Bard

What this profession is

The bard fights with music instead of weapons: play the right instrument and you can make two monsters slaughter each other, lull a room to sleep, or cripple a boss’s stats. A pure bard barely touches a sword — the loot drops because the monsters did the work. It’s a control profession that shines in groups and pairs beautifully with a mage or tamer who cleans up what the music leaves alive.

Core skills

Provocation — turn monsters on each other. Target two enemies and they fight to the death; you loot the winner. The bard’s signature trick.
Peacemaking — calm. Pacifies a target or an area so monsters stop attacking, buying time to reposition or escape.
Discordance — debuff. Lowers a target’s stats and skills (including its hit chance and resistances), making everything else easier to kill.
Musicianship — the enabler. Every bard ability requires a successful instrument play first; low Musicianship means your songs simply fail. Train it alongside the other three.

The build

There is no dedicated bard template in this wiki yet. Build it around the four skills above (Provocation + Peacemaking + Discordance + Musicianship is four grandmaster slots) and spend the remaining three on a partner kit — commonly Magery, Meditation, and Resisting Spells for a bard-mage, or the tamer skills for a bard-tamer. See 7x GM Templates for fitting all seven under the 700-point cap.

How to play it

Read Combat Advanced for the timing of musical abilities within a fight. The core loop: open with Discordance to weaken a tough target, then Provoke two enemies into killing each other while you stand back; if things go wrong, Peacemake to break aggro and reset. A bard is strongest where monsters spawn in groups — more bodies means more pairs to provoke. Pair with a mage or tamer to finish the survivor.

Gear & tools

An instrument — lute, harp, drum, or tambourine; quality affects success. See instruments. Carry a spare; they wear out.
Light armor — you don’t tank, so favor mobility.
A spellbook and reagents if you’ve taken the mage partner skills.

Making a living

The bard’s income is provoke-and-loot: provoke powerful bestiary monsters into killing each other, then loot the gold, gems, and gear off both corpses — often clearing high-value targets at little risk and no ammunition cost. Discordance also makes you a valuable group member for boss fights. Sell loot via Vendors & Banking.