The Lighter Side Of Bardom
By Aelvin 

Introduction
OK, this guide is not supposed to be about Bardic Stats, but I will put something in about them, just to get people started! First off, I would like to thank Thaerin Plainsinger, who wrote a wonderful guide that made me decide to be a Bard! I have been very happy since then. Before I read her guide, I was hopping back to the Character Manager every day!

In the Character Manager
What Stats should you put a high roll on? Well, this always depends on what kind of Bard you want to be. If you want to be more of a spell-casting Bard, by all means, put high rolls on Discipline, Aura, and Charisma. If you want to be a fighter, put yo ur rolls on Strength, Reflex, and Dexterity. Be careful when you choose your race! If you choose it for roll-playing reasons, whatever you want is fine. However, if you are like most people, and go for the Stats, make sure that you don't get any BIG -' s in Strength, or Discipline. I, for one, would go for the Human race. Only small +'s, but no -'s!

What Spells?
Well, you have two choice, Oh Boy!!! Bardic Base spell list, and Minor Elemental. Bardic has some good spells, unfortunately, most are not implemented! That means that you can not use the Fifth spell, or /10 and up, yet. ::sigh:: Still there are good things about the Bardic circle. For most spells that increase your DS, they last, say 1 minute per Level. So, you have to keep casting, and casting. For most Bardic spells, however, they keep going as long as you have Mana!!! So, you just sing it onc e, and the song will occasionally take a few Mana points to keep going. There are not very many Offensive spells in Bardic Circle. It is probably better, if you plan to use your spells more than you sword, to get the Minor Elemental spells. Even in Min or Elemental, the good Offensive spells don't come until later in Life. So, make sure to double train in your weapon of choice. Single train in Spell Research, and Spell Aiming. And, train in Mana Sharing!!! You don't know how many times I have wanted to give a Cleric Mana to help Rezz my friends!!! I have loads of Mana sitting around, and no way to share it. :-(

The Fun Stuff
Well, I've talked about the Mechanics for far too long! If you are not interested in learning how to sing, how to really BE a Bard, then feel free to stop here!

Where Can I get an Instrument?
As far as I know, there is no way to get a "Real" instrument. You just have to role-play very well. The best way to do this is by spending some time to make macros. You can get Wizard, the front-end for Windows, which, BTW, is one of the best made prog rams I have ever used! It is so simple, but effective that it doesn't even need a Help File!! Anyway, the way most people use macros is like so...
>smile as he pulls that new dress over Shanthalas' squirming head.
..would look like this...
>Aelvin smiles as he pulls that new dress over Shanthalas' squirming head.
So, you can use this command to create wonderful instruments! Look through an Encyclopedia to find an instrument that you think is right for you. Then...
>smile as he removes the ancient Zither from its case,
 admiring its sweeping curves, and begins to tune it quietly
>Aelvin smiles as he removes the ancient Zither from its case,
 admiring its sweeping curves, and begins to tune it quietly.
Or you can use it for other Bardic affects like my friend Winstown.
>smile as he opens his mouth, and his voice moves effortlessly
 over the range of scales.
>Winstown smiles as he opens his mouth, and his voice ranges
 effortlessly over the range of scales.
It's something like that...sorry if I butchered your Macro, Win!

And How about Singing?
Well, it is pretty simple! SING (Song)!
>sing Alayna is a pretty lass, ; Though her friend Shanthalas is a
 big...er...bass.
..would look like this...
>Aelvin sings, "Alayna is a pretty lass,
                though her friend Shanthalas is a big...er...bass."
As you can see, the ; separate lines. RECITE works in the same way. Another use of macro's is to put a few songs and poems into macros, and pull them out to impress your friends!

Loresinging
Loresinging is the Bardic ability to find out about an item, by singing to it. You can find out such things as weight, value, and what it is made out of. The way to do this is to just sing a song about the item, such as: You want to find out about a ro se-red rapier. So....
>Sing Rose-Red Rapier in my hand ; what is your value in this Land?
So basically, put a description of the item in the first line, and some keyword about what you want to know in the second. Longer songs work better, and try to rhyme. One thing to remember, Loresinging has a Round Time, and USES MANA! Good Barding, all!
-Aelvin-