How long would you say the journey is from level 15 bard to level 24 bard

Chronicler

The blade has a weaker bard song from levels 15-24, then when it gets the Enhanced Bard Song HLA it stops being an issue.

Trying to figure out how big a deal that is.

Zaxares

You won't be able to reach epic levels in Shadows of Amn (unless you use a mod to remove the XP cap and you're playing a low XP threshold class like a Thief), so basically you're looking at being an inferior bard until you reach about halfway through Throne of Bhaal.

Skatan

Well you need about 2 million EXP, so that's doable just at the end of SoA IIRC. Haven't played that far into game in a long, long time though. The amount of gaming hours varies of course depending on you meta-skills. You could "cheat" by stealing all scrolls, remove all team mates, and read and forget the same scrolls over and over. There's plenty of exp to be had there and should save you some time.

DreadKhan

Iirc, I definitely got 2 thief HLAs in the Underdark on my last BG2 playthrough. I don't think the SoA cap is used anymore, but maybe I forgot removing it??

I really was trying to get lots of XP though.

ThacoBell

If you play at all completionist, you will hit HLAs by the Underdark with a 5-6 man party. Though I wouldn't call a Blade a "weaker bard." Their song is weaker precisely because that's not what the Blade's strength is. They are meant to buff up and mix it up in melee as a death blender set on puree. Don't worry overmuch about their songs.

gorgonzola

Having TOB installed the xp cap is set to 8M, so in EE it is always so.

The blade dont improve his song until HLA, but if well equipped is strong and can easily get 4 apr, 5 with the spin, 8 IHasted.
The trade is worth.

I am not found about how the improved song works in EE, aoe so small that is almost impossible to boost the whole party and sing and attack in the same round has becomed a nightmare as the interaction with pause on round end has been changed.
Still useful, but way less then before.
The workaround is to have a clone sing, make it invisible if needed. And the side effect is to have also the real blade invisible, that can attack without retaliation. Thing that i prefer to do when i want to cheese in easy win mode, not every time i want to use the song without having charname just doing that, as is impossible to cast and sing in the same round...

jmerry

Annoyingly small song radius? You may be interested in the Bigger Bard Song tweak available here.

In a full-party completionist run, going from level 15 to level 24 on the rogue table is approximately the middle half of SoA for me. How that intersects with the underdark entirely depends on what order I take things in; it might start there if I go early, and it might end there if I go late.

gorgonzola

The mod is fantastic, gives back to the bards some of the lost power.
To give to all the party the triple +4 bonus having the ranged and casters packed right behind the mlee guys make the game more tactically interesting.
Thank you!

gorgonzola

With the original game, and with the mod suggested by @jmerry, having your thief under the song effect while stabbing is really helpful, more thac0, so chance to hiit, and more damage.

In not EE is possible to have the blade sing and fight, very powerful as he gets the same ac buff of a defensive spin, but without loosing movement and for free, as he is boosting the whole party, that tactic make him as useful as damage dealer and tank as some dedicated fighter, as the boosted dmg from the party adds to his own one.

In EE with that mod and a mislead clone singing something similar can be obtained, but the forced invisibility on the blade dont let you to use him as tank as the enemies dont target him, and the tactic is limited by the number of mislead spells, while in not EE it can be done all day long with just a little micromanagement.

The too little aoe is imo what make the EE song so underwelming for who used the original one in a tactical way, and not hiding and stacking clones in some far part of the map. That mod restores much of the fun of running a high level blade.