Bard

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Bard v0.9
Author André Bertelli Araújo
Download link
NetHack PatchDB 76
Wikipedia
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The Bard is a role added in the Bard patch. It has been included in the variants Slash'EM Extended, SlashTHEM, and (as the Troubadour role, starting in v. 3.10) dNetHack.

One of the distinctive features of the Bard patch is the option of casting enchantment spells as songs, performed on a musical instrument. The musical versions of the spells have some advantages and disadvantages over their regular versions. The patch gives several roles this ability, but the Bard excels at it. This feature has been carried over into some of the variants that include the Bard role.

For an explanation of the role by the patch author, see here.

For a discussion of the role, see here.

Musicalize spell

The Bard's distinctive advantage is mastery of a skill called Musicalize Spell, which gives the character the ability to perform magical songs. For the most part this is just a special way of casting enchantment spells, by (a)pplying a musical instrument instead of using the spell menu (though there is one song, "Inspire Courage", which is unlike any regular enchantment spell). For roles who can reach at least Basic in the skill, this will bring up a menu with the option of casting a spell in addition to the existing options of improvising or playing a series of notes.

Spells performed as songs have two advantages over spells cast in the usual way. First, songs require no energy to perform, and second, songs affect all monsters in an area, instead of all monsters in a specified direction. However, the advantages of using songs are balanced by several disadvantages:

  • The performer must have an appropriate musical instrument. For every magical song, there are two instruments that can be used: one that is "preferred" and less likely to be resisted by monsters, and an alternative that can be used if the preferred instrument is unavailable, but with a lower chance of success.
  • The performer must have learned the spell corresponding to the song being used.
  • Songs take several turns to perform, and can be interrupted.
  • The effects of spells cast as songs tend to be less powerful than their regular forms. For example, the Lullaby song, if successful, puts monsters to sleep for a shorter period of time than the sleep spell.
  • At Unskilled or Basic, songs affect pets as well as hostile monsters, though the effects on pets are milder. At Skilled or Expert, tame creatures are not affected—except by "Inspire Courage", which only affects pets.

Songs in Slash'EM Extended and SLASHTHEM

Song Description Spell Preferred Instrument Alternative Instrument Duration
Lullaby Puts enemies to sleep sleep wooden harp wooden flute 4 turns
Cacophony Confuses enemies confuse monster leather drum tooled horn 5 turns
Drowsiness Slows enemies slow monster wooden flute wooden harp 5 turns
Despair Causes enemies to flee cause fear tooled horn leather drum 6 turns
Friendship Temporarily tames monsters charm monster wooden harp wooden flute 6 turns
Inspire Courage Increases the damage done by pets cause fear bugle leather drum 6 turns

Note that "Inspire Courage" does not mimic an existing enchantment spell; however, the character still needs to know a specific spell (cause fear) in order to use it.

In the patch, Monks and Priests can advance the Musicalize Spell skill to Basic, while Tourists can advance it to Skilled.

In SlashTHEM, Musicians and Rockers can also reach Expert in Music. In this variant, characters can perform any song without having to know the corresponding spell.

Songs in dNetHack

Song Description Spell Preferred Instrument Alternative Instrument Duration
Lullaby Puts enemies to sleep sleep wooden harp wooden flute 4 turns
Meditative Healing Heals pets, at the cost of immobilizing them extra healing wooden harp wooden flute 4 turns
Lethargy Slows enemies (including sleep-resistant foes) slow monster wooden harp wooden flute 5 turns
Friendship Permanently tames single adjacent monster charm monster wooden harp wooden flute 6 turns
Rally Teleports pets to you, heals pet status ailments teleport away bugle tooled horn 1 turn
Charge Pets move and attack faster while the song is playing haste self bugle leather drum 5 turn
Disruption Interferes with monster spellcasting while the song is playing cancellation tooled horn bugle 5 turn
Inspire Courage Increases the damage done by pets cause fear bugle leather drum 6 turns
Fear Causes enemies to flee cause fear tooled horn, leather drum <none> 6 turns
Cacophony Confuses enemies confuse monster tooled horn leather drum 5 turns

Success chance in dNetHack

Success chance is calculated as:

ATTRIBUTE x 2 x MUSICALITY_SKILL + experience level

Where:

  • ATTRIBUTE is strength for drums (either leather or of earthquake) and dexterity for all other instruments.
  • MUSICALITY_SKILL is 1 at unskilled, 2 at basic, etc.

Bonuses are applied (in the following order):

  • If the instrument is an artifact or the instrument is the song's preferred type, increase the chance by 50%.
  • If your health is lower than 30% of your maximum, increase the chance by 100%.
  • If the instrument is a drum or a harp, and you are wearing a shield, decrease the chance by 50%.
  • If you are blind, increase the chance by your experience level.
  • If you are using the Lyre of Orpheus (Bard's quest artifact) and you are not playing one of: Rally, Meditative Healing, Lullaby, or Friendship, decrease the chance by 50%.

Note: The chance is only capped to 0/100% after all bonuses have been applied, so you can still get to 100% success chance with the Lyre of Orpheus.

Skills

Bard skills
Max Skills
Basic
Skilled
Expert

Bards start with Basic skill in Musicalize Spell and bare hands.

The Bard's special spell is sleep. Spell success is determined by intelligence in Slash'EM Extended. In SlashTHEM, spell success is determined by charisma.

In Slash'EM Extended, the Bard can reach expert in all of the skills above (except Musicalize Spell, which is not incorporated), plus unicorn horn and firearms. Escape spells are replaced by body spells, as in SLASH'EM.

In SlashTHEM, escape spells are replaced by body spells; otherwise, the maximum skill levels are the same as in the patch. This variant includes the Musicalize Spell feature (as "Music"), starting in version 0.8.

Techniques

In Slash'EM Extended and SlashTHEM, the Bard gains techniques at the following experience levels:

The Booze technique allows the Bard to simulate the effects of drinking booze without needing the potion ("You procure some refreshing drinks.") This provides some nutrition.

  • Slash'EM Extended tech.c line 185, 2545
  • Slash'EM Extended tech.c line 226
  • SlashTHEM tech.c line 148

Intrinsics

Starting equipment

From the start of the game, the Bard can recognize all musical instruments, including the magical ones.

In Slash'EM Extended, Bards can recognize the spellbooks for all enchantment spells, but do not start with the books or know the spells. Thanks to their wealth of adventuring lore, they start the game with the knowledge of several randomly selected items.

In dNetHack, Troubadours' lore also includes knowledge of several basic wards: Circle of Acheron, Hamsa, Elder Sign, Elder Elemental Eye, Sign of the Scion Queen Mother, Cartouche of the Cat Lord, the Wings of Garuda, and the Toustefna and Dreprun staves.

Drow Troubadours will get droven chain mail and a droven cloak instead of a leather cloak. Half-dragon will always get a leather drum as their starting instrument.

Rank titles

The status line shows you to be one of the following ranks when you reach the specified experience level:

  • XL 1-2: Bard
  • XL 3-5: Lyrist
  • XL 6-9: Sonneteer
  • XL 10-13: Jongleur
  • XL 14-17: Troubadour
  • XL 18-21: Minstrel
  • XL 22-25: Lorist
  • XL 26-29: Well-known Bard
  • XL 30: Master Bard

Quest

The quest sees the Bard traveling to the island of Anthemoessa to fight the siren Aglaope for the Lyre of Orpheus.

Gods

Main article: Religion

In Slash'EM Extended, the Bard uses the pantheon from the defunct Gnome role:

  • Lawful: Garl Glittergold
  • Neutral: Flandal Steelskin
  • Chaotic: Urdlen

In SLASHTHEM, the Bard's pantheon combines music-related gods from Greek and Roman mythology:

  • Lawful: Minerva
  • Neutral: Apollo
  • Chaotic: Linus

The dNetHack Troubadour's pantheon is Greek, perhaps Thracian (Thrace was the home of Orpheus):

  • Lawful: Apollon
  • Neutral: Pan
  • Chaotic: Dionysus

Origin

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The Bard is inspired in large part by the bard character class in Dungeons & Dragons, and similar characters.

The quest and mythos also draw on Greek mythology, including the myth of Orpheus.

References

  • Slash'EM Extended role.c line 297
  • SlashTHEM role.c line 147
  • Slash'EM Extended u_init.c line 5381
  • dNetHack role.c line 450
  • dNetHack u_init.c line 1613

See also

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