Which of these two is a more powerful spellcaster?

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Human Bard X

or

Human Bard 11/Sorcerer X

 

Bard/Sorcerer will get more of those useful low level spells like Chromatic Orb or Mage Armour, or 1-4 level enchantments, Emotion buffs and some protective spells such as Mirror Image, Blink or Improved Invisibility (but not Stoneskin AFAIK). Bard also has some minor healing. The key to success would be learning on sorcerer levels spells that depend on your caster level for their effect and on bard levels those that don't (or not so much as to make difference for you). Of course, this doesn't mean you shouldn't learn your favourite and most often used spells with both your classes and cast them in insane amounts. Note that Spell Focus and Spell Penetration feats apply to all your classes. Between sorcerer(19) and sorcerer(30), the difference is 1 level 1 spell, 2 level 2 spells and one spell from each rank until 6. Not so much. Bard (11) gives you 3 spells from ranks 1-3 and 1 from rank 4, plus bonus spells you get for CHA. Next, bard/sorcerer is going to be more versatile for a variety of reasons. Still, in a party of six in normal mode, you won't get enough XP to get more than just a couple of sorcerer levels if you take 11 bard levels.

 

Well, I know that I wouldn't advance much as a Sorcerer in my first run through, but it looks like the way to go is to beat the game on normal mode, then import the same characters and go through on Heart of Fury mode.

Thank you for all your help.

 

Bard[x] will definately be weaker than Bard[11]/Sorcerer[x]
Bards get more buffing and summoning spells than damage. Their choice of spells is also pretty limited. Frequently, the spells that you take would be those that you would not have even touched with a Sorc.

@Chev
There is quite a bit of difference between a Sorc[19] and a Sorc[30].
Not least of which is their spell DC.

Sorcerer spells known at each level:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
----------------------
19 . . 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 2
30 . . 7 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4

A full 6 member party would probably get everyone to L17. With a little level squatting this can be taken to L22. By just introducing new charecters at various stages of the game Jukka has taken one charecter to L30 with at least a couple others over L20.
It is not impossible to think that a charecter can get powerful. It would be quite possible for a Bard[11]/Sorcerer[x] to be able to cast Stoneskin in Normal game itself.

 

Shrikant, unless the game is bugged, sorcerer spell DC is not based on caster level. It's based on spell level and CHA bonus.

But there are good reasons to level up your sorc:
More spells per day (and spells known)
More damage from skulltrap, DBF, and horrid wilting.
Better shadow summons.

 

But wouldnt this character be really really pathetic during most of normal mode after he started multiclassing? cause he would be stuck with very low level spells such as when everyone else is on level 9 spells he would be Bard11/Sorc6 which would mean he would have level 4 bard spells and level 3 sorc spells and at that point in the game thats quite useless. Thats just my opinion though ive never tried this so i might be wrong tho at the end in theory Bard11/Sorc19 looks much better then Bard30

 

If you start with all 6 charecters, then yes she would be pretty useless. I had a two person party that was joined by a Drow Bard before they got on the airship. With level squatting, I had her at L10 before getting to the Wandering Village. How useless do you think she was
Sure a Bard[11] spells are pretty useless. But the songs make up for it. And she makes a decent archer type. She also takes care of all the talking and reward taking. The Sorc spells later on are just icing.

 

I think without the patch the last bard song skips over and over, adding the effects for ultimate cheese!

But Bard 11/Sorc 19 is a good mix. Plenty of spells, main dialouge starter, better than regular bard. Just make him your SECOND spellcaster, not your main one. Truely i powerful character!

 

So the aim of this character is the songs and speaking skills and not the actual spells which are just a bonus?(so that you multiclass to sorc just cause you can and dont lose anything doing this?)

 

Pretty much, yes Goon66.
I am not saying all Bard songs are very useful. But the buffs are cool and the healing from the last song (ok so I have the mod to use it outside of battle) is just GOLD!
My style of playing relies more on might and less on magic. So having a charecter at the back who doesn't often cast spells and spends time singing or shooting bolts does not phase me. You might find the late arrival of good spells with a Bard[11]/Sorc[x] pretty annoying if you rely more on spells.

Taking a Bard means that it is pretty much going to be an associate charecter, buffing and healing others while having little to no direct effect on the fight.
The Bard[11]/Sorc[19] carries on in a similar manner. All the spells that your main sorc could not take or you want twice as many copies of are taken by this one. While your main sorc is taking all the damage and summoning spells, this one concentrates on non-caster buffs.

 

Okay, guys, it looks like my spell progression table for sorcerers wasn't reliable. And I should have known better because there were problems with the spell per class per level list from that source, too. Never mind what I said about sorcerer levels.

 

Good point, but for two things:

1) I'd probably squat after reaching level 11 Bard.
2) Is a Bard 11/Sorcerer 6 much more pathetic than a Bard 17? I mean, as far as I can tell, there really isn't much to this class after level 11.

 

In absolute terms, the pure Bard[x] will seemingly remain more powerful than a Bard[11]/Sorc[19].
The sorc has a penalty of 11 levels to overcome. The highest spell level castable will remain in favour of the bard practically throughout his career.

The reason for prefering the later is the spell selection. While the bard's spells can not be labled as useless, he just does not have access to quite a few good arcane spells.
The bard also gets a few spells at a level before the sorc. While this may seem good at first, remember that the spell DC will remain worse than that of a sorc. (Thanks JT )

Now turn tha tables. If you pit a Bard[x] against a Sorc[19]/Bard[11], the pure bard will never catchup with the sorc/bard.

It depends on what you make of it. I could probably take this charecter to L25 in Normal mode and it would thus work well for me. Your game will be different.

 

I thought you were against level squatting klorox. And when i said the bard11/sorc19 was going to be pretty useless i meant as a character as a whole not just compared to a Bardx. Are bard songs really worth such a weak character?

 

The bard/sorc is not an optimalised charecter. That build will never be called a powerful build in itself. Its strength lies in helping the party.
Imaging a fight where most of your party have been reduced to 10%HP. In the time that it takes to gather and sort all the loot, one charecter has healed your entire party by just singing. GOLD, right