The Bard Handbook – DnD 3.5 (2024)

The bard is among the most versatile classes in 3.5. With great skills,deceptively good spellcasting, and decent combat abilities, the Bard can fillnearly any role in a party without depending entirely on spells to do so likethe Wizard does. They make an excellent addition to a large party which hasevery role covered due to their effects as a force-multiplyer, but they alsomake a fantastic member of a small party due to their wide-rangingskillset.

A classic criticism of bards it that they are a “jack of all trades and amaster of none.” Well, the full line is “Jack of all trades, master of none,but often times better than a master of one”, and I can think of few things towhich that truism applies better than to the Bard.

The bard’s biggest roles are as a Face, Librarian, Support, and UtilityCaster, though they can fill nearly any role with a handful of clever buildchoices.

Table of Contents

• Disclaimer
• Introduction
  • Races
  • Skills
  • Feats
    • Bardic Music Feats
  • Weapons
  • Armor
  • Magic Items
    • Weapons
    • Armor/Shields
    • Wondrous Items
  • Permanent Spells
  • Multiclassing and Prestige Classes

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which tend to be more consistent than 3.5 handbooks. Because so little of 3.5 is available on the SRD, I will attempt to tag items with a superscript indicating their book of origin. For help identifying sourcebook abbreviations, see mySourcebook Abbreviations Guide.

• Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
• Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
• Green: Good options. Useful often.
• Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

It’s important to note that I generally omit campaign-setting specific content. I am of the opinion that those options are intended to be limited to campaigns run in those settings, and as such they don’t really apply to a generic campaign. Those options also tend to be wildly unbalanced and rarely receive errata. I also omit the use of “Flaws” since they allow a massive increase in power with essentially no cost to the character.

Introduction

Bard Class Features

Hit Points: For a class which can jumpinto melee d6 hit points is difficult.

Base Attack Bonus: 2/3 BAB is enough to getby on.

Saves: Good Reflex and Will saves.

Proficiencies: You get all of the .

Skills: More skills than the rogue, but lessskill ranks to spend on them. Basically anything that be done with skills canbe done by the Bard.

Spells: Despite only being a 2/3 caster theBard has one of the most interesting spell lists in the game. Bards are theonly arcane casters with built-in access to healing spells, as well as acollection of spells unique to the Bard.

Bardic Knowledge: Even if you don’t invest asingle skill point in a Knowledge skill, you can still compete with any otherScholar in the party. 5 ranks in Knowledge (History) will give you an edge,too. If you do invest skill points in your actual skills, you essentially getto roll twice.

Bardic Music: The Bard’s most iconicability. Bardic Music does a lot, and it’s extremely effective. At low levelsyou may need to be cautious about using your limited daily uses, but as yougain levels the potency and frequency of your music both increasedramatically.

• Countersong (Su): Too situational, and onlyaffects a tiny set of spells that no one uses.
• Fascinate (Sp): This has saved my life atleast twice. It won’t work once you go into combat, but if you can surprisefoes with it or start it before anyone rolls initiative you can get a handleon fights before they happen. At low levels the duration will be short, butit grows quickly. The fact that the DC is equal to your perform check istotally absurd since it’s so easy to optimize skill checks.
• Inspire Courage (Su): This is why mostpeople play a bard. This bonus is the primary reason why bards act as aforce multiplier. I’ve played several bards where the phrase “don’t forgetthe +1” was my motto, and those bonuses often made the difference betweenoverwhelming defeat and resounding victory.
• Inspire Competence (Su): Aid Another islikely enough to cover the same use case most of the time, but this works atrange and it’s more fun.
• Suggestion (Sp): This is far better thanyou could possibly get from the spell Suggestion. This costs nothing buttime to use, it doesn’t break Fascinate, and the DC scales with your level.In theory, you could keep trying until Fascinate’s duration expires or yousucceed.
• Inspire Greatness (Su): By this levelthere are very few effects which work off of a number of hit dice (Circle ofDeath is the only one I can think of), but the temporary hit points aregreat. The competence bonuses are nice since they’ll stack with InspireCourage. Even the 5 round duration after you stop singing is great since itwill allow you to switch to Inspire Courage. Add on Lingering Song and youget a full minute before you need to consider re-starting InspireGreatness.
• Song of Freedom (Sp): This can be greatfor removing a vaguely defined variety of effects, but if you have a clericin the party your cleric will be considerably better equipped to handlethese problems.
• Inspire Heroics (Su): Morale bonuses tosaves (with the exception of saves vs. fear) are uncommon, and dodge bonusesto AC always stack, so this is a great defensive option. Like InspireGreatness the duration lingers after you stop singing, potentially allowingyou to stack the effects with other songs. At this point you’ve got threecombat buffs to choose from, and picking which to start with can often bethe decision that determines the outcome of the fight. Choose carefully, andif you haven’t done so already, find a way to start Inspire Courage as aswift action.
• Mass Suggestion (Sp): By this level yourperform checks are likely absurd, so the DC of Fascinate is nearlyunbeatable. Sit your enemies down for a quick concert, then kindly suggestthat they spend 1 hour per level sitting quietly and contemplating their ownnavels while you continue adventuring in peace.

Alternate Class Features

• Bardick Knack^PHB2: Trading in Bardic Knowledge hurts, but what you get in exchange isfantastic. You can pick up the Jack of all Trades feat to essentially haveall of your skills maxed out as cross-class skills, but if you can’t spare afeat you can probably still spare one rank to put into every skill you planto use.
• Drow Bard^DotU: Poison Use doesn’t really seem like something a bard needs, and you canget it from a feat.
• Healing Hymn^CC: Healing hit points is really easy (see Wand of Lesser Vigor, below), andFascinate is both amazing and required for Suggestion.
• Hymn of Fortification^CC: Similar to Protection from Evil, but with no numerical buffs. You don’tgive up much to get it, but I don’t know that it’s much better than InspireCompetence.
• Inspire Awe^DrM: Take the Haunting Melody feat instead, and you can do the same thingbetter and without giving up Inspire Courage. Admittedly, Haunting Melodydoesn’t have the 20th-level fear effect, but I don’t think that’s enough ofa difference to give up Inspire Courage.
• Loresong^DS: Losing Bardic Knowledge hurts, but activating this as an immediate actionis a big deal. You could use this to turn near-misses into hits, allowallies to succeed on save-or-suck effects, or pass a crucial skill roll. Allgreat options when the chips are down.
• Mimicking Song^DS: Countersong is garbage, and this is probably the best thing you can getin exchange.
• Spellbreaker Song^CM: Personally, I would rather just cast Silence.

Substitution Levels

• Gnome Bard^RoS: 1st and 6th level are fantastic.
  • 1st level: The gnome cantrips aregreat, and Counter Feat is passable.
  • 3rd level: Situationa. You can getbetter trades for Inspire Competence..
  • 6th level: Excellent for fearstacking. If you don’t want to give up Suggestion, pick up the HauntingMelody feat for essentially the same effect.
  • 11th level: Three spells known isnice, but by this level Color Spray is worthless, and touch of idiocy isonly situationally useful.
• Half-Elf Bard^RoD: You need to be a half-elf to even consider these options, and that’s nota punishment I would wish on any player. The options aren’t good enough tojustify such a terrible race.
  • 1st level: Countersong is garbage,but I don’t know that I’ve ever found a use for Calm Emotions unless Ihad a Frenzied Berzerker in the party.
  • 6th level: I like Suggestion muchbetter than command, but you can use this in combat more easily.
  • 8th level: Too situational.

Unearthed Arcana

Content from Unearthed Arcana is generally considered optional variant rules.
Many of these options are poorly balanced, so be sure to consult your DM
before selecting any such options.

• Bardic Sage: This is what I like to seefrom alternate class features: A slightly different take on the classintroducing some additional limitations in exchange for interesting newcapabilities. This makes the Bard more MAD than it already is, so this canbe difficult to play in many games. If you’re going for aspellcasting-focused bard, this can be great. If you’re going for more of askill focus or combat focus you likely won’t be able to invest enough inIntelligence to make this work.
  • Spellcasting: An extra spell knownper spell level is very helpful for spontaneous casters, and some of thedivination spell options are fantastic. However, you need Intelligencehigh enough to cast spells (including your other spells), soyou’ll need to get 16 Intelligence eventually.
  • Bardic Knowledge: A +2 bonus to yourBardic Knowledge checks further lessens your need for actualy Knowledgeskills. If you add on the +2 bonus from 5 ranks in Knowledge (History)you can probably get away with totally forgoing real Knowledgeskills.
  • Bardic Knowledge: This is annoying, buthardly debilitating. With Lingering song your songs will last 8 roundsafter you stop singing instead of 10. Considering what you can get fromthe improved spellcasting I think it’s worth it.
• Divine Bard: This turns the Bard’s onlydump stat into a massive dependency for spellcasting, making the bardexceptionally MAD.
  • Spellcasting: The spells you get aremostly mediocre.
• Savage Bard: Another fantastic alternateclass feature, the Savage Bard trades some of the Bard’s existing abilitiesfor roughly equivalent abilities with a different flavor. In awilderness-heavy campaign where classes like barbarian and ranger areimportant, the Savage Bard fits very well.
  • Alignment: Hardly important, and in my experiencemost bards are chaotic anyway.
  • Base Save Bonuses: Fortitude and Willsaves are better than Reflex and Will saves.
  • Class Skills: Decipher Script andSpeak Language are rarely useful, but Survival can be very helpfuldepending on your campaign. If you really need to learn a language, youcan probably spare the 2 skill ranks to do so.
  • Illiteracy: A minor inconvenience.
  • Spellcasting: Some of the spells yougive up are disappointing, but you get some good options inexchange.
• Variant Bard: Gaining an animalcompanion is really cool, but the rest of the abilities you get are reallysituational. Giving up both Bardic Knowledge and all of the buffs providedby Bardic Music is really hard. If you want to build a bard focuses solelyon spellcasting, this might be a good option since you can stop worryingabout Perform, and turn your Bardic Music uses into fuel for your spellswith Lyric Spell.

-107

Abilities

Unfortunately, due to their broad skill set bards also suffer from a littlebit of MAD. They’re not monks, but it can be a problem. Where you choose toput your best ability scores will define the function of your bard, but thereare surprisingly few bad choices.

The existence of the Crystal Echoblade and Slippers of Battledancing arecrucial to note here. Those two items allow the Bard to largely ignoreStrength and greatly reduce the need for Dexterity when fighting in melee. Ifthose two items are available to you and you plan to do any melee combat,consider their presence very carefully when determining your abilityscores.

Str: If you plan to fight at range with acrossbow or with spells, you can dump Strength. Otherwise, you may want decentstrength for a melee weapon or just a little bit for bonus damage on acomposite bow.

Dex: Bards only get light armor (mediumwith Battle Caster), so you’ll want some Dexterity to boost your AC. If you gofor ranged weapons or weapon finesse, you’ll want a bit more.

Con: With only 1d6 hit points and poor Willsaves you’ll really need Constitution.

Int: Bards get too many skills, and 6+skill ranks just isn’t enough without some Intelligence to back it up.

Wis: Bards have good Will saves and very fewskills tied to Wisdom, so this is your only true dump stat.

Cha: The Bard’s most important abilities arepowered by Charisma, including spells and Inspire Courage. However, since theBard is a little bit MAD and you’re not a full cast, you don’t need to startwith and 18 at level 1. It helps, but it’s not required.

Races

Charisma bonuses are great, but not absolutely essential. Charisma penalties,however, are difficult to overcome.

Dwarf: The penalty to Charisma makes thedwarf difficult.

Elf: Nothing specifically helpful for thebard, but nothing that hurts you.

Gnome: Great for any non-melee bard.

Half-Elf: The worst race in the corerulebook. The substitution levels aren’t enough to compensate for just howworthless half-elves are.

Half-Orc: Penalties to two crucialabilities.

Halfling: Nothing specifically helpful forthe bard, but nothing that hurts you.

Human: A feat is always welcome, and theextra skill rank is really helpful since bards have so many skills tocover.

Skills

• Appraise (Int): Worthless. Pay an NPC.
• Balance (Dex): Too situational.
• Bluff (Cha): Not as important asDiplomacy, but still crucial for a Face.
• Climb (Str): Climbing is silly in a gamewhere flight exists. At worst, buy a potion of Spider Climb for 50gp.
• Concentration (Con): You won’t be asdependent on spells as a Wizard, so you don’t need to worry aboutConcentration too much. If you’re stuck in melee, pull out a sword. Ifyou’re focusing on your spellcasting, pick up Melodic Casting so that youcan use Perform instead.
• Decipher Script (Int): Too situational.
• Diplomacy (Cha): The Face’s go-toskill.
• Disguise (Cha): You can cast DisguiseSelf.
• Escape Artist (Dex): Too situational.
• Gather Information (Cha): A bitsituational, but very useful for a face and often difficult to replace.
• Hide (Dex): Stealth is great, but youcan cast Invisibility.
• Jump (Str): Jumping is silly in a gamewhere flight exists.
• Knowledge (Arcana) (Int): Identifyconstructs, dragons, and magical beats. Fairly few classes get access tothis, so you need to step up here.
• Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering)(Int): I’ve been playing for the better part of two decades and I’ve neverrolled this skill once.
• Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (Int): Identifyaberrations and oozes. If you spend any time underground or in dungeons,this is worth maxing. Otherwise, spend one rank and ride your intelligencebonus.
• Knowledge (Geography) (Int): Situationalenough that Bardic Knowledge will cover it.
• Knowledge (history) (Int): Get 5 ranks forthe +2 to Bardic Knowledge, then abandon it forever.
• Knowledge (Local) (Int): Definitely wortha rank, maybe more if you don’t have a rogue putting ranks in this.
• Knowledge (Nature) (Int): Identifyanimals. Unless you have a druid or ranger, you may be the only one in theparty with this skill.
• Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (Int):Situational enough that Bardic Knowledge will cover it.
• Knowledge (Religion) (Int): Identifyundead. More easily available than Knowledge (Arcana), but still veryuseful, especially since your cleric probably dumped intelligence.
• Knowledge (The Planes) (Int): Identifyoutsiders. Outsiders are diverse and strange, and knowing stuff about themwill help your survival greatly.
• Listen (Wis): Bards don’t get Spot, sothis is your best perception skill.
• Move Silently (Dex): Invisibility doesn’tmake you quiet.
• Perform (Cha): The only character who everneeds this skill is the Bard (and a couple of prestige classes, but theydon’t count). Unfortunately, it’s essentially a perpetual tax on yourskills. The different versions are mostly interchangeable, though there aresome exeptions due to items, feats, and prestige classes. If you plan to usetwo-handed weapons like bows or crossbows, consider a version which doesn’tuse your hands like dancing, oratory, or singing.
  • Act: Essentially the same as singing.Works with the Dragonsong feat, assuming you’re not miming.
  • Comedy: Essentially the same assinging, but qualifies you for Divine Prankster. Works with theDragonsong feat.
  • Dance: A great option for combat bardssince it qualifies you for Slippers of Battledancing, SnowflakeWardance, and Dervish.
  • Keyboard instruments: Do you reallywant to carry around a harpsichord?
  • Oratory: Essentially the same assinging. Works with the Dragonsong feat.
  • Percussion instruments: Fewmasterwork or magical instruments, and no special benefits related toit.
  • Sing: The simplest option. Doesn’trequire your hands, and works with the Dragonsong feat.
  • String instruments: Includes many ofthe best masterwork and magical instruments.
  • Wind instruments: Few masterwork ormagical instruments, and no special benefits related to it.
• Sense Motive (Wis): With dumpedWisdom,
• Sleight of Hand (Dex): Too situational.
• Speak Language (None): You can castTongues. Maybe spend one or two ranks if you’re going to be speaking onelanguage that you don’t know on a regular basis (Undercommon for Underdarkcampaigns, Draconic for campaigns with lots of dragons, etc.) but otherwiseskip it.
• Spellcraft (Int): Leave this for fullcasters, but consider picking up a rank or two.
• Swim (Str): Too situational. Swimmingshould be handled with magic.
• Tumble (Dex): Normally not very useful,but if you pick up Slippers of the Battledancer you’re going to be movingaround in melee quite a bit. Investing in tumble will allow you to do sowithout constantly drawing attacks of opportunity.
• Use Magic Device (Cha): The best skill inthe game, and almost no one does it better than you.

Feats

• Arcane Accompaniment^PHB2: Lingering Song is strictly better.
• Arcane Strike^CW: Powerful, but you only get six levels of spells. If you plan to largelyignore your spellcasting for whatever reason this can be a good way to burnyour spell slots.
• Battle Caster^CAr: Bards do fine in light armor most of the time. Mithral Breast Blate isplenty of AC for many Bards who want to invest a bit more in AC, but ifyou’re going to be on the front lines consider Battle Caster to get accessto medium armor without hindering your spells. Mithral Full Plate isexpensive, but it’s also a hefty AC bonus. Unless you’re willing to spendthe gold on Mithral Full Plate you’ll probably get more benefit from a wandof Mage Armor or Greater Mage Armor than from this feat.
• Battle Dancer^PHB2: The bonus is a morale bonus, so it won’t stack with Inspire Courage. Odd,since Inspire Courage is the option which makes the most sense to combinewith this.
• Dragonfire Inspiration^DM: If your party doesn’t have any trouble hitting things, this is a massivedamage boost. Pick up Draconic Heritage, and you can change the damage typeto something silly like sonic or force.
• Dragonsong^Dr: If you rely on Fascinate, Suggestion, or another offensive mind-affectingBardic Music ability like Inspire Awe or Haunting Melody, this can be veryuseful.
• Extra Music^CAd: You’ll get plenty of uses as you gain levels, but if you have somethinglike Lyric Song which eats your daily uses you may want to pick this up afew times.
• Force of Personality^CAd: Bards get good Will saves, but since Wisdom is a dump stat you may stillhave issues. This only applies to mind-affecting effects, but consideringhow few Will save effects which aren’t mind-affecting that’s probablyfine.
• Goad^CAd: One of very few “aggro” mechanics in 3.5. Activating this as a moveaction is really weird, but it means that you can use your standard actionto cast spells or use Bardic Music. However, the bard is in no way a tank,so be very cautious about uverusing this.
• Jack of All Trades^CAd: Combined with Bardick Knack, this makes you good at everything for whichthere is a skill.
• Knowledge Devotion^CC: If ever there was a reason to invest in actual ranks in Knowledge skills,this is it. The feat specifically calls for a Knowledge skill check, so Idon’t think Bardic Knowledge applies. Since you likely won’t haveIntelligence as high as a Duskblade or other intelligence-based user, youwon’t do quite as well with this, but at mid-levels and up this can providea significant bonus to attacks and damage for any combat bard.
• Lingering Song^CAd: If you plan to use Bardic Music in combat, this is an absolute must.Continuing to sing severeley limits your ability to cast spells, use magicitems, or start other songs. Getting a full minute for free after you stopsinging will cover the duration of most combats, negating the need for manyother options like Melodic Casting or a masterwork Lute.
• Metamagic Song^RoS: Bards focused heavily on spellcasting (generally those going into Bardspellcasting prestige classes) can make excellent use of this.
• Martial Study^ToB: Many maneuvers could be useful for the Bard. If you choose a maneuverfrom Devoted Spirit, you get Intimidate as a class skill. If you chooseWhite Raven, you can then pick up Martial Stance to later take White RavenSong without takinga class dip into Crusader or Warblade.
  • Martial Stance^ToB: You want to get a White Raven stance so that you can get White RavenDance. There are several to choose from, but which one to take dependsheavily on how your party fights.
    • White Raven Song^ToB: Activating Inspire Courage as a swift action means that you canstart up a second song the same turn or do some actual fighting.
• Melodic Casting^CM: Using Perform in place of Concentration will save you a ton of skillranks if you’re worried about Concentration. The ability to cast spells anduse some magic items while also using Bardic Music seems exciting, but onceyou pick up Lingering Song it becomes much less important since you getseveral rounds of your song in which you can do whatever you want. You canalso cast Undersong in order to use Perform in place of Concentration,though the 10 minutes/level duration may be a problem.
• Nymph’s Kiss^BoED: The flat skill bonus applies to many of the Bard’s most important skills,and a free skill rank at every level is fantastic. If you take this, take itat first level to maximize the benefit.
• Obscure Lore^CAd: A huge bonus to Bardic Knowledge, further reducing your need for actualknowledge skills if you want to save skill ranks.
• Obtain Familiar^CAr: Familiars are fantastic. If you focus on skill use, strongly considerthis. For help with Familiars, see myPractical Guide to Familiars.
• Snowflake Wardance^FrB: If this stacks with Slippers of Battledancing, this is amazing. You getto add your Charisma on top of your strength/dexterity bonus, and yourslippers allow you to add Charisma in place of strength/dexterity. RAW Ithink it works, but as a DM I would probably disallow it because it’sabsurdly strong.
• Subsonics^CAd: Great when you’re silenced or if you’re trying to be sneaky. You can useFascinate, and possibly even Suggestion without revealing your location.
• Versatile Performer^CAd: If you need more than one version of perform you’re probably doingsomething wrong.
• Words of Creation^BoED: I, and many of the people I play with, prohibit Words of Creation. It’sabsurdly powerful and the nonlethal damage you take to use it is easilymitigated. The ability to double your Inspire Courage bonus is alreadyenough that this feat is too powerful to see actual use. There’s also somedebate about wether this doubling occurs before or after adding bonuses likeBadge of Valor.

Bardic Music Feats

This list includes feats which specifically include the [Bardic Music] tag in
the original feat text, or which use a daily usage of Bardic Music. The
distinction is a bit arbitrary, but I’ve made the same separation for
metamagic feats so this seemed reasonable.

• Chant of Fortitude^CAd: Garbage.
• Chant of the Long Road^CS: Try teleportation.
• Chord of Distraction^CS: Are you kidding? three uses of Bardic Music, and it only worksagainst one attack. A single use of Bardic Music for a full roundof flat-footed would still be mediocre. This is just insulting.
• Doomspeak^CoR: Another broken feat from Champions of Ruin to put next to Craven. Despitethe short duration, the penalties are crippling. A -10 penalty to saves isenough that even the weakest save-or-suck spells are terrifying, and the DCscaling is double what it should be.
• Epic of the Lost King^CS: If you take Snowflake Wardance and tend to have combats lasting longerthan your wardance, this might be useful occasionally. Otherwise it’sworthless.
• Haunting Melody^HoH: Unfairly good. The duration is good, the save DC scales with yourlevel.
• Ice Harmonics^FrB: I’m not sure why this is even a feat. This is ridiculouslysituational.
• Inspire Spellpower^RoS: I can’t think of a single case where doing this is more useful than doingalmost anything else.
• Ironskin Chant: One round of the effect is far too weak for a whole use of BardicMusic.

• Lyric SpellCAd: Spellcasting-focused bards willget a lot of mileage out of this. Consider picking up Extra Music to getadditional spells.
• Sound of Silence^CS: Absolutely not worth two uses of Bardic Music. Instead, you can pick upLyric Spell and learn to cast Silence. That gives you the same effect at thesame rate of Bardic Music consumption, plus the silence lasts longer andaffects an AOE.
• Warning Shout^CS: If your party is getting hit with enough AOEs to justify this, they needto look into getting permanent evasion.

Weapons

• Light Crossbow: Small bard? Want to dumpStrength? Either way, a light crossbow is a good option.
• Longsword: The biggest damage die thebard can get, but remember that the importance of damage dice diminishesgreatly as your other damage bonuses scale.
• Rapier: The generic bard’s best meleeweapon since it works with weapon finesse and has an 18-20 crit range.
• Shortbow: If you’re going for rangedweaponry the light crossbow will make your bard less MAD, but if you cankeep your Strength at 12 or more without too many issues, a shortbow can bemore powerful than a light crossbow.
• Whip: An interesting weapon with a lot offun applications, but the majority of bards won’t be able to use it anybetter than a longsword.

Armor

Armor is presented in the order in which you should acquire it, rather than
alphabetical order.

• Studded Leather: Starting gear
• Mithral Buckler: Normal shields stillapply an ACP penalty to the bard. The most cost effective shield availableto you is a mithral buckler. It’s cheap, it’s easy to enhance, and you stillhave a free hand for spells or instruments.
• Mithral Shirt: The best option for bardswho plan to use Dexterity. It’s unlikely that you’ll invest enough in yourDexterity to hit the +10 bonus required to make Thistledown Padded Armorbetter than a mithral shirt unless you go into epic levels.
• Mithral Breastplate: For bards looking toinvest less in Dexterity than those in chain shirts, the mithral breastplateprovides a little more AC on its own than a mithral shirt.
• Mithral Full Plate: If you pick upBattle Caster, Mithral Full Plate is one of the best AC bonuses in the game,despite its considerable cost. You shouldn’t feel obligated to fill out the+3 max dex bonus since you’re likely more focused on Strength, but itcertainly doesn’t hurt.
• Mage Armor/Greater Mage Armor: Almost noone is better at Use Magic Device than the Bard. Pick up wands of Mage Armorand you can easily match or outdo the benefits of real armor, often at afraction of the cost.

Magic Items

Weapons

• Bow of Songs^MIC (Unique): A fun concept,but it will eat through your daily uses of Bardic Music very quickly withoutmuch payoff.
• Crystal Echoblade^MIC (Unique): At less thanthe cost of a +2 weapon, this is the best sword a bard could ever hope for.Make sure that your DM will allow you to enchant if further, but even if youcan’t this is pretty great.
• Harmonizing^MIC (+1): Fantastic at anylevel. You need to “hold” the weapon, but your DM may allow you to put thison a gauntlet. You might be able to hold your own hand when you startsinging, or maybe you can just make a fist with an empty gauntleted hand.Either way, this is great, and it appears to stack with Lingering Song. Thatmeans that you can start Inspire Courage, pass it off your weapon, and get afull 2 minutes of the effect. However, if you start a new song theharmonizing ends, so you’ll need to track what your weapon is singing.
• Stunning Surge^MIC (+1): Similar to SuddenStunning but considerably more balanced. Still fantastic, despite being morecostly and less powerful than Sudden Stunning. Sudden Stunning is just thatamazingly, unfairly good.
• Sudden Stunning^DMG2 (+2000gp): This isunfairly good, especially at such a pitifull low cost. I don’t allow it inmy games. If your DM won’t let you use this, consider Stunning Surgeinstead.

Armor/Shields

• Commander^MIC (+1200gp): A cheap bonusto Diplomacy and a constant bonus to your allies will saves. As long as yourparty isn’t trying to be stealthy, this is fantastic.
• Mobility^MIC (+1): Only works onlight armor, but if you’re wearing Slippers of Battledancing this will getyou Mobility without wasting a feat on Dodge. If you plan to go for SpringAttack, don’t waste gold on this. If you’re using maneuvers Spring Attackwon’t work with them so this is a good idea. In either case, you could alsouse Tumble as a replacement and wholly avoid attacks of opportunity.

Wands

• Mage Armor^DMG: It’s rare for a bard to have enough Dexterity that armor stops making
  sense, but if you ever get to the point that you’re outgrowing the +6
  maximum dexterity bonus of your Mithral Shirt you should switch to relying
  on wands of Mage Armor. Upgrade to an eternal wand of Greater Mage Armor
  when you can afford it.

• Vigor, Lesser^SpC: The most cost-efficient healing source in the game. Not every divine
  class can cast it, so even if you have a traditional healer in the class you
  may prefer to UMD this when you’re healing after a fight.

Wondrous Items

• Anstruth Harp^MIC: All of the spells are activated as a swift action, but their verysituational so this isn’t really worth the price.
• Canaith Mandolin^MIC: The spells activate as a swift action, and they’re reasonably useful.
• Charm of Countersong^MIC: Despite costing nearly nothing, you’ll probably never find this usefulenough to actually put it on.
• Chime of Harmonic Agony^MIC: The damage doesn’t scale nearly enough to waste a standard action onthis.
• Circlet of Persuasion^DMG: Easy to overlook, the Circlet of Persuasion is inexpensive and adds toall of the Bard’s most important skills, including Diplomacy, Perform, andUse Magic Device. The bonus is Competence, so it won’t stack with a lot ofother buffs, but since you’re usually the one providing Competence bonusesto skills with Inspire Competence this may be the only way for you to getcompetence bonuses.
• Clie Lyre^MIC: Song of Freedom invalidates one spell, and you can learn the other two.Not worth the cost.
• Cloak of Charisma^DMG: Your most important item. Get one early, and upgrade it often.
• Cloak of Resistance^DMG: Vest of Resistance is identical and takes up a much less useful slot.
• Doss Lute^MIC: Mirror Image is the only spell which isn’t extremely situational, and youprobably want to learn to cast Mirror Image on your own.
• Dove’s Harp^MIC: A bit pricy, but free fast healing goes a long way. I always have troublespening hold on healing since wands of lesser vigor are so efficient, butthe bigger your party is the better this gets, so in large, high-levelparties this may become your go-to healing source.
• Fochlucan Bandore^MIC: Cheap enough that by mid levels its basically nothing, but the spells areall cantrips that you might have trouble finding use for.
• Mac-Fuirmidh Cithern^MIC: The only useful spell is Mage Armor, which you should get from awand.
• Ollamh Harp^MIC: Good spells, but very expensive. You’ll likely find scrolls to be abetter fit.
• Slippers of Battledancing^DMG2: A great option for most combat bards. The ability to use your Charismafor attack and damage means that you can dump Strength and don’t need toinvest heavily in Dexterity. The effect is persistent, but requires you tomove 10 feet as part of a move action. So, unlike Skirmish-usersyou won’t be able to get away with movement and a full attack unless you gointo Dervish. Technically, that even disallows charging. Instead, considerboosting your damage output with martial maneuvers which often activate as astandard action if you’re in melee. Also note that the item requires to uselight or one-handed weapons, but does not require you to use a single or touse the weapon one-handed so two-weapon fighting, using a longswordtwo-handed, and using thrown weapons all work.
• Vest of Legends^DMG2: The skill bonuses won’t stack with Circlet of Persuasion and don’t applyto nearly as many skills, but the bonuses are little bit bigger. However,even if you also picked up Circlet of Persuasion, the increase to your mostimportant Bardic Music abilities is well worth the cost.
• Vest of Resistance^MIC: Same cost as a cloak, and takes up the largely useless “torso” slot. Ofcourse, you can cast Greater Resistance and Superior Resistance withhours/level duration, so you can probably skip a permanent resistance bonusaltogether.

Permanent Spells

• Reduce Person^PHB: For spellcasting-focused or archery bards, Reduce Person is a potentdefensive option. Everyonme else can skip it.

Multiclassing and Prestige Classes

• Crusader^ToB: One level gets you quite a bit. White Raven stances open up the WhiteRaven Song feat, and Strike maneuvers work really well with Slippers ofBattledancing. A second level gets you Indomitable Soul, which isn’t quiteas good as Divine Grace but still provides a hefty bonus to your Will saves.The way that crusaders refresh their maneuvers is especially useful forbards with Slippers of Battledancing because it always ensures that you havea maneuver to use unless you have maneuvers that activate on a Swift action,in which cause you may be able to run down your maneuvers and go without aStrike for a turn or two. During those rare turns, consider refreshing yourBardic Music or casting a spell. Also note that your “initiator level”includes half of your bard levels, so if you wait a little while to pick upa level in Crusader you can get higher level maneuvers and stances than youcould otherwise.
• Dervish^CW: A bit of a weird idea, but I can see potential for a combat-focused bardgoing into Dervish. Slippers of Battledancing cater to this ideaexceptionally well.
• Paladin^PHB: Without the variant paladins presented in Unearthed Arcana, this is ahard combination. You need to go from whatever your alignment is as a Bard,then switch into Paladin for at least one level before you can take DevotedPerformer. Still, there’s a bit to be gained from a level or two in paladin,especially Divine Grace. Smite Evil is fun, but with only one use per dayfrom a class dip you won’t get much out of it unless you spend feats onExtra Smiting. You paladin levels also don’t advance Inspire Courage or yourother musical abilities, so the best you can do is an even split betweenbard and paladin, which is a mediocre combination no matter how you do it.Instead, consider the Crusader. If your DM allows you to use the alternatepaladin alignments, the paladin of freedom is an easier class dip since itwon’t require you to change alignments and spend a feat.
• Rogue^PHB: 8+ skill ranks, a huge skill list, trapfinding, and sneak attack. Asecond levels gets you Evasion, which is always nice to have.
• Scout^CAd: I’ve never seen scouts mentioned on another bard handbook, and I thinkthat’s a mistake. A single level of scout gets you Trapfinding, similarskills to the Bard’s, and a little bit of Skirmish damage. I probablywouldn’t for more than one level despite all of the goodies the Scouts getsat any given level.
• Warblade^ToB: Warblades grant similar maneuvers to crusaders and also open up WhiteRaven Song, but their emphasis on Intelligence synergizes less with Bardsthan the Crusader does. Their mechanism for recharging maneuvers is a littlebit less helpful than the Crusaders, too.