Lowbie Bard sword and board?
 

My first toon on p99 is a lvl 7 Bard. I bought a Bark Shield for 40pp (I still have 90 left!) to help me tank and spank this level until I can play stringed instruments and strafe kit to solo. It seems to help a lot for the short term.

Do bards ever really need a shield? Should I keep the shield for later on, or sell it when I can strafe kite next level?

It won't hurt to have the shield until 17, when you get dual wield. Until then, there's nothing else to put in the slot besides an instrument. After that, you'll either be using an instrument while kiting/during group downtime, or you'll have an offhand weapon with some stats for a little extra DPS when you feel like meleeing.

Awesome. Thanks for the response!