Questions on Bard Songs, Familiars, etc

IWDEE

Hello. First let me just say I'm so thankful to find this for Android. Not a whole lot of good time sinks out there for this tablet platform. In any case I have a few questions:

How to switch songs on Bards? Been stuck with the basic Bard Song awhile now with no idea how to change.

Also, how to minimize Mage familiars? I seem to remember being able to put them in my pack in BG2 for PC. I'm to the point that AoE attacks keep killing my Dust Mephit upon area entrance.

And any good tips on XP grinding? I'd like to dual-class a char but have yet to find an XP sink other than sleep encounters. I remeber BG2 having elemental stones in the Underdark that were useful for this purpose.

Thanks in advance,
- Old BG2 vet happy to see IWD on Android

macomeau

1) Bard songs are under the plus-symbol-looking button on the right hand end of the control bar.

2) Talk to the familiar with the character who summoned them.

3) I just sleep. Or turn up the difficulty (including HoF mode). Or both.

Wowo

I think the Cold Wights in Dragons Eye level 3 are purported to be one of the easiest sleep grinds.

Another strategy to easily complete a dual class is to jump into the expansion and complete some of the side quests or advance the main quest. Heaps of xp available here. To up the cheese if you really want to finish a longer dual then kick everyone else out of the party before you get the quest reward and give it all to the dualer. On HoF mode this can net up to 1.24 million for one quest as an example.

IWDEE

Thanks for the replies. Guess I should have thought to have my Familiar talk to his master. I couldn't find the Song options because my Bard is a Skald kit which is apparently limited to a single song.

For the XP grind I found an easier option IMO. The first level of Dorn's seems to respawn enemies every time you leave. The Ettins are worth 3k and the mushroom guys 750 on the regular difficulty. Ettins are easily kited and and the mushrooms drop quickly (though their Berserk/Fear effects can be a pain). I got a dual char back up level 6 within 30 minutes of sweeping the cave, walking outside, then re-entering.

A question on weapon limitations when dualling -- once the original class reopens does it incur that class's previous weapon restrictions? For example let's say a Thief dualling to Fighter (yes I know odd combo). If I were to put points into 2H Swords would I still be able to use them once I surpass his Thief level?

Wowo

IWDEE said:

Thanks for the replies. Guess I should have thought to have my Familiar talk to his master. I couldn't find the Song options because my Bard is a Skald kit which is apparently limited to a single song.

For the XP grind I found an easier option IMO. The first level of Dorn's seems to respawn enemies every time you leave. The Ettins are worth 3k and the mushroom guys 750 on the regular difficulty. Ettins are easily kited and and the mushrooms drop quickly (though their Berserk/Fear effects can be a pain). I got a dual char back up level 6 within 30 minutes of sweeping the cave, walking outside, then re-entering.

A question on weapon limitations when dualling -- once the original class reopens does it incur that class's previous weapon restrictions? For example let's say a Thief dualling to Fighter (yes I know odd combo). If I were to put points into 2H Swords would I still be able to use them once I surpass his Thief level?

Depends on the class conbination.

Kensei, Cleric, Druid and Wizard Slayer have item restrictions so they will always be restricted from using particular items (unless you dual or multi with thief and get Use Any Item in BG2).

Other classes (thief and mage) aren't restricted, they just aren't trained. Multi or dual one of these and you can use all the items of the other class.

However, you can only backstab with thief weapons.

IWDEE

That's what I needed to know, thanks. My party has been lacking in the melee department so I figured I'd dual my Thief into a Fighter to fill the gap and wanted to ensure I wasn't wasting proficiences.

Wowo

IWDEE said:

That's what I needed to know, thanks. My party has been lacking in the melee department so I figured I'd dual my Thief into a Fighter to fill the gap and wanted to ensure I wasn't wasting proficiences.

If it's a thief that has sneak attack then I'd suggest sticking with thief weapons. Also realise that if you put pips into a weapon during your early fighter levels that you already have pips in as a rogue then when you get your rogue levels back they will be effectively wasted.

I can generally recommend that "2 handed swords" are *not* a path to increasing melee DPS except possibly in some very specific circumstances.

Fardragon

Doesn't matter if the thief has the swashbucker kit.

It might be worth mentioning that whilst a dual classed berserker can still use ranged weapons, they remain unable to put more than one pip into them.