Has anyone soloed this game with non-fighter character? Especially with bard? It is rather hard, and I am still in Cloakwood, at 7th level, near 8th. How could I beat tougher enemies? Any tactics?
What equipment for Bard do you use?

[ 12-14-2002, 05:44 PM: Message edited by: Vedran ]

id love to see a solo bard beat aec'letec but i dont think its happening unless you drink so many potions you'd be in the toilet all day long afterwards [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Well, I raised my exp. cap to 500 000 and I'll still hit it without killing the demon.
I am in the town itself, (10th level).
The worst thing aren't enemies (Wand of MS is a good wand), but traps. And inability to heal myself other than Bhaalspawn cure and lame potions.

I can't believe nobody have done that! Nonetheless, everybody boasts how good players they are.

being good doesnt help you win the game if your playing with a char whose intrinsically weak on his own, at lvl 10 though the bard should have some pretty nice spells id have thought so have a good chance vs most enemies, but without removing the xp cap and with totsc i wouldnt have thought a bard could complete every quest going without one helluva lot of potion use and reloading.

I have tried soloing with a non-fighter charachter, a cleric, but to be honest that it is still a new game and I am no where near as far as you so no help can be coming from me.

It is not that bards are weak, it is the exp cap which is too low to allow non-fighter characters to raise their abilities (wizards & bards spells, thieves stealth and stab...) to high enough level. When I pass to BG2, it will be easier.
I hope I shall be able to transfer this char to BG2 with 500000xp :D .

u wont :( it will cut you back to the tostc exp cap of 161,000

Vedran:
"It is not that bards are weak, it is the exp cap which is too low to allow non-fighter characters to raise their abilities (wizards & bards spells, thieves stealth and stab...) to high enough level."

High enough to effectively solo the game, you mean? Not true of Wizards! My Gnomish Illusionist ("Gnome Alone") soloed the game just fine, including TotSC areas, without external modifications or help from any NPC. If anything I found that soloing with a Fighter was *weaker*, but then I'm more Magely in my playstyle anyway. I mean, who wants to stand for dozens of rounds whiffing at enemies when you can cast Fire Ball (Later: Cloud Kill) and be done with it? [img]smile.gif[/img]

"The worst thing aren't enemies (Wand of MS is a good wand), but traps."

Mirror Imaging in dungeons is a very good habit for avoiding those nasty traps.

-Lem

all tactics a bard acn use to teh utmost effectiveness, don't forget the virtues of minor globe of invulnerability when firing off fireballs/web/stinking cloud etc (you can invisibly drop you're best damage/AoE spells with no fear of harm to yourself)

Thanks.
I always forget about Mirror Image. Curses! I guess that I'm not very magely in my playstyle :( .
I've never thought about GoI as a shield of my own spells. Thanks for pointing it out.

I have soloed a bard through vanilla Baldur's Gate. One of my better solos.

Start off using bows or crossbows, sword and shield for some encounters, and then finally use that nice +2 throwing axe and a shield.

Tactics are easy. In the beginning, run from everything. Kill Silky with some arrows of biting. Do non violent quests in Beregost. Once you can cast spells, get Grease ASAP. Use Grease to hose the area, shoot shoot shoot. Later, use Webs, and Stinking Clouds. Get invisibility as soon as you can.

Once you get your hands on a wand of monster summoning, summon a few, go invisible, and sing your lungs out! Critters backed with Bard song are pretty tough. Nobody touches you (Mostly) while invisible. You can soar through a good bit of the game with ease.

Some fights, you can't win. So, you go invisible and avoid them all together. Do what Bards do best. Save your own skin and be a coward. My Bard was a total chicken.

His stats were outstanding.

18 Str
18 Dex
15 Con
14 Int
13 Wis
18 Chr

After all the books he was amazing, 19/19/16/15/15/19. Yes, it took a while to roll. He moved on to BGII and became a Blade.

The worst part of the game involves keeping a certian somebody alive.

Well, thanks, Butterfingers. Welcome at IronWorks Forums.

I took a proficiency point in Bow, but went for Slings later 'cos I wanted that +1AC from Buckler. Sad. And there is only three kinds of pebbles.

I didn't know bard can backstab! Well, neither he can hide in shadows, nor the multiplier is listed anywhere (IIRC). But once he can cast Invisibility, he can pretty much kill Flesh Golems in one hit (with Dagger of Venom).

I notice that you read only two Books of Wisdom. Is it a typo or you don't have TotSC?

I intend not to powergame, so my stats are 14/19/16/13/11/17 (found books of Dex, Wis and Cha).

How do you cope with not being able of wearing armor?

Armor.

Bracers, rings, cloaks, shield, spells, can get AC down to -4 IIRC. For some parts, forget spells for a while and wear chainmail.

Again I have to show my basic ignorance of the gaming language...what does IIRC mean?

If I Recall Correctly.
Check this url for acronyms.

Anyone who can make it through the game as a solo Bard has my respect and going solo does make you find some creative tactical ideas, as shown from this thread.
As pointed out a Bard is a bit weak in the AC department, so any magic enhancements are welcome - my solo character made a lot of use of Mirror Image, especially for avoiding trap damage, also Blur is pretty good too. The other common problem for solo characters is being out-numbered by powerful enemies. While summoning a few weak monsters can help, what you really need to do to turn the odds, is to use Charm, Chaos, Confusion, etc so that the bad guys are fighting amongst themselves. If all else fails, then there is usually the option to go invisible and walk right past the problem - after all you hardly need the experience and your inventory is probably full - so why are you fighting them in the first place?

It is to the last comment that you really need to address the issue of soloing with a bard. As Midget Gems says, you don't need to defeat everybody, and from a sense of roleplay, perhaps you shouldn't even try.

Thieves have it bad (single class anyway) in terms of proficiencies and equipment. Bards can have a wider selection of weapons and armour; they can even use composite bows which is a huge advantage on its own. Spells can make up for the shortfall in terms of actual thiefly skills, so there isn't too big a problem by being without them. Thieves have no such access to these spells.

As a solo thief you fight alone. As a solo bard you do not have to.

Fighting is inevitable in games such as these - even if only to complete a quest and remove an end-of-level bad guy. For the most part thieves and bards should avoid conflict. Afterall, if they don't, shouldn't we have gone for a fighter in the first place?

I tried soloing a thief. It was TOUGH. Worse then the Bard. Solo Cleric fell apart. Solo Ranger/Cleric did pretty darn good.

But the Bard was probably the most fun. It was challenging in some parts, mind numbingly easy in others, and fiendishly HARD in some parts. Not having ToSC probably did not help much. Agie's Scorcher makes short work of the Firewine Bridge dungeon, fill up a hallway with a long line of kobolds and fire away.

The enchanted throwing axe is pretty much the uber weapon for a solo Bard, tis a pity you get it so late in the game.

On the spoiler side...don't read the rest if you don't want to get spoiled.
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::hopes that nobody will try to be "helpful" and elaborate::
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Makes me wonder if providing a weapon like that via CLUA would be feasible in solo situations. Something like a "You killed Daerevorn and flooded the mines! You spoke to Elminster in Baldur's Gate, and a weapon magically appears!"

Do Bards ever get high enough to cast haste without the benefit of removing the xp cap????Another question would be, "Does the 'Bard Song' affect summoned monsters?" If the answer to both of these questions is yes then it seems to me that a Bard with a wand of monster summoning who summons monsters, then hastes them, then hides in the shadows and sings the song over and over would result in a not too bad fighting force...Is this correct or do I have Bards all wrong?

Only a bit - bards don't have stealth ability.
If they had, they would be powerful.
But they DO have a backstab.

Bards can cast one level 3 spell at level 7 (2 at level 10). AFAIK their song and their spell should affect summoned creatures. I don't see why not, but I don't usually bother with the tactic, so if someone else knows better, then please inform the ignorant amongst us!

Bards are versatile; not having backstab is a minor annoyance. If you search on this board you'll see many debates that extoll the virtues of the mage and how their abilities can compensate (if not improve upon) a thief's abilities. In fact, the only thing that spells in BG cannot improvise is pick pockets, and bards get that anyway.

A half dozen or so ogres and a few Hobgoblins backed with a singing spectre (Invisible bard singing) was enough to wear down Saravok and his cronies. In the end, Saravok fell to a fatal flung axe blow to the head.

Summoned monsters and bard song will chew through most anything in the game.

for vanilla bg i can see a bard managing it and completing all quests too, but durlags tower and aec'letec is a tougher proposal or even ww island, anyone managed that?

I didn't take the time to read each and every reply, but I did read about half of them, and here's my two cents. My first solo ever was a Bard. I used bows and longswords(Eagle Bow and Varscona). I had on the Bracers AC:6, a RoP +2, Boots of Speed, Girdle of Piercing, and don't remember much else. But one thing I do remember is using Algernon's Cloak A LOT. Now that I think about it, I'm gonna start up another one tonight and see how it goes.

Actually, from what i read in this thread, bards do have a backstab multiplier.