Working on a new bard
Dragonspear
Member Posts: 1,838
I'm working up a new bard to play through the series.
On the general board I mentioned having issues determining which alignment to play as.
But considering I know what type of bard I'm using, I'm also having an issue on weapon proficiencies.
When you have an intro quest in Candlekeep, they mention breaking out your quarterstaff. So I know for my Blade, Quarterstaff will be one of my starting proficiencies.
Now I'm left debating between longsword, granted I might have khalid around for a bit. Or Dagger to give myself an ranged option while I get pips into two weapon fighting. Obviously, the last option might be light crossbow of speed. But considering I'm already taking Quarterstaffs, it doesn't really fit RP wise.
Thoughts on this?
NPCs are a concern for this character, cause there's going to be no quick loading to bring people back. If I like you and can afford it, you'll get rezzed but otherwise. What's done is done. Trying to make myself branch out and explore different NPCs than I normally would.
On the general board I mentioned having issues determining which alignment to play as.
But considering I know what type of bard I'm using, I'm also having an issue on weapon proficiencies.
When you have an intro quest in Candlekeep, they mention breaking out your quarterstaff. So I know for my Blade, Quarterstaff will be one of my starting proficiencies.
Now I'm left debating between longsword, granted I might have khalid around for a bit. Or Dagger to give myself an ranged option while I get pips into two weapon fighting. Obviously, the last option might be light crossbow of speed. But considering I'm already taking Quarterstaffs, it doesn't really fit RP wise.
Thoughts on this?
NPCs are a concern for this character, cause there's going to be no quick loading to bring people back. If I like you and can afford it, you'll get rezzed but otherwise. What's done is done. Trying to make myself branch out and explore different NPCs than I normally would.
3
Comments
Level 1: quarterstaff (the prof you chose and there are good ones in the game, not to mention its usefulness against skeletons)
And dagger (for ranged weapon , and you can buy dagger of venom later).
Level 4: * 2 weapon fighting
Level 8 : ** 2 weapon fighting
Level 12 : short sword, longsword or scimitar, as there are good ones in SoA.
Level 16: ***2weapon
Considering that you can use strength enhancing spells in bg1, dagger is actually a good option for dual wielding initially (not the best but bard is a support character, you've got spells, scrolls and wands to use as well while , say, khalid doesn't) and you can get a staff+3 at ulgoth's beard. Follow my advice in that case, buy the dagger of venom and assign it to your bard, if you got boots of speed he can take the first strike (low weapon speed) and poison opponents while stepping back from melee and let the fighters/tanks approach enemies in close close combat. In SoA your thac0, items and AC gets better so you can make great use of your abilities .
One question, with how much I'll be using a quarterstaff early on, should I consider a point in Two-Hand Fighting, for the extra crit chance?
I kinda like this idea of starting with staff as the PC starts with one in CK now that the OP mentions it, for RP purposes.
Finally, flavor wise, it fits (spinning a staff around instead of swords early). But also, it's a great choice during an iron crisis. Particularly if you're stubborn enough for 18 Cha (Doubt I will be), but you get a blunt weapon (best overall damage type in game UNLESS the target is in chain mail), and a magic +1 dagger for melee.
And I don't think Throwing Daggers can be destroyed during the Iron Crisis.
As I read it back, it almost has a power-gamey aspect to it, although not intended.
Also the reason for Longsword or Dagger is because if you look at the AD&D kit from the complete book of bards, at least half your proficiency should be spent on blades/daggers.
The only potentially power-gamey thing I could do, is give the blade the 3 pips in TWF that it's supposed to have from the start.
I haven't decided on that yet, cause I'm trying to avoid any EE-keeper for the run =/
This QS use has got me reminded of Morgan on The Walking Dead, heh.
EDIT: A good thing about staff mace qstaffs is that they retain their longer range even if used in one hand. I dunno if this is intentional but it looks really weird when you can hit from afar with your small "mace" (it uses the club/mace graphics I mean). This can help a lot if you are stuck in defensive spin and enemies move about and you stand still. The extra range from qstaff can let your blade reach enemies anyways. Not very common, but could situationally be a boon.
So, go with qstaffs if you want. Use the other point for ranged of choice (I prefer xbow with bard, but YMMV). Then go for TWF and pick your next weapon of choice later on, ie scimis/shortswords/daggers, whatever grant you the APR you need and fits your RP idea about the character. Each adds APR, but only the combination of dagger and scimitar can add +3 enchanted options with +1 APR (Firetooth and Scarlet (post UAI)). Other options are not as good, though you could ofc trade APR for higher damage weapons, ie going with katana in main hand for 10 base dmg (1D10) with offensive spin +3 +STR using ie CF, or pick Usono's blade for a quick and easy +4 weapon at the loss of an APR.
Dualwielding staff maces with offensive spin will give you 8 dmg per hand (2D4) +2 +STR compared to a dagger's 4 base damage with off.spin. 4 extra damage is nothing to scoff at in BG1 for a non-fighter type character.