Seeker of the Song

[Garash]

 I am creating a bard and I was looking at the sublime cord (My DM will only allow one pRC) but then I stumbled on the seeker of song form the complete arcane. 

What are peoples thoughts on the seekers of song verse the sublime cord??

Thanks!

[Solo]

I think Seeker is the weaker of the two.

[ketaro]

Seeker songs count as Bardic Music.
Get your DM to let Words of Creation to work with Seeker Songs.
It'll hurt extra good, but it'll also hurt extra good 

Anyways that's just me being cheesy. I personally find Seeker of the Song more interesting that Sublime Chord. Even if mechanically it's the weaker of the two, Seeker Songs are far more interesting and varied and you get a new one every level. In the long run it's a bit expensive on your bardic music uses per day, but I definitely like how each song has both a defensive passive and an offensive active ability.

The early Seeker Songs are a bit low-end in power, but mid-levels you start getting stuff like healing hp equal to perform checks, uncapped AoE dispel magics, and straight up preventing people from being able to cast spells unless they can make a Concentration check versus your Perform check (it affects all creatures that can hear the song so allies too, but you could prolly 'fumble' your roll versus an ally  ) , to replicating dimension doors and banishing outsiders. I also really like being able to have up to 3 bard songs going simultaneously.

[Solo]

Is there any way to avoid Song of Spelldeath with earpligs, ir a custom item that emenates Silence?

[ketaro]

Deafen yourself or Silence yourself. It's based on being able to hear it.

[Solo]

Gee, why don't I just elect to fail my listen check?

[ketaro]

Totally could~

[StreamOfTheSky]

Totally could~

No, I don't think you can actually consciously choose not to hear something.

OP, the two are at opposite ends of the power spectrum.  Sumblime Chord is the highest powered bard PrC, and Seeker is one of the absolute weakest.

SC gives up a bit of performance to focus on casting, and gives you 9th level spells.  That's just...amazing.

Seeker gives up all casting progression to focus on performance.  But...it's overall worse than SC at performances, too, so it's a total fail.  Quality beats quantity.  And SC's song to increase caster level is stronger than anything Seeker has to offer.  Most Seeker songs are actually quite terrible, the only good one (and it is extremely good) is the one that shuts down all spellcasting.  But that's not till halfway through the awful class and it is double-edged.  If you have multiple other casters in your own party, it's probably more of a nerf than a boon; if it's a martial-heavy party, it is a great choice, though.

What level are you starting at?  SC can't even be entered until level 11, and Seeker's only redeeming quality is 5 or 6 levels in, so neither PrC is actually viable for a long time.  If you're starting at low levels, might be better to not bother w/ either and pick something else with much earlier payoff, like Lyric Thaumaturge.

[Solo]

  Most Seeker songs are actually quite terrible, the only good one (and it is extremely good) is the one that shuts down all spellcasting.  But that's not till halfway through the awful class and it is double-edged.  If you have multiple other casters in your own party, it's probably more of a nerf than a boon; if it's a martial-heavy party, it is a great choice, though.

Well, at the level you get that song, Mind Blank is in play and can protect the party from it.

[Garash]

I think I'll be starting at 12th. Also my DM has a house rule that you can only have one prestige class.  That being said how would you build the bard for levels?  Meaning like Bard 18/2SC?

Thanks again!

[ketaro]

  Most Seeker songs are actually quite terrible, the only good one (and it is extremely good) is the one that shuts down all spellcasting.  But that's not till halfway through the awful class and it is double-edged.  If you have multiple other casters in your own party, it's probably more of a nerf than a boon; if it's a martial-heavy party, it is a great choice, though.

Well, at the level you get that song, Mind Blank is in play and can protect the party from it.

Actually the great thing is, unless the Seeker Songs specifically call themselves out as Mind-Affecting (they don't), Mindblank doesn't help you. Seeker Music only says they work just like Bardic Musics, but even Bardic Music doesn't have a blanket "these are all mind-affecting" clause; only the individual songs themselves (Like, say, Inspire Courage) call themselves out as either Mind-Affecting or whatever. Sometimes as nothing.

[stanprollyright]

Go Sublime Chord and get Metamagic Song 

[Solo]

  Most Seeker songs are actually quite terrible, the only good one (and it is extremely good) is the one that shuts down all spellcasting.  But that's not till halfway through the awful class and it is double-edged.  If you have multiple other casters in your own party, it's probably more of a nerf than a boon; if it's a martial-heavy party, it is a great choice, though.

Well, at the level you get that song, Mind Blank is in play and can protect the party from it.

Actually the great thing is, unless the Seeker Songs specifically call themselves out as Mind-Affecting (they don't), Mindblank doesn't help you. Seeker Music only says they work just like Bardic Musics, but even Bardic Music doesn't have a blanket "these are all mind-affecting" clause; only the individual songs themselves (Like, say, Inspire Courage) call themselves out as either Mind-Affecting or whatever. Sometimes as nothing.

A hymn of spelldeath is a mind-affecting ability.

[stanprollyright]

I think I'll be starting at 12th. Also my DM has a house rule that you can only have one prestige class.  That being said how would you build the bard for levels?  Meaning like Bard 18/2SC?

Thanks again!

Bard 10/Sublime Chord 10. If your DM allowed more PRCs the more optimal route would be something like Bard 8/Virtuoso 2/Sublime Chord 2/Virtuoso 8 (where the Virtuoso levels increase your Sublime Chord casting).

Actually, Virtuoso (CAdv) is a good middle ground between Seeker of the Song and Sublime Chord. SC greatly improves spellcasting, and Seeker ignores spellcasting altogether and focuses on Bardic Music. Virtuoso gets you some decent songs, stacks with the musics you already have, and is 9/10 spellcasting.

EDIT: For the record, Sublime Chord and its 9th level spells are still straight-up superior to any other Bard PrC. But if you're going for more Bard flavor and less Sorcerer flavor, Virtuoso is pretty decent. Lyric Thaumaturge (Cmage) is good too. Both offer some slight improvements over vanilla Bard while retaining its core features. Seeker of the Song kinda sucks.

[Garash]

Thank you!