SOU+HOTU as Bard/Pale Master/RDD?

[Dong Quixote]

So I just beat the OC an hour or so ago (awesome, if a little spotty towards the end) and I'm excited to hop into the expansions. after some reading and stuff it seems like Bard 16/Pale Master 4 / RDD 10 could be a ton of fun, but I'm just curious about how playable it is before you get the RDD levels and the melee buff that comes with those. I started a level 1 bard and he's considerably less competent than my Cleric in the OC was at level 1 - I know that's sort of an inherent imbalance, but I'm just wondering if anyone can confirm the functionality of that class combo for the expansions in particular.

[Selphea]

I wouldn't recommend it.

Bard will eventually be great at raising your Attack Bonus and reducing enemies' Armor Class, as well as doing the same with your Armor Class and enemies' Attack Bonus. However, it doesn't have much going for damage and it has slower Base Attack Bonus (BAB) progression than a fighter-type class. If you don't have a fighter-type in the mix, a good portion of those buffs will go towards making up for lost ground, and you'll lose out on your 4th attack if you don't get 16 BAB by level 20

RDD is not a fighter-type so it also has slower BAB growth. Of it's stats, I'd say they're a balance between tanking and defense. It gets 8 Strength which is +4 AB, but without a fighter-type you lose 3 BAB to get it. All you get remaining is 4 (one-handed) to 6 (two-handed) damage from Strength which is quite small compared to other options.

Pale Master is in theory a caster but in practice, a tank. Offensively, it has no caster level growth, so spell damage will not increase, and it's summons are weak. It also has awful BAB growth, so you might end up losing even more AB if you don't plan the build right. Defensively it's Armor Class bonuses are enormous and defense buffs like Epic Mage Armor give you the full bonus regardless of caster level.

The campaign doesn't need huge amounts of defense. The basic Bard Song/Curse Song/Improved Invisibility combo is enough to make you a tank. It also makes more sense in the campaign to get one class' abilities up and running ASAP. With Bard your big bonuses come at 16. With RDD it comes at 10. By the time you get them the game will be practically over.

So I'd say consider swapping Pale Master for Blackguard for more offense. That Pale Master AC is great in an action PW or in PvP, but I think Blackguard's BAB is more worthwhile for SoU+HotU, and you'll be able to pick up Divine Might and get 1d6 Sneak Attack for damage.

Something like Bard 12/RDD 4/Blackguard 4 pre-epic, then going for Bard 16 straight after for maxed Song, then RDD the rest of the way with an optional Bard level at 27 to top off Tumble if you want. It'll be pretty slow going till you get Divine Might I think.

[Shia Luck]

^^ Great insight there making full use of your CHA. The downside is it might be a little feat starved. ideally you'd want wpn focus, imp critical, blind fight, power attack, cleave, curse song, extend spell, still spell, diivine might and great cleave but you only have 7 feats before lvl20 (assuming human).

Another way to go would be fighter instead of PM. You replace divine Might with wpn specialisation and the 3 extra feats make a very useful difference. your level spread would be the same, B12/RDD4/Ftr4 at level 20, but you'd probably front load it with FTR levels, so bard for lvl1 for skill points, then your 4 FTR to get wpn specialisation, then bard until you can start getting RDD. Spread out the RDD levels so you can keep discipline skill topped up. Post epic you'd want a fighter level for epic wpn specialisation and as above increase bard to 16 with a drop of RDD for discipline again.

I don't recall how good the evil path is in HotU, but there is one so it is a good chance to play an evil character soooo, despite my post, I'd probably choose to play Selphea's character. Drop the weapon feats and then you can use whatever weapon you find. With hundreds of fantastic community adventures and the PWs out there, you will have a million chances to play a fighter. Evil storylines are far less common than good IME so I'd go for it when I have the chance.

Have fun :)

[Dong Quixote]

Originally posted by Selphea:

I wouldn't recommend it.

Bard will eventually be great at raising your Attack Bonus and reducing enemies' Armor Class, as well as doing the same with your Armor Class and enemies' Attack Bonus. However, it doesn't have much going for damage and it has slower Base Attack Bonus (BAB) progression than a fighter-type class. If you don't have a fighter-type in the mix, a good portion of those buffs will go towards making up for lost ground, and you'll lose out on your 4th attack if you don't get 16 BAB by level 20

RDD is not a fighter-type so it also has slower BAB growth. Of it's stats, I'd say they're a balance between tanking and defense. It gets 8 Strength which is +4 AB, but without a fighter-type you lose 3 BAB to get it. All you get remaining is 4 (one-handed) to 6 (two-handed) damage from Strength which is quite small compared to other options.

Pale Master is in theory a caster but in practice, a tank. Offensively, it has no caster level growth, so spell damage will not increase, and it's summons are weak. It also has awful BAB growth, so you might end up losing even more AB if you don't plan the build right. Defensively it's Armor Class bonuses are enormous and defense buffs like Epic Mage Armor give you the full bonus regardless of caster level.

The campaign doesn't need huge amounts of defense. The basic Bard Song/Curse Song/Improved Invisibility combo is enough to make you a tank. It also makes more sense in the campaign to get one class' abilities up and running ASAP. With Bard your big bonuses come at 16. With RDD it comes at 10. By the time you get them the game will be practically over.

So I'd say consider swapping Pale Master for Blackguard for more offense. That Pale Master AC is great in an action PW or in PvP, but I think Blackguard's BAB is more worthwhile for SoU+HotU, and you'll be able to pick up Divine Might and get 1d6 Sneak Attack for damage.

Something like Bard 12/RDD 4/Blackguard 4 pre-epic, then going for Bard 16 straight after for maxed Song, then RDD the rest of the way with an optional Bard level at 27 to top off Tumble if you want. It'll be pretty slow going till you get Divine Might I think.

Thank you so much for the thorough answer! This is exactly what I wanted - I'm not trying to wait ~30 hours for my character to be effective and fun in a ten hour window at the end of the second expansion, and suspected all the sort of level 30/40 combinations that seem good online were largely for PWs and stuff.

For the build you're talking about, I guess the idea would be to get Bard to 8 for the +6 BAB prerequisite? It also requires Cleave, which I didn't think Bards had access to, but I guess they do? Then from 8-12 go BG for the first level of sneak attack, then start taking RDD levels for the strength buffs to those sneak attacks.

Featwise, the bard I made last night is a Human with Lingering Song and Martial Weapons proficiency, I was gonna take Curse Song and Extra Music ASAP. I went with 16 CHA, 14 INT, 14 DEX, 12 STR, 12 CON, 10 WIS and put my skill points in the recommended package which doesn't include hide. That seems like it should work with BG as long as I keep Bull's Strength up and stuff?

Weapons wise, I figured taking martial proficiency would be worth it for the increased weapon availability. My original plan was a finesse ambidexterity bard but that would be so feat starved and wouldn't quite work with RDD - the build we're discussing here would probably be a 2h focused, medium armor kind of thing right?

Thanks for all the help!

Originally posted by Shia Luck:

^^ Great insight there making full use of your CHA. The downside is it might be a little feat starved. ideally you'd want wpn focus, imp critical, blind fight, power attack, cleave, curse song, extend spell, still spell, diivine might and great cleave but you only have 7 feats before lvl20 (assuming human).

Another way to go would be fighter instead of PM. You replace divine Might with wpn specialisation and the 3 extra feats make a very useful difference. your level spread would be the same, B12/RDD4/Ftr4 at level 20, but you'd probably front load it with FTR levels, so bard for lvl1 for skill points, then your 4 FTR to get wpn specialisation, then bard until you can start getting RDD. Spread out the RDD levels so you can keep discipline skill topped up. Post epic you'd want a fighter level for epic wpn specialisation and as above increase bard to 16 with a drop of RDD for discipline again.

I don't recall how good the evil path is in HotU, but there is one so it is a good chance to play an evil character soooo, despite my post, I'd probably choose to play Selphea's character. Drop the weapon feats and then you can use whatever weapon you find. With hundreds of fantastic community adventures and the PWs out there, you will have a million chances to play a fighter. Evil storylines are far less common than good IME so I'd go for it when I have the chance.

Have fun :)

Yeah, I did an extremely Good Guy Cleric in my OC playthrough, which was fine but a little bit one-note - the problem with the evil alternative path was that it basically never made sense, it was always just "ah hah! now I'm gonna murder you for no reason!", but I've heard it's better in the expansions. I like the idea of a neutral evil Bard/Blackguard, especially if there's evil options that imply venality and selfishness rather than just puppy murdering.

As for feats, I figure I'd probably skip blind fight, power attack, and weapon focus, since Blind can usually be dispelled, I just never end up actually using power attack, and the weapon focus bonus is pretty insignificant by the time you have extra feats to stack it past +1. Extend/Still spell, Divine Might, Cleave/Great Cleave, Imp Critical, Curse Song would be what I'd have to go with, I guess, but that misses Lingering Music and Improved Performance. Hm. I guess pure Bard isn't very effective - looking at their stats, it seems like it'd be better to just play a Sorcerer with some fighter levels, in some ways.

[Selphea]

Originally posted by Dong Quixote:

Thank you so much for the thorough answer! This is exactly what I wanted - I'm not trying to wait ~30 hours for my character to be effective and fun in a ten hour window at the end of the second expansion, and suspected all the sort of level 30/40 combinations that seem good online were largely for PWs and stuff.

For the build you're talking about, I guess the idea would be to get Bard to 8 for the +6 BAB prerequisite? It also requires Cleave, which I didn't think Bards had access to, but I guess they do? Then from 8-12 go BG for the first level of sneak attack, then start taking RDD levels for the strength buffs to those sneak attacks.

Featwise, the bard I made last night is a Human with Lingering Song and Martial Weapons proficiency, I was gonna take Curse Song and Extra Music ASAP. I went with 16 CHA, 14 INT, 14 DEX, 12 STR, 12 CON, 10 WIS and put my skill points in the recommended package which doesn't include hide. That seems like it should work with BG as long as I keep Bull's Strength up and stuff?

Weapons wise, I figured taking martial proficiency would be worth it for the increased weapon availability. My original plan was a finesse ambidexterity bard but that would be so feat starved and wouldn't quite work with RDD - the build we're discussing here would probably be a 2h focused, medium armor kind of thing right?

Thanks for all the help!

Cleave is a normal feat, it's unlocked by Power Attack. Divine Might also needs Power Attack.

Your stat spread is OK but the early Martial Prof might need working around. Ideally you'd need to wait till Blackguard for those Martial Weapons, as feats are kind of tight.

Given that start I would actually consider Shia's approach or even a switch from RDD, like Bard/Fighter/Blackguard and use the extra Fighter feats to get Weapon Focus, Spec and eventually their Epic versions. Fighter with it's feats will eventually give you 6 damage (Epic Spec) and 4 AB (Focus + Epic Focus + 1 BAB) so it evens out somewhat.

So your pre-epic feats as a human will probably look like:

• (Taken) Lingering Song
  
• (Taken) Martial Prof
  
• Power Attack
  
• Cleave
  
• Curse Song
  
• Improved Critical
  
• Divine Might
  
• Extend Spell or Still Spell
  
• (Fighter) Weapon Focus
  
• (Fighter) Blind Fight
  
• (Fighter) Weapon Specialization

And Epic feats:

• Epic Weapon Focus
  
• Divine Shield or Extend Spell or Still Spell
  
• Lasting Inspiration
  
• (Fighter) Epic Weapon Specialization

For levelling order, I'd probably get a Fighter level next for armor access and Weapon Focus for +1 AB which helps early on, then Blackguard 3 whenever you can for Divine Might, then Bard 11 and hit level 20 as Bard 12/Fighter 4/Blackguard 4. In Epic levels, take Bard to 16, then Fighter to 6, then go Bard the rest of the way.

Blind Fight is somewhat important for fighting invisible or concealed enemies (remember to learn See Invisibility). Realistically it's probably 5% of all content but they're usually tough fights against bosses so you'll be thankful you have it when you run into those encounters.

If you want to stick with RDD then what you described is fine. Bard doesn't need much Cha, 16 is fine, so the rest of your points can go into Strength.Just drop the feats marked "Fighter" and consider going for Devastating Critical instead of Lasting Inspiration in epic levels.

[Dong Quixote]

Originally posted by Selphea:

Originally posted by Dong Quixote:

Thank you so much for the thorough answer! This is exactly what I wanted - I'm not trying to wait ~30 hours for my character to be effective and fun in a ten hour window at the end of the second expansion, and suspected all the sort of level 30/40 combinations that seem good online were largely for PWs and stuff.

For the build you're talking about, I guess the idea would be to get Bard to 8 for the +6 BAB prerequisite? It also requires Cleave, which I didn't think Bards had access to, but I guess they do? Then from 8-12 go BG for the first level of sneak attack, then start taking RDD levels for the strength buffs to those sneak attacks.

Featwise, the bard I made last night is a Human with Lingering Song and Martial Weapons proficiency, I was gonna take Curse Song and Extra Music ASAP. I went with 16 CHA, 14 INT, 14 DEX, 12 STR, 12 CON, 10 WIS and put my skill points in the recommended package which doesn't include hide. That seems like it should work with BG as long as I keep Bull's Strength up and stuff?

Weapons wise, I figured taking martial proficiency would be worth it for the increased weapon availability. My original plan was a finesse ambidexterity bard but that would be so feat starved and wouldn't quite work with RDD - the build we're discussing here would probably be a 2h focused, medium armor kind of thing right?

Thanks for all the help!

Cleave is a normal feat, it's unlocked by Power Attack. Divine Might also needs Power Attack.

Your stat spread is OK but the early Martial Prof might need working around. Ideally you'd need to wait till Blackguard for those Martial Weapons, as feats are kind of tight.

Given that start I would actually consider Shia's approach or even a switch from RDD, like Bard/Fighter/Blackguard and use the extra Fighter feats to get Weapon Focus, Spec and eventually their Epic versions. Fighter with it's feats will eventually give you 6 damage (Epic Spec) and 4 AB (Focus + Epic Focus + 1 BAB) so it evens out somewhat.

So your pre-epic feats as a human will probably look like:

• (Taken) Lingering Song
  
• (Taken) Martial Prof
  
• Power Attack
  
• Cleave
  
• Curse Song
  
• Improved Critical
  
• Divine Might
  
• Extend Spell or Still Spell
  
• (Fighter) Weapon Focus
  
• (Fighter) Blind Fight
  
• (Fighter) Weapon Specialization

And Epic feats:

• Epic Weapon Focus
  
• Divine Shield or Extend Spell or Still Spell
  
• Lasting Inspiration
  
• (Fighter) Epic Weapon Specialization

For levelling order, I'd probably get a Fighter level next for armor access and Weapon Focus for +1 AB which helps early on, then Blackguard 3 whenever you can for Divine Might, then Bard 11 and hit level 20 as Bard 12/Fighter 4/Blackguard 4. In Epic levels, take Bard to 16, then Fighter to 6, then go Bard the rest of the way.

Blind Fight is somewhat important for fighting invisible or concealed enemies (remember to learn See Invisibility). Realistically it's probably 5% of all content but they're usually tough fights against bosses so you'll be thankful you have it when you run into those encounters.

If you want to stick with RDD then what you described is fine. Bard doesn't need much Cha, 16 is fine, so the rest of your points can go into Strength.Just drop the feats marked "Fighter" and consider going for Devastating Critical instead of Lasting Inspiration in epic levels.

Thanks friend! I actually started over as Neutral Evil for Blackguard, with a slightly different stat spread of STR 14 / DEX 10 / CON 12 / WIS 10 / INT 14 / CHA 16.

I like what you're outlining here, since BG doesn't give Martial Proficiency but fighter does - however, I was planning on using medium/light armor so I could retain arcane spellcasting and not just be buffing myself for melee and I've heard there's plenty of light/medium armor in the expansions that fill those roles ( but I'm not 100% on that). With that in mind, I think what I might do is the RDD build I initially outlined and rely on Improved Invisibility and buffs from Bard for defensive purposes. Going straight to level 8 as Bard before prestiging and skipping Fighter levels is kind of thematically appealing for me too, since I'd like to use equipment other than the mega heavy stuff I rocked on my Cleric playing the OC.

Now my plan is basically, Bard to level 8, then 4 levels of Blackguard for Sneak Attack to CL 12, then 4 levels of RDD for the hit die increase and extra Strength. Then Bard to 16, and maybe 6 more levels of RDD for the fancy stuff? By then I'll be in epic levels and probably know what I'm doing, at least.

For starting feats I reckon I'm going to take Power Attack and Lingering Song.

Anyway, in summation:

Human Bard, Neutral Evil
STR 16
DEX 10
CON 12
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA 16

Feats:
Lingering Song, Power Attack

Level 3 feat: Curse Song

Level 6: Cleave

Then from there I start taking Blackguard levels, but the more I think about it, the more I think you're right about taking those fighter levels instead of RDD. I can rely on buffs and equipment for that +4 STR, but I can't get martial weapons and armor proficiency from that stuff. I like to switch weapons often enough that I might avoid the Weapon Focus stuff since it isn't a prerequisite, but that frees up, for example, Power Attack so I can take Curse Song instead at level 1 Bard.

ed:

Looking online it seems like some builds suggest a better stat spread that acknowledges never getting level 6 Bard spells, but I guess cuts down on the bonus to BG and Divine Might. Here's one of them that I might approximate, though I think I'll go with a higher base Charisma and lower base Strength.

SoU/HotU: Brd13/ Ftr5 /RDD10, Unlawful Human

STR: 17 (32)
DEX: 10
CON: 12 (14)
WIS: 8
INT: 14 (16)
CHA: 13 (15)

01 - B(1) Blind Fight, Curse Song
02 - F(1) WF: Scimi
03 - B(2) Still Spell
04 - F(2) STR+1, PwrAttack
05 - B(3)
06 - R(1) Cleave
07 - R(2)
08 - R(3) STR+1
09 - R(4) KD
10 - F(3)
11 - F(4) WS: Scimi
12 - B(4) STR+1, ImpCrit: Scimi
13 - R(5)

[Shia Luck]

I really like Selphea's hybrid (for want of a less catchy term) build combining her and my post, but RDD it is *grin*.

Just to complicate things *cheeky grin*, have you considered taking this character to lvl 40 by playing the Sands of Fate series after HotU? Without spoiling anything I can definitly recommend both the modules and taking a Divine Might build thru it.

If so you might want to consider taking Bard to 23 (bonus feat), or better yet, 24 (buffs become undispellable) thereby ending B24/F6/RDD10.

I agree with you about the starting stats on the build you posted. No sense starting CON 12 and increasing to 14. str 16, con 14, cha 14 makes far more sense. Also if you need INT16 then start with it for the extra skill points. SP can always be spent usefully. I suspect it is part of a lvl40 build which might help explain those choices but unless it was originally Elf it's still a strange starting stat spread.

Link time: The module I suggested:
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/sands-fate-1-shadows-over-heliopolis

Kamiryn's character calculator
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/other/tool/characterbuildcalculator-cbc

One final thought with your levelling. FTR and RDD have discipline, Bard has tumble and UMD, Bard and RDD have spot. Increase tumble on lvls 2, 7, 12, (every 5) to max tumble for AC and manage your class choices around keeping the other skills at max. (UMD can stop early, 15 ranks is often enough.)

Have fun :)

[Dong Quixote]

Thanks for all the help! I'm still not sure whether I'll end up going with Blackguard or RDD for my prestige, but going Neutral Evil and taking Fighter at second level for the proficiencies + Power Attack (which I'll need for Divine Might if I go BG, and Cleave no matter what). So right now I'm Bard 1 / FTR 1, and from here I guess I'll take five more Bard levels and then decide whether BG or RDD seems better. I'm sort of leaning towards BG since Sneak Attack and stuff are so cool, but RDD's strength bonus and, if taken to 10 instead of epic bard levels (16 Bard/4 Fighter/10 RDD) would have some immunities and the nice breath weapon, where BG would only get evil summons.

i'm always really indecisive and Bard feels like I should naturally just go pure Bard or Bard/Rogue, so this should be pretty interesting! I hope taking fighter levels will make it go a little faster.

One final note, since I forgot that you have to pick your spells as a spontaneous spellcaster and don't get a book like a divine one - are there any super important spells to take? When I hit level 2 I reckon I'm going to take Mage Armor and Magic Weapon since those are pretty obvious, but there are so many choices!

Originally posted by Shia Luck:

I really like Selphea's hybrid (for want of a less catchy term) build combining her and my post, but RDD it is *grin*.

Just to complicate things *cheeky grin*, have you considered taking this character to lvl 40 by playing the Sands of Fate series after HotU? Without spoiling anything I can definitly recommend both the modules and taking a Divine Might build thru it.

If so you might want to consider taking Bard to 23 (bonus feat), or better yet, 24 (buffs become undispellable) thereby ending B24/F6/RDD10.

I agree with you about the starting stats on the build you posted. No sense starting CON 12 and increasing to 14. str 16, con 14, cha 14 makes far more sense. Also if you need INT16 then start with it for the extra skill points. SP can always be spent usefully. I suspect it is part of a lvl40 build which might help explain those choices but unless it was originally Elf it's still a strange starting stat spread.

Link time: The module I suggested:
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/sands-fate-1-shadows-over-heliopolis

Kamiryn's character calculator
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/other/tool/characterbuildcalculator-cbc

One final thought with your levelling. FTR and RDD have discipline, Bard has tumble and UMD, Bard and RDD have spot. Increase tumble on lvls 2, 7, 12, (every 5) to max tumble for AC and manage your class choices around keeping the other skills at max. (UMD can stop early, 15 ranks is often enough.)

Have fun :)

Thanks for all the help! I'm still not sure whether I'll end up going with Blackguard or RDD for my prestige, but going Neutral Evil and taking Fighter at second level for the proficiencies + Power Attack (which I'll need for Divine Might if I go BG, and Cleave no matter what). So right now I'm Bard 1 / FTR 1, and from here I guess I'll take five more Bard levels and then decide whether BG or RDD seems better. I'm sort of leaning towards BG since Sneak Attack and stuff are so cool, but RDD's strength bonus and, if taken to 10 instead of epic bard levels (16 Bard/4 Fighter/10 RDD) would have some immunities and the nice breath weapon, where BG would only get evil summons.

i'm always really indecisive and Bard feels like I should naturally just go pure Bard or Bard/Rogue, so this should be pretty interesting! I hope taking fighter levels will make it go a little faster.

One final note, since I forgot that you have to pick your spells as a spontaneous spellcaster and don't get a book like a divine one - are there any super important spells to take? When I hit level 2 I reckon I'm going to take Mage Armor and Magic Weapon since those are pretty obvious, but there are so many choices!

[Selphea]

BG does give martial weapons and heavy armor but you'll need Bard 8 to unlock so the early game is a bit weaker.

Bard gets Discipline - it has every good skill in the game really. Taunt to lower AC and disrupt spellcasters, Spellcraft for saves vs spells, detection skills, Bardic Knowledge. It may not have the strongest melee presence but it has great quality of life at least.

Right now it sounds like you're off to a good start. Bard/Fighter/RDD and Bard/Fighter/Blackguard are both pretty strong.

RDD is less maintenance, you'll get 4 AB, 4 damage, 4 AC and immunities.

Blackguard is more damage with 9 damage and 9 AC when your Cha is maxed and you're fully buffed. It also adds Cha to saves so immunities aren't as important.

Bard/Rogue can be situationally fun in an RP-heavy city-focused module. Rogues unfortunately lose a lot of effectiveness if the target is Sneak Attack or Crit immune and there are plenty of enemies with those.

As for important spells, always have a Summon on hand. If not for fighting, then for casting behind a trap you can't handle and calling towards you. Besides that, Mage Armor, See Invis, whatever relevant stat buffs, Wounding Whispers, Improved Invis, War Cry, Protection vs Evil, Clarity are the big ones, everything else is QoL.

[Dong Quixote]

Originally posted by Selphea:

BG does give martial weapons and heavy armor but you'll need Bard 8 to unlock so the early game is a bit weaker.

Bard gets Discipline - it has every good skill in the game really. Taunt to lower AC and disrupt spellcasters, Spellcraft for saves vs spells, detection skills, Bardic Knowledge. It may not have the strongest melee presence but it has great quality of life at least.

Right now it sounds like you're off to a good start. Bard/Fighter/RDD and Bard/Fighter/Blackguard are both pretty strong.

RDD is less maintenance, you'll get 4 AB, 4 damage, 4 AC and immunities.

Blackguard is more damage with 9 damage and 9 AC when your Cha is maxed and you're fully buffed. It also adds Cha to saves so immunities aren't as important.

Bard/Rogue can be situationally fun in an RP-heavy city-focused module. Rogues unfortunately lose a lot of effectiveness if the target is Sneak Attack or Crit immune and there are plenty of enemies with those.

As for important spells, always have a Summon on hand. If not for fighting, then for casting behind a trap you can't handle and calling towards you. Besides that, Mage Armor, See Invis, whatever relevant stat buffs, Wounding Whispers, Improved Invis, War Cry, Protection vs Evil, Clarity are the big ones, everything else is QoL.

Thanks! Since I'm going to try to take this guy through SoU and HoTU, I reckon I'll probably end up with RDD, unless the evil options prove to be interesting and not just "Hey, I'm gonna rob you, stranger" ad infinitum. I'll definitely take the stat buffs ASAP, but I didn't know about Wounding Whispers, War Cry, or the usefulness of Clarity, so that's awesome!

I guess I'll have to wait awhile to get any summons, though, since there are so many important level 1 spells, and first three will have to be Mage Armor/Magic Weapon/Protection from Evil. Having to pick spells is such a big change from Cleric, it really makes leveling a bit more of a trial!

I took three points of discipline with the fighter level, and probably will every time I take one, but the Bard stuff - especially taunt, which I had no idea lowered AC - is extremely useful, thanks! My Cleric only had a meaningful number of points in concentration, heal, and persuade for the OC, so I'm not used to actually having useful spells at my disposal.

Bard song improves all skills as well, right? With an item like a Necklace of Mastery (+2 to all major skills I think) and song, I should be able to undo low-level locks and traps right?

[Selphea]

Yep 1 point and then sing your way to skill mastery 🙂