Hey, i want to edit some companion pages! I found some new approvals foor karlach and wyll, but I seem to not have enough permissions. How can i add the comments? I put the edits in the discord under bg3 discussion.
Hi! I can't see your comment, you can message the Fextralife (Fex) admin account on the discord or post to the #wiki-to-do-issues channel But you should be able to edit the wiki, are you using a VPN perhaps? You can also try making an account on Fextra so the editing process may be smoother. Let me know how it goes!
I tried Bard as a half-joke on release night and now I'm 50 hours into the game. The Bard, appropriate to it's class fantasy, has a very creative play-style both in and out of combat.
@@BlackJackZach I also use this combo, and am wondering if I should swap Wyll in and Gale out. I've enjoyed talking to Gale but I'm really interested in seeing how Karlach and Wyll interact now that I've properly reintroduced them.
One of the greatest things I noticed when testing out a bard is that you can use your "perform" to start playing motivational songs (only for flair) without spending an action or bonus action as long as you do it right at the end of your turn. Your enemies will be fighting a desperate battle for survival, while that one jackass is playing a tavern song with drums in the background and throwing some insults for good measure.
Did you know? The musical instrument in this game has different animations and songs. Moreover, each class has unique animations! You can try casting a same spells or weapon in each class, and they will cast spells and perform attack moves differently. This game is truly awesome; I love this game! For my bard, i choose Flute.
It always looks like my bard is about to embark upon an epic guitar solo every time he casts a spell. It’s awesome. Also yes you can play with other bards… I played with one bard that visited my camp. I now have her lute.
@@user-mu8ok5xf8d Spoiler (so I added space here); There's an instrument directly on the beach when you start. I believe it's the drums. There's also a Spider Lyre that plays a unique song, but I didn't use it myself. I don't know if it sounds different.
@@BobicusRocketus Blaster mainly. Its why I chose to multiclass with warlock for eldritch blast. But I did take pact of the blade so I can use whatever weapon I find and still have it be useful should I need to attack something in melee.
Just a point of clarification - in the current version, selecting Lore as a subclass at level 3 rewards you with proficiency in any 3 new Skills and Expertise in 2 Skills. It is not limited to Arcana, Intimidation, and Sleight of Hand.
Playing Bard (Swords) for my first play through, and I’m pretty deep into Act 3 now. It’s been so much fun. Loving all the dialogue options, the cool aoe spells, and good melee, it’s been a great first choice of a class. I’m big on seeing as much dialogue stuff as possible during my first time throughout a game, then going different routes for other playthroughs.
There's an amazing rapier you can get in Act 3 that lets you crit on 19 if you don't have a shield in your off-hand. Feels like it was designed for a College of Swords Bard.
There is 1 weapon that is easily missable at end of act 2, the effect allows you to add spellcaster to attack. Making it a pact weapon without needing lvl 3 in warlock which makes a 10bard/2warlock an amazing hexblade build. This weapon contains a big story spoiler so I don't want to say what it is. But you must pass a persuade check by asking for a reward. Just keep this in mind during your hero playthoughs you can miss amazing gear by never asking for the rewards.
@@Tremain uses your Spellcasting Modifier for Attack Rolls and Damage Rolls . you can also place a candle down in combat and use a bonus action to dip it and gain an extra 1d4 fire damage. the sword also grants the ability to use a Level 6 Conjuration Spell. to summon a Fiend once per long rest.
I did a half-drow lore bard. Level up to 6 to get magical secrets (counterspell and lightning bolt), now working my way to 2 levels of warlock to get eldritch blast and invocations. Then the rest into bard. Super useful in combat with hypnotic pattern, dissonant whispers, cloud of daggers, faerie fire, etc. A ton of fun.
YOU....ARE....THE MAN! Just 8 hours ago I was digging for an up to date, concise Bard guide. All I found was half-done out of date material. And just yesterday I was watching your Warlock guide wishing you had more.
I’m absolutely loving playing through with a bard as my character. Supplemental heals. Enough dexterity to attack with weapons, or a bow. Enough charisma to use spells. Lots of status spells to steal actions from enemies. Some AOE damage for groups. Cutting words and vicious mockery to make enemies miss their attacks or fail saving throws on spells. Plus! With the dexterity and expertise they’re able to do all of my lockpicking and trap disarming. This gives me two companion spots to rotate people through because shadowheart is a tank and main healer as a life cleric. It’s fantastic! Almost forgot about song of rest! A third short rest per day is huge! Especially if you have companions with abilities that recharge on short rest. So, more spells for your warlock, more ki for your monk, more maneuvers for your battlemaster fighter, and more usages of equipment that recharge on short rest. The college of lore grants you more spells from any class. This is based on spell level. So, you can get fireball … a third spell level spell that most casters get at level 5, and you can get word of radiance a third level spell that paladins don’t get until level 12 (one third level spell slot grants you something like healing word as a bonus action and ranged heal that heals for something like 2D6 and lasts 10 rounds … which is basically like 10 second spell slot healing words for a single third level spell slot).
My lovely boyfriend gifted me the game yesterday and I was trying to figure out what to choose. Picked bard out of random because I love music and figured it would be a good support character as I enjoy supporting my team than being the main damage dealer. Such a great pick and this video helps a whole lot on how to make better combos with my bard
I know another game, mmorpg city of heroes(now in form of homecoming), soldiers of arachnos are exactly that, even buffing through leadership skills. Not the same kinda game as this though for sure.
That implies Bard is better than Paladin, Fighter, Barbarian, and Monk at close range. Better than Warlock, Wizard, and Sorcerer at spell casting. Better than Cleric at healing and Support. Better at utilities Rogue and Ranger. Which also implies, the best team comp is 4 Bard. Honestly Bard just feel like a class you pick last because you wanted your team comp to include certain companion and so you pick Bard to be handle multiple role.
Thanks, Fextralife, for making these guide videos -- I think you and people like you who help players out like this are outstanding. I really appreciate what you're doing for us 🙂
Playing as bard/sorc, and I'm having a blast. The dialogue options are hilarious, and when I'm not dishing out damage vicious mockery and cutting words are THE BEST.
A couple of notes about some slightly outdated information: -Darkvision does not appear to have any function in the current state of the game. Larian has not yet commented whether or not this is intentional, but as it stands, it doesn’t do anything (like it did in EA). -Bardic Inspiration is not based on CHA modifier anymore. It is now just a flat 3 uses at level 1, 4 at level 5, and 5 at level 9. This does mean that more martial-focused bards can completely forgo CHA if they wish. On another point, College of Swords is amazing with a level or two of Fighter and a strength focused build to get Martial weapon proficiency (heavy weapons in particular). Picking up great weapon master is really nice here; you always have a useful action, bonus action, and use for your concentration. You can get both Con saves proficiency and heavy armor proficiency to give you more sticking power in melee. You can use Mobile Flourish (Ranged) to hit a distant enemy with an arrow, then teleport (no action required!) to the enemy and follow up with one of your melee attacks. Defensive flourish is broadly considered the “best” default choice due to how much value a flat +4 bonus to AC is, but if you can get an additional Great Weapon Master attack via Slashing Flourish, then its probably a better use of the inspiration die.
Collage of Lord Bard is hands down the best class for a first playthrough. It's the best party face class, plus it's average or better at everything. It provides a lot of versatility in combat. You're a backup healer, you can lock down problematic enemies, deal extra damage to backup your main DPS caster, boost your mele DPS, you have great crowd control. I like having a bard as my PC because they can handle pretty much everything and I don't need to worry about thinking which party member is going to do what thing outside combat. The bard has it. By level 10, I'm regularly able to get 30+ on speech checks as well... such a good class.
@@adamleblanc5294 You keep spamming about how collage of lore bard is the best because its a face of the party but any other bard subclasses also can do it so stop with that nonsense.
Dipping 1 or 2 into Bard for Dex Martial classes makes all the sense in the world when you take into account the game play aspects of Bard. They seem to have the most conversation options of any class and have numerous ways to impact combat and the story line. I took 1 level of bard at 2nd level for my Ranger and haven't regretted it.
Bard. Do not need a thief because the bard can unlock and disarm and stealth anything. Want to speak to every animal in the game? Check. Want THREE short rests per long rest? Done. My party runs around with permanent extra movement because longstrider is a ritual! Do not have to fight because the bard can talk his way through anything. Want to go back and fight every single encounter you talked your way past? Easy. Damage? 2 levels in Warlock and the Charisma based cantrip that goes up based on CHARACTER LEVEL not class is wrecking faces. I usually just flat out forget I even have bardic inspiration and performance and even most of the spell slots.
Thanks!! I was picking up redundant proficiencies with my bard, gonna respec to fix that. Oh, and Lightfoot Halflings are amazing too, they make it easier to pass checks, since your chances of a critical failure are absurdly lower, and with expertise a lot of times even a 2 will pass you in the check
I thought bard would just be okay to start as. Now it's literally my super weapon of my party with john wick style shooting and melee, crazy spell combos and amazing party support
Thank you, I decided to go for a School of Valour bard right now as I wasn’t sure what to pick there. I like being a social, charismatic character, it’s fun to get funny dialogue options and being able to talk my way out of a lot of situations. My character is a Drow Half-Elf, which I chose for roleplaying reasons.
Drow + Bard = Social Cheat Code. There's literally nothing in the game I haven't been able to talk or bulky my way out of. Some of the lines are very cheeky.
@@tanhy7334sword bard 10/paladin 2 is much better since at lvl 10 you get magical secrets (2 powerfull spells) and improved bardic inspiration. All you really want from paladin is the proficiencies and divine smite which you get by level 2.
@@tanhy7334 like said in video on lvl 10 all bards are getting secrets (spells of your choice) so I think bard 10 is way to go.. Otherwise 6/6 (bard 6 gets extra attack swords/valour)
This is the class i finally settled on , College of Valor Zariel Tiefling Dex/Cha based. I am the healer/lockpicker/support class with some great finesse/ranged weapons to fight with. Thaumaturgy and smite abilities. Also have the necklace of Guidance so i completely cover the Cleric class and the rogue class minus the sneak attacks. at level 3 i have a 19 AC and can cover all conversation rolls with ease. Looking forward to the lvl6 two attacks ability.
Started another new character last night, choose bard & decided to go fully into healer bard; Only at Lv5 rn in act 1 but when I heal someone they gain, blade ward, bless, & temporary hit points. Bardic inspiration also heals 1 D6 thanks to the hat by Alfira & I gain temp hit points from the tunic Volo gives you. It’s actually a really fun build so far, I might spec 2 levels into life cleric for the extra healing potency.
I tried machinegun bard with 2 hand crossbows. Now i look like a vampire hunter and im digging it. Im crushing every single skill check in dialogue, support my team and still do the most dmg while having 19-23AC as a ranged character.
My wife's bard started with a level of Life Cleric, making her Bardic heals more potent, and giving her access to heavy armor and shields. It also means she's got Bless and Guiding Bolt early on, which has been a huge boon. At this point, she is a level 1 cleric/6 bard of swords, and she's rocking a 21 AC!
I'll be playing for the first time in a couple days. I've never played any games like this, only rudimentary ones. I chose a hard and have been down a rabbit hole and am liking it more and more lol
How was it, I’m still playing through it and it’s been a blast. I’ve been enjoying Monk and Fighter most! My furthest character is a Sorcerer though. So many I want to try in the future too.
I don’t like build guides. I love there class guides. These have just the right amount of information and recommendations without tell exactly what to do. It all feels like informed suggestions.
I searched for this last night and only found your one from a year ago which I watched, only to just see you dropped this, guess I'm watching part 2. Thanks for the guides.
Gah! Every time you come out with a build video I rethink my plan! I was going to go with a Devotion Pally and maybe multi with Warlock, but Bard looks like it’s so versatile and I love the idea of jamming with other performers! Man, I can’t wait! I got a new PC on the way and I am giddy with anticipation!
You're WILDLY sleeping on Cutting Words. It lets lore bards apply a penalty to saving throws in reaction to enemies passing their saves, as long as they didn't use a reaction elsewhere. It is INSANELY powerful for forcing crowd control through.
This game is so good, I absolutely hate it when things end! I'm currently in the midst of Chapter 3 and already embarking on my second playthrough 😂. I'm thinking a bard could be my next class choice. My first playthrough was as a Tiefling Warlock, which was quite an adventure!
2:48 everyone overlooks Halfling. The lucky racial is a big increase for damage output (more than halforc getting an extra weapon die on crit). Lucky turns failures into successes on skill checks and it turns misses into hits and crits. This also turns saving throw failures into successes. Over time this is HUGE! In terms of raw damage alone it’s worth more damage than a 5% chance to do one extra weapon die of damage. The more you roll dice the more this will benefit you. So, more attacks makes Halfling even better. More skill checks, more time having to roll saving throws. Not having dark vision really isn’t a big deal. There are enough items in the game that this isn’t a problem and the light cantrip sure is easy to cast.
@@CsStrez Nope. While that's what the tooltip claims, that's not how it actually works if you check out the combat log. As of right now Savage Attacks adds a die (like in the tabletop) and does not raise the multiplier (so a Greatsword only does an extra 1d6, meaning you want a 1d12 weapon instead). There's more to it (like bugged interactions with other damage effects errneously also getting an extra die when they shouldn't), but that's the basic gist of it.
@@robjsmiles it does. If half orc works in this game like it does in the tabletop (one weapon die rather than tripling ALL dice rolled) then Halfling is worth more damage over time. It’s all about misses. Misses hurt damage over time. I don’t know how much detail you want. You can stop here and take my word for it. Or … here is a little bit of the math …. Imagine you hit on a roll of 10. You crit on a 20. So, you miss on 1-9. Hit on 10-19. Crit on 20. Let’s assume each hit does 1D10+3 damage (8.5) and a regular crit does 2D10+3 (14) and as an orc a savage crit is 3D10+3 (19.5). 0 damage times 9 misses 8.5 damage times 10 hits 14 damage times 1 crit Avg swing does (0+85+14)/20 = 4.95 damage. The missed hits that do zero damage drop this a ton because nearly HALF the time you fail to do any damage at all. Then you can compare damage with savage critical. Then you can compare damage with Halfling luck. This helps you figure out average damage per swing. You need to account for misses. Most people just think about the critical hits. When you reroll that natural 1 you’re turning it into a hit more than half the time. You’re also turning it into a critical hit 5% of the time. When you consider thousands of weapon attacks an increase to accuracy is worth a lot more than a small increase in damage on the hits. If you know how to write any code I can walk you through how to write software that will simulate hundreds of thousands of strikes and add it up. Or, you can trust me. Halflings are dope. Plus, that reroll happens on saving throws and skill checks. The more you roll the better it gets. This also means a dual wield Halfling fighter/rogue with champion fighter and extra attack is an absolute beast. It will miss less often. Crit more often. And the damage will be extremely consistent. You can hire the Halfling bard hireling and respec them to try it out. Go all strength. Let them dual wield long swords or whatever. Switch to a Dexterity build in act 3 after you get Orin’s legendaries to apply vulnerability on piercing damage. The build spends zero resources and will melt bosses. It’s just as effective after 15 fights in a day as it is in the first fight of the day. None of this childish “look I can do 500 damage in one attack as long as I go long rest after each fight, and also the build doesn’t work until you’re 130 hours into the game”.
Near the Selune output in the under dark there is a drow longsword that is a finesse weapon that has extra benefits bards will love. This means it’s a 1D8 one handed weapon that will use your dexterity. This also means it’s a 1D10 two handed weapon that will use your dexterity. The easiest way to reach the weapon is through the temple in the goblin camp.
Easiest way to reach is to jump down the hole in the village well after you kill the big spider(or just push it down the hole for an easy kill) just cast feather fall before jumping and you land safely into under dark
I ALWAYS go speech/charisma in my games, and I’ve been a musician for 30 of my 34 years of life. Bard was a no brainer for me, and I was surprised to see it where it was on the list. I’ve been having so much fun with this game
Probably should have mentioned that college of lore bards can use their inspiration to reduce enemy saving throws. Makes them by far the best class for big deal single target spells like hold person/hold monster.
A Bard+Wizard is awesome since you can scribe scrolls and are still a full level caster, so even though you give up learning higher levels spells at level-up you can gain high-level wizard spells via scrolls. The headband of INT makes this work great!! So Bard10/Wiz2 gives you a wizard school spec for whatever type of arcane warrior you want to make. So far feels better than an eldritch knight as a college of swords bard with wizard.
I made a STR based valor bard. It's been a super fun face character. I picked a hill dwarf as my race to make up for my low CON score because it gets extra HP. Maxed out STR and CHA and set DEX to 14 to get max AC with medium armor. I'm only level 6 right now and just got my extra attack. I am thinking of taking a two lvl dip into fighter for action surge, but i may just go straight 12 lvl valor bard.
I've played the game for about three hours and I'm still so very confused with anything you said in this vid. It's not you at all, it's me; I have no idea what DnD is and this game just throws you in the deep end.
I'm playing a multiclass bard now. I started with Wood Elf(Noble) Any Race with a skill proficiency can get all skills with this build. Started as Rogue for skills and Expertise. Then I took 1 level Cleric(Knowledge) for 2 more skills and Expertise. After this I'm going all in on Bard(Lore) with focus on all INT and CHA skills and I will have Expertise in all of them. I picking Slight of Hand for the last one. For my 2 Feats, I got Actor and will get Skilled I'm using the Warped headband of Intellect and the Dex Gloves so my stats are STR 8, DEX 18, CON 14, INT 17, WIS 16, CHA 19(18 with -1 from the Smuggler's ring, but +1 from Hag's hair). So far I'm Level 6 and as Wood Elf(started with 2 skills from Race), I'm only missing 2 skills and I might drop Skilled and get CHA up to 20. Survival and Medicine is not that Important :P Expertise in 10 skills is nice though ^^
Funny how I was thinking of how I should multiclass bard into sorcerer and as I'm thinking about Bard 3 / Sorcerer 9, you say it. I think it's meant to be.
8:45 a mistake here- Lore bard gets to choose their 3 skills and 2 expertise, you just have to click the "class: bard" icon to change that Source: discovered it during a series of misclick induced reloads on my way to pick Sword Bard
I’m doing a dark urge drow Lore college bard playthrough and I love it. At character level 7 I’ve gone 6 bard plus a single dip into war domain cleric for heavy armour, shield and some nice utility spells (and thematically fits as war is a canon domain for Lolth, but a male Drow is not going to be anything but a novice). As a player character it’s perfect because it means every dialogue check is a sinch (with proficiencies, expertise, guidance and a high charisma my only enemy is a natural 1), in combat can crowd control, dish out spell damage, use weapons and cutting words is just fantastic (knowing you’re about to be hit, flinging an insult and making them miss never gets old). Essentially you’re always doing something leaving the party to do what they are good at and filling the gaps as the situation demands. I was going to go bardlock but right now I’ve got enough to do with every turn that an Eldritch blast doesn’t really fit in and would mean either giving up my cleric dip, or not getting magical secrets.
Does it matter when you take the cleric dip? I am thinking of taking 1 or 2 levels of cleric, and then 10 or 11 levels of bard. But idk when to take the dip. Suggestions? Also, suggestions for how many levels of cleric to take (1? 2? More?). Thanks!
@@half_a_kman977 I took my dip at level 7. Delaying the power spike at level 5 is too painful as a caster and then level 6 gives magical secrets as a college of lore bard which means more spells. Only took a single dip as I still want (eventually) 6th level spells and got everything I wanted from that one level (a single use of guided strike when my focus is not weapon attacks doesn’t make a whole lot of sense). My alternative was to go Tempest domain which would have then meant two levels to get destructive wrath and maximise a single lightning spell but sacrifice 6th level spells. Either way would work. The other factor was trying to stay within canon for deity and domain even though this isn’t enforced in BG3.
could potentially go 4 thief to get an extra bonus action, then the rest into college of swords & grab two weapon fighting and eventually extra attack. Add in the Dual Wielder feat and then eventually you'll be able to attack 4 times with rapiers, with the bonus of a +1 to AC.
Surprised you didn't mention the one level life cleric dip for a support bard. Give up 1 feat for heavy armor proficiency, guidance, and extra healing. Combine with lore bard to pick up the paladin level 3 healing aura spell and you got a very potent support caster dishing out some serious consistent healing over 10 rounds. And it comes online very early.
Gith bard 2/cleric or druid x Gives +4-7 depending on guidance roll to all to all int, wisdom and cha skills, my best skill monkey (12 int 16 wisdom 12 Cha, all cha skills picked) Use wild shape or cantips/spells for damage.
Comparing the Magic Secrets spell selection images (available in this video) for College of Lore Bards at level 6 and for other subclass bards at level 10, there are only two spells College of Lore bards can get that other bards cannot: Fireball and Call Lightning. Fireball is very well known (and powerful) but Call Lightning is interesting: not only is it only available to some subclasses of Druid and Sorcerer (Wizards can't get it at all), it also remains "castable" after the first use of the spell slot. I'm not sure whether it's dependent on concentration, but even if it is, saving a spell slot every round for an aoe spell sounds pretty useful. So it's not only a very "selective" spell in terms of availability, it's also unique in how it works. Worth considering if going for College of Lore.
Just for anyone reading, concentration is indeed required to maintain Call Lightning, allowing you to recast it each turn, this is potentially quite powerful since it does good damage and you wont be using a spell slot each turn after the 1st.
Elf Ranger/Lore Bard sounds good. Lots of Weapons/Archery ,Cantrils and Spells. Gloomstalker gets 24m Darkvision, Summon Fiend & Speak with Animals....Also Heavy Armor with Knight Perk! Would make a Awesome Battlemage Stealth Archer🤷♀️
How to Role Play Jack Baur Step 1: Create a Human Bard, College of Lore Step 2: Choose the Cantrip Vicious Mockery Step 3: Ask nicely Step 4: Ask again - less nicely Tips: It may help, to gain Proficiency in Persuasion & Intimidation, as well as a high Charisma Score You could use Steps 3 & 4, As your Charisma Rolls - Rolling Persuasion & Intimidation in that order For Example: Step 3: Ask nicely - Roll Persuasion Step 4: Ask again, less nicely Roll Intimidation Example: As a Table Top equivalent to Jack Baur - you encounter a Group of NPCs You wish to get their Names Player Turn: Action Jack Baur: "I want Names. I want everyone's Name, In this room" DM: Roll Persuasion The NPCs don't seem very talkative Bonus Action Jack Baur: [Yells] "I SAID I WANT NAMES!! I WANT YOUR NAME! I WANT YOUR NAME... I WANT ALL YOUR NAMES!" DM: Roll Intimidation The NPCs appear surprised, if Spooked Feel free to Cast Vicious Mockery, for Improved results, as needs The College of Lore, will allow you to use Bardic Inspiration on Self - to improve your Charisma Rolls, when interacting / questioning/ interrogating / yelling at very closely, with NPCs
Hey, sorry, why subtitles aren't allowed in your videos? I'm not native english speaker so even automatic subtitles, while not perfect, they help a lot when I can't understand 100% a certain sentence by just listening it. I respect it if it's an actual choice, just asking in case they were unintentionally disabled. Thanks for the vid! Really helpful.
A single level on draconic sorcerer gives you +3 of AC with no armor (so you cna use many of the amazing clothes in the game) some nice damage cantrips ,the shield spell and most importantly (if you chose white dragon) armor of agathys for extra health and returning damage on melee. Starting as a sorcerer then bard until lv 6 (for the extra attack on college of sword or valour) and then a second lv on sorcerer for the metamagic, then untill lv 10 bard is a very effective way to multiclass with bard.
Surprised cleric-bard wasn't mentioned as you get all the armor prof you'll ever need and some of the best cleric spells and cantrips on a lore bard, and you only sacrifice a feat for all of that, it's pretty insane when you think about it. The usefulness is just unmatched. edit: taking wis as a secondary stat instead of dex doesn't affect a lore bard support almost at all, you don't need it for attacks since you'll support, you won't need it for ac since you'll be wearing heavy armor and you won't wanna sneak around with heavy armor anyways so you only lose a bit of initiative, which can be ignored also if you cast your buffs before the fight starts and wisdom+charisma characters are the best face of the group characters. But if you still feel forced to take dex or you don't have a utility character to disarm and lockpick and such, there are some spells and cantrips in cleric's level 1 list that don't scale with wisdom for it to still be worth multiclassing into even if you go with the classic bard build
A 1 level life cleric dip gets you healing word, cure wounds, and guidance, plus heavy armor prof and shield prof, and none of those use wisdom if that's interesting to anyone!!
My dude!!! Im in the same boat as you. So can you tell me what we are losing by starting Bard at lvl 2 instead of 1? IVe heard proficiencies are not all gotten when you MC into that class. So its not just a feat we miss out on. Thanks.
