I seriously don't like the idea of bards going around wearing robes.

But, consiering bards probably won't be able to wear full plate, it's probably what will happen.

So, I'd like to ask for a new great robe pattern, performance outfits. They'd be actually just a combination of leggings and shirt/tunic, covering all the areas great robes do. Hopefully they'd be hard-coded to give head protection as well (Say, it could include a hat along with it).

It would be nice to see dresses that do the same, too.

Perhaps we are going to see the oft-underused leather armor come back into more widespread use, although... I hope not.

Performance outfits sound best. Perhaps even those that change short descs, for use in plays.

'Verithrax is here, dressed as a elderly Viscanti', or somesuch.

Leather wouldn't ever come into use. Leather stats go up to 30, robe stats go up to 50, 60+ for Splendor.

There is an idea that probably comes under this category here, if anyone's interested.

Depends how good Acrobatics is at avoiding damage. From what I've seen, it's decent. So leather might work, if they disable robes for them.

Those sound really cool, you could have different sorts of costumes like Tzara suggested.

Plus, more profit for tailors...

I like the idea

I like the idea of Bards wearing something other then great robes. They aren't mean to be magic wielders, like mages and guardians.

I was hoping we would have some sort of ability to make leather more useful to us, but alas it seems like that is not going to be the case. Also, I like the performance outfit idea!

Just a different design pattern for great robes, called an 'outfit', which is vague enough to fit in a lot of slots (But has to include at least trousers and a shirt in its description). For example:

a loose outfit of black and red silk
Composed of a black shirt with puffed sleeves and a pair of bright red leggings, this outfit provides wearers with freedom of movement, while being blindingly colourful. Gold embroidery details the frilly edges of the shirt's sleeves and crawls over the shirt in a delicate, intricate pattern.

I understand that all new patterns have to be hard coded, but I assume it's nothing horribly complicated and it would help enrichen the game a lot, besides doing away with all the robed bards. Otherwise I'll start taking some liberties with the robe pattern, but that's obviously a not ideal solution.

ETA: Maybe robes could be placed on another layer of clothing, their own, over trousers and shirts (Normal clothing) but under coats and cloaks (Overwear?) Or, rather, put them in the same layer as coats and create a new layer for cloaks and capes. Wearing a coat over robes makes little sense, to me.