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Inspired by many young novices asking me about bards then disappearing, before I got halfway to an answer.
Thank you to Aranthalous for being so faceitious as to demand I write his for the Bard's Guild Wikipedia page.

So Ye Want To Be A Bard? written by Bardess Sircha Rankmere adventuring for 90 years on Elanthia.

A bard has the choice of many disciplines, whether a wedding bard performing for 200 platinum a gig, to a fashion enthusiast, stage performer, troublemaker, to a loremaster, a singing fighter with remarkable slicing potential, a trader-bard, even a dedicated triage bard holds certain responsibilities and a great deal of respect.

As a Bard that has played many if not all of these roles, let me tell you about the real bard's guild as I know and love it. A bard is foremost and primarily a performer, a consumate roleplayer to the hilt. Many if not all of our skills and spells give us beautiful performance perks that can be played with and manipulated. Many of our spells invoke glowing lights, and some kind of beautiful, even forbidden special effect upon the unwary audience. As roleplayers we don't mind spending 200+ hours coordinating and preparing an epic performance for our audiences. In this respect we alternately play the classical role of both Dungeon Master out of game, and Roleplayer in game.

While you could very well rely upon the song scrolls such as Nissa's Ride, Swift Runs the Blood, and Silverlock, these in game memorizable song scrolls are so limiting and I stopped using them in about my second year as a bard and began to really focus on the player element, singing songs about certain thieves great heists or of the greatest villianous player character in the land may get you into all kinds of fun adventures, pvp fights, and many, many deaths. It's always best to be well prepared and stocked with high amounts of favors for such contingencies. We are known for being the guild of true troublemakers as well. From using our spells to see how many times we can knock over Barbarians before they hunt us down and try to gut us to scaring our favorite empath-cleric team by playing dead, and unressurectable. It all depends upon your level of personal performance mastery, and the limits, or unlimits you are willing to go to see what your next prank will do to people. I do love my pranks!

You can write songs for weddings, and other events and I have met my fair share of bards that have written gorgeous, just gorgeous wedding songs and have performed at weddings in Elanthia. Sometimes Tavern Troupe commissions out to these events but that usually means a full scale play production to entertain the guests. Often if it's a close friend or a bard wedding, I'll show up with my songbook full of pre-written songs and sing whatever hits the request line. It's a long-standing in-game custom for bards to drink rum at bard weddings and roleplay being drunk. Although you can politely ask your drunken bard friends to cut it out, so you can have a more civilized wedding. By the way, Bards always have more fun! Every couple of years, I pretty much wipe out all of my hand-written song scripts and start fresh with new ones, I may save some memorable ones that people 'just love'. But usually I get tired of singing those same olde songs over and over again.

Now there is an in-game songbook that lists your scrolls songs and enchantes, but what I craft is a roleplaying songbook that I sing or recite page by page, and I let people select the songs I've handwritten meself. So for example:

Sircha sings in a sopraono voice:
_-Ballads and Romances-_ page 1;
The Fair Hand of Gwendolvvyn;
Nightly Honor;
Beloved White Metal;
Dances and Roses;


Sircha sings in a soprano voice:
_-Ballads and Romances-_ page 2;
Ballad of the Black Rose;
Lennede's Honor;
Mendasity's Blade;
Truth and Horne;


I just like the formatting although it does take forever once you get up to hundreds of handwritten songs!


Sircha starts her performance before you.

Sircha whistles and her minature dragon launches itself into the air spinning and cavorting in a series of ariel dives, barrel rolls and fantastic tricks. After such a lengthy performance it flares it's wings and comes to rest upon her outstretched armor-clad fist.

Sircha's minature dragon says, "If a Bard's role was only to play music, then I would NEVER be her pet!"

With our... performances we can bring to life any jewel or toy we see fit.

It isn't all pranks and roleplaying though, bards can simply play individual singing fighters known to the realms as Songsworn. Songsworn are, or have always been the great swordsmen and women of the Bard's Guild, they are the true Defenders of the Lute and when the guild falls upon endangered times, it is to the Songsworn the Guild turns to for defense and protection. These elusive, and rarely known members of the guild often flit in and out of the guild unnoticed. Whereas your performing bards are cluttering the performance hall teaching weapons or practicing their newest performances, the Songsworn have come for their next circle and left to hunt their next creature after the merest bat of an eyelash. But then there is also the middle ground betwixt performer and songsworn.

As traders bard's often handle goods from other players, while the real traders do this as well they often turn their noses up at certain unsavory characters, and so when it comes to certain things sometimes only a bard can easily aquire it. Whether you choose to work as a backpack trader, someone who keeps all their goods in a pack and offers goods for sale in distant locales, or as someone who actively seeks out some of the best work to be had and plys it on the gweth as a craftsmen sort of Trader. Ye will finde friends and enemies, depending on what you choose to do. For years I actually worked as a trader-runner which meant in a single day I could be in every province in the land finding items for people, trading something from Shard to someone in Surlaenis'a and then taking something from a crafter in Ratha and bringing it up to Throne City. It's an exciting lifestyle with a decent bit of wealth for a young bard not particularly intent on circling and if you become well-connected the treasures YOU end up with could be quite interesting.

Life as a triage bard revolves around the empaths, and your ability to produce mundane alchemical cures. Often you will be called upon to harness for empaths and clerics alike, tend the seriously injured and apply cures to those who may be dying in line for a healing touch. The most commonly used spells are Nexus, Hodierna's Lilt, and Meraud's Blessing.

There's Luthier bards, those bards who feel their calling is to make instruments as much as it is to make music. I know the least about these lore-driven bards, but only of their passion to craft the most lovely instruments known to bards.

Lastly, if you become truly great like myself, and you end up writing lyrical verses that real bands start picking up and publishing for themselves. Then you might want to consider joining the Songwriter's Guild of America. I'm not going to list the 90 bands that are running around with my lyrical verses in the real world. Ye wouldn't believe me anyway, if ye dare to track me down in game, I'll tell you the full list.