Reed of Echoes item horribly designed and useless?

red_codec

I was happy to receive the item as a quest reward until I realized its a non-weapon you equip on your offhand slot. This makes it completely awful and useless for dual-wielding bards. Why would anyone design this item to be an offhand equipment, it seems closer to an accessory and should be equipped on the helmet / ring slot instead!

Fardragon

There are similar items in IWD, and weapons that increase spell slots have a similar drawback. Yes, if you duel wield or use a 2h weapon you can't use it effectively. This weakness is intentional. Accessory slot items (such as the crown) are meant to be more powerful.

deltago

red_codec said:

Why would anyone design this item to be an offhand equipment

To give you a really hard choice. What is more important to your character and its build? More spells or an extra melee attack?

jtth

Do attacks with your main hand benefit from Single Weapon Style with the Reed equipped?

Zilber

jtth said:

Do attacks with your main hand benefit from Single Weapon Style with the Reed equipped?

It looks like a shield, but if it uses the shield proficiency is unclear to me.