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NobleNick · 10-16-2003, 03:35 PM

Shotgun,

I believe Lymond was talking about the analysis I did about a year ago. Hope you liked it. It took a while with a lot of help from old hands to sort it out.

Ther is a lot of raving about how good a Bard is in IWD. From what I undrstand, they are much more powerful and versatile than in other recent RPG games. Here is an excerpt from one of my recent posts on the subject...

************************************************** ************

The Bard: If (and only if) you have HoW installed the Bard (and the Druid) becomes a much tougher hombre. The Bard can melee a little better than a thief; but if you use him for that you are missing the point. The Bard is almost as good a magic user as a multi-classed mage. But even better than that, he can sing. Songs include tunes that give your gruop increased resistance to fear, increased resistance to sound attacks, enthrall enemies, and the BIG one: War Chant of the Sith, which gives all your party (that remain relatively close to the Bard) +2 bonus to armor class, +2 bonus to THAC0 and +2 HPs of regeneration per round. Healing up after a fight is snap with this song, so you only need to rest to regain spells and fight fatigue; and your clerics can ditch most of their "cure ___ wounds" spells and use the slots for other useful spells.

Let me put it another way: You take 3 Fighters and pit them against 2 Fighters and a Bard singing the War Chant. All 5 Fighters are, say, level 9 and have equal stats (before the Bard starts singing). Who will win? I hope you guessed it.

If the Bard has the Bardic horn of Valhalla (available for purchase in Kuldahar), then the Bard and 2 Fighters would almost certainly whip even a party of 4 equal Fighters. Don't forget that the Bard also has the capability to scribe any of the full range of all mage spells, like fireball, skull trap, magic arrow, Cone Of Cold, Ag.'s Scorcher, Lightning Bolt, oh and let's not forget Malavon's Rage. (One of my favorite tricks is to have my Bard cast Stoneskin, Mirror Image AND Blur; then sing War Chant while monsters pound harmlessly on her... and the fighters pound mercilessly on the monsters!) Yes, If I had to pick one of these parties to duel with another experienced player, I would certainly want to enter the fight running the Bard's smaller party. And the Bard would never draw a weapon. That's why I say:

What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!

P.S. Not that I'm recommending a party with fewer "fighters" (Fighters, Paladins, Rangers, Druids, etc.): A Bard is best in a Fighter-heavy party, since the effect of her songs are multiplied by the greater number of Fighters who can take advantage of them.

10-16-2003, 03:35 PM	#26
NobleNick Quintesson Join Date: February 5, 2002 Location: Huntsville, AL, USA Age: 65 Posts: 1,045	Shotgun, I believe Lymond was talking about the analysis I did about a year ago. Hope you liked it. It took a while with a lot of help from old hands to sort it out. Ther is a lot of raving about how good a Bard is in IWD. From what I undrstand, they are much more powerful and versatile than in other recent RPG games. Here is an excerpt from one of my recent posts on the subject... ************************************************ ******** The Bard: If (and only if) you have HoW installed the Bard (and the Druid) becomes a much tougher hombre. The Bard can melee a little better than a thief; but if you use him for that you are missing the point. The Bard is almost as good a magic user as a multi-classed mage. But even better than that, he can sing. Songs include tunes that give your gruop increased resistance to fear, increased resistance to sound attacks, enthrall enemies, and the BIG** one: War Chant of the Sith, which gives all your party (that remain relatively close to the Bard) +2 bonus to armor class, +2 bonus to THAC0 and +2 HPs of regeneration per round. Healing up after a fight is snap with this song, so you only need to rest to regain spells and fight fatigue; and your clerics can ditch most of their "cure ___ wounds" spells and use the slots for other useful spells. Let me put it another way: You take 3 Fighters and pit them against 2 Fighters and a Bard singing the War Chant. All 5 Fighters are, say, level 9 and have equal stats (before the Bard starts singing). Who will win? I hope you guessed it. If the Bard has the Bardic horn of Valhalla (available for purchase in Kuldahar), then the Bard and 2 Fighters would almost certainly whip even a party of 4 equal Fighters. Don't forget that the Bard also has the capability to scribe any of the full range of all mage spells, like fireball, skull trap, magic arrow, Cone Of Cold, Ag.'s Scorcher, Lightning Bolt, oh and let's not forget Malavon's Rage. (One of my favorite tricks is to have my Bard cast Stoneskin, Mirror Image AND Blur; then sing War Chant while monsters pound harmlessly on her... and the fighters pound mercilessly on the monsters!) Yes, If I had to pick one of these parties to duel with another experienced player, I would certainly want to enter the fight running the Bard's smaller party. And the Bard would never draw a weapon. That's why I say: What's a party, without a song? Bards ROCK! Party On!! P.S. Not that I'm recommending a party with fewer "fighters" (Fighters, Paladins, Rangers, Druids, etc.): A Bard is best in a Fighter-heavy party, since the effect of her songs are multiplied by the greater number of Fighters who can take advantage of them.