What do you think fits best?

1.

One-handed swords
Block
Light-armor (not sure which would fit a bard better, leather or scaled.)
Illusion
Pickpocket
Speech
Guilds: Bards' College, Thieves' Guild


2.

One-handed swords
Alteration (for armor spells)
Restoration (for wards and healing)
Illusion
Enchanting (to enchant clothing)
Speech
Guilds: Bards' College, College of Winterhold

#2 looks more like a spellsword, and it would be tough perking all those skills because they are all very important (other than speech). #1 is more rogueish, but maybe a little too light on the spells, and some torch juggling would be needed to free up the left hand for blocking.

What do you think? Maybe you have ideas for a superior build?

I like #1 better, but I'd swap pickpocket for Illusion; in an RP sense, bard songs could calm or enrage your foes

I would like to see them add a Bard + Dirge Perk tree with beneficial and detrimental songs along with instruments as off-hand weapons that amplify/modify effectiveness. Then the Bard Guild, could be a LOT more fleshed out and it isn't just a crappy Thieve's Guild.

Illusion is already in there ^^.

LOL, reading comprehension fail XD Sorry about that.

If it were back in the days of Oblivion, I'd have said Acrobatics and Athletics so you can run away!!!

Hmmm. I'm mentally trying to make the case for various skills to suggest. My D&D bard is also pretty sneaky, I suppose....

it would be nice if you could actually play instruments, and maybe get paid for it.
I'd rather have this feature than useless marriage

#1

Skills match the class from Morrowind and Oblivion. Bards have always struck me as wandering storytellers and/or musicians - depending on your delivery method. Smooth-talkers and handy with a blade, if there are no good stories to tell or sing about, they'll tell one of their own adventures.

Consider the Dark Brotherhood as an additional guild choice (or in lieu of the Thieve's Guild). I think it would be an interesting concept to be a friendly, charismatic entertainer with hidden sinister intentions....

Just a suggestion of course.

for me, the pickpocket doesn't fit.

singing, telling stories, travelling, socialable, and steals your junk?

i'd swap it for alchemy.

• yes, no singing svcks, but as I will write the character's story, I can add poetry and songs.
  
• thought of joining the dark brotherhood, but decided against it. I want a character that is likeable even to one who knows about his slightly shady morals and opportunism. If you played Baldur's Gate 2, I'm basing him slightly on Samon Havarian.
  
• DnD bards have always been able to pickpocket. This is because they are considered rogues, travelers who will sing, tell tales, swing a sword, swipe a coin purse, and anything else it takes to survive.

the mischievious rogue: i like it. good call.

I've been thinking about this myself. I often want to make a bard for ES games, but the mechanics of it are always just a little... off.

Anyway, there's great opportunity for RP here.

I like the skills of #1 better, but I'm not totally sold on pickpocketing. In concept it's cool, but in practice I think you'll have bounties all over the place - of course, that could be fun too!

I would probably ditch the Thieves Guild in favor of the College, though. The TG missions are all thuggish up until the end; doesn't seem to fit a bard. The College questlines are very ... "nice" throughout. Plus they get you out exploring, and you can do the radiant quests to uncover (or recover) lore. That fits better with the concept of bard as storyteller/collector.

I do wish there was more bard support in Skyrim.

How about Cicero as a companion? He'd fit the whole entertainer vibe, and you could even dress as a jester youself. Use a dagger yourself as well, and you'll be an awesome psychopath performer team.

• thieves' guild vs college of winterhold... hmmm... I agree that the TG is a bit thuggish, and particularly what happens at the end is more of a thing for the hardcoe thief, not a bard. I'll have to think on this.
  
• I can't stand cicero well, his voice primarily.

I've decided on #1. The question now is, can I get away with not putting any points in magicka? If I find some light armor of illusion and a piece that boosts magicka, do you think that'll be enough for master spells? He won't be chain-casting anything.

Weren't bards supposed to perform? Music? Song? No? Ok.

I can't wait for someone to make a topic called 'Building the perfect RP Courier' or 'Baker.'

And all they do is the 'delivery quests' or collect sweet rolls.

Yes. As I already explained, I will be writing his journal where I will include both song and poem.

You're doing another journal then? Awesome, the two I've seen so far were some great reading!

I like the first build a little more, though I think it would be very tempting to have restoration and alteration skills as well. Not sure what you'd replace with it though, the skills in the first build look nice too. I guess it depends on how much variety you'd want him to have with bard songs.

In D&D, bards have some limited healing ability so restoration might fit somewhat. They also have paralysis through Hold Person, and you could pass off the Shield spells as Blur or a similar spell so alteration works too.

Edit: But I'd say Illusion, Light Armor (leather imo), Speech, and One-Handed would be great with whatever else chosen.

It'll be a tough choice, bards are the epitome of the "jack-of-all-trades" phrase.

If I were you I'd just do the one faction, Bards College. It's a shame it has no perks though, you're pretty much an outsider no matter how involved you try to be. Despite this, I reckon the bards would devote themselves entirely to the cause of performing. I'd say #1, but I'd probably go for daggers rather than swords.

EDIT: Just had a thought too, I'd probably swap pickpocket for alchemy. Since they wander a lot, it makes sense that a bard would be able to live off the land.

I wonder what the difference is between the perfect RP bard and the perfect bard.

Reading any books you can get your hands on is a good idea. Bards should know stories.

Speech is the only skill clearly identifiable as bard-ish. From there, it depends on how you picture your bard. He could be a sneaky, roguish type who values finesse. He could be a heavy-armored Orc who seeks combat and who loves to spread tales and songs of war and adventure.

Thanks! Yes, I will attempt a full journal like I tried with Decimus. I have some ideas that will hopefully make it an interesting read despite the rather lackluster quests in Skyrim. But with exams coming up and after that a brutal 2nd semester it will take a long time.


#1 is already hurting for perk points. Adding more spell schools would make it unwieldy. He may use the default healing spell but that's about it for non-illusion spells.

Also, collect all these books about songs.

Hmm, what if I switch light armor with alteration (mage armor), and pickpocket with enchanting? Then I could force myself to only wear self-enchanted clothing, and get some cool-looking wanderer's clothes and a circlet or hood. I don't think any of the light armors look very 'bardy'.

I have to agree with you 100%. No amour at all means even lighter on your feet. Even smarter. Bard kinda implies well dressed, I would say.

So be it!

Name: Gaston de Lazare
Race: Breton of Wayrest
Class: Bard
Skills: One-handed, Block, Illusion, Alteration, Enchanting, Speech
Gear: sword and self-enchanted clothing