Bard in HotU; advice please

[imminence]

My bard has now lvl21 + 1 level of shadowdancer.

With all items she is quite powerful (STR 22, DEX 24 etc.) but nevertheless, it seems to be like
bard song ---> curse song ---> dirge ---> war cry and the rest of any battle is kinda cleaning up the remaining frightened, stunned or otherwise disabled enemies.

Is there a point to keep building up bard-levels or should I consider to take levels of fighter etc. ?

NOTE:
I like it, when a class can be kept straight, without the need of prestige classes, like monk or wizard. The question is, if that makes sense with a bard, too.

[Falco]

There is a very useful talent called Lasting Inspiration on epic bard levels which makes your bard and curse song lasts much longer. Also, if you have enough perform ranks you get another AC bonus on level 25 of bard for your song.
Bard also works really well with Red Dragon Disciple. You get a ton of strength attributes with it.

[imminence]

That lasting inspiration and that bonus seem to be good. I will level her further as bard.

The RDD... I don't know what to do with it, really.
Back in the days, when NWN 1 / SoU / HotU became available I tried it with many classes but didn't see a great result.

That flame breath is ok, but nothing descisive. A few points of AC...ok.
A ton of attributes... fine, but also not really something which will make a big difference between a RDD and a fully equipped and buffed different class.

For bard and sorc the RDD levels won't increase spell-DC, right?

[Selphea]

Bard Song stops scaling at level 30 and 100 Perform: http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Bard_song

If you're not super keen on the last AC and buncha skill points or the steep Perform req you can stop at 25 or 26.

Beyond 30 you get the usual spell duration and dispel resistance improvements vs Mord's and epic bonus feats... but not much else.

But hotu doesn't take you past 30 so you can pretty much stay pure

[Shia Luck]

You're right. RDD levels don't increased spell DC without haks/mods.

IDR any either but there probably will be some. There were a few where PaleMaster affected caster levels differently. RDDs are really melee characters and it doesn't sound like that's your route. You'd benefit from 4 FTR lvls b4 lvl20, and 2 after if RDD melee was a goal.

HotU is unfortunately too high magic to benefit from increased SD levels (Lots of the prestige classes suffer from this) but how about mixing in some rogue or assassin (but see comment about prestige classes.. )

Have fun :)

[imminence]

That's what I did: I took one level of rogue and will perhaps rake some more, when I got the last useful feat with level 25.

[Kapazoum]

Bard/blackguard was one of my favorite. I'd get max CHA and abuse the bonus the divine dmg that almost nothing resists.

[jonnin]

RDD is for your 1/2 orc bard -1 RDD max Fighter (or ranger / etc) hybrid to smash things.
Its not really going to make your bard or sorc into a combat machine, though a sorc/fighter/rdd with buff spells going ape can be amusing too.

bards are good at all kinds of hybrids... some sort of fighter, caster, or rogue can all be neat combos. The fighter or rogue can benefit from the RDD stat increases, extra str is damage for anyone that swings a weapon. And honestly, after a bit, when every 3rd mob is immune to crits -- late game -- RDD fighter seems to shine a bit over WM crit fighters.

[s†. Chris†opher]

I just played through HotU on Very Hard, with Blackguard 4 Bard 11 start; and just put all the levels into bard. Since bard is the only class i hadn't played prior to EE.

The gear is insane in this module, as long as you have decent BAB bonus(reason for 4 figher/BG etc), just about any melee build is viable.

[claudius]

Regarding Bard/RDD in HotU I think of this as making access quickly to Devastating Critical. But if the preparatory feats haven't been taken (Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave) then that might mean you cannot get Devestating Critical before the end of the game.

But a Half Orc BG4*/RDD4/Bard 12 then take the rest all bard and get Dev Critical ASAP could be a strong build.

*or fighter if human or dwarf