Combat

Musicianship

Musicianship is the gate in front of the other two bard skills. Every attempt to peace or discord something rolls against it first, and a fumbled note wastes the attempt and a charge off your instrument either way. At Grandmaster you stop fumbling entirely. It is also a hard ceiling on the other two — neither Peacemaking nor Discordance will train past your Musicianship, so this is the one to raise first.

How you train it Play an instrument at something. It trains whether the song lands or not, so the early failures are still progress.

What you need An instrument in your weapon hand, with charges left. Carpentry makes them.

Instruments

Every instrument is mechanically identical — pick whichever you like the look of. What changes the numbers is the WOOD, which sets both how many charges you get and how steadily you play. All five cost 6 boards of the chosen tier and are made through Carpentry.

Instrument	Boards
Lute	6
Drum	6
Lap Harp	6
Tambourine	6
Bamboo Flute	6

What the wood is worth

One charge is one attempted song. It is spent whether the song lands, misses, or falls apart in your hands — so a poor musician gets through a lot of instruments. Instruments cannot be repaired: when the charges are gone, the instrument is gone. The finer woods also play steadier: each tier is worth +5 Musicianship for the fumble roll only, which is why the last column shows what a 0-skill bard gets out of each.

Wood	Charges	Steadier by	Songs that come out at 0 skill
Wood	40	—	20%
Dullwood	52	+5 skill	24%
Shadowwood	64	+10 skill	28%
Copperwood	80	+15 skill	32%
Bronzewood	100	+20 skill	36%
Goldwood	128	+25 skill	40%
Agawood	160	+30 skill	44%
Veriwood	200	+35 skill	48%
Valiwood	260	+40 skill	52%

Getting the note out

At 0 Musicianship, plain Wood: 20% of your songs come out at all
At 50: 60%
At 100: 100% — a Grandmaster never fumbles
Your instrument: Its wood is added to your skill for this one roll — see the table above. A finer instrument is worth a great deal to a novice and nothing at all to a Grandmaster, who never fumbles anyway
A fumbled song: Still costs the charge, and still trains Musicianship
What the wood cannot do: Lift the ceiling. Peacemaking and Discordance train against the Musicianship you have actually earned, never the instrument in your hands

🎵

An instrument goes in your weapon hand, so you cannot fight and play at the same time — swing at something with a lute out and you are punching it. That is the whole cost of the bard: your turn buys everyone else a better one.

🎼

Raise this first. Peacemaking and Discordance can never train past your Musicianship, so a bard who neglects it stalls both other skills at once.

Other Combat skills

Swordsmanship Fencing Macing Archery Wrestling Tactics Parrying Healing Anatomy Peacemaking Discordance