Solo Fighter/Bard?

Heidrek · Post by **Heidrek** » Tue Nov 16, 2004 9:18 pm

I'm thinking of trying to solo as a Bard/Fighter. Do you think this is Viable?

I'm thinking of going Bard8/Fighterx in normal and then Bard 16/fighterx in HoF.

Doable?

What race? I'm thinking Human.

Wrath-Of-Egg · Post by **Wrath-Of-Egg** » Tue Nov 16, 2004 11:49 pm

Well good luck to you...

Yes i belive human should be fine.. but i would go fighter 4/bard x..

Never realy soloed with bard.. only with sorc and cleric.. and didn't like soloing that much.. i want to have party..

Perhaps you should also add new chars when things get though..

Wrath-Of-Egg · Post by **Wrath-Of-Egg** » Tue Nov 16, 2004 11:51 pm

Oh i forgot.. yes i belive it should be doable... but it could be more chalenging than monk..

Well game would quite easy if you would just use bard song glitch.. but i doubt you would use that..

Heidrek · Post by **Heidrek** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 5:17 pm

No, Don't want to use the glitch. Kind of takes the fun out of the game!

I actually thought Bard/Fighter would be the best class for Solo. With Bard Levels you get many defensive buffs and some decent disabling spells. Plenty of Feats, good HP - essentially a fighter with some other options up his sleeves. Charm or Chromatic Orb an opponent, Mirror Image yourself, drop a Horror. All can be done at 1 casting time with Imporved Initit. Feat. I can always summon up some Shadow monsters for help in a fight if it's too hard.

Not sure how he will do in later chapters, but he should level up pretty fast through Chapter 1. I like the idea of my Mirror Imaged, Blurred, Blinking and Hasted Bard walking into Melee and cutting down opponents left and right. 70% concealment and 3 or 4 attacks per round (Dual Weilding) could be fun!

In reality though I think later levels will be hard and require much use of Improved Invis. and Dominate Person. Perhaps a 3 person teams of Fighter/Bard, Cleric and Sorc. or Wiz. would be best.

I was thinking of Fighter4/Bard26 but this will limit his combat ability too much and reduce the number of Feats he will get through the game. Perhaps 18 or even 20 bard levels to give him plenty of 6th level spell slots.

How many skill points fgoes the average character with 10 Int. get at level up? I have a human Bard with 12 Int that only gets 4 points, given that 1 is a racial bonus and 1 is from Int, that would mean he only gets 2 points normally?

Wrath-Of-Egg · Post by **Wrath-Of-Egg** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 11:38 pm

WEll COULD be so... my bards havent been one of those smarter characers..
But that sounds correct.. (yes i have fem smarter bards but i realy dont care due to only increasing consentration.. and putting left overs to move silently and hide skills..
If you are going to add sorc... by all means.. drop Bard levels..
Becuse there wont be anymore need of Wail of Banshee.. you could also try 2 handed weapons..

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:16 am

I have a rogue/bard in my party, and I think she's great. When I read your post I was about to suggest to take wizard lvls instead of bard, but then I thought of the bard songs

This combination has a lot of advantages. What I like the most is that she can protect herself with Mirror Image and stuff just like a mage, makes her almost untouchable. No need to tell how useful bardsongs are (especially the one that gives your party fear immunity). So I think it's a powerful combo.

As for soloing... I'm afraid you'll face hard times without thieving skills. Trap detection can be done with spells or a wand too, but lock picking...

If you don't mind that, that's OK. I think everything else is fine with a fighter/bard. Go for it

I'd take more lvls in fighter, though. You can get enough bard skills within 15 lvls, too.

Btw, lockpicking - isn't it possible just to bash all the locked chests and doors in the game with a strong fighter?

Wrath-Of-Egg · Post by **Wrath-Of-Egg** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:24 am

Yes you can.. but relying High strength might not be so helpfull... so using knock scrolls could solve this problem.. (with ''use magic item'' skill)

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:14 pm

My solo monk (18 str) have had no problem bashing all the chests and doors so far. She haven't failed a single one actually

Heidrek · Post by **Heidrek** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 4:16 pm

I have found that even a fighter with 24 strength (19 base plus Bulls Strength) can sometimes not open a door or chest. Fortunately, while it is strictly cheating I don't mind abusing the Bard song glitch in those situations where a lock just wont be picked or forced. as long as I have 1 point in the rogue skills I should be able to do anything I need.

I think I'll take my first level in Fighter then start leveling in Bard. What about starting Stats?

Heidrek · Post by **Heidrek** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 3:57 pm

Ok, I've made up my character and I'm clearing the Targos docks. Stats are as follows:

Str:16 Int:12 Wis:3 Dex:15 Con:14 Cha:15

I've taken my first and 2nd level as Fighter and have the following Feats: Ambidex. and 2 weapon fighting, Rapid Shot and Power Attack. I'm not sure whether I should take more fighter levels for the HP and Feats, or start taking Bard levels so I get some spell casting before I have to leave for the Bridge. I think it's time I get some Bard levels, I should get another feat at 3rd level (cleave). Initial spell choices will be Colour Spray or Sleep and perhaps Grease, then Chromatc Orb.

I think I'll get to about level 4 before I need to defend the Palisade and probably be about 5thor 6th before I have to clear the Bridge. Better stock up on Oil of Fiery Burning! Going Solo is going to be quite hard I think. Dealing with those war drums outside the fortress is going to be a real problem. Any suggestions?

I have just tried to clear the goblins out of their caves in Targos and have found fighting off 4 or 5 at a time pretty hard. I got swarmed by about 7 of the little buggers and had to drop a Flaming Oil on myself as they all swarmed around me. Worked though killed about 4 and 1 ran off allowing me to kill the other 2. The biggest annoyance so far is that I have no method of healing. I had to rest for 8 days to get my HP back, 8 DAYS! Lucky there's no time limit on clearing the docks! I tried to get healing from that tent in Tagros town, but the clerics just said they were going to join me at the docks and never did!

Wrath-Of-Egg · Post by **Wrath-Of-Egg** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:40 pm

what 8 days... are you sure that was 8d 0h and not 8h.. personally.. resting only takes 16 h.. even when i have all my chárs almost dead.. odd..

silverdragon72 · Post by **silverdragon72** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 4:12 am

[QUOTE=Wrath-Of-Egg]what 8 days... are you sure that was 8d 0h and not 8h.. personally.. resting only takes 16 h.. even when i have all my chárs almost dead.. odd..[/QUOTE]

I think that without anyone having heal spells / abilities - healing could take some time...

...AFAIK for the healing time calculation all cleric spells get considered !

...so as long as you have at least one good / neutral cleric at average party level 16 hours should always be enough!

.

VoBo · Post by **VoBo** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 5:41 am

You will have a hell fighting mages and clerics with your Wisdow being 3. I had a bard/fighter/rogue solo with 8 wis and got whacked. Even if you take feats like Iron Will it won't mather much really. When I was in goblin fortress I got holded most of the time when the shamans and sorcerers started to cast their spells.

But exept for your will save being low it isn't a problem soloing with a bard/fighter. Something you shuld think of is how fast you gain spells. The good defensive spells take a lot of time to get, especielly when you only get exp from quests.

If you find a way to fix your will save please tell me in this thread. I didn't really find a good way to fix it but sneaking up backstabbing the sorcerors and shamans worked good for me.

And about the resting time, you need to go and pay for healing or you will later "rest" in about 56 days and 8 hours. That is a nice thing in both IWD and IWD2, you save a cleric and he/she goes "Thanks for saving me, oh you need healing? It cost!"

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:50 am

[QUOTE=Heidrek]I think I'll get to about level 4 before I need to defend the Palisade and probably be about 5thor 6th before I have to clear the Bridge. Better stock up on Oil of Fiery Burning! Going Solo is going to be quite hard I think. Dealing with those war drums outside the fortress is going to be a real problem. Any suggestions?[/QUOTE]

What about invisibility potions? I don't know at which bard lvl you'll get the Mirror Image Spell (2, I suppose), but I guess that would help a lot in those battles.

Wrath-Of-Egg · Post by **Wrath-Of-Egg** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:51 am

?

Well could someone explain me.. becuse i will only get 16 hours max resting times.. and 1 hour is min..(if getting attacked)

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:18 am

[QUOTE=Wrath-Of-Egg]WTF?

WTF?

Well could someone explain me.. becuse i will only get 16 hours max resting times.. and 1 hour is min..(if getting attacked)[/QUOTE]

The description says cast healing spells on rest, so if you don't have any healing spell, then you have to regenerate all your health "manually" so it takes that long.

neocool00 · Post by **neocool00** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:42 am

[QUOTE=Heidrek]Ok, I've made up my character and I'm clearing the Targos docks. Stats are as follows:

Str:16 Int:12 Wis:3 Dex:15 Con:14 Cha:15

I've taken my first and 2nd level as Fighter and have the following Feats: Ambidex. and 2 weapon fighting, Rapid Shot and Power Attack. I'm not sure whether I should take more fighter levels for the HP and Feats, or start taking Bard levels so I get some spell casting before I have to leave for the Bridge. I think it's time I get some Bard levels, I should get another feat at 3rd level (cleave). Initial spell choices will be Colour Spray or Sleep and perhaps Grease, then Chromatc Orb.

I think I'll get to about level 4 before I need to defend the Palisade and probably be about 5thor 6th before I have to clear the Bridge. Better stock up on Oil of Fiery Burning! Going Solo is going to be quite hard I think. Dealing with those war drums outside the fortress is going to be a real problem. Any suggestions?

I have just tried to clear the goblins out of their caves in Targos and have found fighting off 4 or 5 at a time pretty hard. I got swarmed by about 7 of the little buggers and had to drop a Flaming Oil on myself as they all swarmed around me. Worked though killed about 4 and 1 ran off allowing me to kill the other 2. The biggest annoyance so far is that I have no method of healing. I had to rest for 8 days to get my HP back, 8 DAYS! Lucky there's no time limit on clearing the docks! I tried to get healing from that tent in Tagros town, but the clerics just said they were going to join me at the docks and never did![/QUOTE]

I hope you don't like controling your character. With a WIS of 3, you're not going to be able to save against charm/sleep spells. Yes backstabbing a mage will work, but not if there is more than one of them plus, you'd have to kill them on the first shot. I never build a character w/ a WIS less than 10, but that's me. I think you need to reconsider your point allocation. I also would have taken Power Attack and Cleave or Power Attack and Dodge. Both of those are very useful from the get go. Also, I can tell you that from my experience in soloing, Cleave is nice to have when you get swarmed, especially in the caves fighting the goblins.

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:08 pm

Maybe he didn't rest for that long at once, but 16h many times.

But I think you can rest for more than a day...

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:24 pm

[QUOTE=Brynn]Maybe he didn't rest for that long at once, but 16h many times.

But I think you can rest for more than a day...[/QUOTE]

It's very much possible, both my solo Monk and my solo kensai (BG2) had to rest for many days at a time.

Heidrek · Post by **Heidrek** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 2:55 pm

Yes, 8 DAYS is the time I had to rest. This is because I have no means to recover HP other than sleeping. No lay on hands, no cure light wounds etc. That takes a lot of sleeping

As far as the low will save goes from Wis 3. There are a few comments to make here. Firstly there are numerous items that grant Free Movement, and thereby immunity to Hold and paralysis effects, the most dangerous Will saves. I won't be able to get these until later in the game so for now yes, this is a problem. The Bard however has Will as it's favoured save so as I gain Bard levels my Will and Reflex save will increase faster than Fort. Fear effects will not be a problem as I will be wearing the Houndstooth Collar once I kill Voughtan, Charm doesn't matter as I'm the only one in my party and the enemy won't attack a charmed person. There are also plenty of items that boost wisdom such as the Every God ring and before then Ring of the Wise. The biggest problem is going to be surviving through the Horde Fortress. Also, singing the Bard Song Tymora's Melody will give me a +3 on all saves (this is my default walking around song).

Lastly, to make this character viable, there really isn't much choice but to drop Wis. To be a decent fiighter he needs good strength and con. To survive early and be any good at range he needs Dex. He also needs this for Ambidexterity and Rapid Shot. Likewise an Int of 12 is pretty much bare minimum for him to be able to get good Concetration and Knowledge-Arcana skills, not to mention UMD and any rogue skills like open lock.

So yes, it is a weakness, but it's one I will have to deal with. There are ways around it later in the game, and until then I'll just have to cope. So far I've only had to save against one spell from Phaen and was sucessful!