[Aerich]

Hmmm, do you have HoW? If you do, try to have enough patience to get that bard up to lvl 11 - they get a song that makes up for all the problems. Bards aren't terribly worth it in IWD without HoW, though.

I've played with bards in regular IWD as well as HoW-altered IWD, and they're not THAT bad. They were never meant to be powerhouse characters, but they are good fill-ins.

If you have a bard try this:

Never add to your thief's PP skill - the bard will cover it - that should make your thief more effective, especially if it is a dual- or multiclass (and it should be).

Also give the bard some spells that are dependent on level and have no upper limit (like Skull Trap, Melf's Acid Arrow, etc). For the purposes of duration and spell power, the bard level is used for the mage level - and bards level up quicker.

And you don't have to babysit the bard. Just leave him in back and have him run away from attackers, or cast a simple Mirror Image and charge into melee.