Concentration for a bard

[Zanniej]

Small question:
How important is concentration for a bard and how much does he need of it?

[mrm3ntalist]

When you get hit by a boss ( Balor ) and you want to cast displacement and Ethereal Visage you don't want to break concentration and just stand for a round doing nothing.

So I think it is very important. I would max concetration

[chad878262]

Interesting question Zan... It depends. How aggressive will you be in the area's you frequent? For instance, the Orc Shamans can (and will) dispel you...a lot. Even at level 15 with practiced caster I have been dispelled (B10/DC3/F2 w/ practiced caster) with my bard and I can say concentration is quite important to go in to defensive casting and reapply at least mirror images in combat. Bards are VERY strong, but also quite dependent on a few core buffs, so you need a plan in case those buffs are dispelled. I would say you should either have concentration or H/MS with HiPS (preferably from SD since Assassin takes too many levels away from bard). Now, another line of thought could be that you can focus on having uber AC and damage reduction so that the attacks of opportunity either don't hit, or don't do much damage, but I'm not sure you will ever be ahead of the monsters in regards to AC or DR since ghostly visage is only 5/- magic and ethereal visage (Level 5 spell) is 20/- magic. By the time you get ethereal visage getting hit while casting is still going to do enough damage to require a check on concentration.

MrM3ntalist is probably better (as with most things) to answer this, but based on my limited experience my thought is you either need stealth skills/hips or you need concentration as a backup plan if you get dispelled while surrounded by enemies.


edit: oops... He posted while I was typing that he would be a better authority I guess I invoked the gods to call him down to assist you!

[Blackman D]

if you are a caster that is melee you want max concentration

is you are only a partial caster and ranged only really using buffs most the time you can get away with lower