NOTE2 my contribution to this was about 5%, mostly in gathering it into one place, most of the kudos belong to Caedym, and the other contributers.How about letting us *HUM* from lvl-1 :-) At least we'd be good for something. Every other class is useful, practices some of their prime skills from level one. We get to 1h pierce for 50 hours until 10.
Give bards exp for singing during battle, not just singing healing.
Widen the amount of equipment we can wear. We have different eq needs from rogues. At least let us wear some(all?) mage eq, as we need the int/hp.
One oft mentioned change to bards was the ability to sing in combat, reasoning:
<IP>
"If you're attacking something, or being attacked, your focus is going to be on NOT DYING, not whether you're.." ..casting an intricate spell requiring complex hand gestures (like playing a lute or lyre), handling material components (like holding a flute), and reciting a series of difficult words (kinda like song lyrics)?
</IP>
<IP>
Now we know that mages and cleric types on Soj can cast even while tanking a mob, as long as they avoid the bash, they cast. At the very least it'd be nice if Bards could sing if in combat but not tanking or bashed.
</IP>
<IP>
...if you are singing while tanking/assisting, that you don't get any attacks, just like if you're chanting a spell. You can see the tank condition, etc. but you don't actually get to ATTACK.
</IP>
Instrument Commentary:
A useful way to improve bards would be to have better instruments. Ie, more instruments that plus skills, stats, and level of songs. Another improvement would be to have more unbreakable instruments. I know that on the higher levels you can play any song with a single instrument, but the songs are played best with their respected instrument.
Song Commentary:
<UL>[*]Lag after forgetting verse is horrible![*]I don't think I stuttered once, but, I forgot the song about 50% of the time. Lag is 3 combat rounds, and your group is halfway down the road .[*]Songs are many times only 1 verse long . (That is, you sing one verse and stop singing with the message: "You finish your song.")[*]Sometimes you'll quit singing, no message of any kind. This is really bad! Because there's no message, you might not notice you're not singing for some time. I would finally realize I wasn't singing and start singing thinking I'd missed a message. I didn't find out for sure, but, in hindsight, it seems like singing would quit with no message after multiple verses.
[/list]
Roller Commentary
How about getting a better roller for Bards? I'd rather have the rogue roller, or the invoker roller, it'd be easier to roll a good bard. We need good dex/int/char for instruments/songs/songs and we need con/agi to survive, str to carry our equipment (bards are mostly weak races).
New Skills:
<UL>[*]Kick[*]Backstab[*]Awareness[*]Evasion[*]Range Weapons - I'd argue that bards would be better at these than rogues: juggling is a prime skill of bards, and that kind of hand-eye coordination would naturally transfer to throwing weapons. And, how often do you read fantasy stories that feature dagger throwing bards? (Think Thom Merrilin from Robert Jordan"s "Wheel of Time" books) But, I'd be willing to give primacy in darts to rogues, if we could sing worth a darn.[*]Harmony - Multiple bards singing the same song sing in 'Harmony'. As a result, the song's effective level is raised by 5-10 levels, and each bard's individual chance of stutter is decreased by 50% (to offset the doubled chance of losing the Harmony to stutter by one bard). Mid level groups can sing fly sooner, and high level groups have a much greater chance of group haste effect from song plus doubly effective area healing.[*]pick lock[*]detect trap[*]disarm trap[*]disguise[*]metalhead (or, think of a better name :-) - a skill that allows a bard to stay in combat longer without losing concentration of his song[*]ACappela - a skill that allows the bard a greater success rate of being able to successfully sing his songs without an instrument in his hand[*]Entertain (circa 5th level) - With this skill, the bard uses any skills within their means to entertain the crowd. This skill could only be used a limited number of times per day (say 2 - 3 times) and a successful check would cause the bard to gain a small amount of coinage, dependant on their skill. There would also be a chance of a severe failure to entertain. In such circumstance the bard could suffer anything from having produce thrown at them, being robbed, or being jailed. This skill would rely on the bard's charisma and would be modified by the alignment of the town (wealth if possible) and whether or not they were in a tavern. Entertaining in a tavern would grant a higher chance of success, but a severe failure would result in the bard being tossed out by the bouncer for a full mud week.
[/list]
New Songs:
<UL>[*] Song of Sustenance - fills up the audience while sung (i.e. increases their fullness to max, over the course of verses, cessation of singing leaves them at the fullness level)[*] Song of disruption - This loud song involves a complex series of changes in tempo and themes, with alot of discordant notes thrown in. This song distracts the concentration of all listeners in the room, as they try to figure the song out. Thus, the spell has a chance to disrupt spellcasting, prayers and spell memorization in the area. Note that the discordant nature of this song can provoke aggressive action from those affected. This song requires the horn skill.
Yes, this effect is similar to the cleric spell silence, but it gives the bard another way to contribute to groups. Also, it could be further modified to be more of a wild-magic affecting song, which would play up the spell combinations features coming up in soj3. Eh, just an idea thrown out to enhance bards.
[/list]
Modified Bard Songs
<UL>[*]Song of Healing –
Have strength also dependant on how high the Bard’s Charisma is, and if Good Aligned
Just allow the Heals to be handled like a cleric’s Vitality spells instead, allowing bards to
pump players for One extra verse worth of HPs beyond their HP maximum
(Note that this would be significantly less then any clerical Vits)
...one possible improvement to this song would be to have it cure blindness, curse, poison etc as another side effect. [*]Song of Revelation –
At 45th level also grants Farsee[*]Song of Flight –
Increase move Vig amount per verse – its pretty puny even at high levels
and allow to work like healing above but for moves instead
up to one verse worth past max a players maximum move limit [*]Song of Charm –
Allow Bard to Charm the Bard’s level in mob levels but no mob level can
ever exceed the bard’s current level
A 50th Bard can Charm 49 1st level mobs Or 1 49th level mob[*]Song of Sleep –
Make this song into a lullaby and therefor not an aggressive skill
combine the effects of Song of Forgetfulness with this song
...it needs to work on higher level mobs for it to be of any use.[*]Song of Peace - this song could be very useful, if it worked with a greater success rate on higher level mobs
... changing it to(or adding this as affects) increasing the regen of those in the room, and enhancing meditation. Thus, warriors could sleep, while spellslingers mem, all at an increased rate. It would be really nice if this were effective from early on, as it would probably help lower levels more.[*]Song of Forgetfulness
See Song of Sleep Above[*]Song of Calming –
At 40th also causes effects similar to Slowness even if mob is not calmed
Some problems I found with it was that only some of the players fighting would be stopped while others continued to fight. This caused problems because it ended up with the mages tanking sometimes. A possible solution would be for the song to stop all spell casting in the room. As well, for the song to work better on higher level mobs.[*]Song of Cowardice –
At 35th level also causes Fear – mob flees for duration, then returns once it wears off
A possible upgrade to this song would be for it to slow mobs. Another major problem with this song is that it is aggro. I know that it affects mobs in a negative manner, but being aggro to the mob right away takes away the effects of the song. This makes the song basically useless.[*]Song of Harm –
Have strength also dependant on how low the Bard’s Charisma is and if Evil Aligned
At 45th also causes effects similar to Ray of Enfeeblement as well as damage
This song is a cool idea, but it doesn’t hurt the mob for very much. As well, each time you play a verse of the song you become engaged with that mob, even if you aren’t tanking. Some possible solutions would be for it to hit for more hpts, or to have other effects such as temporarily poisoning the mob or withering it.[*]Song of Protection –
Effects below are cumulative with the existing ones
At 35th + missile shield
At 40th + minor globe Duration = 1 Round of Attacks only
Some other ways to improve it would be to have it protect against fire, lightning, cold etc. [*]Song of Rage New Song –
Below effects are cumulative, so a 39th bard’s Rage song grants +5Str and +5Con
At 20-29th level bestows +5str
At 30-39th level bestows +5con
At 40-44th level bestows +5Max_str
At 45-49th+ level bestows +5Max_con
At 50+ level bestows +Berserker Rage
Berserker Rage = Work this just like the old berserker class ability ‘berserk’ including
the inability to FLEE, auto randomly attack uncontrolled mobs when not engaged
in combat, and also disallow ANY PLAYER or FOLLOWER the ability to cast spells
The Berserker Rage aspect would have zero effect on any mobs to prevent abuse
This includes pets. Don’t have the IS_PLAYER flag, sorry no dice
This song would of course be aggressive to mobs
Contributers(forgive me if I've left you out, email me and I'll correct it):
<UL>[*]Caedym - 90%[*]Kobei[*]Mplor[*]Tsaej[*]Izarek[*]Cherza[*]Moritheil[*]Jegzed[*]Trewe[*]Artikerus[*]Yarthra
[/list]
[This message has been edited by Eilorn (edited 06-20-2001).]
[This message has been edited by Eilorn (edited 06-20-2001).]