I would not put many (if any) starting points into charisma as, unless your only goal is to charm mobs through your career, it would be points wasted.

It's much easier to obtain charisma gear to use on a temporary basis for times when you do want to charm.

Other stats such as dex you will always use. Stamina for example should not be ignored if you plan on soloing a lot because you can't do much of anything when your dead.

Here are some fairly easy to obtain charisma items that can get you +100 or so charisma:

platinum star ruby veil +9
(2X) electrum star ruby ring +14
platinum cat's eye neck. +9
(2X) golden cat's eye bracer. +14
crude stein +15
siryn hair hood +13

Also chanter and shaman buffs can give you anywheer from +20 to +40 charisma and have a decent duration.


I play a chanter and I did not put a single point into charisma (90 charisma without gear/buffs but can get it to 200 with the gear mentioned and a self buff).

I play a 50 bard. I put all of my points into charisma and would have it no other way. Charisma is hands down the most important stat for me the way I play. An okay bard uses mez to CC in groups, a great bard uses charm. In a group situation you will likely not be wearing your heavy charisma items and the extra charisma points help a lot. Also it depends on your play style. example I soloed from 28 - 50 charm kiting and did it quicker than anyone grouping by far..even with the -40 xp mod. Also some of the items mentioned in this quote can be expensive and not attainable by a first time character.

two thumbs up for all points into charisma.

Which is why I wrote: unless your only goal is to charm mobs through your career. I did try to keep charm-bards in mind.

You are correct that this is a very effective strategy and i will acquiesce to you in that regard. But it is still one of the easiest stats to boost via gear and is only used for 1 (maybe 2) song lines. Where as dex and stamina are important 100% of the time.

As far as the prince of the gear, you are also correct that the platinum items are in the 102-150p range to create, but gold and electrum charisma items are quite easy to come by.

I was simply trying to give him tips on a safe build for a first time bard.
The advanced bard version is nothing to sneeze at (but it might not be for everybody).

Sorry Nokio if our contradictory statements served more to confuse than to clarify. As you can see, there are many different ways to build/play a bard. I'm fairly certain whatever your base points go into, you will enjoy the class.

If it's any consolation, consider this:
The general consensus in Everquest is that, if you plan on leveling the character all the way to 50 (and eventually 60) and are planning to join a good guild and get raid loot, then your starting stats and race really won't matter at all.

Even with the loss of aoe ( i hate that ) kiting eq bards still represent one of the most unique classes an mmo has ever seen. They can seriously do almost anything. Yes they take damage like a ranger wearing plate ( poorly ) but you have so much utility as a bard once you start hitting the middle levels you can go do so many things other classes only dream about by yourself.

If your going to play a bard its really hard to min/max from the start because you never know what your group or your solo style will need in a given situation. I personally put points into cha because its a really cool idea for a stat in a game, just like how bards are a really cool idea for a class in a game.

At 200 CHA it stops being a negative check against CHA it is not longer factored into the equation. Above 200 it starts to additionally decrease chance of charm to break. I have talked to bards who say with 220 CHA their charm last max duration 90% of the time and they can use that to solo anything in Lguk. No other bard build lets you do that!

:p

I really apreciate all this talk :D It's intructive and much apreciated!!

Well with all that is being said i guess i will go with my half elf bard and im going to put 15 point into cha and 10 point into dex

I guess with that ill have some more cha to be able to effectively charm and some more dex to have less fizzle and better song effect.

At lower level it might be a little bit harder but from what i understand, as I level and get some gear i should get pretty good. So that by the 30s and up it wont really matter anymore.

I hope i got this right or else i really didnt understand what you said ahah !

Send me a tell in game if you want some newbie dex/cha (or whatever) jewelry.