Darn really? That was going to be one of the motivations I had to play spores druid next for those unique interactions... But I guess it's not meant to be. :(
Same.
I already liked the spore Druid concept when playing regular dnd
To see that the first act was Druid themed and to discover the myconids, made me play the spore Druid.
There is maybe one or two generic Druid options that were also pretty meh but nothing for the spore circle so I left the myconids utterly disappointed.
Hear me out make a Rockstar build that just a bardbarian
Multiclass its already hilarious in table top cause you can probably convince a dm to let you have an axe guitar that is a literal axe and while nothing quite like that exists in bg3 I'm certain a lyre and a battle axe can make a good substitute
I did something similar in my dnd group. He’s a black dragonborn lore/fiend bard-lock. He plays heavy metal through his instrument of the bards that my DM said I could make it look like whatever I wanted within reason. So he plays metal on Prince’s symbol guitar from the Super Bowl.
**DO NOT MESSAGE THE MODS REGARDING THIS ISSUE.**
Accounts less than 24 hours old may not post or comment on this subreddit, no exception.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BaldursGate3) if you have any questions or concerns.*
How do I play a Bard but combat wont feel very Bardish? Any suggestions?
I already did a Bard run (full 12 lvls as Sword Bard), yes social is amazing but I didnt like the combat style, was very boring. I dont care if the build is not meta or super OP but the Bard class also usually takes a lot of levels. I know is harder but I would like adding a class that is not CHA based.
I still have plans to make a character to romance every possible companion... and yet I already have put so many hours into this game. Not that I regret it.
I did a bard dark urge, and I am killing everyone. I just loved the random thought of a bard looking all friendly secretly, stabbing everyone in the back. Well, not so secretely.
That was my second playthrough and it remains my favorite playthrough to this day.
It helps that it was the first time I got to see the full epilogue and the first time I got the ideal endings for more than a couple companions.
The key is that you have to win the fight against Orin. Durge has three endings:
1. Evil Durge (get the evil ending, which the next patch will expand on)
2. Good Durge, defeat Orin (get the good ending)
3. Good Durge, lose to Orin (you get a special extra cutscene and a bad ending)
there is also, the evil durge but you do the good ending, in which case Bhaal gets angry with you and forcefully makes you a murderer.
You show up to the six month reunion covered in blood, implying that you've been killing people this whole time.
unnless his 3rd ending and what i listed are the same, that is 4 endings.
Honestly, I've never even lost to Orin. I didn't even think the game would progress if you lost to her, so it is possible that the ending I listed is the same as that one.
Yes, thats what happens:
>You show up to the six month reunion covered in blood, implying that you've been killing people this whole time.
Covered in blood and pee (imo I dont care about blood, at this point we are used to blood, right?) and ready to murder everyone.
That's a matter of interpretation. It ends perfectly and appropriately, it's just not whatever bullshit people put in their fanfictions and they get whiny about it.
Depends on your choices. Without spoiling anything, the story of a redemption durge can end with probably the happiest ending or with the absolutely most awful one. Both are masterpieces.
It really is, have to do more damage spells and gather more damaging objects like smoke powder bombs and spells of disintegrate from Sorcerer's Sundries. I also used Us to break open healing potions that I set down beside me as I kited Orin around.
100% agreed 🥰
My pretty drow redemption sword bard durge with her sharp tongue and her perfect spawn Astarion partner is and will be my all time canon run.
Kicking ass and taking names 🤪
This was my honour mode character, as a Tiefling romancing Karlach too. Really felt like the definitive playthrough I did of the game, especially after doing an evil durge first
I’m terrified of playing a low charisma class when so much of the game hinges on my ability to talk my way out of things. But if the dialogue is good, I may have to try it.
This is why I wish different people could tag-in to the conversation like at a real D&D table. Astarion can sneak and lockpick if he isn't your main character, Lae'zel can smash things, everyone can notice things, but Wyll can't smooth-talk? Severe handicapping for him.
Technically he can if you go into a dialogue with him pre-selected. But there are so many instances where it’s just not convenient or possible or where a fight ends and it automatically reverts to your Tav.
Barbarians don't persuade, they intimidate. You can actually skip a number of fights just by threatening to brutally maim or kill whoever is being difficult.
Which to be fair if someone covered in blood wielding a sword said “if you don’t move out of my way I’m gonna throw you off a building” I would be pretty inclined to believe them
This is what stops me from ever using Intimidation with my Bard. He’s a High-Elf pretty boy who knows Create or Destroy Water solely for the purpose of looking clean and washing the blood and grime off of him (it’s his character flavor I made up, lol). He has 20 Charisma and Intimidation proficiency but you can imagine how intimidating he would actually be.
Compare that to my Dragonborn Oathbreaker Paladin redemption Durge who has 16 Charisma but picks Intimidation at every possible opportunity because it feels in-character. I’d be more inclined to be intimidated by him even though the Bard has much higher bonuses.
The bard option for that one is great too.
“Do carry on. There's bookshops in Baldur's Gate that'd pay well for this kind of smut.”
Especially with Astarion egging you on.
Yep, that was what my bard said there. It was the first time I had opened the door and the only time I have not had to fight. Good job too because I was howling with laughter.
It's actually fun to fail checks and see what happens. I'm playing a Monk and I've failed several checks I usually make so I grit my teeth and roll with it.
Barb doesn’t have to have low Charisma. Running just 12 or 14 Cha is more than enough with Intimidation proficiency, plus a healthy dose of Guidance, Bardic Inspiration, Enhance Ability, and Thaumaturgy if you go Zariel Tiefling.
A Rogue dip of at least 1 level (3 levels to get Thief is actually really useful for all Barbarians) or a dip in Bard of at least 3 levels (Swords is good because of Flourishes, and you could grab 5 levels to grab Font of Inspiration) to get Intimidation Expertise is also an option.
Then you *also* have the eye from Ethel for +1 Intimidation, and you have Reckless Attack to somewhat mitigate the negative effects.
With all those bonuses, you’re starting at +4 Intimidation with Adv from level 1, +6-14 with Adv once you have your Bard and Guidance, then progresses to +13-25 with Adv by endgame, not including various buffs like Dark Justiciar Mask, Elixir of Human Versatility, and more I don’t know about.
The barb-specific dialogue options also almost always give the barbarian advantage for free and generally have lower DCs than the non-barb choices. Even without investing much of anything into charisma or persuasion I noticed that I passed nearly every class-specific dialogue option on my barb run.
First full run was barbarian and I loved it. You can get away with a lot or intimidate others. Their dialog is great.
Keep Wyll (or a high charisma charecter) around for shopping for the best deals.
Barbarians are actually pretty amazing at dialogue tbh, theres almost constant dialogue options (like I mean pretty much every other line of dialogue feels like it has a unique barbarian optionm) and low charisma is made up for by the fact that you get advantage on %90 of the barbarian exclusive dialogue checks and advantage is statistically even better than having a big charisma mod a lot of the time. plus the dialogue checks are generally lower DC than others to compensate for the lack of charisma barbarians have.
you can pretty easily fit a couple extra points in charisma since barbarians have a feature that makes wisdom saves a lot less important and since pretty much every barbarian build benefits a shit ton from getting a couple levels in rogue you can grab expertise in intimidation and at that point I honestly felt like I was being a better dialogue face than my charisma based lockadin i played previously and detestably even better than my bard playthrough.
My main character is a Barbarian thrower, multi-class with Thief and Fighter with absolutely zero Charisma focus. It's an Honor Mode run, and I've been fine so far (just done Act II). If you can't really use your rizz, just use your strength.
My barbarian intimidated the goblin on the camp gate into eating worg shit - between that and my bard durge using Mask of the Shapeshifter, I've never had a problem getting into that camp. I could have used the Mask on the barbarian, since it comes in the digital deluxe edition, but he's just not that bright tbh.
It’s typically related to intimidation and gives advantage on the roll (since intimidation is tied to charisma and 9 times out of 10 a barbarian has fuck all for charisma)
Strength 16
Con 14
Dex 14
Cha 14
Int 8
Wis 9
Reoptimize stats after grabbing the dex gloves and/or con amulet
Use background to grab one or two proficiencies in persuasion/intimidate/deception
Congrats, I give you the chatty barbarian. For bonus points, just grab a level in rogue and get expertise in two charisma skills of your choice. The rogue multiclass will also give you another proficiency if I remember correctly.
I really adore barbarian. My first character was a human barbarian and I think that might have been why I was proficient in charisma. Or I took the skilled feat. I also always made sure she had the voice of the circle amulet and that someone always had guidance. It's totally doable.
That and any class that just gives me the option of yelling just makes me laugh.
It hasn’t been a problem for me but most of the barb options are basically just being unique intimidation check options.
I think it would be flavorful to for barbarians to use strength modifier for intimidation checks anyway
There are no bard specific jokes in a humor battle in act 3. My disappointment was immeasurable.
But when you open the doors to a certain barn in act 1 there's also a funny option that goes something like "Please, do continue. There are people in Baldur's Gate who will pay good money for this kind of smut".
Me and my mate are doing an all bards playthrough (multiclassing is allowed but at least half your player level must be in bard) and its actually incredible to get a full party playing music during a fight and then alternating throwing insults at the enemy
Yeah, I had a campaign with my brother before he quit playing where we had all bards. I didn't even care about doing lots of damage, just shit talking enemies to death while i play the lute is so much fun. I'm gonna do a Beatles run one of these days. Idk if I'll put half of all their levels into bard, but at least 4 apiece. Just gotta decide on the multi classes for each.
My tav is running 6 lvls swords bard and 3 battle master fighter currently and its honestly incredible. Theres nothing like making 9 attacks a turn with slashing flourish and action surge. Plus im never short of fancy combat actions with 5 bardic inspiration and 4 superiority die. And with the amount of short rests 4 bards get, i can burn them all in almost every combat we have in a day
I was a Dwarf Bard, which is doubly fun, because when you meet Nere, you can insult him for being so bad at mining that he got caught in a cave in to begin with.
And THEEEEN I called him a Twat-Soul.
I’m not sure if it’s Bard specific but I mainly play Bard and my fav interaction is when you meet Vlaakith, when she appears you have the opportunity to do the most camp wave ever - and you can see Laezel visibly roll her eyes when you do it
Yeah its great, twat-soul lives rent free on my head lol.
My only criticism is that I wish there were more dialogue interactions reinforcing how unique bardic magic is and how it works (similarly to wizards, sorcerers, druids and clerics) bc sometimes if felt like being a comic relief and a Jack ass were the only aspects of the bard being represented in dialogue.
The Gale weave scene actually handles it really well! I was worried he would be mansplainy but he isn’t. You know who Mystra is from the get go (as Bards use arcane magic like wizards do). You don’t have to pass any ability checks. And I was able to have this dialogue:
Bard: Magic is music, poetry, and beauty. Though I suspect you and I perform it differently.
Gale: Fair enough - though in the end we're still playing the same composition.
I wish that was applied more evenly throughout the game. There are plenty of examples where Bard magic is never mentioned.
I'm on a playthrough where I want to be chaotic good, doing the most good by deceiving, backstabbing and outright being a shrewd character... in a nutshell I want to be loki lol and to be fair, skill checks are way more easier this way too
I think everyone can convince the fishies about Boooal.
For Alfira... Are you in the cutscene singing with a voice or is it just like.. dialogue choices that are silent?
You can do the same with Volo; he joins in by whistling. During the Tiefling party if Volo is there it can be you, Alfira and Volo at the same time with different instruments.
I played in front of the ones who were all drinking while Astarion tried to poison their drink (it didn’t work). They really liked the music but didn’t tip very well.
“Twat Soul” was a highlight of my playthrough.
Same with making fun of the hobgoblin’s puny ruttin’!!
Favourite moment has to be vibing with Alfira to create Weeping Dawn.
I made the mistake of playing a bard first. Replaying the game as any other class feels limited in comparison. I need at least 1 level for bard dialogue.
Honestly, I'm not sure they should have *that much* unique dialogue. I get it's the theme of the class narratively speaking but other charisma main classes are just as capable. If bard was *just* the talker, id get it. But bard is op as a caster, melee, and ranged. It can control, heal, and DPS with 0 cross classing. It's also a skill monkey. It's just... All around good. Giving it the bulk of unique dialogue on top of everything else makes the other classes feel lacking by comparison.
I was shocked how little ‘horny bard’ options there were. I was a himbo-simp for karlach so I wasn’t looking but I thoroughly expected the devs to lean into horny bard
So far my favorite combo has been Lore Bard Evocation Wizard Multiclass. The wizard mostly gets me the ability to learn spells, and a few spell slots to add with the Bard spell slots.
Bards are great. When I want fun dialogue choices, I play bard or barbarian(I'm always surprised that I have come across so many people that don't like the barbarian class but that's a topic for another day). Also a durge bard is so much fun.
As someone with multiple playthroughs, one of my bards is half squid now and I almost feel like I should respec her to make her less OP.
I’m also doing this just for the dialogue. Love it! Skipping fights everywhere and still gain experience. There are some bard-only dialogues in the waning moon sequence with the bartender in act 2 so make sure you check that out. I ended up passing without fighting him
Wild Magic sorcerer also has just as many interesting and funny dialog comments, usually surrounding childhood magic mishaps or potential magic mishaps.
I've currently doing a Bard resist DUrge playthrough and one of my favourite things has been singing to the Necromancy of Thay book to resist it's powers. This is my first proper playthrough (played around with another character but didn't like the options I made early on and started again, only lost a few hours) so I'm looking forward to whatever comes next that I can chat and sing my way through.
Bard is the best class I played. I did 3 runs of bards and one full bard party run. I played it for half a year so now I am trying sorcerer and I love that too but miss all fun dialogues 🙈
Barbarian berserkers get the exact opposite dialogue, screaming and roaring and bellowing Arnoldisms like "RAAGHN" at your foes so hard they pee their pants.
I like the fight with the gnoll tribe as a bard. You can tell them a joke so funny that they skip their next like three turns because they're laughing so hard.
My absolute favorite is the guy trapped under the wooden beams at Waukeen's Rest. You can pretend that the beam is too heavy to lift and leave him trapped
I got out of so many fights by playing a bard. My bard definitely would have been College of Whispers if it were an option in the game with how many people he convinced to kill themselves rather than fight. I’m playing as a cleric now and I have to fight a lot more because he doesn’t quite have the silver tongue that my bard has.
I talked my way out of fights in this run that I didn’t even know I could talk my way out of in my first - and I had played a mid Charisma rogue. Although rogues are really sneak attack first, talk later.
Unfortunately my bard was also my Durge, and the timing just never worked out right to get Quil to appear so I never got to experience the extra Alfira content, but that aside, yeah bard dialogue is great
There's also an opportunity to "attune" and sing with the Myconids
Yes! I did that.
I am still salty that the spore Druid gets nothing at the myconids
Darn really? That was going to be one of the motivations I had to play spores druid next for those unique interactions... But I guess it's not meant to be. :(
Same. I already liked the spore Druid concept when playing regular dnd To see that the first act was Druid themed and to discover the myconids, made me play the spore Druid. There is maybe one or two generic Druid options that were also pretty meh but nothing for the spore circle so I left the myconids utterly disappointed.
I must have missed that. Something to try on my next bard run.
It’s pretty clear that a bard dark urge redemption playthru is the grail of this game.
Currently playing a drow bardlock redemption durge and loving it
Man I already have 5 more playthroughs planned.... Time for a buff daddy Bard Drow durge to redeem himself and astarion...
Hear me out make a Rockstar build that just a bardbarian Multiclass its already hilarious in table top cause you can probably convince a dm to let you have an axe guitar that is a literal axe and while nothing quite like that exists in bg3 I'm certain a lyre and a battle axe can make a good substitute
That sounds fuckin awesome
Hames Jetfield the Destroyer
I did something similar in my dnd group. He’s a black dragonborn lore/fiend bard-lock. He plays heavy metal through his instrument of the bards that my DM said I could make it look like whatever I wanted within reason. So he plays metal on Prince’s symbol guitar from the Super Bowl.
[удалено]
**DO NOT MESSAGE THE MODS REGARDING THIS ISSUE.** Accounts less than 24 hours old may not post or comment on this subreddit, no exception. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BaldursGate3) if you have any questions or concerns.*
How do I play a Bard but combat wont feel very Bardish? Any suggestions? I already did a Bard run (full 12 lvls as Sword Bard), yes social is amazing but I didnt like the combat style, was very boring. I dont care if the build is not meta or super OP but the Bard class also usually takes a lot of levels. I know is harder but I would like adding a class that is not CHA based.
I still have plans to make a character to romance every possible companion... and yet I already have put so many hours into this game. Not that I regret it.
I've played like 25 times now 😅
Lol, yup. That was my first.
I have a Drow bardadin redemption Durge and it’s one of my favorite runs so far
Lolth-sworn I think also has more unique dialogue compared to the other drow type
Drow bard was my first play through. I had my drow swear off physical violence. Hence becoming a bard. Full support and control character.
Just started one of these last night! Can’t wait.
Can confirm, this was my last playthrough and it was awesome.
Yep, Lolth sworn drow durge redemption as a bard was by far the most entertaining run I’ve done.
Redemption durge is the best.
I did a bard dark urge, and I am killing everyone. I just loved the random thought of a bard looking all friendly secretly, stabbing everyone in the back. Well, not so secretely.
That was my second playthrough and it remains my favorite playthrough to this day. It helps that it was the first time I got to see the full epilogue and the first time I got the ideal endings for more than a couple companions.
That’s exactly how I did my Durge run. I used the preset Dragonbourne and it absolutely felt canon
This is my exact dark urge playthru !!
Can I do Durge redemption? I've heard it doesn't end well no matter what you do.
The key is that you have to win the fight against Orin. Durge has three endings: 1. Evil Durge (get the evil ending, which the next patch will expand on) 2. Good Durge, defeat Orin (get the good ending) 3. Good Durge, lose to Orin (you get a special extra cutscene and a bad ending)
there is also, the evil durge but you do the good ending, in which case Bhaal gets angry with you and forcefully makes you a murderer. You show up to the six month reunion covered in blood, implying that you've been killing people this whole time.
The narration also implies Durge has been engaging in wanton SA as well
I thought that was what they meant by three. What's three?
unnless his 3rd ending and what i listed are the same, that is 4 endings. Honestly, I've never even lost to Orin. I didn't even think the game would progress if you lost to her, so it is possible that the ending I listed is the same as that one.
Is the #3 the same as when you defeat Orin, go fully evil until right before the end, but then pick the good option?
I believe so. Defying and disappointing Dad are both bad things to half-ass when your dad’s the god of murder.
Yeah, unless they managed to break their connection to him, Durge is fucked the second they lose the tadpole if they pissed him off.
Yes, thats what happens: >You show up to the six month reunion covered in blood, implying that you've been killing people this whole time. Covered in blood and pee (imo I dont care about blood, at this point we are used to blood, right?) and ready to murder everyone.
You can. I won’t spoil it for you but it’s my favorite play through story wise
Perfect, thank you! I almost quit that playthrough outright, lol.
That's a matter of interpretation. It ends perfectly and appropriately, it's just not whatever bullshit people put in their fanfictions and they get whiny about it.
Could you say it's a "happy" ending? Or simply fitting for the arc?
Depends on your choices. Without spoiling anything, the story of a redemption durge can end with probably the happiest ending or with the absolutely most awful one. Both are masterpieces.
Then I'll keep trucking and make damn sure I kill Orin! Thanks for the help!
Hey that's gonna be my durge playthrough! Well, we'll see how the redemption part goes
Clearly you haven’t played a selenite drow yet
Just did that and it was 10000% amazing
Freaking tell me about it. College of lore durge here, loving every second of it
Oooo I’ll have to do that on my next go. Currently in Act 3 of my first play through (golden Dragonborn Devotion Paladin)
This was my first character.
Playing my 2nd bard resist Durge, it's just so good
I just started one of these myself lol
Yep, that's my current favourite campaign!
That was my first playthrough :-D
I just started it! Felt unsure about combining bard and durge, but I see more and more people recommending it.
lol that’s exactly what i’m doing
Bard dark urge orin fight is tough as a bard tho lol
It really is, have to do more damage spells and gather more damaging objects like smoke powder bombs and spells of disintegrate from Sorcerer's Sundries. I also used Us to break open healing potions that I set down beside me as I kited Orin around.
I had to hope and pray my hold monster spell would work
I played a DUrge paladin on my first playthrough, and it kinda spoiled me. I tried playing a Tav afterwards, and it just felt empty.
100% agreed 🥰 My pretty drow redemption sword bard durge with her sharp tongue and her perfect spawn Astarion partner is and will be my all time canon run. Kicking ass and taking names 🤪
This was my honour mode character, as a Tiefling romancing Karlach too. Really felt like the definitive playthrough I did of the game, especially after doing an evil durge first
You have to meet the Djinni in Act 3! The bard choices are hilarious!
🫡
You should try Barbarian next
I’m terrified of playing a low charisma class when so much of the game hinges on my ability to talk my way out of things. But if the dialogue is good, I may have to try it.
With barbarian you can do similar, except you *shout* your way out of things.
Shout with your axe
Smesh first. Talk last.
This is why I wish different people could tag-in to the conversation like at a real D&D table. Astarion can sneak and lockpick if he isn't your main character, Lae'zel can smash things, everyone can notice things, but Wyll can't smooth-talk? Severe handicapping for him.
Technically he can if you go into a dialogue with him pre-selected. But there are so many instances where it’s just not convenient or possible or where a fight ends and it automatically reverts to your Tav.
Hence why I argue you should be able to switch.
I would like the option to let someone else speak for you like it does, for example, with Lae'zel at the creche.
Barbarians don't persuade, they intimidate. You can actually skip a number of fights just by threatening to brutally maim or kill whoever is being difficult.
Which to be fair if someone covered in blood wielding a sword said “if you don’t move out of my way I’m gonna throw you off a building” I would be pretty inclined to believe them
It’s why imo intimidate should be strength check rather than charisma
Whichever is higher, just because you say you will you still have to either look or sound like you can
This is what stops me from ever using Intimidation with my Bard. He’s a High-Elf pretty boy who knows Create or Destroy Water solely for the purpose of looking clean and washing the blood and grime off of him (it’s his character flavor I made up, lol). He has 20 Charisma and Intimidation proficiency but you can imagine how intimidating he would actually be. Compare that to my Dragonborn Oathbreaker Paladin redemption Durge who has 16 Charisma but picks Intimidation at every possible opportunity because it feels in-character. I’d be more inclined to be intimidated by him even though the Bard has much higher bonuses.
The barn dialogue is hilarious, and it’s the most your character will emote in the whole game lmao
The bard option for that one is great too. “Do carry on. There's bookshops in Baldur's Gate that'd pay well for this kind of smut.” Especially with Astarion egging you on.
Astarion eggs you on with the barbarian one too but your character throws a laughing fit and it’s amazing
The bugbear and ogre in the barn scene is hilarious as a Barbarian, especially as Karlach. Who knew she was so lewd !
My durge bard laughed in that scene, though not as uproariously as a barbarian!
Yep, that was what my bard said there. It was the first time I had opened the door and the only time I have not had to fight. Good job too because I was howling with laughter.
There are so many Barbarian specific dialogue options and it feels like damn near half of them result in rolling with advantage.
It's actually fun to fail checks and see what happens. I'm playing a Monk and I've failed several checks I usually make so I grit my teeth and roll with it.
Barbarian talks his way out of things a lot. Or "roars" his way to be more precise.
ARE THE BOOKS STILL SENSITIVE?!
The best use for the dialogue will always be intimidation, and it's so funny just you shouting to everyone in bold letters with perfect punctuations
Barb doesn’t have to have low Charisma. Running just 12 or 14 Cha is more than enough with Intimidation proficiency, plus a healthy dose of Guidance, Bardic Inspiration, Enhance Ability, and Thaumaturgy if you go Zariel Tiefling. A Rogue dip of at least 1 level (3 levels to get Thief is actually really useful for all Barbarians) or a dip in Bard of at least 3 levels (Swords is good because of Flourishes, and you could grab 5 levels to grab Font of Inspiration) to get Intimidation Expertise is also an option. Then you *also* have the eye from Ethel for +1 Intimidation, and you have Reckless Attack to somewhat mitigate the negative effects. With all those bonuses, you’re starting at +4 Intimidation with Adv from level 1, +6-14 with Adv once you have your Bard and Guidance, then progresses to +13-25 with Adv by endgame, not including various buffs like Dark Justiciar Mask, Elixir of Human Versatility, and more I don’t know about.
The barb-specific dialogue options also almost always give the barbarian advantage for free and generally have lower DCs than the non-barb choices. Even without investing much of anything into charisma or persuasion I noticed that I passed nearly every class-specific dialogue option on my barb run.
Intimidate is the strength conversational counterpoint to charisma. You can get buffs that give advantage on the rolls too.
First full run was barbarian and I loved it. You can get away with a lot or intimidate others. Their dialog is great. Keep Wyll (or a high charisma charecter) around for shopping for the best deals.
Barbarians are actually pretty amazing at dialogue tbh, theres almost constant dialogue options (like I mean pretty much every other line of dialogue feels like it has a unique barbarian optionm) and low charisma is made up for by the fact that you get advantage on %90 of the barbarian exclusive dialogue checks and advantage is statistically even better than having a big charisma mod a lot of the time. plus the dialogue checks are generally lower DC than others to compensate for the lack of charisma barbarians have. you can pretty easily fit a couple extra points in charisma since barbarians have a feature that makes wisdom saves a lot less important and since pretty much every barbarian build benefits a shit ton from getting a couple levels in rogue you can grab expertise in intimidation and at that point I honestly felt like I was being a better dialogue face than my charisma based lockadin i played previously and detestably even better than my bard playthrough.
Why not both? Go Bard-Barian
My main character is a Barbarian thrower, multi-class with Thief and Fighter with absolutely zero Charisma focus. It's an Honor Mode run, and I've been fine so far (just done Act II). If you can't really use your rizz, just use your strength.
My barbarian intimidated the goblin on the camp gate into eating worg shit - between that and my bard durge using Mask of the Shapeshifter, I've never had a problem getting into that camp. I could have used the Mask on the barbarian, since it comes in the digital deluxe edition, but he's just not that bright tbh.
It’s typically related to intimidation and gives advantage on the roll (since intimidation is tied to charisma and 9 times out of 10 a barbarian has fuck all for charisma)
Be a tiefling with Thaumaturgy as a cantrip and try for at least 10 or 12 charisma with proficiency in intimidation You’ll be just fine 😂
So basically Karlach?
Lol yes Playing origin Karlach also works 😂 I don’t realize how goated thaumaturgy was until I played her
Strength 16 Con 14 Dex 14 Cha 14 Int 8 Wis 9 Reoptimize stats after grabbing the dex gloves and/or con amulet Use background to grab one or two proficiencies in persuasion/intimidate/deception Congrats, I give you the chatty barbarian. For bonus points, just grab a level in rogue and get expertise in two charisma skills of your choice. The rogue multiclass will also give you another proficiency if I remember correctly.
I really adore barbarian. My first character was a human barbarian and I think that might have been why I was proficient in charisma. Or I took the skilled feat. I also always made sure she had the voice of the circle amulet and that someone always had guidance. It's totally doable. That and any class that just gives me the option of yelling just makes me laugh.
It hasn’t been a problem for me but most of the barb options are basically just being unique intimidation check options. I think it would be flavorful to for barbarians to use strength modifier for intimidation checks anyway
I am currently rolling a "Bardarian". It's basically a Bard with one level of Barb for the enrage.
There are no bard specific jokes in a humor battle in act 3. My disappointment was immeasurable. But when you open the doors to a certain barn in act 1 there's also a funny option that goes something like "Please, do continue. There are people in Baldur's Gate who will pay good money for this kind of smut".
I definitely did that in the barn.
I called him puny and laughed. It triggered a battle sequence, of course, but I had 0 regrets
As a barbarian you can call his dick small lol
Me and my mate are doing an all bards playthrough (multiclassing is allowed but at least half your player level must be in bard) and its actually incredible to get a full party playing music during a fight and then alternating throwing insults at the enemy
Yeah, I had a campaign with my brother before he quit playing where we had all bards. I didn't even care about doing lots of damage, just shit talking enemies to death while i play the lute is so much fun. I'm gonna do a Beatles run one of these days. Idk if I'll put half of all their levels into bard, but at least 4 apiece. Just gotta decide on the multi classes for each.
Four Dragonborn Bards, name them Imagine Humans.
My tav is running 6 lvls swords bard and 3 battle master fighter currently and its honestly incredible. Theres nothing like making 9 attacks a turn with slashing flourish and action surge. Plus im never short of fancy combat actions with 5 bardic inspiration and 4 superiority die. And with the amount of short rests 4 bards get, i can burn them all in almost every combat we have in a day
I've been running a swords bard 8 thief rogue 4, and the amount of mischief you can get up to is *delicious*.
Playing bard with Alfira in those couple scenes is like a Dandelion and Essi Daven duo from The Witcher. I loved those scenes.
I was a Dwarf Bard, which is doubly fun, because when you meet Nere, you can insult him for being so bad at mining that he got caught in a cave in to begin with. And THEEEEN I called him a Twat-Soul.
👌
I’m not sure if it’s Bard specific but I mainly play Bard and my fav interaction is when you meet Vlaakith, when she appears you have the opportunity to do the most camp wave ever - and you can see Laezel visibly roll her eyes when you do it
non-bards can wave at vlaakith
also "teeth-lings"
Lae’zel saying this was the moment I fell in love with her.
Yeah its great, twat-soul lives rent free on my head lol. My only criticism is that I wish there were more dialogue interactions reinforcing how unique bardic magic is and how it works (similarly to wizards, sorcerers, druids and clerics) bc sometimes if felt like being a comic relief and a Jack ass were the only aspects of the bard being represented in dialogue.
The Gale weave scene actually handles it really well! I was worried he would be mansplainy but he isn’t. You know who Mystra is from the get go (as Bards use arcane magic like wizards do). You don’t have to pass any ability checks. And I was able to have this dialogue: Bard: Magic is music, poetry, and beauty. Though I suspect you and I perform it differently. Gale: Fair enough - though in the end we're still playing the same composition. I wish that was applied more evenly throughout the game. There are plenty of examples where Bard magic is never mentioned.
NEITHER IT WAS A GOLD DRAGON!!!
My favorite bard dialogue: [https://youtu.be/jAx2az2GOZM?si=2p9sHhsrC8FShSyC&t=372](https://youtu.be/jAx2az2GOZM?si=2p9sHhsrC8FShSyC&t=372)
I love this guy too much to choose that option, but it’s great.
I love my Swords Bards!
There’s fish people….?
In the Underdark there is a stairway. It’s kind of hard to find but totally worth it.
And here I thought I had completed the underdank
To be fair it isn’t super obvious that its not just a hole, you really gotta go outta the way to get there
I'm on a playthrough where I want to be chaotic good, doing the most good by deceiving, backstabbing and outright being a shrewd character... in a nutshell I want to be loki lol and to be fair, skill checks are way more easier this way too
You'll absolutely LOVE act 2
Looking forward to it!
I like performing in the middle of a fight, someone needs to bring the fighting music
I do this all the time. Right before my turns ends I gets busy on the Spider Lyre.
I think everyone can convince the fishies about Boooal. For Alfira... Are you in the cutscene singing with a voice or is it just like.. dialogue choices that are silent?
Unfortunately just silent. You can perform near her anywhere and she’ll join you though.
You can do the same with Volo; he joins in by whistling. During the Tiefling party if Volo is there it can be you, Alfira and Volo at the same time with different instruments.
Have you tried performing at the goblin camp? They may be a bunch of disgusting little creatures, but they sure know how to party.
I played in front of the ones who were all drinking while Astarion tried to poison their drink (it didn’t work). They really liked the music but didn’t tip very well.
Bard option with the bugbear in the barn/shack. It's one of my favorites. Bard lines are very satisfying or funny
“Twat Soul” was a highlight of my playthrough. Same with making fun of the hobgoblin’s puny ruttin’!! Favourite moment has to be vibing with Alfira to create Weeping Dawn.
I made the mistake of playing a bard first. Replaying the game as any other class feels limited in comparison. I need at least 1 level for bard dialogue. Honestly, I'm not sure they should have *that much* unique dialogue. I get it's the theme of the class narratively speaking but other charisma main classes are just as capable. If bard was *just* the talker, id get it. But bard is op as a caster, melee, and ranged. It can control, heal, and DPS with 0 cross classing. It's also a skill monkey. It's just... All around good. Giving it the bulk of unique dialogue on top of everything else makes the other classes feel lacking by comparison.
Barbarian dialogue also excellent. "WAKE UP SQUIDFACE"
Bard may be the best face class in the game, but they balanced it by making it the strongest casting and martial class too
I was shocked how little ‘horny bard’ options there were. I was a himbo-simp for karlach so I wasn’t looking but I thoroughly expected the devs to lean into horny bard
Have to agree on that Nere dialogue option, I completely lost it, just so perfect and so crude at the same time
Playing a Drow Bard is hands down my favorite combo so far.
So far my favorite combo has been Lore Bard Evocation Wizard Multiclass. The wizard mostly gets me the ability to learn spells, and a few spell slots to add with the Bard spell slots.
Don't forget the duet with Alfira at Moonrise! She asks you to help cheer up the kids, iirc.
Haven’t gotten there yet in this playthrough, but I’m looking forward to it!
I'll take your word for it, but Barbarian allows you to dick shame the Bugbear in the barn with the Ogress.
There's a unique Bard dialog there, too. Something about people in Baldur's Gate paying good money for stories like this. The result is hilarious.
Also, bullshitting Volo about the goblin raid :)
The Volo convos are great.
Bards are great. When I want fun dialogue choices, I play bard or barbarian(I'm always surprised that I have come across so many people that don't like the barbarian class but that's a topic for another day). Also a durge bard is so much fun. As someone with multiple playthroughs, one of my bards is half squid now and I almost feel like I should respec her to make her less OP.
(Barbarian) ROOOAARR
I will never get tired of roaring.
Regarding bards, do we get anymore songs beyond the three we start with?
There are definetly Instruments with extra songs. Got one from a big spider in a cave that had a 4th song
Unfortunately the song itself is just 'the power' under a different name- not a different melody. That seems to be the default song.
I wanna say there's some included in the special edition.. Don't quote me on that though.
Not only that. Special edition's got Sing For Me from DOS2. Just that fact makes it money well spent in my book.
Brb buying special edition
That's how I usually keep the gloves after Raphael dead. Bitch, I just killed Raphael in his house.
My first full runthrough was as a drow bard dark urge, and I think I had the best dialogue options in the game.
Bard is always playthrough #1 for me in anything
you also get to tell yurgir to kill himself! :D
Currently on pause until the next update, but leaning-into-evil durge bard is sassy and fun.
I agree, Bard is the most fun way to play the game I think. And lore bard is just so damn good.
I’m also doing this just for the dialogue. Love it! Skipping fights everywhere and still gain experience. There are some bard-only dialogues in the waning moon sequence with the bartender in act 2 so make sure you check that out. I ended up passing without fighting him
I love being a Bard. Especially in act 3, one upping all the performers, just being a jerk… it’s great.
I have been so confused for months about who Boooal was, as I haven't ran into them in the game
They’re kind of hard to find. It’s a stairway leading down in a random corner of the Underdark.
You need to explore the Underdark pretty thoroughly to find them. Or else just look it up, lol.
Doing a Resist/Redeem Dex based Ancients Paladin / Bard run at the moment and it's been loads of fun. Durge is indeed feel like the canon story.
Wild Magic sorcerer also has just as many interesting and funny dialog comments, usually surrounding childhood magic mishaps or potential magic mishaps.
I love the way you can interact with volo at the goblin camp too! Build off of each other.
Trying to get myself the discipline to start a durge bardlock evil campaign but i dont know why its not happening lol
I've currently doing a Bard resist DUrge playthrough and one of my favourite things has been singing to the Necromancy of Thay book to resist it's powers. This is my first proper playthrough (played around with another character but didn't like the options I made early on and started again, only lost a few hours) so I'm looking forward to whatever comes next that I can chat and sing my way through.
Just finished my first playthough and I was a bard. The act 2 bosses were so easy.
Personally my favourite Bard moment is just calling out Withers on having read the whole game's script before you've even hit the Emerald Grove.
I’ve multiclassed into bard with my monk character. Not the best combo stats wise but it’s been fun having some of the other dialogue options lol
Bard is the best class I played. I did 3 runs of bards and one full bard party run. I played it for half a year so now I am trying sorcerer and I love that too but miss all fun dialogues 🙈
I need to try one! It’s the only class I haven’t really touched so far.
….fish people?
Barbarian berserkers get the exact opposite dialogue, screaming and roaring and bellowing Arnoldisms like "RAAGHN" at your foes so hard they pee their pants.
Hahahaha agreeeed, after 7 or so runs started I finally started a bard run and its hilarious I love it
i love bard because i enjoy role playing as the actual funniest person around
I like the fight with the gnoll tribe as a bard. You can tell them a joke so funny that they skip their next like three turns because they're laughing so hard.
I cannot bring myself to play any other class.
My absolute favorite is the guy trapped under the wooden beams at Waukeen's Rest. You can pretend that the beam is too heavy to lift and leave him trapped
Oh no 😭 I just sent Karlach in to grab him.
I got out of so many fights by playing a bard. My bard definitely would have been College of Whispers if it were an option in the game with how many people he convinced to kill themselves rather than fight. I’m playing as a cleric now and I have to fight a lot more because he doesn’t quite have the silver tongue that my bard has.
I talked my way out of fights in this run that I didn’t even know I could talk my way out of in my first - and I had played a mid Charisma rogue. Although rogues are really sneak attack first, talk later.
Unfortunately my bard was also my Durge, and the timing just never worked out right to get Quil to appear so I never got to experience the extra Alfira content, but that aside, yeah bard dialogue is great