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<blockquote data-quote="MaxKaladin" data-source="post: 2132976" data-attributes="member: 1196">Yes, and that goes both ways.&nbsp; We've seen plenty of romanticizing of ancient cultures to make them out to be more than they really were before.&nbsp; Just look at all the nonsense people have come up with about the druids or stonehenge for examples.&nbsp; I suspect some of this &quot;the bards knew everything there ever was to know&quot; talk is another example.&nbsp; Were the bards better educated and more knowledgable than your average wandering minstrel?&nbsp; You bet.&nbsp; Were they some sort of ancient repository of all knowledge that ever existed?&nbsp; Hardly.&nbsp; One thing that's getting left out here is that bardic knowledge was a sum of its parts.&nbsp; While every bard was required to memorize an impressive body of core knowledge to be considered a bard, his or her knowledge was not all encompassing.&nbsp; Different bards knew different things beyond that shared core of common knowledge.&nbsp; That's one reason the bards travelled around.&nbsp; They did so to cross-pollenate their knowledge, so to speak.&nbsp; They spread what they knew around and picked up things from bards in other areas.&nbsp; I think the bardic knowledge ability does a credible job of simulating someone who has an impressive, but not all encompassing body of knowledge at his disposal.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MaxKaladin, post: 2132976, member: 1196"] Yes, and that goes both ways. We've seen plenty of romanticizing of ancient cultures to make them out to be more than they really were before. Just look at all the nonsense people have come up with about the druids or stonehenge for examples. I suspect some of this "the bards knew everything there ever was to know" talk is another example. Were the bards better educated and more knowledgable than your average wandering minstrel? You bet. Were they some sort of ancient repository of all knowledge that ever existed? Hardly. One thing that's getting left out here is that bardic knowledge was a sum of its parts. While every bard was required to memorize an impressive body of core knowledge to be considered a bard, his or her knowledge was not all encompassing. Different bards knew different things beyond that shared core of common knowledge. That's one reason the bards travelled around. They did so to cross-pollenate their knowledge, so to speak. They spread what they knew around and picked up things from bards in other areas. I think the bardic knowledge ability does a credible job of simulating someone who has an impressive, but not all encompassing body of knowledge at his disposal. [/QUOTE]

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