Enchanted musical instruments

I been playin my bard vlademir lately..and having a blast with his songs...which gave me an idea. I was a huge fan of that old *Bards Tale* games where your bard could sing 1 of 8 songs to benefit the part....BUT while playing them he couldnt attack...which made sense cause if hes strummin a lute or tootin a flute(that sounded bad lol) he couldnt be wackin at stuff with a sword.

Now im not one to wanna nerf people (dont hurt me alastair!) but maybe could we get either magical instruments which add bonuses to perform and other odds and ends like the ones in Dm's manual(thier names elude me at the moment) or maybe just code in a bonus if we use one and dont attack(or even both)

Im not lookin to make bards more powerful...it has just always irked me that bards run around playing no music yet these powerful songs are playing all the time. Now on the vault...http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=3635 if i read that hak right...if you play an instrument it actually plays a song...his suck..but actual renaisance music is out there...and could be utilized as a BMU.

Anyway these are ramblings of an old dnd player...i thought id just interject this

Not exactly disagreeing, because instruments that play songs and have other effects would be pretty neat, but Vlad doesn't know how to sing? Whistle" Hum a jaunty tune, perhaps?

Kefrem wrote:... I was a huge fan of that old *Bards Tale* games ...

Off Topic: Oh man, I was a huge fan of the Bard's Tale games as well. Just you mentioning them takes me back 20+ years to some pleasant memories. Before 'auto-mapping', I would have chosen a pad of graph paper over an ingot of gold.

Heh...ya i loved t hose bards tale games too...the thief of fate i loved...but could never solve it. I played so long my gnome wizard made it to 255th level had 14k hp and 25k powerpoints.

He could obliterate anything with one hit. As for an instrument...as my first 20k voucher...if i ever get with the messed up timers lol will be a custom lute ..big bonus to perform..few spells. I'm goin true bard with him heh heh.

Hmmm i wonder... a lute with 1d4 fire...1d4 acid...1d4....lol...beat em over the head with a flaming banjo!

I like the idea in general. Instruments that add perform skill, maybe a bone fife with "lyrics of the Lich" on it.... But I wouldn't want to see bardsong become dependent on instruments in hand. Not all bards have to play an instrument, some simply sing a cappella.

One thing I have sort of loathed about the CEP instruments is that well... the day you see me beating someone over the head with my 50 year old nylon string guitar is the day you can commit me to the looneybin. Instruments aren't clubs.

If there's a way to have it so the game can check if the bard is not engaged in active combat, and holding an instrument, the song gets some sort of boost... that would be nice. Something like a 1d4 bonus on soothing refrain, a bit of a boost to normal bard song/curse song... those would be pretty neat actually.

Another suggestion.... I've seen another server somewhere where bards could write their own lyrics to fire off when they use bardsong. Fluff in terms of no actual game mechanic bonus, but very immersive. Would be neat if that could be worked in too.

aye manny...thats kinda what im tryin to imply....something to make bards seem like...well....bards. As they are now they are just rogues that cast spells....i just wanted them to seem like...well im gonna sing...BUT im gona really give it my all and break out the lute.

Maybe if a bard has a musical instrument readied...it would add a small duration to songs played or something...nothing huge...but if they were gonna forgoe attacking to play thier tune...it should give some small benefit for thier party.

In an anime i watched...cant remember the name...but they had a songmaster(i guess thier word for bard) and they could spellsing...basically they sung up thier spells while playin music. All the while the rest of them attacked and blasted...he sang his song and it drove the barbarian in to a huge rage...the fighters muscled rippled with newfound str...and so on..i just thought it would be cool to see something unique like that here.

The implementation of various bardic tools is common in both PnP and actual video/computer games.

For instance, in several old games bioware had a hand in creating (Baldur'sGate, IcewindDale series) there were instruments you could hold instead of a shield. These intruments would grant benefits to the character holding them if they were a bard.

They worked similar to charms, totems, ioun stones, they granted additional spells, absorbed spells, boosted bardic abilities, enhanced specific stats, even casted spells.

There are several different instruments under the torch and accessory item type added by CEP. Since Aenea uses CEP, why not use the content in CEP for these things, eh?

well...if youve been to some of the various vendors across the land...you can buy musical insttruments. They however have no bonuses to them :\ i tried to enchant one....but no success they arent treated as any kind of enchantable item.

Now theres an idea....add it to the list of enchantable items for bards! let them make thier own