Bard Class Overview Bard's relationship with the other classes: Mage Thief \ / Necro Bard \ / Cleric | Druid | Warrior Mage, thief and warrior form three points of a triangle with cleric in the center. Necromancer falls between mage and cleric, druid between warrior and cleric, and bard would fall between thief and cleric. Thematically, bards are performers, diplomats, spies and explorers. They are skilled in magical and non-magical manipulation of living creatures. Their abilities are both flashy to their targets and subtle to third-party observers. Bards use magic but do so in a way that is radically different than other classes. A thief's shadow disciplines are probably the closest that there are. Bards do not cast spells, therefore all of their abilities are skills. Mages garner spellpower from the planes, necromancers from spirits, clerics from gods, druids from nature and thieves from shadow. Bards draw their power from a different source: themselves. Indeed, bards are probably the closest thing we'll ever get to psionics on Alter Aeon. Unlike other classes, the bard's champion stat is charisma. It the power of their presence that allows them to draw upon themselves for inner strength and project it onto others. Dexterity helps with the physical skills, and intelligence helps with their lore and cognitive skills. Bard has eight skill trees. The three biggest ones are the bard's performance skills: sing, play (melody), and dance. These are the bailiwicks of the bard class that let them deal damage, recover between battles, and confuse the bejeebus out their opponents. They consume mana and movement and are round-by-round actions. The other skill trees are for mob manipulation and world interaction. The class is rounded out with a number of general skills: offensive, defensive and ulitarian. The bard's combat skills are not based on certain techniques or forms unique to bards, rather they center around the bardic ability to tap into and manipulate luck, thus subtly warping reality to suit their own sense of destiny. While capable combatants in their own account, bards really get the chance to shine while grouped with other players who can benefit from their performance skills. In this way, their are kind of the opposite of necromancers, which is much more of a "solo" class. Level 1 bards start with 'shout', an instantaneous direct-damage skill, and 'perform', a means of earning gold roughly equivalent to (but less than) a thief's pickpocket. All of the lowest level bard performance skills are dependent on 'perform', like the mage elemental spellgroups are dependent on 'elemental lore'. ======================================================================================================== Skill List: Int Wis Chr Lvl Bard Songs song of misfortune 2 song of courage song of despair song of discord song of laughter song of lullaby song of exhaustion warchant 22 countersong 25 song of silence harmony Bard Melodies melody of competence 3 melody of amnesia melody of soothing melody of illusions melody of marching melody of madness melody of pain concentration ensemble compose music 25 coda 29 Bard Dances dance of joy 4 dance of serenity dance of freedom dance of reverence dance of relaxation dance of fae choreography Bardic Legend Lore map lore location lore object lore treasure lore artifact lore fame lore Bardic Diplomacy persuade haggling bluff 5 humanoid lore heraldry polyglot exotic heraldry masquerade Bardic Cognitive Skills awareness perception meditate claircognizance Bardic Luck Skills fortuity chance gambit serendipity Bardic Hypnosis Skills hypnotize suggest encore mass hypnosis appeal General Bard Skills shout 1 perform 1 juggling acrobatics jack-of-all-trades 35 appraisal phytomancy ventriloquize ======================================================================================================== Bard Performance Skills Overview Songs, melodies and dances are continuous actions that consume both mana and movement. A bard can use them until they run out of mana or movement. Effects of songs, melodies are dances are resolved round by round. Any effect generated by ones of these skills only lasts as long as the bard uses that skill. Since a bard need only use his voice, songs can be used anywhere, even while moving around. Combat does not interrupt a singing bard. Since songs don't require special equipment and are not interrupted by combat like melodies, they are less powerful. A melody can only be used if a bard is wearing an INSTRUMENT type object. All instruments occupy the TWO_WIELD wear slot. Melodies can be used during combat, but any blow to the bard has a chance of interrupting his melody. The 'concentration' skill helps overcome this. Melodies are generally more powerful than songs and dances. Dances are interrupted by combat and cannot be used in a room where combat is taking place. They are typically employed between battles to help groups rest and recover. Beneficial songs and melodies affect everyone in the bard's group. Detrimental songs and melodies affect all mobs in a room like an area effect spell and initiate combat (except for the melody of soothing). A dance effects everyone in a room: group members, mobs and even bystanders. Charisma governs the effectiveness of all songs, melodies and dances, and they are also affected by bard skill level. If multiple bards use the same song, melody or dance at the same time, only the highest level performance will have any effect. Grouped bards can combine their efforts if they have learned the aggregation skill corresponding to their particular performance: 'harmony' for singing, 'ensemble' for melodies and 'choreography' for dances. ===================== song of misfortune This tune is one of the most basic of bardic songs. While under the effect of this song, victims take a severe penalty to luck, and any attempt to use luck-based skills such as 'chance' or 'gambit' has a high possibility of failure. (-10 and -1 per 2 bard skill levels to luck, -1 per 10 bard skill levels to hitroll) song of courage Singing this lively tune spurs the bard's allies into battle. Characters effected by this song will attack more frequently. The song also boosts the morale of listeners. (+1 per 7 bard skill levels to attacks and morale) song of despair This melancholy song dredges up emotions of crushing defeat in its victims. Such victims will dread facing the singer and his allies, and will thus perform poorly in combat. (-1 per 5 bard skill levels to damroll, -1 per 6 bard skill level to dodge) song of discord Enemies under the effect of the song of discord experience vertigo that disrupts their physical coordination. (-1 per 3 bard levels to parry and dodge) song of laughter This song produces the an irresistable urge to laught uncontrollably. (mob must pass an opposed level + wisdom vs. bard level + charisma check or be unable to perform any action that round, between -2 and -10 movement, spellflagged GAGGED mobs are immune) song of lullaby (mob must pass an opposed level + wisdom vs. bard level + charisma check or fall asleep) song of exhaustion This slow song causes its victims to feel stressed and fatigued, exhausting them both physically and mentally. Mana and movement are sapped away. warchant The primal warchant is savage poetry that inspires bloodlust in its audience. It drives them to commit greater acts of violence during combat. It also makes warcries much more potent. The warchant is one of only two bardic skills that can be used while berserking. The other is 'shout'. (+1 per 5 bard skill levels to damroll, +1 per 7 bard skill levels to warrior skill level when using warcry skills) countersong Bardic songs and melodies are powerful things that invoke deep emotions. Listeners can be inspired to greatness and heroics. They can also suffer apathy, malice or pain. In order to prevent these negative effects, the countersong was invented. The countersong is a series of ululations that a bard produces with his mouth that, with the help of a little magic, renders the immediate area around the bard inpenetrable to bardic songs and melodies. Any such performances within the effected area will be ordinary, harmless music or dancing. Other sonic attacks, such as 'shout' and 'encore', are also rendered inert. Countersinging is an exhausting task that quickly tires the performing bard. A bard wishing to countersing for a long period of time had best be prepared with the means of replenishing mana and stamina. song of silence The song of silence is tragic music that causes deafness in all that hear it and are unable to resist its power. (induces DEAF spellflag, which causes casters to fail spellcasting, bards to fail to perform songs and melodies plus shout, encore and ventriloquize, and warriors to fail warcries 20% of the time. a character who is DEAF is 50% immune to all bardic songs and melodies) harmony ensemble choreography These skills allow a bard to coordinate their performances with other bards, increasing the level of their performances. Bards who perform the same song, melody or dance while grouped with one another can combine their efforts and have the potency of their performance increased. melody of competence 'play competence [class option]' This series of melodies inspires its audience to better remember and execute skills or cast spells. The bard chooses which class of skills and/or spells he wants to inspire competence in and plays the appropiate theme. (+1 per bard skill level to the skill or spell knowledge check) melody of amnesia This melody causes its victims to forget any wrongs or misdeeds that may have recently been inflicted upon them. Victims will forget past grudges and will not be able to remember anything for the duration of the performance, even if the effected character normally remembers such. melody of soothing The music produces by the perfomance of the melody of soothing calms aggressors, making it less likely that they will attack the performer or his allies. (all group members' effective charisma equals that of the bard, if lower, for the purposes of mob aggression. also %1 per 10 bard skill levels of ending combat per round, and only if the mob fails an opposed intelligence vs. bard charisma check) melody of illusions (+1, and +1 per 7 bard skill levels to thief skill level when using shadow skills and mage cast level when casting illusion spells) melody of marching The bard plays a rhythmic cadence, ideal for a marching band. The catchy melody makes long overland trips more bearable for the participants, lightening their mood and quickening their step. (-1 per 4 bard skill levels to movement cost each room, to a minimum of 1) melody of madness The melody of madness inflicts terrible hallucinations upon the minds of its victims, causing them to experience extreme paranoia. Enemies under the influence of this melody's music may angrily lash out at anyone close to them in battle, even if that target is a trusted friend. The melody's magic has little effect on characters who are not fighting. (mob must pass an opposed level + intelligence vs. bard level + charisma check or attack a random target that round) melody of pain The melody of pain inflames the pain receptors of its victims, inflicting hurt all throughout their body. The phantom pain fluctuates between mild discomfort and searing agony, further disrupting the victim's nervous system. (between -1 and nonorm hp damage per 3 bard skill levels each round) concentration Bards play their tunes under virtually all circumstances. Frequently they find themselves striving to perform in order to aid their allies while under the stress of combat. It is difficult to keep a magic melody going while engaged in fighting, but bards who put the effort needed into maintaining concentration learn how to avoid disrupting the magic of their melodies even if they are struck. (allows bard to pass a skill check in order to keep playing after taking damage, dependent on int and maybe dex) compose music 'compose [song or melody] [number of rounds]' Music is the lifeblood of a bard's trade, the catalyst for all of his magical performances. Bards pick up bits of different music throughout their travels, and many bards perform new tunes by acquiring sheet music. A bard can compose music for any song or melody that they have learned. A composed piece of music contains the magical component for a song or melody, but the bard must still make the physical effort of performing the music. coda This skill allows a bard to extend the performance of a piece of music for two extra rounds by repeating the last few measures. dance of joy The dance of joy lightens spirits and generally makes its viewers (and participants) feel better. (+hpegen) dance of serenity The light-hearted dance of serenity bestows upon its audience calmness. With this peace of mind, onlookers will gain control over their negative emotions and cannot be effected by such so long as they continue watching the dance. All negative mind-affecting magic effects are negated and will not function for the duration, such as cloak of fear, curses of the mind, fear, melodies of amnesia, madness and pain, and songs of misfortune, despair, discord and exhaustion. (the spells/skills are not dispelled, they simply have no effect while the bard dance. possibly some sort of skill or level check may be involved.) dance of freedom All characters in room are freed from mind-affecting enchantment magic, such as charm, hypnotism, or possession. Benefactors of the spell cannot be effected by these until the dance ends or they lose sight of it. dance of reverence (+1 per 6 bard skill levels to cleric cast level, except curses, until groupcast max) dance of relaxation (+moveregen) dance of fae (+manaregen) map lore The map lore skill expands the area shown by the 'map' command. location lore This skill allows one see all nearby areas instead of a select few, using the 'nearby -all' command switch, and the player's exact coordinates are displayed in the 'where' command listing. object lore Thie lore skill allows the bard to learn the origin area of the object using the 'identify' command. (uses object's zone data) treasure lore A bard learns of rumored treasure hordes known to be had in certain lands. These treasures will be displayed in the 'where' command listing. (the display will show the general direction of MONEY type objects on the ground or in a container on the ground, much like trainers/teachers/guilds and so forth) artifact lore The bard learns about powerful artifacts throughout the world. The 'where' command will display rare and artifact-level items that can be found in any given area. fame lore The bard acquaints himself with the knowledge of famous and legendary figures and creatures. The 'where' command will display a fame hint without the bard ever having visited there before, and a bard will be able to see if an enemy they have defeated before is worth fame by using the 'consider' command on them. persuade [option] stay leave forgiveness discount w/ heraldry pass Persuasion is the bard's most basic means of diplomacy. A charismatic disposition is crucial for successful persuasiveness. Since this skill is language-dependant, it will only work with humanoids unless the bard learns additional languages. (has a 50% chance of failing on mobs with DEAF spellflag, since they must read lips in order to understand the bard, NO_CHARM and NO_BRIBE flagged mobs are immune to persuade) haggling Haggling allows a bard to buy from shopkeepers at an even greater discount than usual. It is a passive skill that is used automatically. (charisma based) bluff This combat skill causes an enemy to back down from the bard, instead choosing a different target if one is available. The bard uses the bluff to try and shame or intimidate opponents. (bard's chr vs target's chr) humanoid lore (works like other monster lore skills but for humanoids) heraldry (displays humanoid mob's affiliation when looked at, unless it has a NO_MOB_LORE flag) polyglot Bards travel through a vast array of environments and meet countless numbers of strange and exotic creatures. Along the way, a bard may pick up the language of other races, even if its only a few phrases here and there. The polyglot skill is for bards who capitalize on these experiences in order to learn many different languages. Although they are by no means fluent, they know enough to be able communicate on a basic level with just about anyone, even becoming capable of recognizing the speech patterns of creatures they have not encountered before. This skill allows the bard the ability to use the 'persuade' skill with any creature capable of understanding speech. (NO_CHARM and NO_BRIBE mobs, and typeless and types ANIMAL, PLANT or BLOB are still immune to persuasion) exotic heraldry (displays any mob's affiliation when looked at, unless it has a NO_MOB_LORE flag) masquerade [option] alignment gender class affiliation The masquerade is an execution of the highly-trained mind of the bard's acting abilities. Successful roleplayers can fool almost anyone into believing that the bard is someone that he is not, to the point that a skillful bard can even trick impartial artifacts into accepting him and allowing him to wear them, even if they normally would not. A bard can roleplay each option simultaneously, but, no matter how good an actor a bard may be, he can only perform one role option at a time. Thus, a good-aligned bard may roleplay as an evil-aligned bard, but he cannot roleplay a neutral-aligned bard at the same time without giving up his role as an evil bard. An evil female bard may be able to roleplay as a neutral male warrior but can't roleplay a thief and a warrior at the same time. When emulating a class, the roleplayed class is considered to be equal to the character's bard class for the purposes of this skill. Futhermore, a character masquerading as such a class incurs a penalty to his bard skill level equal to the difference between the two classes. Thus, if a level 35 bard/level 20 cleric chose to masquerade as a cleric, she would incur a -15 penalty to her bard skill level. (A bard would suffer no penalty for roleplaying a class if it were higher than his bard level, but to do so would be pointless.) Note that this skill cannot be employed in order to learn a skill or spell that the bard would normally not have access to. (Although, the jack-of-all-trades skill may allow him to simulate some skills.) A bard cannot masquerade as a thief and learn poison resistance, for example. awareness (increased defense against any attack that tests against wisdom) perception (automatically see hidden mobs, objects, doors and exits as if the bard had performed a search, checking the perception skill level against their hide register, probably int based) meditate A bard can become so 'at one' with himself and the universe that he can enter into a meditative trance. This trance allows the bard to siphon stamina and convert it into mana. (transfer movement to mana) claircognizance Claircognizance represents the bard's pinnacle of self-awareness. (like increased stamina for mana) fortuity Fortuity provides a bard with a natural reservoir of luck upon which to draw for other luck-based skills. (1 luck per 10% skill learned) chance 'Chance' is an active combat skill that tries to force a luck event. It costs the bard a small amount of mana. The more luck available to the bard, the more likely his odds of success are. (failure results in bard falling into prone position as if bashed. Mechanics could be charisma/dex based) gambit (Adds to offense while lowering defense for predetermined amount of time. Costs mana, move and luck.) serendipity (automatically gains little more gold whenever gold is awarded to the player, be it explorer points, quest rewards or just picking up some gold off the ground, except for HOLD_VALUE flagged MONEY type objects) hypnotize hypnotize [suggestion] (causes mob to stand in a stupor for a few ticks or until released. does not work in combat, costs mana, nearby mobs with appropiate ASSIST flags will release the target if they witness the hypnotism. although weaker than charm, bard aren't limited by control points because, as a non-spellcasting class, they don't have them) suggest (allows bard to implant a single parsed command, which the mob performs upon its hypnotism ending) encore When an enemy performs many different kinds of attacks, a bard may find it favorable for their opponent to use one and not another. The encore skill gives bards the ability to manipulate their opponents into fighting a certain way. For example, a bard dressed in coldsave equipment would be well-prepared for an opponent that uses ice magic, but if the same opponent also employs fire magic, the bard would be at a disadvantage. After the enemy uses an icebolt spell against the bard, the bard can utilize the encore skill on the enemy, and, if successful, for some time thereafter the enemy will cast only icebolt whenever he would have used a skill or spell, be it fireball, heal or even cleave. To use the skill, a bard spends a little mana and then claps approvingly and cheers the target in order to encourage them to use the skill, spell or special attack that they last used before the call for an encore. (forces a mob to reuse the same specp choice whenever a specp 2,3,4,5 or 16 would trigger for a set amount of time, probably about 3 ticks. possibly needs to pass a level or attribute check to succeed, like bard's chr vs target's int) mass hypnosis (allows bard to hypnotize any number of mobs at once with a single skill check. if the hypnotism check suceeds against all of the mobs, they won't release one another from the hypnosis) appeal The romantic allure of the bard is so strong that members of the opposite sex are irresistably attracted. Those so bewitched are less likely to strike the bard. (charisma dependent, passive, and probably obscure. small vs. aggression and hitroll penalty of those of HUMANOID type and opposite sex. no effect on neuter.) shout 'Shout' is the most basic of bardic skills. It is the entryway for learning how to manipulate fae with one's voice, as opposed to other forms of spellcrafts. A bard channels his mana into a voluminous, melodic burst of sound that causes the target's body to violently shake from the shout's vibrations. The sonic blast damages enemies both living and dead and is especially devastating to creatures sensitive to sound, such as glass or crystalline beings. (costs mana and move. does magic crush damage for double damage vs crystalline, but mob type ETHEREAL is probably immune due to being incorporeal) perform perform The perform skills represents a bard's effort to use music and rhythm on a professional level. An amateur can strum a guitar or dance a jig, but only someone who is skilled in the art of stage performance can utilize many different mediums so as to really drive their performance home to the audience. A bard can perform for a single person, or they can do a performace in the street of any town or city for passersby. Either way, these performances tend to be a good source of income for up-and-coming bards. A bard performing on a single person's behalf will cease when the person either gives him some money, refuses any further performance, or leaves in disgust. Bards can perform on the street until exhaustion. Perform is the gateway skill to a bard's most powerful and versatile abilities in song, music and dance. (a bard gains gold comparable to, although probably less than, a thief's ability to garner gold via pickpocket) juggling Learning the art of juggling allows a bard a chance to be able to catch objects thrown at him, especially dangerous items such as knives, potions and grenades. Objects safely caught cause the bard no harm (and a grenade can be thrown back before its fuse runs out!) The bard must have a free hand in order to employ this skill. (passive, dexterity based) acrobatics Bards skilled in acrobatics can be flexible fighters who are hard to hit, often tumbling, somersaulting or even cartwheeling out of the way of potential blows. A dextrous bard can evade projectiles that others normally could not. This skill is only used while the bard is actively avoiding melee combat. (ability to evade a slower-moving projectile while nomelee, like a thrown weapon, crystal spear or icebolt, but not light-speed stuff like lightning bolt, passive, dexterity based) jack-of-all-trades This skill gives the bard the chance to use any skill, even ones unlearned or that cannot ordinarily be used untrained. It does not, however, give the bard the ability to use skills that are beyond his physical or mental capacity. (Bard level/jack-of-all-trades skill level = any skill level if bard meets level and attribute requirements. Skill has no chance of improvement if used via this ability. Does not stack existing skill knowledge levels For example, assuming a level 35 bard has his jack-of-all-trades trained at 100%, this would give him a 35% chance of succeeding at an untrained 0% skill.) appraisal (cost of an object revealed automatically when identified, or, alternatively, an 'appraise' command employs this skill and can be used on any object) phytomancy (allows bardic performance skills and hypnotism to affect PLANT type mobs) ventriloquize useless skill that works like the old ventriloquate spell, because it amuses me