Okay,
Here is my question for you veterans. I have a 3-man party...
rogue2/bard
fighter1/druid
Ranger

I am in goblin fortress and having no problems, but I wonder what are the best picks for the bard spells...the selection is so limited anyway, and you don't get many...what spells do you think, what level...

Thanks.

Sleep, monster summoning, dispel magic, invisibility sphere, detect invisibility, shout.

I think my favourite Bard spell would have to be Mirror Image, with maybe any Charm spell close behind. Once in combat my Bard is always singing, so there's normally not much to do except stand around. So instead I cast Mirror Image and have my Bard act as a decoy, running round in circles singing (and dancing) while my ranged missiles rain down on the enemy. Pretty sad tactics, but effective.

Thanks for the responses...with only a three man party, each decision seems more important. I don't allow any of my characters to play it safe...each has to be engaged with the enemy in whatever form suits them best...I would like them to be as close to even as possible in terms of percentages of experience earned

I was very disappointed with the limited choice of bard spells in the game. I like to play spellcasters as if they were a walking grenade launcher - fireball has to be one of my all time favourite spells. So I was a little frustrated to find my bard could really only do summoning and a few defensive and hold/sleep type spells.

I ended up having the bard in the party not really as a spellcaster, it worked OK because at higher levels the choice of bardsongs is good, better to have them singing to buff the whole party than summoning a low level monster will will last for 1 round if it's lucky.