Bard songs

[VoidEngineer]

So what has everyone's experience been with the songs so far? What do you find useful and what do you think is not?

[PirateEmcee]

Originally posted by Darklord:

Originally posted by Spitbeard:

As an aside, I've noticed that I could get all the songs active during longer fights when using the song ability every round. Not sure if this is intended?

It is.

Daniel.

Yep. And some of them can stack (The Traveler's Tune, Falkentyne's Fury & The Seeker's Ballad, perhaps Lucklaran), and some of them will only apply once but will be more powerful the farther, level-wise, into the dungeon/tower you are (Badh'r Kilnfest).

I'm not positive there's a top limit to the buff that Falkentyne's Fury can bestow since damage is so variable, but the lowest AC can be lowered by any source, The Traveler's Tune included, appears to be -50. (I say "appears to be" because there isn't anything defnintive on it from the devs, yet, and the original game applied AC beyond LO (-10) even if it didn't go beyond displaying LO so I'm not sure what the actual limit is.)

[Tomato Juice]

Originally posted by tremir:

It depends if there's a minimum armor class though.
In the original version you couldn't go below -10, so eventually stacking defensives stopped being useful

In the oriinal you could go way beyond -10AC. LO (-10) was just the moment it stopped displaying any increase in AC.

[lefty1117]

I usually run with the HP regen song once i get into dungeons, even since I got ybarra's shield. That combined with mithril might in the big fights gets me a lot of misses. I'm in the sewers right now. I've noticed my bard is high enough level that I'm getting 2 HP per round restored now.

[Darkmoor9]

Originally posted by ;1734336452570358294:

I've noticed my bard is high enough level that I'm getting 2 HP per round restored now.

I think that depends on dungeon level, not bard level.

[Borgelin]

Originally posted by SpectralShade:

Originally posted by v0!d123:

i use the Travellers Tune most of time.
it lowers the Armor Class of the Party for -2 Points

once you get the magician spell that gives a shield, using the bard song as well is pointless.
the healing song is nice, especially when you got someone that is poisoned, as it negates the poison during combat.

Nope, not pointless at all. They stack. 2 lower AC = less inc damage by quite a lot. Imo much more useful than the healing-tune.

[Rudel]

Healing song for the first part of the game, Travellers Tune (AC) after your Mages learn REST. Other songs only for very specific encounters (Anti Magic works against Dragons Breath, + Hit is good for the Crystal Golem)

[VoidEngineer]

Once you get that bardsword (or any item that gives unlimited songs) you want to spam everything. Depending on the enemy, I lead in with either a SECOND Traveler's Tune (it stacks with the one you sang outside of combat!), Lucklaran (to avoid incoming spells), or a healing song. Keep cranking out those songs until you're fully buffed! It dramatically increases the power of your party.

[FlyinJ]

How can you tell if the bardsword/lute is giving unlimited songs? I have both equipped, and it still tells me I have a max of 13 songs in the the character info...

[VoidEngineer]

Originally posted by FlyinJ:

How can you tell if the bardsword/lute is giving unlimited songs? I have both equipped, and it still tells me I have a max of 13 songs in the the character info...

Look up the item info (if it exists) or simply sing a song and see if the count goes down. In BT1, I think the only two items that give you that are the bardsword and Lak's Lyre. I could be wrong, though.

[FlyinJ]

Am I missing a way to see item info? How do you see what the special properties are?

[VoidEngineer]

Originally posted by FlyinJ:

Am I missing a way to see item info? How do you see what the special properties are?

Trial and error or look up item info on the Internet.

[PirateEmcee]

Originally posted by Rudel:

Healing song for the first part of the game, Travellers Tune (AC) after your Mages learn REST. Other songs only for very specific encounters (Anti Magic works against Dragons Breath, + Hit is good for the Crystal Golem)

Always, always, ALWAYS use the The Traveler's Tune out of combat, as the effect persists in combat and can stack with itself, should you choose to use it in combat. The lowest AC in-game is -50, and more is pretty much always better for this. This is especially important before you have healing spells or large amounts of SP in reserve. Ale is cheap. But an extra -2AC for your front line, for 3gp or less (a single drink restores all song uses, and not at a one-for-one ratio, so the cost-per-song drives lower for each level) is just priceless.

Plus Badh'r Kilnfest restores only your Bard when used out-of-combat. That's going to be helpful in one out of six situations -- one out of seven if you're running a full party in Trilogy. Where TT is useful for everyone all the time.

Then: sing whatever song(s) you need in a combat. BTW, Lucklaran works against all magic used against your party, including Dragon Breath -- so be sure to use it at least once (I haven't been able to tell reliably if it stacks) during a fight where you're going to face magic users and their ilk over multiple rounds.

Originally posted by FlyinJ:

How can you tell if the bardsword/lute is giving unlimited songs? I have both equipped, and it still tells me I have a max of 13 songs in the the character info...

You only need one, but you've already sort of answered your question there: if you have the Bardsword or Lak's Lyre equipped, and you start singing a song, and your song's left count doesn't go down...? I'd say that means that you've achieved unlimited songs.

Personally, I go with the Bardsword and a Horn (Fire, Flame, or Frost). The sword does all right damage, which gets better with an application or three of Falkentyne's Fury (enough that my Bard can kill most things with a good shot at least through common/set/non-boss fights into L3 of The Catacombs); provides for unlimited songs (which allows for situational improvement of many things in-combat, depending upon what they face); and adds the utility of an extra Dragon Breath (or frost spell) at-need (either adding to my Casters damage output or saving their pool of SP).

[DhuAlan]

Recently changed my bard from using the bardsword and firehorn, to weilding the crystal blade and lak's lyre, bard is more likely to be using a song than the horn now I have access to the wind dragon and miblast spell times 3.
Also the played in game tune changes with the instrument, nice touch, I may have to try the other instruments to hear the difference at some point

[noblesse_oblige]

Wayland's Watch has been fixed in the remasters (was broken in the originals). However, there was talk of limiting the stacking of that one, since it could be used to debuff an enemy to the point where it couldn't hit your party and then you could pull off the healing (Badhr Kilnfest) or spell regen (Mage Staff) exploits that were closed up by getting rid of voluntary Party Attack. So, the much-maligned Wayland's Watch might still not be worth it.

[lefty1117]

Originally posted by Skjarl:

Originally posted by FlyinJ:

How can you tell if the bardsword/lute is giving unlimited songs? I have both equipped, and it still tells me I have a max of 13 songs in the the character info...

Look up the item info (if it exists) or simply sing a song and see if the count goes down. In BT1, I think the only two items that give you that are the bardsword and Lak's Lyre. I could be wrong, though.

Son of a bitchchch I had a Lak's Lyre dropped and I sold it ... there was no info, tooltip or any other info that would have told me it was anything other than an instrument with some guys' name on it. Does it really give unlimited songs??