Hello folks,
Apologies for the wall of text in advance.
I'm looking for some advice regarding spells for Bard/Sublime chord build. This character is actually a cohort for my PC. The idea behind the cohort is to be both Delfontaine's (my PC) herald, but his own master of intrigue and politics. That and smoothing things over whenever Delfontaine pisses off the wrong person as he tends to do. Mechanically, this means face skills and the ability to manipulate people as needed. In combat, I'd like the cohort to be both simple to play, and not 'steal the spotlight' if you will from any of the other characters.
I have 2 defining scenes in my mind for this character.
In the first, the 'social/gala' scene, I imagine this character coalescing from nothingness/shadows (mechanically, no longer hiding) to introduce Delfontaine and give him his due etc. From there she would (to a certain extent) be going around the event, putting in a word here and there, making comments, etc. Enough to keep enemies/rivals off balance and focused on each other. This sort of thing.
In the second I picture the character in combat. Very rarely would he actually be casting something that would break his hiding. The average fight would likely consist of a chained/war woven harmonic chorus and a greater d-door, shuttling PCs/animal companions/etc. from place to place. Always hiding, never being a target. That sort of thing.
[spoiler=The Current Party (minor Shackled City spoilers)]
Lord Delfontaine Tercival (me, follow link for complete build)
- (gestalt) Wizard 9 // Rogue 5 // Fighter 4 // Spellsword 7 // Minor Demon Bloodline 1 (Unearthed Arcana) // Sign of the Smoking Eye (applied template, gives rulership of Occipitus and other minor benefits)
- Noble of Cauldron (small city), Lord of Occipitus
- Very much a tank - at level 13 he generally walks around all day with about 15-20 or so spells running. Give or take (probably more). Wears fullplate, etc. Also the party trapfinder.
- True Neutral power hungry noble (who can sometimes be a bit of a dick to people who annoy him.)
Korbin Lightbringer - (gestalt) Favoured Soul // Paladin of Pelor
- Has several alt class features to be less of a martial type, and more caster/support type
- Buffer and healer
- Lawful Good, and keeps an eye on Delfontaine, wary of his intentions and plans
- Current Spells Known
- 0th: Create water; Cure Minor Wounds; Detect magic; Detect Poison; Light; Purify; Read Magic; Mending; Amanuensis
- 1st: Sign; Lesser Vigor; Ice Slick; Prot Evil -> Needs to be Retrained; Resurgence; Shield of Faith
- 2nd: Cure Moderate Wounds; Close Wounds; Silence; Dark Way; Divine Insight; Status
- 3rd: Conviction, Mass; Darkfire -> Persist; Downdraft; Resist Energy, Mass; Magic Circle vs Evil; Magic Vestment
- 4th: Cure Critical Wounds; Freedom of Movement; Restoration; Recitation; Delay Death
- 5th: Righteous Wrath of the Faithful; Dragon Breath; Revivify; True Seeing
- 6th: Heal; Heroes' Feast; Resistance, Superior
Rick Tharcher - (non gestalt) Fighter 11 (I think)
- Cohort of Korbin Lightbringer
- Shoots things with arrows
Torval Parvolus - (gestalt) Summoning Druid // Sorcerer // Fatespinner - Hero of Cauldron
- Summons stuff. Blows it up sometimes, etc.
- Owner of the Lucky Monkey - a wayside inn developing it's own community (base of operations, etc. for Leadership purposes)
- Neutral Good, also distrustful of Delfontaine, Hero to the pesantry of Cauldron, something of a womanizer
Ferox - (non gestalt) Warmage / Fatespinner
- Cohort of Torval Parvolus
- Blows stuff up.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Cohort's Build]
Human Female: Name?
Str 8: Dex 12: Con 14: Int 13 (buy a tome for +1?): Wis 10: Cha 15
1: Bard 1 - Melodic Casting, Dragontouched, Flaw (Non-combatant), Able Learner
2: Marshal 1 - Motivate Dexterity
3: Bard 2 - Practiced Spellcaster
4: Bard 3
5: Bard 4
6: Bard 5 - Dragonfire Inspiration
7: Bard 6
8: Virtuoso 1
9: Virtuoso 2- Subsonics
10: Virtuoso 3
-- Cohort Starts Play Here --
11: Sublime Chord 1
-- Campaign Currently Here --
12: Sublime Chord 2 - Disguise Spell
13+: Virtuoso - Inspire Spellpower at 15
Current equipment of note:
- Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis - continuous version; Rod of Extend - lesser; Circlet of Persuasion; Armband of Elusive Action; Third Eye Clarity; Cloak of Charisma; Anklet of Translocation.
[/spoiler]
The problem I'm running into is spell selection. Our party doesn't have a lot of the typical battlefield control that typically see play - our control tends to come in the form of 'wall of fur' (druid summoning) or simply having enough buffs up that the bad guy's can't do much to us. I'd like to change this, but I've never actually played an arcanist of any sort (past level 4) prior to this campaign. The cohorts current spells' known looks like this:
- Bard 0: Detect Magic; Message; Minor Diguise; Prestidigitation; Read Magic; Summon Instrument
- Bard 1: Friendly Face; Inspirational Boost; Joyful Noise; Ventriloquism I'd like to fit improvisation in here somewhere
- Bard 2: Harmonic Chorus (chained via rod); Harmonize; Tongues; Silence - probably not needed with Sculpt Sound covering party noises;
- Bard 3: Glibness; Ray of Dizziness; Sculpt Sound
As the cohort just reached 11th level, she now knows 2 4th level and 1 5th.
Spells Known at 17th level:
- SC 4: Solid Fog; Mirror Image, Greater; Voice of the Dragon; Ruin Delver's Fortune
- SC 5: Dimension Door, Greater; Wall of Force; Dispel Magic, Greater; Reciprocal Gyre?;
- SC 6: Snowsong; Find the Path; Otto's Irresistable Dance;
- SC 7: 2 more
- SC 8: Maze?
So what I'm looking for here is some advice regarding spell selection and usage. Do I really need
voice of the dragon? I can't see her actually using an
orb of x, so what do I take instead? Same goes for
reciprocal gyre, she would be much more likely to use song of arcane power and then dispel rather than blast with gyre. What spells have I overlooked based on this cohorts style? etc.
Any WotC 3.5 non-setting specific book is allowed. If it comes from another source (Dungeon/Dragon, Ebberon, Forgotten Realms, 3.0, 3rd party, etc.) I can bring it up with the DM, and so long as I can make a good case for it (and it doesn't lead to 'you break it you buy it') I'll generally be allowed to use it (probably). Also note that I can use the PHB2 retraining rules for minor tweaks, anything larger requires DM approval, but would generally be allowed. As a note, the PCs are expected to get to 21st level, so cohorts would max at 17th barring Epic Leadership.
P.S. This is cross posted from the wizards.com CO boards a few weeks back, but with a slightly different aim this time around. Origional thread found
here.
Edit: edits are in blue