How does your bard inspire courage?

[Lady Gragra ♥]

By singing my greatest hits. Just Pounce to start the fight, Dockerface or Bad Performance to end it. EVERYONE LOVES IT <3 <3 <3

[kyrt-ryder]

Lady Gragra ♥ wrote:

By singing my greatest hits. Just Pounce to start the fight

A bard who could Inspire Pounce would be a friend indeed.

[Snowblind]

A Skald can Inspire Pounce and is a friend indeed.

[MeanMutton]

The one time I used a bard, I always used "oratory" and said a quick little word or two about what I was doing -

"I'm rallying the party with a quick story about the last time we fought orcs and slayed them all."

"I'm telling dead gnome jokes" - and then went through a new joke each time my turn came up.

"I'm reciting a ballad from the elven epic 'All rise for leaves that fall'"

[Twitchy Boom Boom]

Just a Mort wrote:

Kyrt - our current version is "I'll make a gob out of you." (WBG2 PBP). Surprisingly(or not), that wasn't from a bard :p

Twitchy nods. "Twitchy's a kick-ass alchemist with explosive musical numbers!"

She clears her throat, while flying over the invading lizard horde and sings:

Let's get down to business
Defeating lizard kin
(Can I take these misfits and fill them with win?)
You're the craziest bunch I ever met
But you bet before we're through
Twitchy will make a gob out of you

Flaming like a forest
Lizard shish-ke-bobs!
Once you find their center
We'll poke right through!
They're a spineless, scaled, pathetic lot
And they haven't got a clue
So now let's make chopped lizard stew!

So Ronk has got a talking cat
Who fancies himself a grand King
And made an Admiral out of Medge
But can I really argue with that
When we need every little thing
To give our little group its killing edge?

[Chorus:]
(Be a gob)
You must be sly as swampy mojo
(Be a gob)
With all the force of a fiery boom
(Be a gob)
With all the strength of a raging Ronk
Furious as a piratey Medge typhoon

Time is racing toward us till the newts arrive
Heed my every order and we might survive
Our wedding's been put off for war
We'll just pack them up and be through
And that's how I'll make a gob out of you!

[Chorus x2]

[Cr500cricket]

One of our Bards uses Perform (Oratory) and quotes Winston Churchill

Another sung We are the Champions.

[Charon's Little Helper]

MeanMutton wrote:

The one time I used a bard, I always used "oratory" and said a quick little word or two about what I was doing -

"I'm rallying the party with a quick story about the last time we fought orcs and slayed them all."

I did that with my bard - only in his versions of the stories, he'd done all of the work. "And than I slew the orcish hordes. You remember. You were there doing... something." (He may be a bit of a narcissist.)

[RAuer2]

In the game I am running now there have been several bards.

The first is a PC bard who "inspires" by playing his mandolin that is a doom harp, so he basically unnerves and distracts the opponents with the doom harp's debuff.

The second was an NPC during the time I ran Red Hand of Doom, Ulwai Stormcaller. Female hobgoblin bard. I ran her as an opera singer whose voice had an astounding range, especially in the low end. It was epic. The party hated her in that "I want her to die but I don't want to try and do it myself" way.

The third was an NPC bard that joined the group for a bit, one of the Tiri-Kitor NPCs in Red Hand of Doom, a female human. She sang ballads and I described her voice as light and high-pitched like a pop singer.

Some of the posts in this thread are excellent, bravo to the creativity!

[Inquisitor Thrace]

I played through Skull and Shackles, with a buccaneer (bard archtype), and sung sea shanties, (not that my voice is any good, but I gave it a go).
Mainly went with 15 Men on a Dead Man's Chest, and Shiver My Timbers.
Changed up the words every now and then.

For a skald idea I've got, I'm looking at playing (phone/speakers, kind of cheating) some form of vocals with a string accompaniment, as "I'll" sing while playing the longbow (Tuned Bowstring). Haven't found the song/music yet.

[RAuer2]

Inquisitor Thrace wrote:

I played through Skull and Shackles, with a buccaneer (bard archtype), and sung sea shanties, (not that my voice is any good, but I gave it a go).

Mainly went with 15 Men on a Dead Man's Chest, and Shiver My Timbers.
Changed up the words every now and then.

Assassin's Creed: Pirates has some sea shanties as the soundtrack, which is available separate from the game. Might be a nice resource for a pirate bard, especially if the cost is low.

[Melvin the Mediocre]

On those occasions when I knew what we were going to fight a session ahead of time, I used to write multi stanza humorous limericks for the occasion, then each round on my turn I would read one more.

[Glord Funkelhand]

Perform: Haka.

[Rusty Ironpants]

My bard plays a rousing tune on his drum to inspire courage.

When he casts saving finale its epic drum solo time!

[Lamontius]

mostly like this

[Doctor Love]

Oratory - old man bard

You youngins have it so easy. Back in my day there were no pouncing tiger pets. No we had to go out and grapple mountain lions wrestle them into submission and hurl them bodily at the foe. No free action handle animal blather. We had to EARN ... um what was I talking about?