Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks BardLock Questions, please.

Hail, and well met, all.

I have some questions about a BardLock I'd like to create, and need some insight please.

I want to make a College of Swords, Two-Weapon Fighting, Medium Armor wearing melee caster hybrid.

To that end I'm thinking Bard 9, Warlock 3, (for Eldritch Blast cantrip and Pact of Blade <-- which I think would pair well with College of Swords).

In general, any advice is greatly appreciated, but my two current questions are...

1) Which class with which to start? What, if anything, do I lose out on by not starting with one class or the other? For example, I know if you multiclass Fighter, and don't start as a Fighter you lose Heavy Armor proficiency and CON saving throws.

2) Considering that I want to go College of Swords, and MAYBE Pact of Blade... hence the incoming question... if I'm Bard 9, Warlock 3, I'd miss out on the Bard 10 Magical Secrets... losing out on 2 spells from any other class. Given that I'm looking for a melee caster hybrid, which do you think would serve me better better... Pact of Blade, or Magical Secrets?

Thank you for your time and thoughts.

Take care.

1. If you plan on being up close, bard for sure. The Dex saves will come in handy for staying alive from all the damaging spells. We don't know how much controlling spells the enemies are going to use, but maybe on tactician you'll want Wisdom saves more.

Even if you just do one level of bard and then swap to lock for 3 levels to get your melee up and running, having that one level will double your spell slots over going three warlock first.

The other benefit of Bard first is skill selection. If you plan on getting a range of skills starting with them is the best bet. We aren't sure if we get to pick skills when multi-classing or if they are going to just force one on us (if they do you'll probably end up with performance if you start warlock and switch to bard).

2. Pact of the blade 100% it makes you the SADest character in the game. Use both of your ASIs on Cha and both your melee and spells are at +5. You can then have some points for Str so you can carry your armor. Probably something like 12 14 14 10 10 16 to keep you survivable and still capable of lifting your own weight. Though with wisdom checks being so pervasive, you may want to give it the 12. On your first play though, I would advise against dumping any stats, but you can do 10 14 16 8 10 16 if you want the extra Con.

Thank you so very much.

That's extremely helpful.

Now I've got my Rogue/Arcane Trickster prepped, (in my head), and BardLock... hmmmm... who is next? 🤣

Happy to help

One word of caution for you to check before commiting too hard - I am not sure how they will implement Pact of the Blade; but it's possible its bonuses will not apply to dual wield as generally you'd only be allowed a single Pact Weapon. Given the additional coding that would require though, it's entirely possible Larian just ignore that and make all weapon attacks Charisma based...

Thank you.

I was actually wondering about that and thinking, speculation of course, that in such a case CHA would govern the dmg my main hand weapon does, and STR/DEX my offhand weapon.

Even if that's the case, I want Two-Weapon Fighting for aesthetics and RP... I'm not interested in min/maxing, and most likely playing on the easiest difficulty setting anyway 😁