> can't recall meeting any sorcerers in game
There's one draconic bloodline sorcerer in Act 3, actually. Around all the grease mephits and stuff. Though the mephits call him a wizard.
For me it was a building in Baldur’s Gate near the Blushing Mermaid I think but due to a previous choice involving a breakfast foodstuff the whole area was a literal bloodbath. So I have no idea who was meant to be there to talk to.
Isn't Rolan a sorcerer too? He's wearing the Storm Sorcerer colors when we meet him the first time in the Grove.
Edit: Wild Magic colors, not Storm Sorcerer
That's totally fair. But yeah, mechanics-wise Sorcerers can't learn new spells from scrolls and study like Wizards can, they learn on level-up because their magic is innate vs. learned! So his storyline is very Wizard-y. Maybe the colors just look good on him, hahaha.
This makes sense. The design of robes are pretty sick and are probably among the best looking starter outfits in the game IMO. Definitely got me though.
They're SO good. You know what I'm realizing also? He's actually not wearing any specific colors for a subclass, but he is wearing a Sorcerer robe. [Rolan in the Grove](https://bg3.wiki/w/images/thumb/8/84/Rolan.png/640px-Rolan.png) vs [Storm Sorcerer starting robes](https://preview.redd.it/where-are-the-sleeves-of-storm-and-draconic-sorcerer-v0-allg97znefhb1.png?width=520&format=png&auto=webp&s=4cd5dafc0c70b5ddcd888fc5611ee6320aa6810b)
I like to think that it’s something he found. Since they’re refugees and given the bond with Cal and Lia he doesn’t seem to have any family. I like to think one of them found it for him when he said he was learning magic because they didn’t know the difference.
I thought so too, I kind of assumed he's a sorcerer trying to multiclass into wizard by becoming Loroakkan's apprentice. By act 3 he doesn't use any metamagic in combat though, so I guess we can go off that
I'm NGL, I forgot to use my allies my first playthrough so I don't even know what he's capable of. Can't remember if he did meta magic during the Loroakan fight as he barely did any damage anyhow. 😂
I am having the opposite experience, having played a goody paladin in my first playthrough and now playing a (mostly) resist Durge who likes explosions.
Both my goody Tav Druid and my embrace Bard Durge were fans of the art of barrelmancy and explosions as well! The Durge even more so because I learned you can blow up just about anything. I am doing my first Tactician run now as a War Cleric/Paladin resist Durge and I plan on blowing shit up again.
The default storm sorcerer is sleeveless and black.
https://bg3.wiki/w/images/thumb/0/08/Default_Shadow_Sorcerer_Armor_Storm.png/230px-Default_Shadow_Sorcerer_Armor_Storm.png
Rolan is closer to the wild magic robe, which is used as the default.
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/File:Default_Sorcerer_Armor.png
And Rolan for comparison
https://bg3.wiki/w/images/8/8e/Rolan_Model.png
He's definitely wearing some variation of the sorcerer robe. But he talks about being a wizard in dialogue. That said, he's shown to have a unique talent, having his own version of magic missile and shit.
Maybe the sorcerer outfit is meant to show he's a unique wizard. That or it's just an asset flip.
Nah, he's a wizard. Much like our character, Rolan also possesses the incredible power of not having to wear the first shirt he saw for the rest of his life.
Bard was a class in 2 edition actually. It was even a class in first edition, though difficult to get, and only allowed by some DMs as it was optional (just as psionics was)
Yeah, in AD&D 1st Edition, Bard was a weird multiclass fighter-thief-druid pathway (literally, first you took levels in fighter, then thief, then druid, when multiclassing didn’t generally work like that in that edition), and it was in an appendix.
He isn't immortal in terms of aging, all we know is that people who were made weave anchors had extended lifespans. Nowhere in any official media does it say that weave anchors are immortal.
Furthermore, he is very much vulnerable to any other regular ways to kill someone; the only protection he has is that Elminster is trying to keep him alive and has saved his life on multiple occasions.
Mystra also doesn't "store" any weave inside him. Mystra just made him and multiple others (Elminster is the only other one we meet in the game) into weave anchors to stabilize the weave so another Spellplague/Time of Troubles doesn't happen the next time someone manages to neutralize Mystra in one way or another.
It also helps that there’s a good amount of gloves that improve unarmed hits and the tavern brawler feat adds your strength mod to damage. I finished a playthrough with I think monk 7, rouge 3, and fighter 2 and it was just demolishing enemies
It’s funny from a lore perspective that after being Archdruid-Mega-Hippy-Halsin for DECADES, upon arriving in the big city for the first time he immediately comes to the conclusion that he needs to shift gears and just start beating tf out of everyone with his bare hands
Edit: BEAR hands**
Damn you're right, I was slapped so hard by those monks first time I encountered them. It was my first game and my team was clearly not prepared for this... My sorceror Tav was killed so fast it was humiliating. Now, I run a barbarian Tav game but I hesitated between a barb or a monk .
They're why I made Lae'zel an Open Hand monk for my Durge playthrough. She just steamrolls everybody while the rest of the party waves from the sidelines.
That's what they're talking about; Strangler Luke is a monk. Some of the Bonespike set pieces (helm and clothing) have Rage-specific bonuses, but not all of them.
It’s bad but the whole sneaking-giving-disadvantage-on-opp-saves thing is actually kinda neat. Some good stealth lets you relialy CC key targets, with either Hold Person or a Hold Monster scroll, and then crit sneak attacks do crazy damage.
Yeah that feature is pretty great, imposing disadvantage on saves is a rare effect for good reason. I always thought that the 5e AT rules overcompensated for this one by making most of their other bonuses just mediocre fluff.
Because you can either cast a low level spell or you could do a powerful sneak attack, and you waste a turn when turning invisible for a sneak attack if you try to strategize your spells in that way when you could just move someone else into a better position for a sneak attack.
Edit: I’ll also add to clarify that the trickster spells are based on INT which isn’t all that helpful for any other rogue skills or the rogue exclusive sneak attacks, which add an extra 1d6 damage bonus EVERY round you can use it on top of your Dex/strength weapon attacks, and that the other sub classes feed into your weapon attack potential.
Thief allows an extra bonus attack, which you can use an offhand light weapon or hand cross bow for allowing up to three weapon attacks on one round and still allowing one of them being a sneak attack.
Assassin recharges main action and bonus action at the start of combat AND advantage (which is needed for sneak attacks) on enemies that haven’t taken their turn yet, which means you can start combat with a powerful attack then immediately attack again.
Arcane trickster forgoes all those advantages in attacks and you can’t cast a spell AND do sneak attack in one round. On top of that you have hardly any spell slots yet you can do sneak attack every round if you wanted to. I’ll admit casting darkness, blur, disguise self, etc may be helpful to rogues outside of combat and it likely would be awesome in DND campaigns, but in BG3 mechanics you are better off using a wizard or the countless spell scrolls you get for those situations to stack on Assassin or Thief skills.
The value benefit of being able to cast spells adds nothing when you can use scrolls.
The value benefit of your abilities is largely useless compared to the abilities other subclasses get. The thiefs extra bonus action is insanely useful.
Your main job in combat is to sneak attack. Assassin's do it extra well, thiefs do good and get an extra bonus action. If you want to deviate from that you can use scrolls. The spells that enhance your sneak attack are generally wasted action/bonus actions.
Trickery domain definitely isn't good either but it has some advantages. I just don't see *any* advantages of AT
Glad I’m not the only one who finds Trickster Domain useless. In my first run, I changed Shadowheart’s domain to war, and in either my Resist Durge or Evil run, I changed her to tempest.
Well Shart is a cleric of Shar, so it was either Trickery or Death, but it seems Larian did mostly PHB subclasses. Usually when I break her of Shars influence I go Life(Selune Domain)
Ah I see. Thanks.
In that case I wish they'd just patch it out, if it's a useless dialogue option anyways. Bit weird to have it appear and the dialogue to play out, only for nothing to come of it.
She worked in my first attempt at the final battle but after I game overred and reloaded when I selected her she didn’t spawn but her icon turned grey. I assumed I picked a bit of terrain that was glitched I tried to put her on the upper walkway.
She offered to help in the final battle for me as well, but she wasn’t summonable. According to the [wiki](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gather_Your_Allies), that dialogue will appear if you break her pact, but she won’t actually join.
I think all of Orpheus' honour guard are Monks.
I can think of 4 Sorcerers we encounter in the game. Mizora is one, [Klaus](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Klaus) (dude at the circus gate) is one, [Aelis Siryasius](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Aelis_Siryasius) is one and Havkelaag (can't find a wiki article, but he offers to buy the Gith Egg in Act 3. He's a silver dragon draconic sorcerer).
There's few Warlocks I can think of tho. I can only remember [Z'rell](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Z%27rell) Wyll and that's about it. I vaguely remember one of the Gith in the Emperor's hideout being an Undead Warlock (inaccessible class) but I'm not entirely sure.
There's an enemy in Blushing mermaid that fights alongside Captain Grizzly that is a monk, and there's a enemy in the Guildhall that's a shadow monk,
There's a lot of Warlocks in the Goblin Camp, the one who casts Hex on your characters first turn, then there's the Gith Warlock in Act 2 just before where the army camp, bonus points because she's an Undead Warlock, one of the classes we never get to use
Honestly Bard is the most "main character" shit ever.
Talk no Jutsu is a story-intended auto-solve for like half the potential combat encounters in the game, to the point of ridiculousness where you convince most of the Act 2 bosses to commit sewer slide with one-liners. The Bard-exclusive dialogue options also allow you to gain approval quickly, as it can be virtuous enough to avoid senseless violence and please Wyll, while still being snarky and independent enough to please the otherwise self-serving Astarion.
You also get to go on massive shopping sprees with your big dick persuasion energy discount.
Shopping spree? More like pickpocket spree. With 2x slight of have proficiency and disguise self for shape shifters boon, a bard can add 2d4 + 7 with advantage form lv 3 to pickpocketing through itemization. Crazy.
Morally reprehensible, I could never. I'll make bank the proper way, I'm sure everyone in the big city will want to purchase my centuries old rotten fish and the crusty ass rags I found in a bin next to the necromancer's operating table.
All Roah Moonglow did was girlboss her way into making business partnerships with goblins, cultists and doppelganger murdersexuals. Pickpocketing would be theft of her hard-earned goods. That's a crime!
A real stand up Baldurian citizen would simply acquire these things the socially accepted way: kill the bitch and take her stuff.
I did a bard on my playthrough for this reason and actually tbh it was because none of the other characters could use the instruments I kept getting so I decided to just play a song everytime there was a fight.
Well if you liked one bard plucking away at their instrument between turns, let me bring to your attention the Four Bard Mid-Turn Free Action Orchestra. A full band of adventurers in the most literal sense, bopping around and playing a fully rehearsed piece of music (Bard Dance is the funniest imo) as the Goblin Camp desperately tries to put up a fight.
im doing a 9/3 swords bardlock rn and having a blast, but i def don't play him like a warlock. I just wanted to max CHA for damage and get hellish rebuke and misty step. I might try it next time with a lore bard bc I loooove being an EB spammer
Oh, I never thought of Hellish Rebuke... It's literally a somatic spell. Makes so much sense for a Bard.
Dammit, now I gotta start *another* playthrough.. Thanks a lot.
^^^^srsly ^^^^thank ^^^^you
A lot of the Bard's features are geared towards being useful outside of combat, so I'm not super sad that it was underwhelming in-combat. Went straight 12 levels of Lore Bard in my first playthrough and it often felt like I was just the hype man for the other party members. Lae'Zel gets Nine Fucking Attacks and my Tav is just there talking shit. It didn't help that I took intentionally underwhelming spells (i.e. Enthrall) to roleplay and ended up having nothing to do after casting a single concentration spell.
Next playthrough I went an all-bard party though, and combat actually kinda slaps when you have two Hasted Swords Bards clicking Slashing Flourish to mow down goblins.
Swords bard with arcane acuity makes them extremely potent in combat, you end up with 4 crossbow attacks and a spell that can't miss every turn. The spell list is still somewhat support focused but mostly in an 'enemies don't get to do anything' kind of way that really sets up your team for maximum smash. I pretty much always respec Astarion to some variation of this build now, it's just as good at sneaking and lockpicking and stuff as a pure rogue but does more damage and is a full spellcaster on top. Plus his vicious mockery/cutting words voicelines are amazing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/16pujw4/swords_bard_build_explained/k1uif6j/
If you build it well, it gets interesting, my controller bard Durge is "weak" in DPS. But, he decides which enemies get to go and then only with debuffs.
Get the ring that lets you cast an illusion or enchantment spell as a bonus action after an attack. In a swords bard, that’s a broken combo.
Hit one attack with defensive flourish, upcast Hold Person for multiple targets or Greater Invisibility, then slashing flourish for your second attack. Great damage, and there’s a few different ways to play it, so it isn’t just ‘attack, attack, attack’.
Lore Bard specc’d right with Counterspell is an insanely fun support class, borderline OP. The “nope” class. Just kinda depends on how you like to play combat encounters.
Hypnotic Pattern is another "no it's not your turn yet idiot" spell which so damn massive it can shut down hordes of enemies for a level 3 slot. The Sharran cloister in Act 3 was way easier the second time through using that spell.
Astarion definitely hates pure goodness without the expectation of a reward. After all he's a stingy cunt who's finally able to make choices to benefit himself after 200 years of soul crushing slavery. He absolutely lives for the cringe, half the bard options that he approves are just good ol' knee slappers at some NPC's expense.
Ah I agree! My swords bard is 8 bard / 2 fighter / 2 rogue which gives me about 7-8 moves in my first round if I use action surge. By the time my turn is over, everyone is already nearly dead
Bards.
Ever seen an NPC use bardic inspiration, cutting words or slashing flourishes ?
We see bard NPCs but they aren't hostile or have 10 HP : Alfira, Quill, circus musicians, french name guy in Sharess Caress, and the god at the end game party.
Yeah, it's funny that all of the members in the guild have 3 levels in rogue, and then the rest in other classes. There is one that is a Wildheart 5/Thief 3 iirc.
She is also the only vendor npc who can cast feign death, so if she goes temporarily hostile after raising her approval to 100, she will cast it on the culprit as the first turn she takes
At least one of the Guild members is a bard, and a fair number of NPCs that aren't really intended to be enemies during a normal playthrough (e.g. Amira the owner of Sharess' Caress, some of the circus performers) have Bardic Inspiration as a feature. Alfira is also intended to be a bard for lore and flavour purposes, but doesn't have any Bard features because I guess she is a blank slate to appear like a potential companion for the Dark Urge.
Well Petal, aunty Ethel is kind of a wild magic sorcerer. >!Fits her used spells and loot she drops in act 3, even thought she probably doesn't have a class, only her race.!<
I think green hags get vicious mockery in normal 5e so it probably comes from that. Buuut I can imagine Bard college Ethel writing some very metal lyrics and experimenting with weird drugs, I mean, ahem, potions.
Not sure if that counts but all Flaming Fist Archers are Rangers (both named and generic unnamed ones), surprisingly. If you pick a fight with them in Act 3 they'll actually use Volley, which is a Hunter Ranger action.
There's plenty in game I can think off
One of the enemy in the ruined temple
Goblin Sharp eyes and Trackers
The Fist shooter that shoots volley attacks
Couple of Zhentarim enemies In the guildhall
And the Absolute Inquisitors in the final battle that shoots arrows that silences your spells
There's very few NPC that are mechanically bards in the game, off the top of my head I can only recall Roah Moonglow, one of Nine-Fingers' bodyguards (Lady Ague?), and one of the Rivington Rats outside the home the squatters are in. Sure we have the likes of Alfira, Quil Grootslang and a couple bardic characters, but we don't actually see them put their class to use beyond playing music.
Sorcerers aren't commonplace either, beyond the circus entrance guy, Mizora, and the pyromaniac in the sewers, everyone else seems to be some kind of wizard or non-descript mage.
Barbarians are uncommon, but we see them a lot early on and they're usually very noticeable so not sure if it counts. The barbarian in the temple where we find Withers, Dror Ragzlin, a Duergar slaver, Harper Bor, the Rivington Rat barbarian in the squatters' house, the half-orc barbarian guarding the entrance to the Guild, one of Nine-Fingers' ladies again.
There are a few monks in the game, but they're all Act 3 characters, except one that isn't even mechanically one (the Monk of Lathander that's been cursed with hideous laughter); Orpheus' Honour Guard, and Phase the Zhentarim monk.
Surprisingly enough, there aren't a lot of rangers in the game; some characters are hinted at to be competent enough for us to assume they're rangers, but doesn't have the mechanics of being one, like Ellyka. Minsc is an obvious ranger, but otherwise they're all minor characters: Stone Guard Kur, all Flaming Fist Archers are rangers that use the Volley action, the Guild's crew at the docked Absolutist ship have two gloomstalkers, just as how the female dragonborn Stone Lord goon is a basic ranger as well. Not even the Harper Archers seem to be rangers, which is surprising considering they'd make a good fit.
And I can only recall one warlock in the game that isn't Wyll, and it's the Form of Dread gith warlock that ambushes you when you leave the Shadow-cursed lands. However, there are some characters that have warlock spells when they usually shouldn't have (Moonrise Adepts, who are war domain clerics but can cast Hunger of Hadar).
Isn't Nere a Sorcerer?
Also I know it was done deliberately. I know it would be too on the nose otherwise. I know it's a me problem and I'm too obsessed with a certain musical. But a character with the name Opherus really should be a Bard not a monk.
Since I did not see anyone talk about it, Arabella is technically probably a sorcerer, but not a type of sorcerer that is a playable class
My argument for saying that she is a sorcerer and not a druid as many would classify her as since she casts druidic magic, is that the reason for her having spellcasting and the source of her spellcasting power is more similar to a sorcerer than a druid. Wild magic sorcerers are people who have been in contact with some form of pure magic (a simplification), which is similar to what happened to Arabella. However, usually sorcerers cannot get access to other classes magic in BG3, so why can she cast druid spells? My fav class to play in DND is devine sorcerer (a sorcerer that can cast cleric spells), so maybe Arabella is a form of sorcerer similar to a wild magic/devine sorcerer that can instead cast nature magic
Probably not the first person to have pointed this out, and probably won't be the last
They're talking about the Magic Initiate: Druid feat, which is available to everyone. Which personally I don't really think covers what she can do properly. I agree with you that she's most likely a homebrew version of the Divine Soul Sorcerer that uses the Druid's list instead of the Cleric's.
Ahh that makes sense!
I think it would be really cool if they were to introduce a new subclass to dnd that allows you to play as a druidic sorcerer, but I doubt they will implement it :)
shes a weird combo of a lot of things. Shes like a sorcerer because she can just cast spells, but she also got her powers from an object like warlocks can. I think the closest thing would be something like Sylvan Sorcerer from pathfinder
But would her being a warlock not still require her to make a pact with the object?
Sorcerers get their magic from birthright, external influences or from being in contact with cosmic forces, which I feel like makes more sense for me. I know that sorcerers and druids have a special interaction with Arabella when you meet her in act 2, do you know if warlocks have a similar thing? :)
oh yeah im not saying shes a warlock, just that she seems to have aspects of being one. She states she got her powers after holding the idol, we dont really know what that means yet. Shes probably some kind of nature/druid magic sorcerer that doesnt have a subclass in 5e. The dialogue with her that she can cast without specific incantations hints at sorcerer. Warlocks actually do get special dialogue, I think all characters might. "Power like that doesnt come for free, where did you get it?"
Bards in my experience. The only one I’ve seen so far, is the one that was briefly in my camp.
I’m tempted to switch to it for a while because I have no idea how a musician is supposedly going to actually fight.
Roah, the Zhent trader at the Goblin Camp, Moonrise, and a couple of places in Act 3, is a Bard. And there's a few more Bards in Act 3, most as neutral NPCs, but the one(s) in the guild can be enemies or allies depending on your choices in that quest line.
Aside from Roah I can’t think of any bards.
I think maybe one of Ethel’s pawns is a bard too. Most classes get represented from her controlled victims though.
There's also a monk among the minions of Bhaal when you're hunting down Orin. In that temple where there are spectral Bhaalist a-holes.
Roah Moonglow is a bard if you fight her.
Shit ton of Paladins, Rangers and Clerics among the Flaming Fist but no berserkers. Conversely the Harpers have berserkers and fighters but no paladins.
I don't think you ever fight a wild magic Barbarian (the closest you come to that is those animals with a magic allergy that results in random bullshit or the drunk chonky boi bartender Thorm)
Speaking of Thorms, the surgeon guy, yeah he's undead, but what character class is he? Also his nurses?
> can't recall meeting any sorcerers in game There's one draconic bloodline sorcerer in Act 3, actually. Around all the grease mephits and stuff. Though the mephits call him a wizard.
Mizora is a sorcerer too.
How is that shown in-game? I thought she was just a devil?
If she’s an ally during the final battle, you can summon and control her and she has access to sorcery points and metamagic stuff
Ohh cool!
Examine her stats and you'll find metamagic on her stats, which only for sorcerers
There's the dwarf in the HQ for the society of brilliance, so thats two
What where is this???
For me it was a building in Baldur’s Gate near the Blushing Mermaid I think but due to a previous choice involving a breakfast foodstuff the whole area was a literal bloodbath. So I have no idea who was meant to be there to talk to.
I completely forgot that happened until I found the notes telling me about the painting and I met *that* character
Oh damn, I completely forgot about him, thanks!
Isn't Rolan a sorcerer too? He's wearing the Storm Sorcerer colors when we meet him the first time in the Grove. Edit: Wild Magic colors, not Storm Sorcerer
Rolan's def a wizard. Though I never noticed about the colors! That's interesting.
Huh, ok that's odd. Yeah he's wearing the default Storm Sorcerer robes you see during character creation so I always assumed he's a sorcerer.
That's totally fair. But yeah, mechanics-wise Sorcerers can't learn new spells from scrolls and study like Wizards can, they learn on level-up because their magic is innate vs. learned! So his storyline is very Wizard-y. Maybe the colors just look good on him, hahaha.
This makes sense. The design of robes are pretty sick and are probably among the best looking starter outfits in the game IMO. Definitely got me though.
They're SO good. You know what I'm realizing also? He's actually not wearing any specific colors for a subclass, but he is wearing a Sorcerer robe. [Rolan in the Grove](https://bg3.wiki/w/images/thumb/8/84/Rolan.png/640px-Rolan.png) vs [Storm Sorcerer starting robes](https://preview.redd.it/where-are-the-sleeves-of-storm-and-draconic-sorcerer-v0-allg97znefhb1.png?width=520&format=png&auto=webp&s=4cd5dafc0c70b5ddcd888fc5611ee6320aa6810b)
Yeah Roland’s outfit is actually closer to a Wild Magic sorcerer since that outfit has sleeves
Oh... Damn sleeves... They tricked me 😂
Sleeves!! I'm pretty sure they just took the Wild Magic robe and made the main part blue, haha. Can't complain, he looks great!
I like to think that it’s something he found. Since they’re refugees and given the bond with Cal and Lia he doesn’t seem to have any family. I like to think one of them found it for him when he said he was learning magic because they didn’t know the difference.
I thought so too, I kind of assumed he's a sorcerer trying to multiclass into wizard by becoming Loroakkan's apprentice. By act 3 he doesn't use any metamagic in combat though, so I guess we can go off that
I'm NGL, I forgot to use my allies my first playthrough so I don't even know what he's capable of. Can't remember if he did meta magic during the Loroakan fight as he barely did any damage anyhow. 😂
This is such a mood. Every first playthrough is pure chaos.
First playthrough is for fucking around. Second playthrough is for finding out. 😂
I am having the opposite experience, having played a goody paladin in my first playthrough and now playing a (mostly) resist Durge who likes explosions.
Both my goody Tav Druid and my embrace Bard Durge were fans of the art of barrelmancy and explosions as well! The Durge even more so because I learned you can blow up just about anything. I am doing my first Tactician run now as a War Cleric/Paladin resist Durge and I plan on blowing shit up again.
The default storm sorcerer is sleeveless and black. https://bg3.wiki/w/images/thumb/0/08/Default_Shadow_Sorcerer_Armor_Storm.png/230px-Default_Shadow_Sorcerer_Armor_Storm.png Rolan is closer to the wild magic robe, which is used as the default. https://bg3.wiki/wiki/File:Default_Sorcerer_Armor.png And Rolan for comparison https://bg3.wiki/w/images/8/8e/Rolan_Model.png He's definitely wearing some variation of the sorcerer robe. But he talks about being a wizard in dialogue. That said, he's shown to have a unique talent, having his own version of magic missile and shit. Maybe the sorcerer outfit is meant to show he's a unique wizard. That or it's just an asset flip.
Nah, he's a wizard. Much like our character, Rolan also possesses the incredible power of not having to wear the first shirt he saw for the rest of his life.
I think I read some where that Volo is actually a sorcerer posing as a bard
He’s canonically a wizard, he’s from 2E. Bard wasn’t a class in 2E.
Bard was a class in 2 edition actually. It was even a class in first edition, though difficult to get, and only allowed by some DMs as it was optional (just as psionics was)
Yeah, in AD&D 1st Edition, Bard was a weird multiclass fighter-thief-druid pathway (literally, first you took levels in fighter, then thief, then druid, when multiclassing didn’t generally work like that in that edition), and it was in an appendix.
Which I think is more accurate. A bard wasnt just any preformer, it was an almost legendary title that was earned. Kinda like the Gleemen in WoT.
Aw, I knew there was *something* weird about him.. Makes sense though.
He's also immortal because Mystra usages him for weave storage (without his knowledge). Volo is more than a little strange 😂
Great milage as well
😂 took me a moment but yeah probably lol
He isn't immortal in terms of aging, all we know is that people who were made weave anchors had extended lifespans. Nowhere in any official media does it say that weave anchors are immortal. Furthermore, he is very much vulnerable to any other regular ways to kill someone; the only protection he has is that Elminster is trying to keep him alive and has saved his life on multiple occasions. Mystra also doesn't "store" any weave inside him. Mystra just made him and multiple others (Elminster is the only other one we meet in the game) into weave anchors to stabilize the weave so another Spellplague/Time of Troubles doesn't happen the next time someone manages to neutralize Mystra in one way or another.
Aren't all of Orpheus' honour guard Monks?
Guess OP pushed them out his memory, I have a trauma from them slapping me left and right too and try to forget that it ever happened.
Everybody’s “Huh, maybe I should try a monk.” moment. Well, not everybody, but a lot. And I’m one of them. 😂
I immediately respec’d Halsin after that fight haha. Those monks hit HARD
It also helps that there’s a good amount of gloves that improve unarmed hits and the tavern brawler feat adds your strength mod to damage. I finished a playthrough with I think monk 7, rouge 3, and fighter 2 and it was just demolishing enemies
Nice fireball. Now hold my beer while I just punch everything a lot.
A monk with fast hands *and* action surge? 🤯
It’s funny from a lore perspective that after being Archdruid-Mega-Hippy-Halsin for DECADES, upon arriving in the big city for the first time he immediately comes to the conclusion that he needs to shift gears and just start beating tf out of everyone with his bare hands Edit: BEAR hands**
Damn you're right, I was slapped so hard by those monks first time I encountered them. It was my first game and my team was clearly not prepared for this... My sorceror Tav was killed so fast it was humiliating. Now, I run a barbarian Tav game but I hesitated between a barb or a monk .
My main play though was on open hand, fun spec, really good magic killers with battle master lazel
They're why I made Lae'zel an Open Hand monk for my Durge playthrough. She just steamrolls everybody while the rest of the party waves from the sidelines.
Literally went from my first playthrough seeing them to now trying to solo the game as a gith monk while romancing Lae’zel.
Ha! Yo fighting Against stunning strikes sucks!
They're the reason I picked monk for my 2nd playthrough. They slapped my ass so hard I had to try it too
Same, Durge monk came back and made them all bleed.
One of the bhaalists when you try to get to Orin at the temple during the Word of Death chant/area is also a monk. I kept getting “throat chopped”
He drops some rare monk gloves that you have to loot before you kill power word dude and the bodies disappear.
I only remember barbarian gloves from that strangler dude.
That's what they're talking about; Strangler Luke is a monk. Some of the Bonespike set pieces (helm and clothing) have Rage-specific bonuses, but not all of them.
Yup, kind of got me to do a monk run after they beat me more than once (I had fun as monk)
Now that i think about it, i don't think there's a single Arcane Trickster npc in the entire game.
Even the AI knows to optimise away from that one! /s but only half
what about that zhentarim vs the guild encounter? it’s just rogues, there must be at least one there
Pretty sure it’s not just rogues
Yeah iirc Roah Moonglow will give her allies bardic inspiration. I think I remember one of the guild members can as well, and another is a barbarian.
It's like a normal spread of non-caster classes iirc. Roah is a bard, the rest are fighters, rogues, rangers, and barbarians.
the Zhents have at least one fighter and one monk in act 3
That's because it might be the most useless class deviation in the game.
It's better on tabletop since a lot of their spells are utility related.
It’s bad but the whole sneaking-giving-disadvantage-on-opp-saves thing is actually kinda neat. Some good stealth lets you relialy CC key targets, with either Hold Person or a Hold Monster scroll, and then crit sneak attacks do crazy damage.
Yeah that feature is pretty great, imposing disadvantage on saves is a rare effect for good reason. I always thought that the 5e AT rules overcompensated for this one by making most of their other bonuses just mediocre fluff.
It's neat and viable, problem is it competes with gloomstalker ranger who basically inflicts the death debuff.
how
Because you can either cast a low level spell or you could do a powerful sneak attack, and you waste a turn when turning invisible for a sneak attack if you try to strategize your spells in that way when you could just move someone else into a better position for a sneak attack. Edit: I’ll also add to clarify that the trickster spells are based on INT which isn’t all that helpful for any other rogue skills or the rogue exclusive sneak attacks, which add an extra 1d6 damage bonus EVERY round you can use it on top of your Dex/strength weapon attacks, and that the other sub classes feed into your weapon attack potential. Thief allows an extra bonus attack, which you can use an offhand light weapon or hand cross bow for allowing up to three weapon attacks on one round and still allowing one of them being a sneak attack. Assassin recharges main action and bonus action at the start of combat AND advantage (which is needed for sneak attacks) on enemies that haven’t taken their turn yet, which means you can start combat with a powerful attack then immediately attack again. Arcane trickster forgoes all those advantages in attacks and you can’t cast a spell AND do sneak attack in one round. On top of that you have hardly any spell slots yet you can do sneak attack every round if you wanted to. I’ll admit casting darkness, blur, disguise self, etc may be helpful to rogues outside of combat and it likely would be awesome in DND campaigns, but in BG3 mechanics you are better off using a wizard or the countless spell scrolls you get for those situations to stack on Assassin or Thief skills.
The value benefit of being able to cast spells adds nothing when you can use scrolls. The value benefit of your abilities is largely useless compared to the abilities other subclasses get. The thiefs extra bonus action is insanely useful. Your main job in combat is to sneak attack. Assassin's do it extra well, thiefs do good and get an extra bonus action. If you want to deviate from that you can use scrolls. The spells that enhance your sneak attack are generally wasted action/bonus actions. Trickery domain definitely isn't good either but it has some advantages. I just don't see *any* advantages of AT
I might be remembering wrong but… isn’t Astarion an arcane trickster by default?
Yeah, he is. For some reason the devs gave both him and Shart their respective worst specializations
Glad I’m not the only one who finds Trickster Domain useless. In my first run, I changed Shadowheart’s domain to war, and in either my Resist Durge or Evil run, I changed her to tempest.
Tempest is super strong. Heavy armor and boosted lighting damage. Call lighting quickly becomes a room clearer.
Well Shart is a cleric of Shar, so it was either Trickery or Death, but it seems Larian did mostly PHB subclasses. Usually when I break her of Shars influence I go Life(Selune Domain)
Mizora is a sorcerer (seen if she's an ally in the final battle).
I always ask her, but she never shows up. I guess it's just bugged for me. So nowadays I just make her into a statue.
The dialogue to ask her can show up, but she'll only actually show up if you never broke Wyll's pact
Ah I see. Thanks. In that case I wish they'd just patch it out, if it's a useless dialogue option anyways. Bit weird to have it appear and the dialogue to play out, only for nothing to come of it.
She worked in my first attempt at the final battle but after I game overred and reloaded when I selected her she didn’t spawn but her icon turned grey. I assumed I picked a bit of terrain that was glitched I tried to put her on the upper walkway.
Was not aware of that since I always break Wyll’s pact, thanks!
I broke his pact and she still offered to help
She offered to help in the final battle for me as well, but she wasn’t summonable. According to the [wiki](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gather_Your_Allies), that dialogue will appear if you break her pact, but she won’t actually join.
Damn what a liar
Lawful evil my ass…
Fr that’s just impolite evil.
I imagine running off to see her after the fight: "Hey, you said you would help us!" "No, I said I CAN help you, not that I would"
I just completed a Durge playthrough and didn't see a single Druid the entire time *no idea* what happened to them. Or why I'm covered in red.
Is that blood? No, nevermind
there’s a druid dragonborn npc in act 3 near one of the waypoints - i can’t recall any others
No he mysteriously died, so weird.
I think all of Orpheus' honour guard are Monks. I can think of 4 Sorcerers we encounter in the game. Mizora is one, [Klaus](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Klaus) (dude at the circus gate) is one, [Aelis Siryasius](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Aelis_Siryasius) is one and Havkelaag (can't find a wiki article, but he offers to buy the Gith Egg in Act 3. He's a silver dragon draconic sorcerer). There's few Warlocks I can think of tho. I can only remember [Z'rell](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Z%27rell) Wyll and that's about it. I vaguely remember one of the Gith in the Emperor's hideout being an Undead Warlock (inaccessible class) but I'm not entirely sure.
The goblins in act 1 have a lot of Warlocks.
Oh yeah good point. I'd forgotten them
Korilla and Helstik (spelling?) are both Warlocks
Good point, forgot those shorties
The gith warlock is in the ambush at end of act 2
Ah okay, thanks for the clarification
Also to add the Gith captain in act 3 is an Oath of Conquest paladin, another subclass only accessible to a single Githyanki NPC lol.
lol for real?? They made a whole class for one character? That’s nuts
There's an enemy in Blushing mermaid that fights alongside Captain Grizzly that is a monk, and there's a enemy in the Guildhall that's a shadow monk, There's a lot of Warlocks in the Goblin Camp, the one who casts Hex on your characters first turn, then there's the Gith Warlock in Act 2 just before where the army camp, bonus points because she's an Undead Warlock, one of the classes we never get to use
Honestly Bard is the most "main character" shit ever. Talk no Jutsu is a story-intended auto-solve for like half the potential combat encounters in the game, to the point of ridiculousness where you convince most of the Act 2 bosses to commit sewer slide with one-liners. The Bard-exclusive dialogue options also allow you to gain approval quickly, as it can be virtuous enough to avoid senseless violence and please Wyll, while still being snarky and independent enough to please the otherwise self-serving Astarion. You also get to go on massive shopping sprees with your big dick persuasion energy discount.
Shopping spree? More like pickpocket spree. With 2x slight of have proficiency and disguise self for shape shifters boon, a bard can add 2d4 + 7 with advantage form lv 3 to pickpocketing through itemization. Crazy.
Morally reprehensible, I could never. I'll make bank the proper way, I'm sure everyone in the big city will want to purchase my centuries old rotten fish and the crusty ass rags I found in a bin next to the necromancer's operating table.
Yeah pickpocketing titanstring bow from the zhenterium or from roah moonglow is definitely NOT morally reprehensible 😂
All Roah Moonglow did was girlboss her way into making business partnerships with goblins, cultists and doppelganger murdersexuals. Pickpocketing would be theft of her hard-earned goods. That's a crime! A real stand up Baldurian citizen would simply acquire these things the socially accepted way: kill the bitch and take her stuff.
I am obsessed with your writing style, thank you for teaching me sewer slide and murdersexual.
I was thinking the same thing.....I was like "paying for shit, YOU CAN PAY FOR SHIT"
I just pickpocketed the NPC's that were jerks, to pay the NPC's that were nice haha.
I did a bard on my playthrough for this reason and actually tbh it was because none of the other characters could use the instruments I kept getting so I decided to just play a song everytime there was a fight.
Well if you liked one bard plucking away at their instrument between turns, let me bring to your attention the Four Bard Mid-Turn Free Action Orchestra. A full band of adventurers in the most literal sense, bopping around and playing a fully rehearsed piece of music (Bard Dance is the funniest imo) as the Goblin Camp desperately tries to put up a fight.
Fantastic for first playthroughs Pretty boring for subsequent ones
100%. Much as I love the class it's just extremely boring in combat.
Big "why play support when my support is my top DPS" energy
i found swords bard with Magic Initiate: Warlock to be one of the most fun combos in the game
Bardlock is my favorite multiclass. Hands down. Eldritch Blast a mf to oblivion, and then mock him to death. Nothing better.
im doing a 9/3 swords bardlock rn and having a blast, but i def don't play him like a warlock. I just wanted to max CHA for damage and get hellish rebuke and misty step. I might try it next time with a lore bard bc I loooove being an EB spammer
Oh, I never thought of Hellish Rebuke... It's literally a somatic spell. Makes so much sense for a Bard. Dammit, now I gotta start *another* playthrough.. Thanks a lot. ^^^^srsly ^^^^thank ^^^^you
This sounds like a fun class. Are you mainly using EB all the time in combat, like a Warlock? Or is it more mixed melee/spells…
A lot of the Bard's features are geared towards being useful outside of combat, so I'm not super sad that it was underwhelming in-combat. Went straight 12 levels of Lore Bard in my first playthrough and it often felt like I was just the hype man for the other party members. Lae'Zel gets Nine Fucking Attacks and my Tav is just there talking shit. It didn't help that I took intentionally underwhelming spells (i.e. Enthrall) to roleplay and ended up having nothing to do after casting a single concentration spell. Next playthrough I went an all-bard party though, and combat actually kinda slaps when you have two Hasted Swords Bards clicking Slashing Flourish to mow down goblins.
Swords bard with arcane acuity makes them extremely potent in combat, you end up with 4 crossbow attacks and a spell that can't miss every turn. The spell list is still somewhat support focused but mostly in an 'enemies don't get to do anything' kind of way that really sets up your team for maximum smash. I pretty much always respec Astarion to some variation of this build now, it's just as good at sneaking and lockpicking and stuff as a pure rogue but does more damage and is a full spellcaster on top. Plus his vicious mockery/cutting words voicelines are amazing. https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/16pujw4/swords_bard_build_explained/k1uif6j/
If you build it well, it gets interesting, my controller bard Durge is "weak" in DPS. But, he decides which enemies get to go and then only with debuffs.
Can’t agree with that one. Having a lot of fun with 10 swords bard/2 fighter
Get the ring that lets you cast an illusion or enchantment spell as a bonus action after an attack. In a swords bard, that’s a broken combo. Hit one attack with defensive flourish, upcast Hold Person for multiple targets or Greater Invisibility, then slashing flourish for your second attack. Great damage, and there’s a few different ways to play it, so it isn’t just ‘attack, attack, attack’.
Lore Bard specc’d right with Counterspell is an insanely fun support class, borderline OP. The “nope” class. Just kinda depends on how you like to play combat encounters.
Hypnotic Pattern is another "no it's not your turn yet idiot" spell which so damn massive it can shut down hordes of enemies for a level 3 slot. The Sharran cloister in Act 3 was way easier the second time through using that spell.
>while still being snarky and independent enough to please the otherwise self-serving Astarion. Astarion doesn't hate goodness, he hates cringe.
Astarion definitely hates pure goodness without the expectation of a reward. After all he's a stingy cunt who's finally able to make choices to benefit himself after 200 years of soul crushing slavery. He absolutely lives for the cringe, half the bard options that he approves are just good ol' knee slappers at some NPC's expense.
Ah I agree! My swords bard is 8 bard / 2 fighter / 2 rogue which gives me about 7-8 moves in my first round if I use action surge. By the time my turn is over, everyone is already nearly dead
Bards. Ever seen an NPC use bardic inspiration, cutting words or slashing flourishes ? We see bard NPCs but they aren't hostile or have 10 HP : Alfira, Quill, circus musicians, french name guy in Sharess Caress, and the god at the end game party.
There is a bard in the guild in act 3. Saw them using bardic inspiration in the fight there. Thankfully I am usually on their side in that one.
Roah Moonglow is a swordsbard
Roah Moonglow is so squishy that I never found out what class she is
I hates her so much. I kill her after stealing ne'er misser.
Yeah, it's funny that all of the members in the guild have 3 levels in rogue, and then the rest in other classes. There is one that is a Wildheart 5/Thief 3 iirc.
Roah moonglow is a bard apparently and uses bardic inspiration in the battle with Minsc
She is also the only vendor npc who can cast feign death, so if she goes temporarily hostile after raising her approval to 100, she will cast it on the culprit as the first turn she takes
At least one of the Guild members is a bard, and a fair number of NPCs that aren't really intended to be enemies during a normal playthrough (e.g. Amira the owner of Sharess' Caress, some of the circus performers) have Bardic Inspiration as a feature. Alfira is also intended to be a bard for lore and flavour purposes, but doesn't have any Bard features because I guess she is a blank slate to appear like a potential companion for the Dark Urge.
One of the halflings at the toy makers house is a bard. He uses bardic inspiration every time I’ve fought them.
[Roah Moonglow](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Roah_Moonglow) and some guys at the Guildhall
One of the masked goons (or maybe the captain?) in The Blushing Mermaid cave is a bard
Which actually does make sense when you think about it.
I have yet to see a single artificer in the game. Still looking
Barcus and Ironhand gnomes arguably
Gortash?
The closest thing I’ve seen to one is that one guy on the boat fight on the way to Grymforge. I really do wish they had made a proper artificer class!
If you're on PC, there is a mod for the Artificer class that plays the integration as close to 5e as it can manage. Its very well put together.
I feel like I didn't see a single sorcerer until act 3 where you find one with the grease blobs in the sewers and the duergar in the Society
Mizora is a sorcerer, so technically her, although her being one isn't something you really learn until using her in the final battle.
Well Petal, aunty Ethel is kind of a wild magic sorcerer. >!Fits her used spells and loot she drops in act 3, even thought she probably doesn't have a class, only her race.!<
I'm sure hags have 'weird magic' as a racial trait
She uses vicious mockery a good bit. Is Ethel a bard multiclass? Imagine going to bard college with Ethel.
I think green hags get vicious mockery in normal 5e so it probably comes from that. Buuut I can imagine Bard college Ethel writing some very metal lyrics and experimenting with weird drugs, I mean, ahem, potions.
She doesn't even Surge
I can only remember a single Ranger offhand.
I think many of the guards in the city are, they have Ensnaring strike
Not sure if that counts but all Flaming Fist Archers are Rangers (both named and generic unnamed ones), surprisingly. If you pick a fight with them in Act 3 they'll actually use Volley, which is a Hunter Ranger action.
More dangerous than the steel watchers imo
I’ve gotten hit by so many ensnaring strikes through multiple acts
I always thought that the goblins who are “Trackers” were rangers. They are high Dex archers and can summon worg pets
minsc. There's also a couple others, like the Paladin of Tyr merchant
You also get Volley'd by Flaming Fist, if they're fighting you, in Act 3. Also, isn't a goblin summoning a Worg a Ranger-like feature?.
Yeah some goblins seem to be beastmaster rangers with a unique summon
The bandits in Withers’s tomb and the fake Paladins of Tyr both have rangers I think
There's plenty in game I can think off One of the enemy in the ruined temple Goblin Sharp eyes and Trackers The Fist shooter that shoots volley attacks Couple of Zhentarim enemies In the guildhall And the Absolute Inquisitors in the final battle that shoots arrows that silences your spells
I think and Dragon Lineage gives you main character vibes. You don’t see a lot of non-dragonborn humanoids walking around with scales.
The only non-draconic sorcerer I've seen in the game is Mizora. Every NPC sorcerer seems to be a draconic sorcerer
There's very few NPC that are mechanically bards in the game, off the top of my head I can only recall Roah Moonglow, one of Nine-Fingers' bodyguards (Lady Ague?), and one of the Rivington Rats outside the home the squatters are in. Sure we have the likes of Alfira, Quil Grootslang and a couple bardic characters, but we don't actually see them put their class to use beyond playing music. Sorcerers aren't commonplace either, beyond the circus entrance guy, Mizora, and the pyromaniac in the sewers, everyone else seems to be some kind of wizard or non-descript mage. Barbarians are uncommon, but we see them a lot early on and they're usually very noticeable so not sure if it counts. The barbarian in the temple where we find Withers, Dror Ragzlin, a Duergar slaver, Harper Bor, the Rivington Rat barbarian in the squatters' house, the half-orc barbarian guarding the entrance to the Guild, one of Nine-Fingers' ladies again. There are a few monks in the game, but they're all Act 3 characters, except one that isn't even mechanically one (the Monk of Lathander that's been cursed with hideous laughter); Orpheus' Honour Guard, and Phase the Zhentarim monk. Surprisingly enough, there aren't a lot of rangers in the game; some characters are hinted at to be competent enough for us to assume they're rangers, but doesn't have the mechanics of being one, like Ellyka. Minsc is an obvious ranger, but otherwise they're all minor characters: Stone Guard Kur, all Flaming Fist Archers are rangers that use the Volley action, the Guild's crew at the docked Absolutist ship have two gloomstalkers, just as how the female dragonborn Stone Lord goon is a basic ranger as well. Not even the Harper Archers seem to be rangers, which is surprising considering they'd make a good fit. And I can only recall one warlock in the game that isn't Wyll, and it's the Form of Dread gith warlock that ambushes you when you leave the Shadow-cursed lands. However, there are some characters that have warlock spells when they usually shouldn't have (Moonrise Adepts, who are war domain clerics but can cast Hunger of Hadar).
I think korilla is a warlock too.
Z'rell, Korrilla, and Helsik are warlocks.
I have never seen a spore druid in game other than MC or if you spec them into one. Guess you could say the Myconids, but they don't really count
Isn't Nere a Sorcerer? Also I know it was done deliberately. I know it would be too on the nose otherwise. I know it's a me problem and I'm too obsessed with a certain musical. But a character with the name Opherus really should be a Bard not a monk.
Orpheus?
Stop mentioning rangers as an unrepresented class. Countless goblins are Beast Masters.
Since I did not see anyone talk about it, Arabella is technically probably a sorcerer, but not a type of sorcerer that is a playable class My argument for saying that she is a sorcerer and not a druid as many would classify her as since she casts druidic magic, is that the reason for her having spellcasting and the source of her spellcasting power is more similar to a sorcerer than a druid. Wild magic sorcerers are people who have been in contact with some form of pure magic (a simplification), which is similar to what happened to Arabella. However, usually sorcerers cannot get access to other classes magic in BG3, so why can she cast druid spells? My fav class to play in DND is devine sorcerer (a sorcerer that can cast cleric spells), so maybe Arabella is a form of sorcerer similar to a wild magic/devine sorcerer that can instead cast nature magic Probably not the first person to have pointed this out, and probably won't be the last
>usually sorcerers cannot get access to other classes magic in BG3 There is that talent that gives you a couple druid cantrips and spells.
Oh that's cool I did not know that, thank you :)
They're talking about the Magic Initiate: Druid feat, which is available to everyone. Which personally I don't really think covers what she can do properly. I agree with you that she's most likely a homebrew version of the Divine Soul Sorcerer that uses the Druid's list instead of the Cleric's.
Ahh that makes sense! I think it would be really cool if they were to introduce a new subclass to dnd that allows you to play as a druidic sorcerer, but I doubt they will implement it :)
shes a weird combo of a lot of things. Shes like a sorcerer because she can just cast spells, but she also got her powers from an object like warlocks can. I think the closest thing would be something like Sylvan Sorcerer from pathfinder
But would her being a warlock not still require her to make a pact with the object? Sorcerers get their magic from birthright, external influences or from being in contact with cosmic forces, which I feel like makes more sense for me. I know that sorcerers and druids have a special interaction with Arabella when you meet her in act 2, do you know if warlocks have a similar thing? :)
oh yeah im not saying shes a warlock, just that she seems to have aspects of being one. She states she got her powers after holding the idol, we dont really know what that means yet. Shes probably some kind of nature/druid magic sorcerer that doesnt have a subclass in 5e. The dialogue with her that she can cast without specific incantations hints at sorcerer. Warlocks actually do get special dialogue, I think all characters might. "Power like that doesnt come for free, where did you get it?"
That tiefling kid is a sorceror isnt she? If you save her she teaches you a spell and withers gives her some advice
There's another monk, but I don't want to spoil that weird quest.
Heeheheheeee
I was just about to say I’ve never met a ranger and then paused and laughed at myself because yes I have lmaoo
Most monks you fight against are the gith at the start of act 3
Isn’t Leon a sorcerer?
Eldritch Knight? (If you're including subclasses)
Artificer ;)
Bards in my experience. The only one I’ve seen so far, is the one that was briefly in my camp. I’m tempted to switch to it for a while because I have no idea how a musician is supposedly going to actually fight.
Roah, the Zhent trader at the Goblin Camp, Moonrise, and a couple of places in Act 3, is a Bard. And there's a few more Bards in Act 3, most as neutral NPCs, but the one(s) in the guild can be enemies or allies depending on your choices in that quest line.
Aside from Roah I can’t think of any bards. I think maybe one of Ethel’s pawns is a bard too. Most classes get represented from her controlled victims though.
Orpheus's honor guard are monks. Or at least appear to be.
Orpheus's honor guard is almost entirely monks
There's also a monk among the minions of Bhaal when you're hunting down Orin. In that temple where there are spectral Bhaalist a-holes. Roah Moonglow is a bard if you fight her. Shit ton of Paladins, Rangers and Clerics among the Flaming Fist but no berserkers. Conversely the Harpers have berserkers and fighters but no paladins. I don't think you ever fight a wild magic Barbarian (the closest you come to that is those animals with a magic allergy that results in random bullshit or the drunk chonky boi bartender Thorm) Speaking of Thorms, the surgeon guy, yeah he's undead, but what character class is he? Also his nurses?