Wiki Classes Bard

Bard

The party's best friend. A performer who runs a song and a dance at once, and lifts everyone beside them further than any other class can.

The Bard is the class that makes everybody else better. Nobody buffs a party harder: a bard's song lifts every blow a party lands, weapon or spell, and a good bard turns four fighters into something much worse to meet. You can dodge a fight's worst for your friends or hurt a foe yourself when you need to, but what you do best is stand beside people and play.

You do not fight with a sword. You fight with an instrument, and it only bites while you are performing. So you are always running something: a song in your hands, a dance on your feet, and a stream of words for whoever needs them. Your instrument comes to you at any level with instrument, and it takes whatever shape a song asks for by itself, so a trumpet becomes a drum when a song wants a drum.

Joining#

Bard is a guild you can join from level 10 as an Explorer. Go to the Foyer of the Bards Guild, off the Amphitheatre in Aurin, or type compass set bard to be walked there, and join bard. inquire tells you what the guild asks of you.

You leave with your instrument in your hand and a Box of Tricks under your arm. The box stays with you for as long as you are a bard. look box reads tonight's playbill: every buff you are holding up, and how long is left on it. rummage box finds you a fifth of your SP and EP, once in thirty minutes and never in a fight.

How a Bard Plays#

You run three layers at once, and they do not get in each other's way.

Layer	Command	How many at once	Cost
Dance	`dance <name>`	One	SP once, then held for as long as you like
Song	The song's own command	One, or two from level 54	SP every round, and nothing at all while nobody in your party is fighting
Words	The skill's own command	Any, as cooldowns allow	SP or nothing, once

scales is the first song and the free one. It does nothing but wake your instrument, and your hands start it by themselves the first time you swing a silent instrument. Any other song takes over from it. Every other song must be stopped before the next one starts: type its name again, or play stop.

Because a song costs nothing out of a fight, you can leave the hymn running and walk. The price is only ever paid while a blow is being struck.

Your song or your dance, not both of everything. You hold one song and one dance, so you are always choosing what the party needs most. From level 54 fanplay hands a song to your fan, who plays it at about two thirds of its strength while you take up another.

What a Bard Does for a Party#

Nobody else reaches skills and swings alike. A paladin's aura is +10% on everything, and the rest of what the fighting classes give lands on weapon swings only.

Level	Battle Hymn, everything the party deals	Dance of Valor, hit and critical points	Hype, one ally, on top	Incite, swings each ally in 45s	Dissonance, what foes deal	Dance of the Line, what the party takes
10	+12%	-	+8%	-	-15%	-
20	+14%	-	+9%	5	-17%	-
30	+16%	+5, +6	+9%	6	-18%	-15%
40	+18%	+6, +7	+10%	7	-20%	-17%
50	+20%	+7, +8	+11%	8	-21%	-19%
60	+22%	+8, +9	+12%	10	-23%	-21%
100	+30%	+12, +15	+15%	15	-30%	-30%

So in a fight that wants damage you play Battle Hymn and dance Valor, keep Hype on your hardest hitter and beat out Incite whenever it is ready. In a fight that wants defence you play Dissonance and dance the Line. soothe and Dance of Grace hold a party together when there is no healer. march refills everyone's SP, and jig their stamina. doubletime halves every cooldown in the party for as long as you can pay for it, and fromthetop wipes them all.

Fighting Alone, and Tanking#

A bard alone is no rogue, but it is no pushover. It sits with a cleric or a warrior behind a shield on damage, and lives on juggle or hymn, its vocals, and a rotation of things thrown from the Box of Tricks: rusty weapons, burning torches and moles with fuses. Dance of Seduction, at 55, gives your own damage another quarter.

You can also hold a line. Dance of Evasion is a true dodge of a quarter to a half of everything, spells included, and with Dissonance playing and mail on your back you stand about as long as a warrior with a two-handed weapon. mockery is your taunt, and Dance of Defiance dodges too and pulls every foe that swings at you. It is not a shield warrior, and it costs the party your song and your dance.

Passives#

Applause is always yours: a foe falling in the room while you play gives you some SP back. Eight more can be equipped with passives, two at a time.

Level	Passive	What it does
10	Perfect Pitch	Your instrument hits harder and truer.
20	Crowd Pleaser	Your heals are stronger.
30	Showmanship	Songs cost a quarter to a half less to hold.
40	Strong Lungs	What you lay on people lasts a fifth to two fifths longer.
50	Stage Presence	You dodge more in the tank dances, and every taunt draws more.
60	Second Fiddle	Your fan hits harder, lasts longer and plays your song far better.
70	Standing Ovation	A foe falling near you lifts your whole party's SP and EP.
80	Virtuoso	Every party buff you play is a sixth to three tenths stronger.

Skills#

One skill to a level from 1 to 60. Type powers to see them and help <skill> for any one of them.

Level	Skill	Cost	Cooldown	What it does
1	Scales	Free	-	Run endless scales on your instrument, at no cost. The accompaniment with no effect but the most important one: while any accompaniment plays, your instrument strikes with sonic force at your level. Any other accompaniment takes over from it. play stop ends it.
2	Cutting Remark	5 SP	8s	A small true thing said lightly, for psychic damage. Needs no instrument. Shares its cooldown with Mockery.
3	Instrument	Free	-	Your bound instrument. It comes with you when you join, it cannot be dropped, sold, stolen, broken or lost on death, and from this level it takes any of eight forms when you ask, or by itself when a skill wants one. instrument check reads what it strikes for.
4	Hype	8 SP	30s	Talk an ally up until they believe it. For half a minute everything they deal, weapon or spell, lands harder. On yourself it works too, but you have heard it before.
5	Bullseye	8 SP	10s	Sing a line of enchantment, pull a rusty weapon out of your box of tricks and let it fly. It finds its mark and falls to rust. An old axe chops, a serrated knife cuts, a bent spear goes through.
6	Mockery	8 SP	8s	A withering insult for psychic damage and enormous threat. It turns the foe on you, and a foe not yet fighting you charges in off balance.
7	Dissonance	1-7 SP a round	-	Saw out a grating, off-key accompaniment that rattles every foe in the fight, cutting the damage they deal for as long as you sustain it.
8	Shake it Off	10 SP	45s	Instantly heal yourself or an ally for a quarter of their health. Encouraging Word resets its cooldown.
9	Dance of Evasion	15 SP	-	A whirling stance that gives a chance to dodge attacks and spells outright. Bleeds, burns and poisons cannot be dodged.
10	Battle Hymn	1-6 SP a round	-	Sound a battle hymn. For as long as you sustain it, everything your party deals in the room, weapon or spell, lands harder. Plays on a trumpet.
11	Juggle	1-8 SP a round	-	Keep a cascade of props in the air and throw one at your foe every round. It keeps your instrument singing, draws the hidden out with applause, and needs no instrument in hand.
12	Perform	6 EP	-	Deliver a line of your own invention to the room as a performance. In an inn with an audience, it earns tips.
13	Wicked Burn	15 SP	12s	An insult so scathing the target takes psychic damage and literally bursts into flame, burning for five rounds.
14	Tiptoe	6 EP	1m	Move unheard: your arrivals and departures go unnoticed. Use it again to move openly. Cannot begin in combat.
15	Soothe	1-8 SP a round	-	A soothing melody that heals every member of your party in the room each round for as long as you sustain it. Plays on a harp.
16	Lore	8 EP	-	Read the history of a thing at a glance: item lore now, creature lore at 30, area lore at 50.
17	Incite	40 SP, or 20 for one ally	45s	Drive the whole party into a frenzy: on their next round everyone with a weapon unleashes a burst of blows, and the threat is theirs. Name one ally for half the SP. Beaten out on a drum.
18	Fan	25 SP	45s	Summon an adoring fan out of the crowd to follow you, fight your enemies, carry and sell loot, deliver things to other adventurers and bank your coins.
19	Fire Juggler	15 SP	20s	Light the torches and send them round a foe in a juggler's arc. They circle it for a while, burning it every round.
20	Heckle	20 SP	1m	A perfectly timed heckle. A creature loses its lines and can only swing for a few seconds. A player mid-cast is interrupted and left speechless, and one who is not casting costs you nothing.
21	Dance of Valor	40 SP	-	A stance of raised blades and raised spirits: every member of your party in the room hits more often and lands more critical blows.
22	Peek	5 SP	6s	Steal a glance into the next room: its look, and who and what waits there, without entering or being seen.
23	Lullaby	20 SP	30s	Pluck a few bars so gentle one foe's eyes close where it stands. It sleeps until struck or until the tune wears off. Bosses do not sleep. Plays on a lute.
24	Jig	1-4 SP a round	-	Strike up a jig. Your party in the room gets its stamina back every round for as long as you sustain it, and mends faster between fights. Plays on a tambourine.
25	Whack-a-Mole	20 SP	30s	Set fire to a mole and send it at a foe, where it explodes in a splash of fire over everything near it. Out of a fight, type whackamole bury: the mole goes to ground and waits for the first foe through the room.
26	Palm	Free	4s	Sleight of hand. Palm lifts a small thing off the floor or out of a container unseen; slip lets one go, to the floor or into someone's hand, with nobody the wiser.
27	Witty Comeback	Free	10s	In the moment after an enemy lands a critical hit, fire back a devastating retort, free.
28	Recite	5 EP	-	Your song book: write short performances into numbered slots and recite them to the room.
29	Craft Prop	12 EP	10s	Knock together a convincing stage prop of any object you describe. Hollow up close, and it comes apart after a while, but Prop Drop has a use for it.
30	Dance of the Line	30 SP	-	Call the rhythm of the fight: every member of your party in the room takes less damage. The dance every tank wants behind them.
31	Swarm	25 SP	30s	Sweep the harp and a swarm of bees comes down on one foe. It flails at them, loses rounds, misses far more often and is stung every round. Plays on a harp.
32	Just Dance	25 SP	18s	Call a step so infectious the target cannot stop dancing to it, rooted where it stands for a few seconds.
33	March	1-3 SP a round	-	Beat out a steady march that restores your own SP greatly and your party's a little each round. Beaten out on a drum.
34	Costume	10 EP	15s	Pass for a stranger of the gender and race you choose. Nobody can find you by your own name until it wears off.
35	Resonate	30 SP	20s	Lock a resonating vibration onto a foe, sonic damage every round for twenty seconds, and heavy threat.
36	Dirge	1-7 SP a round	-	A dead slow drumbeat that gets into every foe's feet. For as long as you sustain it they drag through the fight, swinging less often and tiring as they go. Beaten out on a drum.
37	Dance of Defiance	35 SP	-	Dance of Evasion with an attitude: every dodge hurls the fight's attention back onto you. The bard's tanking stance.
38	Fiddlebow	40 SP	45s	Whistle a tune and your fiddle bow leaves your hand. For a few rounds it flies round the room stabbing whatever is fighting you. Plays on a fiddle.
39	Limelight	25 SP	25s	Flood the room with blazing light, plunge it into darkness, or fill it with colored stage fog that hides everyone in it and makes every blow a guess.
40	Prop Drop	30 EP	1m	Plant one of your props on a foe or a friend. Later, wherever you are, sing it home with propdrop: the prop weighs what the real thing would and they go nowhere until it shakes itself apart.
41	Dance of Grace	50 SP	-	A dance with no protection of its own: it lays a steady heal over the party and strengthens every heal they receive.
42	Intermission	1-16 SP a round	1m	Call an intermission so commanding that every foe in the fight falls silent for five rounds, and no creature can use a special attack until it ends.
43	Earworm	25 SP	15s	Lodge a maddeningly catchy hook in a foe's head: heavy threat, a sting, and a tune that rips the hidden out of stealth.
44	Fear	25 SP	15s	Throw voice and gesture into one monstrous illusion, and a foe breaks and flees for a few seconds.
45	Clarion	30 SP	30s	A trumpet blast that turns the elements on a foe. For a while fire, cold, lightning, water, acid and magic all land much harder on it, from anyone. Plays on a trumpet.
46	Lament	30 SP	20s	A fiddle refrain that brings on tears and heartache: heavy psychic damage, and a foe that can hardly see to swing. Plays on a fiddle.
47	Charm	20 SP	12s	Talk an NPC into a small harmless act: a bow, a wave, a line of speech. Out of combat, NPCs only.
48	Stranglehold	40 SP	1m	Your fan gets both arms round a foe's neck and holds on, pinning it and throttling it for a few rounds. Now and then a fan lays down its life for the party.
49	Encouraging Word	Free	8s	In the moment after an enemy lands a critical hit, heal the one it struck and hand Shake it Off straight back. Free.
50	Double Time	1-14 SP a round	30s	Hammer out a double-time cadence that halves every cooldown for the whole party while you sustain it. Beaten out on a drum.
51	Reprise	40 SP	1m	Call for it again. The longest cooldown one ally is waiting on comes back at once.
52	Seduce the Dragon	60 SP	2m	Croon at a foe mid-battle. If it takes, it stops fighting you and turns on its friends for a while, and when the song ends it wanders off having forgotten the fight. Bosses are not fooled. Plays on a mandolin.
53	Eavesdrop	30 SP	10s	Let the next room's acoustics carry its conversation to your trained ear.
54	Fanplay	20 SP	1m	Hand the song you are playing to your fan, who keeps it going a little less well for a little less SP while you start another.
55	Dance of Seduction	50 SP	-	A mesmerizing dance for a solo act: your songs, words and tricks land harder, and your charms take more often.
56	Crescendo	1-30 SP a round	90s	Five rounds of music building and building: your party's damage climbs every round, and the last chord falls on every foe in the fight.
57	From the Top	150 SP	10m	Call the whole party back to the top: every one of their cooldowns is reset. Yours cannot be.
58	Orpheus	80 SP	2m	Play as Orpheus played. Every beast in the room lies down, and the wind and the weather turn on everything else in the fight. Plays on a flute.
59	Ventriloquist	20 SP	10s	Throw your voice so another character seems to have said something.
60	Wail	100 SP	30s	Scream like a banshee at everything in the room that your area skills do not spare. It will start a fight. Half sonic and half psychic, it deafens everything it strikes and stuns on a peak shriek.

The Guild#

The Bards Guild is at the Amphitheatre in Aurin. Lyana keeps the time in the Training Hall, and takes you through your guild's own story, chapter by chapter, from your first note to Valdris Manor. Behind the curtain, for members, is everything else: type backstage in the Foyer. The Green Room mends you faster than resting does, and Corin Vael in the Rehearsal Room also hands out chapters and takes them back. There is a shared song book in the Score Library, Ione Sable tunes your instrument at the Luthier's Bench, and you can change your costume in the Wardrobe. help bardguild has the whole map.

A bard needs no supplies. No song, word or trick uses up anything but your own breath.