Skald Puns

https://challonge.com/bgsongs

Hey! The Bard's Song (In the Forest) will tell you the tales of the brave man, Guardian of the Blind, who lives far from here... very far from the bracket, indeed... "Bard's" wins, 176 to 14!

Today, Don't Talk to Strangers faces Skalds and Shadows (acoustic). Pick one!

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The Skald is a hybrid class between barbarian and bard, and in the description of the bard's performance it says that you can only utilize one performance at once. This text has been removed for the Skald's performance (known as raging song), and I want to know if that seems intentional.

If it was intentional, then that means you could use each possible effect simultaneously. There are only 5 aspects for the Skald, so that seems to make sense when compared to the bard's 13 performances, but this could just be due to the fact that the bard is a core class that just got more attention than skald.

Here's the bard passage:

" Starting a bardic performance is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. Changing a bardic performance from one effect to another requires the bard to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard action. A bardic performance cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the bard is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. A bard cannot have more than one bardic performance in effect at one time."

Here's the equivalent Skald passage

" Starting a raging song is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. A raging song cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the skald is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action each round to maintain it. A raging song counts as the bard’s bardic performance special ability for any effect that affects bardic performances. A skald may learn bard masterpieces (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 21). "

and the links I got the passages from (I checked, and the Skald passage phrasing is exactly identical to the actual source book Advanced Class Guide pg. 49 at the bottom right of the page):

https://aonprd.com/ClassDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Skald

https://aonprd.com/ClassDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Bard

So my Skald raging everyone out. Using the animal fury. Noticed during my drezen raid that my melee kept getting more attacks stacking.

Apparently if you turn on rage song then turn it off immediately the animal fury bite stays around and stacks. My two handed melee are up to 15 attacks in a round my my dual wielded is north of 20.

Assuming this is a bug. Anyone else have experience with this and how do I stop it.. makes things a bit ummm trivial.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently building skald for a new game (with friends). RP talking, I'm not creating a screaming Viking, but a someone who wants to create feelings as if he was using colors for a painting (every emotion is art, and wrath is just the most raw of them all).

That said, I'm a bit unsure about how to mechanically build him. We're a team of three (fighter, monk and myself), level 9 -replacing our previous characters (I was a bard at the time).

Here's how he is right now.

Jocaste Van Nuys Human Skald lvl9/totemic skald

25 pts buy for abilities Str 16(15+1 lvl8)/Dex14 /Con 12 /Int 14 /Wis 9 /Cha 18(15+2 racial+1 level3).

Feats: Level 1: skald's vigor / noble Scion of war (human bonus feat) Level 3: extreme mood swing Level 5: power attack Level 7: extra performance Level 9: steadfast personality.

Rage powers: First one is of course imposed by the archetype, and without surprise, I chose the bull. Rage 2: celestial totem Rage 3: superstition.

To be honest I chose this archetype for the strength it will give to the fighter and the monk, and I'm planning to help ensuring survival by using path of glory/celestial (in combat but mostly out of it I believe) and later greater skald's vigor.

I'll probably use a reach weapon like a bardiche or long spear(I sure would have preferred a dorn dergar or meteor hammer but I can't afford it, feat wise), being in medium armor and not focused on dexterity (it seemed counterproductive with the archetype and the rest of the party).

I'm a bit unsure about the way the abilities are spread, and I'm wondering if maybe I should focus on dexterity more.

What do you guys think ?

Hey all,

I've started a character to play in "Reign of Winter", I chose a Human Skald, a martial buffing character seemed right up my alley, but now I'm in a mental debate on where to take the build, but here are a few points I'd like to hit (but aren't married to them):

• I'm looking at building around 'Archon Style'
• I'd like to use the 'Evangelist' Prestige Class
• I'm using 1-handed w/ shield
• I took 'Recovered Rage' as one of my level 1 feats

Looking to get some enlightening advice on where I could take this!

Greetings, fellow adventurers;

I started playing Baldur's Gate: EE with 4 friends (we are 5 in total, with our most experienced player handling two characters at the same time) and I decided to go for a Skald, as I like the support that he provides with the Bard song, and the versatility of being somewhat able in combat, spell casting, etc.

Now, I'm a silly post-millennial (born in 1998) and I expected this game to allow me to do more things, and I was surprised to find that using the Bard song meant that I just had to stand close to my allies to provide them with the bonus while they fought.

I have come to learn to juggle my "action economy" so I know when it's best to use my song, or to join the fight in melee/ranged, or when to use one of my scarce spells, but I am not very tanky and my AC is too high for my liking, so my question is: Can I use the spell Armor, a Buckler, and the Bard Song all at the same time? Will it disable my spell if I start using the song?

TL,DR; Can you use Armor (Spell) and then activate your Bard Song to stack the AC benefits?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi,

I recently have the situation where I casted a [Flickerwisp] targeting [Showdown of the Skalds]. What happens with the exiled cards? Can I still cast them?

I assume yes, but I couldn't find any clear rulings about this interaction

Hey people, soooo i wanna play a bard with a shield who is also okay in melee combat. I am not sure what would be a good build. The Dm said we are allowed the free archetyp rule aswell as the Auto Bonus Progression rule and all source books^^ As ancestry i wanna go Changeling.

Pls help :3

Hello, I am currently playing a skald on a game that's about to get to level 5, but honestly I don't know what feat I should take next level. I am playing a fated champion skald that's more of a striker at the moment, and we have some free feats due to using the elephant in the room ruleset. I am open for suggestions, and thanks for the help.

Level 4 Ifrit Fated Champion skald.

Traits: Community minded, reactionary

Feats: Skald's vigor, Lingering performance, scribe scroll, power attack (those two are free due to skald and elephant in the room)

Rage powers: Lesser celestial totem

I started to think about this problem because of bards but then realized it's even worse for Skalds. All the instrument based performance skills require one if not both hands. This gets in the way of somatic components of the bard/Skalds spellcasting, unless there's a rule I'm unaware of where bards can use playing the instrument as the somatic component, or maybe having your hands full doesn't interfere with it? Now it gets even worse for Skalds who need to be in the melee, using the instrument stops you from being able to use two handed weapons definitely and probably one handed as well.

Because of this wouldn't the only option that doesn't really hurt your character be to go for sing/oratory. I really like the idea of a drum playing skald but I wouldn't be able to maintain my song while spellcasting or fighting which is kinda the whole point of the skald...at that point I should just play a bard. Am I completely misunderstanding something?

And were there any other types of sages or keepers of knowledge in Norse society?

I know you can do it with vmc, but you only get half level progression.

https://preview.redd.it/vntkmbr3ajb81.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90217a0ae286a444ca9611ac74bd989995419243

Freja Skald did a Varangian Adventure against Connacht, slowly but surely eating up the lands of Ireland under her power. She was married to a certain Rollo de Normandie, who in this timeline never quite defeats the French King but has a rather comfortable life helping his wife conquer Ireland. (As well as cheating on her.)

https://preview.redd.it/odwprkkfajb81.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62dc557973eaacc7dc2af3fdc953321c4425ae2a

After defeating some of the Sudeyjar Norse with a quick assassination plot and an alliance with King Alfred of Wessex, Freja proclaimed herself as Irish and ruled as the High Queen from the Seat of Tara until the end of her days. It is unfortunate that her eldest son never became king, but he had murdered a man and got caught, and that looks rather bad. Besides, the alliance was under her second eldest, Sigrborn the Plain.

High Queen of Ireland

Sigrbjorn the Plain, and his wife who would become Queen of Wessex.

This became a bit of a waiting game wen Sigrbjorn became King. Unfortunately for King Alfred, his only son would die, leaving Cwenburg to become Queen of Wessex. Which means, a very tasty thing happens in Crusader Kings: Both will have share an heir to inherit the throne!

Cwenburg the Incorruptable was on her way to become Queen of England

Sigrbjorn the Plain helped his wife become Queen of England through some careful conquest, while he took some parts of the land for himself. Now, there *was* an issue of there being two heirs, and I was prepared to deal with it, but when conquering Moray, the eldest son, Christian, ended up dying in battle. He was the *better* heir, but it did get rid of a messy situation later so a single man could inherit both crowns.

https://preview.redd.it/tsc8y2v6cjb81.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c42d3f8698888e4d3ebcc9383c998d72f992aa6e

This was one of the first times I ever took this option. Had to declare multiple war

Hello all,

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I was thinking of making a skald type character. Obviously I was thinking bard as a base, but want your input if anyone has made a character like this. Basically and angry bard that focuses on combat heavy and buffing the party to fight better. Was thinking of maybe using drums as my instrument of choice with vocal shouts....and maybe trying to use some sort of thrown hammer or something as a weapon. Any suggestions for how to make this the most flavorful and effective?

Thanks.

Hello Redditeers,

just something that's been bouncing around in my head - looks not overly optimal, but at least playable and like shedloads of gorgeous fun. Isn't that what we're all here for, in the end?

The concept:

Start with your stereotypical Valor Bard concept.

Toss out all that court-intrigue and trying to be smarter than the Wizard. Loose that fancy-shmancy-pokey needle they call a weapon. Get some fucking abs, don a winged helmet, add an (armored) kilt because those balls can't be contained, grab an actual weapon, then start singing O Fortuna while smashing some heads in, until, eventually, someone manages to smash in yours.

Onwards to glory!

Mechanical Shopping List:

• You know what's more awesome than being awesome? Making the whole party awesome!
  • Combat Inspiration is gorgeous - handing out pseudo-Shields just because you're singing is really fucking cool.
  • Finding a way to add Fey Touched (Bless) for exactly the same reason - also, Bless is my buddy, nobody ain't talking shit about my buddy. Never mind that it will really help shoring up the MADness of this build.
• STR over DEX. You can't swing a real weapon without some real muscle. And since we also want to look ab-so-lu-te-ly fabulous while doing that and not fall over when some goblin farts on us, we'll have to neglect our dancing muscles a bit. Meaning we won't get by on some half-measured medium armor. We want some real armor.
• Finding a way to make our baseline 1-2 attacks per round somewhat meaningful - we're not just here to sing, we're here to kick ass!
• Hex Warrior would solve Get outta here! We're not interested in some emo edgelord sugar mommy that can't be bothered to shovel it's own crap and dupes others into doing it's dirty work!

The Build:

We're going with Half High Elf for this one - surprise, not all Knife Ears are thin-as-a-twig daydreamers.

Starting attributes are 15+1/8/13+1/10/10/15+2, our bonus cantrip will be Booming Blade, because Extra Attack is a long way off and we need to make our single attack somewhat relevant until then. Hit like thunder!

An obvious case could be made for Custom Lineage, to grab Fey Touched early, but while INT/WIS of 10/10 feels decent while still allowing for fun, silly decisions, 8/8 feels like idiot territory. We don't want that. Also, missing out on Booming Blade would hurt.

Starting with a single level of Fighter also hurts by delaying both Font of Inspiration and

Blind Guardian Song Contest Round 41 – Children of the Smith vs. Skalds and Shadows

https://challonge.com/bgsongs

Do you believe in Miracles? How about a machine that makes them? If you do, you win: Miracle Machine beats Goodbye My Friend, 66 to 54.

Today we have possibly the only song in the bracket that doesn’t feature Andre as either writer/guitarist. (Correct me if I’m wrong..) Children of the Smith was written by Hansi and Marcus as a promotional track for “The Dwarves”, a video game based on Markus Heitz’s “The Dwarves” novels.

Children of the Smith takes on the album version of Skalds and Shadows. Pick a favorite.

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Blurb:
Ansgar the skald finds himself on a delivery run for his foster father. The errand takes him far from his fjordland home, deep into unfamiliar hills and forests. The right direction will find warm hospitality, and the wrong direction may run him straight into wargs that want to eat his face. Or worse.

A raven can tell him the right path to take if Ansgar can win a battle of wits against the bird. Ravens don’t share information for free, after all. And this one definitely wouldn’t mind finding the corpse of a wayward errand boy to pick at later. With an ally like that, Ansgar will need more than just wits to make his delivery and survive the return journey.

Excerpt:
You can get good information from ravens if you have the fresh eyeballs of your fallen enemies to trade. Ravens don't give information for free, of course. But eyeballs are squishier to pack than the latest gossip and rather more difficult to extract in the first place. A story will get you much of the same information. Sometimes even better, if your story is good.

Ravens do love the eyes, though, and I wished I had some at that moment. The raven staring at me thought little of the story I offered.

“There are too many people in this story,” said the raven. “And it’s too complicated. Nobody wants to hear that."

I didn’t want to talk to this bird anymore, but I needed a rest. More than that, I needed to think about what path to take next. I sat on a ridge overlooking a sea of pine trees at the end of a steep slope down. Behind me, the sun still shone, if on little but bare rock and lonely hills. Ahead of me, heavy mist hung over a broad valley thick with tall trees, preventing me from seeing very far. That was one foreboding forest, and I knew my foreboding forests. How to choose my approach, then? That was what the raven would help with. Supposedly.

“Thorgrim killed Vestein because his wife made Vestein a shirt?” The bird shook his head, the blue sheen of his feathers catching the light. It was still bright afternoon, but I knew how quickly the day would fade to orange and then dark of night. “That doesn’t make any sense. Wait, I see,” he cocked his head and drew back, confident he had seen through the veil of my story. “You humans say ‘making a shirt’ as a euphemism for something else!” AHA! said the raven’s face, insofar as ravens can make faces.

Content Warnings:
-violence
-crude humor
I'm not sure how to approach this section. The above is what I could th

Just did a partial playthrough of Azata skald, curious to know if anyone else has a different take on the class. My last couple playthroughs were angel/cleric and lich/wiz, so high powered casters I built the party around, but this time I wanted to try a more supporty build.

I went Azata skald and built a melee heavy party around it, with myself, regill, seelah, sosiel, aivu, and a respecced twf arueshalea as the front line and a pyromancer ember at the back, and went lots of teamwork feats and got the teamwork superpower ASAP, trying to build a melee synergy team. It seemed pretty strong, as when fully buffed and with skald song and teamwork feats we were hitting super high hit rate and damage, but it ended up feeling kinda.. boring?

Every combat started with me starting skald song and hasting, then everyone charging in and beating the shit out of something. No one went down cause of the superpower, and it felt very strong, but every fight played out the same. I ended up not loving skald because it seemed to encourage this stale play pattern. Anyone else have this experience?

So, I'm playing in Skull and Shackles (No spoilers please) And it is becoming more and more obvious that we need a face class in the party.. So I'm curious who is better at being the face of these three classes, And are there any other good options? Need to be able to talk to people well (Probably Diplomacy and Bluff) And be able to tell if people lie to them (Sense Motive).

I'm currently a bit more interested in Mesmerist then the other two, But the Skald seems like they can fight quite well so that puts them up as well. Bard I'm a bit less interested in but.. How do they do in combat..? Any good archetypes for them in melee?

As it says, are there any ideas floating around for fun Skald builds? Not excessively powerful, the rest of the group is fairly basic builds. Just looking for some general inspiration I can tinker with.

EDIT: Thank you all, there are some really good suggestions here. Theres not a lot out there in the way of guides for Skalds.

Would I be right in supposing that I can use Extra Rage Power to grab prerequisite powers that are not that good in themselves, so I can get the good ones in on raging song and let everyone have them?

Sup wonderful people.

Sorry I am re-posting this.

I was wondering if anyone could shed light on whether a Battle Scion's teamwork feats can be used by himself, even if he is not transferring it via rage powers to his team members.

I understand that the "Battle Scion's" Teamwork feats are granted to the whole party when rage is active My question is, can the Scion himself use said feats while not in rage mode, or does the Scion also need to be raging for himself to take advantage of this.

I’m thinking of doing a skald focused on natural attacks with my brown fur transmuter turning him into a dragon. Will this work or will the polymorphed cancel the inspire rage effect?

I often end up playing or running a bard in my parties, since BG2 days, and I gotta say the basic archetype has always been fairly boring - you're basically a stick for your song, and the main pre-battle buffer. All the other abilities around debuffing and CCing don't function that well, and are generally not worth the sacrifice. So as soon as combat starts you generally try to stay out of the way and fire off some ranged attacks that will only hit on 20s.

I'm running Daeran as a Skald now and am finding the class to be incredibly fun and versatile. You have enough tankiness to sit in the front line and take fire, your attacks are admittedly not great, but with Daeran's Revelation you can be an effective frontline healer.

And Inspire Rage is so much more fun than Song of Courage. The Rage Powers make it wonderfully customisable - I run Lethal Stance most of the time, but I often switch out to Guarded Stance if the encounter would work better if I just full turtle and let my blasters deal with the mobs. You're making decisions throughout fights, as opposed to just being a song-lump in the corner.

And at level 9 I'm already getting +5 to attack stacking on top of Heroism, which is better than what Song of Courage maxes out at. So I'm going to branch from Skald into Fighter (Mutagen maybe?) so that I can actually have him become a bruiser in melee as well.

Super fun, not top tier in terms of raw power but I'm seeing really good success with the build in core right now. Would recommend!

Their first opponent is the dread-sorcerer Shang Tsung.

The Spartan goes first, and quickly overpowers Shang Tsung, but is unsure of what to do next. Shang Tsung then speaks a word of power and the Spartan trips over his own cape and impales himself headfirst upon his own spear. Shang Tsung laughs and steals his soul.

Next up is the Samurai. He too quickly dominates Shang Tsung, but is unsure of what to do next. Shang Tsung then speaks his word of power and the Samurai turns his katana around and seppukus himself. Again, Shang Tsung laughs and steals his soul.

Finally it is the Skald's turn. Like the two before him he quickly beats the sorcerer's ass, but then he starts singing and chanting. Shang Tsung speaks his word of power but the Skald does not hear it over all the singing and chanting. The Skald then swaggers up to Shang Tsung, does the splits and punches the dread-sorcerer square in the nuts before beheading him with a single uppercut. Then he laughs and steals Shang Tsung's soul. Out of the three, only the Skald knows how to Finnish Hymn.

 

Anybody experience this with the 1.16 patch? They noted that rage powers had been fixed and those are working for me, however now the standard skald song isn't displaying any bonuses.

What a rush! Amazing game

Just finished a 1st playthrough as a trickster.

Went : SF Monk 1/Rogue 4/Skald 10/ Vivi 1/ Fighter 4 (Elven Curved Blade)

Edit :- Really wanted a theme, and especially wanted the Uncanny Dodge/Improved Uncanny Dodge. Never losing dex bonus even when flanked just allows you to run into enemies' faces.

Completely sub-optimal,but all-round viability/survivability thoughout the game. Also I did not know the Imroved improved crit feats are selectable only on Character levels and not bonus feats, so even worse build-wise.

However, I did have a lot of fun. Dirge of Doom, Plus Tickster Persuasion 2 , just shatters enemies completely, and i just crit/smash for days on end, and this is with only 1 of the Improved Improved crits.

Wanted to make a thematic build around a trickster. Had something like an Elven bladesinger in mind. Tried to build around an elf, but could not fit stat-wise. Ultimately settled on Muse-touched Azata.

Playful Darkness and Scorcher of Souls(Cheesed this fight by triggering his fight with summons for him to proc his Sirocco. Then stood on the other platform and fired away lol) were the real stumbling blocks for me. 1st playthrough, and so i really effed up the companions build-wise. Luckily my MC was solid, so could pull through.

Already planning a 2nd playthrough as i couldnt re-spec during the 1st. Thinking i will do another trickster, to refine it further.

This game has mad levels of re-playability. Granted, the stumbling blocks really made it seem maddeningly unfair; but I will admit. It's a ton of fun.

Cheers Wonderful people!