There's A Much Darker Side To Bards In Baldur's Gate 3

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Bards are often viewed as a generally humorous class option for , but just like in tabletop, dismissing them as silly ignores the heavier implications of what bards can do. doesn't shy away from darker themes and violent affairs in general, offering plenty of possibilities to take an amoral path and bloodying the party at just about every turn. It's easy to think of the more devious Origin characters as the ones most likely to embrace underhanded behavior, but a playable bard is capable of outdoing them all in some regards.

Bards have a long history in, appearing as an option that characters would eventually spec into in the first edition before becoming a standard class in the second edition. In, however, none make the cut among the Origin character options, leaving it to the player to embrace or ignore the classic specialization. This can be achieved either through a custom character or by changing the class of a companion after recruiting them to the party, and the game does feature a full array of Bard voice lines for all the companions.

Persuasion, Deception, and Intimidation all play big roles in, but no one is as capable of truly disturbing manipulation as a bard is. With Charisma acting as their primary ability score, bards are geared toward interpersonal prowess in general. The game doubles down on this concept by offering a variety of unique possibilities to really drive the knife in with the use of successful Charisma-based rolls, and spending enough time as an overpowered bard might make skewering foes with a sword start to look like a more merciful option.

Any playthrough with enough of an emphasis on diplomacy will probably come across at least one or two of the more extreme options to defeat enemies outside of combat, which can be as gruesome as they are absurd. Notably, it's possible to convince more than one boss to simply dispatch themselves and save the party the trouble, although it usually requires difficult rolls that will quickly send the