Guide to
Bardic Music

By
Darkgolem




The hallmark ability of the bard
class is their bardic music.  Not only can bards cast spells,
fight (moderately well), and have access to a lot of skills, they can
use their song to provide powerful buffs and control their
opponents.  This ability is an enormous benefit to a party. 
It can spell the difference between successfully handling a quest,
especially on elite.  It's important to understand the various
abilities of a bard (involving their song) and what how these abilities
work.

Bard Music Abilities:

First and foremost,
a bard receives 1 use of bard song per level, and can add additional
uses of bard songs by enhancements.

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Fascinate style="font-family: tahoma;">:  This ability is available at
level 1, and functions like a hypnotism spell.  It affects living,
intelligent creatures.  When a creature is fascinated, it stands
still, and will take no action while under the effects of the
fascination, unless it takes damage.  Vermin, href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=36">undead
and constructs are immune, since they either are unintelligent or not
living.  Fascinate lasts 6 seconds/level of the bard.
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There are two enhancements that can
make this work on undead or constructs, the “music of the makers” (for
constructs, available at level 9) and the “music of the dead” available
at level 7.  Note there are prerequisites for these enhancements.

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Fascinate has some properties that
make it different from spell casting.  

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  • First, it cannot be interrupted unless the bard
    using this ability dies or is somehow stunned or held.  Damage
    itself will not prevent this song from being completed.  
  • Second, Fascinate takes a five seconds to come
    into effect.  A bard can move while using this ability, so one
    should start playing it from a distance, and then run to the opponent,
    timing one's arrival among the opponents you wish to fascinate for the
    last second of the song.  This takes a little practice. 
  • Finally, and most importantly, the save dc of
    bard's fascinate is very high.  The dc of a bard's fascinate
    ability is D20 + perform ability (including bonuses).  Since you
    can reach a dc of 17 with perform, before adding charisma, item and
    enhancement bonuses, this means that a high level bard often can have
    their fascinate ability have a dc as high as 40 or more!

href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album62&id=Fascinate&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="Bard Admires His Work"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album62/Fascinate.jpg"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 250px; height: 204px;" align="right">Inspire
Courage
:  This ability
is available at level 1, and increases in effectivenss at levels 8 and
14.  Furthermore, it can be upgraded via enhancements.  This
is a buff which, when played around your companions, grants all who are
present when the song is completed a excellent buff to hit, damage, and
fear saves.  This requires the bard to have perform skill rank 3
to use.




The original bonus is a +1 bonus to
hit, damage and fear saves.  The further buffs at levels 8 and 14
are an additional +1 to hit, damage and fear saves.  These are
morale bonuses, meaning they stack with prayer or recitation, but not
spells like bless.  Inspire Courage lasts 4 minutes.  This
buff is extremely powerful, and is arguably the best buff in the
game.  With use of all the available enhancements (at level 14
cap), this buff grants a total of +6 to hit, +6 damage and +6 to fear
saves!




Inspire Competance style="font-family: tahoma;">:  This song is available at level 3
and requires perform level 6 to use.  It grants a rare +2
competance buff to a targeted ally.  It cannot be used on
oneself.  This lasts 4 minutes, and is a very useful buff, because
it stacks with all the other buffs in the game, such as prayer, skill
items and so on.



Suggestion style="font-family: tahoma;">:  Probably the least useful of the
bard songs, this requires perform 9 to use, and is received at level
6.  It grants the ability to cast a suggestion spell (as the
spell, but with no concentration check, but the same dc as the href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=175">spell)
that lasts 6 seconds/level.



Inspire Greatness style="font-family: tahoma;">:  This is an excellent buff,
granting all allies nearby a +2 bonus to attack, +1 fortitude saves and
bonus hit points equal to 10 + 1/level (max 20). This requires 12 ranks
of perform, and is gains at level 9.  This is a morale bonus, so
it does not stack with inspire courage.
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Song of Freedom style="font-family: tahoma;">:  This song is received at level
12, and and is basically a single target break enchantment.  It
requires a perform of 15.  It's chance to break spells is the same
as break enchantment.. 1d20 + your caster level (maximum +10) versus 11
+ the spell's caster level to remove an effect  Remember that
break enchantment only works on enchantments, necromancy and
transmutation.

Special Enhancements:

Aside from the
various bard songs, there are three special enhancements which grant
unique bard song abilities.  Each of these enhancements have
special requirements to achieve (like more enhancements).

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href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album71&id=Fighting_Bards&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="Bards Fighting Wolves"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album71/Fighting_Bards.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 173px;" align="left">Bard
Spellsinger
:  This
ability grants (among other things) the ability to expend one use of
your bard song to grant all nearby allies a +1 morale bonus to spell
DC's and a 10% morale discount on spell costs.  This lasts 4
minutes




Bard Virtuoso style="font-family: tahoma;">:  This ability grants (among other
things) the ability to expend one use of your bard song to enthrall
multiple enemies, fascinating them and inflicting a -2 penalty to
attack rolls and Will saves even if the fascination is broken.
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Bardic Warchanter style="font-family: tahoma;">: This href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=457">ability
grants (among other things) the ability to expend a use of bardic music
to grant grant all nearby allies damage reduction 5/-.

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Strategies for using Bard Song:

Bard song is very
easy to use.  Basically, get enough bard song uses available, that
anytime you are near enemies, you have your party buffed.  You
don't need to apply the song walking down empty hallways, but if you
are see the possibility of an encounter (such as entering room, etc),
then use inspire courage before hand.

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Try to save 2 or 3 song uses for
special situations.  You will want fascinate to be available for
specific circumstances, but overall fascinate isn't the best use of a
bard song.. you have your bardic spells for similar abilities.

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Inspire competence is useful for
semi skilled rogues, and for rare specific traps that are particularly
difficult.  Save a song, or two for that.

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The special abilities from
enhancements are more or less case by case.  Bardic Spellsinger is
very good, since it saves spell points., but Bardic Virtuosos and
Bardic Warchanter are only fair.  Bard Virtuosos depends on using
fascinate a lot, and this won't last through an entire series of
encounters between shrines.




The Warchanter ability is also good,
but dr 5/- isn't as impressive as it sounds.  It will be useful
for rare occasions, but often is a waste of song.

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I would say that 10 bard songs is
enough to get by in most quests.  This will keep your party buffed
all the time, and give you spare song for an occasional fascinate and
inspire competence.  After you have more than these amounts, you
can use more for fascinate, and use both inspire greatness and inspire
comptance (remember they don't stack, but they have somewhat different
bonuses).  It's always wise to add bonuses from enhancements to
your song, such inspired attack.

Bard Resources:

Read Ten Ton Hammer
Bard Builds
href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/#Builds">Here style="font-family: tahoma;">.

Read Ten Ton Hammer Bard
Enhancements Guides
href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=457">Here style="font-family: tahoma;">!



Like this guide?  Say so in our forums href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=18583">here!
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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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