Sudden urge to rant. Some general advice on Bardic tactics.
Stoneskin-less? Too low level to cast it yet? Then it would be prudent to employ more... roguish methods of dispatching your foes. The reason is simple enough, the Bard simply does not have the HP, AC and THAC0 to be an efficient melee combatant by default. The Bard depends
heavily on his arcane know-how to become a formidable opponent. At least 90% of well-known Bardic tactics depend on a spell in one way or another.
So what does this all mean?
Simply put, it means that although the Bard is a jack of all trades, the
player must be a master of all trades to fully utilise the Bard's potential.
Stated like that, the Bard can seem to be a daunting class to excel in, and rightfully so, for it is a very unique class to play with. We are all too familiar with almighty warriors and wizards, who kick butts for a hobby and kill armies with a sneeze. When it comes to bards though, we have Volo.
Steering back to the game though. Initially, you will be running. A lot. Use your Pickpocket ability to steal Oils of Speeds and all manner of potions. This is infinitely more important now that you are soloing. That Potion of Defence grants you a second-hand Full Plate Mail for 10 turns (10 minutes).
STEAL! Don't buy! If you are buying when you could be stealing, you are not exactly maximising your Bard's potential, and wasting valuable gold on stuff when you could be saving up for that Girdle of Hill Giant Strength. This applies to scrolls too. Remember, although your Bard cannot cast level 7-9 spells, he sure can gain XP from scribing them. If your disdain of cheese is minimal... you can fleece the two scroll merchants in Waukeen's Promenade and slaughter Mencar & Co. with an escort of Skeleton Warriors... which brings me to the next point...
SUMMON! Soloing does not mean being lonely. You have access to several of the arcanecasters' best summons. Web + Spider Spawn is a lovely and evergreen spell combination. Especially lethal when you have the Ring of Free Action. At level 15, you can start churning out Skeleton Warriors, possibly one of the most versatile summon in the entire game. At level 16, you can summon the Nishruu to harass enemy spellcasters. In addition, you can use items to summon. Kitthix, Greater Air Elemental, Berserker Warrior, Wyern, etc... ...
SPEED! Try to get the Boots of Speed as soon as possible. You should be able to do the necessary quest comfortably around level 12; especially if you pre-buff with potions and spells before stepping through the portal. If you have difficulties in this quest, I will be glad to elaborate more on tactics.
STEALTH! When in danger, use a spell/item to turn invisible and flee. To retreat may seem cowardly, but cowards live to fight another day. The flip side of this equation is Mislead, where you use invisibility to torment the enemies. I would talk more about the Mislead exploit... but far too many people associate the Bard with it and fail to connect the Bard with his other qualities. A real tragedy in my opinion.
SING! Even if you are a Blade, a song that confers benefits, is a song that confers benefits. There are several ways to sing and fight at the same, the most common tactic being to use a clone to sing for you. Songs also affect summons, so it never hurts to sing. The only quirk comes about when the Jester is involved, as his song is offensive(in more ways than one
). Hmmmm... an NPC Jester called William Hung. *Shudder*
SLASH! TTransformation aside, the Bard is usually not impressive when it comes to melee. This is compensated by his ability to bring the enemy down to his level as well. A Bard can cast disabling spells such as Spook, Web, Slow, Emotion:Hopelessness, Feeblemind, etc... which all have the effect of making the enemy vulnerable, even in a fisticuff fight.
SNIPE! Enemy's too tough for your bard to duke it out in melee? Use ranged attacks to whittle them into submission! With summons and/or sufficient speed, you can use arrows, bolts, darts, meteors, etc... to poke your enemy to death. REMEMBER, it does not matter how long it takes for you to kill the enemy, so long as you DO kill the enemy.
So there you go... a little insight on how I myself play Bards.
Should you happen to notice that all the paragraphs start with the letter, 'S', please take no heed of it. It is not an attempt by this poster to be a... *cough* spoony bard. Actually, I have no idea what 'spoony' means, but it sounds cute.
[ 07-16-2004, 10:19 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]