Bards

While not new here I am new to the class so I thought I might ask a few general questions.

1. races, I know the benefits of each sure but why are dwarves considered to be the pk race? I was thinking of halflings due to their dex and the bard throw. More magic resistance, only downside is hp but they don't have the water vuln. For RP reasons I also considered a gnome.

2. pk as a bard, I'm looking at some of their skills and I'm unsure as to how strong they are. I don't want a step by step guide on how to pk but I would like to know of the more important skills. Like is Brawl good enough that I'd go out of my way to fight in a town?

Dwarves because they have the highest STR (21) of any of the bard races. It allows you to wield a few of the better weapon combos I believe. Magic resist and high hp doesn't hurt either.

same here. I believe it is tied into large hp, coupled with mag resist allowing you to focus on higher hit dam than a normal blended char. While still having a meaty pile of hp

Bards also have something that makes thieves Scream in fustration.

So you will actually do well with a Dwarf.

Steal can take care of Vuln weapons.

The reason to not play a Halfling would be Bash. The decreased size will allow warriors/Berserkser/DK's/Necros to lag you for more time and at a higher %.

And it is quite frustrating to die Lag locked.

I absolutely love bards. I used to go by the Handle Berzerker-Bard. But, on paper they are osme of the nastiest nasties you've ever seen. But, take a look at HP and mana uptake on levels. That's where they get you. Sure, you have the ability to laste absolute waste in the right situation (just like any class), but your situation has to be a little more right.

If the situation isn't optinal, you can do what bards also do almost as well as theives... and just cause chaos. Knock someone's jaw loose, panhandle some cash, hide and ventriloqute.

a-g

The annoying thing about knockout is that it cannot penetrate protective shield. So half the people you'd want to use knockout on you can't.

EDIT

By knockout, I mean uppercut.

How does that ventriloquite skill work?

How does that ventriloquite skill work?

Oh! Oh! Can I be the one to say it!?

Roll one and find out. Or help files.

Oh! Oh! Can I be the one to say it!?

Roll one and find out. Or help files.

I don't have access to either.

Ventriloquate allows the bard to make it look like something or someone else said something.

Example:

ventriloquate Frank will appear to others in the room as "Frank says, ''.

If it fails, it will look like 'Someone tries to make Frank say .

You can ventriloquate on anything, whether it is in the room or not, or if it's a player/mob/item or not.

You can be in an empty room and just 'ventriloquate Potatoehead ' and if it works it will say 'Potatoehead says, ''.

Wow. I think its time to roll an evil bard.

Avian would also be a good bard race.

Halfer would be great if they weren't so small.

Wow. I think its time to roll an evil bard.

I already have one with a custom title! Avians ROCK.

Only downside I can see in a Dwarf (or any low int/wis race) is this. Bards in total have 74 skills,songs,spells. Now at 3 a level I'd have 152 skill points, -148 for skills and that leaves me with less trains to HP. Now this could be said for any race except the high intel ones so it's not like it's that large of a disadvantage except for the fact this. I'm not sure about Bard's damage since I'm not at a high level yet but... if another race/class combo with less skills can pump more into hp and out damage me by class abilities alone there's not much chance except by exceptional gear or difference in skill that I can win... right? I haven't had a chance to test a lot of the Bard's skills so maybe they're good enough to make up for this loss of hp. This puts the low hp races that can go bard at even more of a disadvantage...

Only downside I can see in a Dwarf (or any low int/wis race) is this. Bards in total have 74 skills' date='songs,spells. Now at 3 a level I'd have 152 skill points, -148 for skills and that leaves me with less trains to HP. Now this could be said for any race except the high intel ones so it's not like it's that large of a disadvantage except for the fact this. I'm not sure about Bard's damage since I'm not at a high level yet but... if another race/class combo with less skills can pump more into hp and out damage me by class abilities alone there's not much chance except by exceptional gear or difference in skill that I can win... right? I haven't had a chance to test a lot of the Bard's skills so maybe they're good enough to make up for this loss of hp. This puts the low hp races that can go bard at even more of a disadvantage...[/quote']

Good math, but how often do you not practice skills? I can look over bard list and see many skills I would never practice anyway. And besides, who doesn't train up from 1 prac these days anyway.

I hope you're joking, I haven't played in a long time but I could actually see someone doing that for more of an edge.

I did it back in 1.0

It never helped. Haha, these days I attempt to actually have a life. 2 pracs all the way!

I've never used only 1 prac for skills/spells.

I ALWAYS train from 1 prac. Playing a few drow got me spoiled. Besides with things like warriors, you can master weapons while doing trip, disarm, bash, bodyslam, cleaves, and things. Generally I master weapons I rarely use as a warrior while training, since polearms, swords, spears, and axes are what I mainly use anyway. Staff of course but that masters fast after you get pugil anyway.

You have 25 con, it is enough.

By the way, you can now roll Evil Bards ? I thought that was restricted.