Skills help, terrible defense...

[Pyper]

My Krol bard loves swinging his claidh, but is getting killed (literally) by his low defense. How can I fix his skills to up his defense? I'm open to changing weapon type, but I'd prefer to avoid the old cookie-cutter polearm-wielding bard.

Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Two-Handed Weapons.................| 148 48
Physical Fitness...................| 93 21
Dodging............................| 102 24
Arcane Symbols.....................| 90 20
Magic Item Use.....................| 93 21
Harness Power......................| 105 25
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 93 21
Survival...........................| 78 17
Perception.........................| 70 15
Climbing...........................| 82 18
Swimming...........................| 62 13

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 10

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 15

Race: Half-Krolvin Profession: Bard (shown as: Storyteller)
Gender: Male Age: 0 Expr: 657978 Level: 23
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 87 (28) ... 87 (28)
Constitution (CON): 71 (20) ... 71 (20)
Dexterity (DEX): 73 (11) ... 73 (11)
Agility (AGI): 85 (22) ... 85 (22)
Discipline (DIS): 57 (3) ... 57 (3)
Aura (AUR): 94 (22) ... 94 (22)
Logic (LOG): 70 (0) ... 70 (0)
Intuition (INT): 46 (-2) ... 46 (-2)
Wisdom (WIS): 61 (0) ... 61 (0)
Influence (INF): 100 (20) ... 100 (20)

[Martaigne]

THW users should be at least 2x in Dodge, IMO.

[The Ponzzz]

Yea, if you're THW, you gotta be 2x dodge to survive unless you spell tank. As a bard, that is close to impossible. Polearms get a nice DS boost just for holding them, that is why they work so well.

I'm curious why you're .75x in survival. Can't skin with that at a decent rate...

[Pyper]

Yeah, I was going to try skinning for cobbling, but I think I'll just drop the survival and buy good skins if I need them.

What about a blunt and a shield? I just don't see my character as a polearm user. (But I might switch just out of frustration.)

[Jaimaltz]

My Krol bard loves swinging his claidh, but is getting killed (literally) by his low defense. How can I fix his skills to up his defense? I'm open to changing weapon type, but I'd prefer to avoid the old cookie-cutter polearm-wielding bard.

Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Two-Handed Weapons.................| 148 48
Physical Fitness...................| 93 21
Dodging............................| 102 24
Arcane Symbols.....................| 90 20
Magic Item Use.....................| 93 21
Harness Power......................| 105 25
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 93 21
Survival...........................| 78 17
Perception.........................| 70 15
Climbing...........................| 82 18
Swimming...........................| 62 13

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 10

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 15

Race: Half-Krolvin Profession: Bard (shown as: Storyteller)
Gender: Male Age: 0 Expr: 657978 Level: 23
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 87 (28) ... 87 (28)
Constitution (CON): 71 (20) ... 71 (20)
Dexterity (DEX): 73 (11) ... 73 (11)
Agility (AGI): 85 (22) ... 85 (22)
Discipline (DIS): 57 (3) ... 57 (3)
Aura (AUR): 94 (22) ... 94 (22)
Logic (LOG): 70 (0) ... 70 (0)
Intuition (INT): 46 (-2) ... 46 (-2)
Wisdom (WIS): 61 (0) ... 61 (0)
Influence (INF): 100 (20) ... 100 (20)

What's killing you here isn't your defense, it's your armor. Bards should 2x in armor until 50 ranks to get into chain. With 8 ranks, you're looking at double leather - no wonder you're getting screwed when you get hit. Ditch the arcane symbols, magic item use, survival, and cut back harness power by 2 ranks (you want to keep it at your level, so if you're level 23, you should have 23 ranks, any extra only get you 1 mana each rank). If you're swinging a claid, air lore is pretty much useless until you get 1035, so drop that for now too, you can always pick it up again later. Pick up 1x combat maneuvers and get as much armor use as you can manage.

I'm sure you're well versed with bard tactics as well - lulliby on single opponents, ewave on multiple ones. Don't change your style just because you're having a bit of difficulty, there's plenty of adjustments you can make.

[Pyper]

What's killing you here isn't your defense, it's your armor. Bards should 2x in armor until 50 ranks to get into chain. With 8 ranks, you're looking at double leather - no wonder you're getting screwed when you get hit. Ditch the arcane symbols, magic item use, survival, and cut back harness power by 2 ranks (you want to keep it at your level, so if you're level 23, you should have 23 ranks, any extra only get you 1 mana each rank). If you're swinging a claid, air lore is pretty much useless until you get 1035, so drop that for now too, you can always pick it up again later. Pick up 1x combat maneuvers and get as much armor use as you can manage.

I'm sure you're well versed with bard tactics as well - lulliby on single opponents, ewave on multiple ones. Don't change your style just because you're having a bit of difficulty, there's plenty of adjustments you can make.


It's my DS that's low, though. Being a Half-Krol, I can actually take quite a beating (I have around 200 HP), it's just all those minors adding up, especially with multiple opponents. I added the arcane symbols and MIU to get those additional spells to try to bring up my DS. It was my understanding that armor reduces the severity of wounds, but if I'm getting killed from a ton of little wounds, can chain really help?

[Jaimaltz]

It's my DS that's low, though. Being a Half-Krol, I can actually take quite a beating (I have around 200 HP), it's just all those minors adding up, especially with multiple opponents. I added the arcane symbols and MIU to get those additional spells to try to bring up my DS. It was my understanding that armor reduces the severity of wounds, but if I'm getting killed from a ton of little wounds, can chain really help?

You'll take a lot less damage from those hits, and many of those hits won't result in minors at all. The second thing I'd like to mention is that you shouldn't even be getting hit much as a bard. Lulliby knocks creatures down, puts them asleep and in offensive most of the time, and even on the minor successes (creatures sits down, or flutters his eyes instead of going into a deep slumber) often stances them quite a bit making them easy to hit for a claid user. It's easily the best disabling spell in the game. The chain is there to keep you alive in case you screw up and get hit, or get warded by a spell which disables you for a period of time leaving you exposed to multiple hard hits. You're dead if that happens in leather.

Don't just stand there and let them hit you, disable them first, then go for the kill.

Once you have your 50 armor ranks, you can stop training in it for a while, and use all the points you were spending on it to play catchup on your magic and other secondary skills.

[Pyper]

You'll take a lot less damage from those hits, and many of those hits won't result in minors at all. The second thing I'd like to mention is that you shouldn't even be getting hit much as a bard. Lulliby knocks creatures down, puts them asleep and in offensive most of the time, and even on the minor successes (creatures sits down, or flutters his eyes instead of going into a deep slumber) often stances them quite a bit making them easy to hit for a claid user. It's easily the best disabling spell in the game. The chain is there to keep you alive in case you screw up and get hit, or get warded by a spell which disables you for a period of time leaving you exposed to multiple hard hits. You're dead if that happens in leather.

Don't just stand there and let them hit you, disable them first, then go for the kill.

Once you have your 50 armor ranks, you can stop training in it for a while, and use all the points you were spending on it to play catchup on your magic and other secondary skills.

Ya know, I'm starting to come around. My only probably with lullaby at the moment is that I have mana supply problems...but if I dropped my sonic armor that could help.

I won't be able to get chain right away at my age, but I do have a set of 5x brig languishing in another character's locker. 35 ranks for brig, am I right? (Damn algebra!)

[Jaimaltz]

Ya know, I'm starting to come around. My only probably with lullaby at the moment is that I have mana supply problems...but if I dropped my sonic armor that could help.

I won't be able to get chain right away at my age, but I do have a set of 5x brig languishing in another character's locker. 35 ranks for brig, am I right? (Damn algebra!)

Yup, 35 ranks for brig. Even that will make a world of a difference over double leather.

[Martaigne]

30.

edit: Wait, maybe I'm forgetting spell hindrance training.

<= stupid square

[gs4hunter]

30.

edit: Wait, maybe I'm forgetting spell hindrance training.

<= stupid square
My capped bard has over 100 armor training to be able to wear chain, because of the spell hindrance. Course, my bard is also a pure.

[AestheticDeath]

I wear augmented chain with 60 ranks of armor...

[Stretch]

My Krol bard loves swinging his claidh, but is getting killed (literally) by his low defense. How can I fix his skills to up his defense? I'm open to changing weapon type, but I'd prefer to avoid the old cookie-cutter polearm-wielding bard.

Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Two-Handed Weapons.................| 148 48
Physical Fitness...................| 93 21
Dodging............................| 102 24
Arcane Symbols.....................| 90 20
Magic Item Use.....................| 93 21
Harness Power......................| 105 25
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 93 21
Survival...........................| 78 17
Perception.........................| 70 15
Climbing...........................| 82 18
Swimming...........................| 62 13

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 10

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 15


Here's what I would do.

Drop Survival and Perception. They're absolutely unnecessary early in the game. Hell, drop air lore if you're swinging a claidh.

Get 3 more ranks of PF. Drop the MIU / AS.

Go at least to 1019, then pick up 414. Then pick up additional bard ranks to extend spellsong durations / increase DS from sonic armor.

[Drevihyin]

I was just wondering what the norm is for most bards when it comes to armor? I have trained two bards to 70 and one to 30, in nothing but 4x/5x double leather that was somewhat damage padded. Sure I took a few beatings but I still could uphunt if I desired.

Now after saying that, I find myself getting pummeled here lately and will drop some coin soon.

So I'm a believer that at younger trains lets say 50 and below double leather will suffice.

Drevihyin....sell me your armor!

[Pyper]

Okay, I retrained and am currently wearing augmented chain with 50 ranks of armor. I'm getting a 30% spell hindrance. How many more ranks to get it down to 8%?

[Apathy]

Are you sure? Your bard spells should be at 8%. Wearing a helm by any chance?

[Sylvan Dreams]

Might want to reconsider your spell set and go up to 414 for the DS unless you can reliably get mass guards.

[Jaimaltz]

Okay, I retrained and am currently wearing augmented chain with 50 ranks of armor. I'm getting a 30% spell hindrance. How many more ranks to get it down to 8%?

The 30% you're getting is for minor elemental. I just dealt with it because that doesn't bother me - I just cast my 401, 406, 414, etc. in a node before battle, and I use lulliby instead of ewave. Your bard hindrance should be 8 percent. You can drop down to a chain shirt instead of augmented chain if you want 8 percent hindrance with minor elemental spells. Other than ewave, there's little reason to worry about minor elemental hindrance.

[Pyper]

No, I'm definitely getting 30% hindrance for bard spells- I can't reliably cast lullaby in battle. I am 24 trains now, with 50 ranks. What's going on?

I'm not wearing a helm.

[Warriorbird]

Sing rather than cast?

[Jaimaltz]

No, I'm definitely getting 30% hindrance for bard spells- I can't reliably cast lullaby in battle. I am 24 trains now, with 50 ranks. What's going on?

I'm not wearing a helm.

Are you migrating, or did you use a fixskill to get those ranks? If you're migrating you might not actually have 50 ranks. Do a "skill base" to check. Also, as already mentioned, use sing or incant instead of cast for bard songs.

[Danical]

Training in Polearms over THW will net you 3/3 a level in training points.

That could help alleviate some of your stress.

Jesus Christ, I should finish my Bard Guide.

[Pyper]

Sing rather than cast?

I think this was it, thanks.

[Danical]

it doesn't matter or at least it doesn't for Gnimble.