[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: 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.

I was "Stoneskin-less" until escaping from the Chateau - which was extremely frustrating. I was high enough to cast 4th level spells, but couldn't find any in the Chateau. That was the first purchase I made once I made it to the Promenade. I now carry Improved Invisibility and Stoneskin as my two 4th level spells.

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: 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...

I have tried stealing but haven't had much success. I only have a 40% chance and the Skald's PickPocket skills do not increase. I have been buying Potions of Thievery to improve my chances and I plan to do exactly what you're talking about when I have enough potions to give myself the edge. The only serious money I've spent so far is to pay for the magic license. Yeah, I know I could just fight the Cowled Wizards and eventually get to cast spells free of charge - but that doesn't fit with this character's personality. My evil Jester, on the other hand, isn't gonna pay one thin dime to those Cowled Hooligans. Of course, he is the type of person that would kill a Cowled Wizard (or anybody else for that matter) just for the sheer fun of it. The fact that he can kill Cowled Wizards AND save money at the same time is just icing on the cake.

As for my bard's fighting strategy, I have NO problem running away. I did that plenty of times in Chateau. In fact, I went back to finish killing off some of the spawned duergar I had left behind, then finally decided it just wasn't worth the trouble. I would have to rest after each battle and that would just spawn two more of them, so I didn't see that I would ever get ahead. Sure, I would have eventually killed them all, but it would have taken a long time and used up all of my Healing potions in the process - so I just left where they were and went the other way. I also tried to just run past the werewolves and shades on the 2nd Level of the Circus (cause I had already used my Improved Invisibility spell earlier). I knew if I could get to the 3rd level and just focus on Kalah, all the other monsters would disappear. I made it, but then I got swarmed by the werewolves on the third level also.

And I freely admit that the player is NOT a master of all trades regarding using spells, potions, scrolls and innate abilities to the best advantage. I've only completed the game once so far, so I'm still learning a lot of new tricks as I go along.

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: 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... ...

I do summon the Moose and Nymphs from the Acorns for the big fights. I used them to help defeat all the Slaver Guards in the Copper Coronet and I have them in reserve in case I need them against Mencar. But I'm trying to defeat him and his crew without summoning them if I can. I also gave a LOT of thought to buying a "Monster Summoning II" scroll instead of Improved Invisibility, but decided the I.I. would be far more valuable to my bard right now.

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: 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.

I definitely need Boots of Speed. I'm trying to always have a couple of Potions of Speed on hand and I also use my "Draw Upon Holy Might" (innate ability) if I think there is even a CHANCE of being caught in melee. Boots of Speed would be sweeeeeet right now. I'm already 12th level and will be 13th level by the time I kill Mencar and Co. Exactly which quest will give me the Boots of Speed? (I can always look it up if you don't want to tell me). Once I start the quest, I will be happy for you to elaborate on the tactics I should use.

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: 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.

Trust me, I'm a big believer in stealth. Like I said, the first 4th level spell I took was Improved Invisibility.

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: 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*

Ok, now that is a trick I haven't thought of yet. To be honost, I thought the Bard's song was pretty useless in a solo game since he can't do anything else while singing. I can see how it would be a good benefit in a party, but not so useful in a solo game. I also don't have a way to create a clone right now, but once I get Simulucrum, I'll give it a try.

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: 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.

I've already mentioned that Dire Charm was my bard's favorite spell in the Chateau and it continues to be used heavily. I did get a scroll with Emotion on it and wrote into my spellbook immediately. I got a Web scroll in the circus, but haven't found a scroll for Slow or Haste yet.

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: 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.

I definitely prefer to Snipe instead of melee'- Tuigen bow is currently my best friend. I plan to add the Light Crossbow of Speed to expand my Sniping abilities. But sometimes melee is unavoidable. When you go to the 2nd level of the circus, the werewolves immediately swarm to you. After a couple of Reloads, I got around that by using my Wand of Monster Summoning (from the Chateau) and having monsters spawn right behind the werewolves. I then ran around so that the Summoned Monsters were between me and the werewolves. That worked great because the werewolves continued fighting the Summoned Baddies instead of following me. I then lured the other werewolves from the middle of the room to the Summoned Melee group and left them there too. Then I backed off and hit the group with a Stinking Cloud. This allowed me to use the Tuigen bow to pick off the monsters one or two at a time. And when some escaped the cloud, I could concentrate on them without worrying about their buddies.

With Mencar and his group, I'm attacking them with Stinking Cloud before they turn hostile. Again, this gives me the chance to focus on one or two of them while the others recover from the effects of the cloud. On my first try, I also lured Smaliev Orcslicer downstairs and then outside. Once I had some room to run, I just ran in circles by going up the stairs, running over to the next staircase, going down, and then back over to the first staircase again. This allowed me to stay out of Orcslicers reach and also let me get far enough ahead of him to turn and fire a few arrows his way before continuing to flee. It did take a little while to kill him, but I took almost NO damage from the encounter (except for a couple of times when I tried to fire one more arrow instead of running on ahead a bit and he got close enough to slice me). The odd thing was that - when I went back inside the Seven Vales Inn, another Orcslicer was still there at the foot of the stairs leading to their room. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] . I tried to just run around inside the inn and snipe at him, but he was able to hit me more often in such confined quarters and eventually killed me.

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: So there you go... a little insight on how I myself play Bards.

I do appreciate the advice Dundee This is my first time playing a Bard and I do have a tendency to advance when I should retreat (or at least flank and cast). Thanks for all the tips and advice.

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: 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.

Actually, I hadn't even noticed it till you mentioned it.

[ 07-16-2004, 01:30 PM: Message edited by: Cerek the Barbaric ]