Do blades get any good in Throne Of Bhaal

Remove all ads!

I tried playing with a blade through SoA (with the guide for tips), but found it quite tricky. I found it to become not as overpowered as some of the other classes can (fighter, mage,sorcerer etc.). Im gonna try going through Tob With it, but are there any decent, bard-only items that make life that bit more enjoyable. I orignally found watchers keep to hard to get through, so any items there are new to me. Any ideas?

 

Bards suck imho but ToB will see your Bard become reasonably powerful but no, not as powerful as some of the other classes you mentioned.

 

I can't wait until Scythesong sees this post.

If you're soloing, you'll be pretty overpowered. If you're in a party, then I agree that Blades suck.

 

Of course bards dont suck. They are not as overpowered as sorcerers, thats all. So what. I think they are extremely useful, not extremely powerful. Nonetheless, they could take on most classes.
*ducks flames & fireballs*

On topic.
You can get the Wonderous Gloves (find the Bards Gloves in Watchers Keep and Cespenar will upgrade them). They are bards only items. Additional spells, bonus to AC & Thaco, if I am not mistaken.

 

Well mate, I'm not sure if you are totally against cheese or not...anyway, I'll just post my two cents here. I have played a solo Blade (with ToB installed of course) through SoA and ToB, also after reading Scythesong's guide!

Anyway, I couldnt play him through ToB because gameplay got SO boring!! He had godly stats with (IIRC) 19 in CON, 19 in DEX, 20 STR. He had something like 10 Spike Traps, 2 or 3 Time Traps, Improved Bard Song and Use Any Item.

Whenever he came across a mage, he'd whip out Carsomyr +5 or even Staff of the Magi to dispel all their protections. I used SotM when I needed the invisibility, Carsomyr when I needed the THAC0 boost.

True, a lot of the Blade's power comes from his items...but WHAT awesome power he can have in TOB!

Once you get Improved Bard Song, abuse it! Abuse it how much ever you can! Use all your spell slots for Mislead and maybe one Prot. from Magic Weapons and one Improved Haste.Use your Mislead clones to sing away! Also use the Simulacrum from Vhailor's Helm to sing away!

If you can get about five clones singing...man, you have a LOT of bonuses...like Scythesong said...you could use Aerie and beat down Dragons with a plain ol' Quarterstaff!

Abuse your higher character level...use Skull Traps instead of Fireballs, Remove Magic instead of Breach, etc etc. Mirror Image will last all day once you hit lvl 20! (almost)

Well...the point is, you dont NEED specific Bard Items. You can use all the items there are in the game! Use them to obliterate enemies!

I hope I didn't sound too much like a Blade fanboy...but those guys rule! Scythesong's got me converted now...

 

@ Faraaz -
Wow, that's quite a list. My only ToB bard experience is having Haer'dalis in the party for a short time, so I sort of ignored him. It looks like the only way to get the full blade experience is to solo or take a small party. Gotta say, I'm tempted to try a solo blade now.


[Edit - put the wrong name in. oops.]

 

What!?! Who dares?

I assume you're playing a party, since Rastor pretty much summed up how good Blades are in one.

So what's with the Bard being less overpowered than a fighter? Bards will always be better fighters than anything in SoA save Kensai-kin(won't risk angering Shura just yet... ). Tenser's Transformation sees to that. The only thing you'll be missing will be the fighter's number of attacks per round, which a few spells and items should compensate for. If your like doing major damage, Offensive Spin will end any arguement. Otherwise, a stat-draining item like the Chaos Blade or Kachiko's Wakizashi should silence most of your foes in a few seconds.

This is the Blade's greatest strength - going on a dual-wielding, buffed up melee rampage in the 12 rounds or so where only a Kensai-Mage could have bested him (or maybe a Kensai, as long as he's not the center of attention). All the remaining bonuses are complimentary - the ability to cast spells up to level 6 and at max level spell effectiveness (all the best buffing spells are below level 7), the high lore (which is devastating roleplay-wise), the ability to steal and pickpocket (instant overpowerment right after escaping Irenicus' Dungeon), the ability to use just about everything and the ability to level up like there's no tommorow.
To sum that all up what you get is a Fighter/Mage/Thief who sacrifices versatility for intensity.

Solo, he and the F/M/T are the easiest to go through the game with, with him being easier once you raise the difficulty a bit more after hardcore.

In ToB, a fully buffed-up Blade will annihilate anything that's not a fighter/mage or a Mage/Sorcerer. Read the guide to find out how.

 

Where is the guide?

 

Well, who could say, I have a feeling Scythesong would come in and do the Blades a justice!
And, as much as I am not a fan of those singing freaks of nature, I have to agree with Scythesong Immortal, the Blades are a fearsome bunch of freaky hombres in ToB.

No pun intended Scythesong!

 

None taken.
As long as their power is recognized, I wouldn't really care.

On second thought, maybe I would...
But not at the moment, at least.