Bard-new profession

I was thinking what if there was a profession that sang to smite his foes. Bards sing songs that aid his allies by giving them boosts of strength, energy, speed, etc. They also Fight their enemies too by singing to deal powerful damage to their foes. Bards are powerful in mystical ways and gain their strength from entertainment which is what makes them so interesting. Bards are also capable of hexing their foes through their songs and can damage their foes over periods of time.

Armor-Not sure yet

Energy-Not sure yet

Weapons-Not sure yet

1. Tone-primary-Enhances effectiveness of songs
2. Epics-smites foes with powerful magic and deals damage
3. Poetry-aids allies and enhances their attacks and defenses
4. Ballads-places hexes on foes

Tone makes the songs last longer and makes them slightly deal more damage.

1) 2%
2) 4%
3) 7%
4) 10%
5) 12%
6) 14%
7) 17%
8) 20%
9) 22%
10) 24%
11) 27%
12) 30%

Tone Skills

Song of Focus (cast time-7 sec, recharge time-60 sec, energy cost 10) Preparation- Next 1...5 songs aren't as easily interrupted.

Epic Skills

Balthazar's Tale (cast time-5 sec, recharge time-30 sec, energy cost 10) Spell-Deal 15...60 fire damage to target foe and set them on fire for 2 sec. This spell is easily interrupted.

Memory of Lyssa (cast time-6 sec, recharge time 20 sec, energy cost 5) Spell-Deal 10...42 shadow damage to target foe. This spell is easily interrupted.

Poetry Skills

Hero's Journey (cast time-1 sec, recharge time-30 sec, energy cost 5) Enchantment-For 5...20 sec target other ally moves 25% faster and has +1...3 health regeneration. This spell ends if you use a skill.

Woe Be Gone (cast time-3 sec, recharge time 15 sec, energy cost 15) Elite Spell-All adjacent allies hexes are removed, but you get -1 health regen for each hex for 15.....3 sec. This spell is easily interrupted.

Ballad Skills

Ballad of Fury (cast time-6 sec, recharge time, 30 sec, energy cost 15) Elite Hex-Target foe suffers from 1...6 health degeneration for 5....15 sec. This spell ends if you use a skill.

sounds good, unfortunately i think 1000 new professions will be made before a song singer , I would like a druid to be honest or a sorceress or why doesn't GW get smart and have all the professions d2 has, which I think will make EVERYONE happy.

Those 'songs' sound more like warrior shouts, especially 'Cheers'.

I think the Bard profession has been mentioned a couple of times.

I changed the attribute names because they sounded corny. Now they sound more like what a real bard would sing. It may sound like I got this from EQ2 but I've heard of bards in books and stuff so it comes from a lot of other things too.

Which is why I just changed the attribute names.

Please list more details...
usually I have a thing about one-paragraph-concept class....

Concept classes are only as interesting as you make them. Just saying "Bards would be cool" says nothing. We know what bards are, we have a general idea of what they'd do in Guild Wars. If you're not creating a new class, outside all the typical default types, then you have to make your rehash of an old class concept detailed, interesting, and coherent.

As of right now, all you've got is coherent

Also, directed at Sinister Chaos:

Sorceress = female El
Druid = Ranger/Elementalist (Pets, WS, Fire/Water Magic)
Barbarian = Warrior
Necromancer = ...
Paladin = Whammo (literally XP)
Amazon = Female Marks Ranger
Assassin = ...

Plus!

Mesmer = No D2 equivalent
Ritualist = No D2 equivalent

We have all of what D2 does already and more besides. Unless ye want to work up a GW take on a D2 class all yer own, don't bug us with it

Nah you'd think Anet would incorporate more stuff from d2 into guild wars since they did make f*cking Diablo

I have a bard concept for a while now but I noticed it was a bit overpowered so I didn't post it yet. I haven't seen anyone give out a detailed bard profession yet so I'm gonna try. I'll do it later though since I have to find that paper I scribbled all my ideas onto

Druids can shape shift and cast nature spells, not firestorms... Hurricanes and stuff.

Paladins had much more team benefiting abilities such as auras that redirected on allies around you, not some retard who sprints with mending.

Amazons used spears also, and javelins

Over all those were pale comparisons.

paladin was the only class that kept me interested in D2. in a future chapter if Guildwars introduced a melee/caster paladin i would fall in love. wamo is far from a decent paladin since your energy restricts you so much. the closest way to make a good paladin is go mo/wa but everyone in your group will think you are a useless monk since you arent a healer


I didnt get to play in the FPE enough to check out the assasin but from what ive read about it you could turn them into a successfull paladin fairly easy

Have you played DAoC(Dark Age of Camelot) Keyblader? They have a bard class that is similiar. Singing or shouts that are used against the enemy. They can also give you and your party boosts. Boosts being better defense(increase your chance to block/evade, create sound barriers, etc.), better attacks (hit for more damage, better attack speed, shouts that do damage, etc.). I think they also have minor healing shouts. Cool class, they use swords and have shouts that help their attacks and defense. Plus they have shouts that help their party to attack/defend. You could always go with an old school Pen & Paper Bard, pretty much the same thing. I've played the Bard before in both DAoC and doing the old pen/paper/dice. Cool class.

I just edited the class so now it has a FEW skills. This is just so people get the idea of how the bard's skills are strong but they take a long time to cast and are easy to interrupt. I'm trying not to overpower him but that is difficult to do so tell me if he's overpowered or underpowered (unlikely). By the way these are extremely difficult to name becasue their titles need to sound somewhat like epic or poem titles would. And I have never heard of Dark Age of Camelot.

It needs a bit more "Nitch".. something that only this class have.. else it would just be like any combination of classes...

Probably because this is Guild Wars, not Diablo 2.
If you want to play Diablo 2 classes....play diablo 2?

Baldurs Gate had a Bard class... I never used it, because I did not find that fact that singing would be something that could be a feasible battle option.

Also, FFX-2 had a bard type class, where certain songs did various things, it was an interesting idea, but it might have only been interesting seeing Yuna, Paine, and Rikka dancing.

edit: If you had a bard singing, or playing music, they would not be able to move very easily, or would be interrupted too easily.

I'm trying to do that but it's difficult because I have to make it completely different without it having to change the whole game.

A bard is a generic DnD class... Hence why it would be in Baldur's Gate. =D

And yes, the idea is to produce music that is magical, though it's usually more focused on providing boons to your allies rather than smiting your enemies. The whole idea reminds me of those silly Kurzicks and their treesingers... now where did I hear that before... Oh right! Wheel of Time!

As for their difficulty in movement... Ever heard of a marching band? =P

Frankly, a lot of the stereotypical ideas for what a bard does has already been taken by the likes of mesmers, monks, ritualists, and such. I'm all out of ideas on this one...

I like the bard class, since it's so underrated.
I think it could work, and they'd probably use instruments for a focus, no?

I think that they'd need more...hexes I guess. most bard effects are compulsions, no? So I think something like:

"Song of Pacifism" : 15e, 1 sec, 30 Recycle. "Create a song of pacifism in the area. For all those who hear this song, they are unable to attack. This song last for 3...15 seconds, or until you attack. If you move, this spell's effects last for only 1...5 seconds, or until original duration is achieved."

It just makes me think that songs would be bothersome to incorporate since they're so complex.

Maybe other support skills like:
"Song of Fire": 5e, 1 sec, 60 recycle. "Create a song of fire in the area. All enemies struck by fire in this area are afflicted with burning for 3...15 seconds. This spell last for 5...15 seconds if immoble, end if you attack, and last only 1...5 seconds if you move (up to max effective time).

I'm also thinking there'd need to be an attack line to make them effective....

"Mimic (insert ele spell here)" They'd appear as the ele spell to anyone seeing them, but deal only 80% of the ele spell and deal shadow damage. (yes, I'm converting shadow conjuring).

Or, "sonic blast", "wall of sound" etc.

I think this class could be workable, but difficult to make...not overly complicated.

sounds like a good idea, maybe you can also add like instrument skills, which require you to equip an instrument or maybe let it work like the ritualist's item spells. also i got some skills to add;

Requiem: for each dead ally allies in the area gain +1 health- and +1 energy regeneration for 5...10 seconds

False Note: all adjacent foes' actions are interupted

Lady Althea's Song: target foe and adjacent foes are blinded by tears for 1...8 seconds

Propaganda: for 8...20 seconds your party gains 2 morale boost

for the instrument skills (maybe);

Battle March(drums): allies in the area gain +20 armor and deal 5...25% more damage for 5....15 seconds

Alegro(violin): target ally attacks 33% faster for 5...12 seconds

Krytan Lullaby(guitar): target foe attacks 50% slower

and since, according to TGgold, they're underrated and probably dont look so imposing a skill called "Innocents" stance. for 1...6 seconds any foe striking you intencionally misses.

I really believe that Summoners and Bards should be the next classes. Instead we are getting Dervish, which seems to be horribly conceptualized, and the Paragon, which is basically a damage dealer with semi-bardish abilities (although Bards songs should not work in the same manner as shouts).

The bard you have envisioned here doesn't do anything special; you haven't even fully covered the shell of what this character should be. The sample abilities listed are too weak to even consider being used.

What makes the bard UNIQUE should be their ability to use skills while moving. Certainly they should have some shouts (and their Primary attribute should increase the range of all shouts and songs, effectively allowing them to take a secondary of warrior and put those shouts to even better use), but all of their songs should be able to be "cast" as they run around. The bard should also be able to move after starting any non-signet skill from a secondary class, but the remaining "performance" time of any such skill would be doubled from the time they started moving.

An idea like that would create a new game mechanic and therefore bring something different to the game. Songs can't just be AOE group buffs or AOE hexes. Then they would just be spells that can't be affected by things which specifically target spells.

Bard = part of the paragon

Eh...the Paragon really doesn't do anything much different though. Chants are just spells with a new name that are less disruptable (although, lol, shouldn't things like Shroud of Silence and Choking Gas interrupt chants? How can you speak when silenced or surrounded by choking gas???). Their most powerful ability seems to be with SPEARS anyway.

ever heard of Intellectual Property?

Some of these guys might have been responsible for Diablo 2, but most of the IP for Diablo is owned by Blizzard and ANet would face all sorts of interesting legal issues if all of a sudden they started using the same classes, skills, etc.

ever heard of Intellectual Property?

Some of these guys might have been responsible for Diablo 2, but most of the IP for Diablo is owned by Blizzard and ANet would face all sorts of interesting legal issues if all of a sudden they started using the same classes, skills, etc.

Actually, during pvp battles the nonspear skills were the most effective in boosting group performance. The spear ability is the most combat effective, but the shouts and such really did have a noticible impact in PVP. R/P seemed to be better with the spear than P/x.

Most people will play them as spear throwers, but the most effective and smart players will have their Paragons focusing on the noncombat skills. If people are in it for the spear throwing, there is no point in playing a P/x, go R/P or W/P.
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Games do use the same names, such as warrior, summoner, magic swordsman, paladin, fighter, mage, monk, cleric, etc... and the concepts of other games classes, just not carbon copy them. Tales of and FF share spirit concepts and some spirit names for their summoners are the same.

If this was not the case, then DND and Square would have sued Blizzard, ANet, and any other game maker. While they could potentially have a Blizzard lawsuit on them, it would open Blizzard up for lawsuites by DND ppl or Square for making Diablo or WOW.

Its interesting. But i really doubt a bard would be interested. How many people want to sing on the battlefield Paragons May Shout, But theydont have a flute. I for one would not want to see that implemented for us users... Paragons were shown more as battle leaders, Not singers.

Depending on how they run, I think the Paragon will handle my thrist for a bard class. Still; I'd like to see the bard make its way to Guild Wars. It was my first and favorite character in EQ.

I love that line.

There is already a bard in the next chapter, it's called the Paragon.

And a Bard/mesmer would pretty much be as close you can get to a D&D bard.

I was thinking about this bard class idea.... what about making MORALE its primary class.

Something like "For every 3 levels of MORALE, your party receives 1% MORALE boost (ie having LVL15 MORALE would give each party member a 5% boost). This could be a bonus on top of morale boost from bosses, meaning you could have up to 15% morale boost at a time, but the reverse would be true, that death penalty would still be applied, just be reduced by 5%

Obviously this would greatly increase the strength of a party with a primary bard, so this would have to be offset, probably by reducing the armour to 50-60.

I'd give them only 3 pips of energy regen, similar to ranger

Primary Weapon could be a sling or something, essentially a one-handed bow, but lower damage, and have a songsheet or something as the offhand

MORALE songs could also give periods of morale boost to other allies, eg " for 5-10secs, X Song gives 5% morale boost to target other ally" or something similar.

It could probably be worked that the bard could both apply positive morale songs to their own party, or place negative morale songs on the enemy. Also have the ability to remove songs/chants/shouts from either party members or enemies.

Anyways.. thats just my thoughts. Enjoy.

Isn't this essentially what a Paragon is, only slightly different?