Blade Bard

ebayme

Hello everyone!

After playing a multiplayer session with my friend (I'm running a Thief/Illusionist and friend is the fighter tank), I've decided to start another game (single player).

First time I played BG was when the game was first release. Boy I remember the 5 disc box set and how amazing that was... man the good old days!

In our first play through I'd completely forgotten how many darn thieves there are in this game. Seems like every other potential companion is a thief so playing a thief kinda sucks...

Anyway my thinking was to make the main character be the main melee damage dealer of the group.
My Blade Bard is dual wielding scimitars (will kill Drizzt later to pick up his stuff) but I'm starting to wonder if this is the best approach. Anyone have any experience running a dual wielding Bard (Blade)?

I think my final party will be something like
Bard Blade
Coran (ranger thief)
Xan (Mage)
Paladin
Unkown
Unkown

Cheers!

Jarrakul

Blades are awesome, but take a bit of time to come into their own. Your main sticking points will be a lack of good armor and proficiency points. The armor you can make up for with spells, particularly Ghost Armor and Spirit Armor, but you won't get those for a while, so you'll be rather squishy at first. Picking up Dorn long enough to finish his personal quest would also let you get elven chain, which will be useful for minor encounters that aren't worth the effort of defensive spells. Otherwise you're relying on bracers, which preclude the use of some of the better gauntlets in the game.

The proficiency points are also a serious issue. You won't have enough proficiency points to make a good dual-wield build until at least 4th level. I'd actually recommend delaying even further, so you can take longbows (or some other good ranged weapon) at first level. That means you aren't gonna be the party's main melee damage for quite a while, but you can still dish out the hurt at range. Later on you can transition into more of a melee/tank role, which will be especially nice if you're planning to import into BG2.

In light of that, you're probably gonna want more tanking ability in your party. Khalid and Jaheira would actually fit nicely into your "unknown" slots, providing you with a healer/off-tank and a primary tank to augment your powerful ranged damage dealers. Alternatively, Branwen/Yeslick and another mage (Neera?) would work well. Actually, that's probably what I'd pick. Blade, Coran, Xan, Ajantis, Branwen, Neera.

Skatan

I have played a blade in BG:EE and he's.. decent. You will end up playing him as a gimped F/M (no plate) for a long time, I ended up using him as mainly a straight up fighter most of the times. Playing Blade w/o stealing/killing Drizzt is tedious since those extra AC from the scimitar is gold worth to you. I ended up killing him and taking his swords and armor but some consider that cheese and refuse to do it. With all that equipment the blade suddenly became invulnerable. I just throw him into the fray while aiming with ranged and casting spells etc. I seldom bother with off/def spins, they are quite seldom needed. Off.spins vs tougher foes is nice of course and the def. can be used in choke points while your ranged pepper the enemies.

Using the blade and Minsc, no other tank was needed, so the rest of the party can focus on ranged (the actual killing power), so Coran is a solid choice as well as Kivan or any other decent ranged/arcane/divine. One thing I've read about is making the blade into ranged instead. Haven't tried it myself though, but putting the army scythe in his/her hands has been said to be deadly.

Cheers.

Nuin

The blade is a great ranged/utility character in BG:EE but I wouldn't suggest relying on him for melee damage unless you're playing with a party of 3-5 for most of the game (more XP, faster leveling, NPCs start with a higher level). Personally I don't bother dual wielding at all until BG2. Ranged attacks are simply more effective in BG1 and BG1 has less melee enhancing items so you have consider carefully if giving those +AC items to your blade instead of your tank (or +damage/haste items to your backstabber) is worth it or not.

Finally, blades are at their most dangerous in BG1 nuking the hell out of everything with spells/wands or using Melf's Minute Meteors + Offensive Spin. Consider that if you want to get the most out of your blade you'll be doing this anyway, and that neither requires the use of melee weapons.

Overall I would suggest picking a fighter/x or ranger/x combination if you want a dedicated melee damage dealer. Judging from your party, a fighter/cleric or fighter/druid would be an excellent addition. That leaves you lacking a nuking mage, and there are a lot of those in BG.

DreadKhan

Look into buying a Shield Amulet ASAP. AC 4 and immunity to MM is pretty decent. Toss in Mirror Image, Blur, you're in good shape.

A great happy medium choice in BG1 especially is daggers. You can throw with 2 apr, and adding strength to damage gives it decent damage early. Melee daggers are better than some realize, the Dagger of venom is brutal. Very high damage output, and can shut down casters. Better than Twinkle? Maybe, maybe not, but definately not any worse.

If you really want to DW in BG1 with a Blade, daggers are a great, versatile choice, as you can DW reasonably with your 3rd pip, while still being proficient ranged.