Help Needed Please

Majoca

Not long now till we can play. I want to role either a bounty hunter, Bard or Skald... Why should I play as either one, I like the idea of Bard but is Skald better? I also like the bounty hunter idea! I don't Know what to choose!

Majoca

I simply don't know enough about either class to justify which one I would like to play.

deltago

Well your best bet, is on character creation, you read up on them and choose which one you find more appealing. I personally prefer Skalds, although bounty hunter traps may make things interesting.

Corvino

Bounty hunter is pretty close to pure thief bit with added traps and fewer skill points. They really shine in BG2 where the traps get more powerful and you have more opportunities to choose your ground for fights.

Bards are interesting. Blades are arguably very good, having solid advantages in dual wield, offensive and defensive spin. Many people love their ability to solo due to wand use and versatility. Skald is closer to the vanilla Bard kit, but is a bit more combat orientated. They're still not frontliners though.

It's personal preference in the end, but both classes will probably play similarly at low level - avoid melee, use ranged and add a little versatility to the party.

Scofield

Well I can't help you with this one simply because I've never played any of those classes. What I can tell you is that you should pick the one that looks the most fun to play with for your personality and needs. If you choose X over Y merely because people tell you that it is stronger, you might end up realizing mid-game that it's just not what you wanted the most.

Majoca

yeah I fancied bounty hunter halfing with a sling, utilizing all bonuses possible, but I really want to play skald because its close to being a bard but its more combat orientated. I mean I would paly a bard but the skald song is great to far large parties. again your very right character creation. I think skald will be beneficial with my friends, I like to use all the random items and scrolls that don't get used through my playthroughs. But bounty hunter is thief with added traps and I really want to play with traps. plus bounty hunter sounds cool

Majoca

has skald got the same magic and lore progression as bard? Just rubbish pick pockets

Riolathel

play one this playthrough.. try another on your next :P..

or you can run them through black pits to get an idea of which one suits your combat style

Djimmy

Majoca said:

Not long now till we can play. I want to role either a bounty hunter, Bard or Skald... Why should I play as either one, I like the idea of Bard but is Skald better? I also like the bounty hunter idea! I don't Know what to choose!

I would go for skald cuz it is kinda scandinavian bard, and we all know scandinavian metal/music is the best(in my opinion at least). A skald named Jari would be awesome.

Corvino

To add to the previous post, the two will only really diverge in playstyle mid-to-late BG1, until then being best used as ranged support and utility.

Once the Bard/Skald gets access to decent spells they'll become a real jack-of-all-trades and lethal with chromatic orb and other caster-level-dependent spells, and can use protections like mirror image to survive melee. The playstyle is sort of similar to fighter-mage.

Bounty Hunters, like pure-class thieves never really stand up to anything but backstab-and-run tactics in melee. As such they're best used as ranged support, scouts, trappers and utility party members.

At the end of the day it's your call. Lets see if they've unlocked the game yet

Majoca

@Corvino thanks for your help. I don't mind being utility, my last play through a few years ago was illusionist thief, but I wanted to play either a bard or some pure thief class.

I think I will play Skald, as I like the jack of all trades utility sort of role, I may stay clear of bounty hunter but we will see.

Bjjorick

i'm planning my first char to be a bounty hunter dualed to a fighter once i hit certain stats....mainly for bg2 which lacks a strong thief in the game after you lose one my fav chars midway through the game.....

that, and i usually play a caster, and want to experience some of the bg1 casters i usually overlook.

Majoca

@Bjjorick thing is, playing as halfling bounty hunter, you get 19 dex, so better starting skills and range attacks. You will get shorty bonus and constitution bonus and if you roll 18 and pick up the constitution tome then your suited and booted. a human bounty hunter would annoy me because of the lack of 19 dex and potential 19 con with shorty bonus :P.

Bjjorick

@majoca
true, but wouldn't the tomes/manuals account for that? i don't remember all the tomes/manuals in the first game, but if you got 18/18, and at least one tome of each.....

but i prefer humans or half elfs, and it annoys me to play a pure class for some reason. I like to be flexible.

Majoca

@bjjorick, fair enough . The tomes would hit you 19 as human, but as Halfling it will be 20, which is pretty sick

Bjjorick

true, but i'm thinking of going for an average build, with only 18 dex and maybe 18 str (since most of the carry weights for the rest of the party is low and most stuff sells low, my pc is often the pack mule).

I really wish they would have added a bag of holding to the orginal just to minimize the item management.....but i'm sure i can hack one in if the mod isn't out by the end of the week......or isn't already in the game in some form or another.