Skald builds/stats/recommendations
SnoopyMD
Member Posts: 23
Greetings fellow adventurers,
Since I am planing on starting a 5 man co-op game with my friends after the patch comes out, I was thinking of playing a Viking like character, so under the bard class I found the Skald sub-class so I was wondering if it is a good class to play if any one has any experience with it, as for what his role would be, I was thinking of making him an off tank, with a longsword/bastard sword something fitting to my Viking theme, since I imagine them to be more hardy and in the thick of battle, any Item and stat builds would be grateful.
Thanks for reading and as ever go for the eyes!
Since I am planing on starting a 5 man co-op game with my friends after the patch comes out, I was thinking of playing a Viking like character, so under the bard class I found the Skald sub-class so I was wondering if it is a good class to play if any one has any experience with it, as for what his role would be, I was thinking of making him an off tank, with a longsword/bastard sword something fitting to my Viking theme, since I imagine them to be more hardy and in the thick of battle, any Item and stat builds would be grateful.
Thanks for reading and as ever go for the eyes!
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Comments
However, instead of the Longsword, I went to Two-Handed Swords since Bards are good with two-handed ranged weapons, such as the Longbow and the Crossbow. At high levels they get access to Use Any Item, which I took advantage of to make him run around wielding Carsomyr (the Holy Avenger, a +5 Two-Handed Sword that normally can only be wielded by Paladins).
Combining that with Elven Chain Mail and a high STR score (which you can get with giving him an 18 right out of the bat - it's easy to roll high stats with a Bard, or by using strength-enhancement items), he was a solid backup frontliner who could hold himself surprisingly well.
Sure he was still outshone by actual warriors, but combine that moderate melee power with a nice arsenal of Mage spells and the ability to identify practically any item once he's past Level 15 or so, and you've got a solid leader for your group.
Edit: of course, most of this advice is assuming you're taking him/her to BG2, but in BG1, he/she will do fine as well. Just make sure he/she has a CON of 15 or 16 and cast Find Familiar as soon as you can (for the extra HPs). Keep him/her away from the frontlines at the first few levels, preferably as a ranged fighter, or singing.
Exact choice of weapon depends on what competition you have for certain categories from the other party members. Something with a good speed factor (which can be improved a little by Two-handed style) will make it easier to maintain your song in-between attacks, as your attack will happen earlier in the round. Quarterstaves would be ideal, as they do good damage and have very low speed factors, however, you might have competition for those since they're prime backstabbing weapons. For an unconventional option, you might consider spears, as they're a less popular choice but still have a good speed factor. If you don't care about speed factor, consider Halberds; the Chesley Crusher is a high damage halberd that doesn't let you get more than 1 attack per round, which makes it a lousy weapon for Fighters but a very good weapon for you, as 1 APR is all you get anyway unless hasted.
Either way, you should also have a good ranged weapon. There are 2 good long bows, 1 good short bow, and 1 good crossbow in the game; shoot for one of those depending on the choices of the other players. If all of those are somehow taken, throwing axes are a decent backup.
So to sum up, my recommendation would be:
* Long Bow (or other ranged)
Level 4: * Two-handed Style
Level 8: * Branch out into another weapon option
Stats: You want high Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, 16 Constitution, and you have to have 15 Charisma. This is a tall order, and since it is a multiplayer game, you can't hoard the stat tomes for yourself. So unless you're pregenerating your character and are willing to spend time getting that mid 90's roll, some sacrifices are going to have to be made. Dex 18 is a must if you want good AC, and 16 Con is necessary for having hit points to make being a backup front-liner viable. 16 Int means you can scribe unlimited spells in your spellbook with the aid of a single Int potion of either type. Wisdom can be safely dumped if necessary, though it will hurt your lore score and force you back onto Identify spells for magic items. Strength can be boosted with spells.
Pie-in-the-sky ideal:
Dex 18
Con 16
Int 18
Wis 10
Cha 15
Which is a 95 roll
More practical:
Dex 18
Con 16
Int 16
Wis 10
Cha 15
Which is still an 89, but Bards tend to get good rolls. Strength could probably be dropped further down to 12 without hurting your carrying capacity too badly, and Wisdom can be dumped if you don't mind the lore penalty
I think I shall actually try drawing my own portrait next time, should be fun to do
As for the mislead spell, if I understood you correctly, you can use it to sing and attack at the same time?
Minsc is especially good because Boo also benefits from the bard song
Nay?
For giggles you can do the rat form thing with Fireshield Red and or Blue, and watch your enemies pound themselves into the ground.
Also the singing jelly is a hilarious image.
Skald is a no brainer for this. I took many ss of the singing jelly. They are probably still on the web somewhere. Singing jelly in the Planar Sphere, singing jelly in Watchers Keep, singing jelly against Irenicus. The Skald made the whole play through worth it. :-) I swear Irenicus stood on his stump, and flipped the jelly the rude finger, before being sucked into hell!
Remember though, smack a jelly with an ax, and he dies quick enough. But for mage battles they rule!
I have to say, my current Skald comes nowhere near any of those stats, her only really good points are in Char & Int, both at 18 and her constitution sucks on account of getting her familiar killed, twice, but I'm having loads of fun with her. I specialised her in longbows, longswords and dual wielding and she tends to switch between ranged and close in with some great casting ability (and identification skills). On top of the Melodic Chain you can obtain in BGIII I add in armour and stoneskins if I need her to get into a fight - which I do quite a bit as aside from Carsomyr the best of the swords are longswords - She comes nowhere near Keldorn's tanking stats (mind you nor do any of the other NPCs) and I'm sure I'm not playing her to her optimum but I'm still having fun.
EDIT: I'm not certain (for BGII, at least) that being able to scribe unlimited spells with 16 int is correct as I've received a few messages saying I've reached the limit for me level but you can still scribe enough to be of use to you and you can ditch the stuff you don't need.
Is Keldorn using the Gauntlets of Dexterity? If not they would help your Merin a lot.
Best non Holy Avenger sword in SoA is probably Celestial Fury, and Dakkon's Zerth Blade would help too so maybe a pip in katanas wouldn't hurt.
Anyway, just some random thoughts. Glad you are having fun. :-)