&$%#ing Bards

[Unholy]

I just wanted to say, I really hate bards! I never put them in my party except I think back in the Bard's Tale saga, where I felt kind of obligated. I like to defeat my opponents by wrending them apart with a wicked weapon, vapourizing them with a brutal spell, silently slicing into their heart from behind them in the shadows, or calling down the holy might of my god on them... ...but playing my mandolin until they fall down dead... ...that's stupid!

I only mention it because practically every really cool item I have found so far is only usable by bards! Aaaaargghhh!

Unholy
(who will never be charged with Murder by Harmonica)

[Leon]

You so right ! I hate it too !!!

[DraconisRex]

That's pretty funny. Bards are engines of death in this game. Not required, but boy do they pack the fire power.

[Solomon]

I could understand it if you only went in for the tangible means of dispatching your enemies, but if you believe in brutal spells, why is brutal music so hard to buy into?

Deadly music is easier to believe: I've never been fireballed, or webbed, etc., but I've been assaulted by some really bad tunes. Go to a junior high band concert and tell me that they're not playing infernal horns.

[Rolla ZE]

I don't know why bard are rated so highly. They are basically spell casters that run out of spell points, ie stamina quickly. My bishop can cast many times more. You drink a stamina potion but thats a waste of a round. Also my bard can still misplay an instrument even though he's at level 23 and has a 90 int 100 dex and very high music skill. I don't know what benefit the communications skill has in the game either.

I agree with you though, playing an instrument to kill a 3-headed snake just dosen't sound (pardon the pun) right. Imagine puff daddy beating roy jones jnr, yeah right.

[ 02-08-2002: Message edited by: Rolla ZE ]

[Warhammer]

I am with you on that one!

Those awesome rings, shoes, capes, bracelets that are only wearable by Bards pi$$ me off!! Just because they are bards do they have differently shaped fingers, feet, buttocks,... ?!?

[Jem]

Well, personally I love bards. And I cannot imagine a fantasy game without them.

Plus if you think about it, even in real life bards WERE pretty powerful and WERE different from anyone else. In a relatively static culture where it was unusual for a peasant to go more than 10 miles from the place he was born in his entire life, a bard was a link to the outside world. He brought news, gossip, rumors, information AND entertainment. He was a break in their normal dull lives and as such seemed almost a magical figure. Even the wealthy enjoyed the novelty a travelling bard brought with him. AS for power - he held the most awesome power over them - if they didn't treat him the way he liked, he would simply leave and not return and not tell them the news he had brought, which was a devastating blow to them. Is it any wonder that the Western European culture has had a fascination with them for over 1200 years now?

So I say -- bring them on! Bards rock.

Oh, and Rolla the high communication has a very strong effect on the game but it's pretty subtle: the higher the communication, the lower the prices the merchants charge you and the higher the prices they give you when you sell stuff. My bard's communication is around 40 and in Arnika what I get when selling items is exactly what I pay when buying them. By the low 60s I'll actually be able to sell an item to a merchange for more than I purchase it for from the same merchant. For example, I could sell a mana stone w/1 charge for 100gp, buy it back immediately with 3 charges for 95 and make a 5gp profit on the deal. Not a bad set-up.