I've played Bard through the series three times now -- as vanilla, skald, and blade. All three worked perfectly well. With the skald I did spend a lot more time singing, which is rather boring, but the bonuses from the song are very nice,especially at lower levels or if you have a melee-heavy group. The blade was great for running around cutting things down, but until later in the game it was rather risky business getting into melee regularly. I actually had the most fun with the vanilla bard, simply because he wasn't quite as pigeon-holed into one role (singing buffs or swinging swords). While the vanilla bard song really could use a little something more (like the Luck that was originally supposed to be there), it's still quite useful when Khalid does his Brave Sir Robin thing, or when casters slam the party with fear spells. I've found the vanilla bard song very nice for getting everyone back under control quickly and efficiently. I don't have quite the problem with panicked NPCs running outside the AOE of the remove fear when using the song as I do with the spells. It's quicker, cleaner, and saves a spell slot for something else.
In other words, I like them all, and each has their own niche and play style.
You should try the IWDification mod from Camdawg and DavidW. War Chant of the Sith is OP, and Siren's Yearning replicates the Jester, but the first four songs give a vanilla bard a choice of bard song effects, as in 2E.
Is the Skald song effects visible on the character sheets when sung? That is, will you see the THAC0 get lower?
Yes, you do.
Damn, I've been playing my Branwen-changed-to-Skald with the normal bardsong then! There were some affects in EEKeeper that I hadn't added. Now her song (and her THAC0) is waaay better. :-D
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http://www.gibberlings3.net/iwdification/