In Baldur’s Gate 3, the choice of race is crucial in determining the specific benefits your Bard class receives. An optimal combination of race and class can provide a significant edge in encounters with enemies. The particular style we’re examining here is the Bard.
The Bard class places a primary emphasis on charisma. Historically rooted in poets and artists, the Bard is recognized as a support class that relies heavily on magical abilities for attacks. This class tends to outperform others in interviews and interactions, offering you a range of advantageous options to consider.
- Tiefling
- High half-elf
- High Elf
- Drow
Tiefling
The Tiefling is the optimal race for Bards in Baldur’s Gate 3. Notably, its subraces open up opportunities to cast diverse spells. Choosing Tiefling grants, you enhanced fire resistance, increased movement speed, and dark vision. Additionally, the charisma bonus from this race aligns seamlessly with the Bard class, providing a substantial advantage in BG3.
The Asmodeus Tiefling Subrace brings forth three potent spells: Generate Flame, Infernal Rebuke, and Darkness. Generate Flame manifests a glowing fireball in your Hand, ready to be hurled at enemies, dealing fire damage without needing movement. Infernal Rebuke encircles your foe with a ring of fire in response to being hit, providing a strategic defensive maneuver.
Moving to the Mephistopheles Tiefling subrace, it offers valuable spells for a bard, including Mage’s Hand, Burning Hands, and Blazing Blade. Mage’s Hand summons a magical hand for object manipulation, while Burning Hands emits flames from your fingertips, potentially igniting nearby flammable objects. The third spell, Blazing Blade, enchantingly imbues your sword with fire, causing it to deal fire damage and emit a 10-foot radius glow.
Lastly, the Zariel Tiefling subrace concludes the Tiefling options. Thaumaturgy enhances Bard’s Intimidation and success chances in achievement checks within Baldur’s Gate 3. Searing Strike inflicts fire damage and marks an enemy, increasing their subsequent fire damage per round. Branding Smite celebrates your target and prevents them from turning invisible upon hitting someone. These diverse abilities offer strategic advantages to a Bard in various situations.
High half-elf
The High Half-Elf emerges as an ideal subrace for the Bard within BG3. Exclusive to the half-elf race, this subrace presents a spell cantrip, allowing you to select one of your choices. You also benefit from heightened movement speed and proficiency in shields and light armor.
Fey ancestry is another valuable trait, shielding you from enchantments and magical sleep. Notably, a substantial 12-meter dark vision is part of the package.
The spell cantrip “Friends” proves advantageous for Bard players in Baldur’s Gate 3. Leveraging Charisma checks becomes more effective with this cantrip, and you receive additional Charisma and Skill points tailored to your preferred ability. The High Half-Elf’s versatility and charisma-focused advantages make it a strategic choice for Bards seeking a well-rounded character.
High Elf
The High Elf shares similarities with the High Half-Elf, providing a valuable cantrip for spell selection. This flexibility allows you to choose a spell that aligns with your preferences. Beyond this, the High Elf brings essential traits that significantly benefit the Bard class in Baldur’s Gate 3, including character skill and intelligence boosts.
Key characteristics inherent to elves, such as darkvision, heightened senses, Fey ancestry, and proficiency with long and short bows and swords, contribute to the versatility of the High Elf. These features enhance the adaptability of a Bard character, making the High Elf an excellent choice for those seeking a combination of magical proficiency and combat prowess.
The Darkvision and Fey lineage features in the High Elf resemble those in the High Half-Elf. Additionally, the keen senses trait bolsters perceptual skills, offering valuable support. Proficiency with bows is another advantage, particularly beneficial for a Bard, considering the class’s proficiency with bows and magic and susceptibility to melee attacks.
This race becomes especially advantageous when paired with the College of Swords, enabling Bards in Baldur’s Gate 3 to fully leverage their abilities. The synergy between the High Elf race and the College of Swords creates a formidable combination, enhancing both ranged and melee capabilities for a well-rounded and adaptable Bard character.
Drow
This race is an ideal choice for Bards due to its proficiency with ranged and melee weapons and its innate connection to magic. The two subraces, Lolth-sworn Drow and Seldarine Drow, share similarities, with the only distinction being the alignment—Lolth-sworn being evil while Seldarine is not.
Drow characters boast a 30-feet-per-round increase in movement speed, proficiency with short swords and hand crossbows, Fey descent, superior darkvision, and proficiency in Perception checks. These attributes enhance a Bard’s adaptability and perceptual acuity.
Furthermore, this race unlocks the ability to cast Faerie Fire, rendering enemies visible and granting advantage to your allies. Additionally, the Darkness spell creates a cloud around enemies, impeding their ranged attacks. Both bits rely on charisma for effectiveness, aligning seamlessly with the Bard’s core attributes in Baldur’s Gate 3.
In conclusion, opting for this race with the Bard class brings a notable boost to both Dexterity and Charisma, making it an all-around ideal choice for this particular class. The combination of racial traits, proficiency with various weapons, and the synergy with Bard’s abilities make it a well-balanced and advantageous selection for Baldur’s Gate 3 players.