3.5 Bards ??

underrated? or underpowered?

I like bards, hell I would almost consider myself a real life bard, and it's this reason I hate to see them so hated. *insert sad face here*
The more and more I look however, the more I feel like Sublime Chord is the bard prestige class requirement. You might have to suck it up for a few levels but once you're in Sub Chord, you're practically on the wizards heels. Hell take a few ranks into Use Magic Device and you can bust out some divine spells too. Anyway, any input about bards would be nice.

I also wanna see just how we can optimize the bard class and make them viable.

Rikan wrote:

underrated? or underpowered?

I also wanna see just how we can optimize the bard class and make them viable.

Ask and you shall receive.

Pathfinder (PF) really boosted the bard. Here are the differences I can see with the 3.75 bard (I'm sure there are more): [note: new class features are denoted with "***"]

Bard
Hit die d8 (3.5 = d6)

Class Features:

*** Bardic Performance (3.5 = Bardic Music)
Similarities:
Still standard action to begin a performance

Differences:
3.5 = standard action to maintain the performance
PF = free action to maintain the performance; At 7th lvl a bard can start a bardic performance as a move action instead of a standard action; At 13th level, a bard can start a bardic performance as a swift action.

*NEW* Performance - "Distraction"
*NEW* Performance - "Dirge of Doom"
*NEW* Performance - "Soothing Performance"
*NEW* Performance - "Frightening Tune"
*NEW* Performance - "Deadly Performance"

*** Versatile Performance
*** Well-Versed
*** Lore Master
*** Jack-of-All-Trades

The Deadly Performance feature is plain awesome. Bards can kill with a performance, that's incredible.

I'll be taking a look at the other classes as well. I'm loving what I'm seeing though!