Advice on bard song RP style

[TheKai]

World's Greatest Server,

Happy aloha friday, hope all is well wherever you are.

Posting to ask advice and opinions on possible types of ways bard song can be RP'd. Obvious one would be to RP it as your toon is actually singing or humming. But is there any room for variation on that?

I like the idea of a bard. The skill, the artistry (not necessarily in music (*gasp*), the lore and the knowledge aspect, the rogueish side, etc but would it be too out of this world to use a different RP flare in place of actually singing?

The style I had in mind was to RP my bard using 'power words' instead of actually singing or humming whenever I activated the ability. And part of his RP would be the discovery of (read: gain levels) different 'power words' to enhance his skill (not to be confused with actual wiz/sorc power words) though those will have a special place for him as well, along with 'true name' arcana. The traditional artistic bardy side will manifest in different ways.

Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated. Have a safe and great weekend!

[astra]

I play bards mostly, and I find it's tough to RP it as "non-singing" since the game produces a whistling/singing when you use most of the abilities. As a result I found a lot of players just automatically assume your character sings.

I always preferred to think of it as the bard's mere presence is inspiring, rather than the bard actually singing a song. Otherwise if you think too hard about it you can end up in a situation like this:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0004.html

or this:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0006.html

It's a little hokey for my tastes, at least, to be explicitly cheering people on by singing songs about them as they pick a lock or heal someone's wounds. Usually I just try to gloss over that particular mechanic

As for your PC, I think it's legit for bardic abilities to manifest via poetry or other "spoken" art forms as opposed to song.

[Selande]

My bard usually just taps a tune on her chainmail or something similar. Doesn't always need to be singing to be "Bardic music". Instruments work fine.

Bardic Music: Once per day per bard level, a bard can use his song or poetics to produce magical effects on those around him (usually including himself, if desired). While these abilities fall under the category of bardic music and the descriptions discuss singing or playing instruments, they can all be activated by reciting poetry, chanting, singing lyrical songs, singing melodies, whistling, playing an instrument, or playing an instrument in combination with some spoken performance.

Not every bard has to be flashy either.

[TheKai]

Thank you for the interesting insight!