Amount of bardic shots per PC

[Masakan]

How many would you say is the absolute minimum a bardic player should have? This is assuming he intends to multi-class.

[Amechra]

Bardic... "shots"?

Assuming you are talking about what I think you're talking about... one. Just never stop singing, drumming, or stripping.

If you're a crazy person who wants to eat and drink sometimes or (god forbid) wants to try that "stealth" thing... take Extra Music. Then you'll have 5, which is enough for anyone that isn't pulling shenanigans.

[SorO_Lost]

"Bardic shots"? Heh, ninja'ed by 7 seconds.

If you mean Bardic Music you want enough to use your music at least once at every Encounter so typically 4th level. With Flaws you could pick up Extra Music and aim for less. Like you can do three levels and forgo 2nd level Spells but it's hard to give up the 3rd level it's self since you need Inspire Competence for Song of Heart. Of course alternatively if you plan on going Sublime Chord and using Metamagic Song to pay for Persist Magic you need to at least hit the 6th level of Bard and the more you take the merrier.

I kind of consider a Bard 8 / Crusader 2 / Sublime Chord 1 / Jade Phoenix Mage 4 / Anycaster +6 to be a basic standard of generic Bard building. You can progress in a few different ways depending on intended level since the later you can put off taking a Martial level the better your IL will be when you dip. You can trade Suggestion for Song of Heart at the Bard's 6th level and easily qualify for Song of the White Raven too. Ends up with 9th level Spells & 7th level Maneuvers with Metamagic cost support which really isn't bad either. There are more optimized or focused builds out there of course.