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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 1452047" data-attributes="member: 2013">Dwarven bard...My most recent bard was a dwarven alchemist.  I played him as a character who had an immense fascination with minerals and other "natural" materials (hence alchemy) first and a fascination with music/sound second (the way sound at certain frequencies caused materials to vibrate, for instance, or the way that you could change the "sound" of a wooden flute by petrifying the wood).His instrument of choice?  The bagpipes... because he put in pockets on the bag portion of the bagpipes various alchemical concoctions that he could whip out at a moment's notice.How do you role-play such a character?  He's constantly humming snatches of half-remembered songs under his breath.  When using bardic lore, I always had him remember a legendary aria or an ancient ode to explain why he knew things.  He muttered dwarven chants softly to himself as the party explored.  When the party got into combat, he raised the level of his chants from a low mutter to an excited shout of encouragement and "reliving" of ancient deeds that were similar to our party's fights in between puffing on the bagpipes... e.g., when we faced down a large pack of orcs at low levels, he sang a song recalling the tale of Apradrus, the famous dwarven warrior whose career began defending the citizenry from the local orc hordes.  At higher levels, it was the song of Elderil, the wicked elvish sorcerer who was brought low by a combination of his own arrogance and the gritty determination of the half-orc Kiensza... with the fortissimos subtly timed to match the attacks of our group.  After combat, when encouraging a heal check (inspire competence) to save our dying friend, he told the tale of how Kierian the halfling was wounded protecting his friends and by the grace of the gods was delivered from death's door again.Listen to "Night on Bald Mountain" or "Mars, Bringer of War" some time... and imagine a bard who's always singing/giving you a background tune but who only "uses his bardic music" and "gets you bonuses" when the music kicks up to the dramatically appropriate levels.  In other words, he doesn't just start singing in the middle of combat, but rather he's been singing all along... giving you dull background music that accelerates into a rising, stirring tune when you "most need it" (using the music only at those times).Maybe that doesn't help you much, but remember how the music in LotR movies always swelled at the dramatically appropriate moment... or just before?  How you felt the power and the tension coursing through you and if you had been in the scene, you could have taken on the foe?  That's how this guy played it... dramatic when adventuring, soft-spoken when not, and always whistling or humming some snatch of a tune.--The Sigil</blockquote>

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