Bard

Stories and songs abound about great heroes and their exploits. There are also oral traditions that tell of historical and religious exploits, and provide a means to remember the past by passing stories, poems and songs down through the generations. These spreading of these performances are often championed by bards.

It is said that no two bards will tell a tale the same way. Their backgrounds are often incredibly varied, but they always share one characteristic, which is that they nearly all have a eventful life that lead their life to where they are now. The life of a bard is always an eventful one, as colorful stories seem to seek out bards just as often as the bards themselves seek out colourful stories.

Bards often find themselves avoiding direct conflict, they usually support those who are doing the fighting for them. But those who do seek physically harm a bard, will often find their attempts thwarted by the wily and unpredictable bards.

Bards all wield various forms of arcane magic, and while they may not wield the sheer arcane might of an equivalent sorcerer or wizard, their cleverness can often see to it that the spells that they cast are used in a way that makes bardic magic deceptively powerful and nearly always useful.

In addition to their direct arcane magic, bards also have the ability to inspire their allies to do more than they usually could. What causes this boost in power is often debated, but whether it is magic, a form of hypnosis, or simply sheer inspiration, the results cannot be denied. The performance of some bards can refresh you after a day’s march, push you to great feats, capture the imagination, or distract a foe.

Many bards incorporate their instruments and performances into their magic, and vice versa. A bard might just run a one man band with animated instruments, or a bard could use sonic magic to boost the sounds of his performance so that they can be comfortably heard from a mile away but not increase the loudness of their instrument.

Bards often find a place within adventuring parties, as the lifting of morale is just as invaluable as their arcane and performing support during combat.

A bard might be a musician, a performer, a thief, a scoundrel, a storyteller, or a cad. They could be ventriloquists, magicians, orators, or courtesans. They might be all of those things at once, or none of those things in the slightest. But one thing is for certain, when in the company of a bard, you will find that boredom is hard to come by.