Bard class

[Shadow]

So let's talk a little about the Bard class in the upcoming Zombasite expansion, Orc Schism. Bards have a very diverse set of skills, but they are masters of music, illusions, and knowledge. These masteries correspond to the three new specialties: Minstrel, Illusionist, and Sage. With the new additions, there are now 333 total class combinations!

Minstrels use music to manipulate the emotions of friends and enemies. They do this through the use of musical auras. These auras last as long as you want, but reduce your max mana while they are active. While you can only have one aura active at a time, the effects last for 10 seconds, so with smart use you can get overlapping effects. Some auras the Minstrel can wield are Invigorate to heal, Greatness to inspire friends, and Intimidation to hamper enemies.

Illusionists produce fantastic illusions to harm and control their enemies. Most illusions are used to control enemies like Snare prevents any nearby enemies from moving, Illusionary Monster distracts enemies with a new target, and Best Friend can even convince them to fight for you. Illusions can even do actual direct harm to your enemies with spells like Mind Blast or Asphyxiate (DOT).

Sages are the masters of knowledge. While sages do have a couple attack skills, 1 melee and 1 ranged, everything else are passive skills. These skills range from things like Archaeology to better find loot, Herbology which increases your resistances and health/mana regeneration rates, and Monster Anatomy which improves your combat abilities.

I'm aiming for the Bard to be an interesting mix of active control skills, constant aura or actively changing auras, and passive use of knowledge to create a wide range of unique characters.

Comments are welcome!

[Destro*]

Oh wow! Thank you for the details.

First... WOOT! (haven't used that term in forever)

Percentage mana reservation? Yes please. I am going to have rework the auras in my mod now... can't wait

Illusionist sounds like it is going to be extremely strong. I'm just curious if it is going to be on the level of vanilla wizard strong. Being able to immobilize enemies is so good...

Anyway, can't wait!

[Tiamat]

I wonder if NPC bards that roll multiple auras as their skills will swap between them. Definately a golden grail clan member to look out for to recruit, I imagine.

[Throwback]

Have to say, Bard sounds like an extremely interesting class. I can see multiple ways to play already based on those skills.