GameBanshee Forums

I'm going to start the game with this party:

Paladin
Fighter
Cleric
Fighter/Thief
Some sort of wizard
Another arcane spellcaster

Should this last be a wizard or a bard? Are the bard's advantages - songs, letting the thief not worry about the pickpocket score, fast advancement and so on - worth giving up an extra wizard's spellcasting might for?

And if I do take a bard, what school should the wizard specialise in - which one has the opposed schools which the bard's spells can come closest to making up for?

This is with Heart of Winter installed, BTW.

Definitely take a bard. I recommend taking an illusionist as character 5, the forbidden spells don't hurt as much as for other specialists and because of the granted 16 dex you get better rolls at character creation.
You can also get the gnomish racial benefits (19 int, bonus to save vs spells) if you want.

Seconded. You might also want to dualclass/multiclass that Fighter with a Druid.

Thanks for the advice.

Bards kick butt in the early stages of this game. There are special rewards for playing a bard in the opening stages of Easthaven...