I've been looking at the prestige bard lately. It's intriguing, on the surface; potentially adding a large number of spells to a beguiler/dread necro/warmage list is a strong move, which is why rainbow servant and even humble sandshaper get a lot of play. However, when I looked through the boards for thoughts on Prestige Bard being a good (or even adequate) option for expanding a spell list, I didn't see much. I went through and did some culling myself, so I guess I'll start at the beginning.
Prestige Bard is a 15-level prestige class from Unearthed Arcana that is, I believe, Open Gaming Content as it's hosted on the D20 srd. Here's a link.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm#prestigeBardNow, the most important part of the page, for our purposes, is actually the section right before this, on "Unique Spells." Apparently, the bard spell list "contains a number of spells that don't appear on other classes' spell lists." It then recommends that these spells be made available without much fuss, using the fun term level, which has several meanings in terms of D&D. The most sane one here appears to be the reading of spell level; that is, a prestige bard gives bard-only spells known to the class' base casting spell list at the same spell level a bard would cast them at. The second part is that bard-only spells found in other books ought to also be available, at the DM's discretion. From the wording of this, I assumed "other books" meant "non-core" books.
Given all of this, what makes a spell a unique bard spell? I looked at 3 criteria: only on the spell list of a bard, unless the only other classes listed in the spell's listing were non-prestige; and I also added it to the list if it was available as either a bard or a domain spell, but not as a base cleric spell.
And with that said, here's the list of spells I was able to compile, along with short notes and thoughts about each.
List of Bard-Only Spells for the purpose of Prestige Bard
0th --
Summon Instrument
Useful in emergencies, maybe?
Lullaby
Nice. Good synergy with low-level enchantment and the sleep spell.
Ghostharp (SpC)
Bleh. The best idea I can come up with for this is leaving coded messages based on the title of songs.
Minor Disguise (SpC)
It's better than nothing, possibly lifesaving at first level, I guess.
Songbird (SpC)
Appears to have more roleplaying applications than anything else. It's good for what it does, though, which is make your actual performances better.
1st
Amplify (SpC)
Counters and dispels silence? Nice.
Distort Speech (SpC)
Focusing Chant (SpC)
Especially at very low levels, boosting an ally's caster level can be huge.
Herald's Call (SpC)
Improvisation (SpC)
I like it. I don't think I could ever play a bard without this spell.
Insidious Rhythm (SpC)
Inspirational Boost (SpC)
Joyful Noise (SpC)
Phantom Threat (SpC)
Excellent debuff that could benefit both a party rogue and a Power Attacker.
Undersong (SpC)
Combined Talent (CM)
Guided Path (CM)
Immediate Assistance (CM)
Could be great. Could never see use.
Mimicry (CS)
Hmmm.
Swift Expeditious Retreat (Miniatures Handbook)
Potential lifesaver. Plus, a low-level use for a swift action.
2nd --
Disquietude (SpC)
Hah.
Harmonic Chorus (SpC)
Nightmare Lullaby (SpC)
Reveille (SpC)
2nd level spell: "Plot Spackle for Hole In DM's Railroad." Utility, though.
Sonic Whip (SpC)
Tactical Precision (SpC)
War Cry (SpC)
Han Solo tried casting this once.
Faerinaal's Hymn (BoED)
Song of Festering Death (BoVD)
Cacophonous Alarm (CM)
Caterwaul (CM)
Doublespeak (CM)
False Lie (CM)
The opposite of glibness. A great out of combat debuff on an enemy. Hilarious. They work well together, too.
Magic Savant (CM)
Painful Echoes (CM)
Opportune Dodge (CS)
Beckoning Call (FCI)
Invisibility, Swift (Mini)
Emergencies! Use those swift actions.
Harmonize (RoS)
Can be optimized.
Jig of the Waves (Stormwrack)
I was kind of surprised to see this in here, especially as Libris Mortis gave the bard no love.
3rd --
Glibness
Hahahahaha!
Good Hope
Crushing Despair
Allegro (SpC)
Dissonant Chord (SpC)
G'elsewhere Chant (SpC)
Save the day, again! Seems slightly underpowered compared to other options, but gets the job done in a hurry.
Haunting Tune (SpC)
Hymn of Praise (SpC)
Infernal Threnody (SpC)
Listening Coins (SpC)
Love's Lament (SpC)
Puppeteer (SpC)
I would cast this daily. Some spells are substance, some are style; this one is long on style, but has a bit of crunch, too.
Speechlink (SpC)
Wounding Whispers (SpC)
Stunning Screech (BoVD)
Deafening Blast (CM)
Otto's Imperative Ambulation (CM)
Winding Alleys (RoDest)
4th --
Modify Memory
How hilarious. Bonus: it's core.
Zone of Silence
Celebration (SpC)
Dirge of Discord (Spc)
Fugue (SpC)
Protege (SpC)
Stone Shatter (SpC)
Battlecry (CM)
Interminable Echo (CM)
Lingering Chorus (CM)
Optimizable.
Inner Beauty (FCI)
A great buff/debuff; requires good aligned. Can stack with enhancement bonuses to charisma as written.
Harmonize, Greater (RoS)
Also optimizable.
5th --
Song of Discord
Body Harmonic (SpC)
Bolts of Bedevilment (SpC)
Wail of Doom (SpC)
Discordant Malediction (CM)
Harmonic Void (CS)
6th --
Sympathetic Vibrations
Knock down a building? Seems like there's better ways. Like charming a giant and giving him a Mattock or Maul, at this spell level.
Dirge (SpC)
Nixie's Grace (SpC)
Glorious. A total of 16 in enhancement bonuses from one spell, and one of those is a pure eight.
Empyreal Ecstasy (BoED)
Wave of Pain (BoVD)
Resonating Agony (CM)
Snowsong (Frostburn)
City Stride (RoDest)
Rapture of the Deep (Stormwrack)
A good, strong save or die. I liked it, anyhow.
Interesting Note: Nixie's Grace and Inner Beauty can stack. If straight charisma bonuses are needed for temporary uses, like turn undead for divine metamagic, this can likely also be combo'd with the cleric domain that gives a Cha bonus once a day. If for more permanent applications, like spell DCs or bonus spell slots, then persisting them also appears to be an option. Note that Nixie's grace includes bonuses to more than straight charisma, too.
Interesting Note 2: Invoke the Cerulean Sign from Lords of Madness is described as universal; if you really want it, and it's not on your base list, point that passage out to your DM. WARNING: please don't do this unless you're already fighting, or would like to fight aberrations.
If there's enough interest in this beyond the short-ish list of purportedly unique bard spells I've listed here, I may expand this slightly. As I have time, I'll edit in a few more observations about the spells. The non-core options appear to be stronger reasons to dip Prestige Bard, but a player who dips for glibness or modify memory for thematic reasons isn't going to get flak from me.
