TGDB.net - Game news, cheats, solutions, walkthroughs, trainers, saved games and much more!

Bard Spells
                                 ===========

         -----------------------------------------------------------
         |  Level  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |
         -----------------------------------------------------------
         |   18    |  4  |  4  |  4  |  3  |  3  |  2  |  -  |  -  |
         |   19    |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  3  |  2  |  -  |  -  |
         |   20    |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  3  |  -  |  -  |
         |   21    |  5  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  3  |  -  |  -  |
         |   22    |  5  |  5  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  3  |  -  |  -  |
         |   23    |  5  |  5  |  5  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  -  |  -  |
         |   24    |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  -  |
         |   25    |  5  |  5  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  -  |
         |   26    |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  -  |
         |   27    |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  4  |  -  |
         |   27    |  6  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  -  |
         |   27    |  6  |  6  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  1  |
         |   30    |  6  |  6  |  6  |  6  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  1  |
         -----------------------------------------------------------
|   Though it looks like an error, the number of spells   |
|   shown for Level 24 is correct.                        |
         -----------------------------------------------------------


The Heart of Winter expansion pack makes the Bard a formidable spellcaster, in addition to his already powerful skills.  Let's compare how a Bard rates against a mage (not a Specialist) in the area of number of spells per level:


         -----------------------------------------------------------
|              Level 18 Bard - 1,760,000 exp.             |
         -----------------------------------------------------------
         |  Level  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |
         -----------------------------------------------------------
         |   18    |  4  |  4  |  4  |  3  |  3  |  2  |  -  |  -  |
         -----------------------------------------------------------

         -----------------------------------------------------------
|              Level 14 Mage - 1,760,000 exp.             |
         -----------------------------------------------------------
         |  Level  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |
         -----------------------------------------------------------
         |   14    |  5  |  5  |  5  |  4  |  4  |  2  |  1  |  -  |
         -----------------------------------------------------------


Not a lot of difference, is there?  Let's look at one more example:


         -----------------------------------------------------------
|              Level 30 Bard - 4,400,000 exp.             |
         -----------------------------------------------------------
         |  Level  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |
         -----------------------------------------------------------
         |   30    |  6  |  6  |  6  |  6  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  1  |
         -----------------------------------------------------------

      -----------------------------------------------------------------
|                 Level 21 Mage - 4,400,000 exp.                |
      -----------------------------------------------------------------
      |  Level  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |
      -----------------------------------------------------------------
      |   21    |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  5  |  4  |  4  |  4  |  2  |
      -----------------------------------------------------------------


NOTE: The Spell Progression table for Mages has been fixed in Patch 1.41.
See the Things You Should Know section at the beginning of this document to learn what has been changed.  This will affect all mages Level 21 and higher.


Again, there isn't a great deal of difference here between the Bard and the
Mage, with respect to spellcasting.  However, the above Mage still has nine levels in which he will gain more spells per level, while the Bard will remain maxed out at 30.  Also note that the Bard will never be able to cast Level 9 spells, while the Mage will eventually be able to cast 4 Level 9 spells before having to rest.  Despite these drawbacks, the Bard makes an excellent backup Mage for ANY party.  And don't forget some of the Bard's other advantages:

1. Bards can gain a proficiency point in ANY type of weapon, although he can't place more than one point in each slot.
2. Bards have the highest Lore score of any class.  Even by Level 11, the
Bard's Lore score is incredibly high.  The Lore score, in case you don't know, is used to determine if the character can identify a magic item without the aid of magic.  You Bard, by Level 11, should be able to
Identify almost any magic item without casting Identify.  Not needing to cast Identify means more room for two other great Level 1 spells: Magic
Missile and Chromatic Orb!
3. Bards can pickpocket.  This ability will increase with every level.
What this means is that, if you have a Thief in your party, you will not put any points in Pickpocketing, allowing you to place the points in other skills.
4. There is an item in the game called the Unstrung Harp.  It can only be used by Bards.  What it does is casts Heal once per day.  What this means is, if you also have a higher level cleric in your party, you can potentially bring two of your characters who are injured back up to full hit points.  VERY valuable item!
5. Finally, Bards will have several opportunities during the course of the game to earn experience that can only be obtained with a Bard.


The Druid
---------

The Druid has always been, in my opinion, a very interesting character class.  Almost, but not quite a Fighter.  Almost, but not quite a Cleric.
However, unlike the Ranger, who will be discussed later, the Druid is a
POWERFUL combination of Fighter and Druid - and that is without Dual- or
Multi-Classing him.

In previous Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale games, the Druid could not go beyond
Level 14.  This is, presumably, because the game designers were not sure how to properly implement the Druid's natural "super" abilities.  What this would result in is a character who is somewhat weaker than the other classes due to the fact that he gains fewer levels of experience.  Well, that has been changed in the Heart of Winter expansion pack.  Your Druid, should you choose to accept him, will be able to achieve Level 30 just like the other characters.  In order to do this, the game designers pretty much changed a normal Druid's abilities, and gave him new ones instead.  Unlike some of the other new abilities that the characters have received, these are pretty useful.  In my opinion, they are not as good as the Bardic songs, but are better than any of the other new abilities.

The following is a list of the special abilities the Druid gains through leveling up, until he reaches Level 15:

1. The Druid can now shapechange as early as Level 5.  At every other level of experience until Level 15, he will gain a new transformation.
2. The Druid receives immunity to poison at Level 9.
3. They can transform into Elementals beginning at Level 11.
4. At Level 15, the Druid achieves the Timeless Body.  This makes him immune to ALL types of fatigue.

The Druid's shapechanging ability is still not the most powerful ability in the game.  However, there is a new addition to shapechanging that proves to be
VERY useful.  When a Druid changes form (from human to creature, or the reverse) he is healed of some of his injuries.  This essentially is equivalent to 6 free curing spells.  By changing into one of the 6 possible transformations, you will change some of your stats.  Below are the changes you will undergo by morphing into a given form.  Your character's level of experience, armor and weapons, and AC are not taken into consideration when changing form.


Stats for Shapechange Creatures
                       ===============================

        --------------------------------------------------------------
        |  Stats/Form  | Boring Beetle |   Polar Bear  | Winter Wolf |
        --------------------------------------------------------------
        | Strength     |     18/51     |     18/00     |      18     |
        | Dexterity    |       7       |      10       |      13     |
        | Constitution |      16       |      19       |      16     |
        | Armor Class  |      -3       |       4       |       2     |
        | Atk/round    |     2.5       |       5       |     3.5     |
        --------------------------------------------------------------


The stats for the Elemental shapechanges are as follows:


   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   |  Stats/Form  | Fire Elemental |   Earth Elemental  | Water Elemental |
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   | Strength     |       19       |          23        |        18       |
   | Dexterity    |        9       |           5        |        14       |
   | Constitution |        8       |          19        |        18       |
   | Armor Class  |        2       |           0        |        -2       |
   | Atk/round    |      2.5       |         2.5        |       2.5       |
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------


Since the Druid's experience table has been extended to Level 30, naturally his spell progression table has been likewise lengthened.  The Druid casts
Priest Spells.  One benefit of this is that he can cast spells while wearing, oh, say Full Plate Mail +1.  This makes him a valuable commodity to the party - a front line warrior who can also cast spells.  The Priest can not cast every spell that a Cleric can, but he CAN cast spells that a Cleric can not.
In this game, Clerics and Priests can only learn spells up through Level 7, but have the ability to be able to cast an obscene amount of them at later levels.  Below I have reproduced the Priest spell chart from Level 15 on, as provided in the Heart of Winter game manual:


Druid Spells
                                 ============

            -----------------------------------------------------
            |  Level  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |
            -----------------------------------------------------
            |   15    |  6  |  6  |  6  |  6  |  4  |  2  |  1  |
            |   16    |  7  |  7  |  7  |  6  |  4  |  3  |  1  |
            |   17    |  7  |  7  |  7  |  7  |  5  |  3  |  2  |
            |   18    |  8  |  8  |  8  |  8  |  6  |  4  |  2  |
            |   19    |  9  |  9  |  8  |  8  |  6  |  4  |  2  |
            |   20    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  8  |  7  |  5  |  2  |
            |   21    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  8  |  6  |  2  |
            |   22    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  6  |  3  |
            |   23    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  7  |  3  |
            |   24    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  8  |  3  |
            |   25    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  8  |  4  |
            |   26    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  4  |
            |   27    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  5  |
            |   28    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  6  |
            |   29    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  7  |
            |   30    |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  9  |  8  |
            -----------------------------------------------------
|  Druids need a WIS of 17 to cast Level 6 spells.  |
|  Druids need a WIS of 18 to cast Level 7 spells.  |
            -----------------------------------------------------


Finally, there is one final point I wish to address.  In case you aren't aware of it, dual-classing (only available to humans) from one class to another is a very effective way of creating very powerful characters.  The
Druid is no exception.  Not surprisingly, the Fighter is the best class to dual a Druid with.  Why?  Well, for starters, you will be able to gain Weapon
Mastery with a Fighter.  Then when you switch over to Druid and regain access to both of your classes, you will have Grand Mastery for a Druid, making him a powerful offensive character.  Secondly, if you are both a Druid and a
Fighter, your Druid will be able to use a Fighter's armor as well as that of a
Druid - which means you can wear the heavy metal.  This also makes turns the
Druid into a front-line Fighter.  There are a few things to consider before trying this:

1. You must start with a Fighter, then Dual-Class to a Druid.
2. Remember that your starting class must have a 17 in the prime score of the Druid.  Their score is Charisma.
3. Druids are always True Neutral.  You do not want to prepare to
Dual-Class to a Druid, only to find out that you can't because of your alignment.
4. Druids are one of the most restrictive character class, with regards to minimum required stats.  To become a Druid, you must have a minimum of
12 in WIS and 15 in CHA.
5. It is also possible to Multi-Class a Fighter/Druid.


Having said that, here are a few final tips to keep in mind when creating your Fighter, and Dual-Classing him over to a Druid.  They are:

1. When: When to Dual-Class is an important question.  As a general rule,
I will Dual-Class at Level 9.  At Level 9, a character has received his maximum hit dice; after this level, the character will only gain a few hit points per level.
2.  How: How will you develop your Fighter while waiting to Dual-Class.