Try it with Puck's Cap; your Bard is still not going to get hit much, and you still have that Guardian Angel from your Priest (and your Gadgeteer, who really should have gotten it a long time ago, correct?).
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LOL yeah, as if I left Arnika since arriving. The Guardian Angel spell granted by the Gadgeteer merging a Prism from Crock and a Laser Pointer in LMB is a long way away. I can't wait until that happens. Now I have to farm a Puck's Cap.

You should be able to get that gadget by the time you get the Dulcimer of Mending, and you should get the Dulcimer of Mending around level 11, if not earlier (though before level 11 you won't be able to use it).

As soon as I stop farming, I'm gonna make a beeline for the Trynton Fountain for the +5 to Int and Powercast. Then Crock and Marten's Bluff. That seems to be a fast way to get spellbooks, instruments and gadgets.

Another unusual strategy:
* Start as a Dwarf Priest, with 70 STR, dividing other stat points into INT, DEX, and SEN.
* At each level up, put 3 points into STR, 3 divided between INT/DEX/SEN (but don't raise INT above 50).
* Before level 10, use the Trynton fountain for +5 INT.
* At level 10, change to Bishop. (I think this is when it's possible with this build.)
* Level 11, Power Strike. This means you now have a Power Strike Bishop.
(Essentially, this gives you a Battle Priest that can cast spells from other spellbooks.)

Variation: Put fewer points into STR, and more into the other stats. This gives you Bishop sooner, but Power Strike later.

This sort of build is perhaps most interesting for smaller parties, or parties that are missing certain classes (particularly one with no Mage/Samurai; this character can cover Enchanted Blade and Missile Shield while having access to all the priest spells.)

You can change back to Priest later for faster leveling and the 25% bonus to Priest spells, especially since this build isn't going to fit Power Cast in.

(One thing of note is that Priests and Bishops have most of the same equipment options, meaning you don't have to worry about equipment changes when changing class. Also, the two classes in this build are somewhat balanced, with Priest levels giving more HP and Bishop levels giving more non-Priest spellcasting; too bad Priests don't get better fighting ability, however.)