Blade or Skald for Neutral/NG run? Party selection help?
GoForTheEyesBoo
Member Posts: 97
I have never played a bard before and I am looking to use one for my neutral/neutral-good run. I feel like a Blade may be too tank oriented and I may miss the full bard experience. What are your thoughts?
Be forewarned, I plan on using Rasaad, Neera in my party and I am looking for other members outside of the canon party and my other evil playthrough (Dorn, Vic, Kagain, Edwin, and Special NPC).
I am partial to perhaps including Branwin and Xan…
Be forewarned, I plan on using Rasaad, Neera in my party and I am looking for other members outside of the canon party and my other evil playthrough (Dorn, Vic, Kagain, Edwin, and Special NPC).
I am partial to perhaps including Branwin and Xan…
Post edited by GoForTheEyesBoo on
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Blades are better at playing a more central role - and can fight better individually.
I'd say it depends on how you want to play your protagonist.
If you have lots of fighter types in your party, skald is probably more powerful. If you have lots of support types then blade is probably more powerful.
Also, full bard experience would be a good name for a power metal band.
http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/abilities/enhancedbardsong.php
So Blade is the way to go. I enjoy the Blade very much.
I think I might actually rather have the vanilla bard song as a free Remove Fear.
Yes it can probably be micromanaged to some degree for some reasonably successful battles but it's still almost as dangerous to the bard & party as it is to their enemies.
Does anyone have any suggestions regarding party? Rasaad and Neera are for certain, and I'm leaning towards Xan and Branwen but I need to balance my party needs...
Yeah, for most of the game, the Skald is both more powerful and more useful to the party. If you song-twist to replicate the fact that skalds are SUPPOSED to be able to sing while fighting, they're easily more powerful then Blades and don't rely on limited use abilities to do so. You can even dual-wield reasonably well with only a single point in two-weapon (even though ALL Rogues are supposed to be able to be just as proficient as warriors in that regard) (and just like a Blade and Swashy, they REALLY need dual-speed weapons to compete as a damage dealer vs warrior classes)
Stop spreading these stupid myths....if they hadn't included a guy with a bow on his portrait NO ONE would have associated Kivan with archery, which he is inferior to Khalid at, he would've been right up there with Minsc as a front line fighter, due to his 2nd highest str (of the vanilla NPCs) and actually good dex, giving him a decent ac as a perfect damage dealer that can also take a few hits (that shouldn't be needed if the casters are doing their jobs)
Also Coran is better used in melee as a back-stabber, since he's part fighter making him less efficient for ranged combat (he's already likely to not miss just by virtue of fighter thac0, and better suited to his greatly boosted thief skills to stealth in and deliver a massive backstab, and then rinse and repeat. (yes, he has an illegal 3rd point in bows, that I always SK out, but he'll still deal more damage in melee then at range).
Also, use your skald slots for buffs and disabling spells.....there's PLENTY of wands to handle damage, as well as some forms of crowd control (cycle your spells around as you find a wand to replicate a debuff).
But I use Coran as an archer. His low STR means his THAC0 isn't great. With the Longbow of Marksmanship and either Bracers of Archery or Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, his THAC0 is ridiculously low in BG1, and can hit pretty much everything almost every time. I think his THAC0 could reach as low as 0 with the right equipment.
the mastery thing was unintended (since it's illegal, and has no explanation, like several other stat discrepancies that have been fixed at some point or another....Coran's illegal pip only survives due to fan pressure wanting their broken mechanics, where as other characters had their illegal stats addressed (Minsc being exception since his situation is actually justified in his Bio...though they really need to give him an innate passive 35% spell failure penalty, just so everything is perfectly legal (6 wisdom has a 35% spell failure in PnP for divine spells (unlike arcane, divine doesn't have a minimum requirement for casting (if that was implemented)..you just suffer a progressively larger penalty if your wisdom is 12 or lower)), the 20 dex WAS intended however, since that was supposed to be his "unique" feature, similar to Kagain's 20 Con.
I feel that the blade really doesn't come into his own until very late in the first game making it not a really ideal choice. The lack of great AC increasing items useable by a Bard (that still allow spellcasting) in BG:EE means you'll be fairly squishy without constant use of AC increasing spells which you wont have many of at such a low level and prevent you from taking better spells (like Chromatic Orb, Color Spray, Sleep etc.) and Defensive Spin doesn't truly become powerful until you have gained some levels and even then with the low XP cap in BG:EE you wont have many uses. This coupled with the low amount of weapon proficiency pips for Bards means you will not have proficiency in a weapon and 3 pips in Two-Weapon Style until very late in the game. The Blade does however outshine the Skald come BG2 where Bard useable AC items are more abundant as are spell slots defensive/offensive spin uses and strength and proficiency pips. Also, one of the major drawbacks of the Blade (Bard Song not scaling with level) is removed if you take the Improved Bard Song HLA.
I think a good party for a Neutral/Good party would be:
Tank/Melee DPS: Kivan - He has high strength and dex, comes proficient in Longbows and Halberds (meaning you don't have the mess around in the inventory to switch from your bow to two weapons if you dont want to) and with his natural 18 strength doesn't require any items to equip a Composite Longbow. With heavy armor equipped he can be a decent tank out of the gate while still dealing good damage.
Tank/Melee DPS/Divine Spellcasting: Yeslick - Yeslick is one of the best NPC's in the game. Fighter/Cleric is a strong kit since he can buff himself to have great melee ability while getting more than 1 attack per round unlike other clerics. Being a Dwarf with a good Con he has better saves than most and more HP to boot meaning he is hard to bring down. Also, his innate Dispel Magic ability is probably the most useful innate spell-like ability of any of the NPCs. His only downside is a low Dex but it can be easily fixed with the Guantlets of Dexterity. Also with proficiency in Maces out of the gate you can give him the Stupifier which is a great weapon and easily won me the game on my frist playthrough by repeatedly stunning Sarevok.
Thief: Coran/Alora - Since you don't want to use any of the "canon" NPC's Imoen is out (although she is the best Thief in the game in my opinion). Coran is a decent choice, he's a fighter/thief so he has better Thac0 than other thieves and more than 1 attack per round with melee weapons. His illegally high Dex makes him great with a bow (as does his illegal 3 pips in Longbows) and increases his Thief skills to boot. His only downside is that with his low natural strength to really be a heavy hitter in melee he will require a Str boosting item.
Alora is great now that her Lucky Rabbits Foot has been fixed to grant her bonuses. Being a Halfling with 12 Con she gets +3 to her aves vs. Death, Wands and Spells and her 19 Dex coupled with Halfling race grants her +25% Open Locks, +15% Find Traps, +20% Pick Pockets, +25% Move Silently, +30% Hide in Shadows and +10% Set Traps. The Lucky Rabbits foot grants: +2 to AC (stacks with magic armor), +2 to all saves and +10% to all Thief skills. Her only real downside is her low strength and the fact that she isn't recruitable until you reach Baldur's Gate.
I feel these NPC's really round out a group with a Bard, Rasaad, and Neera.
F/T's are MADE to backstab..it's their whole reason for existing as far as I'm concerned.....slap boots of speed on Coran, blow away or heavily wound a dangerous enemy or two, and then bring in the cavalry to kill the greatly weakened encounter.
I mean sure...you could just load up on ranged weapons and let them have it.....but why bother with other classes at all when the pure warriors classes can easily be re-tooled to superior ranged duty (seriously...darts are the ultimate weapons in the hands of Fighters), over a more balanced party (the casters are already going to be providing ranged support after all).