Bard



Obsidian has confirmed that the Bard base class will be included in NWN2.

DnD 3.5 Bard
Description: Bards often serve as negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies. They love to accompany heroes (and villains) to witness heroic (or villainous) deeds firsthand, since a bard who can tell a story from personal experience earns renown among his fellows. A bard casts arcane spells without any advance preparation, much like a sorcerer. His magic emphasizes charms and illusions, and the bard can also play an inspiring song that strengthens him and his allies. Bards also share some specialized skills with rogues, and their knowledge of item lore is nearly unmatched.

Alignment restrictions: Any non-lawful

Class features progression
Spellcasting: Arcane (Charisma-based, no spell preparation, spell failure from armor is a factor). Bards begin the game knowing four cantrips. Must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell’s level to cast a spell.

Spellcasting

 * Bard spell list
 * Bard spell progression

Armor restrictions
A bard can cast bard spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a bard wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do). A multiclass bard still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Casting
A bard casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the bard spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. Every bard spell has a verbal component (singing, reciting, or music). To learn or cast a spell, a bard must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a bard’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the bard’s Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a bard can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day.

In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score. The bard’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A bard begins play knowing four 0-level spells of your choice. At most new bard levels, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Bard Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a bard knows is not affected by his Charisma score; the Bard Spells Known are fixed is a fixed number.) Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third bard level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a bard can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the bard “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level bard spell the bard can cast. A bard may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level. As noted above, a bard need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

Ex-bards
A bard who becomes lawful in alignment cannot progress in levels as a bard, though he retains all his bard abilities.

Pre-release notes

 * The skills climb, jump and swim have been confirmed as not being implemented in NWN2.
 * Dispel, healing and summoning magics are highly likely to be in NWN2 as they are almost integral to the magic system of DnD.
 * Lore was used in NWN as a collective version of knowledge and other information skills. NWN2 will include it for the same reasons.
 * Obsidian stated that Bard instruments will include the lute, drum, and flute. Character models will be shown to carry them and animations will be used when playing them.
 * The NWN2 game client interface will include a bard bar "that makes switching between their various songs much easier."
 * NWN2 Bards will gain inspirations that are constantly active, though only 1 may be active at any given time.

NWN comparison

 * The discipline and parry skills were created by NWN and are not features of DnD 3.5, and apparently are returning in NWN2 for the same reasons that they were in NWN.
 * NWN allowed bards to use tower shields as it made no distinction other than size.
 * NWN did not feature the 3.5 rules for Arcane Spell Failure in light armor for Bards.

External resources

 * NWNWiki:Bard
 * NWNWiki:Lore
 * |Neverwinter Nights 2 manual (pdf file)