We should compile a guide containing all of our knowledge.

Of course, now that I think about it, it's not exactly a "bard" thing
to do -- I think historically, bards pass knowledge through songs and
stories, not by writing them down.

Hmmm

Anyway. Out of Character, here's a guide.

1. Twist your spells. Almost all the spell songs have a 4 to 6
second duration. It takes about 3 seconds to switch from one song to
another (I'm at level 11). So you should be able to keep 2 songs
continously up, or 3 songs where you manage to replace the 1st song
right before it fades away.

2. Set up your hotkeys efficiently. You can pull inventory and
weapon slots onto hotkey positions; that will allow you to change
weapons and instruments without having to go to the inventory screen.
I have three hotkey banks at level 11, described below:

Bank 3:
Heal_Hymn Discord
Whistling _SIT_
Bat. Chant Selo's

Bank 5: Bank 6:
Heal_Hymn Lullaby Weapon1 Weapon2
Whistling /assist Invent5 Invent6
Anthem Selo's INCOMING Selo's

I've remapped my keyboard such that the player defined keys are the
QWASZX keys, and with the banks set up as they are, I have a really
easy time switching around. I usually keep myself on bank 6,
swapping the drum and my weapon as needed. Entering combat, if I'm
solo, I do shift-A, A and get whistle started. If I'm in a group,
it's Shift-Z, Z and Anthem is started. If I need to run, the button
is always X for Selo's, and then shift-X to make sure I get the drum
equipped. If I ever use more than just 1 weapon and 2 instruments,
I'll probably use Bank 4; otherwise, Bank 6 is customized for
Fetching duties. You'll also notice that I have the two stringed
songs on top (QW). My current favorite pastime is running around a
scarab or spider alternating between heal and discord.

3. Magic gloves will not give you the ability to punch with magic.
It seems only monks have that ability. So stick to magic weapons, or
your songs.

4. Maximize your weapon skills. 1H Slash is great for the beginning
levels, but the best bard weapons are in Piercing. I use 1H Blunt in
trying out the theory that you can get better pelts if you don't hack
the animal up -- haven't proven it yet.

5. Trust us bards: Faster Weapons are Better. Statistically, if
you weigh the damage with a probability to hit, you would want more
chances to hit. Besides, heavy weapons are a drain on stamina, and
with the bard's various combat speed songs, faster weapons definitely
outdo the heavier weapons. The best weapon for its current
availability is the Dragoon Dirk from Ambassador Dvinn in Crushbone.

6. Charm (and Lull?) spells will clear the monster's most-wanted
list. In some cases, it also clears the damage list. Clearing the
most-wanted list means the monster will act indifferent again.
Clearing the damage list means that if someone was trying to
killsteal, they just wasted their mana (heh heh).

7. Travel light. There's a theory that getting anywhere near
encumberance levels detracts from our fighting skills. I'm currently
only wearing cloth armor; while I am currently having difficulty with
blue monsters, I survive pretty well (Chant does wonders for AC, eh?)

Oh ... other ideas:

You can give items to NPCs by left clicking the item onto them. The
item becomes part of their inventory (so, if you find a short beer
and spices in a wolf, that's from me. You're welcome.) If you give
a weapon to a humanoid NPC, they will usually equip that weapon.
This has been reported to have been done to guards with orc picks, as
well as orc centurions / legionnaires with orc picks. Someday, I'll
walk up to a sand giant and teach him the beauty of orc picks.

You can kite by alternating Selo's and Bellow. If you don't have
that, your next best option is Selo's and Hymn (run away, heal up
fast, turn back and fight). If you're in a safe area and know how to
run around monsters, you can swap Selo's and Dissonance.

Anthem and Chant will not stack. So Chant when solo, and Anthem
(group +10% battle speed) when in a group. Always use Whistle (+20%
battle speed) if you're tanking. Whistle and Anthem will give you
25% battle speed.

In game time, Jig does not improve mana regen. However, it seems to
improve screen refresh rates (?huh??) so perceptually, it looks like
mana is regen faster.

Hymn will even out with (asp/darkweed) poison damage. Hymn with an
instrument will let you heal albeit slower.

When running with Selo's in a group, try being the last one so that
no one is left behind. If you're stuck as pointman, switch to walk
(I have agility 90, with selo and the hand drum, I seem to be walking
just as fast as anyone else is running. Heh!)

Jig restores stamina. Most known use is to allow you to swim above
water for longer periods of time. You can also use it to avoid
hunger&thirst death -- you'll still be hungry, but you are "tough"
enough to take it ... until you get to your corpse.

(That's why I avoided getting bound in the bank. I can run 5 zones
... maybe more ... without suffering. Just a lot of spam, but we're
used to that anyway).

Selo's will accelerate you when running over ground and when swimming
underwater.

Take up baking. There's nothing more relaxing after getting chased
by monsters than chasing after monsters. I spend about an hour each
game session running around with the newbies and making batwing
crunchies, edible goo, clumps of dough, rat sandwiches, and brewing
up ginesh and bog juice. It helps fill up that time when you're
waiting for wizards to finish medding or when you're organizing a
group together.

----
Stormtower
Bard of the 11th Chorus
Freeport, Prexus.