anyone know wht equipment a bard should use?
anyone know wht equipment a bard should use?
wht type of equipment should i look out for, for my solo bard?
Well where are you in the game/games?
For SOA a lot of the good stuff is in the astral prison; this is a bard-specific section of the game, really. You get good armor that lets you cast spells, a good short sword for an extra attack (kundane), gloves of +1 thatco, boots of speed, etc. This solves partly the problems hampering a mid-level bard (level 12-17), i.e. armor class, hitting stuff, speed, low number of attacks. Enjoy.
After you get all that stuff keep the armor (melodic chain) until you get the upgrade (bladesinger chain) after the elvin city.
Your ultimate goal is: bladesinger chain, gauntlets of weapon expertise, an ioun stone if legal, kundane or belm off hand, Celestial Fury or (later) CromF main hand.
Keep around stuff that you can use later when you have "use any item" special ability like that not-now-useless helm of balduron, the staff of archmagi, the wondrous Scarlet Ninja-To (THE off-hand weapon), gives +1 attacks and great poison damage.
Eventually in TOB you will have upgraded bladesinger chain, bard's gloves, helm of balduran, nacklace of master harper, Cloak of the High Forest (from Cernd until you get the great ranger cloak), etc. CromF + Scarlet Ninja-To will get you through the game no problem.
Some fun stuff to do using "use any item": Valygar's armor is wearable, and you can cast spells wearing it. Nice. Weild Carsymor a little. Take along the specialty items like the Druid staffs and stuff, good summons. etc. have a ball.
Basically you get great gear! You can use the best class-specific items (like the ranger cloak) and the best NPC-specific items (like Valygar's armor). You can also do stuff like wield the chaos blade (a short sword that drains dex. through stoneskin and other protections). Once somethnig gets a dex of below 0 it dies.
For SOA a lot of the good stuff is in the astral prison; this is a bard-specific section of the game, really. You get good armor that lets you cast spells, a good short sword for an extra attack (kundane), gloves of +1 thatco, boots of speed, etc. This solves partly the problems hampering a mid-level bard (level 12-17), i.e. armor class, hitting stuff, speed, low number of attacks. Enjoy.
After you get all that stuff keep the armor (melodic chain) until you get the upgrade (bladesinger chain) after the elvin city.
Your ultimate goal is: bladesinger chain, gauntlets of weapon expertise, an ioun stone if legal, kundane or belm off hand, Celestial Fury or (later) CromF main hand.
Keep around stuff that you can use later when you have "use any item" special ability like that not-now-useless helm of balduron, the staff of archmagi, the wondrous Scarlet Ninja-To (THE off-hand weapon), gives +1 attacks and great poison damage.
Eventually in TOB you will have upgraded bladesinger chain, bard's gloves, helm of balduran, nacklace of master harper, Cloak of the High Forest (from Cernd until you get the great ranger cloak), etc. CromF + Scarlet Ninja-To will get you through the game no problem.
Some fun stuff to do using "use any item": Valygar's armor is wearable, and you can cast spells wearing it. Nice. Weild Carsymor a little. Take along the specialty items like the Druid staffs and stuff, good summons. etc. have a ball.
Basically you get great gear! You can use the best class-specific items (like the ranger cloak) and the best NPC-specific items (like Valygar's armor). You can also do stuff like wield the chaos blade (a short sword that drains dex. through stoneskin and other protections). Once somethnig gets a dex of below 0 it dies.
SPOILERS
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First, you should do your Stronghold Quest. During this, you'll get the excellent Melodic Chain (AC 2), a chain mail specifically for bards that allows you cast spells while wearing it.
Then it comes to the right weapons. This is up to your personal preferences so it's hard to give any suggestions. As you know, bards can use any weapon. Make sure to check out Dak'kon's Zerth Blade, though, it gives you extra spells and a bonus to AC. Can be bought from one of the Bonus Merchant.
Then there are miscellanous items like Ring of Gaxx, Amulet of Metaspell Influence and so on. For Blades, the Ring of Free Action is a must. It allows you to move freely during Defensive Spins.
As for spells, make sure to learn those offensive spells where a high level is teken into account. One examples of these is Skull Trap. As for defensive spells, you'll need Blur, Mirror Image and Stoneskin among others. Not to forget, the battling bards best friend is Tenser's Transformation.
I hope this helps to get you at the right track. I'll be happy to help you with further questions.
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First, you should do your Stronghold Quest. During this, you'll get the excellent Melodic Chain (AC 2), a chain mail specifically for bards that allows you cast spells while wearing it.
Then it comes to the right weapons. This is up to your personal preferences so it's hard to give any suggestions. As you know, bards can use any weapon. Make sure to check out Dak'kon's Zerth Blade, though, it gives you extra spells and a bonus to AC. Can be bought from one of the Bonus Merchant.
Then there are miscellanous items like Ring of Gaxx, Amulet of Metaspell Influence and so on. For Blades, the Ring of Free Action is a must. It allows you to move freely during Defensive Spins.
As for spells, make sure to learn those offensive spells where a high level is teken into account. One examples of these is Skull Trap. As for defensive spells, you'll need Blur, Mirror Image and Stoneskin among others. Not to forget, the battling bards best friend is Tenser's Transformation.
I hope this helps to get you at the right track. I'll be happy to help you with further questions.
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Life seems short considering how long you will be dead.
To Two's reply I'd like to add one thing: You should only use a weapon in your off-hand if you're a Blade. That's the only bard kit that allows you to place *** in two weapon style, but maybe you already knew that.
Proud SLURRite Vampiric Lawyer of the Rolling Thunder (TM) - Visitors WELCOME !!!
[size=0](Feel free to join us for a drink, play some pool or even relax in a hottub (but the coffin's mine!) - want to learn more? )[/size]
Life seems short considering how long you will be dead.
[size=0](Feel free to join us for a drink, play some pool or even relax in a hottub (but the coffin's mine!) - want to learn more? )[/size]
Life seems short considering how long you will be dead.
Actually dual-weilding is fine for a Skald and probably a normal bard as well. Skald gets +1/+1 tohit/dam. which helps some (as least I always thought he got this), and as soon as you get a decent strength belt or CromF you hit often enough -- particularly if you Tensor's.Originally posted by Astafas:
<STRONG>To Two's reply I'd like to add one thing: You should only use a weapon in your off-hand if you're a Blade. That's the only bard kit that allows you to place *** in two weapon style, but maybe you already knew that.</STRONG>
Also having a weapon off hand like belm or kundane or scarlet ninja-to that increases your number of attacks (in your good hand) more than makes up for difficulties in hitting in the off hand (with penalties of +4 or so).
Try it, you'll see. Put Belm off hand, Celestial Fury main hand, one star in dual wield, girdle of X strength and have at it. Especially after you get Crom -- you hit anything with the str. bonus. For the nastiest monsters with the best AC you will do special stuff like Tensor's anyway, in which case you hit anything all the time.