Ranged bards are presently unable to use two "profession defining" spells, Sonic Weapon and Sonic Shield. While a sonic bow or crossbow might be interesting, I understand the mechanics of making it remain in the left hand are a little awkward, and the benefits would be largely nullified by the lack of sonic flares. Being able to generate sonic arrows and bolts, however, has great potential. I could see a few ways about this.

The simplest and most obvious would be to generate one arrow or bolt at a time, which could then be fired exactly like normal ammo. This would obviously be mana-intensive, but if the ammo was that good, it might be worth it.

Another option would be to generate a bundle of, say, 20 sonic arrows or bolts, which could then be placed in a quiver. Renewing the song would regenerate the ammo.

Finally, my favorite idea, it could generate one arrow or bolt at a time, but as long as you continue singing the song, a new one will appear in your hand after each shot.

Just tossing a few ideas out there for some brilliant, bard-loving GM to consider. ;)

Thanks,

~ Heathyr and friends

I also seem to remember it being deemed overpowered to give all bard's essentially a poor man's ebow.

I still like the idea, but the lots of different kinds of bards can't make use of sonic shield, weapon, or armor for various reasons, I doubt this is enough justification to give us access to 7x double flaring ammo though.

I would prefer they just add flares to 1025 which is a spell I think excels for ranged bards, or maybe let bards 2x ambush or 3x perception. I also think its been made very clear that the GMs do not really expect/want bards using shields given the lack of shield maneuvers we can actually learn, so I wouldn't expect anything more because you can't use 1009.

I'll make my usual closing plea,
Finish our spell lists, guild skills, shield + armor points for uniquely bard skills that combine magic and physical prowess.

Archales

>I also seem to remember it being deemed overpowered to give all bard's essentially a poor man's ebow.

Paladins get a poor man's returner, this seems little different. Not to mention, OP does not exist in this game - all classes are OP and the game is laughably easy compared to 15 years ago.

Player of Kilshaar

>>Not sure what you're referring to or why it's relevant to my observation that paladins have access to a spell-like ability that only exists in 100 million silver weapons.

I am pointing out that they need extra training to be near equal of someone with one of those weapons, while a bard would only need train in ranged for what you want. So, no they aren't the same thing.

>>You just responded to a claim I made by saying you had no knowledge of the topic to which the claim pertained, but that you know better than me anyway.

How 'hard' games like this are is mostly based on how well you know them. How well did you actually know the game mechanics back then compared to now? The game back then from what I've heard was certainly a bit more difficult then it is now, but in no way would I have ever called it hard. Losing 50k exp or whatever it was from dying would mean you aren't progressing very fast until you actually knew what you were doing and you couldn't just bumble along like you see Dayko doing. But you also had things that made it easier, stacking wall of force and wizard shield, a higher bonus from 202 that was able to be cast on anyone.

A simple way to describe this would be like tic tac toe, when you start playing it against someone who knows how to play they can trick you into making mistakes. As you play you learn from your mistakes and get to the point where you can always play someone to a draw. GS or any similar game is the same way because the mechanics are pretty rigid so that once you are comfortable within that frame work things become easy.

>>A bard would only need to train in ranged in order to make his sonic flaring shield good? Did you read my post? I don't think you did, because your responses are nonsensical and out of context.

How so? You were comparing bonding to a poor man's returner vs bards having what you'd call a poor man's ebow. You started a separate thread for flaring shields and I agreed with you in that one.

>How so? You were comparing bonding to a poor man's returner vs bards having what you'd call a poor man's ebow. You started a separate thread for flaring shields and I agreed with you in that one.

I was mistaken, sorry.

In any case, to respond, knowledge of mechanics is not the sole reason the game is easier now. Every class now has much more powerful tools at their disposal. There are a few case by case exceptions to this. Voln-fu Rangers no longer have their 'Double-Roundhouse Head Shatter' iWin button. My sorcerer, who I've played since '93, can no longer do 500 damage for 6 mana (referring to the old DC). But for the most part, massive increases in gear availability, enhancives, widening of class skills (a sorcerer can now inflict hard RT, bolt, vaporize selected targets with adjacent stuns, the list goes on). My ranger can wipe out a room full of critters with 3 or 4 casts of nature's fury, or bring down a warcamp solo in 30 minutes sniping (my record is 28 one-shot-one-kills without coming out of hiding).

So, to reiterate: OP doesn't exist anymore in any relative sense. Give bard's flaring shields.

Player of Kilshaar