Starting Chapter 4 ? (! Spoiler ! Do not read if you have not got that far in the game !)

[Bahamut]

Bard to me is the most difficult because you have to learn one art that is the easiest to say yet hardest to do-BALANCE. Almost everyone is at least focused to one class, bards do lotsa stuff. And with the exp cap, Bards are hard...

[Moiraine]

I play currently 2 BGII games in parallel : one in solo with my Bard Althalus, and one in multiplayer with my husband, where he is a mighty fighter and I am a Conjurer. I prefer mono-class characters because they are very proficient at what it is they do. Or just a touch of fighting skills for a mage so that he(she) does not fall stupidly at the first sword cut. Plus it is very frustrating to see my Bard doing nothing in almost all battles (yes, I know, he sings ...), and it is very odd to have a party leader always behind when we travel. I think playing a Bard in AD&D must be fun, but in computer RPG, it is not for today.

[Yorick]

Bards are great! They can use LONGBOWS for a start, plus Halberds, bastard swords and chainmail, so they fight better than thieves. As a second mage they're not much worse than a multi classed mage (as a PC they should have 18 intelligence for a start). Their Identification ability frees up Mage #1's 1st lvl spells, and pickpocketing is actually very useful. (In the docks you can sell stolen items!!!!)

In fighting Bhaal use summoning spells and act like a magic user or thief would. These two classes are able to beat Bhaal, so a Bard should.

A useful item if you can buy it is the rod of resurrection. It totally heals you even if you're down in health but still alive. Try it. Quick and easy. Great for fighting Dragons, Bhaal etc.

Also Bards can make great leaders. Doesn't the leaders' Charisma affect party morale? Normally a good Bard should have at least 18 chsma, plus 18 dex and 18 intel.

I loved them and found only the Monk more enjoyable.

Also I hope your husband realises what a rare and precious thing it is for you two to play together. I had a hard time convincing my (ex)wife to let me play BG1 alone let alone having her share the enjoyment. I read a thread a while back that listed the various posts of couples that played together and it made me cry.

I'd better stop.....damned reality.

Once you bring him to Imoen are you waiting for her dialog? No matter what class you are, you can't kill him without her(right?). You need to lead him to her, and after she talks to you again(with him there) then you can damage him enough to end the dream, but you have to initiate the last dialog sequence with Imoen before you can beat him....remember, you can't do it alone...

[Moiraine]

Yeah, that is true, I sort of punish myself with "No Dungeon" !

I play a Thief (a girl-thief named Althala, because of Althalus, you know, David Eddings !) and a Cleric.
The Thief is my favourite character : It is nice to have no morality at all, to pick a lock with a snap of a finger, to loot other people's houses in the middle of the night, and to cheat everybody, including the other party members ! Nothing at all like the real life ...
In my memory, the Cleric was not very fun to play, that is why I decided not to give him to my son (bag of Cures ...). But with AD&D 3, I think it will be more fun, because a lot of annoying things in the previous AD&D have been improved :
The Cleric is no longer compelled to memorize only Cure spells, because for each spell memorized, he can exchange it for any Cure spell of the same level or below at any time.
Plus, the Cleric chooses a God, who grants him special powers, depending on the God (I have chosen a God who gives me the Luck and the Travel powers. A power is a special ability plus a specific additional spell at every level. The Luck special ability : I can reroll any dice roll once per day ! (And my husband-DM grumbles ...)
Plus, he can choose any weapon he wants (generally, he chooses the favourite weapon of his God, and in my case, it is the longsword)
Sorry to answer late, but I am at work, and in a very very very very long meeting ..
So long, good night.

[Bahamut]

Geez... sometimes I envy those couples who play and are in this forum... RPGs ain't popular here in the Philippines, but I know people who are... but my love ain't one of them...

[omegadawn]

Carefully Read Imowen's dialogue thread in the dream, She gives a clue to "killing" Bhaal, Or scroll down for a complete spoiler.
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I did like 1000 points of damage to him too, and he only finally died in "sight" of Imowen after the second time I talked to her. He will not die unless she is in Bhaal's melee line of sight. She says as much. Since she come toyou when she sees you, when I played again I drew her closer to the main door in front of the stairs before the First time I talked to her, so when Bhaal followed me inside I had alot of room to manuver around Imowen. Even with a lowly sorcerer with the horn of vahalla and spider summons, plus magic missle to boot, it took less than a turn( 10 rnds) to defeat him. Oh, yeah haste and stonekin beforehand Totally!

And yes Bhaal does "die" in a sense, symbolic of the protaginist's "inner-beast" dying, there by giving Irenicus the unprotected soul. In the dream your essentially tricked into defeating yourself, by slaying the gaurdian of your soul(Bhaal). At least thats my interpretation of that part of the story.(which I think is good, despite the critisms)

[Moiraine]

And, as a mother, you know what ? I have found the best threat of punishment ever : "No Dungeon this week-end !"
And it works big time (Yes, I have applied it once).
I stink, eh ?

hmm, most people would propably think the other way around more of a threat: "the dungeon this week-end". My parents used it on me all the time. well actually it was my room but my cleaning skills were such that it´s propably the closest thing modern life will ever come to a dungeon.

[Yorick]

I guess that shows the truth of when a parent punishes a child and says "Now this will hurt me more than it will you..." (LOL)

Moiraine what are your two pen and paper characters in your new campain? (You mentioned your son had a Dwarf fighter and Elf mage.) When I used to DM I used to make sure I had a character of mine travelling with the party as an NPC.