Weapon proficiencies for bards

ruscavo · Post by **ruscavo** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:41 pm

Hi all,

Just a quickie as I'm a little confused. I believed that bards (all varieties) could only be proficient in weapons they may use. If this is the case how come Haer'Dalis in specialised in shortswords when you pick him up?

Surely that gives him an advantage over any PC bards? Any help clearing this up would be appreciated. Ta.

Lark · Post by **Lark** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:01 pm

Just a quickie as I'm a little confused. I believed that bards (all varieties) could only be proficient in weapons they may use. If this is the case how come Haer'Dalis in specialised in shortswords when you pick him up?

This is just a special advantage for Haer'dalis. No player created Bard enjoys this bonus.

Best regards,
Lark.

Rhûn · Post by **Rhûn** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:57 pm

Despite the PC being Bhaalspawn, Bioware seemed intent on making some of them (joinable NPCs) better at at least something than your character can ever be. An example, like you said, is Haer'Dalis being specialized in shortswords, whereas if you create a bard, you can only be proficient (i.e. they bent the rules). Another is Edwin with his amulet that grants +2 spells (

). Kagain in BG1 had 20 constitution which is +1 above the highest available when rolling a dwarf, but at least you could use a tomb to reach 20 too (if you played a dwarf). I'm pretty sure there are a few more, but I can remember them right now, I solo mainly.

Luis Antonio · Post by **Luis Antonio** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:00 pm

[QUOTE=ruscavo]

Surely that gives him an advantage over any PC bards? Any help clearing this up would be appreciated. Ta.[/QUOTE]

You can have that via Shadowkeeper for any bard. The thing is that Haerdalis is supposed to give you too much trouble - you rescue him two times for crying out loud, once with a smaller party! And I guess Bioware wanted to reward you with him being better (and wielding cheesy swords). Also, it boosted the number of people using bards IMO, since the bard class at BG1 was far weaker.

SP101 · Post by **SP101** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:00 pm

Jan has all his cool stuff (armor, googles, gloves).

Valygar, Anomen, Keldorn ... a good number of NPCs have an unique piece of equipement only them can use.

In BG1, almost everyone had special talents (Summon Dire Wolves 0_o)

dzidek1983 · Post by **dzidek1983** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:29 am

Anomens shield can be used by anyone

(anyone that can use shields that is)

wise grimwald · Post by **wise grimwald** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:08 am

Rhûn wrote:Despite the PC being Bhaalspawn, Bioware seemed intent on making some of them (joinable NPCs) better at at least something than your character can ever be. An example, like you said, is Haer'Dalis being specialized in shortswords, whereas if you create a bard, you can only be proficient (i.e. they bent the rules). Another is Edwin with his amulet that grants +2 spells ( ). Kagain in BG1 had 20 constitution which is +1 above the highest available when rolling a dwarf, but at least you could use a tomb to reach 20 too (if you played a dwarf). I'm pretty sure there are a few more, but I can remember them right now, I solo mainly.

There was me thinking that tombs were only for dead people.

Though I suppose that dead people need constitution more that live ones.

Klorox · Post by **Klorox** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:44 pm

ruscavo · Post by **ruscavo** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:12 am

Yeh, how did this thread come back after 2years? And what are the chance of it coming up just as I was thinking of giving BG another go. Strange, very strange.

Berethor · Post by **Berethor** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 10:44 pm

Yeah, it's just a little edge the Devs tried to give Haer' Dalis, possibly to try and convince players that he is a melee-oriented fighter which is only partially true. HD has so many possible options available in any given combat round that it's a challenge to find out what he should best be doing during combat.

I prefer to have him using a Bow and casting spells when necessary, since he has a health level roughly equivilent to Aerie's.

There are a couple of other dimorphisms. Nalia gets a special ring that is decently powerful(if you can put up with her comstant complaining), and in the most startling one, Edwin will have more spells available to him than any other mage, even a player-created mage-kit. It's rather unbalancing.