Stats for Bards?

[Kyrie_Elaison]

I've seen a thousand posts with different char templates, but nobody really talks about how they have their stats set.

Any suggestions for what works best for stats? I saw that Poo said to max out STR, so I'm assuming that means to 125.

Any other suggestions?

 

[jelinidas]

I have int maxed out, I need the mana as I am a mage/bard. 100 in str is plenty for me as I use +str items and dex is 20 as I recall.

 

[Seismic]

I have int maxed out, I need the mana as I am a mage/bard. 100 in str is plenty for me as I use +str items and dex is 20 as I recall.

Agreed.. I actually ate a mythical stat scroll and increased strength a little, then the rest in int!

 

[Kyrie_Elaison]

Here is what I was going to try,

125 Int
115 Str
15 Dex

Any thoughts?

 

[Old Man of UO]

Here is what I was going to try,

125 Int
115 Str
15 Dex

Any thoughts?

What are your other non-bard skills? Mage? Tamer? Dexxer/Archer? PvP or PvM? Each will be a bit different, such as dexxer needs high dex and mage needs high intelligence. A tamer could need either depending on template.

And I would suggest more dex... if you get hit with curse and a spell, you might be stuck with zero stamina and unable to move. How will you regen stamina? I would personally want a bit more dex.

You need to consider your armor and weapons. Those base states you suggest are okay for mage/bard, IF you also have stat enhancements with your armor.

One suit I use gives me 120/160/55 stats, which could just as easily be 160/120/55 or 55/160/120, all with the same suit just by changing the up/down arrows for your stats. This same suit has +6 mana/+3 stamina regen, and +25/+35 hci/dci... it would make a pretty good bard suit of any play style. And this suit was put together for about 5 mil, not uber but pretty good.

As you can see, there is a huge effect in how you play.

 

[Kyrie_Elaison]

What are your other non-bard skills? Mage? Tamer? Dexxer/Archer? PvP or PvM? Each will be a bit different, such as dexxer needs high dex and mage needs high intelligence. A tamer could need either depending on template.

And I would suggest more dex... if you get hit with curse and a spell, you might be stuck with zero stamina and unable to move. How will you regen stamina? I would personally want a bit more dex.

You need to consider your armor and weapons. Those base states you suggest are okay for mage/bard, IF you also have stat enhancements with your armor.

One suit I use gives me 120/160/55 stats, which could just as easily be 160/120/55 or 55/160/120, all with the same suit just by changing the up/down arrows for your stats. This same suit has +6 mana/+3 stamina regen, and +25/+35 hci/dci... it would make a pretty good bard suit of any play style. And this suit was put together for about 5 mil, not uber but pretty good.

As you can see, there is a huge effect in how you play.

I realized that too after going to bed last night. After a little review I was thinking I would go with,

125 Int
100 Str
30 Dex

and try to boost my dex and stamina regen with a suit.

The stats above are for a Mage/Bard template that looks like this,

120 Music
120 Provo
120 Disco
120 Peace
110 Magery
110 EI

I am also working with this same char to make it possible to swap out the mage portion to make a Bard/Tamer and wasn't really sure if I should look at having different stats for that.

I figured I would probably raise my Dex and drop Int.

My char is an Elf, and I noticed this morning that raising Strength past like 108 seemed to be of no benefit, and 100 to 108 was of very little benefit.

I wish this game would revert to pre-AOS so I didn't have to deal with all of the item properties. I still struggle with that part of the game.

 

[jelinidas]

I found with my mage bard that I never really used peace. I ended up stoneing it and gave it to my tamer. That would free up the 120 points for you to boost magery to 120, EI to 120 and still leave 100 left for somthing else. I put the 100 in resisting spells. People tell me Im crazy, but it works well for me as I visit Doom. Good Luck to ya, Be Safe, Have Fun!

 

[Old Man of UO]

I realized that too after going to bed last night. After a little review I was thinking I would go with,

125 Int
100 Str
30 Dex

and try to boost my dex and stamina regen with a suit.

The stats above are for a Mage/Bard template that looks like this,

120 Music
120 Provo
120 Disco
120 Peace
110 Magery
110 EI

...

I think that is a much better balance on the stats. When you can afford it, buy a scroll to run it up even higher. Along with that, try to find items that boost your INT and mana regen, such as a HOM, or Helm of Insight, Boomstick, etc. You will appreciate never running out of mana while using magery to back up your barding skills. OH, don't forget to have as high FC/FCR as you can... and I agree with you on struggling with the item properties. I'll throw something out that I think is junk, just to see its twin on a vendor for 5 mil. Dunno...

*points to jelindas*

I found with my mage bard that I never really used peace. I ended up stoneing it and gave it to my tamer. That would free up the 120 points for you to boost magery to 120, EI to 120 and still leave 100 left for somthing else. I put the 100 in resisting spells. People tell me Im crazy, but it works well for me as I visit Doom.

I found that I only used the peace skill for taming, and put it on a stone for my tamer, keeping it handy to tame greater dragons. I would suggest doing the same and taking up 120 meditation for faster mana regen, or resist. Since it looks like you will be doing PvM with this template, you don't need 120 resist, but even 90 will do quite well in most cases.

Another interesting possibility if you dropped the peace skill, is to take up bushido and run it to 120 for the defensive skill, and then wield the Swords of Prosperity with the -0 mage weapon penalty. Or perhaps wrestling?

 

[Kyrie_Elaison]

Some very good suggestions here. Thank you all for the help.

I actually decided to go with,

100 Str
115 Int
40 Dex

I have some really nice jewelry and armor so I'm not so worried about my strength and intelligence (tons of both those types).

I purchased a Staff of the Magi today and didn't realize that you have to have tactics to use special moves. Another mystery addition that I had never tried before. So I was maybe thinking of adding tactics, but resist really looks good too.

I have been stoning a ton of skills so maybe I'll just play around with my template and see what feels best.

Thanks again for all the help.