Quick bard question before I dump 1000+ bone chips on her.

[Sicc]

Hey guys. I'm going to bone chip a bard right into crushbone, but wanted to verify the starting stats. I've seen some debate but just wanted one last check up.

Right now my half elf bard has 10 into dex, rest into cha. Playing an enchanter, I know what its like to try to max cha. I was wondering if 25 into cha was really the most effective I could place the points.

I'll probably start with lambent set, 55 hp rings, mistmoore drum and lute. Somewhere around that range of twinking. I intend on grouping mainly, and swarming as a last resort, or to blow through hell levels.

So 25 cha min/max? I don't know how difficult it will be to gather str or dex gear up to respectable amounts, while maintaining great cha.

Thanks

[branamil]

CHA is barely important for Bard. Do not recommend putting starting stats into into it. You will only need it for lulling and charming, which are pretty minor parts of barding. You can easily pump up your CHA with gear much later when if you really need to.

[MiRo2]

Originally Posted by branamil [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You will only need it for lulling and charming, which are pretty minor parts of barding.

Bard charm relies on MR resist checks, not CHA. Lulling is a major part of barding. A class that can get to mobs fast, single pull, mez/charm/snare on critical resists to stagger mobs into camp, pretty much the best thing since sneak pulling. The bottom line however, is that stats do not matter on a bard.

[MiRo2]

Originally Posted by MiRo2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The bottom line however, is that stats do not matter on a bard.

50 Stamina at 60 is only 200hp. I've literally never been in a situation while leveling on any of my 4 bards where an extra 20 points somewhere would have a made a diference were it stamina, charisma, or dexterity. If you were asking what to put it into on a brand new sever in classic I would say strength all the way, bronze and lambent can get heavy with only 70str, but on a late velious server none of it really matters.

Min/Max'ing on a bard isn't about gear(except epic) or stats, its about playing the right songs in the right situation.

[Sicc]

Okay I can just balance out my starting stats then between Sta/Str/Dex I suppose. Maybe 5/10/10. With crude stein, that 30 cha helm, wrists, and a buff, that should be plenty fine I assume. Maybe I did over think it, just wanted to be sure.

With everyone saying different things, it seems subjective. Had everyone piled onto me repeating the same thing, I would've seen a definitive answer that maybe I hadn't known about before posting.

[Samoht]

Originally Posted by MiRo2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

50 Stamina at 60 is only 200hp.

That's not how this works. 200hp is actually a huge amount. HP grows in small increments, so you want to get it from every source possible.

Max STA and dump any remaining points in STR. STR because all of the races that can play bard have shit-for-stats at the start and you need the extra strength to be able to wear plate.

[MiRo2]

I'm not saying that 200hp isn't a big increase for hp. I'm asking what is the real difference between a bard with 4000hp and one with 4080hp? When I'm tanking on my bard, the healer can either keep me up or can't, a couple hundred hp doesn't really make a difference; and I'm rarely the best choice to tank in a group.

Stats don't matter on a bard, don't let a dilemma of where to put your points on creation delay you from playing the most fun class in EQ.

[MiRo2]

Originally Posted by MiRo2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you were asking what to put it into on a brand new sever in classic I would say strength all the way, bronze and lambent can get heavy with only 70str, but on a late velious server none of it really matters.

Starting stats don't matter for a bard on a server with an abundance of cheap decent gear. 2600 to 4400 is what my bard goes from unbuffed to fully buffed, scale it to whatever level range you want, but it's not necessary for 90% of barding, and only then at the end game.

Dump it all into charisma if you want, I'm not convinced any of them make a pratical difference while playing a bard; and I leveled a bard to 50 on blue during classic, another in the 40s recently, two on red, one 60 another 49. I've grouped a ton, solo'd at all levels, swarmed, raided; the only thing that matters is the right songs, for the right situations.

[SiouxNation]

Originally Posted by branamil [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You will only need it for lulling and charming, which are pretty minor parts of barding.

Lulling and Charming are big factors for group bard.

[Triiz]

Originally Posted by SiouxNation [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Lulling and Charming are big factors for group bard.

I'm close to certain CHA has no impact at all on high level bard charming duration. In my experience, it either lands and lasts for max duration or it gets resisted. If it has any difference on charm resist rate or not, it's negligible.

Maybe it was different on live or years ago on this server, but semi-recently on P99 I leveled a bard 55-60 charming with around 120 CHA in normal gear and never had charm break the first tick like it does on my 255 CHA Enchanter sometimes. Either I've just had the luckiest RNG streak ever and my low CHA never caused an early charm break over thousands of charms of lvl 45+ mobs, or bard charm doesn't check against CHA for duration.

CHA gear for lulling is easy to come by and most of it is really cheap.