"Custom" Melee unkitted Bard

FallenAasimon

I'm rolling a new RR true bard and for roleplay reasons I want him to be a very capable fighter. I know the kits Blade and Skald are far more adequate for that, but I'm not fond of the spins and their descriptons.

His primary role is still support, but I want him to show Dorn and Korgan that he can handle himself pretty well whenever he feels like drawing blood in the frontline. Proficiencies are going to be Crossbow, Longsword, Short Sword and Scimitar.

In spite of installiing Rogue Rebalancing (which allows Bards to assign up to three points in Two-Weapon style and 8th level spells), I'm gonna cheat him a proficiency rank every 10 levels, up to Grand Mastery at level 40.

Any recommendations for spell/item setup?

JuliusBorisov

If you still want your unkitted bard to be melee-capable, you should concentrate on speed weapons for him in order to increase his APR.

So, use Kundane and Belm in both hands (a short sword and a scimitar). As an alternative for those monsters that need it (crushing weapons, +3/+4 weapons to hit) use FoA in the main hand.

Due to the fact you want your bard to melee, his spell selection should base entirely on this matter: Mirror Image, Blur, Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin, Haste.

In everything else, you can do like you want more

Gallowglass

I haven't used RR, so I'll comment instead from an unmodded perspective.

For plain Bards, I strongly prefer two-handing to dual-wielding. (When I want a dual-wielding Bard, that's what the Blade kit is for.)

My reasoning is that Bards have rubbish THAC0, so an extra attack-per-round usually just means an extra miss, achieving nothing. I'd therefore rather get a weapon with more THAC0 bonus and more damage when my attacks connect ... which tends to mean two-handers, especially since a point in Two-Handed Style doubles the chance of a critical hit (which makes a big difference for characters who are otherwise struggling to hit). I particularly favour halberds for a plain Bard, although other two-handers are also viable.

On the same grounds, I agree with your choice of crossbow for range: the Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy is the perfect ranged weapon for a plain Bard, because its THAC0 bonus is so high (+5! In BG1!) that even a Bard can actually hit the enemy fairly reliably, and crossbow bolts do more damage than arrows. A bow (or the Light Crossbow of Speed) would give an extra attack per round, but (as with melee weapons) that'd usually be just another useless miss.

Incidentally, the Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy has the longest-lasting utility of any weapon in the game: it's a terrific Bard weapon when you can first get it half-way through BG1, and then you can get another copy of it early in BG2:SoA, and your Bard might still be using it when you reach the end of BG2:ToB (if you have someone else using Firetooth).

Gotural

A house rule I made in my game to balance the horrible single class Thieves (Bards) and Clerics (Druids) is to give them 1/2 Apr at level 8, 15 and 30. Of course this change isn't compatible with Fighter multi or dual classing, the same way any Fighter/Mage follows the Fighter progression for THAC0, APR and pips, not a fusion between the twos.

That way Thieves and Clerics are generally 1/2 Apr behind Fighters, so there is still a lot of incitement to choose a Fighter/Thief over a single class Thief, but the latter won't be so far behind anymore.

Meanbunny

I too have wanted to play a tanky Bard. It sounds like a fun idea. I personally would love a Fighter/Bard dual/multi-class. Maybe it was never implemented because R&D decided that it would be too OP. To be honest, for the most part anything is possible with a little work and imagination. On my current playthrough of Icewind Dale my Druid is doing pretty well up on the front lines with my Fighter. He isn't very sturdy but he is also no fluffly pillow either. If you have access to decent buffs and have a good dedicated healer I am sure a Bard could be a pretty exceptional melee fighter.

Where a Fighter shines using raw power, defense, heavy armor and shields, a Bard uses finesse and magic to overcome his opponents on the battlefield. I say go for it and let us know how it turns out. )

PS: @Gallowglass is right about Bards having an issue with Thac0. Any equipment you can put on your Bard to help with this would be a smart investment.