Pre-Level 20 Stats

Help me by critiquing my level 19 bard's stats and training before I lock in!

My goal is to be sword and board ~ 40/50ish then make the jump over to pure. I was going for a decent balance of TP's. He's able to hunt really well physically right now with sonic equipment and has a CS just under 100 at level 19. He's in COL.

Race: Human Profession: Bard (not shown)
Gender: Male Age: 0 Expr: 469010 Level: 19
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 69 (14) ... 69 (14)
Constitution (CON): 43 (-3) ... 43 (-3)
Dexterity (DEX): 59 (4) ... 59 (4)
Agility (AGI): 76 (13) ... 76 (13)
Discipline (DIS): 89 (19) ... 89 (19)
Aura (AUR): 91 (20) ... 91 (20)
Logic (LOG): 82 (21) ... 82 (21)
Intuition (INT): 69 (14) ... 69 (14)
Wisdom (WIS): 64 (7) ... 64 (7)
Influence (INF): 94 (22) ... 94 (22)



| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 78 17
Shield Use.........................| 90 20
Combat Maneuvers...................| 90 20
Edged Weapons......................| 142 42
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 25 5
Physical Fitness...................| 90 20
Dodging............................| 90 20
Magic Item Use.....................| 50 10
Harness Power......................| 90 20
Elemental Mana Control.............| 50 10
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 90 20
Perception.........................| 90 20
Climbing...........................| 90 20
Swimming...........................| 90 20

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 1

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

Any recommendations would be very helpful! Thanks everyone!

I did telepathy before air lore, mostly for the bard song duration increase but also for the 1007 AS bonus. Maybe with the mana changes it's not as attractive anymore.

Also I'm pretty sure you still want to keep harness power at level.

Keeping HP at level is the right idea overall. It used to be anything over level only gave you 1 more mana. That will hold true after 40 ranks, but for now it gives a little bit more a boost becasue of the new skill bonus calculation. Still not worth it IMO.

I don't have experience with sword and board so i'll just lay out the benefits so you can make a decision. Air lore will get you a higher chance to flare, more progress towards tonis speed thresholds, and reduced shield penalty for a sonic shield which will help your dodge defense. Telepathy to 25 ranks first (the standard) will get you +5 AS from 1007 and +50 seconds on spellsong duration. Between the mana changes and the fact you have a shield and can probably afford the DS hit from dropping 1010 or something to reduce your renewal cost, i'd think air would be more beneficial. I'd gun for 1035 and 36 air ranks at level 35 to get -1RT and 35 dodge ranks from Tonis along with the 20% double flare chance. At 25 my bard can keep up 1003/1007/1010/1019 and sonic weapon and still 1005 or 1002 everything he sees with 0 mana problems...I don't think you'll have an issue.

Unless you have a mana battery following you around, mental mana control will give you more benefits for casting your own spells (song of unraveling, etc.) than elemental mana control will.