I would just like to say that it is NOT FAIR. Why can't any of my small friends be Bards! They can sing and tell tales as well as the next man. I included a Bard in my Guys & Gals party, but I used a Half-Elf (how sad). I had to wait for IWD2 to create a Hafling Bard.

And if you think that using one weaker character for role-playing is interesting, then how about the afore-mentioned Guys & Gals party, where all 3 Gals were non-fighters (no weapons & no magical damage allowed). Now that makes it interesting, but not all that difficult.

Eh... it costs 1 buck to purchase a quiver/case/bag of ammunition. Nobody is ever too poor to afford ammunition. Plus the fact that you do not have the THAC0 problems one will have on higher difficulties.

You do not need a lot of summons. A simple Animate Dead from a Cleric is already more than sufficient. Especially since they last for 8 hours.

@Midget Gems: There's a gnome bard included with the new characters in Auril's Bane.

Thanks for the tip, Grog. I'll ckeck it out.

The reason folks are turned off by Bards-----
You played BG when it first came out.
You didn't create a Bard..because they looked kind of sucky.
You recruited "Sir" Garrick, and found out they WERE sucky.
Once burnt, twice shy.