Dirge bard advice

[There is no Mango]

So, i decided to use a bard for my first time as a mercenary companion to my evil character.

Based on a portrait, i chose a tiefling, i do not care for min max.

My idea as i built her a bit was to have a dirge bard with an enchanting focus (will see if that works or not).
Laughing spell is quite good in the beginnings and it fit my idea of the character well enough.

At level 6 i get to choose a rogue talent and i am quite hesitating.
Weapon focus ray and weapon focus touch exist but these don't fit enchanting spells.
The team for for spell penetration. Could be nice.

Now i could give her a bow or a crossbow though that is boring so maybe something more exotic ranged.

She got 18 dex on creation i think, wonder if i could go weapon finesse melee otherwise ?

I am not a fan of multi classing for now, but if could that help her be interesting leveling up, why not.


Any ideas or suggestions for (dirge) bards builds ?

[jsaving]

There are two main roles a bard can play. One is a pure caster who maxes charisma, spell pen, and spell focus enchantment, gets the mythic versions of focus/pen ASAP, and also gets the hideous laughter mythic ability. The other is a melee tank who sticks with bard until around 10th level and then switches to eldritch knight. For that kind of build you forget all of the above and instead max your physical stats, focusing on weapon DPS for your feats.

In either case, your main role is to sing dirge of doom while providing buffs like good hope and haste to the party. The caster build will also be OK at offensive casting, though enchantment is not always the best spell school to use against demons and your spell DCs will suffer compared to a sorcerer. Whereas with the melee tank build you are giving up on offensive casting entirely in favor of adequate though far from stellar melee DPS, relying on your defensive spell buffs to make you tank-y enough to survive in close quarters.

New players sometimes have an idea that they can leverage high DEX/CHA to dish out high enough ranged DPS to offset the lack of evocation spells on the bard list. But unfortunately you can't. You receive none of the zen archer's or eldritch archer's ability to enhance your ammunition and there is no way through feats alone to reach tolerable ranged DPS. Plus, if you are in the backline then you are failing to use buffs like mirror image to absorb enemy melee attacks, which does contribute to party survivability even though it doesn't directly increase your own DPS.

Your main challenge is to figure out right away, preferably at character creation, which path you ultimately want to take and then plan accordingly. Good luck!

[There is no Mango]

Thanks for the answer !

The character I imagine, as I like to roleplay the characters in my party really, is definitely going the path enchantment path.

I will see as I play if this is really a problem with demons, depending on if she can focus on support enough in these times.

I don't thing enchantment spells are touch based really so dex it not really necessary all the way to 18.
Good thing we can respec ah.

[There is no Mango]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2635800526

Modifiers (+76) of a dirge bard level 17 with 1 level crossblooded sorcerer undead/fey ; laughing touch.

[There is no Mango]

After a tough time with enchantment in act 4, act 5 is her time to shine now.
Hideous laughter chains, inspire heroics and Battle meditation mythic ability are massive boosts to the party.

[Project Paindora]

I played a bit with a Dirge Bard and found it enjoyable. I built the character around control and buffs. At level one, I simply ran into a room and intimidated everyone. Lingering performance and extra performance were big. Getting an extra two rounds after you shut your song off is huge. I also found it hysterical I could wave my rapier like a macabre conductor and make the enemy wet themselves with Dazzling Display. I never ever, nor would I ever, actually stab someone with it. What's the point? I can just say BOO and wave it around a bit.