Bardadin (Honour Mode)

Final composition:

• [OG BUILD]: 10 Swords Bard / 2 Paladin
• [PATCH 8+]: 6 Swords Bard / 2 Paladin / 4 Sorcerer

(Credits: Prestigious_Juice341, with minor edits.)

Why this split

Control. Damage. Bardadins are a combat martial with full caster spell slots — meaning an overwhelming amount of Smites for the enemy. With Arcane Acuity and the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel, no one can escape a +10 Spell Save DC on high-value control spells.

Patch 8 update: you can now upcast Shadow Blade at level 5 and combine that with the Resonance Stone for some seriously wicked damage. Not to mention the ability to manipulate infinite spell slots and sorcery points if you wish.

Character Creation

The Respec Note (read once)

• RESPEC — start with 2 Paladin levels, then 6 Swords Bard — because you want the martial weapon and heavy armour proficiencies from Paladin for the melee smite.
• Slashing Flourish is the main damage dealer: 2 ranged attacks on 1 or 2 targets.
• Fighting Style: Duelling (with a Shadowblade caster on your team) / Two-Weapon Fighting (for dual Hand Crossbows).

Level-by-Level

L1 — Bard 1

• Cantrips: Friends, Minor Illusion.
• Spells: Healing Word, Feather Fall, Longstrider, Thunderwave.

L2 — Bard 2

• Song of Rest.
• Spells: Dissonant Whispers.

L3 — Bard 3 — Swords Bard — power spike

• Fighting Style (see above).
• Slashing Flourish — the main damage dealer.
• Spells: Enhance Ability.

L4 — Bard 4

• Cantrip: Light.
• Spells: Hold Person; replace Healing Word with Knock.
• Feat: Alert (if low Initiative) or Sharpshooter (if low damage) — “for now take the one you prefer, but take Alert after the respec later.”

L5 — Bard 5

• Font of Inspiration.
• Spells: Hypnotic Pattern.

L6 — Bard 6

• Extra Attack — Flourish makes this up to 4 attacks.
• Spells: Player’s choice.

L7 — Bard 7

• Greater Invisibility.

L8 — Oath of Vengeance — respec point

• The build is respeced: 2 Paladin first, then 6 Swords Bard (martial weapon + heavy armour proficiencies).
• Replace the L4 Feat with Alert — you’re shifting towards melee damage.

L9 — Paladin

• Divine Smite — the smite engine for all those caster slots.
• Fighting Style: Defence / Great Weapon Fighting — depending on weapon choice.

L10 — Bard 10

• Spell: Freedom of Movement.
• Feat: Savage Attacker.

L11 — Bard 11

• Spell: Hold Monster.

L12 — Bard 12

• Cantrip: Mage Hand.
• Spells: Player’s choice.
• Magical Secrets: Banishing Smite (currently only the ranged version of the spell), Counterspell, Death Ward, Hunger of Hadar, Spirit Guardians.

Build Variants

Key Items

Combat Pattern

1. Flourish first: Slashing Flourish — 2 ranged attacks on 1 or 2 targets; with Extra Attack that’s 4 attacks.
2. Smites: full caster slots feed Divine Smite — bank the high slots for the boss.
3. CC wall: Hypnotic Pattern / Hold Person / Hold Monster at +10 Spell Save DC (Arcane Acuity + Band of the Mystic Scoundrel) — the party cleans up.
4. Burst (Patch 8+): upcasted Shadow Blade + Resonance Stone.

Act-by-Act Priority

Honour Mode Reminders

• ⚠️ Respec order is the build: 2 Paladin before the Bard levels — the proficiencies are the point of the Paladin dip.
• Dual hand crossbows vs melee: the Fighting Style choice changes the whole damage profile — Duelling only works “with a Shadowblade caster on your team.”
• Bank the high slots for smites; the control spells (Hypnotic Pattern, Hold) are the Honour run-savers at +10 DC.
• Death Ward + Counterspell (Magical Secrets) is your squishy insurance — keep both prepped on the boss.

Source

• Build PDF (canonical, updated 2026-07-18): Party Build Template — Google Drive
• OG build thread by Prestigious_Juice341 (linked from the PDF): Honour Mode 10/2 Smite Swords Bard SSB Complete — r/BG3Builds