Bards

Jagged

I'm looking for some guidance on building a bad ass bard. I know the Blade is generally considered the best fighter but I've always been interested in trying

ajwz

Skalds are the best support class in the game IMO.

Not a big fan of blades, their spins are a bit gimmicky.

Riolathel

I also recommend skalds. Their song is just so much better than the original bard song

tyl998

Skald's songs are like the 3.5 Bard's Inspire Courage. Really one of the best parts of a bard. Can one attack while singing? I know you can't spell-cast...

TJ_Hooker

tyl998 said:

Skald's songs are like the 3.5 Bard's Inspire Courage. Really one of the best parts of a bard. Can one attack while singing? I know you can't spell-cast...

Nah, unfortunately the only thing a bard can do while singing is move around.

tyl998

eh, then maybe Skalds aren't as awesome as I had anticiapted. At least in 3.5 you can still attack, and with the proper feats even cast spells.

Riolathel

With 3rd edition you could take a feat called lingering song that would allow the abilities for your song to continue buffing for a few rounds. You could stack two songs or take a second to shoot off a few spells.

I find that bards work well for buffing. Get him spells like strength, haste, protect from evil. Maybe a few healing spells or summoning spells. I would also give my bards crossbow proficiency and long swords but i rarely used either.

In my experience they work best as a tool to make your front line stronger

also my most useful offensive ability with my bard was chromatic orb.

tyl998

There's also Melodic Casting, which lets you cast spells while maintaining a song if you make a Concentration check, iirc.

raywind

Skald is definetly better party option but Blade is just crazy solo machine.

Deucetipher

@Riolathel
I'd leave the utility spells to mage and focus on level-scaling damage with the bard. After all, he hits level 10, which is why his chromatic orb is so good. Petrification.

stygga

@Riolathel How did you manage to give your bard healing spells?

TJ_Hooker

stygga said:

@Riolathel How did you manage to give your bard healing spells?

I think in 3rd Ed bards have their own unique spell selection, which includes a few healing spells.

lunar

stygga said:

@Riolathel How did you manage to give your bard healing spells?

In 3E bards could learn healing spells. They are spontaneous casters like sorcerers there, and can learn only summoning/illusion/charm related stuff, the few exceptions they could cast as direct damage spells were chromatic orb and shout and the like. Also, Song and Silence mod has Chorister bard kit, which adds some healing spells to bard's spellbook. (not compatible with BG:EE for now though)

CutlassJack

Yep 3rd Edition bards make surprisingly good healers. Unfortunately this bard is 2nd edition.

ZanathKariashi

Actually, in 2nd edition, the effects of the bard's song is supposed to effect 10 ft per level, and lasts 1 round per level (but requires singing for 3 rounds before it takes effect). So yes, in addition to not being able to dual-wield as effectively as they're supposed to (all rogue's are automatically proficient in dual-wielding, and can further reduce the thac0 penalty with high dex, 16 = -1/-3, 17-18 = 0/-2, 19-20 0/-1, and 21+ has no penalty), their 1 unique skill is actually heavily nerf'd.

http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u412/ZanathKariashi/bard.jpg?t=1355388250

Excerpt from the 2nd Ed players handbook.

Riolathel

oops sorry guys i've never played a bard in BG or 2nd ed, and in IWD i never got him past 2nd level. I assumed they had same spell selection my bad

Oxford_Guy

TJ_Hooker said:

tyl998 said:

Skald's songs are like the 3.5 Bard's Inspire Courage. Really one of the best parts of a bard. Can one attack while singing? I know you can't spell-cast...

Nah, unfortunately the only thing a bard can do while singing is move around.

Can you sing Bard song whilst invisible? At least you'd not be targeted then

Sed

If you want a dual wielder, blade is the way to go. Pretty fun to play as well, and if you look into BG2 and high lvl abilities, you will get the improved bard song that makes a Skald useless :-)

Oxford_Guy

Deucetipher said:

@Riolathel
I'd leave the utility spells to mage and focus on level-scaling damage with the bard. After all, he hits level 10, which is why his chromatic orb is so good. Petrification.

Yes, perhaps the most over-looked things about Bards is that they level very quickly, so for any spells that scale (including magic missile, dispel magic, spook, chromatic orb etc.) they can cast these at a very high-level, which can be devastating...

Skalds also get +1 To hit/damage, which is nice

raywind

Once i had a blast with 5skalds singing around my archer with THAC0 of 6 or 7 right out of the candlekeep, i dont know if the songs stack anymore but i had around -30thaco by the end of TOB

elminster

Sed said:

If you want a dual wielder, blade is the way to go. Pretty fun to play as well, and if you look into BG2 and high lvl abilities, you will get the improved bard song that makes a Skald useless :-)

By the time you are getting that that's like 3/4 of the series in (ToB is pretty short). Besides. Is a blade really going to be running around using their song? or are they going to be fighting?

Oxford_Guy

BTW what do people think would be good proficiencies/styles for a Skald? In BG2 Katanas look good, for the extra spells (though a Skald can only put one point in dual-wield, right? Melee is probably best avoided as a Skald in BG2, though, so doesn't really matter), but what about starting proficiencies in BGEE - crossbows and ???

Kamigoroshi

@Oxford_Guy: Axe, especially throwing axes. It just fits my image of a skald the best.

Oh, how I wish it would be possible to play an Barbarian/Skald in BG:EE... that's like a wet dream for Viking Metal fans!

Oxford_Guy

Kamigoroshi said:

@Oxford_Guy: Axe, especially throwing axes. It just fits my image of a skald the best.

:-) It's a pity throwing axes don't get any strength bonus to damage in BGEE, though I doubt my Skald will have more than 12 Strength anyway, the points are probably more useful elsewhere.

Kamigoroshi said:

Oh, how I wish it would be possible to play an Barbarian/Skald in BG:EE... that's like a wet dream for Viking Metal fans!

:-)

ZanathKariashi

You can dual-wield passably well, even with only *. Works best to use dual speed weapons, but anything else is decent.

I still say they need to engage in some serious Dual-wielding reform. Even if they don't apply direct PnP rules, the below would be a nice compromise, that favored the PnP rules without grossly changing any mechanics.

Warriors and Rogues start with a free * in two weapon fighting and can put up to ***. Rangers, Blades, and Swashbucklers automatically start with *** two weapon for free.

I know rogue-rebalancing already does that, but I dislike the other changes they make without any real precedent, so I can't really use it.

mlitano

I am playing a Skald on a hardcore game. Use him as a powerful range attacker.

I've learned that using a bard as a song bot 100% of the time is a waste. I believe the song is situational and you get more value out of the bard if you put him in combat and use the song in reserve when your range/melee attacks and magic will not contribute any more to the fight. The nice thing about bards is that they always have something to offer to the party 24/7.

I personally use a sling and a buckler and put a proficiency into both of those (sling/swordshield).

The sling does not give you a swordshield bonus but when you are being attacked u can switch to a melee weapon and increase your chances of escaping. When you are higher level put a proficiency into a melee weapon of your choice and you should be able to stand your ground with some gear.

MAX the following stats:
STR
DEX
CON
INT

Wisdom = 3
Charisma = 15

The only downside is that you are not going to have good lore at the start of the game.

BelgarathMTH

@Oxford_Guy, bards can sing while remaining invisible, which is a big plus.

I have a skald run in BG2 where I just stand around invisible, playing bardsong, in every battle. My party kicks butt with my bonuses. I like to pretend like the enemies hear a ghostly flute playing a jaunty tune, and don't know where it's coming from. Giving plus 2 to the party's AC and rolls is effectively the same as giving -2 to theirs.

Arctic

blades are awesome , and they can use tenser ...

reedmilfam

I will say I've never gone with a bard, mostly because I tend to make CHARNAME a heavy damage dealer. Still, they seem interesting for those that experiment.

Madhax

Regardless of how good bardsongs are, I can't stand using them. It just gets boring, having a character slot delegated to a single buff, however powerful it may be. Because of that, the Blade is the only type of bard I intend on ever using.

Ignatius

Playing a Bard is a lot of fun for me, because of the versatility. I always give him most of the party's special items, typically the wands. There are tons of fantastic wands throughout the game (Fire, Paralyzation, Summoning, Lightning, ...) and in BG1 they can turn a battle on their own. Lots of great potions as well. I then usually use him for AoE spells - either buffing or damage AoE. The rest is shooting arrows and again in BG1, plenty of very affordable great magical arrows. So it is 3 great roles in 1 character, he usually ends up being the pivotal role in my parties and thus fits very well for a PC.