Technical Bard Template Question

[Sanity]

I'm building the following template
120 Music
120 Peace
120 Archery
120 Tactics
100 Med
80 Chiv

I am hung up on the last 50 points and want to give them to Resist Spells or Anatomy. I just wasn't sure if Resisting Spells stacked with the affects of bard mastery "resilience." I can't find the answer to this on the Internet. Does anyone know how they play together?

 

[Basara]

Anyone? I've never used the peace masteries (a friend of mine runs the disco ones, and I run the provo ones, and they work quite well together working as a team). The general opinion for almost a decade has been that Resist Spells really isn't worth much below 80 or 100.

Here's what I see your options as:
1. Anatomy: Gives 25% more base damage (which gets multiplied by your DI)
2. Put 40 points into Chivalry, and the last 10 into med. Chivalry was changed in the last year or so to where it's skill based instead of karma based, and as a result you need to run at least 100 in it. 120 will give you spell bonuses far in excess of what max karma used to give the skill.

Which you go for is up to you, but you'll get far more utility from raising the chivalry than the anatomy.

Of course, you could play around with jewelry and some other equipment, and add more chivalry AND Anatomy. I've got a macer blacksmith that has about 600 points in combat skills PLUS 120 Smith & 100 mining, for example. Though, for your mastery, you want to keep 120 music and peace as all real skill.

 

[Sanity]

Thanks for your response. I'll try out the Chivalry up to 100 and think about pushing up to 120. For now I'll settle for that and 30 in anatomy. Thank you again.

 

[startle]

... Though, for your mastery, you want to keep 120 music and peace as all real skill.

Hmmm... Why 120 "real" for Music/Peace?

 

[Basara]

Because for Bard Specializations, the real skill in both Music and the related Bard skill, not the modified skills, is used for the intensity of power level of the specialization (according to the discussion at the time of testing/adding the specializations). This is much like how real Tactics & Weapon skill is used as the basis for determining if a weapon-user can access the weapon's special moves. The exception is that monsters that Discord can drop you below the skill needed, and the game will check the discoed skill level as the real level, ignoring bonuses from items.

If I remember a particularly nasty encounter in the Weald correctly, after being discorded by a satyr, I was unable to use a mastery even though I switched jewelry to get the displayed skills above the minimum for use.

 

[startle]

...the real skill in both Music and the related Bard skill, not the modified skills, is used for the intensity of power level of the specialization....

Sorry but I don't understand exactly what "the intensity of power level of the specialization" is?

 

[Basara]

The power of the effect when used is the intensity of the power level of the specialization.

For example, at 120 real Provo and 110 real music, the Invigorate specialist power will return 14-15 HP ever 4 seconds.
At 110 real Provo and 110 real music, it would provide less
and so on.

All 6 bard special abilities (2 per specialization) bases their effective strength on the REAL (without equipment) skill totals of Music and the associated Bardic skill, in combination in some formula set up for each specialization.

100 Music + 100 Disco is the same as 120 Music (100 real+20 from equipment) + 120 Disco (100 real+20 from equipment), which is substantially less of an effect than 120 Music (all real) + 120 Disco (all real).

 

[startle]

The power of the effect when used is the intensity of the power level of the specialization.

For example, at 120 real Provo and 110 real music, the Invigorate specialist power will return 14-15 HP ever 4 seconds.
At 110 real Provo and 110 real music, it would provide less
and so on.

All 6 bard special abilities (2 per specialization) bases their effective strength on the REAL (without equipment) skill totals of Music and the associated Bardic skill, in combination in some formula set up for each specialization.

100 Music + 100 Disco is the same as 120 Music (100 real+20 from equipment) + 120 Disco (100 real+20 from equipment), which is substantially less of an effect than 120 Music (all real) + 120 Disco (all real).

Bummer.... but thx for the indepth explaination, I appreciate it. Are there other skills where the REAL skill level has a greater effect than the "jewel'd" skill?

 

[Basara]

There's several, but I can't remember the particulars, beyond a couple extreme examples.

Weapon special moves require real skill in both their weapon skill (does work with UBWS for melee weapons) and Tactics (or other skill - some require stealth or poisoning).
70 in both for the Primary special move, 90 for the Secondary special move.

Any spell that changes the player's external form (polymorph, stone form, vampiric embrace, and lesser such skills) automatically end if your total skill (with equipment) drops below the minimum to cast the spell. So, if you get hit by a satyr or dryad disco effect, or their "Striptease effect" (can only happen to the sex opposite theirs), you could have your alternate form drop, if your skill falls far enough - especially if hit by both.