How to play a bard?
HaikomenBladeMaster
Member Posts: 16
Hello everyone, on my first playthrough of baldur's gate I got as far as to face Saverok in the ducal palace, things went bad, basically my whole playthrough was bad, almost constantly loading files and getting lost, I decided to give up and start again, I could use another class, but I feel like I won't rest easy until I finish what I started, so could anyone tell me how should I play with my bard?
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Outside battle, Bards bring some utility to the table with their high lore allowing them to identify items, and with their pickpocket skill which can be a good deal of fun to use.
Basically, buff and charge or throw magic like a Mage. But remember, that the Bard is a support class.
1st level: +1 hit and saving throws, raises morale.
9th level: +2 hit and saving throws, removes fear.
18th level: +3 hit and saving throws, protection from fear.
That's all, yes? I've been playing too much Rogue Rebalancing I think.
Still the vanilla Bard song can be considered a decent supplementary skill (though admittedly not a 'very useful' one as I stated before). The bonus to saves can make a difference in mage fights. And simultaneous protection against fear effects is ok. Horror is not uncommon in BG1. A nice thing about it is that the protection is non-magical: it cannot be removed (which can be handy in BG2 against dragons for instance). The thac0 bonuses are less impressive.
They're a lot of fun to play and very rewarding, but if you're fairly new to the game they might not be your best choice.
Here's the description in game:
-Restores morale to its average value
-Remove fear
-Protection from fear
And here's a blurb from the BG2 fixpack:
Optional But Cool: Bard Song Fixes
The manual describes bard's Battlesong as granting "morale and luck improvement for the party." And then goes on to describe a luck bonus for the party as though it were a luck penalty for opponents. And then in-game battlesong grants only immunity to fear (without preventing the additional effects that can accompany fear) with no morale or luck effects at all. Our best educated guess at developer intent adds a +1 luck bonus to battlesong, which improves to +2 at 15th level and improves again to +3 at 20th level. Blade's version of battlesong in this component still does not improve with levels (as the class disadvantage states) and Skald and Jester songs (which already vaguely match their descriptions and work) are untouched.
Based on the EE description, it looks like they didn't implement the luck bonus as per the fixpack component. I could be wrong though.
All the more reason for playing with either the Rogue Rebalancing mod or at least the Bard Song Fixes you mentioned.
Thanks for pointing this out. I wouldn't want to misinform my fellow forumites...
"For BG1 I usually use them as a melee character mainly, dealing out death while letting my warriors take the hits. If you don't have a good STR/DEX/CON, however, you can have them use ranged weapons instead. I always keep them on support spells that only need casting pre-battle or nowhere near battle. This way I can keep them armored and ready for battle. (if you want to keep your casting ability, then use the armor spells) I generally rush for elven chain mail as soon as I can, since I want to be able to battle cast. By the end of BG1 I have them pre-buffing and front-lining, and they make a good secondary front-liner. If you want them to use long weapons (staff/spear/2Hsword/etc.), then they can stay out of battle even more effectively. I generally use normal distance weapons, though.
As for BG2, I'd say same basic deal until you get elven chain mail. Once you have your chain mail again, you can use them as a weaker F/M/T. Since you hopefully have a good STR (Preferably 19, assuming you got a tome in BG1. Or at least a STR boosting item), you can definitely use them as a melee character. With elven chain mail and pre-buffs, they're quite effective melee battle casters. They'll never drop the spell nukes that a true mage will, but they're great support/pre-buff/disabling casters with good melee potential. As for a Skald specifically, you definitely might want to use your song, especially if you're a fighter heavy party. Your song is one of the best, and you can make everybody deal some real damage. (Especially in BG1)
Hope that helps! I'm a big fan of the bard(s), so I'm always happy to see someone else play one!"
PS. Shadowdancers, anyone?
For a bard the elven chainmail has almost no negatives. It decreases pickpocketing, but the few times you need to do that, you can easily remove it, pickpocket, and then put it back on.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=183524786#
Wands play a big role I would say in making bards effective. They really give them a lot more in the way of options.
Keep in mind that it is written with Eldoth in mind. Some spells (like Sleep) you will find more use for than I describe since you can start the game as a bard and get use out of the spell immediately (Eldoth on the other hand you don't normally get until chapter 4 so there are some spells that are less useful at that point).