Rinn Nightingale's page

Although I've posted once or so, I mostly lurk. But I haven't had time for that for half a year or so due to life being a busy affair as usual. Really looking forward to the game though!

No love for Shelyn? Ah well, someone has to be the first!

Since I will play a bard, we seem to be the perfect match.

I've always loved the Warlock/Rogue combo, to be honest. It just feels so right to me! Also loving the idea of a Magus/Rogue.

Rogue is definitely my favourite gestalt class, since it fits in almost anywhere. Just my two electrum pieces.

Sweet Jezzus this is brilliant! If the "crowdforging" we were sold only produces one thing please may it be THIS ^^^^^^.

TT Pathfinder did a very very cool thing for bards when it gave them "masterpeices". Big spells produced only with certain intsruments, singing, dancing etc. Using bardic instruments liek wizard schools goes really really well with what GW has said their design will be.

I LOVE this idea.

Oh, I almost forgot! I'm happy you like the idea!

I think all bardic magic can be funneled into foci driven performance magic and the system would work quite beautifully. PFO will have limited options on the action bar so performance + sorc type spells + combat might be a bit much. Clerics could equip by domains as long as we are on this.

And yeah, it might be that it is a bit too much. But while there is a lot of overlap between magic and performance, magic offers a massive amount of the bard's utility. If they can let me use things like Silent Image, Grease, Cure X and Dimension Door without it feeling weird, I'd be thrilled to use instruments as spell foci. If not, magic still got a place with the bard.

Wow! This is great, everyone! I absolutely love this community, since you're all so friendly to strangers like me that pop up out of nowhere. It's been a pleasure to make your acquaintance!

However while certain instruments are more suitable for martial and others for spiritual and others for taunting/control, perhaps the flexibility that is desirable, and the 'building' aspect a spellbook has, perhaps arrangements of sheet music might be more promising an avenue?

I don't really think bards should have the same spell flexibility as a wizard. After all, isn't that what wizards do best? While a bard does need versatility to truly be a bard, that versatility has to come from the bard's ability to switch their role in-combat, rather than by switching instruments/sheet music/spellbooks out of combat.

All of the responses so far has got me thinking, though... Where would instruments fit the most? So far, I can see many convincing arguments for and against weapon instruments and "spellbook" instruments.

If instruments are weapons, they won't step on the MO of wizards in any way and you will be able to use a realistic amount of instruments due to the limit to carried weapons. My main worry here is that it would lead to instruments having actual weapon attacks, which I don't think is a good idea. An instrument is rarely a weapon (unless we count the Sound Striker archetype).

If instruments are spellbook-like objects, it runs afoul of being too like wizardry, but bards will then get to use as many weapons as other classes while also having a plethora of bardic performance powers. Aside from possibly being too wizard-like, it may also mean that actual bard spells get squeezed out. While not as vital as bardic performance, I feel that more traditional magic is an important part of the class regardless.

Also, there was discussed in a recent update, the morale of settlements. Bards, in my opinion, should be able to affect this greatly.

I absolutely agree with this! Letting bards into the playing field of politics would do much to increase their importance and what this class should be able to do, something that doesn't always shine in the often more combat-oriented tabletop. However, I fear that if I engage in satire, I might be a victim of an assassin myself, since they don't seem too fond of bards for some reason... However, speaking of non-combat roles...

... I should think that being social creatures who wander the towns with a rousing flair for adventure and conversation, Bardic Knowledge should come both naturally and systemically, that Bards would hear all the good conversations and also perhaps have means to know, for example, the Development indices, personalities and their positions, populations, and prosperity of the towns they visit, moreso than the common PC. Just my guess, mind.

Absolutely wonderful suggestion! This really touches on one of the roles I absolutely love when bards partake in: Espionage. The ability to see development indices, leaders and the like would make bards perfect for such a role!

Also, welcome! Thanks for posting. What instrument(s) do y'all love most?

Thanks! It's been a real pleasure! While I don't have a favourite instrument exactly, I am a fan of the violin, as well as singing, since I find it really isn't practical to play an instrument in battle. Not when you can sing instead.

Greetings everyone! I finally took the leap and made a post! I’ve been lurking on the forums for more than a year, trying to build up the courage to say hi and create a constructive post, and now I finally did it. The bard has been my class ever since I was exposed to D&D at a fairly young age. Something about the 3.5 description really evoked glorious images in my mind. And now I am here, hoping to influence the development of the Pathfinder Online bard a bit. I must admit, I feel quite excited at this opportunity to ask some questions that will hopefully bring my hopes and concerns to the minds of the developers! So without further ado, I hereby represent my questions about the bard:

1: Many bards are famous for knowing a lot about everything and are prone to knowing the answer to everything ever in the tabletop. Will Bardic Knowledge (and by extension, knowledge skills in general) somehow be present in Pathfinder Online? If so, in what manner will it be present?

2: In "I Fell into a Burning Ring of Fire", it is revealed that Pathfinder Online will include friendly fire. As someone who plays bards wherever possible, especially in Pathfinder, i know that much of our mechanics are dependent on aura abilities like Inspire Courage, abilities that are meant to help our allies or hinder our foes. However, the inclusion of friendly fire means that Inspire-type abilities and also other sorts of "auras" will have trouble distinguishing friend from foe. How will this problem be handled?

3: In “I Put a Spell on You”, it is revealed that wizards are going to have to equip spellbooks to use their more powerful spells. This got me thinking… What if bards could equip an instrument in a similar way? This could help give bards an identity beyond “rogue with magic”, since they’d whip out an instrument now and again to use their more powerful abilities. Will something like this be present in Pathfinder Online?

4: And now for a somewhat less bard-related question, but an important one nonetheless. In Lord of the Rings Online, it is possible to use in-game instruments to make music. I feel this would be a superb addition to Pathfinder Online, since it would let players express themselves in another manner than building characters and settlements. And it is apparently a quite well-received feature, since you don’t have to look too far to see that Youtube contains quite a few videos of in-game performances:

Examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixUCUsW4X8s and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qOis2pLlnM

While it might not be an immediate concern, I am sure me and my boyfriend (all credits to him for reminding me of the idea by the way) aren’t the only ones that would like such a feature.

And that was my questions and concerns. It has been a pleasure, truly! I really want the Pathfinder Online bard to live up to what the class deserves, which is why I am posting this in the first place after all. However, I am very much someone who believes in the power of feedback, which is why I implore those who have anything to add to do so. If the bard is to be a fun class to play, Goblinworks needs us to speak our minds! And with that, I wish you all a wonderful day. Thanks for reading!