Dwarven Skald?
Blackraven
Member Posts: 3,486
To counter my persistent tendency to solo the game (fast levelling up, less micromanagement, etc), the thought occurred to me to roll a Skald. Thanks to his song, the Skald shines in a party rather than solo (although the song could be used to buff summons as well). The concept of the Skald has always appealed to me, a warrior, a poet and an inspirator on the battlefield. I've never played a bard of any type, which to me is another pro. In addition I like the fact that it isn't a very often played kit. So all in all, various reasons to go ahead and roll one.
I have a dilemma though. I imagine my Skald to be a dwarf (not yet sure whether male or female). In my view the kit concept fits a dwarf really well (possibly even better than a half-elf), and I have no quarrels with using a savegame editor to change my Skald into a dwarf. However do you think that the Skald's spellcasting ability makes the dwarf a nonsensical race for a Skald? Dwarves can't be arcane spellcasters in this game. (In Irenicus' dungeon there are one or two duergar wizards, at least if you play SCSII, but I'm not sure if this is also the case in the vanilla game. Otherwise no dwarven arcane casters I think.)
I'm playing with Rogue Rebalancing which imposes a +1 penalty to the casting speed of all spells as one of the kit's disadvantages. Maybe I could justify using a dwarf with this casting speed penalty, as it makes my dwarf a slower caster than all other characters in the game (although the same penalty would of course apply if I played a half-elf or human Skald).
I know I can do whatever I want. I could create a gnomish paladin, a dwarven sorcerer and, even legally, an elven berserker. What I'm interested in, are your opinions from a d&d lore point of view.
I have a dilemma though. I imagine my Skald to be a dwarf (not yet sure whether male or female). In my view the kit concept fits a dwarf really well (possibly even better than a half-elf), and I have no quarrels with using a savegame editor to change my Skald into a dwarf. However do you think that the Skald's spellcasting ability makes the dwarf a nonsensical race for a Skald? Dwarves can't be arcane spellcasters in this game. (In Irenicus' dungeon there are one or two duergar wizards, at least if you play SCSII, but I'm not sure if this is also the case in the vanilla game. Otherwise no dwarven arcane casters I think.)
I'm playing with Rogue Rebalancing which imposes a +1 penalty to the casting speed of all spells as one of the kit's disadvantages. Maybe I could justify using a dwarf with this casting speed penalty, as it makes my dwarf a slower caster than all other characters in the game (although the same penalty would of course apply if I played a half-elf or human Skald).
I know I can do whatever I want. I could create a gnomish paladin, a dwarven sorcerer and, even legally, an elven berserker. What I'm interested in, are your opinions from a d&d lore point of view.
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Comments
The more I think about it the more I'm inclined to just go ahead with it.
In any case, you are the child of a god. Normal rules do not apply to you ;-) being able to cast mage spells is obviously your father blood's fault. Being a purist, and as you are not soloing. You could refrain to use magic from spellhold until hell trials (you are sharing the soul there)
The rest of bardic abilities should be ok for a dwarf
I agree that all races should have bards of some sort.
Other then that... no, dwarves can't cast arcane spells in 2E, but who cares? They can in 3E (where Gold Dwarves spawn sorcerers often enough). Play what you want to play.
@Twani, I'm going for a good-aligned character this time, but 2E rules won't stop me. I read a bit about the gold dwarf, maybe my Skald could be one. I like how they are described. Thanks!
Btb, I love the idea of a Dwarven Skald… and barring dwarves from the arcane is just plain racism! Fight the stigma!
Either a multiclass or a dual class, probably human - I think preferably human dual class. The thing is that I have just recently began experimenting with EE-keeper, and it seems to be difficult to create, is it at all possible or is the mechanics hardcoded? Maybe a unkitted bard is possible? (sorry if this is OT @Blackraven )
Anyway it's funny how I wondered about a dwarven Skald's credibility, and now it turns out many people associate bards with shorties. I'm going to play for a while now
As I think I've said somewhere on this forum, I play halfling and elven druids all the time. Both races have racial nature deities (the gnomes and dwarves do too, for that matter, although I don't remember them being allowed to be druids in 2nd edition, but who cares), so it makes perfect sense to me.
And as to elves, halflings and gnomes as druids, they make sense to me as well.
I'm already playing withb RR, so I should get the +1 bonus (which, I agree, is a flimsy bonus). I thnk I'll max my Skald's STR at character creation to make him more warriorlike.