Chaotic Neutral
Bard (Blade)
Race : Tiefling
17 Str - +1 THAC0, +1 Damage, 170lbs Weight Allowance
17 Dex - +2 missile attack adj., -3 AC
 9 Con
15 Int - 65% Learn Spell, 11 Spells/Lvl, +3 Lore Bonus
13 Wis
16 Cha - +1 Reaction Adj.

Haer'Dalis can be found in Mekrath's Lair, as part of the Five Flagons Playhouse quest.

Biography

When asked about his past, Haer'Dalis states that he is from the city of Sigil, a nexus of the planes and the ever-changing domain of the Lady of Pain. He claims he cannot explain it better than that, as the planars defy description by their very nature. Haer'Dalis traveled with a troupe of players, tieflings of plane-touched heritage like he, and they put on masterful productions to amuse both cambion and common berk alike. An indiscretion led to the troupe fleeing to the Prime Material Plane... here... which didn't bother Haer'Dalis much. He says that he is a Doomguard, believing in the inevitable decay of all things to make way for the new. The troupe has divided, but the tiefling bard is confident that new experience can only come of it.

Haer'Dalis has his own quest - The Planar Prison quest, where he can pick up a great suit of Bard-only armour.
Haer'Dalis and Aerie will hit it off, and this can affect the Aerie romance in an interesting way.

Bardan says, "Hmm ... Haer'Dalis is a strange one. His new-romantic style poetic musings and his tendency to call you his raven will make you want to rip out his heart on the spot. Widely held to be one of the more useless and irritating NPC's, Haer'Dalis does actually have some saving graces.

His stat line is very strong (apart from a low Constitution, but this gets him no penalties), and being a bard he comes in very handy in a variety of situations. Use him as a backup spellcaster *and* backup tank. Give him a katana in each hand, and put 3 *'s into Dual-Weild. Equip Dak'kon's Zerth Blade in his off hand, Celestial Fury in his main hand, and give him the Bardic Chain. Now he can either stand in the back and fire spells at his enemies, or buff your party with invisibilities and hastes, or he can cast Tenser's Transformation after buffing himself with stoneskins and mirror images, and he becomes a fearsome tank. A strength-increasing item is a good investment, but not essential.

One gripe is that being a Blade means that his Lore rating is rather lower than we've come to expect form a bard. Still, by the time he starts to hit higher levels, this shouldn't matter too much, and in the meantime, you can always make occasional use of identify scrolls and glasses of identification.

When he gets his High Level Abilities (ToB), Haer'Dalis really begins to shine. Use Any Item and Spike Traps set him apart from his non-rogueish counterparts, and can be so powerful as to unbalance the game if you abuse them. Still, it is fun to see enemies explode when they set foot on a couple of traps.

As I have said, he will annoy you with his ceasless prattle, but if you take a bit of time to develop his strengths, you will find him to be a surprisingly useful part of your team."

Kothoses says, "Haer'Dalis is one of those characters Love or hate him he has his place in the party all the way through SOA, though in ToB he is far too outclassed by most. I normally give him the belt of constitution & buff his con to 18 with this for 8 hours a day. With the special bardic chain mails you find throughout SoA he is never too far behind others in terms of AC. And best of all he has mage spells and as he advances so fast while your mages are at level 14 and 15 HD is casting spells as a 21st level caster. Summoning Skeletal warriors works great as fodder. Mage armour shield and mirror image are must have spells then offensive spin and he will cut through anything. AIways gave him Katanas as a weapon prof as soon as possible then when Yoshi dies he has Celestial fury in one hand and some applicable short sword in the other - a veritible killing machine."