The bards I know (you know who you are) always plays around with illusions around me. It's quite neat, really.

Thanks so much for the advice and encouragement, everyone! I'm definitely excited to hear that bards aren't unbearable to play and that the guilds are rapidly congealing. I'm also especially pleased that illusions is both a fun and useful skillset, as it is by far the one that appeals to me the most.

I had a really hard time deciding which organization was the most appealing, but I think I'm going to go with Glomdoring, at least for my first foray into Lusternia.

Now I just have to hammer out the details of my character and I'll be seeing you all in-game! Speaking of which, are there any races that are especially suited to a bard? Or for that matter, are there any races forbidden in Glomdoring? Based solely on looks/style and RP, I'm leaning towards either human, trill, or faeling, but all the races seem really intriguing.

Oh, also, one last question. In the "Rolecall!" topic, I was told that another player has a name very similar to "Lyriel," so I won't be using that. Are there any characters with names similar to "Orrin"? I'd hate to fall into the same issue twice.

And thanks so much again for all the helpful replies!

no races are banned within glomdoring tho some may come with more of an initial hassle than others. kephera needing to ease our minds they aren't loyal to the hives in the undervault and so forth...

race selection is wide-ranging. daedalion is a faeling harbinger and humans are okay in every occupation, and can become extraordinary depending on how far you evolve them. as a faeling, you will definitely find it difficult to bash tho and i would consider this choice the high risk/high reward bet. also remember that faeling are very plentiful within glomdoring.

trill i would say is the least effective of the ones you list, but very comparable to humans. you won't be able to fly otherwise as a bard, and certainly that can't be overlooked, but humans take the big advantage in tankiness and their charisma and intelligence both come on par with trill at level 65

Ah, thanks Hyrtakos.

Sorry to keep on and on with the questions, but what statistics should I be aiming for as a bard? Charisma and intellect? Dexterity?

And on a related note, would a tae'dae bard be totally ruined by its low intelligence and speed penalties?

Envisioning a sage old wandering panda strumming a mandolin brings joy to my heart.
Er, wait, I picked Glomdoring. Sadness! It brings deep sorrow to my, er, soul--but the good kind of sorrow.

If you had used the name Lyriel, it would have been very interesting. Would probably result in you getting targetted by your own commune mates half the time, since Lyriell is Seren.

Also, there's someone using Orrin. I don't know if that's you, though.

Edit: Race won't be a problem, since there's an illusion skill that lets you appear as any race. Choose an utility one and use changeself to mask it for RP.

Oh, thanks for the illusory race tip, Aramel! That's a great idea. Any advice as to what would make a good 'utility race' as you say?

And yes, I went ahead and nabbed Orrin. Thanks for checking though!

I'm glad I dodged the Lyriell bullet. I suppose once I've settled on a character, I'll be making a new forum account to match.

I wouldn't recommend Tae'dae. Level 3 eq penalty, something like 9 int? You'll be slow and weak at everything.

Except taking lots of damage.

That's blatantly wrong.

Druids are the physically weakest archetype.

You have illusoryself and acrobatics.

You have the power of...

Run away!

Agreed! No druid should ever be killed in their own demesne if they don't want to be (unless they are trapped by a zerg force). You might have a hard time killing your enemy, but you should be able to escape them easily.

Okay, I wasn't being ENTIRELY serious (though it was, of course, completely truthful to the situation as-is in order to add humour).

True, but when you eventually get low on health (it will happen) you'll have a bitch of a time getting away between the huge size and the slow recovery.

Illusoryself costs 5 power, and lasts all of two seconds.
Think about it, how long would you last without defenses or sipping?

Acrobatics (I'll assume you mean dodging specifically) isn't as l33t as everyone makes it out to be.
I'll admit it's much better in PvP, where attacks are dodged completely (especially webbing and other nasty things, that's sexy), but for bashing it's just a mediocre damage reduction that only works half the time.

Druids are definitely tougher, overall.
They don't have dodging for PvP, but they have a demesne that will kick the asses straight off of most people. Between all of the afflictions and being flung in and out of the trees, that's a damage reduction in of itself.

Illusory self is godly, I love it and use it constantly on astral (I link power as fast as I go through the illusory selves). Acrobatics is ok, I don't really notice it as a huge help while bashing. Neither of those really make up for how much damage I would take if I didn't have splendor robes and trans resilience though, I was much tankier as a Celestine or an Aquamancer.