Dusted off the bard. Last played before the Voln and UAC revisions, so I FIXSKILL'd to a polearm user.

Stats and skills:

Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 78 17
Combat Maneuvers...................| 78 17
Polearm Weapons....................| 128 34
Physical Fitness...................| 78 17
Dodging............................| 78 17
Harness Power......................| 74 16
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 78 17
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 35 7
Perception.........................| 78 17
Climbing...........................| 50 10
Swimming...........................| 25 5

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 1

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 16

Race: Sylvankind Profession: Bard (not shown)
Gender: Male
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 80 (15) ... 80 (15)
Constitution (CON): 60 (5) ... 60 (5)
Dexterity (DEX): 68 (19) ... 68 (19)
Agility (AGI): 77 (18) ... 77 (18)
Discipline (DIS): 77 (8) ... 77 (8)
Aura (AUR): 98 (29) ... 98 (29)
Logic (LOG): 67 (8) ... 67 (8)
Intuition (INT): 47 (-1) ... 47 (-1)
Wisdom (WIS): 47 (-1) ... 47 (-1)
Influence (INF): 97 (23) ... 97 (23)

I'm thrusting a lance at 7 seconds, which really doesn't seem like a good idea. I only need one extra point of AGI or DEX to get it down to six, though. My big concern is that my DS seems to be terrible. If I don't dodge or parry, the odds are too high of getting hit, even in defensive. Is that just what happens with newer polearm users?

So stop whining and stick it out?

LBP right now; cuirbolli next rank.

So, some random thoughts from my end to add to the pile.

First, for the RT, you should be able to swing a hammer of kai (or jeddart-axe) in 5 seconds. A naginata would give you some room for being encumbered as it is a slightly faster weapon... but I would avoid halberds. A plain unechanted halberd is basically a -4x (yes, negative 4x) nagi. Regardless of what you decide, any two handed weapon is going to hit significantly harder than a falchion or axe so don't be afraid to pick up a quicker one and give it a go.

For the defense, are you are using some form of rigid leather that's 4x enchant and are you running 1003 and 1010 all the time? If so your pretty much stuck with what you've got. You do have the option to use a spear or trident with a one handed grip while using a shield if you want to adjust your training a bit, but at that point your basically OHE user that's spending extra TP's to gain some flexibility. Your best bet if you don't want to do something in that vein may be to drop your air lore, pick up some MIU, and learn to love small statues as well as the whatever other imbeds you can get your hands on. Outside spells from any source could be a boon for you.

Tal, player of.

Here's my low level bard that swings polearms. I do pretty good with him. I do rely on finding a kind wizard to provide elementals, strength and thurfel's. I go without blurs and colors for the most part.
I run around with the spells from a wizard, 1003, 1010 and 1014 running. I also get help from an unamed society for an extra 35 DS. I do pretty good out there. I've surprisingly put a shan cleric to sleep using lullaby that recently popped to my location at the lake in Solhaven. It gets a tad hectic out there so I don't hunt it very often yet.

Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 96 22
Combat Maneuvers...................| 96 22
Polearm Weapons....................| 144 44
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 70 15
Physical Fitness...................| 96 22
Dodging............................| 96 22
Harness Power......................| 96 22
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 96 22

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 23

Yeah, don't ask me why I have 23 bard songs, I don't remember the reasoning behind me wanting to have so many and why I only focused on bard songs. I started this character roughly 2 years ago and I don't remember my reasoning behind these choices. I do plan on getting myself 2 more ranks in Armor Use so I hit 24 for maneuver penalty on studded leather. I want to free up points to throw into EL:A. You know, I noticed I'm missing out on Climbing - I should pick up 10 ranks as soon as I can.

Race: Erithian Profession: Bard (not shown)
Gender: Male Age: 0 Expr: 531459 Level: 21
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 77 (8) ... 77 (8)
Constitution (CON): 67 (18) ... 67 (18)
Dexterity (DEX): 70 (10) ... 70 (10)
Agility (AGI): 77 (13) ... 77 (13)
Discipline (DIS): 85 (22) ... 85 (22)
Aura (AUR): 87 (18) ... 87 (18)
Logic (LOG): 55 (7) ... 55 (7)
Intuition (INT): 57 (3) ... 57 (3)
Wisdom (WIS): 67 (8) ... 67 (8)
Influence (INF): 90 (30) ... 90 (30)
Mana: 66 Silver: 453

My DEX and AGI are a bit low, but I swing a 4x acid flaring naginata and right now it does pretty well. 5 second RT and it hits hard enough. I also have 3 ranks in CMAN TRIP in case something turtles, I have a pretty decent shot to putting it to its knees or on its back.

I kind of have a slightly odd build going on right now, but I'm managing just fine. Make sure you get elemental spells (401, 406 & 414) and strength cast on you when you can. If you can manage blurs, colors and thrufel's - even better! Always keep up 1003 and 1010 and if you're not in a society, fine one that suits your needs so you can make use of the society skills that help boost your DS. One last thing, when I'm in a pinch or I have to hunt a very dangerous creature, I keep a couple small statues on me for that extra +20 to the DS.

Keep at it, you'll find things improve. Just get those few extra things to help boost your DS and you'll do just fine.

-Drumpel

Hi there, good to see some old bards getting dusted off and trotted back out to the battlefield.

To the first poster, I think you'll find bards are not nearly as self-sufficient as other professions early on, I always got outside spells colors, blurs, and guards before hunting. There's no shame in getting some outside magic, a white crystal and a statue rub goes a long way if you want to rough it. Looking at your training plan. I would probably flip the air and telepathy lore ranks early on for the increased song duration and extra +1 or 2 AS from Kai's Triumph (1007). Another tactic I used was to swing from advance or forward stance, it helped me be less reliant on successful stance dancing, and I generally had way more AS than necessary to hit like level targets.

Drumpel given how high your influence bonus is, and the fact that you solely focused on songs, it seems like perhaps you were trying to make your bard songs as powerful as possible? Your 1002 with 1x manipulation lore should guarantee nothing you fight has a weapon or shield for long. And as Krakii pointed out your lullabye (1005) should be very reliable, and when you do get to 1025 its AS should be very respectable with your extra manipulation ranks, 1x cman, and 2x polearm weapon training.

Archales

I guess I'll just load up on tinctures. Thanks, everyone.

Set the stats you want high for level 50ish, those that are still important to you for cap, and take the points to do it from the others.

These are the settings that just hit 100.

Strength (STR): 70
Constitution (CON): 77
Dexterity (DEX): 49
Agility (AGI): 62
Discipline (DIS): 88
Aura (AUR): 58
Logic (LOG): 88
Intuition (INT): 82
Wisdom (WIS): 73
Influence (INF): 33

I'd put INF between 70 and 80, and be wary about having any of the others higher than those values. I'm not sure where the best place to take the 60 or so that needs to go away from them would be though.