Baldur’s Gate 3: 7 Reasons Bards Are Actually Overpowered

Highlights

• The Bard class in
  BG3
  offers unique abilities and high utility, making it easier to navigate the game and succeed in skill checks.
• Spells like Thunderwave provide opportunities for quick kills, while Song of Rest boosts party healing and efficiency during short rests.
• The Bard’s diverse spell list and features like Bardic Inspiration, Expertise, and Jack of All Trades make it a powerful and versatile class choice.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is home to an array of classes which give players different abilities and skills to use in battle. One such class is the Bard, a Charisma-based class that uses the power of biting words and music to cast spells and fell enemies. With an abundance of utility, along with large bonuses to skill checks, players who choose the Bard class could see themselves having an easier time traversing the game than if they picked another class.

Though some features of the Bard are shared with other classes, sometimes it is the skills’ combined power which make the Bard such a strong candidate for the best class in Baldur’s Gate 3. Playing Bard also allows players to make certain choices and tackle more difficult skill checks that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to succeed had they picked a different class, making Bards more overpowered than the get credit for.

7 Thunderwave

Quick And Easy Kills

Thunderwave is a Level 1 spell that Bards can learn immediately when players select the class. It does a decent 2d8 Thunder damage, though its main use comes from its secondary effect. Creatures who fail their Constitution saving throw against this spell not only take full damage, but are also pushed back. In many of the fights players encounter in Baldur’s Gate 3, there is likely to be a cliff edge or similarly deadly chasm which creatures can be shoved into for an instant kill.

This means Bards have access to a multi-target attack on a creature of any size, including bosses, that can potentially kill them instantly. Not only that, but because it is a Level 1 spell, Bards will have plenty of spell slots to recast the spell, even if the creature succeeds the Constitution check the first time.

6 Song Of Rest

A Free Heal For The Entire Party

Bards get the feature Song of Rest at Level 2, which grants them an additional short rest once per day. The extra short rest means players can achieve more in a single day and don’t have to expend as many resources to heal in between fights. When paired with a class like Warlock or Fighter, which refresh a lot of their spells or features on a short rest, players can find themselves accomplishing more tasks more quickly, without needing to long rest as much.

This is particularly useful for players replaying Baldur’s Gate 3 who want to skip through parts they’ve already played faster. Song of Rest can also help newer players without much experience with Dungeons and Dragons and RPGs, as the extra rest between fights will help them recover from battles that other players with more experience could win handily.

5 Spell List

The Ultimate Utility

The Bardspell list includes crowd control, healing, damage output, and buffs, meaning players will always have a spell to pick from at any given moment. Healing Word can pick companions up from the brink of death and, at later levels, Mass Cure Wounds can restore a sizable amount of hit points to multiple companions at once. Hold Monster and Confusion are great single-target and multiple-target crowd control, and Long Strider and Enhanced Ability give extra movement speed and advantage on ability checks of a chosen ability.

Also, at Level 10, or at Level 6 as a College of Lore Bard, players gain access to Magical Secrets, a feature that lets Bards learn two spells from a list belonging to other classes. With this ability, players can pick up a spell like Fireball to deal large amounts of damage in an area of effect, completely bypassing the restrictions of the Bard class.

4 Bardic Inspiration

Turns Failure Into Success

Bards are able to use Bardic Inspiration three times with every long rest as soon as they start the game at Level 1. Bardic Inspiration allows a Bard to give a 1d6 bonus to themselves or an ally on their next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw as a bonus action. Players will also gain access to Bardic Attack and Bardic Defence, which allow them to use a Reaction to help them on their next attack roll or saving throw, respectively.

This feature scales with levels too. Players will start rolling 1d8 with four charges every short rest at Level 5, and 1d10 with five charges every short rest at Level 10. Using Bardic Inspiration as a Reaction allows players the opportunity to proactively save characters being hit with an attack that requires a saving throw, or help deal the crucial killing blow with an otherwise missed attack on an enemy who should be killed.

3 Jack Of All Trades

To Become The Ultimate Skill Monkey

Jack of All Trades is a feature Bards gain at Level 2 and is easily one of the best passive features in the game. The ability adds half a player’s Proficiency bonus to any ability checks they aren’t already proficient in. This is a fantastic feature for players whose main character is a Bard, as they will be the one who initiates most of the dialogues with other characters and will, therefore, make the most skill checks.

As the ability adds a player’s Proficiency bonus, at character Level 9, no matter if a player only has two levels in Bard, the bonus to ability checks increases to +2. Having an extra +1 or +2 can often help players succeed on ability checks they otherwise wouldn’t, which allows players to select dialogue options for skills they are not proficient in and still have a chance for a positive outcome.

2 Expertise

Succeeding On Hard DCs

Bard players will gain Expertise at Level 3, as well as at Level 10. Expertise doubles a Bard’s proficiency bonus in a chosen skill, leading to very high bonuses on rolls. Unlike the other class that gets expertise, the Rogue, Bards are free to choose any skill they are proficient in to get a big bonus. These high bonuses are instrumental in succeeding hard dialogue skill checks, and allow a Bard to make other characters do things they otherwise wouldn’t to aid the Bard.

It is recommended for a Bard to have a high Charisma score, and with Expertise in Persuasion, Bards will find checks such as skipping a phase of the Ketheric Thorm boss fight, one of the trickier battles in the game, or convincing Yurgir to side with the player against Raphael, much easier.

1 Skipping Boss Fights

Talking Past Every Thorm Mini-Boss

There is no singular way to encapsulate how good the Bard class can be without mentioning how their skill set is perfectly suited to getting past multiple tough boss fights without having to battle at all. In Act 2, players will need to find a way to best Malus, Thisobald, and Gerringothe Thorm before arriving at Moonrise Towers. Each member of the Thorm family can be killed through dialogue options, with a Bard’s Expertise, Bardic Inspiration, and Enhance Ability spells all aiding to give the player a hefty bonus to these rolls.

Malus Thorm can be convinced to sacrifice himself for Shar or be brutally killed by his nurses, Thisobald will eventually explode if a player is able to handle Constitution and Performance checks to keep him entertained whilst drinking, and Gerringothe can be convinced that she has been replaced, allowing her to perish without the player ever having to raise a sword. Bypassing these tough battles in Act 2 allows players to save a lot of resources and time, and picking the Bard class will put them in the best position to pull this off.