Regarding Haer'Dalis I happen to like him. Okay, he doesn't have as good skills as a pure bard does(pick pockets,lore and poor bardsong) but he is still a useful NPC if used correctly.
Yes, his spell selection is pretty poor when you pick him up(no Stonskin!
) but if you have him learn the right spells and use them properly, he rocks!
Haer'Dalis really does come in to his own when he gains 6th level spells but early on he makes a good flank attacker. I just have my Undead Hunter gain the enemies attention and as they attack him he and Haer'Dalis chop it up.
Melfs Minute Meteor(MMM) is a key spell for Haer'Dalis. And once he gains mislead it's time to laugh evilly. [img]graemlins/evillaughter1.gif[/img]
Put a weapon Haer'Dalis is profecient in in his offhand. You now have 5 attacks. Cast mislead followed by MMM now activate offensive spin. You now have six attacks which all deal maximum damage! Attack the ememy, you'll hit them with 4 MMM and your off hand weapon will also hit them twice(even if your not in range!) Not many enemies can survive this!
Also as Leslie pointed out Haer'Dalis makes an excellent tank. Stonskin, mirror image and PFMW improved haste and the grand daddy of them all Tensors Transformation! Haer'Dalis is a bard so gains levels faster than any fighter type charcter this means when Haer'Dalis casts Tensors transformation he can be the highest level warrior possible in your party for a while. I have him cast stoneskin, mirror image, PFMW, improeved haste, offensive spin and then tensers transfomation.
So that creates a warrior who's hit points are doubled(because of Tensors Transformation), and with say Kundane/belm has an extra attack (double that with improved haste) and with stoneskin, PFMW etc he can't be hit.
Haer'Dalis, weak? No. I haven't even talked about the excellent improved bardsong eiher.
Although granted he does take a while to gain 6th level spells(1 at level 16).
But overall a good NPC and one of my favorites apart from Mazzy!