Catalina's Guide to Bards
Deep within the musical center of Alyria, New Rigel, a young man walks quickly down the street. He wears simple clothing and a small flute in his hand. His dark eyes and unruly brown hair give him a wild appearance, but he tries to walk quickly away from the stage behind him. Many of the traffic in this street were the current audience at his last performance. Despite being known for his playing ability, he continued past his fans like he had an important agenda to keep. He made it to an intersecting alleyway before a hand reached out and shoved him into the wall. Not very surprised by this treatment, the young Bard looked up into the eyes of a Ranger who stood opposite of him. In his hand was a devilishly long dagger, and his face sported a malicious smile.
"Did I have much gold, brigand?" the Ranger sneered, "I hope you have some too so I can profit from your death."
The Bard's hand automatically went to his belt and felt where the Ranger's gold pouch was secured. It was indeed weighty and the Bard had hoped to get away with it. He was wrong, apparently.
"You can't have my gold, sir. It is mine and not yours," the Bard replied, stalling for time.
"BANDIT!" the Ranger lunged at the bard, who dove to the side and starting running up the walkway. When he heard the Ranger begin to cast a spell, he stopped and turned. Now, this would be the time for him to draw a weapon, or threaten him, or keep running. As the Ranger was about to finish his spell, the Bard lifted the silver flute to his lips and gently blew wind across it. The flute's piercing melody briefly drowned out the words in the Ranger's spell, but the Bard stopped his music short, just before the Ranger finished his Lightning Bolt spell. A brilliant flash of light illuminated even the darkest corners of the town, and blinded the Ranger just before his eyes could dictate the target of his spell. The spell foiled and fumbled, sparking out of existence before it really entered it, and the Ranger was left staggering.
However, the Ranger was determined and rushed the Bard as best as he could. True to his skill, the Ranger was on-target. The Bard, however, was not out of skills. He played a curling, light melody that soothed the entire crowd, and the Ranger stumbled in his rush. The calming melody made him temporarily forget why he was running and the Bard used the time to quickly run away, prize in hand.
Bard Class
The bard class is among the controversial classes in Materia Magica, specifically because a lot of people either underestimate it or think it is a worthless class compared to Rogue. Granted Rogue has some neat abilities that Bard doesn't get, like tracking or evasion, but Rogue doesn't get the music ability. I will go into how cool that is in a bit.
As it stands, the Bard/Rogue choice is only applicable to the scant few races that get the choice. There are races, like Minotaur, that would not be realistic to have Bard as an option and therefore must go Rogue. The Bard must alternate between using dagger, throwable weapons, and the best instrument he can get in order to compare to other spellcasters. A Bard's song may not be as strong as a Wizard's version of the spell, but some songs finish faster, cost no reagents, and some of the songs, like cure light, can be played while silenced. The key to a bard is, of course, music. Below is a list of proficiencies tied into a Bard.
Bard Proficiencies
Acrobatics
One of the primary defense skills, acrobatics is in common usage in Player vs. NPC fight. Acrobatics is common defense against melee attacks, letting you avoid one attack per round. There is a great deal of talk whether dodge or acrobatics is better. My experience has shown that both are very useful and should be practiced to maximum. Acrobatics seems to work better than dodge, but is more expensive to train and to get a skill better in. As one might guess, agility plays a major factor in the successful defense of acrobatics. To use, set your combat defense to 'acrobatics'.
Backstab
A must for any thief, backstab is a serious way to open up a combat round to do some serious damage. A hook or a dagger can be used to backstab opponents, and can inflict varying amounts of damage depending on your character's strength and agility, dagger type and damage capable of being inflicted based on your knowledge of the weapon. Unlike most skills, backstab can normally be used once per fight. Backstab seriously decays your weapon in a hurry, but after backstabbing once, the person/NPC is usually a bit more cautious the second time to avoid the same mistake. A way around this is to flee the fight, then come back in and backstab again. This is seen as a cowardly way to win a fight, especially against another Player. It has also ended fatally for the backstabber more often than not. Regardless, backstab is still a very useful skill and should be put in common use.
Dagger
Dagger is the weapon of choice for those who want to do serious damage and to do it quickly. No weapon has the accuracy of dagger, and no weapon is faster. Daggers, like swords, come in many shapes and sizes and are commonly iron. Daggers are also usually throwable, which can be a good way to start a fight in conjunction with backstab, as described above. If you want to use backstab, training dagger would be the best choice.
Dart
There are few dart-class weapons, and those that there are lack any sort of significance. This weapon is commonly ignored and any practice points used on dart would probably be folly.
Hand to hand
Hand to hand is best practiced in planning for the unexpected. Whether your weapon disintegrates in front of you or some hot-shot psionic disarmed you, hand to hand is a useful backup ability to do as much damage as you can while you rummage through your belongings and locate your misplaced weapon.
Hide
This useful ability allows your character to 'hide' into your surroundings. Hiding won't matter against NPCs, but to players who lack the 'sense life' spell, you will not appear on their screen. For those that do have the spell, you will appear as "You sense a hidden life form in this area." Obviously, this is just a vague reference that you are there and, without further attempts at observation, another player would not be able to determine who you are. The backside to the 'hide' skill is that you are very limited in what you can do while hiding. You can use 'where', 'affects', 'look', and use clan, formation, and tell channels. Anything else will dispel hide and you will appear visible.
Lore
Lore is, in essence, an identify spell that you don't need to cast. As your lore increases, you can identify many things merely by looking at them. Your proficiency in lore determines the level of item that you can identify. Mastered lore will tell you almost the same thing as an identify spell, which is useful since you don't need to spend precious seconds casting a spell, or being discouraged at a spell fumble. Lore would also free up a slot in your memorization spells for any non-psionic since you would not need to memorize the identify spell.
Lock-Picking
Don't have pass door? Bash isn't working? Can't find that infernal key? Well, your troubled days are over, then. Lock picking will allow you to open a door otherwise deemed impassible. Saves the time of searching all over the dungeon for the one key, provided there is one, by simply walking up to the door, busting out your lock picks, and then opening the door your own way. A lot more subtle than bash too.
Music
A bard would not be a bard without music. As odd as it may sound for a musician to be considered a combat class, music is one of the most versatile skills in the game. Instruments found all over Alyria can produce a different type of ability that increases your music ability. Chiefly, the instruments tend to be mostly flutes, with a wide range of others, and every instrument will increase your music ability. How music works is that you can play a string of notes, consisting of three to seven notes, and depending on their scale and inflection, you can cast a variety of songs such as detect invisibility, shield, sense life, levitation, fireball, lightning bolt, and you may even play some very powerful songs as your skill grows like tremor or even the flame wind. Music is considered to be easily disrupted in a player fight, but powerful nonetheless. Your songs never cost any type of reagents, and songs take less spell points and some stamina. While mastered music is impressive, you cannot play a great deal of the songs without an instrument that properly boosts your music skill. Instruments do take open a hand spot in your equipment list, where you would normally have a spellbook or any other odd item that you carry in addition to your weapon.
Magical Items
This skill is more or less your ability to use magical wands, staves, runes, and stones. When you hold a scroll and use it, you're tapping into your 'magical items' ability to use it. A magical item will not deplete a charge and mess up because your magical items skill is not well practiced, but it can take several attempts before it correctly casts. As your character grows more and more powerful, you will tend to rely less and less on these magical items.
Nunchaku
The nunchaku weapon skill is an obscure proficiency in that there are very few nunchakus in the game. Many players ignore this ability for there are no really powerful nunchakus that would help their character, nor is nunchaku possessive of any particularly useful skill that other weapons do not already have.
Peek
Peek is one of the most useful skills in the game as well. Looking at another player or an NPC may determine what they are wearing, but with the peek skill practiced, you can see what is in their inventory. Useful for looking for a particular item without having to kill every single NPC, peek allows you to make more intelligent decisions in picking your fights, or wondering if you should attack a really powerful NPC for a particular item if they don't even have it. Peek is not useful against certain high-level NPCs such as Archon Hunters, or Hunter Masters.
Sword
In addition to axe and spear, sword is one of the most common weapons in the game. Almost every weapon you will see will be a sword, and they range from mediocre to very powerful. Many fighter classes will start out with either a sword, axe, or spear, and you will progress as such. Some of the most powerful swords, like the indestructible sword of uncalling or even the very powerful Demator's Blade, can do a massive amount of damage while giving some beneficial side-effects. Sword, like most weapons, are only effective if you are in the front of a formation.
Second Attack
As a general rule in the game, a character can have up to four attacks plus the damage of their fireshield, if they have it. The second attack ability allows you to more often get a second strike in addition to your first for an increased amount of damage. If you have the 'haste' spell, you may as well get a third attack in as well. The more practiced your second attack is, the more of a chance you can get one in. The 'third attack' ability is dependent on the ability of second attack.
Scan
Useful in a variety of situations, scan allows you to look in direct line-of-sight in any of the applicable cardinal directions. The higher your scan ability, the more rooms in any given direction you may scan. You cannot scan into a darkened room and see the NPC/Players there, but you can use it to search for a door, portal, or specific person you are looking for. Shifted/mimicked players do not appear on scan as an ability to determine the real thing from a possible trap.
Sneaking
This skill, just as it sounds, is used for getting in and out of a room unnoticed. In effect, the text of your character entering and/or leaving the room is left out while you are sneaking. Sneaking will automatically dispel should you attack, but is not quite of a handicap as the hide skill. Sneaking does not improve the chance of aggressive NPCs not attacking you upon your entrance, but it might let you slip past a not-as-observant player, or sneak up on a friend and tag them then run away.
Stealing
This skill is only useful in CPK (Chaotic Player Kill) areas, and this will allow you to pilfer items in target's inventory, or their gold while in the room. There is a chance that the NPC or player may attack you while you steal, and the chance of stealing even if mastered is not always successful. This skill is suggested for only advanced players and to be used with extreme caution.
Throwing Star
Many items in Alyria can be thrown, but this skill pertains specifically to throwing stars. Not particularly useful in comparison to other throwing weapons, throwing star is a useful way of dealing extra damage in-between rounds of combat. There is a two second delay before you can throw again, to prevent spamming, and anything you throw will fall to the ground or vanish.
Throwing Knife
Very similar to throwing star, knives that can be thrown follow the same rules as the stars.
Whip
Whip is a weapon skill that has become more and more popular, though is not quite of common of a sight as, say, spear, but the ability to hit opponents from the rear of formations has allowed some people to practice it more, and search for deadlier whips.
Yo-Yo
As comical as it sounds, yo-yo has become another popular weapon proficiency and even has a high level weapon that is highly sought after. While there are no true advantages to yo-yo over other weapon types, it does not stop many people from practicing it.
Tips and Hints
As a bard, your sole survival and saving grace is a single ability: music. Without it, you would be as effective as a paralyzed Minotaur in lava. Music allows for a significant range of spells that can be played depending on your musical ability. Despite having 100% music, you will still not be able to play some of the higher songs without an instrument capable of playing it. As a bard, you should continually be on the lookout for the next best instrument. There are a few city shops that sell music specific equipment and can be found in Pirate's Cove, New Rigel, and Sigil.
This is not to say that music is all you should practice. Obviously, a bard is classed under "Thief" and should reflect as much in your progress in the class. Sneaking, hide, second attack, throwing knife, all these things should get high priority over, say, yo-yo. What a lot of people do, including myself, is I save practices from my previous class (or if Bard is your first class, save some of your initial practices) and expend them all onto music as soon as I can. This will practice the skill to a maximum of 75%, and through continual use, will allow that skill to rise slowly, but surely. The goal of any Bard is to have mastered music, because that is when you can start doing serious damage.
As far as your character's statistics go, you want a high agility and sanity for Bard. The agility will play into your ability to fight in combat, since it is not a combat-heavy class, and will increase your chance of defense and fleeing. Sanity will allow you to play your songs during combat a lot more effectively than without. Wisdom is always important, as is vitality, but that is for all classes, not just Bard.
As I mentioned before, songs are composed of 3 to 7 notes, and can have the usual inflections upon them, such as the sharp (#), or the flat (b), and these have subtle and drastic effects on your songs. List of songs and their effects can be easily obtained through almost anywhere, and every bard has the preferred list of songs memorized by heart. What I mean by this is that a shield song that consists of three notes will not be the same as one that uses 5 notes. Likewise, a song with the notes A A A, will not have the same affect as one play A# Ab A#. Though there are the same notes, the sharps and flats change the melody and thus, the spell it casts. Songs generally don't vary in power, but they do vary in spell points and stamina cost to cast it, not to mention the time it takes to play. A song that takes three notes could easily take more spell points than one that takes 6, but since the 6-note version requires a higher proficiency to play, it would not be immediately available to beginner Bards.
For those musically challenged, here is a crash course in the ways of music. The scale, in this game, follows the treble of scale of F, G, A, B, C, D, E. A sharp increases the pitch a half-step, such that an F# may be higher than an F, but it is not quite a G. Likewise, a flat drops the pitch a half step. An Gb is not an F, but is the same as an F#. Realistically, there are different octaves and double-octaves and of course the infernal bass scale, but music is enough of a headache as simple as Vassago had made it in Alyria. The Immortals freely encourage testing of music so that you can determine what each song does and where your limits are. Bards are truly their own particular class, but it is also one with a high learning curve. If you don't understand what it is to be a Bard, you probably won't do well until you figure it out. Music isn't impossible to understand, just takes a bit more thought than second attack does.
Equipment
As stated before, the only equipment a Bard should be concerned with are instruments. Traditionally and generally, instruments are hand-held objects that can be used to play songs. Some, like a bell ankle bracelet, can be worn on the foot and still played as a song. Some instruments, like the magical bagpipes, cast their own spells and have other side abilities. As a first classer, the instrument shop in Sigil or New Rigel will contain all your needs for instruments. In second class, Garan in Sigil has the enchanted silver flute at level 70 that can hold you over well until third class, where you should work to obtain the silver flute. Near the end of third class, you'll want to travel to Pirate's Cove and buy the magical bagpipes, which add 45 to your hit points and it casts the spell 'stone skin' when you hold it. As your fourth class, you'll want to save your quest points and buy the perm curse well-crafted violin from Lord Maldra. This instrument is the best in the game until you Archon, and it has the added advantage of always being in your inventory, even if you die in a CPK room. After you Archon, bards will want to obtain the viola, which is by far, the best instrument in the game.
Role-Playing
For those interested in making the traditional bard as a background for their character, bards have been telling stories and singing songs since time can remember. The legacy of the bard marks the desire of an individual to entertain others through personal feats and musical comprehension. They are often mysterious and described as "odd" or "abnormal" in regards to the general populace. This comes from a desire to do the unexpected, an underlying talent in a bard. Bards are often bordering-on-broke travelers, or lost journeymen, whose only means of income is to play a popular or self-written song for people who would like to hear to it. The songs and stories bards are so well known for capture the audience's heart and soul, making them dying to hear the next verse or stanza or chapter. Bards tend not to be evil, but are believed to be good people, for they raise morale with their songs, and spread a general good mood amongst the people they meet. The death of a famous bard would shake someone harder than the death of a famous warrior would, simply because the warrior never touched a person's life as much as a bard could.
In addition to their quirky humor, questionable appearance, sociable good charm, and extremely well-talented performance in music or storytelling, bards are often either loners or join up in caravans with other bards. They rarely mingle with non-bards, and often not by their will. Bards often find themselves among royalty, gaining the chance to impress the king or queen and getting a favor from their royal court is among the more sought-after successes a bard could imagine. Because of their solitary nature, bards are often found without companionship and the lack of company tends to be their greatest weakness against those who would oppose them. However, war or peace, the tradition of the bard will die only when all civilization dies around them, for people will always want to have someone make them smile.
Class Combinations
Bard is a wide middle class that can benefit from a great deal of other classes. Chiefly among those is a Druid and/or Psionic. The ability to cast a great deal of spells without memorization or spellbooks leads a significant advantage to the character, however that class trio is vulnerable to being blinded if they have no potions. Following is a list of classes and their benefits/weaknesses.
Barbarian - a free-ranging songspell class like Bard would benefit highly from a Barbarian class since Barbarian is combat-heavy. The downfall is the ability to defend, and the agility that Barbarian purposely ignore, can mesh none too nicely with the bard's weaker approach. However, the ability to inflict heavy damage in melee fights while using a Bard's songs as a magical distraction and attack can lead to some very dangerous combinations.
Cavalier - a mounted warrior, cavalier is a medium for defense and attack as far as fighter classes go. While the bard would still gain an advantage in combat from going cavalier, the lack of dependability on magic could be an early danger for the bard. Once conquered, a cavalier/bard would lay waste to a lesser or equal enemy.
Druid - a cleric class more designed around defense through offense, the bard's magical weaknesses are more than covered by the element invocations and evocations of the Druid. The overall combo still leaves the character vulnerable to heavy melee attacks, the sheer magical power of the two classes would leave any one foolish enough to attack them helpless and, eventually, dead.
Monk - the monk has the advantage of casting cure blindness, in addition to a more powerful healing spell. The monk would be a great choice as a backup class for the bard, shoring up the Bard's weaknesses in healing, and further reinforcing the magical background of the bard.
Paladin - the only fighter class that can cure blind, the Paladin is seen as one of the weaker fighter classes. The simple fact that it is a fighting Cleric benefits the Bard is more ways than imaginable. The bard would get protection by the clerical spells while still increasing its offensive capabilities immensely.
Priest - the epitome of a cleric, the Priest would all but completely secure any disadvantages the bard has in regards to healing or cures. The priest class would also expand on the bard's previously hindered ability of having more than one way of getting out of a tight spot. While the calm song is indeed useful, having word of recall and heal will allow a bard to quickly recover from a fight and be ready to go again in no time.
Psionic - the fighter of the mage classes, psionic utilizes mental discipline to combat its foes. Psionic would build upon the bard's already expansive abilities, allowing more versatility and giving it the double advantage of needing no spellbook to silent-cast its spells. While the psionic may have very similar spells to the bard, one will realize that something may not be blinded by a song, but will under mind control, and an NPC that is strong to a psionic's lightning may not be so against a bard's fireball.
Ranger - A lot of people argue that going Ranger is rather redundant in conjunction with a thief class. However, Ranger introduces some skills that the bard looked over such has enhanced endurance (always a plus for a stamina-heavy class like bard), and tracking. Ranger also has throwing, expanding on the bard's throwing knife, and concentrates more on the dagger than the instrument.
Rogue - N/A
Shaman - a more or less evil juju cleric, the Shaman would make use of the darker side of magic that the bard ignores. In addition to having healing spells, the Shaman's evil magic could weaken down an opponent in a way a bard cannot. The Shaman also has not-quite as popular magical abilities like find familiar, protection from good/evil, and abjure that could cause some nasty surprises for any opponent.
Valkyrie - an ungodly combination, were I to oppose a valkyrie/bard, I would resort to some pretty desperate measures to cause some damage to them. Despite being female only, the Valkyrie's second defense in conjunction with the slow song from the bard would have this class taking very little damage from an opponent. Though the magical defense is weak, the valkyrie utilizes the spear to step up the bard's offensive capabilities to make this a truly fearsome combo.
Wizard - capable of practically every spell in the game, wizards use a lot of reagants and memorization capabilities to engage in a fight. Magically reinforcing the bard in combat, a fight against a stronger opponent would probably end quickly since the character would not be able to take much damage. While this may seem unworthy, the Wizard/Bard combination HAS the ability to end a long fight quickly.
