Pre-L20 Stat/Skill Checkin - TWC Half-Krolvin Bard

[LivderaDeralleur]

I'm closing in on L20 fairly fast, so figured I'd post this while it's on my mind.

I'd definitely like some input on the stat placement. I know Half-Krolvin seems a bit of an odd choice for a Bard ... but .. RP reasons!

Note:
- This character is in Plat, so needs to be a bit more self-sufficient.
- I opted to try to get to 414 in Minor Elemental first due to the above (also, I don't think I have the mana to sustain a sonic weapon right now, so figured it can wait.) If I am way off on his assessment, please tell me.
- I usually like to place stats at kind of a middle ground between best viability and best growth. I really don't want to be too gimped considering the self-sufficiency noted above and figure I can do a Fixstats later.

Name: XXXXXX Race: Half-Krolvin Profession: Bard (not shown)
Gender: Female Age: 18 Expr: 282463 Level: 15
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 87 (28) ... 87 (28)
Constitution (CON): 67 (18) ... 67 (18)
Dexterity (DEX): 86 (18) ... 86 (18)
Agility (AGI): 85 (22) ... 85 (22)
Discipline (DIS): 63 (6) ... 63 (6)
Aura (AUR): 85 (17) ... 85 (17)
Logic (LOG): 62 (-4) ... 62 (-4)
Intuition (INT): 32 (-9) ... 32 (-9)
Wisdom (WIS): 65 (2) ... 65 (2)
Influence (INF): 87 (13) ... 87 (13)
Mana: 36 Silver: 0

Level 0 Stats for XXXXX, Half-Krolvin Bard
Strength (STR): 80
Constitution (CON): 60
Dexterity (DEX): 80
Agility (AGI): 80
Discipline (DIS): 60
Aura (AUR): 80
Logic (LOG): 60
Intuition (INT): 20
Wisdom (WIS): 60
Influence (INF): 80

XXXXX (at level 15), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 124 32
Armor Use..........................| 74 16
Combat Maneuvers...................| 74 16
Blunt Weapons......................| 124 32
Physical Fitness...................| 74 16
Dodging............................| 74 16
Magic Item Use.....................| 66 14
Harness Power......................| 70 15
Perception.........................| 74 16
Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 5
Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 11
Training Points: 56 Phy 6 Mnt
(Use SKILLS BASE to display unmodified ranks and goals)
324 days remain until the annual FIXSKILLS is to be granted, on 05/20/2018.
You started this migration period on Sunday, 6/25/2017 at 11:21:38 EDT. You have 24 days, 23 hours, 18 minutes remaining in your current 30 day migration period.
You're currently migrating at a rate of .010 skill points per pulse, and have converted 56.00 training points this migration period.
Further information can be found in SKILL FAQS.

Currently she can sing:
- 1003
- 1007
- 1010
With a 10 mana renewal cost and can keep that up in a hunt no problem.

I'm not sure which lore to focus on once points open up a bit, either.

[hello]

I'm closing in on L20 fairly fast, so figured I'd post this while it's on my mind.

I'd definitely like some input on the stat placement. I know Half-Krolvin seems a bit of an odd choice for a Bard ... but .. RP reasons!

Note:
- This character is in Plat, so needs to be a bit more self-sufficient.
- I opted to try to get to 414 in Minor Elemental first due to the above (also, I don't think I have the mana to sustain a sonic weapon right now, so figured it can wait.) If I am way off on his assessment, please tell me.
- I usually like to place stats at kind of a middle ground between best viability and best growth. I really don't want to be too gimped considering the self-sufficiency noted above and figure I can do a Fixstats later.

Name: XXXXXX Race: Half-Krolvin Profession: Bard (not shown)
Gender: Female Age: 18 Expr: 282463 Level: 15
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 87 (28) ... 87 (28)
Constitution (CON): 67 (18) ... 67 (18)
Dexterity (DEX): 86 (18) ... 86 (18)
Agility (AGI): 85 (22) ... 85 (22)
Discipline (DIS): 63 (6) ... 63 (6)
Aura (AUR): 85 (17) ... 85 (17)
Logic (LOG): 62 (-4) ... 62 (-4)
Intuition (INT): 32 (-9) ... 32 (-9)
Wisdom (WIS): 65 (2) ... 65 (2)
Influence (INF): 87 (13) ... 87 (13)
Mana: 36 Silver: 0

Level 0 Stats for XXXXX, Half-Krolvin Bard
Strength (STR): 80
Constitution (CON): 60
Dexterity (DEX): 80
Agility (AGI): 80
Discipline (DIS): 60
Aura (AUR): 80
Logic (LOG): 60
Intuition (INT): 20
Wisdom (WIS): 60
Influence (INF): 80

XXXXX (at level 15), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 124 32
Armor Use..........................| 74 16
Combat Maneuvers...................| 74 16
Blunt Weapons......................| 124 32
Physical Fitness...................| 74 16
Dodging............................| 74 16
Magic Item Use.....................| 66 14
Harness Power......................| 70 15
Perception.........................| 74 16
Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 5
Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 11
Training Points: 56 Phy 6 Mnt
(Use SKILLS BASE to display unmodified ranks and goals)
324 days remain until the annual FIXSKILLS is to be granted, on 05/20/2018.
You started this migration period on Sunday, 6/25/2017 at 11:21:38 EDT. You have 24 days, 23 hours, 18 minutes remaining in your current 30 day migration period.
You're currently migrating at a rate of .010 skill points per pulse, and have converted 56.00 training points this migration period.
Further information can be found in SKILL FAQS.

Currently she can sing:
- 1003
- 1007
- 1010
With a 10 mana renewal cost and can keep that up in a hunt no problem.

I'm not sure which lore to focus on once points open up a bit, either.

Not sure if two weapon can work so early on (unless it's for RP). I would go small shield and a light weapon; 1012 all the way. Brawling is also extremely awesome for a half krov; 1012 flares with that is nice. Would focus on air ranks as it seems like from your training and race you want a melee bard.

[LivderaDeralleur]

I'm finding the TWC route fairly viable, killing wise - the only issue is the slight tightness of TPs, which is to be expected. It just makes choices of Lores a bit more difficult.

I think Sword/Board is a bit dull on a Bard, as they don't have the access to Shield maneuvers like a Paladin has. So I think I'll stick with TWC. And TWC Brawling is even more TP intensive, so TWC OHB is the way to go. It's what I puctre the character wielding.

Just not so sure on stat placement. Might have tanked Int too much. But dunno. I'll have to look into it a bit more. Nearly to L16 now.

[WRoss]

TWC for a bard is not sustainable long run. You are going to be missing out on a lot of defensive abilities and your ability to kill is going to be similar if not less than other routes: Pure and Polearm.

That said, you can have fun with it up until about 30-40, but after that, you are just too slow and a defensive nightmare.

[Whirlin]

Your choices are for RP... your characters hunting style is going to be an uphill fight.

You're already RP starved. You aren't fully trained in ANYTHING. You're level 15, taking into account level 0, you should be working on ranks 17/34 to be a full 1x in a skill.
Your DS is going to suffer as well. Blunt weapons don't get access to sais/daggers/main gauches for offhand which grant a much needed DS boost with TWC combat. Pair that up with a Bard, who suffer on their DS side as is, it's going to make matters much worse.
I'm not sure why you're trained in MIU over something like MMC which can help you with mana generation through unraveling.
You also have a complete absence of Lore training. Telepathy and Manipulation which TP can later be dedicated to air lore. If your goal is to use a sonic weapon to get ridiculous flares out of it, well, you'll need that air lore.
Also, there's no climbing/swimming allocated for yet. Since you should be taking armor to 60, at 1x per level, that's a long time to defer climbing/swimming training.
Lastly, you haven't considered MOC... which is an incredibly strong skill for a TWC open attacking build due to the low base weights of weapons (especially sonic weapons), and relatively low recovery times. I'm fairly confident in saying that you'll never be able to afford it.

Semis, especially bards, never outgrow their TP requirements to the same extent of a pure/square. You will never be in a situation where 'tp open up a bit' on a bard. You will have things to train in for strong growth potential until 15m XP.

At level 84, I still haven't fully caught up on Air Lore, and am only sitting at 35 ranks of MOC, and have only trained in 20 MIU, 10 EMC/MMC

[LivderaDeralleur]

Your choices are for RP... your characters hunting style is going to be an uphill fight.

You're already RP starved. You aren't fully trained in ANYTHING. You're level 15, taking into account level 0, you should be working on ranks 17/34 to be a full 1x in a skill.
Your DS is going to suffer as well. Blunt weapons don't get access to sais/daggers/main gauches for offhand which grant a much needed DS boost with TWC combat. Pair that up with a Bard, who suffer on their DS side as is, it's going to make matters much worse.
I'm not sure why you're trained in MIU over something like MMC which can help you with mana generation through unraveling.
You also have a complete absence of Lore training. Telepathy and Manipulation which TP can later be dedicated to air lore. If your goal is to use a sonic weapon to get ridiculous flares out of it, well, you'll need that air lore.
Also, there's no climbing/swimming allocated for yet. Since you should be taking armor to 60, at 1x per level, that's a long time to defer climbing/swimming training.
Lastly, you haven't considered MOC... which is an incredibly strong skill for a TWC open attacking build due to the low base weights of weapons (especially sonic weapons), and relatively low recovery times. I'm fairly confident in saying that you'll never be able to afford it.

Semis, especially bards, never outgrow their TP requirements to the same extent of a pure/square. You will never be in a situation where 'tp open up a bit' on a bard. You will have things to train in for strong growth potential until 15m XP.

At level 84, I still haven't fully caught up on Air Lore, and am only sitting at 35 ranks of MOC, and have only trained in 20 MIU, 10 EMC/MMC

The MIU I'm not completely attached to - I had trained in it to try out the 2x a day Unpoison/Undisease ring I won at Delirium, though I'd probably need a bit more to be able to activate it reliably. I may just forget it and trade the ring away.

As to the Lore, I wasn't sure whether to focus on Telepathy or just go all in on Air lore from the beginning.

I'm getting a very "turn back now while you still can" vibe, though. Heh. Perhaps I'll have to consider a change.

[hello]

I wish Bards can use instruments as weapons, almost like a runestaff. What about ranged using bows? pew pew?

[Orthin]

I wish Bards can use instruments as weapons, almost like a runestaff. What about ranged using bows? pew pew?

They can I think it's 1030

[Crash187]

I'm finding the TWC route fairly viable, killing wise - the only issue is the slight tightness of TPs, which is to be expected. It just makes choices of Lores a bit more difficult.

I think Sword/Board is a bit dull on a Bard, as they don't have the access to Shield maneuvers like a Paladin has. So I think I'll stick with TWC. And TWC Brawling is even more TP intensive, so TWC OHB is the way to go. It's what I puctre the character wielding.

Just not so sure on stat placement. Might have tanked Int too much. But dunno. I'll have to look into it a bit more. Nearly to L16 now.

Sword and board is fun with a quicker weapon (I use a short sword) and the flares from a sonic weapon. Shield bash works well enough at lvl 19 and 3 ranks in it for me. I went kind of dumb and did a straight quick 1x in MMC for unraveling and the 2 whole points extra I get back per pulse allows me to run 1003 1007 1010 and 1012 and still gain 2 mana every cycle. I'm about .333x in air lore. My priority to get it to 1x then start doubling in armor and adding MoC into the mix. Then again the only thing I have a full 1/2x in is my weapon and harness. Most of my core skills are 1 rank below a full 1x.

Merjudwyn (at level 19), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 93 21
Shield Use.........................| 93 21
Combat Maneuvers...................| 90 20
Edged Weapons......................| 142 42
Physical Fitness...................| 93 21
Dodging............................| 93 21
Harness Power......................| 93 21
Mental Mana Control................| 90 20
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 35 7
Perception.........................| 90 20
Climbing...........................| 30 6
Swimming...........................| 30 6

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

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 19
Training Points: 14 Phy 0 Mnt (50 Phy converted to Mnt)

[hello]

I love Bards but they're so incredibly diverse that they don't shine until post cap. Rangers are to a lesser extent similar to Bards but not as harsh. Paladins aren't too tight on points as long as you go cookie cutter, flip side is there isn't a huge postcap power gain for pallies.

What I would really like to see are alterations that allow for mechanical maneuvers, a dashing flip of a sword after a swing finishes off an opponent, a flashy flip of a dagger before it's thrown, a quick prayer action before firing a killshot with a bow... further customization that's permanent and unique to the story/background of that character.