Hey folks. I never played BG, but I am a gamer and a former MUD nerd. I am totally hooked on Icewind... but I have run into a problem. I have a 5th level Bard with several spells learned and memorized... but when I go to cast them, they're all blacked out. How do I get him to use them? It'd be nice to add some more Missiles and fire to the fray!

Check what armor your bard is wearing
i think that he can't cast any spell if he wears any armor.
otherwise check the restrictions of the class and find out what is the best armor you can wear without losing your ability to cast spells.
hope this helps

Adios
Drizzt Do'Urden
The Great Drow Ranger

A Bard can wear up to Chain mail but CANNOT cast in armor. My Bard carries around chain and first casts her spells and then if the battle is still going put on her armor and play a song or uses her crossbow.

Thanks, folks.
I'll try that out.

I'm curious -- why was accesing your inventory during combat unpausing you taken out of ID? That was one of the more realistic touches in BG. Not that I haven't used it to my advantage in ID, don't get me wrong! It just seems like an odd change.

That's a good question. The only thing I can think of is that since you are fighting so much in IWD the designers didn't want you to get blind-sided by monsters while in inventory mode. But I agree it was more realistic in BG.

I liked the no pause while in inventory in BG too! It definitely keeps you on your toes! I figure being in battle would be pretty hectic - and you don't get time outs!

I was wondering about the Bard character...How good is it? I've never played one, and I've never really thought about it...But after reading some of the replys, I'm thinking about giving it a try...My impression is that they can do a little of everything...But nothing spectacular. What's special about the bard song? Give me the scoop!

The Bard song gives the entire party bonuses to hit and saves in combat. A nice overall aid ability.

Also see my post in the "Good Party" section for more on the Bard.

call me a dogmatic purist, but i think the absence of the no-pause-in-inventory rule makes fighter/mages WAY too powerful.

See my post about bards in the "Good party" thread. Personally, I think that even though they are a "Jack-of-all-trades" type of character, they actually are QUITE good and useful to have around.

I am playing Heart of Winter. I have a 12th level Bard. How do I access her new Songs? Should there be a new Harp icon for each of should they be special abilities?

If I'd have to guess, I'd say that if you right-clicked on the harp, you'd probably get to choose the songs you want. Now, back to that whole "no-pause while in inventory" thing, I prefer the rule in IWD, because if you want to argue realism, you should also argue that there's no way you could carry around a dozen halberds in your backpack. With the "pause-in-inventory" it's a little less realistic in some ways, but it's also unrealistic when you pause, command your characters to do stuff, unpause, and so on. They probably figured that if you're gonna be realistic, you have to be consistently realistic, and vice-versa.