Hmmm, I haven't played a bard in a while, but in my latest game I am, and as it turns out, I have gained the ability to cast spells above 6th level. I'm assuming this has to be because of the Ease of Use Mod or the Item Upgrade Mod, although I don't know which. One of the few limitations of the bard was his/her inability to cast spells in excess of 6th level. Presumably, if I continue playing long enough, I may even get 9th level spells, which would make the character completely ridiculous.

Honestly, if a bard get access to all spells, it's way overpowered. I mean, it eliminates any need for a mage of any type. Why take along a mage when you can get all those spells anyway, plus get all the benefits of a bard as well? In fact, in some regards a bard will be superior to the mage for spells that get megnified in power based on character level. Spells such as dispel magic and lower resistance for example are better cast by a bard, because (assuming the same number of XP) will be of higher level than mages.

*bows to Aldeth* Are you the god of all things magical and musical?

Certainly not. In fact, it's probably a well known fact that bards have this ability, but I almost always play melee styled characters, and didn't go for the dancing and prancing of bards. I'm probably the last person who plays BGII with any regularity to figure this out.

I thought bards casting level went up one for every 2 levels?

The componant, PnP arcane level progression gives the bards the abilities to cast level 7 spells :)

Ease of use is great if you don't mind abuse. :D

Bards are supposed to get spells higher than 6th-level, but only with great experience. They get spells at a slower pace than mages, so they don't gain new spell levels very quickly. Take 4.5 million XP, for example:

Mage: Level 21
5,5,5,5,5,4,4,4,2,1(true dweomer)

Bard: Level 30
6,6,6,6,5,5,5,1

Note that though the bard's level is ~1.5x the mage's, he's got the same number of spells AND they're spread over the lower levels. No 9th-level spells (and only one 8th-level spell) for the bard yet, but the mage has already gotten a true dweomer (10th-level spell), which bards are never allowed. (In BG2, that would be the HLA spells like Dragon's Breath, Improved Alacrity, etc., though the designers lumped them in with 9th-level for simplicity. :rolleyes: )

The bard is designed to be the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none, so all the neat abilities that you get are lesser than what you would get with a normal fighter, mage, or thief.

Agreed that the spell progression with level is lower. However, I also know that bards gain levels much faster than mages. In your example is it an accurate comparison? i.e., is level 21 of a mage equivalent to level 30 of a bard in terms of experience points?

@Aldeth:
Does this answer your question? :D
Take 4.5 million XP, for example:

Felinoid

I agree with the Bard is a jack of all trades to some extent. I just wish we could have the ability to customize a bard a little better.

For examples: You can give your bard better fighting skills at the expense of your ability to cast spells or vice versa. One other area I wish a bard could do is more thieving skills. I for one don't use picket pocket to often and would rather take Find remove traps. If there was a way or a kit that would allow players the ability to make a bard the way they want than that would be cool.

For instance I would make my bard have the thieving abilities of Detect Illusion and Find/Remove Traps. He would gain his/her weapons proficiencies as a mage and cannot wear armor heavier than studded leather, thus gaining the ability to gain a few extra higher level spells.

@Abdel:
But then he wouldn't be a bard anymore. :p And how do you justify trap skills on a minstrel or singer? The Pickpocketing is justified by crowd-working, especially from when their skills aren't good enough yet to get the people to just hand them the money.

If you really want such customization, take an F/M/T. Same skill set, just expanded. Sure it takes a little longer to gain levels, but if you go solo, you'll be gaining them twice as fast as you would as a bard with a party. I'm doing it myself, and finding it really kicks some major a$$. :evil:

Or, better yet, make a character like Imoen or Nalia. (Bonus: you don't have to take either of them along! :D ) Play BG1 with a solo thief, then when you've won and your character gets auto-exported, just re-import, dual to mage (or specialist), and export to BG2. Your thief level will stay high, and you can allocate your skill points however you want!

Can bards cast 7th+ level spells in purest pen&paper? Abeit at highest levels?

I think I read that that bards can cast 7th+ level in IWD HoF so what? Though they do not gain HLAs there, like traps and use any item and such so it can be balanced? What do you think? :confused:

Yep, you get the first 7th-level spell at Level 21 as a bard. The HLAs are significantly different, too. There's no trap-setting at all (not even the small stuff) unless you have a thief with the Set Snares non-weapon proficiency. There are no uber-traps either, and UAI is more like ULLS (Use Low Level Scrolls).