This is a day late and a dollar short. My vote is going brawling/shield. At 90 I am destroying the bowels as a brawling/shield pure bard.

XXXXXXXX (at level 90), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 150 50
Shield Use.........................| 192 92
Brawling...........................| 192 92
Physical Fitness...................| 197 97
Dodging............................| 192 92
Harness Power......................| 192 92
Elemental Mana Control.............| 86 19
Mental Mana Control................| 25 5
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 175 75
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 66 14
Survival...........................| 149 49
Perception.........................| 192 92
Climbing...........................| 160 60
Swimming...........................| 160 60
Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 35
Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 104

Training Points: 193 Phy 0 Mnt (1810 Phy converted to Mnt)

My DS is 567 lying prone (I had a full compliment of Invoker spells active

An Illoke jarl dips his shoulder and rushes towards you!
[SMR result: 102 (Open d100: 78)]
Your size enormously hinders your defense!
The Illoke jarl slams into you, and you are sent careening to the ground!
... 10 points of damage!
Light strike to your chest.
You are struck by an acute sense of vulnerability.
Roundtime: 12 sec.

In an awe-inspiring display of combat mastery, an Illoke jarl engages you in a furious dance macabre, spiraling into a blur of strikes and ripostes!
An Illoke jarl swings a slate grey stone hammer at you!
AS: +426 vs DS: +567 with AvD: +33 + d100 roll: +68 = -40
A clean miss.

An Illoke jarl swings a slate grey stone hammer at you!
AS: +426 vs DS: +567 with AvD: +33 + d100 roll: +41 = -67
A clean miss.

An Illoke jarl swings a slate grey stone hammer at you!
AS: +426 vs DS: +567 with AvD: +33 + d100 roll: +46 = -62
A clean miss.

An Illoke jarl swings a slate grey stone hammer at you!
Lying flat on your back, you lean to one side and dodge the attack!


My CS is 449. I also use 1005 (lullaby) as my opener


You weave another verse into your harmony, directing the sound of your voice at an Illoke jarl.
The Illoke jarl falls to the ground in a deep slumber.
Sing Roundtime 3 Seconds.
(Forcing stance down to guarded)

An Illoke jarl snorfles softly in his sleep.

You weave another verse into your harmony, directing the sound of your voice at an Illoke jarl.
[Spell Hindrance for some dark vultite augmented chain is 8% with current Armor Use skill, d100= 5]
Your armor prevents the song from working correctly.

You change your tune slightly, adding the element for Song of Sonic Disruption to your song...
Your spellsong is ready.

You weave another verse into your harmony, directing the sound of your voice at an Illoke jarl.
An Illoke jarl is awakened by your attack!
The dull golden nimbus surrounding an Illoke jarl suddenly begins to glow brightly.
CS: +449 - TD: +336 + CvA: +20 + d100: +19 == +152
Warding failed!
An Illoke jarl reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 67 damage!
... 70 points of damage!
Spine ripped from the Illoke jarl's body and thrown to the ground.
You sense a surge of essence being dragged from the jarl, only to dissipate as your multicolored soulstone overflows with power.
The Illoke jarl grumbles in pain one last time before lying still.
The very powerful look leaves an Illoke jarl.
The white light leaves an Illoke jarl.
The dull golden nimbus fades from around an Illoke jarl.
An Illoke jarl appears to be less clearly focused.
An Illoke jarl loses the flickering energy surrounding him.
An Illoke jarl seems to lose some focus as his eyes narrow and shift momentarily to one side.
The warm glow fades from around an Illoke jarl.

Sing Roundtime 3 Seconds.


My TD is 357. Also a full compliment of Invoker spells.

An Illoke jarl's eyes glow with silvery grey light, and then everything around you shimmers to match the argentine color.
CS: +369 - TD: +357 + CvA: -16 + d100: +25 == +21
Warded off!
With a faint flicker, the grey luminescence fades away.


I am also a firm believer in pre-cap use of Ascension points. As you can see I have a few. My plan is once I hit cap I plan I will stop Ascension training and catchup on my skills (ie., Shield/Brawling, CM etc)


XXXXXXXX, your Ascension Abilities are as follows:

Skill Mnemonic Ranks Type Category Subcategory
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agility agility 5/40 Passive Common Stat
Aura aura 15/40 Passive Common Stat
Dexterity dexterity 5/40 Passive Common Stat
Logic logic 5/40 Passive Common Stat
Physical Fitness physicalfitness 5/50 Passive Common Skill
Porter porter 5/50 Passive Common Other
Strength strength 5/40 Passive Common Stat


Name: XXXXXXX Race: Burghal Gnome Profession: Bard (not shown)
Gender: Male Age: 0 Expr: 6,554,585 Level: 90
Ascended (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 102 (11) ... 102 (11)
Constitution (CON): 95 (32) ... 95 (32)
Dexterity (DEX): 102 (36) ... 102 (36)
Agility (AGI): 102 (36) ... 102 (36)
Discipline (DIS): 99 (19) ... 99 (19)
Aura (AUR): 112 (36) ... 112 (36)
Logic (LOG): 104 (37) ... 104 (37)
Intuition (INT): 84 (22) ... 84 (22)
Wisdom (WIS): 97 (23) ... 97 (23)
Influence (INF): 90 (15) ... 90 (15)
Mana: 136 Silver: 0