Almost all classes have a cap of 94 in Hand to Hand, monks being the
exception.

Using an instrument in lieu of a weapon in combat at later levels is like,
well, cutting off your hand. There's times when it's useful, but for the
most part, you're better off taking advantage of the fact that you hit well,
and hard, with 1h weapons, and can dual wield. If you wish to play a nearly
passive support bard, I wish you luck. While your songs are a great aid to
the party, most would prefer you loan your blade skills as well.

Right now, there's no increased or decreased spell effects using different
instruments of the same class. Was something Geoffrey wanted to implement,
but never got around to doing. So use a lute to save a few gold, if you
wish, it's functionally the same as a mandolin.

----- Original Message -----
From: Dantos <ascuro@...>
To: <eqbards@onelist.com>
Sent: Friday, May 14, 1999 4:08 AM
Subject: [eqbards] Bardic Skill Caps

>From: Dantos <ascuro@...>
>
>Greetings all. I was wondering if anyone knew about our skill caps?
>
>Specifically, Hand to Hand - for a while now, mine has stopped at 3 * level
>+ 1. Does anyone know if this is the limit for us in this skill? I've
>asked several of our bardic kin in-game, and no one seems to know the
>answer for sure (I got a lot of people curious though :)
>
>Oh, and one more thing - does anyone know if there are any specific
>differences in using the various instruments avaliable in the game? (for
>example - the mandolin and the lute - is it just the weight that's
>different? or a brass horn and a mino horn?)
>
>
>Dantos, bard of The Rathe
>
>
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