What do they do, exactly?

Straight from the book:
"Bard Song: This is possible by Bards - the bard character will begin playing a song, which continues until any action other than movement is selected for that bard. While the song is playing, the party morale and luck is higher. (Luck decreases attack rolls and damage caused by enemies)"

Thats word for word from the book. I'm not sure what the exact values are as far as the effect goes. They didn't make a chart for it.

That's anoying, I'd like to know what it does exactly.

Bard Song: A skill possessed only by Bards: They have the option to stop fighting, and instead sing and play music to lift the spirits of their comrades and dishearten their enemies. Bards may walk around while singing, but cannot do anything else. While under the effects of Bard Song, party members recieve +1 to hit and damage, which may not sound like much, but when everybody starts rolling twice as many Critical Hits, it makes a difference. Also known as Battlesong, it may be used an infinite number of times per day, for as long as the Bard wishes.

http://www.geocities.com/sixospades/bg/chap2.htm

Allow me to add the caveat that my report on Bard Song was actually based on little more than hearsay--I've never seen any sort of authoritative report on Bard Song either, so I suspect that none even <u>exists</u>. It would take someone much more familiar with the Infinity Engine than I to crack open the code and see what it actually does. And even if my guess at Bard Song's effects (+1 to hit and damage) is correct, then I don't know if that would equate to a simple -1 bonus to THAC0, or actually getting Critical Hits on a roll of 19.

Perhaps one should go out and raid bookstores for the official 2nd edition rules concerning Bards? That would at least give a clue as to what the effects are. Especially since the DM would have to know the exact effects in order to run the game effectively. Oh yeah, since the Bard Song is in fact a song, shouldn't the silence spell negate it's effects?

It says +1 to hit and damage as well as +2 to morale. Beyond that it says little.

Besides the morale bonus is only relevant for henchmen and completely irrelevant for this game.

Also I believe that the Ad&d rules explicitly states that critical hits only applies for naturally rolled 20's regardless of any plusses or minuses.

I own the book already, but it's in one of my stack of old 2nd edition books, in the botton drawer of my library, and the door is blocked by my scanner and the cable of my Router.

I own the book already, but it's in one of my stack of old 2nd edition books, in the botton drawer of my library, and the door is blocked by my scanner and the cable of my Router. </font>[/QUOTE]Dont waste your time then, the PH states as noted above...+1 to hit or damage or +2 to morale. I keep those books handy as I still DM & play 2nd edition. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I always thought the standard bard song in BG gave a +1/+1 hit & dam. within a radius, but I haven't seen anything to proves this definitively, and I dunno why I even think that? I've only played with a bard once or twice a while back!

I'm glad someone asked about Bard Song 'cos I never really knew what it did. I played one game from start to finish with the Song enabled for 99% of the time, so I hope I was getting something from it.

As Firestormalpha says, the Bard Song ought to be inhibited by 'Silence', I'm not sure about BG1 but it certainly does in IWD and it totally cuaght me off guard when it happened to me.

The two Bards in BG1 are poor examples of the Bard class, but the one in Dark Side is excellent, so if you want to check out this class you ought to play as one yourself (or get IWD - HOW).