Skald

Skald is a class kit in.

Introduction
Skald is a Bard kit that fights with great skill and valor and whose songs are inspiring sagas of battle and valor. Skalds devote their lives to those pursuits. Consequently they receive a one-point bonus to THAC0 and damage at character creation and gain access to a special, powerful Bard song.

Since Skalds treasure honor and valor before anything else, they tend to neglect pickpocketing, which is deemed dishonorable. Thus, this skill will always be underdeveloped in comparison to unkitted bards. Skadls however have no other disadvantages when compared to other bards.

Bards are generally neutral characters, tending toward the chaotic—they come and go when they want, and are usually not bound by obligations, countries or organisations. There aren't many bards who are either good- or evil-aligned.

Only humans and half-elves can become bards.

Bards may not dual class.

Character abilities table
During character creation, rolls below the minimum value for the class will be increased to that value. This table uses the values for Humans, other Races have modified ability scores.

Skald Song
The signature ability of the bard is their battle song. Skalds have a special version of that song which gives party members massive combat bonuses: 1st level: Grants allies a -2 bonus to THAC0, +2 bonus to damage rolls, and a -2 bonus to AC 15th level: Grants allies a -4 bonus to THAC0, +4 bonus to damage rolls, -4 bonus to AC and immunity to fear 20th level: Grants allies a -4 bonus to THAC0, +4 bonus to damage rolls, -4 bonus to AC, immunity to fear, stun, and confusion

All Bard songs work within a limited range, roughly 5 to 6 meters, and the singer’s view must not be blocked by doors, corners. In EE version 2.0+, Bard song of the same type no longer stacks, and all songs break invisibility.

Skalds can still select the Enhanced Bard Song HLA. It will replace their Skald song and all related singing bonuses significantly, though will come into play fairly late in game - the Skald must be at least lvl 24 ( only).

Gameplay
 * The song effects take 1 to 6 sec to kick in, so do they when they go away, if you're feeling lucky, you may distract the bard to do something else, switch back to singing while still maintain the song benefits

Pick pockets
Skalds are quite ineffective at pick-pocketing. Skalds start with 10 points in this skill and receive a quarter the normal points (i.e. 1.25) per level. The skill caps at the score of 28 at level 16, plus a quarter of the normal dexterity modifier.

Lore
Bards have the highest Lore rating of any class, allowing them to identify many of the magical items they or their party discover. They receive 10 Lore points per level.

Wizard spellbook
Bards begin to advance in wizard spells slots when they reach level 2, up to the 6th spell level.

In order for bards to cast a spell, first they need to successfully scribe a mage spell scroll into their spell book (scroll lost in process regardless of success or failure), in which they must prepare the spell by putting it into an empty spell slot, then they have to rest to get the spell ready. Spellcasting is also affected by armor, wearing an armor of any kind (other than the rare Elven Chain Mail) renders it impossible.

Bards are known for their quick levelling, which gives them a slight advantage over mages when using spells that indefinitely scale with the caster's level - like Skull Trap, Dispel Magic (arcane), Remove Magic, Flame Arrow, Lower Resistance, Pierce Magic, etc. As the level difference between mages and bards always favors the latter, bards surprisingly get the upper hand when casting those spells and keep their advantage all the way up to reaching the level cap, as mages cannot progress past lvl 31, while bards can get to lvl 40.

The advantage fades when using spells with effect that is capped at a certain level, like Fireball - the bard will be the first to get the maximal possible effect at lvl 10, but lose all advantage once the mage reaches the same level.

Gameplay
Skalds, like all other bards, have a supporting role in the party. As long as they keep singing, they will buff the party considerably without having to worry about spell duration. The Skald song can be viewed as a more powerful replacement for Bless and Chant which decreases the number of active party members by 1 (as the Skald cannot perform combat actions/cast spells while singing).

It is highly advisable to protect the Skald before combat with spells like Stoneskin, Protection From Normal Missiles and Shield (against those pesky Magic Missiles) and keep a spell of Vocalize prepared, as silenced Skalds are near useless.

High-level class abilities
Bards have almost the same high-level class abilities as thieves, but instead of Assassination, they have enhanced bards song and magic flute, despite no skill points into Set Traps the traps HLAs available to the Bard will never fail or accidentally trigger on the Bard.
 * Alchemy
 * Avoid Death
 * Enhanced Bard Song
 * Evasion
 * Greater Evasion, requires evasion already selected
 * Magic Flute
 * Scribe Scrolls, use any item is a requirement
 * Set Spike Trap
 * Set Exploding Trap
 * Set Time Trap
 * Use Any Item

Stronghold
Bards protagonists may run the Five Flagons Inn stage after they rescue Raelis and Haer'Dalis from the planar prison