Warning: This post provides a highly detailed, math-intensive look at the effects of the Skald's song. It's purpose is to try to answer the age-old question about Skalds, and bards in general -- from a powergamer's perspective, does a bard "pull his own weight" in the group? That is to say, could the group spot occupied by a bard character be more effectively filled by any other class?

This post will show that, in certain groups, there is no better class to occupy that 6th spot than a Skald. Period. In the right situation, a Skald can pull his own weight, and then some. He should be loved by powergamers and bard-lovers alike. And here's why.

Improving Chance to Hit (THAC0)
Before I go further here I'm going to set forth a couple of conditions to simplfy the math. We're going to assume the following:

(1) The character's current THAC0 isn't so good that he already hits his targets 19 out of 20 times (the 1 miss being critical miss). If this were the case, then the +4 THAC0 bonus of the skald song would be meaningless.

(2) The reverse situation -- the character's THAC0 is so poor that, even with the +4 skald bonus he still only hits his opponenets 1 out of 20 times (critical hits), again recieving no real benefit from the +4 THAC0 effect of the skald song.

Instead, for the sake of simplicity, for the rest of this post I'm going to assume that all combatants are within a "typical" AC/THAC0 range of each other. I will assume that the +4 THAC0 bonus of the Skald song is truly helping to improve that character's chances of hitting his oppoenent by a ratio of 4/18, or 22%. (the ratio is out of 18 because 1's are always misses and 20's are always hits...)

Applying that logic, the process of calculating just how much damage a Skald is contributing to the group by playing his song becomes a relatively simple task. Check it out:

For illustrative purposes, lets pretend we have a group of 5 characters whom combined manage to hit their opponenets an average of 9 times a round. Furthermore, let's say that the average damage of those hits is 10. Therefore, those 5 characters are inflicting an average of 90 damage/round (9 x 10).

Now add the Skald song. With the +4 THAC0 bonus, as illustrated earlier, those 5 characters will now hit succesfully 22% more often. So instead of landing 9 attacks per round, they now land 11. You've got to give the Skald all the credit for those 2 extra hits, they wouldn't have happened without him. Those two extra hits provide an extra 20 damage. But it doesn't end there. Remember that every succesful hit is also augmented by the Skald's +4 damage bonus. So, 11 hits x 4 dmg = 44 bonus damage. Adding it all up, we now find that the Skald is contributing a whopping 64physical damage/round in addition to the 90 that the rest of the group puts out.

64 physical damage per round, people!! Wow!!! Needless to say, that's way more than the Skald is capable of doing with a longbow on his own. 64 damage per round is more than just about any other class is capable of, with the possible exception of Archers and Kensai. It's damned good!!!!!

AC Bonus
But it doesn't stop there!! Using the same kind of to-hit logic as before, an improvement in AC by +4 is essentially the same thing as saying "enemies will hit you 22% less often". So you can think of the AC bonus of the Skald song as providing a group-wide, 22% resistance to all physical damage. Nifty.

Then, when you figure in all the immunities (party-wide mindhsield, freeaction, ect), that's just icing on the cake.


Obviously you can play with the numbers a lot here, and see how smaller groups (or just any group that lands fewer attacks per round) see a smaller benefit from the Skald song. IE, if the group as a whole is only landing 4 attacks per round (and not 9 like the previous example), then having a Skald there is going to add maybe 1 more attack (not 2), and +20 more bonus damage (not 44), for a total of 30 more damage per round (not 64).

Summary
Yes, we all knew that the more characters there are in a group, particularly warrior characters who have multiple attacks per round, the greater the benefits of the Skald song. But most people don't truly appreciate just how great those benefits can be. Basically, if you are in a group that is currently hitting its targets about 6 times per round, there is truly no better character you could add to that team than a Skald -- he would add more damage to that group by playing his song than just about any other class. And when you recall that the Skald gets moderate casting ability (that of a mage half his level, appx.), and very high lore (useful), he's really a tremendous character.

Powergamer's should have no problem having a Skald as part of their BG2 team -- in fact, they should WANT one.

As for the other bards though, they still suck =P

What about two skalds? Would that give you a +8 bonus?

Great post but all bards rule...

[This message has been edited by GONMAR (edited May 07, 2001).]

Great rationale. From my experiences while playing the various games of BG2 I can see some strong benefits by having a Skald in the party. However, all (yes ALL) of the party combinations that I've had in BG2 average (some...more)perhaps around 15 attacks per round.

Additionally to Kensai's and somewhat Archers, definitely Monks and Fighters can average easily over 100pts of damage/per round. My gaming stlye always (due to personal strategic beliefs) has one MAJOR Fighter type up front and massive air support behind him. Therefore I would not use a Skald for the bonuses to hit and damage but I will definitely consider a Skald for the other important bonuses. But I do recognize that the 64pts of bonus damage over the "sans-Skald" party of 6 averaging 9 attacks/10pts of damage per attack definitely would help many of RPG'ers- not just power gamers out there. Great job again with the reasoning and justification for having a Skald.(I had to break out my calculator to verify the few calculations you had!)

The immunity bonuses given such as mindshield, freeaction and the like are pure ambrosia for my frontline heavy tank that takes most if not all of the damage in my encounters. There's nothing I hate more than Stun and Hold Person!!! Rrrrraaaagh. And Chaotic Commands just doesn't last long enough, even when Viconia has 4 slots of em'. :)

The exact numbers I used weren't the most important part -- the important idea is this:

At a certain point, what is better (improves the groups overall damage output more) ? : Adding another warrior, or adding a Skald who improves the output of all your existing warriors?

And, if you crunch some numbers, you discover that as long as your teammates are swinging for contact at least 5 or 6 times a round, there aren't many characters that can contribute more overall damage to the group than a Skald. Add in the damage resistance (+4 ac bonus), the immunities, and the Skalds other fine abilities (lore and spellcasting), and a Skald is potentially the biggest contributor to your 6 man team. Powergamers should love him.

Other side notes:
Skald songs don't stack, no point to having more than one in a party...

Other kits suck because their songs are no where close to as potent as a Skald -- the increased melee abilities of a Blade don't even come close to the damage that a Skald provides (Albeit indirectly) with his song. If you want a character who can do a little thieving, some casting, and a little fighting, you are much better off with a Fighter/Mage/Thief multiclass than a Blade. But the Skald has no substitute. He's a monster.

And just in case that wasn't clear enough, lemme try phrasing it one other way:

3 warriors & a Skald(playing his song) are stronger than a group of 4 warriors. Filling that fourth spot with a skald provides greater offensive output than filling it with a warrior. It's true.

The math to prove it:
The warriors are probably attacking about 3 times around. Let's say that they are some buff-halforc-mofos and their attacks are averaging about 20 damage. Not all of those attacks are hitting their target however. Lets pretend that only 6 of those 9 attacks are hitting their targets. So those 3 warriors are dealing a combined 120 damage/round (or 40 each).

You could add a fourth warrior to provide another 40/rd, to bump the total up to 160 damage/round. -OR-, you could add a skald, who improves the original threesome as they now on average land an additional 3/2 attacks per round (30 more damage there) in addition to a +4 damage bonus on all of those attacks (30 damage bonus) for a total of +60/rd. The Skald song provides for a greater damage output than what a 4th warrior is capable of!!! Meanwhile, the Skald can cast spells and identify things and improve defenses and provide immunities... it's a no-brainer. Skald = powergamers dream.

I wouldn't say a slald is powergamers' dream but I always though he was the best bard kit, with blades coming close behind.Your analysis may prove a skald is useful in a group of fighters but it doesn't justify why he should be considered the only useful bard class. When you are creative enough you can work with anything they give you. It's a great try anyhow and congratulations on your patience for typing all that but as my friend Gommar mentions ALL bards RULE :D !

The "Watcher" has redeemed himself