Creating a Bard's Life

Post » Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:48 pm

Hey all. About to start a new character. After doing a few quest from the Bard's College from I was inspired to create a bard character. I'd like to here any suggestions you have for RPing a bard in Skyrim.

Obviously a bard is a jack of all trades types but I'd like to focus on perking 4-5 skills.

I usually play on expert to master.

So far I'm thinking something like this:

Female (I couldn't play a fruity male bard)
Brenton (Mainly for 25% magic resist and +5 in speech alchemy)

Skills I'm surely taking:
Alchemy (for poison and fortify buffs)
Speech ( Focusing on the persuasion / intimidate branch and for bard RP)

Which magic school for a bard?

These are my primary choices but feel free to suggest others:

Alteration: Seems like the red head step child of the magic schools. But I'm still interested in it because of mage armor perk and the spell blocking perks that seems to combine well with the brenton's natural magic resist. I'm interested in doing no armor bard so I'd appreciate any feed back from anyone with experience w/ alteration.

Illusion: Seems like a must for a bard but I'm still undecided for a few reasons. Too much investment, almost need the whole tree to keep it viable it seems. It allows you to buff allies but the buffing seems much weaker than restoration buffing.

Restoration: Since I was going to take alchemy to facilitate healing, there seems to be an over lap if i also take restoration. But I'm still interested because this school allows you to heal others, use wards. Is restoration more effective than illusion when buffing allies?

Combat skills:

Since a bard isn't really a combat character I really don't know what to choose. Some things I'm considering. Anyone try to NOT perk ANY combat skill? Will my build suffer if I attempt this?

Archery: Seems like a good RP fit, but my last character was heavy into archery. I know I'll uses this to deliver poison from range but don't really want to perk it.

One handed: I was thinking dagger or axe maybe. Seems so hum drum.

Block: The only reason I'm considering this is for elemental shield. Brenton magical resist + alteration spell blocking + elemental shield seems like it could be interesting. But this seems completely out of character.

Thank You in advance for any feed back.
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Cat Haines
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:46 am

Which magic school for a bard?

Illusion.
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Riky Carrasco
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:49 am

I've tried playing a bard and it's very difficult considering Skyrim is more combat based than it's Elder Scrolls parents. Definitely Illusion and Restoration for magic and One-Handed for combat. Skip Archery. And don't be afraid to play as a male. In our day, Bob Dylan would be considered a bard.
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Catherine N
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:23 am

Illusion.

I've only experimented w/ illusion. Is it all or nothing as far as perks go? With my limited experience w/ the school it seemed like I had to keep perking it to effect current enemies.

I've tried playing a bard and it's very difficult considering Skyrim is more combat based than it's Elder Scrolls parents. Definitely Illusion and Restoration for magic and One-Handed for combat. Skip Archery. And don't be afraid to play as a male. In our day, Bob Dylan would be considered a bard.

What is superior buffing allies w/ illusion or healing them w/ restoration? Maybe just choose both? I guess your right about the Bob Dylan thing, it is just that most the bard's I've met in skyrim that are male seem very kooky.

I would love to hear some feedback about alteration. Does this school just svck? I looked at the spell list and it seems horrid.
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Kortniie Dumont
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:36 am

I'd say it's an unfeasible class, as far as how bards are generally presented in RPGs (for one, they're kind of group oriented and have a lot of party buffs.. while this is a single character game, for the most part). Here, any generic adventurer qualifies as a bard. As long as they can carry a tune, I guess.
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Cayal
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 11:00 am

The thing about Bards in the traditional DnD-esque fantasy sense is that you can legitimize them using practically any skill. Speech, Light Armor, Illusion and One-Handed are certainly the most applicable though.
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Marie Maillos
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:20 am

I'd say it's an unfeasible class, as far as how bards are generally presented in RPGs (for one, they're kind of group oriented and have a lot of party buffs.. while this is a single character game, for the most part). Here, any generic adventurer qualifies as a bard. As long as they can carry a tune, I guess.

This is more of a lol build and experiment that I wanted to try after creating an overpowered archer.

I'm thinking of playing behind my companion as a buffer (illusion, restoration) and a crowd controller / debuffer (alchemy, illusion) with minor melee damage (one handed). That seems to fit the bill even if you don't have a huge party to back up.

The bards in the college seem to use mostly magic and no armor so I was slightly modeling the character from those npcs.

Before I didn't really care you couldn't play an instrument. Now that I'm trying to cook up a silly build I'm a little bummed. On console obviously. :confused:
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ladyflames
 
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