Bard Spells

Mirakai Starnight · Post by **Mirakai Starnight** » Wed Sep 11, 2002 10:43 am

Has anyone else noticed that there are only 3 level 8 bard spells?
The manual says that you learn 4 by level 30. But the only spells i can find are: Mass dominate, power word blind, and wail of the banshee. What's the fourth spell?

Mirakai Starnight · Post by **Mirakai Starnight** » Wed Sep 11, 2002 2:42 pm

Okay my first question seems to be falling on deaf ears. This brings up my second question, are there any hardcore bard fans out there who feel shafted by the 3ed bard spells? We don't even get magic missle anymore. I'd still like to figure out that 4th 8th level spell but let's here some thoughts on 3ed bard spells in the game.

Mathurin · Post by **Mathurin** » Thu Sep 12, 2002 9:23 am

Well first off those of us that are hardcore bard fans probably won't be able to help you on the 8th level spell question since in true table top gaming bards only get to 6th level spells. The continued advancement to 30th level is a mechanic created by Interplay, its not official. The advancement past 20th level in tabletop is completely different. And as for your other question, I love the new bard, although I do give 6 skill points/ level rather than 4, Its more of a throwback to the 1st edition bard. There originally was no bard class per se, you were a bard if you had so many levels of experience in fighter theif and druid, thus their magic was divine in nature not arcane. With 3rd edition their spell list goes back to a more divine spell type of list and I prefer this. Im sure many others don't but oh well.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Thu Sep 12, 2002 10:50 am

I, too, find it odd, bards can gain 8th level spells in IWD2 but I had to take advantage of it, so I made one.

Mirakai Starnight · Post by **Mirakai Starnight** » Thu Sep 12, 2002 5:25 pm

Well i guess i must concede, partially at least, to Mathurin and Ned, the 3ed spells make more sense from a roleplaying point of view, being generally based on illusions, enchantments, and sound which make sense for a bard.

But as for the spell progression up to eighth, i think bards needed to be given 8th level spells to survive in the HOF mode. The spells they get aren't that impressive anyway, mostly more powerful versions of lower level spells(mass invis, mass dominate) and they only get a grand total of 9 of them. they can't even cast them very often.

My last question is to mathurin, what does the spell progression have to do with the fact that the manual says you can KNOW up to 4 8th level spells and there are only 3 8th level bard spells listed in the manual? The first question wasn't a matter of progression but a matter of what spell did they leave out of the manual as being a bard spell, as an addendum, i also noticed that there aren't enough 7th level spells in the manual for a bard either, in terms of how many he can know.

Mathurin · Post by **Mathurin** » Fri Sep 13, 2002 3:27 pm

In your second post you addressed your first question to hardcore bard fans then went on you ask how people felt about 3rd edition bard spells. I simply stated those of us that were hardcore 3rd edition bard fans wouldnt know since the bard spell progression only goes that high in IWD2, in other words we have no more way of knowing than you do. And I do agree that the continued progression works in IWD2 not only for the fact that when it was created the true D&D rules for 20+ progression had not yet been released so I think the Black Isle people did an admirable job in creating their own rules for it.