now, always hunt with a friend so really looking forward to tonis. A couple questions:

1: how is your DS with zero ranks of dodging? Between that and low CM at 35, seems like you would be a total glass cannon?
2: what spells can you keep up? Seems like even mirrors and Kai's would be hard, much less tonis.

[Maviur]

DS is fine. Get Spells from Ranger,Wizard and Spirit. Keep up the normal 1003,1006,1007,1010 and 1019. Hunt In Illy if you want to see. Use a normal perfect 6x lance and 7x Augmented Chain.

[Druindar]

DS is fine. Get Spells from Ranger,Wizard and Spirit. Keep up the normal 1003,1006,1007,1010 and 1019. Hunt In Illy if you want to see. Use a normal perfect 6x lance and 7x Augmented Chain.

Interesting. Yeah, its my first time playing a bard, and right now at 24 I can basically keep up 1007, 1003, and MAYBE 1006, along with GoS sigils....have to fiddle with it some more. having 1019 take the place of dodging ranks I think would help a ton. I don't trust my flimsy mana pool (69 max) to get it done quite yet, but maybe soon.

I'll have to play around with this, thanks!