POLL: Are Bards useful?

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How many people out there use Bards in their parties? Do you think them useful or, like me, that they're a waste of spece? And if you do use them, in what role? Singer, spellcaster or fighter?

Poll Information
This poll contains 2 question(s). 49 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Are Bards useful? (49 votes.)

Do you think Bards are a must-have? (Choose 1)
* Yes, absolutely. - 41% (20)
* No, never use one. - 59% (29)

If you do include a Bard, in what role is he (primarily) used? (Choose 1)
* Singer - 55% (27)
* Spellcaster - 27% (13)
* Fighter - 18% (9)

 

If I want a...

- Tank
I'd rather take a Fighter, Barbarian or Paladin.

- Spellcaster
I'd rather take a Sorcerer or possibly a Wizard.

- Spellsword
I'd rather take a Fighter/Wizard or Paladin/Sorcerer or Cleric etc.

- Singer
I've probably lost it and need to be slapped.

 

I always take a bard.

And bards rock. They rock harder at the upper levels than they do at the lower levels, though.

 

Ah yes, the vaunted "they rock" argument!
But why does the bard rock so much?

What is the alternative cost of taking a Bard? (Translated: Could another character "rock" more?)

 

He rocks because he's singing rock not pop or black(if he's a drow actually he can sing black also)

On topic:I love bards something like Bard 11\sorcerer X - it has simlply terrific amount of spells and also more different, because what you cannot take with sorcerer you take as bard.They are good healers too.

[ December 08, 2002, 03:13: Message edited by: AlexGK ]

 

I like their spell casting ability. And they can handle more weapons (by default) than a sorcerer. And they get several dialogues that are character specific.

The songs are nice at the higher levels. They don't give a massive bonus, but it's enough to make your entire party noticably more effective in actually hitting what they are swinging at.

As far as spellcasting, they get some very excellent summoning spells, and some area effect fire based spells. Levels 7 and 8.

Bards cannot hold their own like a pure fighter or wizard can. They are NOT a substitute.

But for the Good of the Party, they are excellent choices.

I will go so far as to say that a bard is more useful than a ranger, IN Icewind Dale 2.

That may not hold up in Baldur's Gate, or Board D&D. But in the IwD2, they are.

I.e. They rock.

 

i will always say : use a bard !

they have healing spells like cleric and summon spells like mage ( except SU) and a lot of mind effecting (useless to me except countercharm) spells.

if you have a bard you can quickly remove fear in battle by playing grunghi song and of course you have the allmighty, though weakened compared to iwd1, warsong of sith (<-- correct engl term ?)

 

Bard doesn't fit into my strategies. Sure, i do need the immune fear song sometime, but i don't sacrifice a character slot for a 'sometime useful person'. i use animate undead a lot and these undead cannot hear a thing. my fighters are just dummies standing to throw in a hammer or two.

 

In my first party (I have 3) I have a bard who is brilliant, she is an Elf, she uses a longbow and longsword for close combat. Her spells are brilliant and she can cast a lot with charisma at 20

She is very fun and cool

 

if i remember correct mighty boneguard (undead) has no selfregeneration. but it does regenerate under warsong of sith

 

I always take along a Bard, and then dual class to a Sorcerer. So he ends up as my main caster, but can also sing, and carry out the rogue type skills for the party.
So I no longer need to take a rogue with me.

 

Well, that isn't really saying much, since Rangers suck big-time in IWD2. The ability to dual-wield at first level is cool, but there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to have anyone with more than one level of Ranger in your party.

And don't start muttering about Favoured Enemy; those bonuses tend to be outdated when you need them. Taking orcs or goblins to begin with is nice, but you'll never see any again after Chapter 1, and so towards the end of the game you'll have a 16th-level Ranger with +5 vs. orcs, who'll never see one again and who could kill 4 per round even without the bonus...

 

I have come to think of bards as needing "fine tuning" (no pun intended). I fell in love with the Blade kit in BG2 and so I feel that multiclassing in IWD2 makes a good "semi-bard". Good choices would be either fighter or ranger, the dualwield would be good, or rogue. I imagine a rogue multiclassed bard as an assassin with the Envenom weapon. I also imagine a "spellcaster" bard by multiclassing to sorcerer since they both cast spells from CHA. I also imagine multiclassing with paladin, for the same reason.

One of my favourite IWD2 characters in my Gold dwarf Bard...

Bad choices in multiclassing can make them suck big time. One huge mistake I made and regretted the whole way, was "celtic" druid/bard. He was "krappe" and crap. Bad, bad move. So, if you do multiclass the bard, and I recommend that, don't pick a class that will not get much power. Otherwise your "messed up" character will be crap and then our friend Earl Grey will be proved correct...

[ December 07, 2002, 16:00: Message edited by: Khazraj ]

 

First of all, I am offended by this:

Now, back on topic!

I have tried bards a few times, and never seem to use them very much - they don't fit my style of play, i guess you could say. Maybe if I found the right multiclass combo...

 

Bards are definitely not a "must have" as the poll question puts it.

In fact, it all depends on the game, but in more games than not, I felt that a good fighter and a good thief were the only "must haves".
Then again, I've played many games without spellcasters at all in the beginning, because I found having to rest after every battle just sucks.

"Quint" my avatar, is actually my NWN monk. He laughed in the face of all spellcasters. Even the most powerful couldn't touch him. He used to just stand there doing nothing while they throw all their spells on him, until they had no more spells left and came at him with their daggers!
Then he hit once, and that was enough.

Singers you say?

 

@Falstaff,
why offended?it was just a joke

 

you cannot do that, alignment restriction.

 

Oops. forgot about that. It is so easy to do with the 3E multiclassing rules...

Anyway, let's just imagine...or use Weimer mods...

 

@Bloodtitan... Check out Weimer's Mods. There is a Non-Combat War Chant of Sith 'cheat' that you can install. You can take a look here: http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/index_editors.php

Regarding the poll.

"Do you think Bards are a must-have?"

I voted no. You can easily get through IWD2 without a Bard. To be more specific, Bards aren't a "must have" in any of the other games, i.e. BG, BG2 etc. They are more of a handy addition to a party. More so in IWD2 and BG2 (a Blade of course) then in any other of the games.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Bards, and have been since the very first PnP session I played some 14 years ago. Obviously the first PnP character I ever played was a Bard. It was a good time. Anyway, I always include a Bard in one of my trips through these games, but I usually don't have one in my party the first time through. As was stated, they aren't a "must have" in order to beat the game.

"If you do include a Bard, in what role is he (primarily) used?"

I voted Singer, but that's a generic description to say the least. I'm on my 2nd trip through IWD2 and I'm playing with a 4 member posse. One of them is a Bard. To be more specific, Shadowfax a Female Tiefling: Ranger 1/Rogue 2/Bard x. I've been using her as fighter/singer/spellcaster. A combo of the three. I have her dual-weilding daggers and during battle I basicaly keep her up close to my fighters while she stands around jammin' The Battle of Three Heroes (can't play War Chant yet) for a while. From there she has a few options. Throw down in melee or cast a spell or two.

I'll probably give her another level of Rouge for the Envenom Weapon feat and more Sneak Attack damage. I also like to have her invisible and then Sneak Attack an enemy. I plan on taking her through HoF so I'm not worried about the 20% penatly to XP gained (She's only 1 level behind everyone else) plus I'm using Weimer's mods. Suggestions are welcome of course. If anyone has any ideas on how to advance her let me know. She's still young, I just completed chapter 2.

Bottom line, in IWD2 with the 3 Ed. rules (not sure how accurate they are, don't have the 3 Ed. PHB) I think Bards are at their best when multi-classed with a Ranger or Rogue. With the proper skills and high CHR and/or INT they can make a great "spokesman" for the party. They can come in handy and are fun to play. Oh yeah I almost forgot, Bards ROCK!

[ December 08, 2002, 12:55: Message edited by: Thorongil ]

 

For the first time I'm taking a bard through one of these games.

Never used one in BG/BG2 or IWD, so I thought with this game: "I'm going to have a fun, different party". So a bard is in, a druid is in, cleric is out since I trusted the bard and druid to handle the healing.

I'm probably not using either of them as well as I could yet, but it's fun to have some more varied options than I used to have with traditional Fighter/wizard/thief/cleric style parties that I've tended to play before.

I'll tell you later if I think he truly rocks, or it's more of a boy band wimper.