Song and Silence: A Mod for Bards and Thieves
A Gibberlings Three Mod
Authors: Andyr, Grim Squeaker, and NiGHTMARE
On the web: Home page and discussion forum
Version 18
Languages: English, (Simplified) Chinese, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
GitHub: Gibberlings3/SongAndSilence
Song and Silence: A Mod for Bards and Thieves adds many options to those who use thieves and bards. It includes a selection of items tailored to bards and thieves as well as nine new kits. The mod works on the original Baldur's Gate II (with or without the Throne of Bhaal expansion) as well as the Enhanced Editions of Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, and Icewind Dale. The conversion projects BGT, Tutu, and EET are also supported. For bug reports and suggestions please visit the discussion forum.
This mod is designed to work with Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition, BG2: Shadows of Amn (with or without the expansion pack Throne of Bhaal), Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, and with the mod conversions Enhanced Edition Trilogy, Baldur's Gate Trilogy, and Baldur's Gate Tutu. The mod is fully compatible with the changes made in the Ashes of Embers "Universal Weapons" component, provided Song and Silence is installed after it. The Rogue Rebalancing and Refinements mods from Spellhold Studios also alter rogues (bards and thieves); if you are using these then you should get the benefits of whichever was installed most recently. Until I get HLAs (High Level Abilities) done in this mod I would recommend installing one of them before this mod, so you get their HLAs and my new kits and changes to classes. All the new kits in this mod currently use the standard HLA tables so will be compatible with Refinements and Rogue Rebalancing. If you have kitted Imoen or Nalia with the Adventurer kit from the NPC Kitpack, installing Song and Silence's Adventurer kit will update them to the (slightly different) S&S version of the Adventurer. The Acrobat and Chorister bard kits will use the additional songs from IWDification's Bard Song component.
If you should encounter any bugs, please report them to the authors at the Song and Silence forum. In addition, Song and Silence is available on GitHub, so fixes and changes can be submitted by the community.
First time installing a mod? Check out G3's comprehensive tutorial: A New Player’s Guide to Installing and Playing Mods.
Special Note for Siege of Dragonspear from Steam/GOG
Good Old Games (GOG) and Steam both package the additional content for Siege of Dragonspear in a method that WeiDU, the tool used to install this mod, cannot access. You must run a program called DLC Merger on your SoD installation before you can install this or any other WeiDU-based mod.
Enhanced Editions Note
The Enhanced Editions are actively supported games. Please note that every patch update will wipe your current mod setup! If in the middle of a modded game you might want to delay the patch update (if possible) as even after reinstalling the mods, you might not be able to continue with your old savegames. Alternatively, copy the whole game's folder into a new one that can be modded and will stay untouched by game patches. It is important that you install the mod to the language version you are playing the game in. Otherwise, the dialogues of the mod will not show but give error messages.
Windows
Song and Silence for Windows is distributed as a self-extracting archive and includes a WeiDU installer. To install, simply double-click the archive and follow the instructions on screen.
Alternatively, the files can be extracted into your game directory using 7zip or WinRAR. When properly extracted, your game directory will contain setup-song_and_silence.exe and the folder song_and_silence. To install, double-click setup-song_and_silence.exe and follow the instructions on screen.
You can run setup-song_and_silence.exe in your game folder to reinstall, uninstall or otherwise change components.
macOS
Song and Silence for macOS is distributed as a compressed tarball and includes a WeiDU installer.
First, extract the files from the tarball into your game directory. When properly extracted, your game directory will contain setup-song_and_silence, setup-song_and_silence.command, and the folder song_and_silence. To install, double-click setup-song_and_silence.command and follow the instructions on screen.
You can run setup-song_and_silence.command in your game folder to reinstall, uninstall or otherwise change components.
Linux
Song and Silence for Linux is distributed as a compressed tarball and does not include a WeiDU installer. Linux users will need to do a one-time install of WeiDU (and a few other adjustments) as described in this great writeup.
To install, run 'WeInstall song_and_silence in your game folder.
Note for Complete Uninstallation
In addition to the methods above for removing individual components, you can completely uninstall the mod using setup-song_and_silence --uninstall at the command line to remove all components without wading through prompts.
Each component is separate and optional. The list of components is as follows:
Changes to trueclass bards and thieves, and unmodded game kits (required
for other components)
Required for all other components.
This component changes thieves and bards to be more in line with P&P rules and my own personal views on the classes. Firstly, alignment restrictions have been changed. Thieves can now be of any alignment (previously Lawful Good was prohibited) as can kitless Bards and Blades. Jesters and Skalds can now be of any non-Lawful alignment.
Secondly, this component fixes several bugs to do with bards and rogues in the unmodded game. These are listed below. Some of these bugs may be fixed by other mods/patches/fixpacks such as BG2 Fixpack. There will be no problems with having the fixes from both sources installed.
- Blades not actually suffering a penalty to their Pick Pockets skill as the description states.
- Skalds were not getting a bonus to hit as the description states.
- Swashbucklers had incorrect maximum proficiency slots in Katana, Crossbow, Short Bow and Sling.
Thirdly, thieves (kitless and kitted) can now place 3 proficiency points in Two Weapon Fighting Style. The Swashbuckler description has been altered to reflect the fact that this is now not unique to them.
Further versions will include HLA changes - at the moment I would suggest using aVENGER's Rogue Rebalancing from Spellhold Studios as an alternative. aVENGER has graciously allowed us to use his work as a basis for HLAs in this mod, so if you've been using Rogue Rebalancing and liked that you should hopefully enjoy this mod too!
Add new bardic store and thief items
Not available for IWDEE
This component adds a new storekeep, Raoul, to the game who sells a variety of interesting new items. These are mainly for bards but other classes may find something to suit as well... So be sure to take a peek. Raoul can be found standing between two tents at the Nashkel Carnival in BGEE/BGT/Tutu, and outside the Five Flagons at the Merchant's Square in the Athkatla Bridge District in BGIIEE/BGT/BG2. Note that while Raoul will appear in both the Carnival and the Bridge District in BGT games, his store inventory will not carry over from Nashkel to Athkatla.
A selection of new items designed with thieves in mind has also been added; in BGEE/BGT/Tutu they can be found in the inventory of Black Lily (in the Thieves' Guild in the city of Baldur's Gate) and in BGIIEE/BGT/BG2 you can find them with Roger the Fence (in the Sewers of Athkatla underneath the Temple District).
Install Acrobat bard kit
ACROBAT: As entertainers, most Acrobats are typically found accompanying carnivals or circuses, although a troupe of Acrobats can put on a remarkable show all by themselves. The often perform in large taverns or in clubs, using their arts to draw in the crowd and captivate them long enough for the proprietor to drain their purses. Acrobats are flashy and love to show off their skills; whatever they do, they like to do with a sense of style and a flair for the dramatic. Acrobats sometimes become cat burglars extraordinaire, and they are also useful adventuring allies, as they can squeeze into places where others cannot go without the aid of magic. Their skill at avoiding traps and other dangers also makes them excellent scouts.
Advantages:
- +1 bonus to Armor Class
- +1 bonus to Armor Class vs. missiles every 8 levels
- May place up to 2 proficiency points in slings, darts and daggers
Disadvantages:
- May only place proficiency points in weapons a thief can use
- May not wear armor heavier than Studded Leather
- Only has one-half normal lore value
Install Chorister bard kit
CHORISTER: Music, whether hymn, symphony or dark chanting intonation, plays an important part in the services of most deities. For aiding in performing rituals or just leading the faithful in worship, most holy places have at least one bard, known as a Chorister.
Choristers are not only to be found within temple walls, however; many faiths use them as missionaries, helping to bring new worshippers into the fold. Many an adventuring bard with a religious bent can also end up as a Chorister, finding their prayers answered by the deity they venerate.
Advantages:
- Knows a small selection of divine spells. These are accessed and memorized
as Mage spells:
Level 1: Armor of Faith, Cure Light Wounds, Doom
Level 2: Chant, Draw Upon Holy Might, Slow Poison
Level 3: Cure Medium Wounds, Glyph of Warding
Level 4: Defensive Harmony, Holy Power
Level 5: Mass Cure
Level 6: Bolt of Glory
Disadvantages:
- Only has one-half normal Lore value
- Only has one-half Pick Pockets percentage
Install Dirgesinger bard kit
DIRGESINGER: Dirgesingers voice melodies not of celebration and joy, but of sorrow and grief. They seek to spread this melancholy outlook far and wide, believing that only those who give in to their sadness can truly understand the world.
These sad wanderers seek to express their grief through songs that teach the hearts of their listeners the meaning of true sorrow. Some of these fallen bards want nothing more than for others to understand the depths of their loss. A few are sinister creatures who believe that, since joy has been extinguished for them, they must in turn extinguish the joy of others by using their powers to teach the folly of love, the futility of hope, and the finality of the grave. Dirgesingers of this last sort often associate themselves with powerful undead; serving in the courts of vampire lords or lich-kings.
Dirgesingers are limited to non-good alignments.
Advantages:
- Song Curses enemies, giving them a -1 penalty to saves and THAC0
- From level 5 may use a Song of Horror 1/day. This has the same effects
as the level 2 Wizard spell, Horror
- From level 7 may use a Song of Grief 1/day. This has the same effects
as the level 4 Wizard spell, Confusion
- From level 9 may use a Song of Awakening 1/day. This has the same effects
as the level 5 Wizard spell, Animate Dead
Disadvantages:
- Song does not improve with level
- Only has one-half normal Lore value
Install Luring Piper bard kit
LURING PIPER: Luring Pipers are often employed as rat-catchers or similar vermin control specialists by townsfolk or farmers. By using their enchanting song they are able to charm their foes into traps or away from the town or farmland. However it unwise to cross a luring piper as their song can affect more than just vermin.
Advantages:
- Song charms enemies unless they save vs. spells at +2, with a -1 penalty per 5 levels of the bard
- Has a +1 bonus to saves vs. spells per 8 levels
- Can cast Curse once per day. The opposite of a Bless spell, this gives foes a -1 penalty to THAC0 and saves
Disadvantages:
- Cannot learn mage spells from the schools of Conjuration, Invocation or Transmutation
Install Adventurer thief kit
If you have kitted Imoen or Nalia with the Adventurer kit from the NPC Kitpack, installing this will update them to this version of the Adventurer.
ADVENTURER: The adventurer is a jack-of-all-trades, not so much a thief as a character who takes advantage of general thiefly skills on adventures. An Adventurer is preferred by many adventuring parties, because he is much less likely than other thieves to betray or steal from his own companions. The successful Adventurer knows the value of trust and cooperation, while many a "street thief" has been raised on duplicity and (sometimes literal) backstabbing.
Advantages:
- +5% to Open Locks and Find/Remove Traps every other level
- Gains a +1 bonus to all saves at levels 1, 8 and 14
Disadvantages:
- No backstab multiplier
Install Burglar thief kit
BURGLAR: This sort of thief is the consummate Burglar. He is an expert at breaking and entering the most difficult buildings, bypassing walls, locks, traps and guardians, grabbing the best loot, and escaping unnoticed as stealthily as he arrived.
Advantages:
- +10% to Find Traps, Hide In Shadows, Move Silently and Open Locks
- Can Specialize in Daggers, Darts, and Slings
Disadvantages:
- -20% to Pick Pockets and Set Traps
- Gains trap usage at half the rate of a normal thief
Install Soulknife thief kit
SOULKNIFE: This sort of thief, a being possessed of potent psionic power, recognizes his or her own mind as the most beautiful and deadly thing in all creation. With practice, they have learned to forge their mental strength into a semisolid blade of pure psychic energy. This weapon, known as a mind blade, means that even when unarmed the soulknife is but a thought away from a deadly strike.
Advantages:
- Can achieve Mastery in short swords
- Can manifest a Mind Blade once per day per 10 levels. This short sword
is a psionic weapon that lasts for 1 round/level, and counts as being of
enchantment 1 higher than it is when determining what it can hit, to a
maximum of +5. Each hit heals the Soulknife 1 Hit
Point. THAC0 bonus
and damage improve by 1 per 5 levels, to a maximum of +5 at level 25. Range
improves by 10 every 5 levels to a maximum of 50 at level 25.
Disadvantages:
- Cannot set traps
- Only gets 15 skill points per level
Install Sharpshooter thief kit
SHARPSHOOTER: This sort of thief tends to be a stealthy character, preferring to engage a target from afar with bolt or arrow rather than face them in dangerous melee combat. Unlike the ranger, the Sharpshooter uses her skills to aid her dubious activities involving the property and lives of others rather than the protection of the great outdoors.
Although well-versed in the use of many missile weapons, the sharpshooter is not as resilient as a true warrior and the propensity for missile attacks over melee means that they lack the opportunism of other thieves when it comes to backstabbing. They tend not to see this as a disadvantage, instead striking from the shadows with a well-aimed projectile, or setting a deadly trap for those who would follow, when necessary.
Advantages:
- Can attain Grand Mastery in any missile weapon a thief can use
- May coat his missile weapon in poison once per day per 4 levels. Attacks
made with the weapon in the next round will inject the poison into the
target, dealing out 1 damage per second for 24 seconds (3 damage for the
first 6 seconds). A saving throw vs. poison limits damage to 12 total.
Disadvantages:
- No backstab multiplier
Install Shadowdancer thief kit
Not available on EEs
Since BGEE/BGIIEE/IWDEE already have their own Shadowdancer, this kit is only available for BG2/Tutu/BGT.
SHADOWDANCER: Operating in the border between light and darkness, Shadowdancers are nimble artists of deception. They are mysterious and unknown, never completely trusted but always inducing wonder when met. Despite their link with shadows and trickery, Shadowdancers are as often good as evil. They may use their incredible abilities as they wish.
Shadowdancers often work in troupes, never staying in one place too long. Some use their abilities to entertain. Others operate as thieves, using their abilities to infiltrate past defenses and dupe others. All Shadowdancer troupes maintain an aura of mystery among the populace, who never know whether to think well or ill of them.
Advantages:
- Gains a +5% bonus to Hide and Move Silently skills per 2 levels
- Has permanent Infravision
- May cast Reflected Image once per day
- From level 5, can summon a Shadow once per day. The Shadow increases
in power as the Shadowdancer gains levels, has stealthy abilities, and
is summoned for 8 hours.
- From level 8, may cast Shadow Door once per day. Further uses are gained
at levels 14 and 20.
Disadvantages:
- May not set traps
- Only gains 15 skill points per level
Andyr, Grim Squeaker, and NiGHTMARE created this mod. You can visit The Gibberlings Three for information on this and any other mods on which we may be working.
Thanks go to those hanging around IRC that helped with ideas and told me what sucked. And cheers to SimDing0 and Jester for some testing! Thanks to aVENGER for allowing us to use his HLA tables as a basis for our work. Thanks to Cam for letting me pilfer his Curse spell for the Dirgesinger and Luring Piper, and igi for fixing the Luring Piper song while it was giving me grief.
Thanks to the still active and vibrant Infinity Engine modding community.
Thank you to our translators:
- (Simplified) Chinese: Lewis Liu
- French: Zayn and Lothringen of the d'Oghmatiques
- German: Roter Berserker
- Italian: Coland
- Polish: Yarpen
- Russian: SubZero400 & Alisia & yota13
Tools Used in Creation
- WeiDU by Wes Weimer, the bigg, and Wisp
- Near Infinity by Jon Olav Hauglid, FredSRichardson, and argent77
- IESDP maintained by igi and lynx
- Notepad++, by the Notepad++ team
- WeiDU Notepad++ Highlighters by cmorgan, updated by argent77
This mod may not be sold, published, compiled or redistributed in any form without the consent of its authors. The Song and Silence mod is ©2004 - present, Andyr, Grim Squeaker, and NiGHTMARE.
Version 18 - January 3, 2024
- Added (Simplified) Chinese translation from Lewis Liu
Version 17 - October 27, 2023
- Big thanks to TotoR, who sent along fixes for the following:
- Bardic Leathers are magical armor and, as such, should be restricted from being worn with Protection Rings/Amulets/Cloaks
- Due to a bad copy-paste, the starting equipment for these kits in ToB was default paladin equipment
- The Soulknife's Mind Blade was doing one more damage than it should
- The Shadowdancer's Shadow had access to abilities (e.g. backstabbing, other thieving skills) that it shouldn't
- The Polish translation was borked, but Roberciiik sent along a fix
- The AC of the Shadowdancer's Shadow was incorect at higher levels
- The mod could fail to install if re-installed during a WeiDU stack operation, e.g. if it ended being re-installed because the player was removing or re-installing a mod installed prior to it in the mod stack
Version 16 - March 7, 2022
- Updated Russian translation, courtesy of abalabokhin
- Fixed harmless warning about 'no game rule for SOD'
- Fixed bug where Raoul would not spawn in the BG2 portion of an EET game
Version 15 - February 7, 2022
- Thanks to TotoR and Graion Dilach for the fixes:
- As starting equipment in ToB, acrobats were receiving armor they couldn't wear
- Due to a typo, Choristers were not receiving their one-half lore penalty
- Acrobat and Chorister will receive the normal bard song progression on IWDEE
Version 14 - December 20, 2021
- Minor corrections to the Italian translation
Version 13 - December 16, 2021
- New Italian translation, courtesy of Coland
- Fixed potential sound issue on Linux installs
Version 12 - November 4, 2021
- Updated Russian translation from SubZero400, Alisia, and yota13
- Updated art to address display issues for Tress of Jessecyl and Skald's Battered Buckler
Version 11 - November 3, 2021
- Added PI integration
- Fixed bug where the Sound Defense description erroneously stated it uses Dagger proficency on EE games
- Renamed the Luring Piper kit
- Luring Piper will now use existing Curse spells (from e.g. IWDifIcation) if found; if not it uses a version adapted from IWDEE 2.6
- All kit ability tables extended to level 50 for those who want to play without an XP cap
- Install Shadowdancer thief kit will now be properly skipped on EE installs, as they already have a version of this kit
- Add new bardic store and thief items will now be properly skiped on IWDEE games
- The Acrobat and Chorister kits will now detect and use IWDification bard songs if they're installed
- The Returning Throwing Dagger +1 will now get strength bonuses in EE games, like other throwing daggers
- Innate abilities derived from existing spells will now retain their descriptions, as these are visible in EE games
- Expanded the checks for Imoen receiving theS&S version of the Adventurer kit; if there are further instances where she's not getting this kit it will have to be fixed on NPC Kitpack's end
- Added compatibility checks with Rogue Rebalancing, IWDification, and others thanks to TotoR
Version 10 - August 03, 2020
- Added Russian version, by SubZero400, Alisia, and yota13
Version 9 - August 27, 2018
- Added compatibility for IWDEE
- Fixed bug where Nalia and Imoen would not get the S&S version of the Adventurer kit when used in conjunction with NPC Kitpack
- The bard songs of the Luring Piper and Dirgesinger have had their areas of effect upped to match the bardsong of Jesters (15' radius)
- The curse spell of the Luring Piper no longer reports 'Bless' on its target
- The Luring Piper bardsong can now be resisted by elven sleep/charm resistance (if installed from Fixpack or the EEs); the spell will also no longer apply effects or require saving throws from non-humanoids
Version 8 - October 3, 2016
- Added EET compatibility
- Fixed EE item description formatting (en dash prefix in lists)
- Updated WeiDU to v240
- Updated Polish translation (thanks Cahir)
Version 7 - September 15, 2016
- Updated to latest version of fl#add_kit_ee function for compatibility with EE 2.0
- Replaced outdated HANDLE_CHARSETS function with the updated one included in WeiDU
- Corrected some errors with usage of HANDLE_CHARSETS (thanks Isaya)
- Corrected some encoding errors in English .tra files (thanks Isaya)
- Corrected some descriptions that displayed duplicated usability info on EE (thanks Isaya)
- Corrected some typos in kit and item descriptions
- Updated WeiDU to v239
- Updated French translation (thanks Isaya)
Version 6 - September 25, 2014
- Raoul will now appear in the Nashkel Carnival for BGT games
- Updated all kits and content to work on BGEE/BGIIEE games
- Streamlined install of Raoul's audio
- Purged several empty/unused/unnecessary files, consolidated others
Version 5 - April 30, 2010
- Updated WeiDU to v216
- Resolved compatibility issue with Assassin's Poison Weapon patching (thanks aVENGER)
- Fixed Chorister and Dirgesinger armor usability issues (thanks Mike1072)
- Fixed Acrobat scroll and potion usability issues (thanks Mike1072)
- Fixed "Myself" script error causing incorrect targeting (thanks Lollorian)
Version 4 - July 02, 2009
- Updated WeiDU to v211
- Added German translation (thanks Roter Berserker)
- Fixed bug causing everyone EXCEPT Nalia and Imoen to be turned into Adventurers (thanks Steve and Mike1072)
- Fixed Summon Shadow spell causing crashes (thanks Mike1072)
- Ensure thieves get 3 points in dual-wielding (thanks Nythrun and Mike1072)
- Fixed typos in readme and .tra files
Version 3 - August 1, 2008
- Updated WeiDU to v208
- Added README/VERSION
- Removed obsolete auto-update.bat
- Cosmetic fixes to readme
- French translation (thanks Zayn and Lothringen of the d'Oghmatiques)
- Polish translation (thanks Yarpen)
- Fixed bugs and reported problems through June 2008 (thanks Nythrun)
Version 2 - September 18, 2007
- Updated WeiDU to v200
- Tra-ified, for ease of potential translators
- Tweaked the songs of the Dirgesinger and Luring Piper kits
- Tweaked the Adventurer's abilities
- Incorporated the PnP bard spell progression table
- Increased the cost of Caster's Chain, as it was too cheap
- The mod will now detect Idobek's NPC Kit and use the Adventurer kit from this mod for Nalia and Imoen instead
- Changed the way Raoul is spawned, as it could interfere with fog-of-war clearance
- Given the Sharpshooter a little power boost
- Added the Shadowdancer thief kit
Version 1 - January 5, 2005
- Initial release... If you have read as far down the ReadMe as this, congratulations. May your loins sire many children. Now go and play.