Skalds (or Archers?)!

UrbanHound

Apologies in advance for those reading what is likely to be a meandering thought dump but I hope I can get some help.

I started my foray into BG:EE with a modded Dwarven Defender/Cleric but feelings of guilt/cheating and worries on importing said monstrosity into BG2:EE have given me pause and so I decided to try something a bit more legitimate. I've heard great things about the support capacity of the Skald and thought its song would be a wondrous compliment to Dorn's Aura and began sketching up a neutral leaning evil party.

The party, which I like that I'll be able to run the entire series, would be Dorn, Viconia, Kagain/Korgan, Neera and Jan (possibly Hexxat in BG2:EE). Hopefully using gauntlets and whatever items to make Viconia able to wade into the muck and thus having a solid core of fighters to bolster with the Skald's song.

My adventures haven't started as planned though. In the Candlekeep beginning area where they give you a sample party I was not overwhelmed by how the song bolstered my temporary companions. Likewise after being thrust into the wilds with only Imoen as my companion we struggled against most of the wildlife and I wasn't certain if I should sing to bolster her abilities or plink away with my own shortbow running about like headless chickens until the beast died of boredom or fatigue.

I like being at ranged, I like my character sort of being tactical leader than frontline tank, and I thought this would work better but perhaps I'd be better off as an Archer where my efforts from the rear would have more impact? Am I wrong to be underwhelmed by what little I've seen of the Skald's song (And worries of its scaling going into BG2:EE)? Any good strategies to manage a Skald early in the game? Do I just need to suck it up and quickly cobble together a party and just stick it out and allow the awesomeness to take root and blossom? Or would I just be better off with the Archer in the above party scheme (Beyond the fact that I may have to skew more neutral and manage reputation a bit to not attain Fallen Ranger status)?

Any thoughts or advice would be sincerely welcome. Thanks everyone!

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MikeMasters

@UrbanHound have you considered a blade? for me it was a really fun class and with elven chain mail can basically help in any role.

SharGuidesMyHand

MikeMasters said:

@UrbanHound have you considered a blade? for me it was a really fun class and with elven chain mail can basically help in any role.

This.

However, any bard class can be a bit difficult to manage early on, until you get a full strength party together. Even a blade doesn't reach their full potential until BG2 (or BG2:EE in this case), by which time you can have 3 points in 2-weapon style and multiple spins per day.

KidCarnival

Skalds are incredibly passive to play and squishy in comparison to archers or ranged fighters. With Dorn, you get the Elven Chain, (but it takes well into midgame before you can access it), where archers and fighters will easily get armor and can wear helms right from the start.

A neutral-evil leaning party would exclude Archer as ranger kit, due to it's alignment restriction. Unless you are ok with either playing against alignment (simply roleplay your archer as neutral) or EEkeep the alignment. Neither will prevent a ranger from falling at too low rep though, which may not be ideal for evil leaning. (Though it's certainly possible and justified rp-wise to keep a party with 2 neutral NPCs and 3 evil ones above the ranger threshold.)

If you want an arcane support caster and capable ranged fighter, I'd probably lean toward thief/mage; elf for 19 dex if you want more of an archer or gnome for multiclass kit/19 int if you want more of a support caster. Blades and Jesters are a lot fun to play though, both worth considering if you prefer a bard. Just skalds are really passive as charnames; I tried and it wasn't much fun to me because at some point, in a full party, all you ever do is sing. And without singing, you can as well play a class that can't sing and is a better archer.

mylegbig

Skalds don't appeal to me because they have such a passive play style. It doesn't help that their unique song is trumped by enhanced bard song, meaning that even a blade can eventually sing just as well.

Cowled_wizard

I myself have been thinking about changing my blade for a skald. Sure, endgame supersong replaces bla bla bla, but who cares?

The thing you must know is that in bg2 u can sing with a clone... mislead 6th lvl being one, the simulacrum helmet another and the mirror image the third one. Mislead and simulacrum are best, although they are quite short spells.

The main problem is we dont have an A.I. Script for bards that actually makes them sing all the time. That way, micromanagement wouldnt be such a pain. It would work like this> Bard always singing, you use him to cast, after spell Inmediatly sing again.
As of now, it is a micromanagement pain.

So, a skald, if not singing or casting, what? My opinion is ranged, where you get the best bonuses to thaco. Arrows bonuses + bow bonuses+dex bonuses + base 2 attacks per round (tuigan 3)