Bard ridiculously strong at later game?

[Iso Koala]

So, I respecced Astarion into bard (blade) very early on in the game since I thought bard fits him.
Now I am looking at the dude and I am like wtf are you, are you trying to be the hero of this tale instead of me or something?

He has 24ac without any buffs or shield, he has 155hp and permanent 1/2 damage reduction to all melee/ranged attacks, he has +18-21 attack bonus because of permanent bless, he has 3 attacks per round with the rapier, and his flourish attacks do 15-43 dmg per attack without buffs and he can use those 20 times per long rest and those boost his AC to 28, his ranged banish attack from bard secret spells does 18-79 dmg, he can fly with illith powers, he can cast level 5-6 spells that disable the strongest of the enemies. He can heal, revive, haste, make invisible, and buff himself and the party members. And those are before using potions or spells.

Paladins and barbarians are strong yeah, but blade bard with the equipment, its just.... disgusting.

[Solu]

Maybe I just dont like DnD or something but I really find the classes in this game to be bad. Most of them are super underpowered and flat out boring at lower levels and then a few of them are so OP in later game that they are busted. They seem to have designed some of these encounters with certain classes in mind and the gear choices leave a lot to be desired for most of them.

Bard is one of those ones thats just a meme class they decided to make overpowered for end game for reasons...

[Xhaiden]

Drow Bard = Two Weapon Fighting Style = Dual Hand Crossbows. Be the best at melee and ranged.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Iso Koala:

Bard ridiculously strong at later game?
So, I respecced Astarion into bard (blade) very early on in the game since I thought bard fits him.
Now I am looking at the dude and I am like wtf are you, are you trying to be the hero of this tale instead of me or something?

He has 24ac without any buffs or shield, he has 155hp and permanent 1/2 damage reduction to all melee/ranged attacks, he has +18-21 attack bonus because of permanent bless, he has 3 attacks per round with the rapier, and his flourish attacks do 15-43 dmg per attack without buffs and he can use those 20 times per long rest and those boost his AC to 28, his ranged banish attack from bard secret spells does 18-79 dmg, he can fly with illith powers, he can cast level 5-6 spells that disable the strongest of the enemies. He can heal, revive, haste, make invisible, and buff himself and the party members. And those are before using potions or spells.

Paladins and barbarians are strong yeah, but blade bard with the equipment, its just.... disgusting.

Long story short: yes

[Narky]

Yep.

[amathy]

Originally posted by Solu:

Bard is one of those ones thats just a meme class they decided to make overpowered for end game for reasons...

???
Bard is just strong in 5e, I have no idea why you're calling it a meme class. And every class is strong because of the crazy magic items the game gives out like candy.

[victorvnv]

Yea it is. But honestly after I have played 7 playthroughs, every class is ridiculously strong with the right combination of items/ multiclass .
A sorcerer with the spellmight gloves and the hat that gives bonus action if you upcast a fire spell can slaughter end game bosses in a turn by casting 4 upcasted spell buffed scorched rays or arcane missles.

Or fighter / barb with giantslayer and cloud giant elixir , or Monk/ rogue etc.

[Callirgos]

Bard has always been the best D&D class. It's Canon.

[Gracey Face]

Bard isn't ridiculously strong. Every class is ridiculously strong to some degree or another because 5e and especially Larian's interpretation of 5e was built around the lowest common denominator. With the design goal that no matter how badly you build your character your character will still "work". This then means any character built with even a semblance of a coherent build idea ends up being broken and seemingly overpowered. And it's doubly true in this game. For example all of the DC items meaning you can have a guaranteed 100% to hit on your CC spells as any caster meaning that you immediately win fights. Or all of the haste + extra attacks + extra damage + on hit effects meaning that any martial can one turn any enemy.

[Cur]

Every class can be OP even if some are easier to build than others. I though my Bard was broken until I played again as a Life Cleric. I was able to out heal all incoming damage in a huge AOE and made the game laughably easy. And then I played as a Dark Urge Rogue and let me tell you it got even easier.

Between potions, scrolls, illithid powers and lots of strong gear you can make anything crazy strong in this game.

[Evernessince]

Bard is definitely strong and as others have said most classes can be OP with the right items. It just so happens that the bard class is both strong and versatile, you can pretty much take any approach and be successful. Plus the high charisma essentially means you will be winning most of your story rolls.

[The1Kobra]

I think the main vector for a lot of the OP combos in the game are mostly due to gear stacking combos with a lot of stacking with situational other equipment options. Bards are plenty strong and flexible, and 2/10 Paladin/Bard is one of the better class combos out there, however, if you want an example of what gear can do to a build...

Take the Sorlock build. 2/10 Warlock/Sorcerer. Now on it's own? It's basically a CHA caster sorc with eldritch blasts that use your stat modifier to add to damage. Okay, not terrible, but probably not optimal since it doesn't get all the sorc spellslots.
Eldritch blast total damage: 3d10+15, assuming 20 CHA.

Now lets add some gear to this combo:
There's a robe there that adds CHA again to cantrip damage, and stacks.
3d10+30
Now, get the bronze or blue bloodline, and a staff that gives you lightning charges on this. The lightning charges cause you to get the bloodline bonus damage.
3d10+48
There's a ring that further amplifies your attacks whenever they do electric damage in certain conditions. +2 to each hit
3d10+54

I can keep going, but this is far stronger than what a cantrip is supposed to be. And this right here is an at-will power. Stack in haste and quickened spell and you can triple the damage output above for 10 rounds. It's possible to get that 3d10+54 even higher.

I find it's primarily gear combos that end up being OP characters.

[Daniel]

The more I play BG3 the more I feel like a Legacy of Bhaal difficulty (mobs HP x3 + 80, + to attack rolls and APR, + to saves) from the old game’s EE would actually work pretty well in this game as an enthusiast difficulty.

Also, inability to save outside friendly zones and seeding a skill check to your campaign save once it was made.

The game is a little silly later on especially with the greater Illithid powers. Black Hole+Mind Blast, go aoe farming.

[Kaisha]

Originally posted by Solu:

Maybe I just dont like DnD or something but I really find the classes in this game to be bad. Most of them are super underpowered and flat out boring at lower levels and then a few of them are so OP in later game that they are busted. They seem to have designed some of these encounters with certain classes in mind and the gear choices leave a lot to be desired for most of them.

Exactly. 90% of the class/gear/skill combinations are complete trash. The last 10% stupidly OP. It makes it both too difficult for beginners, and too easy for veterans. It's the proverbial 'easy to learn, hard to master' turned backwards 'hard to learn, easy to master'.

This is why it's near impossible to make interesting or challenging encounters.

If they balanced the game a bit, they could then tune the difficulty to make it more challenging on the higher difficulty. But it's clear the D&D community can't see past their own two feet.

[Cthulhu]

Bard is ridicuous by default

[Lil Grandpa]

Originally posted by Solu:

Maybe I just dont like DnD or something but I really find the classes in this game to be bad. Most of them are super underpowered and flat out boring at lower levels and then a few of them are so OP in later game that they are busted. They seem to have designed some of these encounters with certain classes in mind and the gear choices leave a lot to be desired for most of them.

Bard is one of those ones thats just a meme class they decided to make overpowered for end game for reasons...

Bard is far from a meme class. They are good throughout the entire game.