Bardic Class

[zaphar]

I always loved the Bardic class in EQ

The only problem being EQ couldn\'t decide whether bards were Mages or Warriors.

Plus Music and Crystals are a powerful combinations You know vibrations and such.

Anyway what does everyone else think?

[Caldazar]

There are no classes in PS.
Although some sort of Bard-skill would be nice. For example, you can buy a lute, and play it for your comrades in battle, raising their morale, strength, dex etc.

[zaphar]

My thought is that the bardic magic would be powered by setting up sympathetic resonances in the Crystal. All insturments would have crystal parts for tuning and Resonating. You could even upgrade your instruments by getting better crystals to replace variouse parts.

[Caldazar]

Sounds good, but exactly what do you want to be able to do with the instruments? Charm animals? Earn cash? Trick monsters? Aid fellow gamers?

[zaphar]

Haven\'t thought it all through yet.

Here are some of my preliminary thoughts though. Bards should be primarily charm and illusionist magic. In other words charming NPC or casting Illusions. Illusions would also fit in the other traditional task of bards that of the storyteller. They use the illusions to tell their story. Although storytelling may not actually be implemented in the game like that.

Anyway imagine being able to charm a dragon. This would make the bard a great choice for the Explorer or Wagoneer that I saw earlier. He could charm NPC Creatures for his travels. Some charms could last only the length of the song. some Might be more permanent.

[Caldazar]

So bards should be a part of the azure way (the way of illusions, right?) ?

[zaphar]

Yeah but highly specialized.

It would take more work to learn the musical spells thus making it impossible to learn an additional way. A bard would have to really want to be a bard.

[Caldazar]

Hmm, are you sure that bards should use magic? IMO, the music should come from them and them alone, not magic. Although, I really like the idea of attaching crystals to the instrument. Different crystals do different things. Also, I think that a group of bards should be able to play music together, making their \"spells\" even stronger. Perhaps the music could even injure the monsters, or paralyze them?

[zaphar]

You misunderstood: The magic is caused BY the Bards music.

There would basically be a subsection of spells in the Azure way that were musical in nature. They are difficult to learn and require that the character be of the musician Job to do.

On the subject of joint magic. Some spells could be Duets, Trios, Quartets, and so on. They require multiple people playing different instruments in tandem. I\'m not sure about damage spells but charming a beast into paralysis would definitely fit with the concept. The Song holds the Creature spellbound while a Warrior hacks away.

[Caldazar]

OK, now I understand. I agree with you on most of the points, although, Im not sure that it should be in the Azure way. I think there should be one more way, the musical way (lousy name).
But, should this way be restricted, meaning that should some types not be able to learn it? For example, should a Kran be able to play a flute? A Streetwarrior able to play the violin?

[zaphar]

I don\'t know enough about the variouse races attributes to answer that one. Wiser heads than I would have to answer.

An additional way could be used but I was thinking about the developers and wanted to make it as easy to fit into their current setup as possible.

I think a specialization within the way is an elegant solution and probably very workable.

[Caldazar]

Perhaps. We should get some more opinions on this. Speak your mind everyone.

[benmarg]

Well the bard is a character that dabbles in a bit of everything, doesn\'t he? (or she...don\'t get on my case about it!)

So it\'s fine - in my opinion - if a bard is skilled in some forms of magic, and one would think that said magic should supplement his ability at music and story-telling, etc.

Now, the illusions bit is probably the way to go (as has already been said) since the bard is there to offer a form of escape to the masses.

However, instead of spells primarily, why not just set about creating a list of songs that would not only come from the bard but also serve some purpose via some sort of magical properties - not unlike a chant or prayer or what have you. All it\'d take is the right crystals in the instrument (which is a decent idea as well) and a good enough skill at playing the particular song.

As for the highly specialized part that is somewhat hazzy. From what i remmeber a bard can be a jack of all trades being able to do a little of that and this. However the commitment to learning the songs should be great since only by performing them flawlessly (much like a failure rate for spells the bard will have a certain probability of mucking up the song if he is not able to play it well) can the magical effects be felt.

Well...that\'s my two cents on the topic.

[Kuiper7986]

What I believe is that Bard\'s songs are a class of magic itself; \"Musical Magic.\"

[druke]

this is simple, its like som,ething i have been thinking about. there are 5 primary magic class types

wizard-magic from study
cleric- maagic form a diety
druid- magic from nature
bard-magic through rythems
Psion-\"magic\"thorugh inner self

all the magic \"class\"s are very common and seeing as how planesnift is going to be skill based i think that \"bard\" or \"Cleric\" is just ones way of saying how he draws his magical abilities.