Hi folks!

Following Haratos's eradication of Nalibhtavi's Cult with the Song of Oblivion (in many ways an epilogue to the Shattered Souls event), I am pleased to announce that the Bard class is now available!

Bard is a neutral-tether class originating from Djeir. Its archetype is a mix of performer and assassin, with a broad diversity of combat, utility, and roleplay abilities across its three skills that are sure to have a wide appeal.

The class can be learned by visiting Haratos in the Theater of Shadows at v73205 and simply typing LEARN BARD FROM HARATOS. Like Wayfarer, this comes at a one off cost of 40 credits. Apprenticing through other players will not be possible for the next few weeks until the class has had more time to settle in.

Onto some specifics!

- The three skills of the Bard are Weaving, Performance, and Songcalling.
- For now, lessons in these skills can only be learned via Haratos or another player with the requisite skill level to teach you.
- Bards use SCALE armour.
- Bards use FALCHIONS or RAPIERS as their weapons of choice.
- Bards do NOT belong to any guild in the same way that Oneiromancers, Wayfarers, Shapeshifters, and Indorani do not.
- Bards CAN be created by new players with the same limitations that other unguilded classes have.

Bards are a little different from most classes insofar as they don't centre wholly around any one choice of main stat. They're a jack of all trades class that can benefit in different ways from a variety of stat and balance/equilibrium focus combinations, though they predominantly favour DEX and INT.

HELP BARD and HELP BARD RP will likely be of interest, as well as the helps available for each of the three skills, and the learning messages!

At present, the only artifact available for Bards is "a page of sheet music" with the hunt_bard(1-3) power. There will be additional artifacts in the future once the class has seen some play in live scenarios. Style scrolls will also be updated for Bard in the next couple of days.

In addition to this, there is now a new "Theater of Shadows" faction, of which Haratos is in charge. This faction has a variety of quests and rewards for advancement, including a PvP weekly quest themed around the Bardic practice of Da'ath Nievva.

While we have done extensive internal testing and several rounds of focused player testing on the Bard class, you may come across some rough edges or teething problems. We'll be monitoring this release closely to bug fix and tweak as appropriate, so please be sure to report anything that doesn't look right via the BUG command.

Lastly, I want to give a huge shout out to Keroc. Bard is his brainchild and he has spent months toiling away at it in a true labour of love. Send your esteems in his direction!

I sincerely hope you all have as much fun playing it as much as we have bringing it to life!

Enjoy!


Penned by my hand on Kinsday, the 4th of Lleian, in the year 502 MA.
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