Can a Bard School of Lore can replace a Sorce/Wiz efficiently?

[Solial]

Hi everyone !
Everything is in the title. i've read that a Bard of Lore can replace the wizard or the cleric thanks to its "extra spells from other classes" feature. And my problem is simple: I'd like to play with a bard for my first run (never tried this class) but I want to keep Shadowheart. Futhermore, I dont like Gale at all. So, I'm tempted to replace Gale by my main character: a Bard of Lore, spec as a wizard (fireball etc.).

Will it be a good caster?

Thanks all.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

In all my years of playing d&d I never played wizard at all, unless forced to.
Bards and sorcs are 2 of my favorite classes, though I typically focus my bard more on cc then dmg (and their spelllist certainly lends them more in the direction of cc/support/heal)
But you can certainly do enough damage especially with magic secrets for them to be fully viable choices.
Though you will not get the spell-versatility of a wizard or the blasting capabilities of a sorc.

[BigAlzBub]

TLDR; if you want someone who can cast fireball, then yes, otherwise no.

It can, but it won't truly be a replacement. At 6th level you can learn two spells from other classes, now one of those can be fireball, and it is a fine spell (probably one of the best damaging spells in the game), but the power of wizards isn't their ability to cast fireball, it is the ability to have whatever spells they need for any occasion, and this isn't something a lore bard can do. You will get another magical secret at 10th level (all bards get this), which gives you another two spells, the next magical secret isn't until 14th level which is beyond the level cap of the game. If you just want to dabble and pick up a couple of Wizard spells, then a Bard will work perfectly, but you will never have the versatility of a Wizard, or the ability to exclude people when you fireball foes.

[jk2l]

yes you can to certain degree, bard more on control and utility support. magical secrets can provide access to some AOE spell like fireball, but your primary focus for bard is to support

At low level you got sleep, which the target can trigger melee critical hit (Unconscious condition)
In higher level you have Hold Person or upcast hold person to provide critical damage to your ally (Paralysis condition)
And you have Hypnotic pattern to shutdown a large number of enemy so you can focus fire on one enemy at a time

if you got rogue/paladin combine with critical you can unload lot of damage due to sneak attack/smite

[Amix]

Last time I played Baldur's Gate 3, sorcerer was able to outshine entire party together, including fighter. So it is definitely special class. As for wizard, so far they are able to learn spells through scrolls & already have wide variety. Some people do not find Wizard fun. How unfortunate. ;)
Bard is more suitable for role playing with high charisma & skills. I do not think that Bard can replace those two spell casters above even with all the legendary items. You can however create your own custom Wizard & Bard but then you can get only two origin characters as companions.

[seandeven]

Lore Bards to a degree can replace all the other warlocks and sorcerers.
Lore bards get the best Enchantment and Illusion spells. Unless, Larian improves the Enchantment and Illusion specialties as a Wizard, I would recommend the Lore Bard.
Having charisma will make you face and keep the DC of spells high. Magical Secrets allows you to pick the other spells you want that are not in the Bards list. Plus light armor.

[Solial]

I thank you all for your detailed answers.

[Jack Greedy]

Very interesting thread! I will play Bard too.

[BigAlzBub]

Just thought of something....
Larian announced at the panel from hell that respeccing would be allowed. Depending on how often we can do it and if there is any cost or not (other than the time it takes to re-level up), you could be a lot more versatile that a Bard typically would be, because you can reset your levels, and then re-level up as a Bard and pick new spells based on your needs.
In DOS2 you had a magic mirror which let you respec at will, and for free, so it is possible it will be like this.

Edit:
According to Fextralife (who has played a release candidate) it costs 100 Gold at Withers to respec, so while it is moderately cheap, I doubt you would want to be respecing with ever long rest just to get some bizarre series of spells which provide you with the ultimate power.

[Ronin Gamer]

Bard's can be minor spellcaster, but they are generally considered more support/utility compared to a genuine spellcaster that has more options available to them.

[Foolswalkin]

It’s quite different than a wizard. It won’t outwizard a wizard, but it’s a great support and CC caster that can still output damage via magical secrets or dropping 2 levels into warlock for Eldritch blast.

On the other hand, wizard has basically a just a spell list and a way of preparing spells to recommend it over bard. Bard has incredibly good class abilities outside of spells, Lore Bard in particular. Cutting Words turns enemy hits into misses, like a shield spell on reaction that can be applied anywhere you need, while inspiration can turn your sides near misses into hits or failed saves into successful ones. You get expertise for double proficiency bonuses and additional skills learned. You get another short rest per long rest, and your limited uses of inspiration/cutting words start coming back on short rest instead of on long.

Bards used to be 2/3s the casting power of a wizard, so maybe there’s still lingering doubt from that, but I would rather play a lore bard than a wizard any day.

[DreadMuse]

What i find most attractive about Wizard is the versatility to prepare a skill set for each situation, that's what is special about it from my perspective.
Bard on the other hand is my favorite class to have in a group for both combat and dialogue. But it's main focus it's the CC/buffs. A CC/support Bard with good initiative can set up a fight by controlling the battlefield.
My favorite setup is a CC/Support Bard instead of a cleric (sorry Shadowheart) and the rest of the party a frontliner, a wizard and another melee like rogue or something.