User talk:GS4ALASTIR/Between a rock and a Bard place

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This is my attempt to combine the currently pinned proposal with the previous Minor Mental proposal
Current: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i0wcL8-_14v7Tzd15BPmlW0aomfSkfotoa0tXtNgk4Q/edit?usp=sharing
Mental: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17mOfhrbfK1kz_CSwFYN23ka-Pur6fmsYnwlUocG47UE/edit?usp=sharing

Changelog:

New Proposal
Bard Base Spells
War Chant (1001) Offensive
Resonance (1002) Attack + Utility
Dissonance (1003) Attack
Purification Song (1004) Utility
Lullabye (1005) Attack
Etude of Certainty (1006) Offensive - Song
Kai's Anthem (1007) Offensive - Song
Banshee’s Wail (1008) Attack
Sonic Armaments (1009) Utility - Song
Song of Valor (1010) Defensive - Song
Song of Peace (1011) Utility - Song
Arresting Aria (1012) Attack
Unraveling Cadence (1013) Attack
Crescendo (1014) Offensive - Song
Requiem (1015) Attack
Traveler’s Ballad (1016) Utility
Cacophony (1017) Attack
Power Chord (1018) Utility - Song
Melody of Mirrors (1019) Defensive - Song
Luck's Reverberation (1020) Service - Song
Dancing Weapon (1025) Attack
Sonic Disruption (1030) Attack
Song of Tonis (1035) Offensive - Song
Troubadour's Rally (1040) Utility
Pinned Proposal
Bard Base Spells
War Chant (1001) Offensive
Resonance (1002) Attack
Dissonance (1003) Attack
Purification Song (1004) Utility
Lullabye (1005) Attack
Etude of Certainty (1006) Offensive
Kai's Anthem (1007) Offensive
Banshee’s Wail (1008) Attack
Sonic Armaments (1009) Utility
Song of Valor (1010) Defensive
Song of Peace (1011) Utility
Arresting Aria (1012) Attack
Unraveling Cadence (1013) Attack
Crescendo (1014) Offensive
Requiem (1015) Attack
Song of Tonis (1016) Offensive
Cacophony (1017) Attack
Power Chord (1018) Utility
Melody of Mirrors (1019) Defensive
Traveler’s Ballad (1020) Utility
Dancing Weapon (1025) Attack
Luck's Reverberation (1030) Service
Sonic Disruption (1035) Attack
Troubadour's Rally (1040) Utility
Mental Spellsong Proposal
Bard Base Spells
War Chant (1001) Offensive
Resonance (1002) Attack
Dissonance (1003) Attack
Purification Song (1004) Utility
Lullabye (1005) Attack
Etude of Certainty (1006) Offensive
Kai's Anthem (1007) Offensive
Banshee’s Wail (1008) Attack
Sonic Shield (1009) Defensive
Song of Valor (1010) Defensive
Arresting Aria (1011) Attack
Sonic Weapon (1012) Offensive
Song of Unraveling (1013) Attack
Sonic Armor (1014) Defensive
Requiem (1015) Attack
Traveller's Ballad (1016) Utility
Cacophony (1017) Attack
Song of Power (1018) Utility
Melody of Mirrors (1019) Defensive
Luck's Reverberation (1020) Service
Dancing Weapon (1025) Attack
Sonic Disruption (1030) Attack
Song of Tonis (1035) Offensive
Troubadour's Rally (1040) Utility
Current Spellsong List
Bard Base Spells
Holding Song (1001) Attack
Vibration Chant (1002) Attack
Fortitude Song (1003) Defensive
Purification Song (1004) Utility
Lullabye (1005) Attack
Song of Luck (1006) Utility
Kai's Triumph Song (1007) Offensive
Stunning Shout (1008) Attack
Sonic Shield Song (1009) Utility
Song of Valor (1010) Defensive
Song of Peace (1011) Utility
Sonic Weapon Song (1012) Utility
Song of Unravelling (1013) Attack
Sonic Armor (1014) Utility
Song of Depression (1015) Attack
Song of Rage (1016) Attack
Song of Noise (1017) Utility
Song of Power (1018) Utility
Song of Mirrors (1019) Defensive
Traveler's Song (1020) Utility
Singing Sword Song (1025) Utility
Song of Sonic Disruption (1030) Attack
Song of Tonis (1035) Defensive
Troubadour's Rally (1040) Utility

Bard Spell Lists:

Bard Base Spells
War Chant (1001) Offensive
Resonance (1002) Attack + Utility
Dissonance (1003) Attack
Purification Song (1004) Utility
Lullabye (1005) Attack
Etude of Certainty (1006) Offensive - Song
Kai's Anthem (1007) Offensive - Song
Banshee’s Wail (1008) Attack
Sonic Armaments (1009) Utility - Song
Song of Valor (1010) Defensive - Song
Song of Peace (1011) Utility - Song
Arresting Aria (1012) Attack
Unraveling Cadence (1013) Attack
Crescendo (1014) Offensive - Song
Requiem (1015) Attack
Traveler’s Ballad (1016) Utility
Cacophony (1017) Attack
Power Chord (1018) Utility - Song
Melody of Mirrors (1019) Defensive - Song
Luck's Reverberation (1020) Service - Song
Dancing Weapon (1025) Attack
Sonic Disruption (1030) Attack
Song of Tonis (1035) Offensive - Song
Troubadour's Rally (1040) Utility
Minor Mental Spells
Soothing Word (1201) Utility
Iron Skin (1202) Defensive
Powersink (1203) Attack
Foresight (1204) Defensive
Glamour (1205) Utility
Telekinesis (1206) Attack
Force Projection (1207) Attack
Mindward (1208) Defensive
Dragonclaw (1209) Offensive
Thought Lash (1210) Attack
Confusion (1211) Attack
Shroud of Deception (1212) Utility
Mind over Body (1213) Utility
Brace (1214) Defensive
Blink (1215) Defensive
Focus Barrier (1216) Defensive
Vision (1217) Utility
Mental Dispel (1218) Utility
Vertigo (1219) Attack
Premonition (1220) Defensive
Mindwipe (1225) Attack
Provoke (1235) Utility

Combat Instruments:

  • New weapon type that functions nearly identical to a runestaff. (9/21/21)
    • Usable only by Bards.
    • Can be played like a musical instrument.
    • Trading also counts for magical ranks when determining runestaff defense to make up for their lower skill cap compared to pures.
    • Parry messaging is more magical, such as the Bard summons musical notes from the instrument that distract away the blow.
  • Runestaff Conversions (9/21/21)
    • Any two-handed instrument can be used as a combat instrument once converted to the new base. Any combat properties that work on runestaves would also work on combat instruments.
    • A few of the spells of war in the Bard Base work with combat instruments.
    • Bards will be able to put a runestaff and an existing instrument into a converter container and it would take the combat properties of the runestaff and apply them to the instrument.
    • Note that there will be a lot of restrictions on this converter to not inadvertently break items, so we will run a few conversion merchants within the month after release of these updates.

Sonic Armaments:

  • Sonic BOWS may now be created. (9/21/21)
  • Sonic AMMO may now be created. (8/15/22)
  • Sonic 2WEAPON may now be created. (8/15/22)

  • Sonic armaments (1009) will be able to take upgrades from other services. (8/15/22)
  • Sonic armaments refers to a weapon, shield and armor.
  • This includes:
    • Weighting, Padding, and Sighting
    • Enchant (925)
    • Ensorcell (735)
    • Sanctify (330)
    • Creature Bane
    • Temporary upgrades such as Bless (304).
  • Properties and services on sonic armaments are shared between all types +within a weapon group (falchion < longsword, etc). (9/21/21)
    • Tuning Forks may be consumed to apply the full bonus to the weapon, or may be kept separate as a prop to function as they do today.
    • Sonic Gear is capped at +50 from all sources the same as any other gear.

  • This change means that Bards will be subject to the damage resistance penalty from undead, but will be able to bless or sanctify their gear like any other to avoid this penalty.
  • Finally, Sonic Armaments are immune to dispel attempts and song renewal failure checks.

Spell Song Mechanics:

  • Songs do not have an initial mana cost and will only reduce your maximum available mana. (8/15/22)
  • Bards will no longer manually use the renewal system and renewing songs no longer cost mana. (8/15/22)
    • Instead, any spell with a duration of “song” has an indefinite duration similar to focus songs Mind Over Body (1213) and Focus Barrier (1216), but without the mutual exclusion component.
    • These spells include: Etude of Certainty (1006), Kai's Anthem (1007), Sonic Armaments (1009), Song of Valor (1010), Crescendo (1014), Melody of Mirrors (1019), Song of Tonis (1035).
  • All spells with the duration of “song” cost maximum mana at a rate of ROUNDUP(Spell Level / 5)).
Mental Proposal
Mental Proposal: Mana Cost:
Etude of Certainty (1006) 2 max mana
Kai’s Anthem (1007) 2 max mana
Sonic Shield (1009) 2 max mana
Song of Valor (1010) 2 max mana
Sonic Weapon (1012) 3 max mana
Sonic Armor (1014) 3 max mana
Song of Power (1018) 4 max mana
Song of Mirrors (1019) 4 max mana
Dancing Weapon (1025) 5 max mana
Song of Luck (1030) 6 max mana
Song of Tonis (1035) 7 max mana
Total to maintain all songs 40 max mana
  • Songs will continue to have an automatic renewal, using the current formula of:
    • 120 seconds
    • +4 per level (1-25)(100)
    • +3 per level (26-50)(75)
    • +2 per level (51-75)(50)
    • +1 per level (76-100)(25)
    • + Influence Bonus * 3
    • + ML:Telepathy ranks * 2
  • At Level 100: 370 + (Influence Bonus * 3) + (ML:Telepathy ranks * 2)


  • If the Bard is unable to concentrate the songs can still fail to renew. (Status: Silenced/Sleep/Stunned) (8/15/22)
    • Bards have a chance to resist renewal failure (while incapacitated) at a baseline percentage equal to their Discipline Bonus.
    • ML:Telepathy also increases the chance songs are maintained through being incapacitated at a rate of 1% per rank.
    • Sonic Armaments are not subject to the renewal failure.


  • Every renewal period has a chance to produce ambient messaging to the room about the Bard singing a medley. (8/15/22)
    • There will be several flavors the Bard can choose from which are available in the RENEW verb.
    • There is also a customized song renewal messaging available via service.

Spell Hindrance:

  • Spell Hindrance would apply to the Bard spell circle as it does to other spell circles. Spell hindrance will be reduced for ASGs 12-16 to mitigate this change. Sonic Armaments (1009) will reduce spell hindrance further for every 25 ranks of ML:Manipulation. (8/15/22)
Name ASG Current Proposed
Brigandine Armor 12 7 4
Chain Mail 13 8 4
Double Chain 14 8 5
Augmented Chain 15 8 5
Chain Hauberk 16 15 6
  • We will also offer AsG changes (within the same AG) for any Bard that registered their armor to their Bard character (assuming said registration happened before this announcement (on 09/20/2021) as well as any Bard with a sonic armor alteration. This offer expires 30 days after the updates go live. (9/21/21)

Spell Updates:

Spell Slot: Spell Name: Spell Type Mana Cost Roundtime Duration Spell Details: Lore Benefits:
1208 Mindward Defensive 8 3s 1200 + 60s/rank of Minor Mental +20 mTD + 1 per 2 ranks of Minor Mental up to +40 mTD. At 20 ranks of ML:Telepathy, the spell may be EVOKE'd for a mass version for 20 mana.
Spell Slot: Spell Name: Spell Type Mana Cost Roundtime Duration Spell Details:
1001 War Chant