On Sat, 4 Sep 1999, Christopher Mills wrote:

>
> So it seems that you don't get any chance to increase your skills (hand-to-
> hand or any other offensive skills) when using the Lute. As far as I could
> tell, you don't increase in Dodge or Defense either...

Your hand-to-hand skill will indeed go up while using an
instrument. It may be one of those skills that doesn't go up
except upon success. I spent a half hour running around with
a level 1 monk wondering why he was rarely hitting for more
than 1 point of damage when I finally got the "You have become
better and hand to hand (1)" message, after which it went up
pretty quickly. (Doh - remember to train at least one point
in each weapon skill. :-)

> Anyone with more experience in the support-bard role have any tips for a
> battle-bard? I was pretty impressed at how effective I am at higher levels
> with just songs...

Yup. Your songs continue to improve as you level, so what
might not have been a viable strategy at level 10 can be a
very effective strategy at level 20. That's another element
of complexity that I really love about the bard.

--
John H. Kim
kim@...