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Bard Faq v .85
by StephenHawking
junglechoi2000@yahoo.com

I. Introduction
-Basics and manual erratas
-Bard song chart
-Common things to deal with as a bard
-Specific comments of the bard.
II. Character creation
-Races for the bard
-Character builds
-Two handed bard
-Ranged bard
-Caster bard
-Racial specific builds (coming soon)
III. Spell/skill specifics (coming soon)
IV. PvP section
V. Conclusion, credits, etc.

Version History

.90- "Damage types not working" bug in basics section. I got done
most of the skills, a lot of the PvP tactic and picking out equipment
you need vs most of the character types, a bit more explanation on
lvling, what to take, etc, and fixed up the stuff listed here. Also
did some skill/spell, but really, its not needed for the bard that much.
Added a small section on stoneskins and bard song piercing it. I took
out the elf power attacker build as it's exploiting a bug that
should be fixed. Version 1.30 for NWN should remove attack of
oppurtunity, leading to less need for the 2 barbarian lvls, though I
still enjoy them.

.85- Semi-big revision to the bard chart, thanks Asimpkins, added some
corrections and suggestions for a couple builds. Changed the called
shot note to bug, to give you an idea of how to work it, taken from
bioware forums. Added Ideal stopping levels for the bard. Added one
rogue bard character build.

.80- First version, has most things in that are essential.


*********************************************************************

I. Introduction.

Bards are typically seen as lute wielding pansies who are dubbed the jack
of all trades, and master of none. When in fact they are masters of song,
and because of this they are masters of damage in Neverwinter Nights. Only
the ranger compares, and not even that closely or as versatile as the bard.
Bards have one of the best saves, pretty good base attack, and some very
nifty things available to them that no other class can boast about.
They also have a nice hefty spellcraft bonus to saves, which no other meleer
has. They also have discipline that only 2 other classes in NWN have as a
class skill, making them as good a fighter for skill wise, and then some.
Of course their weakness is lower hit points, arcane spell failure, a
demanding stat spread and slower spell progression than the other arcane
casters, but a smart player can compensate for them all. They also lack the
martial weapons and heavy armor feat, but that can be quickly compensated with
a multi in a warrior class as many builds suggest.
Bards are one of the best archers, even the rogue with sneaks is obsolete
later vs non-sneakable stuff, where as the bard can dish out an easy 20 with
normal arrows, and make them magical with bard song to pierce soak. If they
crit with a flare arrows, they deal 84 dmg max, even a meleer would gawk at
that damage from long range. At close range with point blank, they deal 87
damage on a crit.
This isn't a basic character guide, though I tried to cover the basics of
what is needed to know, and cover the surprises and benefits I found as a
bard. Also I feel bard is very good as a focus in a class not pure, i.e.
up to 16 lvls but past that, I feel the benefits aren't worth the troubles.

**** Basics and manual erratas ****
from previous levels of bard. The bard song doesnt refresh on another use, so
timing is crucial if you wanna keep it constantly up.
Things marked with an asterik are changes from the manual I found.

You need the actual lvls in bard, i.e. a ftr 8/bard 1 will have bard lvl 1
even if he saved up skill points to have 12 ranks in perform. All bonuses are
total song bonuses for that level. Thank Asimpkins for the revised chart.

- 1st Level & Perform 3* -
+1 to Attack & Damage.

- 2nd Level & Perform 6 -
+1 to Attack, Damage, & Will.

- 3rd Level & Perform 9 -
+1 to Attack, Will, & Fortitude. +2 to Damage.

- 6th Level & Perform 12 -
+1 to Attack, Will, Fortitude, Reflex, & Skills. +2 to Damage.

- 8th Level & Perform 15 -
+1 to Will, Fortitude, Reflex & Skills. +2 to Attack & Damage
+8 to temporary Hit Points.

- 12th Level* & Perform 18 -
+1 to Will, Fortitude, & Reflex.
+2 to Attack, Damage, Skills, & Dodge AC.
+8 to temporary Hit Points.

- 14th Level & Perform 21 -
+1 to Will, Fortitude, & Reflex.
+2 to Attack & Skills.
+3 to Damage & Dodge AC.
+16 temporary Hit Points.

- 15th Level & Perform 24 -
+2 to Attack, Will, Fortitude, & Reflex.
+3 to Damage & Skills.*
+4 to Dodge AC.
+16 temporary Hit Points.

- 16th Level & Perform 30* -
+2 to Attack, Fortitude, & Reflex.
+3 to Damage & Will.
+4 to Skills*
+5 to Dodge AC.
+20 temporary Hit Points.

- 17th Level & Perform 35* -
+2 to Attack, Fortitude, & Reflex.
+3 to Damage & Will.
+5 to Dodge AC & Skills.*
+22 temporary Hit Points.

- 18th Level & Perform 40* -
+2 to Attack, Fortitude, & Reflex.
+3 to Damage & Will.
+5 to Dodge AC.
+6 to Skills*
+24 temporary Hit Points.

- 19th Level & Perform 45* -
+2 to Attack, Fortitude, & Reflex.
+3 to Damage & Will.
+5 to Dodge AC.
+7 to Skills.*
+26 temporary Hit Points.

- 20th Level & Perform 50* -
+2 to Attack, Fortitude, & Reflex.
+3 to Damage & Will.
+5 to Dodge AC.
+10 to Skills*
+32 temporary Hit Points.*

30+ perform is harsh for 16+ lvl bard song, how do you do it?
16th lvl song can either be done with 23 ranks, skill focus, and 18
charisma, or swapping in greater gloves of the minstrel before you sing.
Typically I have my gloves next to my bard song for the hotkey. I also
find the benefits of going past lvl 16 in bard and the required perform
unfeasible as well without wearing so many +perform items to make it
undesirable. The skill bonus is when you sing the song, so it doesnt
apply to bard song initially sadly.

Temporary hit points-
These hit points go first when being hit by a monster. But the cool
benefit is that you can actually regen to the max of the temporary hit points.
Ie, at my bard song max hp is 236/220, but i'm at 215 with 5 regen, within the
bard song period, I regen up to 236/220 though. Basically think you have
regen of your temporary hit points divided by 10 per round. lvl 16 bard, 20
temp hit points/ 10 = 2 hit points per round, as these hit points go first, or
you regen up to it. This helps the bard's weakness of hit points a lot.

Bardic lore-
It shows up on your actual character sheet if people were wondering
about that.

Being flatfooted and the bard-
Many combat moves because bioware decided to put in animations, drop you
out of combat. For example, bard song provokes an attack of oppurtunity,
which wouldn't be so bad, except you lose all dodge AC, haste, boots, dex, etc
The solution to this is generally taking 2 lvls of barbarian, or making sure
to click on the monster again as quickly as possible.

Taunt and the bard-
This is a great skill, helping both comrades and yourself in battle
because of your lower base attack. The draw back is that when its qued up the
attack icon takes preference in the upper left hand corner, so you must click
on the attack icon to drop out of combat, taunt, wait for the message, and
attack again. During this time the bard is particularly vulnerable as the
bard is flatfooted. Can lower AC by 6, can be used every round or 6 seconds.

Spells-
Mage armor, prot from alignment, bull's strength, cat's grace,
ghostly visage, haste, warcry, improved invis are what I consider essential.
Every other spell is of limited use, or by the time you get them, like
ethereal visage, useless. Even haste is kinda obsolete with haste items.
Ghostly visage allows for a bard to pretty much shrug off all attacks at
low levels, and it stacks with swordsman, archer, brawler, belts etc. It's
like having a permanent stoneskin for low lvls.

Dodge bonuses-
They do stack, but are capped at +10 bonus. Thus a 16th lvl bard
song, haste, and mage armor (which gives 1 dodge) will give you the max dodge.
So I generally wear a haste item from a non-boot source if i can, and use my
spells and song to free that slot up, i.e. plain striding boots +5 helps
the bard's poor hitpoints compared to a meleer a lot. Besides, its funny
when the bard has as many hit points as the fighter and deals more damage.
The bard is one of the top AC builds for a meleer without sacrficing a
boot slot to weaker haste boots because of this.

Why bards deal the most damage-
The warcry spell and bard song. Its a source of damage no other class
comes close to except for a ranger. These two things add +5 damage, and with
specialization (which a bard should always take with ftr multi-class) they
deal even more damage. So ranger 15/ftr 1 specialized deals +6 vs hated,
where as a bard14/ftr 1 deals +7 vs everything with all other things being
equal.
This also helps a lot in a group when everyone is dealing 5 more damage
per hit.
A cleric with war domain comes close, but with his need for focusing on
wisdom his fighting stats become weaker, and thus the bard pulls ahead. Also
the domain powers dont last nearly as long as bard song, without at least 20
charisma. He only pulls ahead at least 15 lvls of cleric with the prayer and
bless spell, but a bard can afford to sing right before battle, where as a
cleric generally has to get as close as possible and use his domain power.

Attack bonus cap-
There's a cap of +10 to attack bonus from magical or bard sources, even
though it doesnt show up on your character sheet. Basically, even though you
can get +2 warcry, +2 song, +5 weapon, +5 stat ability to attack for a total
of 14, your actually only get added ten to your base attack and focus on the
combat screen. This means, you can use lower end weapons and not suffer as
much, but also means the attack bonus in terms of hitting (not the damage
part) is a bit useless.

Arcane spell failure-
Take off armor to buff up. 45% spell failure even in plate armor isnt
that much as all your spells are generally cast outside of combat. Just make
sure your party understands you need to get naked for awhile because the armor
is making you smelly, its no worse than having to wait for a cleric to buff
up or whatever else. Hotkey your armor for easier use of removing it. Also,
make sure to stash that shield before you cast as well, generally I always
have the weapons/shields/armor hotkeyed.

Damage types not working-
Well here's a bug I dislike, basically if you have more than one damage
type instead of taking the most favorable one, it takes the weakest for
everything. For example, I deal 11 dmg of piercing, +3 bludgeoning from
bard song. Instead of getting half damage from my arrows, for 5 or 6
damage, I instead deal 7 dmg max. Basically, I lose the bludgeoning
bonus damage type as its counted as piercing vs the mob, so my ideal max
would've been 8 dmg if bludgeon counted as bludgeon... Same applies for
warcry song bonuses as it's slash. Basically if they got any resistance
to a damage type and you're singing/warcrying with a bow and arrow, you
dont get past their resistances.