Bard Spells

by Mercury

Bardic Spells and Skills Explanation

Okay, so bardic spells and skills can be a bit tricky. This might help answer some questions regarding them.

When talking about bards and spells, it gets confusing because you have spells that are permanently learned, spells that are memoed off scores, spells that are memoed off scrolls, and spells that you just know naturally.

In this explanation, all spells memoed off scores but not permanently learned will be referred to as charges. For example, I will mention casting charges and casting spells differently. All spells memoed off scrolls will be referred to as memoes. Thus you can cast a charge (memoed off a score), cast a memo (memoed off a scroll), or cast a spell (spell permanently learned).

When a bard starts off with a spell, say Soul Rift, he starts by either memoing scores or low-level scrolls. That spell is known at level 1 (casting a charge will cast a level 1 Soul Rift). That bard then needs to cast charges and memoes of Soul Rift to increase the spell level. The more times he casts charges of Soul Rift, the higher the spell level becomes. While the exact ratio is unknown, it seems that roughly 3 cast charges of a spell boosts the spell level by 1. Casting a memo of Soul Rift may boost it one or two levels, but that exact ratio is undetermined.

Thus, to get a spell such as Soul Rift to maximum charge casting level, a bard needs to cast it approximately 93 times.

However, the maximum level a bard can cast a spell at has a direct correlation to the level at which it can be learned by the original magic user class. The maximum level for the bard’s spell charges is level 32 minus the lowest level at which the spell can be learned by another magic class. This means that a bard can get to the point where he is casting charges of Soul Rift at level 31 (a Shaman gets Soul Rift available at level 1, and 32 - 1 = 31).

Now, when a bard casts a memo (spells memoed off scrolls), they are cast AT his current spell charge level on the spell, and NOT at the level of the scroll he memoed it. Thus, if somehow you memoed a level 30 rift scroll and only had your Soul Rift charges at level 1, then when you cast that memo, it would be a level 1 Soul Rift.

Permanent Learn and Scrolls

As scrolls function as single-charge scores when you already have charges of that given spell memoed, they do not function this way if you have cast all the charges. For example, if you have 40 charges of Improved Invis saved up, it's at level 13 (max) and expert, all the charges cast are going to be at level 13. If you memo a level 5 Improved Invis, it just means you have 41 charges of level 13 Improved Invis. However, if you cast ALL your charges of Improved Invis (so it's no longer showing up on your memo list), and THEN memo a scroll, you have a single charge/memo of Improved Invis at the level of the scroll.

This is how a bard gets the "Bard Invis". It is permanently learned after casting all the charges, the memoing a level 30 Improved Invis scroll (single charge/memo), then permanently learning it.

Expertise on Spells

Expertise is another thing that effects a bard’s spells. A bard’s expertise refers to how well he knows a spell that he cast cast charges or memoes or spells of. Normally, non-bards can only get a spell to the expertise level of “superb”. Bards can get their expertise to “expert”. This is done by maxing out the spell level of the charges (such as getting Soul Rift to level 31), then casting another 12-20 charges or memoes of the spell. Before the spell level is maxed out, a bard’s expertise on the spell fluctuates wildly, but once the spell level is maxed out, the expertise gets higher and higher until it hits expert. This is one way of knowing if a spell level has hit the maximum.

Mana Burn and Memoing

Yet another correlation is between spell charges and mana. Each time a bard memoes a score or scroll, mana is "burnt". The amount of mana burned is a direct proportion to the level the bard knows the spell at. This measurement applied to spell scores only is approximately 18+(6x spell level known). So, if a bard knows Soul Rift at 31, he will burn off 204 (18 + (6 x 31)) mana to memo a Soul Rift score. The number of charges on the score have no influence on this. It should be noted that spell scores normally have 2-4 charges of a single spell on them. This type of linear and predictable mana burn only effects bigger mages. The mana burn for baby bards is much less, and has not been studied to any extent.

This measurement applied to scrolls is equal to three times the level of the scroll being memoed IF that level is lower than the level you already know that spell at. If the level of the scroll is higher, the mana burn is equal to six times the level of the scroll. For example, a level 30 Improved Invis scroll will burn 180 (6 X 30) mana when memoed, while a level 5 Improved Invis scroll will burn 15 (3 X 5) mana when memoed.

Skill Scores

Skill scores are different. They seem to do the same thing in regards to expertise level and mana burning, but levels cannot be determined. When you permanently learn a skill, it must be learned off a skill score. There are no scrolls for skills. It is recommended that any skill permanently learned should be leveled to the maximum with just charges. This can be determined by getting two scores of the desired skill, memoing one, burning the charges, memoing the second score of the same skill, and comparing the mana burn. If the skill is burning the same mana and the expertise is maintained at expert, then it should be the maximum level possible for the skill.

Additional Information

Very little information is needed regarding skills and spells that are naturally known (info, info3, refresh) besides the fact that these can no longer be wiped using Amnesic Lyricals.

Testing is ongoing with bards and scrolls, but at this point some things are known. The first is that scrolls work like they do with other classes when it comes to memoing them, i.e. you can't just memo a level 30 scroll -- you have to work up to them.

The wisdom stat (natural and boosters) does not appear to have any effect on charges or memoes, but only on permanently learned spells.

It is important to know that casting all the charges of a specific spell does not delete the progress made on the levels of that spell. If a bard casts all the charges of Soul Rift until it isn’t showing up on his memo list, and then memoes a Soul Rift score, it will come back at the same level it was before. However, it WILL wipe all the progress made if the scores are memoed over a permanently learned spell.

As a final note, this all is just what is testable for bardic spells. Bards get an additional bump on spells beyond what is testable. This happens when the Efficacious Lyrical is studied. A great example of this is the Make Bag spell – an eff 50 shaman casting this spell makes a bag that can carry 32kgs, but an eff 50 bard casting this can make a bag that carries 36 – 37 kgs.

VERY IMPORTANT: While the study command DOES NOT utilize an apostrophe (e.g. study improved invis), the learn command DOES require an apostrophe (e.g. learn mage 'improved invis'). It is a headache and a half if you get this wrong.