Would you please help me build my bard (blade or skald)?
Milozzy
Member Posts: 15
Hi guys!
As I said in the welcome area, I'm new here, but I'm not new at all in the BG world.
This is the first time I'm gonna play the enhanced saga though and I think I need some help to shake off some rust
My first love was the bard class and I plan to stick with that for my next run.
I'm undecided between the Skald and the Blade kit. Is it true that the Skald is more of a stand back guy, more good with long rage weapon? If yes, I think I'm gonna go with the Blade, a kit that I never played and that is really intriguing to me.
Keep in mind that I plan to start with BG:EE and go straight to BG2:EE.
So, in a summary, some questions:
- Skald or Blade?
- Race and aligment? I am thinking about half-elf and neutral good (I'm good inside, what should I say)
- How should I distribute my stats?
- What about weapon specialization? What is the best weapon for a bard? Should I choose dual wielding if I go the blade route?
- slightly unrelated... This is gonna be my first BG:EE run: should I enjoy the vanilla experience or should I add some MODs? Maybe the cosmetic ones?
Keep in mind that I really value the RPG experience, so I am not seeking to build the best more powerful unbeatable bard in history but more of a true Sword Coast enjoyable character to have fun with For example, IMHO a blade should not use a weapon like a mace, or a good guy should not target Drizzt scimitars
Sorry for my bad English and thank you so so much in advance to whoever would be so kind to give me some advice!
As I said in the welcome area, I'm new here, but I'm not new at all in the BG world.
This is the first time I'm gonna play the enhanced saga though and I think I need some help to shake off some rust
My first love was the bard class and I plan to stick with that for my next run.
I'm undecided between the Skald and the Blade kit. Is it true that the Skald is more of a stand back guy, more good with long rage weapon? If yes, I think I'm gonna go with the Blade, a kit that I never played and that is really intriguing to me.
Keep in mind that I plan to start with BG:EE and go straight to BG2:EE.
So, in a summary, some questions:
- Skald or Blade?
- Race and aligment? I am thinking about half-elf and neutral good (I'm good inside, what should I say)
- How should I distribute my stats?
- What about weapon specialization? What is the best weapon for a bard? Should I choose dual wielding if I go the blade route?
- slightly unrelated... This is gonna be my first BG:EE run: should I enjoy the vanilla experience or should I add some MODs? Maybe the cosmetic ones?
Keep in mind that I really value the RPG experience, so I am not seeking to build the best more powerful unbeatable bard in history
but more of a true Sword Coast enjoyable character to have fun with For example, IMHO a blade should not use a weapon like a mace, or a good guy should not target Drizzt scimitars Sorry for my bad English and thank you so so much in advance to whoever would be so kind to give me some advice!
5
Comments
A Blade is super fun upclose melee - if, IF, your'e into prebuffing before every fight.
The only blade I've played was Haer Da'elis, and I agree, they're good too.
If you're into role playing, i guess the roll you want to play should lead your choice in kit.
Skald or Blade? Blades are sexier. It's been scientifically proven. They won't get enough lore to identify everything just by looking at it in the first game however, so you might have to use a few identifying spells (for those damn scrolls mostly). On the other hand, they will be able to steal, although not very well. Skalds couldn't steal candy from a toddler.
Half-elf is mechanically the better race (elven resists and slightly higher required stats which will make rolling a wee bit easier) but not by that much, you could play human without losing on much. Alignment is entirely up to you of course. I will point out that mingling with evil npcs is necessary in order to get a spellcasting armor in bg1 (unlike the Fighter/Mage, the bard cannot wear robes of the archmagi). But that can be done even when playing neutral good, it just requires that you keep your rep in check for a bit.
As for the best weapons, that higly depends on the game and your party : the blade is at its best when dual-wielding but considering he can't specialize (unless i'm mistaken) he'll be able to master a bunch of weapons anyway. When in doubt, Long/Short sword, scimmitar and Katanas are never bad (okay katanas are bad in BG1). If going the melee Skald route, there is a really nice halberd with good damage balanced by the fact that it can never attack more than once per round...a trivial trade-off for a bard.
Of course the halberd is not the most bardish weapon there is.
Also, longbows are never bad in bg1, shortbows are pretty cool in bg2. Crossbows can always hold their own.
I certainly don't want to discourage you from using mods, there are absolutely awesome mods out there and most of them don't take anything away from the vanilla experience. That said, I've played the EEs unmodded at first and despite having played both games with and without mods before I still found it to be a very enjoyable experience.
Personally, I always preferred Blades. I get bored if my PC is standing in the back row. That said, Skalds are a good support class.
I play my low level blades with the bardsong up and using a crossbow and then eventually switch over to two weapon fighting.
I haven't done SoD yet but once you get the bard hat you could micro-manage and spin your bardsong into your melee and give yourself and your party a +1 luck bonus and immunities to fear/moral and still fight.
Keep this coming, I really enjoy listen to different opinions!
As for the choice between a blade and a skald, you have to ask yourself: what playstyle do you like the most?
Do you like meleeing enemies? Do you enjoy playing as a buffed fighter, whose magic helps to not get hit?
Or do you like being a ranged guy more? Someone to sing and occasionally cast a spell or use a wand?
Only an honest answer on these questions can help. Different people like different variants. If you want to be more "involved" into fights, then a blade is definitely your choice. If you don't mind to seriosly help your party, to define their success but be less involved into the process of targeting and attacking enemies, then go with a skald.
For stats, I would concentrate on INT, DEX and (for a blade) STR.
I prefer to smash evil opponents with my hand, I can't lie about that!
So I'm more for the blade experience right know... Even if from a role playing POV the Skald is really interesting.
I heard about some badass Skalds that can give a hand into melee fighting with the staff of magi... but it really is his cup of tea right? Better keep him as a ranged guy.
About stats, I rolled a nice 93 and I am thinking about something like
STR 18
DEX 18
CON 15
INT 17
WIS 10
CHA 15
What do you think? Should I take into account the possibility to fix stats with gear?
But think of it like this, with all those good stats, you don't need any of those stat fixing items, and can instead let the NPCs that really need them have them.
Should I go with 17 STR?
Thanks!
It's also worth noting that blades take a bit of levelling before they're good in melee. If I were you, I'd start using crossbows or longbows and then transition into a melee two-weapon-fighting build by late BG1 (or early BG2, since ranged weapons are crazy good in BG1).
Man, a 93...I usually content myself with an 85 or higher. That's one thing I always hated about 2E. You roll for a stat pool. In 5E, you can roll for stats, but a lot of folks tend to go with the more reliable route of the point-buy system.
Maybe the game is telling me I should be rockin' a bard for a main character. And maybe I should. All this talk about Blades has gotten me curious about it. I've enjoyed Skalds fair enough, and even Jesters, but maybe it's time to go Blade.
Things I like about the Blade:
They are quite weak compared to other melee classes in BG1, taking some patience to build into the powerful character they will eventually become late in BG2. Reasons: they are dependent on melee combat, but with a limited amount of weapon proficiencies and a slow rogue Thac0 progression. In order to maximise his efficiency (2 attacks) I chose dual-wielding. However, this incurs Thac0 penalties. If you put one point in DW on level 1, you only have one more point to choose a (bladed) weapon. You'll probably want to stick to using that weapon type for the first 7 levels, as non-proficiency incurs a further -3 penalty. Penalties on Thac0 at lower levels really mean something. The prof points of level 4 I had to spend on increasing DW efficiency, meaning the one at level 8 could go to a second weapon type (or further DW- specialisation). Even with careful proficiency management, relatively low hp and comparatively bad Thac0 never made this character feel overpowered during the first game.
By use of their spells and special abilities, the blade can briefly become a very dangerous melee fighter. However, this occurs in planned bursts.
Once you reach BG2 proficiency points become less of an issue, and you can start experimenting with different weapons as you'll find them. Since the blade can only become proficient with any weapon, they aren't forced to stick to one weapon type in order to maximise bonusses from specialisation. This gives nice versatility, especially if you don't grind for the best items as soon as possible.
The offensive blade ability is amazing. The defensive ability briefly makes them a passable tank, especially when you throw in defensive spells.
Edit: one more nice thing about these abilities is that they stay valid through the entire game, unlike many other class/kit abilities. You'll be using the spins efficiently from start to finish.
The only thing I regret while playing the Blade is that never once did I feel the need to use his bard song, not even after having it upgraded to the HLA... Maybe this says something about the game relevance of the song bonusses, though...
Have fun with whatever Bard kit you'll end up playing!
I actually didn't use offensive spin much.
Skalds are for buffing your party, Blades are for being awesome.
Thanks!
About weapon proficiencies I'm very undecided among few options.
1. one is the route Lorandar explained perfectly, starting with two weapon style from the beginning:
* Scimitars (or long sword or whatever)
* Two Weapon
4th level
* Two Weapon
8th level
* Two Weapon
* another Weapon
2. second is leaving two weapon specialization for later, as many on the forums suggested, based on the facts that a ranged weapon would be so useful at the begininng and that until full *** on Two Weapon Style it doesn't seems to me that the Blade is "ready"... and with both route I would reach *** at 8th level nonetheless. So:
* Scimitars (or long sword or whatever)
* Crossbow (or long bow or short bow)
4th level
* Two Weapon
8th level
** Two Weapon
3. The third option I guess it make sense only in my mind and from a role-playing point of view. Straight to it:
* Scimitars (or long sword or whatever)
* Single Weapon
4th level
* Two Weapon
8th level
** Two Weapon
I think, why not starting with a player that is proficient with one hand and through his journey learn how to fight with two weapon? This way I would boost my AC at the beginning when it will be much needed... And enjoy the story of this crazy bard that is still learning is way into been a real Blade.
I know, it is a wasted point from many POVs...
_A pip in Single weapon Style will be a complete loss as soon as you switch to two-weapon fighting, whereas Longbows will remain good to the end of bg1 and moderately useful in bg2, and shortbows and crossbows will remain good options even in bg2.
_Seeing as your AC will be bad no matter what at that point, a bow (especially long) will offer both more damage and safety during the early levels. Crossbows will approximately match your melee damage (but still with the added safety of range) until you can get the truly good crossbow, which depending on what you feel the need to buy can take a while.
It is valid to use only one weapon while building up proficiency in two-weapon fighting, but one-handed fighting is available to all characters without having to spend points on it. Simply equip 1 weapon without shield or off-hand until you feel comfortable enough to start dual wielding.