bard music stuck at 99

[babar]

hello everyone,

does anybody have any tips on how to push a bard's music level up to 100?
My elf bard has been stuck at music 99 since about level 16. She's 18 now with enough points to be 19. I want to switch her to rogue or alchemist for at least one level to get stealth or be able to cast stamina on herself while silenced, but not until her music hits 100.

Current stats are:
bare: str 68 int 88 pie 56 vit 56 dex 100 spd 50 sen 64
equiped: str 78 int 125 pie 66 vit 56 dex 110 spd 80 sen 64
(she's imported that's why the stats are so high)

I've been giving her assorted ankhs (dex pie) and been using lifesteal (pre-18, ankh of dex + emerald talisman) and nuke blast (post-18, ankh of sanc + emerald talisman) non-stop, but still no progress.

Any ideas?

[Slag]

It'll happen. Just be persistent with the music, perhaps use the dulcimer of mending a few times - it's great for music skill.

[Scatter]

Hard to believe you're still getting silenced at L18! (keep that Magus a'strumming, and you should be more immune to magic)
It takes a lot of playing to get to max. If nothing else, use the Viola d'Amore a few dozen times. That's how i boost my Music, but i never worry; once i get to around 95 that's enough for me...

i agree with scatter. it takes heaps and heaps of practice, but if you want to switch classes, the difference between 99 and 100 is negligible in terms of your item effectiveness.

the only consideration is that you bard level affects your fumbles (at least, so i'm told!) - so if you plan on using those newly found lvl 18 items, you may want to hold off dual classing until you get more experience levels as a bard.

personally, i feel the best bard items are level 8/11, so i would have dualled over already with music in the 80's (of course, giving up all those item bonuses takes some fortitude!)

good luck [img]smile.gif[/img]

[babar]

Thanks to you guys for responding.

Slag: The dulcimer has saved me many a time, despite my bard's efforts to fumble it repeatly right when there's a party member who's about to die. Now she's just insurance, because the Lord, Valk and Bishop all have Heal All, too, but much more reliable. The music skill pretty much went up to 99 on its own without any special training followed by about 3-4 long levels of repeated and futile efforts every combat to get the last point.

Scatter: yeah, I still get silenced occasionally, but the worst is my less than Lordly human Lord, who's always getting scared or paralyzed, even with Magic Screen powercast at lvl7. You might be on to something with the Viola. I was looking at my chicken Lord and wondering why his power strike and iron skin was so low. Then it occurred to me that it might be because all the munchkin weapons and armor he's been using ... at least for the iron skin. So I replaced his Golden Breastplate and Platinum Greaves with Robes of Rejuvenation and Enchantment. After that, obviously he started getting hit more often and so his iron skin went up. Now I always thought that using higher powered bard instruments would make music go up faster, and I think that still might be true up to a point, but I finally made it to a 100 music in a Rapax battle where I used the Poet's Lute (like the Viola, a LVL1 instrument). Nobody fell asleep and I'm not sure that's what pushed it over, but that's when it happened. Now I just got to find a tarnished sword and see if that does anything for my Lord's power strike.

Sultan: It is really hard to give up all the Bard only items, I went ahead and switched to rogue, but only for one level until I get locks and traps up to an even 90 (even though I don't need it ... still holding out for a possible import to Wiz9, just in case!! ) and stealth to whatever it gets up to. At 18 the bard has fumbled the Infernal horn a couple of times, but everybody has enough fire resistance and regen that it doesn't matter too much. Anyway, I probably will switch back just to get my bard items back, although I'm very tempted to switch her and the Bishop over to something that can wear Infinity Helms. I'm only getting a lv2 nuke blast out of her now.

Side note: What was Sir-tech thinking, making Robes of Rejuvenation so lame compared to Infinity Helms????

[Scatter]

Yah, i totally agree with using the cheapest stuff you can get so it takes more swings...if you're in a hurry to develop a skill, practise is exactly what mortals do...My solo's have really shown me how much more Skill develops from battle just because only one person is doing all the stuff, getting continuous practise. But in larger parties, if you want to bring something up, you gotta do more than just slog around.

[rbeane1]

may want to bost your int. I had a bard stuck at 89 intil i raised his int up!

[Scatter]

(or wear one of the Brilliant Helms)

babar - in spite of your 100 in music, your bard will probably fumble the nuke horn until she's level 21/22 in bard, because of the level effect i described earlier. bummer, eh?

i'm with you about the infinity helm. the only thing i'd suggest is that the robes can be worn by everyone, so the helm is "balanced" in that respect because it's limited to a handful of classes.