Can a Bard attack AND play a song At The Same Time? Also which is better: half-elf Ranger Cleric or Half Orc Fighter Cleric?

[Woofy]

If a Bard cant', then they kind of suck. Otherwise, they're quite good...

19 strength Orcs sounds very good, especially in the beginning...But Half-Elf s get Druid Spells later...Hmmmm.
I imagine there's not kits for the fighter multi classes.

I've played BG2 a lot, but this is my first time for this game.
Thanks!

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Also in this game, the bard songs are active abilities, which conflict with other actions. But they don't suck, since they still can provide the party with pre-combat buffs (and special purpose spells). if during combat you insist on the bard to become a passive "singer". IWD also features some role-playing options for bards.

General answers to multi-classing and dual-classing questions are hard, if not discussing the chosen difficulty mode (because it influences the XP you get).

[Godsarm]

I took a Bard last time and loved it. The 10th level song that gives regeneration totally solves healing between battles, no need to load up on Cleric spells ever again or do multiple rests, just stand around in a safe place for a few minutes and listen to the music. The combat bonuses help and I use them to buff the party before and during battles. Rarely do I have the bard engage in any sort of combat or offensive spell casting (Unless we're desperate).

[Godsarm]

Oh and I almost forgot, after a few levels, you will never cast Identify ever again because of the Bard's lore. That means that when you find an item, you can almost always put it to immediate use. This saves a ton of headache in game play, no need to rest in an unsafe area to identify your loot. There's a couple of times where this isn't true, but they are few and far between.

[Woofy]

Which Bard kit has the regeneration? I didn't see that.

[Woofy]

Oh, that's the base Bard 11th level song "War chant of the Sith". Thought "Sith" were evil. Must be another game. :)

Thanks for the info, btw!

[Woofy]

Okay, I'm now a believer in Bards! The 11th level regeneration song is REALLY nice and convenient. It's saved me once or twice too. Thanks for the advice guys!

[razer_87]

Bard songs really dont suck. Even the 1st level song can be great. Adding +1 damage to every hit essentially means that if say 4 of your party members are attacking, then thats an extra 4 damage per round. This is basically your Bards damage per round. When you start adding extra attacks per round with fighters, then your bard can easily start stacking up to 10 damage per round.

This is pretty solid damage, and is something the bard can be doing while he has nothing else to do. Its a lot better damage than you'll get out of say a mage when they are out of spells. And none of that even factors in the benefits of the +1 to hit and +1 to all saves the 1st level song also grants.

The 9th level song can be really good for large groups of enemies, essentially taking multiple enemies out of combat for a round at a time every time they fail their save. This can protect your tanks from several attacks each round.

And as you've obviously already discovered, the 11th level song is almost worth making a Bard for all on its own.

[[‡]=Storky=[‡]]

Originally posted by razer_87:

When you start adding extra attacks per round with fighters, then your bard can easily start stacking up to 10 damage per round.

You mean manually attack with bard then immidiately proceed to play the song?

I've made a new party with vanilla Bard, got 3 issues:

1. Stats, I gave her 14 Int, low Wisdom, and 18 Charisma
In Pomab's shop I found that she can't learn spell with 14 Int
Also I wanted to embrace high Lore score and failed.

With time spent on prev quest, and failed attempt to recreate a party, because I accidently included overpowered Fighter from previous walkthrough - I lost almost 2 hours to restart with reworked bard.
I've grinded 88 points, it is minimum to get 3 Str, 18 Dex/Con/Int,Wis, and 16 Charisma
It gives me max Lore possible for a Bard

2. I thought it is a great idea to skill Longbow, because with low Str there is no point to use Sling
... I forgot that Lbow requires hi Str, she barely can wear a dress
I gave her Sling just for QoL and will equip ogre power smth asap to solve it.
With these stats I should use throwing daggers probably

3. QoL control issues what seems unfixable. I usually start to engage with selecting all party and clicking on closest enemy.
This way Bard starts her useless attack I and have to relaunch the song (with 2 attempts somewhy)
Ingame behaviour scripts do not help with this issue

[iamdorf]

It looks like you've figured out the bard thing but as for which multi-class... I personally would go for the half-orc fighter cleric. I love their strength and charisma bonus and clerics need the extra help. Also I love vanilla druids, they are my favorite spell casters for this game.

[[‡]=Storky=[‡]]

Originally posted by iamdorf:

It looks like you've figured out the bard thing but as for which multi-class... I personally would go for the half-orc fighter cleric. I love their strength and charisma bonus and clerics need the extra help. Also I love vanilla druids, they are my favorite spell casters for this game.

Cleric-fighter seems OP, so I've got one to backup my awkward Bard :D
Multi or dual calss of Fighter-Mage seems also strong.

But I want to get my casual experience with that Bard, to enjoy Lore, Pickpocketing and Signing

About Lore I've read that Bard has like +10 Lore per level, hence it is not necessary to skill Wisdom in the cost of STR to have a good Lore in the midgame.
But it is cool to have high Lore in early game with my 3 STR Bard.