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Planar Protector
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 2,540
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Quote:
My comments on Goatnanos' latest bard song analysis (v2.0).
http://www.harpers.net/bard/songanalysis.htm
Level 1: Chant of Battle
Effects: PARTY: +DEX & +STR
someone has claimed +19 STR and DEX, and +5 AC at
30th level while playing with a drum. In the same message,
I'm getting +19 str and dex at L24 with a drum, +4 AC. Without the
drum it's +11 str and dex, +2 AC.
Level 2: Chords of Dissonance
Effects: NON-PARTY: Damage to all non PC's in 30' radius
song. As you level, this song will grow stronger. Someone
reported doing 16 damage per pulse with an instrument at
level 30. As with all other Bard DoT songs, it has a duration
of 4 ticks (a tick is 2.5 seconds) after you stop playing it.
I'm not sure I agree with this, although I know that's what
J.M. said. When I play the song, I can see the target's
health bars drop in 6 second ticks just like all our other
songs, and their health drops three times (once with the
wince message, twice without). I suppose it's possible that
my client is being updated in 6 second increments, although
I'm on a cable modem so bandwidth is not an issue...
Level 3: Jaxan's Jig o' Vigor
Effects: PARTY: Stamina Return + Mana Regen
If you drop below 33% stamina, you will start to lose dex,
agi, and str. Watch your stamina and check your stats while
riding the boat to learn the deletrious effects of not having
a bard in the party to sing the jig during an extended fight.
Off topic, but I found out if you run laps while the boat is
moving, you will *gain* stamina! Apparently when you are
running fore to aft on the boat, it cancels the forward motion
of the boat, and the game considers you to be standing still
(or walking), and thus replenishes your stamina.
Level 5: Selo's Accelerando
Effects: PARTY: Increases Movement and Stamina
level), you run faster than someone with the popular Spirit
of the Wolf spell. As you get higher in level, you will
gradually run faster. By the time you reach the mid 40's in
Might want to include my timings. To recap, running speed
(how much faster am I running?) and time to run between two
points (how much faster will I get to where I am going?) are:
<pre>
Effect speed time
Normal 1.00 1.00 (baseline)
SoW 1.39 0.72 (L20 druid)
Selo's 1.38 0.73 (L21, no drum)
Selo's 1.64 0.61 (L21, with drum)
</pre>
I would assume the ratios for walking are identical, though I
need to time how walking compares to running.
game. If you get attacked, just keep running and ignore
them. If you are under 50% HP or more, you will run
slower, so if you have 1% hp left, do not expect to 'run like
I believe this effect doesn't kick in until under 33% hp,
which is the same time the agi penalty kicks in. Also, there
seems to be a minimum walking speed at which you will walk
with even 1 hp. At about L20+, walking with Accelerando and a
drum is faster than most mobs can run. I pulled a party
member in Unrest from inside the house all the way to the zone
while he only had 1/3rd of a bubble of health left. He walked
the entire way and easily outdistanced the mobs.
of a possible 1 to 5. An undocumented feature of this song
is that it will break 'root' based spells. If you get rooted by a
monster, just sing this song and even though the root
icon will still be on your screen, you will now be able to
move normally. This is supposedly NOT a bug, but a design
You should mention it doesn't break root underground.
Druids in wolf form naturally run at SoW, but cannot cast SoC
on themselves. I'm curious what happens if you're grouped
with a druid in wolf form and you play Accelerando.
Level 6: Hymn of Restoration
Effects: PARTY: Healing
faster and for more points per pulse. The rate of healing goes up
about 2 points per pulse every 6 levels, hence level 12 heals at 8
points/pulse, level 18 heals 10 points/pulse, level 24 heals 12
points/pulse, level 30 heals 16 points/pulse, etc...
I only get 11 points/pulse at 24 standing, 1 of which is my
natural regeneration rate. So the song is only adding 10
points/pulse. You do get 12 points/pulse overall if you are
sitting. The regen rates are half if you are not using a
lute/mandolin (5 points/pulse + 1 point/pules natural regen =
6 points/pulse standing, 7 points/pulse sitting).
Level 7: Jonthan's Whistling Warsong
Effects: SELF: +STR, +AC, +Attack Speed
+17 str, +4 AC at L24.
lieu of Hymm of Restoration or Chant of Battle. Also, while this
song is stackable with Anthem de Arms, the attack speed increases
will only partially stack. I believe the current thought is that
with both stacked, attack speed will increase 25%.
I think I may have an explanation for why people were getting
different timing results stacking this and anthem. We all
know that movement speed modifiers (root, Accelerando, SoW) do
not stack. It could be that attack accelerators also do not
stack. That would mean your current combat speed boost is the
last one you were influenced by. Depending on your weapon
speed and how you twisted the songs, you could get results
anywhere from as slow as Anthem to as fast as Warsong.
I'll have to test this more carefully some time in the future.
Many of the enchanters I run across can cast Quickness, which
also speeds up your attack speed.
Level 9: Elemental Rhythms
Effects: PARTY: + Protections - Fire, Cold, and Magic
Analysis: This is the first of the protection songs. On a 13th
level Bard, resistances are +9 singing, or +19 with an
instrument. While not very useful at lower levels, when you
start to encounter spell casting monsters, this song will be
greatly appreciated. At level 20, when using a drum, I can
twist this song with Purifying or Guardian Rhythms and
increase Magic Resistances for my party by over 50.
I've never been able to twist it with Purifying Rhythms. +17
to resists, +2 to AC without drum at L24. +30 to resists, +4
to AC with a drum. All in all I would say the Rhythm songs
are much more effective than the Endure Magic/Fire/Cold line
of spells casters get early on (+25 to resist) since the song
raises multiple resists and affects the entire party at once.
The songs stack with the spells though, so if you want you can
stack them all to get some pretty outrageous resists.
Level 10: Anthem de Arms
Effects: PARTY: +Attack Speed, +STR
+17 to str, same as Warsong.
Level 11: Cinda's Charismatic Carillon
Effects: SELF: Add NPC faction, up 1 /con level
indifferent or worse, this song will increase the /con level by
1 in most cases. There are 2 uses for this song. First: you
I've had it take merchants from apprehensive to amiable, which
is 2 /con levels.
Level 12: Brusco's Boastful Bellow
Effects: SINGLE: 1-7 points damage
The damage range should be corrected in lieu of the formula
(level/2 + 1). This song is nice early on, but IMHO bards get
too dependent on it and keep using it well after it pretty
much becomes ineffective. At my level, 13 damage every 5
seconds (15 seconds if you're twisting) is pretty much
negligible in a party where each member is hitting for an
average of 10-70 points every 2-4 seconds. I've been fooling
around with substituting Discord in place of it.
Speaking of which, we need to figure out exactly how long a
"tick" or "pulse" is.
is the monster magnet of all time. It has been known to
draw monsters from totally separate rooms, through locked
doors. Be very careful with this song in delicate dungeon
settings. The formula to calculate damage for this song is (
level / 2 ) + 1.
I don't think this is a problem with the song, but rather just
the way the monster AI works in general. If a mob decides to
attack you, it "tells" any social mobs nearby and they will
attack you too. Some dungeons are well designed so the walls
are thick enough to prevent this crosstalk. Others are not so
well designed and activating one mob will bring others which
are out of sight behind walls and doors. Bellow is usually a
bard's first ranged attack (since few seem to use throwing
knives), and so is the first time they really notice this.
Level 13: Purifying Rhythms
Effects: PARTY: +Protection: Poison, Disease, and Magic
Skill: Percussion Instruments
provided. The level of protection is either +9 or +19,
depending on whether or not an instrument is used. In
I get +17/+30 to resist and +2/+4 to AC at L24. This is the
same as with Elemental Rhythms. The song stacks with Guardian
Rhythms, but not Elemental.
particular, it appears that this song is tailored to combat the
specific resistances needed to battle undead creatures. This
song is a must for combat with, mummies, zombies, and evil
mages.
I'm not sure I agree. All the diseases I've thus far run
across are very slow acting, and rabies does nothing except
stop your natural hp regeneration (which is almost meaningless
with a bard around). Some of the poisons can be nasty if left
uncured, but they are also slow acting DoTs which we usually
cure after a fight. I would rather twist Elemental rhythms to
better resist the magical fire and ice attacks which can do
several hundred points damage at once, than Purifying to save
my party from disease/poison effects which are so slow I can
pretty much nullify them by playing Restoration.
There was some discussion on the Bard mailing lists
that this song is Stringed Instruments, but that appears to
have been a bug. It twists well with Elemental Rhythms
since it is also percussion based.
Correct, appears to have been fixed now so that it uses a
drum. And as I mentioned above, it does not twist with
Elemental Rhythms.
Level 15: Kelin's Lucid Lullaby
Effects: NON-PARTY: Enthrall & Nix S. List
this song next to a guard, or he will start attacking you. Each
monster affected has two chances to break out of the
Lullaby every pulse. The first is a standard resist, which
nullifies the song outright, and the second is the chance
(which varies based on Bard CHA, instrument used, level
spread, etc) to just plain ignore the song. Also, Kelin's Lucid
You should mention that hitting the mob wakes it up (attacking
it does not, as I've watched with amusement out of mana
casters trying to melee to finish off mobs I've put to sleep
for them :-). So it's important that your party concentrate
on just one target while you put the rest to sleep. I've been
trying to experiment to see if the Dissonance/Discord line of
songs also wakes them up (I'm pretty sure the "wince" does,
but don't know about the two message-less pulses that come
afterwards).
Lullaby now has a maximum of four targets. You won't be
I have used it to simultaneously sleep many more than 4
targets. Just this weekend I used it on 7 gnolls in
Blackburrow (scrolled back and counted 7 simultaneous "nods"
messages).
volume of fire to the party, and the nod effect is great for
making casters flub a spell. Also, the nod effect will interfere
Makes it *very* valuable when fighting multiple spellcasters,
especially if your party is following the everyone-attack-the-
same-target rule.
Level 17: Guardian Rythms
Effects: PARTY: +AC & +Magic Resistance
Analysis: Contrary to rumors floating around, an instrument
is not required to play this song. It gives +13 magic
resistance and +4 AC when singing. You get a lot more
Despite being touted as a magic-resist-only song, it does not
raise your magic resist any more than Elemental or Purifying
rhythms. It does raise AC more than the other rhythm songs
(twice as much), but even at L24 with a drum, the difference
is nothing to get excited about. +17 to MR, +4 AC without a
drum. +30 to MR, +8 to AC with a drum.
when played with an instrument. Using a drum, twisting this
song with the level 13 Purifying Rhythms, you can easily
beef up a party's magic resistance 50+ points. This is good
for fighting Evil Eyes and other spell casting monsters.
It's main advantage is that it stacks with Elemental or
Purifying rhythms, which is basically the only time I use it.
Otherwise I use Elemental - I only lose a couple AC and gain
two more resists.
Level 18: Denon's Disruptive Discord
Effects: NON-PARTY: Damage & -AC
or he will start attacking you. When you first get this song,
and play it with an instrument, expect to 19 points damage
and drop AC by 19 (with a 50 brass skill). When fighting
multiple monsters, you will actually do more damage with
this song than using your melee weapon. The hard part is
I think that's an important point most bards are overlooking.
This song is awesome. I played around with twisting it,
Dissonance, and either Chain or Restoration, and the fights
went about as easily as when I'm using weapons.
The graphical effects will kill your framerate though once you
reach L24 and get the extra lights. I've started turning my
particle density (under display options) off when I'm using
this or Dissonance, and tell the rest of my party to do the
same.
Level 19: Shauri's Sonorous Clouding
Effects: PARTY: Invisibility
were not there. This is a pulse based song. Every pulse, a
skill check is made. If you fail a skill check, you become
visible until the next tick (about 2.5 seconds). This is both a
I don't think that's how it works. I've become visible and
had to wait a full tick before being shrouded again. And I've
become visible and almost instantly been shrouded again. The
invisibility spells have a "random" duration because there's a
chance they can just blink off without warning before their
full duration is up. I think the song works the same way, and
we just have the fringe benefit of becoming invisible again
the next tick instead of having to recast invisibility.
Level 20: Largo's Melodic Binding
Effects: NON-PARTY: -Attack SPD & AC
Analysis: Song effects are obvious, reducing attack speed
and AC of monsters and NPCs. This song is one of the
more dangerous a bard can sing. Monsters hate this song,
but not as much as the level 18 Denon's Disruptive Discord.
The attack speed of the monster will visibly slow down
under the effects of this song. In most cases, however, the
I timed this on a fire beetle and got a 23% slowdown in their
attack speed at L24. I tried it on an orc warrior and got the
exact same results (funny how both an orc warrior and fire
beetle attack once every 3.0 seconds...).
Level 21: Melanie's Mellifluous Motion
Effects: PARTY: Short distance random teleport
distance. Apparently does not teleport you through walls or
locked doors. In a dungeon, this song can get you in a whole
lot of trouble.
Since it doesn't teleport you through walls or locked doors,
I'd have to question just how much trouble it can get you in.
Outdoors, however, with a flute in hand, it
has an amazing range. From the front gate of Qeynos, one
pulse can jump you to the zone line. Lots of fun, you do a
The song seems to transport you to "ground level." If there
is a lake or ocean nearby, "ground level" means the bottom.
Be prepared to swim up quickly to avoid drowning if you use
this song near any water. Especially if it's night and the
water is murky enough that you're effectively blind.
Level 22: Alenia's Disenchanting Melody
Effects: PARTY: Cancel Magic
Unconfirmed Analysis: This song now works, and turns out
to be better than the Cancel Magic spell that spell casters
get. This song supposedly will get rid of all DoT and
de-buffs that have been cast upon a party, but will leave all
of your buffs intact. Very useful, and what Cancel Magic
should have been. Note: this song will not cure disease or
get rid of charm.
I had a chance to try it on another DoT. It did *nothing*.
Does anyone have *any* idea what this song does? From the
name I'm starting to think that maybe it only nullifies charm.
The question also remains whether you play the song to remove
the effect, or if you play it continuously to avoid being hit
by the effect in the first place. The fact that it puts an
icon on your screen for 3 pulses seems to suggest the latter.
Level 23: Selo's Consonant Chain
Effects: TARGET: Slow Down Target Movement & Attack Speed
Unconfirmed Analysis: Apparently, one of the more useful
songs in a Bards arsenal, as it will make monsters move
slower, so you can run around them, casting direct damage
songs without being hit. Also, if a monster is trying to run
away, this song will supposedly root them. It is similar to
spell snare.
What happens is that snare slows down movement speed. If your
natural movement speed is below a certain threshold (i.e.
trying to walk away while wounded), it gets dropped to zero.
It turns out to actually be *better* than root. With root,
the mob knows it can't run, so it turns around to fight until
it dies. With snare/chain, the mob keeps trying to run even
though it can't move, so you get to kill it without it
attacking you.
Unlike other spell casters, a Bard can sing this
song while running after a mob that is trying to get away,
making it very useful in places like Guk and Befallen, where
mobs run away, only to come back later with a quite a few
of their friends for some payback. This is a great addition to
a Bard's arsenal.
The song also has a *huge* range (although it may have been
decreased judging from the couple hours I played last night).
I've started using this as my fetching song instead of bellow.
It's a little annoying that the mob walks towards me instead
of runs, but I still seem to come out ahead in the time and
risk department. Use the time the mob is walking to tell your
group "incoming." It's also a huge taunt which makes it
harder for someone to steal your pull. :-)
I also use it as my help-others-without-stealing-their-kill
song. It slows down attack speed the same as Binding, and
stops mobs from running. Just be careful you don't use it so
much that the mob decides to attack you instead of them,
unless that is your intent. After all those stupid orc
oracles casting drowsy and walking sleep on me, it's nice to
make the monsters attack slower for a change.
--
John H. Kim
kim@...
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That's the full text. He's critiquing the song descriptions on a website.
The part I snipped out is him quoting the site.
There's agreement between both him and the site that bard invis can drop in between pulses. He's disagreeing about when within the 6 second window it can happen. |
10-23-2019, 09:52 PM
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