Blade help

Darsidian

So I've rolled a Blade only to realize that I'm quite clueless....

It would make sense to get a high Dex and Wis score I guess. Anything else? And what weapon proficiencies would you recommend besides Two weapon style? Finally what am I meant to use as armor? I thought leather armor would be obvious, but that will disable the spells.

Thanks.

Cyricist

High Wis? Wisdom is the one stat Blades don't need.

18 Strength
18 Dexterity
16 Constitution
18 Intelligence
10 Wisdom
15-18 Charisma (depending on if you care about being a party leader)

That's your goal. Goooooood luck, sir.

For weapons, I'm going Two Weapon Style, and the Ninjato/Wakizashi/Scimitar proficiency type. I can't say I'd recommend it, though. I only took it because I wanted to see if they put any new weapons for those types into BG1. They may very well have, but I can't attest to that.

Longswords are a safe bet, as Varscona +1 is one of the best weapons in the game, and readily available.

For Armor, either find yourself a nice robe to wear, or get used to being naked. There is a set of Elven Chainmail in the game, according to popular belief, but no one knows where it is. It will let you cast arcane spells without penalty, so it's perfect for Blades. My guess is you won't find it for most of the game... so yeah. Find a robe.

Malbortus

Blades need:
16+ STR, to hit things and deal damage in melee.
18 DEX to not get hit in return.
16 CON to survive when they do get hit.
14 INT to be able and learn 4th level spells.
WIS and CHA are of lesser importance.

For armor, use the spell Armor. It lasts all day. (Until level 2, use a chain mail.)

As for weapon proficiencies: elves get +1 to attack with longswords. You can get a very good longsword quite early in the game.

Darsidian

Awesome, thanks guys. Just what I needed. (I meant INT, not WIS)

Mungri

I just made a blade too and saved it for a future character. I rolled:

18 Str
18 dex
16 con
15 int
10 wis
15 cha

wissenschaft

You'll want 16 int for BG2 since that will be need to cast level 6 mage spells which is the highest bards can get. Int 18 would be best so you'll have a better chance to learn spells. Cha is not needed at all so leave it at the required 15. Wis is not need, you can even lower it to 7 without penalty if you need a few points in another stats. Con 16 for the max HP bonus for non-warriors. DEX and STR at 18.

I recommend using ranged weapons at the start since your To-Hit will such. Once you get some good items and a high enough level then you can start entering melee. Make sure to cast shield before going into melee, use some bracers, and find that tome of STR and give yourself STR 19.

DrEast

If you get the mod to fix bard spell progression and remove the XP cap, your bard may well be casting 8th level spells when all is said and done. But then, there are several int-boosting effects in the game, and I believe it's still the case that you need raised int when you learn the spell, not when you cast it.

wissenschaft

In BG1 there is no int requirement to use a spell level. In BG2 however, you'll need at least int 16 to use level 6 spells.

Darsidian

Nice roll there, Mungri Guess I'll start over considering the 16 int that wissenschft mentions - I know it will bug me if I don't get those spells.

The_New_Romance

@Darsidian
I hope I don't spoil anything, but there are ways to improve your INT by one point in Baldurs Gate 1. So, if you start out with 15, you're very likely to finish with the 16 points that are required for full-on Blade spell power in BG2.

Mungri

wissenschaft said:

In BG1 there is no int requirement to use a spell level. In BG2 however, you'll need at least int 16 to use level 6 spells.

Nope, theres no limit in BG2 either, INT only affects the number of spells you can have memorized. Aerie only has 16 int + wis, yet she can cast every cleric and mage spell up to level 9.

Darsidian said:

Nice roll there, Mungri Guess I'll start over considering the 16 int that wissenschft mentions - I know it will bug me if I don't get those spells.

Ignore what he said regarding INT to cast spells, its false. Even with 9 base int you can cast every mage spell in the game. The only bonus that INT gives to bards and wizards is allowing them to memorize more spells per level, and higher chance to learn new spells which is meaningless on normal rules where every spell is automatically learned without failure.

Theres also a +1 int tome in BG1, so if you start with 15 int you can raise it to 18 if you really need to, but there is nothing crucial about needing high int on bards as long as you have enough to memorize plenty of spells.