A Bard's Tale--soloing as a bard

I thought it would be cool to replay the whole game as a bard. Sure, a fighter/thief/mage can do it, but how about a plain ol' bard who can only have bare weapon proficiency and a strength of 18?

That could be interesting. Personally I find bards to be useless. The only reason I had a bard in my party was for his high lore ability. He saved me alot of money and time, and my mage didnt have to waste slots for the identify spell. Other than that I wouldnt have ever put a bard in my party. Not to mention, like you said, only one weapon proficiency slot and a strength of 18.

I liked the bard in Icewind Dale, and I never found mine to be useless through any part of the game. He levelled fast, was a crack shot with a bow, identified items (which meant fewer treks back to town or nights resting to memorize Identify), and picked a few pockets for the good of the party. He was an excellent support character.

That said, I think trying to solo this game with a bard is utter suicide. A bard is a support character, and not really capable of handling the nasty combat that IWD offers on his own. His armor restrictions can't be overcome with dual- or multi- classing, and though he can wield any weapon, he doesn't have a great THAC0, so he's not the most efficient no matter what he's swinging.

So give it a try if you really want, but I don't think you'll get very far in the game with a bard going it on his own.

Here's how I would do it:
Give the bard unlimited acid arrows, a defender bow, the elven chick's bow, and maybe the giving star (maybe the best weapon for soloing), boots of speed, +2 elven chain, and some giant strength potions for use in close combat. (And don't forget that item that has five charges of detect traps) I think the bard could go pretty far by using plenty of mirror image spells, spells like web or grease which slow down meleers, and with judicious use of "Run away!" The bard is a better caster than a fighter/mage/thief, and can have the benefit of getting some buddy beserkers. I just think it'd be cool, after you finish, the bard will be singing songs about himself.