The Bard Primer

By Oook, Originally posted to the TFC Forums on February 25th, 2010.

So you want to know about bards, eh? Well, first things first – this class is still under construction, so anything you read below could become somewhat or completely incorrect at any given time. With that disclaimer out of the way, I’ll tell you what I know.

Q: What is a bard, anyway?
At its core, bard is a merger of warrior, thief, and mage, but with a few extras thrown in. Using scores, scrolls, and spell crystals, bards can temporarily gain access to nearly every ability out there, regardless of the class it is normally associated with. That said, bards end up with very few permanent abilities. They gain a handful as they level, but the real fun is in the abilities they chose for themselves from the warrior, thief, and mage classes.

Q: There’s a bard on the who list and it looks like this:
Ogr [ Bard: 30 28 23 ] Oook!
What do the classes mean?

Bards have three classes: Combat, Magic, and Skill. They are always listed in that order on the who list. A bard’s Magic level cannot exceed Combat, and Skill cannot exceed Magic.

Q: How do bards level?
Each of the three classes is leveled differently. Combat levels are gained via xp, like normal. Magic levels are gained by memorizing and casting spells from scores, scrolls, and spell crystals. Skill levels are gained by completing location quests, mob hunts, and mob masteries. (Every fifth Skill level also requires a Bards’ Council review – more on that later.)

Bards can get an idea of what they need to do to level by using the “levelcheck” command. This will return a list of requirements still needed to level and looks something like this:
> levelcheck
You need 8522 experience points to level your 1st class.
You have not cast enough spells to advance.
You haven't sufficient spell knowledge to advance.
You don't know a wide enough variety of spells to advance.
Try again once the requirements are met.
You need Bards' Council review (HELP BARDS COUNCIL for more information).
You need 10 mobmasteries to advance. You have 8.
You need 20 mob hunt points to advance. You have 17.
You need 55 location quest points to advance. You have 44.
Try again once the requirements are met.

As you can see, the xp needed for the 1st class (Combat) is made very clear. The requirements for Skill are also specifically set out. The only part that needs some deciphering is the requirements for the Magic class. You never know how many more spells you need to memorize or cast, but you are given an idea of what you need to do.

• If you haven’t cast enough spells to advance, cast more. (These have to be spells from memory, not ones directly recited from scrolls or spells you know permanently.)
  
• If you haven’t sufficient spell knowledge to advance, you need more spells memorized. They can be the same ones you have already memorized; you just need more charges in your brain.
  
• If you don’t know a wide enough variety of spells then you need to memorize some you don’t already have in memory. (At later levels this may require memorizing arch magics off of spell crystals.)
  
• If you don’t know enough arch magics then you need to specifically memorize some spells arch mage spells off of spell crystals.
  
• If you don’t know powerful enough magics then you need to memorize more spells at higher levels.
  

“Levelcheck” is also the means by which you tell the system to check if you are ready to level your Magic or Skill class. (Combat will level automatically when you collect enough xp.) So if you think you are getting close, just type in “levelcheck” periodically and see if you level.

Q: How does the Bards’ Council review work?
For purposes of testing, the Bards’ Council is either Tynian or his representative. Once the class is live this may be done differently. The Bards’ Council review consists of a public performance by the bard requesting the review. The best way to request such is to put it in your title, write a note, and ask politely. (As an aside, don’t request the review until you are ready to perform. Generally you will get a tell saying “Okay, show me what you’ve got” and you’re on. Having macros set up before-hand is a great idea.)

What the Council expects to see from you varies somewhat depending on what level you are trying to achieve. In short, the higher the level, the more they want to see. “Help performance criteria” does provide a brief summary of what they want to see:

4th level - The bard performs in front of an audience. There are no specific quality expectations, and the performance need not be original.
9th level - The bard performs in front of an audience. The performance need not be original. Participant is graded on stage presence.
14th level - The bard creates an original work. This may take the form of a song, poem or story that is done in front of an audience, or a small written work that is made public. There are no specific quality expectations.
19th level - The bard creates an original work, which will be evaluated on quality.
24th level - The bard creates an original work.
29th level - The bard creates a major original work.

Note that “original” does not mean that you, the player, must create the work yourself. You can get as much help as you need from others. As for what counts as a performance, most anything goes. Many bards perform songs, but jokes, demonstrations, poetry, stories, historical accounts, dances, plays, and whatever else you can think of are legitimate. If you are looking for ideas, you might try checking the TFC forums. Several Bards’ Council reviews have been posted there and many people have tried their hand in the “Bards and Papyrus” section.

Provided your performance is satisfactory you will see that your levelcheck message has gone from:
You need Bards' Council review (HELP BARDS COUNCIL for more information).
to:
You have passed Bards' Council review.

It will remain that way until you reach the next level requiring a review.

Q: All the skill and spell scores I’ve seen are level 1. How do I get to higher levels?
The level on the score does not impact the level at which you learn the ability. What does affect the level you are memorizing the ability at is the number of times you have previously memorized that ability off of scores. How many times you have to memorize an ability from scores to increase the level at which you cast it is unknown. It is not a one-to-one correlation. Aside from that, it seems to be “a few.” It may even change depending on what level you are trying to reach. This only applies to memorize from scores, however. If you memorize off of a scroll or spell crystal you have the spell memorized at the level indicated by that item. Having memorized an ability from a scroll may also have an impact on what level the scores are then memorized at, but if it does, how much of an impact it has is unknown.

Q: What else do I need to know about memorization?
You cannot memorize anything until you reach effective level 5. Since you can’t increase Skill until you increase Magic, and you can’t increase Magic until you memo something, this means you have to level Combat a couple times first. Once you can memorize things, you can immediately memorize any skill score or spell score you come across. Scrolls and spell crystals must still be memorized in order, though, starting with lower levels and working your way up. (Once you have memorized a spell at, say, level 12, you do not have to keep it in memory to memorize something higher than that. The fact that you have done so is in place, so go ahead and cast it if you want.)

As a side note, skills that normally happen automatically once learned (like enhanced damage and dodge) will get similarly get used up automatically once you memorize them off of a skill score.

Q: What abilities to bards get as they level?
Bards get Common at effective level 4, Refresh at Magic level 2, Info at Skill level 4, and Info3 at Skill level 10. Unlike all the other classes, when bards receive an ability when they level they automatically have it as if they had practiced it. (Which means that, no, they don’t get practice sessions when they level.)

Q: How do bards permanently learn other abilities?
Bards permanently gain other abilities by using Learn. As a bard, it is possible for you to Learn an ability (skill or spell) provided the following requirements are met:

• You have the ability memorized.
  
• You have a proper slot free to use on the ability.
  
• You are of sufficient level to know the ability.
  

What does all that mean?
Well, memorized is memorized, so that’s easy enough. It can be from scores or scrolls, it doesn’t matter.

The “slot” business refers to your “learn slots.” When you start out as a bard you have all the slots you will ever get: 2 for warrior skills, 3 for thief skills, 4 for mage spells, and 8 for general skills. The warrior, thief, and mage abilities are anything on their respective “skill <class>” lists. (Yes, this means you cannot permanently Learn abilities unique to clerics, shamans, rangers, thugs, mage mobs, or – oddly enough – bards. Sorry.) Generic slots are for any abilities available to all three of those classes (i.e. dodge, parry, elven, etc.). So, as long as you have the right slot available for what you want to Learn, it’s all good.

Finally, you have to have a high enough level. The level in question is Combat level for warrior skills, Magic level for mage spells, and Skill level for thief skills. The generic abilities seem to be available to bards at the lowest level they are available for any of the three classes.

So what’s the catch? There are two, actually. The second is that when you Learn an ability your permanent version will always be at the same power level you had it memorized at. For example, if you just memorized a level 15 “magic missile” scroll – and that was the highest level you had the spell memorized at – and then you Learned “magic missile,” you would always cast that permanent version as level 15. Your skill would still auto-improve (average, excellent, expert, etc.), but the power will remain the same. Sometimes the level of an ability doesn’t matter. Dodge, parry, enhanced damage, and the like can safely be Learned the first time they are memorized (provided all the requirements are met), but level will make all the difference in the world for most spells.

Q: Are there any abilities that only Bards get?
There are a couple of such abilities. One happens automatically whenever a bard joins a group. All of the other members of the group will get a message saying that they feel “fortified” provided they are in the room with the bard. The exact effects of this ability are unknown, but it is hypothesized that acts somewhat like the bless spell.

The other bard-only abilities are spells used with the Perform command. (Instead of casting the spell you “perform <spell>”.) The only way to gain these performances is by memorizing the appropriate skill score. As will everything else you memorize, you will only have a few castings of them. They are:

• Managen Blossoms – this ability acts as a modified “give mana” spell. When performed it will drain the bard’s mana every tick and share that mana will all the members of the bard’s group who are in the room. It will not stop until the bard drops below 0 mana.
  
• Maurice’s Bargain – this ability acts as a modified “summon” spell, but it transposes the bard with the target PC. It can only be performed when the bard is at full mana. Too, both the bard and the target must be outside of safe and they must both use the “noresist” command.
  

Q: What kinds of stats to bards end up with?
Well, bards have charisma as their primary stat and dexterity as their secondary. The max hit point gain appears to be 19, but you only get full hit point gains with Combat levels. Magic and Skill levels have the 1/1/2 hit point progression seen in normal multi-classing. The max mana is at least 12, and yes, you only get mana for Magic levels.