I currently have an 11th level Bard who is doing well, but she has maxed out on Music, Locks, and Pickpocketing. Looking ahead, there are great instruments that require Bard level 14 but it seems like the the level 18 instruments (Ren Lute, Infernal Horn, Hades Harp) come too late to help. Would I be missing out on anything by switching to Thief and concentrating on Stealth and backstabbing with Dual Weapons? Would my Bard skills deminish? I know I can not increase my music (maxed already anyway) but everything else seems to overlap in addition to combat skills.

There has to be a catch, right?!? I seems like a no brainer and that is what scares me...

Sorry if this has been discussed, but I haven't figured out the search function...

• Depends on your career goals :),Llevram, 04:59 PM, Feb-23-02
• My bard is a monk :),ShadowCrust, 03:08 AM, Feb-24-02
  • RE: My bard is a monk :),Cable (Guest), 08:40 AM, Feb-25-02
• RE: Bard Dual Classing to Thief? Or am I on crack?,Jonno (Guest), 06:14 PM, Feb-25-02
  • RE: Bard Dual Classing to Thief? Or am I on crack?,Dyak (Guest), 07:05 AM, Feb-26-02
    • 125 is the peak,ShadowCrust, 01:12 AM, Feb-27-02
• RE: Bard Dual Classing to Thief? Or am I on crack?,Wurstfabrikant (Guest), 01:53 AM, Mar-01-02

You will lose out on the enhanced resting from yoru bard. You will be trading the 25% class bonus from to music to lock picking (which is already maxed) - given that, you may want to switch back and forth every level. Aside from that, picking up the backstab is good is the character is going to be involved in melee combat.

Tools for Wizardry(r) 7

I made my bard switching to monk at level 10 only to discover the Dulcimer of Mending a bit later, so I switched back to bard one level to go on as a monk for the rest of the game. Even if I'd like to try the higher level instruments, I don't regret changing her because her main function is playing the Dulcimer during and the Mandoline of Magus outside combat and attack every second or third round with an increasing chance of instantly killing opponents. What's more, stealth makes her not so vulnerable to attacks as before and the magic skill improves her resistance to spells. With the bard taking the "priest" role in my party, I can have my bishop cast a much larger variety of spells than my bard could ever dream of with only eight instruments available at one time.

I found that a Bard switching to Ranger worked quite well for me. My bard was in the middle of the formation most of the game and used a bow and had a very high Bow and Ranged combat skill at level 18. Switching to Ranger allowed her to gain the ranged criticals as well as being able to use all instruments. I would be hesitant switching a bard to a melee type class if you haven't had him/her at the front lines most of the game as it will take a while to get the melee skills up to par with the rest of your front line. Also, i have found by playing with other Bards that their music attacks get quite a bit better if you leave them as Bards. But that might just be me and my delusional mind.

When you say maxed out, you mean a skill level of 75 do you not?

This is not maxing out. The maximum skill level is 150 (maybe higher with special equips - I just have not seen it). 75 is all you can get through level ups, the balance must be learned by experience.

So a level 11 Bard is a long way from maximum potential.

Is it 150??? I thought it was 100 for the natural growth, and 125 for all possible bonuses (class and items). Can anybody doublecheck this?

The maximum value I've seen is 125. My Ninja has a 107 Critical Strike skill and an additional +20 Critical Strike from the Assassin's Cap, making a total of 127, but only 125 are shown.
I don't have to mention, though, that I don't get any critical kills for my Ninja with Death Stars (5% Kill, Thrown Criticals) or Peacemakers (5% Kill from Hunter's Bow, 20% Kill from Arrows). Maybe his hidden luck statistic is really low :p

My bard is now lvl 18, but I don't think I'll switch her - not because of skills (they're quite maxed out; and btw bards do NOT have a music bonus but a useless communication bonus), BUT because of all those cool bard-only equipment!

My bard currently has +50 STR, and both +10 SPD and +10 SEN (2x ring of the road from Bela, oberon's greaves, ariel's slippers, and a nice special body armor; not to mention a couple of skill boni due to those items)

Together with Swordskill & CC at about 70-80, and Bloodlust + Stiletto she deals out reliably 100 to 250 damage each round, depending on haste/bless/armormelt ect., while being able to cast useful spells in case my engineer, bishop or priest(valk next lvl!) are busy otherwise.

I'm pretty sure the benefits of any other profession won't make up for those +70 stats; not to mention that Bloodlust is berserking anyway

My combat strategy (which btw allowed me to take out the whole Rapax Away Camp aroun lvl 15/16) with highly magic-resistant enemies normally goes as the following:
-Bishop: Elemental shield
-Priest: SoulShield or Bless
-Bard: Haste
-Engineer: Heal All (no shields up 1st round!)
-Walk Pending

Then we rush in, crush everything, and let PRI/ENG/BIS heal, purify air and refresh stamina and shields whenever necessary.
(nonetheless we had to flee and come back to the Away Camp two times as things were getting much too hot for an Ironman game...)

BTW, even though my Ranger wields both Giant's Sword and Eagle Ey Bow, he and my Engineer are by far the poorest characters in my whole party.