What are people's opinions on bards? Are they useful? Are the instruments all that useful except as backup spellcasting (leaving aside the Heal All Lyre, of course)? It seems to me that they just overlap spellcasters and are really only useful if you need to do extra damage in combat. Yet they don't get some of the higher level spells that are so useful as the game gets harder. I've had a bard all four times I've played, and this time around have a party of 4 spellcasters and 2 NPC hybrids, so I'm thinking of converting the L9 bard to a Rogue at some point. She's just extra baggage at this point.

smb

• RE: are bards worth it?,Dragon2k, 07:04 AM, Oct-15-03
  • And a female bard ...,Llevram, 07:19 AM, Oct-15-03
    • RE: And a female bard ...,Full Circle (Guest), 11:00 AM, Oct-15-03
      • RE: And a female bard ...,rbrown, 11:19 AM, Oct-15-03
        • RE: And a female bard ...,Dragon2k, 12:31 PM, Oct-15-03
• RE: are bards worth it?,Halsey (Guest), 11:49 AM, Oct-16-03

ahh, but you forget the most important part of a bard - unlimited spell points. you can repeatedly cast sleep, until you stanima runs out, but that is quickly fixed by a Stanima spell, so while your mage runs out of spell points, your bard will keep on playing
running out of spells in battle, is no picnic. with a bard, this does not happen.

(or gadgeteer)
... equipped with the stamina regenerating necklace, is likely to never run out of stamina, when operating gadgets or playing instruments.

I find that having a bard gives me access to some spells earlier and "saves" spell picks for my casters. For instance, if you already have the Frigid Fiddle or Arresting Aria, no dire need to use spell picks for Freeze Flesh or Freeze All.

And if your bard is casting protective spells, that frees up a spellcaster to do more damage. (When don't you need more damage?)

As has been said before, I think the really great items come a little later than they are really useful. But once you get heal all from both a bard and gadgeteer, that can make many battle a bit easier.

Tools for Wizardry(r) 7

I have a Gad & Bard that will run out of stamina during a battle, and then use my Bishop to revive them. Both wear this necklace; do you mean that they just regenerate a round sooner than would be without this necklace? Sometimes I can't use my Bishop to help them and must wait until they come back enough on their own, so they can drink a stamina potion. Besides building up their vitality stats, and sometimes wasting rounds using my Bishop to help them; I just wish there was something that would keep their stamina up longer then what it is.

The next time you level-up a bard, put three points into vitality while looking at the stamina indicator on the right-middle side of the screen. Vitality and strength boost stamina. Any strength-increasing amulet increases stamina.

you forgot Piety, which influences stanima also, but to a lesser degree.
it's a lot easier to revive a bard, or cast a full stregnth stanima spell immediately before they pass out, than to find out your mage can only cast a level 3 sleep spell

I think another thing to remember is that your Bard can be 'another one of the guys/girls' when it comes to swinging a sword or shooting someting.(unlike most of the spellcasters who would not exactly useful at that) I personally like the fact that immediatly after combat their 'spellcasting' ability is at full strength, unlike those of the pure magic variety.