The Bards' guild

There isn't areal adventuring-party of the true nature without a ravishing member of the Bards' guild in it. As bards are considered generally musical artists who preserve and describe tales and legends through their songs, are the Shadowkepian bards also developed from this starting point.

Generally acknowledged as one of the less power-hungered guilds, getting familiar with a true bard is most likely to be an unique experience. Bards are bound into exploring, facing overpowerful enemies, bitterly learning the lore and universally having a blast of it all. One of the elder sayings go 'there is no merrier than the heart of a bard when death is imminent.'

Bards have some fighting skills and a few outrageous songspells. Advancing in the guild often requires some story-writing skills and completion of specific guild quests. As weapons, bards fashion short andlong blades; seldomly also bows.

Important: Remember to read the guide in the joining room for more exact information about songcasting and bards in general.

Info

Command: bard

Creators: Amarth<analytics uacct="UA-3466433-3" ></analytics> and Walin<analytics uacct="UA-3466433-3" ></analytics>

Maximum level: 30

Joining requirements:

Background must be civilized

sinfo

Skill/Spell Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Songcasting	20	22	25	28	31	33	36	39	42	44	47	50	53	55	58	61	64	66	69	72	75	77	80	83	86	88	91	94	97	100
Songscribing	20	24	29	34	38	43	48	52	57	62	67	71	76	81	85	90	95	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Attack	25	27	30	33	35	38	41	44	46	49	52	54	57	60	63	65	68	71	74	76	79	82	85	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Swim	25	50	75	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Short blades	15	17	19	21	23	25	27	29	31	33	35	37	39	41	43	46	48	50	52	54	56	58	60	62	64	66	68	70	72	75
Long blades	15	17	19	21	23	25	27	29	31	33	35	37	39	41	43	46	48	50	52	54	56	58	60	62	64	66	68	70	72	75
Noituloves dischord	10	32	55	77	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dodge	-	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Catchy singalong	-	10	19	28	37	46	55	64	73	82	91	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Musicians alm	-	-	10	25	40	55	70	85	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Campfire tune	-	-	-	10	15	21	26	32	38	43	49	55	60	66	71	77	83	88	94	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kings feast	-	-	-	10	18	26	34	42	50	59	67	75	83	91	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tumbling attack	-	-	-	-	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40	42	45	-	-	-	-
Negate offhand penalty	-	-	-	-	1	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40	42	44	46	48	50
Jesters trivia	-	-	-	-	20	36	52	68	84	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Hiking	-	-	-	-	-	1	9	17	26	34	43	51	60	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Enhance criticals	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	-	10
Strength in unity	-	-	-	-	-	30	35	41	47	53	59	64	70	76	82	88	94	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Plant lore	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Alcohol tolerance	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	9	17	25	33	41	50	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Melodical embracement	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	12	20	28	36	44	52	60	68	76	84	92	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Instrument creation	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	19	28	37	46	55	64	73	82	91	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Venturers way	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	19	28	37	46	55	64	73	82	91	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sweet lullaby	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	36	52	68	84	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Clandestine thoughts	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	9	14	19	24	28	33	38	43	47	52	57	62	66	71	76	81	85	90	95	100
Singing shepherd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	33	46	59	73	86	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Uncontrollable mosh	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Pathfinder	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	10	15	20	26	31	36	41	47	52	57	63	68	73	78	84	89	94	100
Rapture of the deep	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	24	36	44	52	60	68	76	84	92	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
War ensemble	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	21	32	43	55	66	77	88	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Songmastery	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	25	30	35	41	46	51	57	62	67	73	78	83	89	94	100
Soothing sounds	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	24	39	54	69	84	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Vigilant melody	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	40	52	64	76	88	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Noituloves deathlore	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	-	-	-
Achromatic eyes	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	-	-	-
Con fioco	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	36	52	68	84	100	-	-	-	-	-
Sounds of silence	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	40	60	80	100	-	-	-	-	-
Dancing blades	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25	35	46	57	67	78	89	100
Mana control	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	30	40	50	60	70	-
Melody of the misadventurer	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	36	52	68	84	100
Quick chant	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Skill/Spell Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Bard guild is located in Shadowkeep in Rothikgen. Bard guild is bit more role play oriented than your average guild and it is hevily party oriented. For minmaxers bards are general support guild with some healing power, some blasting power and unique party boost spells. It can also be used as role playing and the level quest system enforces it a bit.

Introduction

Bards have unique spell learning system called KBH (Known By Heart). It means that you need to cast every bard spell successfully x times before you can cast it without reading it first from a notebook. Notebooks can be bought from Bard guild and they are fairly cheap but to get the words of a song you need to go to the songmaster who wanders somewhere outworld. They will tell their location if asked but you need to travel where ever he/she is. Every song has it's own songmaster. You don't need to learn every song KBH if you do not want to use them but it is lvl 29 quest in quild to get all songs KBH. The notebook also wears bit every time you read it. The amount of damage to the book greatly depends on Songscribing skill so you need some if you are going to get any songs KBH and you will want songs that you use KBH and there are also some level quests like learn 6 songs KBH and so on. KBH will stay from reinc to another.

Bards also have a reputation system where they collect might. It gathers from casting spells in parties and the more you have it the better your spells will be. Reputation will stay from reinc to another but it gathers slowly.

Bards can also create an instrument that gives stats/hp/ep/sp. NOTE! The instrument has its own 'instrument' slot, which is nice. An instrument can have different types and materials. You need the skill instrument creation and you need at 90% of it to get a divine instrument. Bardic Might affects the stats of an instrument. Different type of instruments give different bonuses, but the instrument weight does not affect it's power, but generally you want lighter instruments to avoid the downsides of weight. You can create one instrument once per 3rd rl days. Instruments are stored in the bard guild and they save over reincs.

Character Stats

The most important stat for bard is dex because all songs depend on it. More dex more power. Other stats work normally, con and str based on need, wis and int give 1 sp per point each so bards will always have only little sp. As the only healing spell takes bit over 100 sp you won't cast a lot of spells in a row.

Spells

Noituloves dischord: Magic missile for bards, does physical damage.

Catchy singalong: Oh the annoyance, useless.

Musicians alm: Nice spell for learning QC, othervise useless.

Campfire tune: Heals every player in room, works better if you have campfire.

Kings feast: Creates food and drink.

Jesters trivia: Shows spells affecting every player in room.

Strength in unity: Spreads damage to whole party, ends if you move.

Melodical embracement: Gives +skills.

Venturers way: Gives ep.

Sweet lullaby: Camp for all, works better with sleeping bag.

Clandestine thought: Prevents mortal snooping, stomps spider servants automatically.

Singing shepherd: Makes small outworld animals follow you, useless.

Uncontrollable mosh: Does phys damage to everyone except caster in room.

Pathfinder: Teleport spell.

War ensemble: The spell, gives +str, +hp, +dex to ever player in party. This is the reason you will get parties.

Soothing sounds: Might calm agressive monster no nonagressive, but works kinda randomly.

Vigilant melody: Tells who are in 3 room radius from casting place and stays for few minutes.

Noituloves deathlore: Psi damage area spell, does decent damage.

Achromatic eyes: Shifts alignment.

Con fioco: Fire damage single target spell, good damage.

Sounds of silence: Prevents death shouts, useless unless you intend to die from embarrassing monster.

Dancing blades: Kinda cool spell but takes too long for the damage, useless.

Melody of the misadventurer: Lessens luck for the spell duration.

Pro Tips

-You don't need notebooks to KBH all the spells. You can refresh your spell at the songmaster. So basically you can just follow the songmaster and cast the spell again and again. Some bard spells improve even if you have it active on you, this makes them very easy to KBH, you can detect this with 'bscore' command.

-When you got enough bardic might, instruments you create will give some extra int and wis, even if they originally did not give int and wis.

-Bards get nice and noticeable bonuses from having the guild leadership.

-Pathfinder: More bardic might you have, more targets you get for this spell. For instance I get these locations with adequate might: keep(roth), inn(roth), arelium(laenor), ship(laenor), rilynttar(furn), lorenchia(luce), donaru(roth), calythien(deso), songmaster or nothing for start location.

-You can check the background of a player with this command(you can get the background of a player from this output): command check_background quote 'grep -q " $* " who guild nomad' kill nomad;quote 'grep -q " $* " who guild evil_religious' kill evil_religious;quote 'grep -q " $* " who guild good_religious' kill good_religious;quote 'grep -q " $* " who guild magical' kill magical;quote 'grep -q " $* " who guild civilized' kill civilized Usage: check_background Lyriikka (first character of the name needs to be uppercase)

-Soothing sounds: Start casting it at the end of the round.

Bard Level Requirements

Level	Title	Requirement	Notes
1	Novel song-brother	civilized background, dex
2	Song scribbler	explore the guild	You need to visit every room at the guild. You'll see a progress info when you go around.
3	Simple harpist	setting the message	Set your guild status message that is shown at 'bard who'
4	Pied piper	itinerant errand of bards	Contact a Loremaster. You can see who they are with 'bard who'. Ask from him (politely!) to give you a task. He will then tell you what your task is.
5	Singing sword	win at the bardic casino	Go to the bardic casino, it is w,nw,d,n,e,s from the entrance. There are two games available for you. Pick the one you like and play until you win enough. You can type 'info 5' at the guild advancement room to see how much you need to win. Note: lower levels help.
6	Explorer	explore 15%
7	Wandering loresman
8	Sell-harp	meet the songmasters	Check 'bgreet xxx' to see all the Songmasters. You need to visit each one and greet them to be sure.
9	Promising harpist	have a costume approved	Go to the wardrobe (w,ne from 'enter') and create a costume. Look at the list for instructions and follow them. You might consider also thinking about your first onstage performance, and create a costume for that. Ask a Loremaster (politely) to come and approve your costume when it's done.
10	Songwriter	three songspells kbh'd	You need to see three spells 'known by heart' in your bscore.
11	Known songwriter	onstage performance	Your first performance. There is a stage where you enter the bards' guild that is used for performance alone or in a group. Pick an idea, lyrics, poems, something you like and go to the stage and rehearse. Look at the instructions how to use the stage, and don't forget to wear your costume. When you think your ready, inform a Loremaster (politely) about it, and set a date/time when he/she will come and see your performance. You also must inform other players at the 'tales' newsgroup so they can come and watch it.
12	Musician	500 gold received alms
13	Legendteller	10 quests solved
14	Grindstone champion	instrument created
15	Grinning picker
16	Bard
17	Adventurous musician	explore 28%
18	Robust poemist	play (minimum 2 persons)	This is the most intimidating quest at the guild. Get a friend, make up a play or re-act some famous dialogue, etc. The main point is that both performers are at the same page when the performance is on. Rehearse a lot. Go to the stage, and go through the play. You can 'review' the play after you've rehearsed it to see what it looked like to the audience.
19	Respected musician
20	Deadly singer	six songspells kbh'd
21	Reigning sell-harp	three instruments	You need to create three instruments. Remember that instrument creation cooldown is 3 days.
22	Virtuous bard	tale	You must write a tale and present it to a Loremaster (politely) who then approves.
23	Bladesinger
24	Songweaver
25	Songhurler	20 quests solved
26	Bladesdancer
27	Divine composer	five instruments
28	Singing wayfarer	explore 35%
29	Expert wayfarer	explore 45%
30	Professional bard	explore 50%, 24 spellsongs kbh'd	This is a tricky one. There are two ways of acheiving this. 1) KBH all songs, including melody of the misadventurer. 2) KBH all songs except the melody, and keep casting bardic spells until your might is 'paltry'.

Bardic might

When casting bard spells, getting them KBH'd you get Bardic might, which can be seen with the command 'bmight'.

The statuses are:

nonexistent, pathetic, pitiful, sad, bad, tiny, little, meager, feeble, poor, paltry, crude, weak, slight, low, mediocre, average, decent, adequate, good, nice, great, excellent, impressive, incredible, superb, awesome, dazzling, magnificent, unearthly, divine

KBH (Know By Heart)

After you've KBH'd all spells, the might should be somewhere around 'meager', if you've just been doing the KBH.

How spellbooks work: Some spells can be KBH'd at the trainer, but some require a target. Some require a monster, some another player or both. You can buy spellbooks from the bards' guild, go w,s from the entrance. There is a vendor that keeps 30 books in store. Some can be found at the magical shop at shadowkeep. You can also buy a bag to store ~10 books.

The basic idea is that when you study the spell at the guild, you cannot cast it immediately. You need to learn the words for that spell from a trainer that are scattered around the realm. Type 'bgreet xxx' to see all the trainers. From the list below you can see each spell and their spellsong.

First of all you need the skill songscribing. The better it is, the better your songbooks will hold. Then you must choose a spell to cast, and study it. If its a spell you can KBH at the trainer, then go there and start casting. Otherwise you need spellbooks, and here how it works: Get books. You can buy them near the guild. From the street where the entrance to the auditorium, go 2 w and one south. Go to the trainer and check your inventory. See that you got your books in order there. Type 'learn', and you will scribe the words to your spellbook. Select the next book (give book 2 to yourself) and type learn again. Repeat this until all the books are written. Then check 'bscore'. You'll probably notice that it says something like this:

Clandestine thoughts needs more practice currently in memory

If you dont have the spell currently in memory, its says: Clandestine thoughts needs more practice not in memory When you cast the spell successfully, it will disappear from your memory, and you need to either type 'learn' at the trainer, or 'read book'. If you have multiple different books you can type 'read Spellsong name' (case sensitive). When you memorize the spell, you'll get a message:

You memorize the tunes for 'Clandestine thoughts'.

After this, you can cast it. The spell% affects on how many times you need to type 'learn' or 'read book'. The higher the spell% the less you need to read. When you read a book, it starts to decompose. When the book reaches a condition: A dead notebook for 'Clandestine thoughts', it will break down from the next read. At this point, choose another book (again give the second best book to yourself so it'll be first in your inventory), until all your books are depleted. You do not need to throw the 'dead' notebooks away, but you can write them again at the trainer by typing 'learn' again with each book. The maximum condition of the books will suffer, but atleast you dont have to run and get new books all the time.

Spell KBH info

Spell	Trainer	Casts	Notes
Achromatic eyes	Zinbaf	350	Go to newbie mountain, cast the achromatic eyes to a mob and kill it. Keep spell at low% and cast it to really small mobs.
Arches favour	Jander	1	You can train this when your bardic might reaches 'paltry'.
Campfire tune	Gilian	140	Get yourself hurt and cast.
Catchy singalong	Endek	95	Cast and wait for the catchy to drop. Using the church for this is ILLEGAL.
Clandestine thoughts	Dria	280	Shoot at yourself at a trainer or search players to cast it on.
Con fioco	Yomototh	230
Dancing blades	Vahearun	400	Get a blade/knife, and do 'cast dancing blades at use knife 1'. You can try to 'catch' blade if you need to leave. Leaving/ld will make the blade drop in room, so be careful to use cheap blades.
Jesters trivia	Sineyole	85	Cast repeatedly at trainer.
Kings feast	Derevan	100	Cast repeatedly at trainer.
Melodical embracement	Zantus	325	Cast repeatedly at trainer.
Melody of the misadventurer	Forsimnetu	295	This spell ruins the luck of the target for ~15 minutes, but it will screw the casters luck permanently. Have a few of friends and keep casting on them one by one, wait for it to drop and repeat.
Musicians alm	Cyarus	100	Create lyrics with the 'balm'-command and sing the song by the trainer.
Noituloves deathlore	Noitulove	202	Shoot at monsters or players.
Noituloves dischord	Stringbreaker	39	Shoot at monsters or players.
Pathfinder	Zord	333	Go to trainer, start here, cast. repeat. Or get books and go elsewhere.
Rapture of the deep	Merilaine	121	Must be on board a ship to cast. Has 15-30min cooldown.
Singing shepherd	Tinebring	139	Find outworld are with with few small mobs and cast on them. Run in a circle 20x e,n,w,s until they drop. Repeat. Small % lessens distance follow. Indoor exits are considered ILLEGAL.
Soothing sounds	Otharus	220	Find area with lots of small aggros, cast and find next aggro.
Sounds of silence	Aline	195	Find lots of monsters and cast.
Strength in unity	Malecketh	200	Get a friend, remove all weapons and create a party. Go to an area with small mobs, attack, cast, leave the room. read the book, repeat.
Sweet lullaby	Razmatag	65
Uncontrollable mosh	Patricia	160
Venturers way	Holm	90	Go to trainer, run around, cast, repeat.
Vigilant melody	Fyanna	105	Go to trainer, run to room without mist and cast. repeat.
War ensemble	Talos	295	Cast repeatedly at trainer.

KBH Progress

Statuses in 'bscore':

not even started

no hope

little progress

will take forever

needs more practice

6000X = rememberance

one fifth soon!

far far, far away

one fourth someday

keep on trying..

this is sick, hehe

won't tell you! ;)

not even halfway

someday, my friend

seek the knowledge!

on the better side

courage, doing well

dreams do come true

1,000,000X and you see it

Gm's fax: +358 0 577795

PING! THE magic number!

still far away

good progress

getting there

warm already

not so far anymore

getting hot

almost there!

on the verge

any play now

SooO CLOSE!

NOTE: The statuses do not always go in correlation with your casts. Sometimes they might go one per cast, sometimes stuck in place for many casts.

Instruments

You need to create yourself atleast 5 instruments in order to max out the bards' guild. The instruments are created at the bards' guild, southwestern part. You need to choose a material and the type of your instrument. Here are the types and materials:

Instrument	material (kg)
bagpipes	50
bagpipes	50
banjo	20
bongo	12
cello	35
clarinet	8
contrabasso	70
cymbals	9
didgeridoo	28
flute	0.5
guitar	30
harmonica	2
harp	40
horn	30
lute	18
mandoline	18
maracas	2
oboe	12
piccolo	2
saxophone	30
sitar	22
tambourine	7
trumpet	25
tuba	80
violin	25
xylophone	8

Disallowed Materials:

air, burlap, chalk, charcoal, clay, cloth, coal, cotton, earth, emulsion, enchanted air, feathers, fire, flesh, food, fur, hemp, ice, leather, paper, phosphorus, rubber, silk, sulphur, vegetation, water, wax, wool

Different instruments give different stats. You get hpmax, epmax, str dex and con. To create an instrument, you need the skill 'Instrument creation'. It's very expensive, but in order to create good instruments you need it at 90%+ So, choose an instrument, get the required amount of material which is not of the disallowed materials and go to the instrument creation room. Drop the nugget of material you have on the ground and type:

create [instrument] of [material]

This will take some few minutes, and depending on your skill the instrument is generated. When you create an instrument and you're already wielding one, you need to 'store' it first at the backroom (south of the creation room). You can only create one instrument per three days, so start creating them as soon as you get the creation skill.

WARNING - NOTICE - ATTENTION: The material needs to be in ONE PIECE. So providing 2x5kg does not work as one 10kg piece. BRING ENOUGH MATERIALS WITH YOU - if you break the instrument and leave the room to get more materials, you burn your bardic might and cannot create another instrument for three days.

Instrument examples:

a clarinet made of wood (divine)||||+5str +10dex +5con

Instrument	Weight	Stats
A violin made of titanium (divine)		+5dex
A tambourine made of crystal (incredible)		+6str +6con +36hpmax
An oboe made of ruby (incredible)		+3str +6dex +3con +18hpmax +25epmax
A maracas made of dukonium (divine)	0.2	+10str +10con +60hpmax +14epmax
A guitar made of mithril (divine)		+5dex +20epmax
A flute made of emerald (divine)	0.5	+5str +10dex +5con +30hpmax +41epmax
A bongo made of laen (magnificient)	1.2	+8str +8con +48hpmax +1epmax
A trumpet made of kryptonite (divine)		+5str +10dex +5con +30hpmax +42epmax
A xylophone made of ruby (unearthly)	0.8	+8str +8con +48hpmax +1epmax
A piccolo made of ruby (divine)		+5str +10dex +5con +30hpmax +42epmax
A harmonica made of weenite (unearthly)		+4str +8dex +4con +24hpmax +34epmax
A piccolo made of steel (decent)	0.2	+2str +4dex +2con +10hpmax +20epmax