Was wondering if it's possible. Inquis seems like it would fit a bard, but the trees don't support it at all.

-You can swashbuckle with crossbows, but there is no point, as it doesn't give you any special crit modifiers as crossbows are not mentioned in the level 3 swashbuckling core.

-There is no way to get cha to hit/damage till the new tree is out, and IIRC, it doesn't have a cha trance

-To get a cha trance you would need to splash cleric or fvs

Another problem is the way the ballad scales. It's pretty weak unless you go fatesinger + take spellsinger or warchanter t4s and t5s. You also need at least 15 levels of Bard to get inspire heroics added to your ballad, which makes it hard to do splits, unlike Rogue where you only need 10 levels for opportunist.

Going inq t5 + getting int to damage from harper will also prevent you from getting much in the spell singer or warchanter trees so you end up with a weak ballad.

Fatesinger only gives 4 RP per level, so it's also not an option for ranged builds unless you main another ED and just twist the song buffs from fatesinger.

Something like a bard 16/artificer 2/rogue 2 would have a ballad that gives :

-+3 to hit/damage from inspire courage

-+3 to hit/damage if you twist first harmonic cord. Additional +3 to hit/damage for yourself only.

-Inspire greatness : Allies and yourself benefit from +20 Temporary Hit Points, +3 Physical Resistance Rating, an +10 Healing Amplification as long as your are not incapacitated and they are within the Ballad.

-Inspire heroics : +4 Music Bonus to Armor Class, +4% Music Bonus to Dodge, and a +4 Music bonus to all saves.

-+3 to hit from Warchanter : Inspired Bravery

-+2 to damage from the level 3 and 6 Warchanter cores

-Greater Heroism from the level 6 warchanter core

-+6 PRR from Warchanter : ironskin

-+6% doubleshot/doublestrike and +9 universal spellpower from Warchanter : recklessness

-Level 12 warchanter core that lets you give temp hp = cha score, doubled in epic levels.

For a total of +9 to hit, +8 to damage, +9 PRR, +6% doubleshot/doublestrike, +9 universal spellpower, cha score as temp hp, 10 heal amp, +4 Music Bonus to Armor Class, +4% Music Bonus to Dodge, +4 Music bonus to all saves and Greater Heroism.

You can twist third harmonic chord for an additional 3 PRR and 10 heal amp to your ballad.

Does that sound like a decent ballad for a bard inquis build?

Tree wise, it's 41 ap in inquis, 13 ap in harper and 24 ap in warchanter. That leaves 2 ap left over (not counting tomes).

ManyCookies wrote on Sep 4^th, 2020 at 3:42pm:


If thats all you're needing to do yeah, it'll get bard PLs. Are you doing 1-20 or 15-30?

So far as I know - you want 2 lvls of artificer for rune arms. Wouldn't 2lvls of fighter be better for extra ranged feats? They did nerf improved precise shot but not that badly.

Honestly I've personally never been any good at bards. The songs take so damn long and quests are so short, I don't think anyone really bothers.

Do you already have PLs/tomes?


Also i was suggesting 2 lvls of fighter instead of 2 lvls of rogue. You absolutely want the 2 artificer levels for... just... everything.

If you're just zerging to 30 though how badly do you really need to trap?

Basically you're looking for a leveling build, not a do-anything build. You want to focus on DPS/survivability/etc. 2 Rogue levels for evasion might be better, but you also aren't jumping into combat. Just food for thought.

noamineo wrote on Sep 4^th, 2020 at 6:57pm:


I was just thinking that if you are going to play a bard, you may as well get a decent ballad to go along with it.

The way I see it, if you are going to take a couple of trapping levels, might as well find a way to bump those 3 trapping skills up. Extra xp is always nice, and evasion allows you to ignore most ranged magical damage which I find really useful. Being able to ignore traps while trapping is another huge benefit.

On second thought, bard 15/rogue 3/artificer 2 would be better, the 16th level of bard doesnt really get you anything for an inquis build. You could start at level 15 with Bard 11/Rogue 2/Artificer 2 and just take the last rogue level at 20 for trapping skills.

Thats part of the single target buffs isnt it? Not sure how long the duration will be if you are only taking 15 levels of bard and only taking a few warchanter enhancements.