The Bards College is a significant institution in The Elder Scrolls, where aspiring bards begin their careers in tale-telling or song. It is located near Proudspire Manor and the Blue Palace within the walls of Solitude. Bards are graduates of the Bards College and can play various songs by acquiring an instrument. Over the past 12+ months, there have been significant improvements for bards, including the BA Bard Songs mod, which expands the repertoire of NPC bards by combining different instruments.
Bards are present in Skyrim, but players are unable to pick up a flute. However, there are a few bard mods that can make the experience more immersive. These include the BA Bard Songs mod, which expands the repertoire of NPC bards by combining different instruments.
A bard will live in a homestead and perform when asked to, and can be hired for a cost of 1500 gold. Players can hire stewards, carriage drivers, and even a personal bard to make their new abode truly their own. The Bards College Expansion is designed to work seamlessly with the base game, DLCs, and other community mods.
The Bards College Expansion also adds more bards to the game, such as horses, cows, and chickens, and allows players to rent rooms for a few days or weeks. They can also buy clay, quarried stone, and lumber to be used in home improvements.
In summary, the Bards College is a crucial part of the The Elder Scrolls storyline, offering a unique and immersive experience for players.
📹 Why You Should NOT Join The Bards College
The Bards College is probably the blandest faction to exist in any Elder Scrolls game ever. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Bards College …
Can you marry Serana?
Serana, a vampire companion, can be a partner for players in the Dawnguard DLC. However, it is not possible to marry vampires in vanilla Skyrim without the help of mods. To marry Serana, players must have the Dawnbreaker DLC installed or the Special or Anniversary Edition of Skyrim. To install the Marriable Serana mod, download the files from the Nexus Mods website, extract them to the game folder, and then proceed to marry her.
To marry Serana, players must complete the Bonds of Matrimony quest, which involves talking to Maramal at the Temple of Mara in Riften. The Amulet of Mara, which can be obtained after completing the Book of Love quest, can be obtained from Maramal for 200 gold or found as random loot. After receiving the amulet, players must complete the Kindred Judgment Quest and inform Serana’s mother Valerica that it’s safe to return.
What’s the point of the Bards College Skyrim?
The Bards College is a musical school in Solitude, where aspiring bards begin their careers in tale-telling or song. It is located next to Proudspire Manor and near the Blue Palace. Many bards around Skyrim were trained at the College, and the primary reward for joining is three miscellaneous quests that grant +1 points to every skill. The college has only one zone, the interior.
Upon arrival, players can seek admittance. The headmaster Viarmo tells players that new bards cannot be admitted until the festival of the burning of King Olaf, which is cancelled this year due to the death of her husband. To reinstate the festival, players must retrieve an ancient epitaph from Dead Men’s Respite. They must help fill in gaps in the document and return it to Viarmo. The headmaster then takes the player to the Jarl to try and reinstate the festival.
What are bards good for?
Bards in the game have a significant advantage due to their use of the rogue advancement table, which is the fastest in the game. They cast spells using their actual class level as their caster level, making them powerful magical threats. Bards can use any weapon, combined with rogue attack strength, making them credible second-line offensive threats even without magic. They have the same alignment restrictions as the first edition bards, meaning they cannot be Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, or Chaotic Evil.
The Complete Bard’s Handbook expanded on the 2nd edition bard, allowing bards of any race to maintain oral and artistic traditions. The sourcebook also allowed a wide variety of multi-classing options, including Bard/Thief combinations. Bards of races that allowed no wizards, such as dwarf and halfling, could not cast spells but gained immunity to spells.
How to get a bard for your house in Skyrim?
In order to become a thane of the hold, it is necessary to engage in discourse with the housecarl and request that they assume the role of steward. Furthermore, they are able to engage the services of a bard, procure a carriage, purchase furnishings, building supplies, and livestock. One may also gain insight by visiting the Jarls’ buildings in Falkreath, Dawnstar, and Morthal.
Can you marry a bard in Skyrim?
In the first section of the text, entitled “Of Song and Courtship,” the author explores the relationship between music and courtship. The “0” setting enables players to marry any bard in the game, including those at Solitude College, and to recruit all bards except those currently enrolled at the college. Modification of factions and relationships is permitted, with the objective of establishing a status of Potential Marriage or Lover. To install, download the mod from the NMM Manager.
What does becoming a bard do in Skyrim?
Becoming a “bard” in the game only means that your fellow bards recognize you. There are some easy quests, but there is a glitched quest that has not been fixed yet. Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests. Common causes include the latest version of the Opera browser sending multiple invalid requests to the server for every page visited, using the Brave browser or installing the Ghostery add-on, which send extra traffic to the server for every page visited, and using GameFAQs regularly with these browsers can cause temporary or permanent IP blocks.
Some unofficial phone apps use GameFAQs as a back-end but do not behave like a real web browser, triggering anti-spambot measures. Continued use of these apps may cause your IP to be blocked indefinitely.
There is no official GameFAQs app, and there is no contact with the makers of these unofficial apps. Using scripts or add-ons that scan GameFAQs for box and screen images, running a “scraper” or “downloader” program, using poorly configured browser add-ons for blocking content, or overusing the search engine with large searches in a short amount of time can also cause IP blocks. If you promise to stop, your connection will be unblocked for now, but re-blocked if additional bad behavior is detected.
Can bards do healing?
The creation of a “meat shield” companion is a notable advancement in the field of combat. However, it is important to note that ad blockers may disable or block JavaScript, and that browser compatibility with cookies may vary.
Can you replace your bard in Skyrim?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim does not have a bard system for each Hearthfire house. Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests. Common causes include the latest version of the Opera browser sending multiple invalid requests to servers for every page visited, using the Brave browser or Ghostery add-on, which send extra traffic to servers for every page visited, and using GameFAQs regularly with these browsers can cause temporary or permanent IP blocks.
Some unofficial phone apps may use GameFAQs as a back-end, but they do not behave like a real web browser, triggering anti-spambot measures. Continued use of these apps may cause your IP to be blocked indefinitely.
Other common causes include using scripts or add-ons that scan GameFAQs for box and screen images, running a “scraper” or “downloader” program, using poorly configured browser add-ons for blocking content, and overusing the search engine with large searches in a short amount of time. If you promise to stop, the connection will be unblocked for now, but re-blocked if additional bad behavior is detected.
What are the benefits of a bard?
Google has announced the launch of Bard, an AI chatbot that can generate text in various formats, including news articles, blog posts, creative writing, and code. Bard is powered by LaMDA, Google’s latest language model, and has been trained on a massive dataset of text and code. It can also write code in various programming languages. Google CEO Sundar Pichai praised Bard for its advanced generative capabilities, which can help users with various tasks.
Bard is designed to streamline operations, from scheduling meetings to accessing real-time data and automating customer support. It integrates across multiple platforms and offers personalized communication, ensuring seamless connections with clients and colleagues.
What is special about Bard College?
Bard College focuses on providing students with a strong scholarly foundation through its core curriculum and encouraging them to explore individual academic interests. The college aims to inspire curiosity, a love of learning, idealism, and a commitment to the link between higher education and civic participation. Students are encouraged to engage in academic discourse and create a rich cultural and social life.
Civic engagement is at the core of Bard College’s institutional mission, reflecting the belief that higher education institutions should operate in the public interest. The college uses its resources to develop partnerships to address local, national, and global problems, reach underserved populations, and tackle critical issues of education and public policy.
Bard College’s commitment to social action is evident in its commitment to addressing the tension between self and collective interests, acting compassionately and actively participating in various activities.
Can Karliah be married?
Karliah is a marriable character who can be a follower in Hearthfire. She is a beautiful and lonely woman who feels sad and lonely in Nightingale Hall. To make her happy, you must finish the Skeleton Key storyline and return to Brynjolf from the Twilight Sepulcher. You can speak with Karliah and give her flowers to take off her hood.
Karliah has follower and marriage dialogues, and you can divorce her and remarry. To divorce, throw the Bond of Matrimony out of your inventory, dismiss her if she is your current follower, and talk to her about wanting a divorce. However, this option works for vanilla marriage and may break other marriages if you use other mods altering the marriage system.
Karliah can see when her Dragonborn spouse takes off her clothes and comes near, and she can be undressed if there is a bed nearby. This feature is disabled by default, but you can enable it by talking to her and asking if she notices anything. To avoid her stalking you, ask her not to notice you naked.
📹 Become a Real Bard – Bards College Expansion | Skyrim Creations
When Bethesda first announced its new paid mods for Skyrim, I had hoped to see true DLC style content, and… we really haven’t …
List of things they could have done: Actually playing an instrument, obviously Discounts at inns for either playing for or speaking to their bard first The musical sheets/poems you find could then unlock new bard requests Perk to buff your companion/debuff low level enemies within a radius The more poems you find and inns you play in, the more fame/skill you get, the more money you can earn Random event where bards will challenge you and if you’re fame/skill is higher, you win and get bonus septums NPCs comment on your bardness in general Random event where if your fame/skill is high enough, certain NPCs across the map can send a letter to hire you for an evening Race related tune for your DB only Instruments sell slightly higher, bought for slightly less Ability to enchant an instrument (This could just replace the de/buff perk and give variety) Spesific instrument proficiency (would just repeat the quests and skill levels for each) Bard companion who gives you buffs if asked to play for you
The Bard College had so much potential, especially if barding itself became a skill and playing a lute became unlockable. Imagine this: the Bard College is a full guild line like the Mages’ Guild or Thieves Guild. By assisting the bards, you unlock the bard skill tree and the ability to play a lute. Playing a lute is like waiting or sleeping, a time skip with an animation of you taking out the lute right beforehand. Except you have a chance to get gold tips for every hour you perform, with the tips increasing if your bard skill is higher. Such a small thing, but it would add another level of detail to the game and maybe even a whole new set of quests.
I recommend the mod “Be a Bard”. It lets you play a few instruments, and you can search for music sheets to extend what you can play. You can also perform at an inn for free coin and be allowed to stay the night for free. If you have a companion and you give them an instrument, they may just play with you. There are custom songs, some from other provinces!
I recommend the become a bard mod for skyrim! It makes it where you can play instruments and the more you play in taverns the more popular in skyrim and can eventually play for jarls and become a known famous bard! Super damn cool! I love instruments and music and play instruments so it’s super rad to be able to relate and be a bard as i also love being a bard in like DnD and stuff! It makes the college actually a bit cooler!
I think despite bards being musicians, they tried to make it out that you become a bard by travelling and learning all the stuff the Dragonborn does. You sing your own life memories and whatnot. So while the initiation of a bard traversing a dungeon does sound and is absurd, it does fit the narrative the way that I understand it
Well, Bethesda may thought: “If you can join the College of Winterhold, a magic academy, without using magic at all, why not being a bard without playing a single instrument?” “Wow, Mike, you’re a genious! That will show that the Dragonborn is so awesome that doesn’t need to do the same things as others. Yes, obviously players will get it quickly”.
B= Bethesda Me=me Me: So…you have a thing called a thu’um, the voice, that relies on you reciting words from languages. B: Yes. Me: And the college frequently looks into old poetry, literature, and the ability to sing, produce music regarding righteous tales, and it’s in a Nordic soceity which prides itself on singing and telling tales? B: Ye… Me: So we’re going to explore new ways to harness the voice, learn to play an instrument, learn some cool lore, and enhance our speech be renowned in game for our legendary voice and singing in draconic? B: No. Me: Then wtf do I get to do? B: Listen in on lectures and enjoy a festival I guess. Me: Freaking. Lame.
This is a easy one. You don’t join them because you can’t play any instruments. If Bethesda had to cut content out of it then it should not be in the game. It would be like if you poorly erased a mistake on a test. Yet you didn’t bother to correct your mistake so you still get the question wrong. The Bard’s College is perhaps the biggest sign of the game being rushed.
I have pretty fond memories of that questline, but only because of mods, mods, mods. The ‘Become a Bard’ mod allowed me to celebrate Burning of King Olaf by playing a lute, real-time eating mod allowed me to take breaks to eat in between songs, and several mods adding population to Solitude made the celebration look like an actual event and not just 5 losers and a random beggar. People walked around, buying food and drinks, some watched the fire and talked random shit, and they’d also stop and listen to the songs. I spent most of the night playing songs and strolling around, and it really felt like what the bard’s college was supposed to be. But yeah, mods did all the work.
Good vid/largely agree with you, however ONE point (the suicide mission), there was an old tradition wherein the ones who sang the songs of glorious battles ACTUALLY took part in them as well…there is an NPC somewhere in the game (forget which hold) who even used to do this & IIRC the term they use is a Skald (I seem to remember the term being confusingly similar to the name of the settlers/settlement in Solstheim who teach you about Stahlrim)…these were essentially battle-bards… Though, to fall back in line w your point, NONE of the bards in the game are like this & only ONE NPC (who isn’t even a Bard/actually scoffs at the College IIRC) in the game even MENTIONS this & only does so in a singular line of dialogue.
I actually joined the college when the game first came out thinking that I could play the instruments I found after I learned to play them. Finished the questline and was thoroughly disappointed after my confusion subsided. I didn’t even expect a mini game, I just thought my character could play them in third person and it would effect the npcs.
so, until recently i didn’t know about the bards college, i was aware of this, like, last year! anyway! i was wandering in some caves in skyrim until i found this particular cave, where this ghost was appearing in front of me. and he guided me to some boss and then a book, to be delivered in solitude… so this is suposed to be the bards guild quest? … ok, then!
Basically bethesda didn’t import anything for the player animations expet when fighting and using magic and shouts. Animations such as drinking, eating, sleeping, idles “required too much effort” to be added. My character looks really stupid when they talk to other npc and just stand there being mute and not moving a bit.. i’d go on but that was just a laziness for the developers.
Really feels like cut content now that you think about it. I guess it was too difficult to connect an animation to an instrument and we all know why your character doesn’t sing. Also, you can find all the unique instruments and the list poem while wandering around without activating the quests, which you need to join the college to do. So you can turn in all the quests without joining for the skill increases.
Nice article and I agree. The Bard’s college exposes one of Bethesda’s weaknesses as a developer. Their games often don’t offer much variety in terms of quest objectives. Hence why to join the Bard’s college you have to do the same old stuff you do for so many other quests (go to a draugr tomb and fetch something). I got a shock when I first realised this is what I’d be doing a for a college of musicians.
I believe that the reinstatement of the Burning of King Olaf Festival and the events preceding it are memorable. If you are truly playing to the Bard Archetype, you can use your persuasion skill to convince the Head Bard to rewrite history for a better story. The Burning Festivals, which occur regularly, really liven up Solitude at night and make it a more interesting city. It would be a great check list item if it weren’t for the fact the guards start calling me a “bard” from then on…
The main thing I didn’t like about the bards college quest line is the main objective is to recover the song that’s supposed to make an annual political statement for some ceremony in solitude. The problem is the song has been mostly erased or is ineligible so the Dragonborn is supposed to just guess (?) what the words should be, and the game makes no indication on which options are correct and the options provided all sound like randomly generated ad lib lines. The whole thing makes the bards college look like some rag tag club of assorted peasants trying to start the worlds first garage band
The quests to recover the instruments do get you a bunch of skill increases. Some might consider them worthwhile for that if nothing else. Also — I realize these articles only address actual Bethesda content, but there’s a mod called “Become a Bard” that goes a long way toward addressing some of the Bards’ College’s shortcomings. It doesn’t do much for the questline, but it does allow the player character to actually play the lute, drum and flute and earn money and free lodgings by performing at inns.
There doesn’t even need to be an overarching plot. I would design The Bard’s College as a mini-game area. You have rhythm games for playing instruments and eventually the ability to create your own music… You could have a bunch of board games too (such as a game similar to chess, a card game etc). You could have some puzzles and riddles to solve where if you solve them, you gain access to powerful loot. You could have tourney and jousting. Maybe include some other medieval type games such involving dice, dominos etc. You can gain a unique follower who knows a ton of stuff about the setting’s lore and has useful buffs to grant you in combat whilst playing a support role. This follower could be the only way in-game to find out some of the more obscure secrets in the game. Maybe certain dungeon puzzles involve an ancient language where only this unique follower can translate. Another benefit of keeping this follower is if you complete certain quests with them in the party, they will sing songs in taverns about your exploits. If this bard didn’t see you do this epic thing, they don’t write the tune.
the only good thing for me is by doing it’s quest about whiterun jarl being a dragon and burning the straw thing. winterhold is also boring af,unlike in oblivion where people need to travel around cyrodill to learn magic. you can’t create your own magic AT ALL. thief guild becoming more vanilla about betrayal,while in cyrodill i’m stealing the frkng elder scroll. dbrotherhood also about another vanilla betrayal,the only good thing is the blade of woe and the summoning lucien or shadowmere. i miss fighter guild,the companion is too small and it’s only exist in whiterun.
i was disappointed many years ago, after i found countless Lutes, Drums, Flutes, and whatever other instruments NPCs leave laying around…but theyre all ‘Misc Items’, and therefore unequippable…i think itd be a nice addition (if only the Switch version allowed mods) to have effects like Calm for the flute, or Rally on the drum, or something where you ‘playing’ makes NPCs do things normally only possible through Magic…
Hypothetically, even if you COULD play an instrument like the Lute or the Flute, your character would just be standing stationary while a .mp3 plays in the background like all the other Bards do in the game. What purpose does that serve??? It doesn’t enhance your game play, you’re better off playing a song off of YouTube and while looking at a screenshot of your player.
Being a Bard and playing an instrument could have been easily implemented in the game without being intrusive by having it do just one thing, it Buffs the Wait timer akin to sleeping in your bed,… Infact depending on the chosen instrument it could give a regen buff to either health, stamina or magika, And as a bonus buff if you find an instrument of great importance you could keep it as an upgrade to your common instrument and depending which one is used ‘health stamina or magika’ it also acts as a mini Warrior/Thief/Wizard stone effect. Which instrument suits the class the most? Drum is clearly Health/Warrior. Flute I’m leaning more to Stamina/Thief. Lute could fit with Magika/Wizard.
I never finished this quest, because I realized it was just burning some dude to promote propaganda without any rewards. Even Winterhold gave more reward for spending time there, and your actually part of the college there. It’s like being used by con artists and being their b!@# just so you can be part of the group, but your never really one of them.
While you aren’t wrong, I swear every Skyrim article introducing a character or faction is always why this thing SUCKS and you should NOT join/speak to them. I’m waiting for the article titled “SKYRIM: The Best Game of All Time…Why It’s a Waste of Time and You Should NEVER Play It! WORST Best Game EVER!!!” LOL
While this article goes through the negatives of the bard’s college, here are a few reasons why you SHOULD join: 1) It’s easy. Yeah, the bard’s college doesn’t have a lot of content, but being a bard isn’t exactly a play style like being an archer or an assassin is. If you got nothing else to do, why not do a couple of short quests? 2) Late game leveling. If you want to make a perfect character with 100 in each skill, doing the bard’s college quests will increase ALL your skills by one point, which isn’t very much early game but is a real help when most of your skills are in the 70s, 80s or 90s. 3) Role play. Obviously, Skyrim is a role playing game. If you want to roleplay as a silver-tongued, jack-of-all-trades bard, then going to the bard’s college would be a no brainer. 4) Mods. There are mods that allow you to play instruments and learn songs, and I know one of the more popular ones requires you to buy the songs from Viarmo at the bard’s college. Does it suck a feature like this wasn’t in the base game? Sure, but that’s what a good mod’s for.
Learning to Sing and Play Instruments would have increased your Speechcraft and get Paid by the Tavern Owners and/or the Patrons, even just starting a party at a Guard Tower or Allied Fort, or just Reveling on the Roads to passerbys, without the need of Excess Violence with random Adventurers, gaining their Respect, rather than a Milk Drinker Insult, and getting paid doing so, it also would be about your own Exploits and Adventures through a Long List of Dungeons, Crypts, Caves, etc. throughout Skyrim, even some Civil War Songs of how you joined the Imperials/Stormcloaks, and other Factions like the Companions. It would have been Epic.
If you are on a PC, there’s a very good mod called — ironically enough — “Become a Bard,” where you actually do get a chance to play an instrument, build up your reputation as a Bard, and even upload your own songs to play in Skyrim. Imagine playing “Sweet Home Alabama,” or “Irish Washerwoman,” or some really kick-ass drumming by Buddy Rich! I highly recommend the mod.
Lol there’s a idiot with a level 18 Imperial bard that did the bards College first thing leaving Helgen. Wait… that’s me. Just watch a article with Sven (fellow bard) as worst follower, dogs were mentioned as well (I got Meeko). And now the bards College too. Next article: Why you shouldn’t by a horse at Solitude stables 😂😂🤣
How the Bards College could be a very more interesting and logical quest line without a very few efforts from the developers: 1. Collect materials to “craft” your own instrument. (Even if it’s just a hunt, that still more logical) 2. A bard suit… symply that. Even just a normal costume with flashy colors. 3. As the final reward: “Silver Tongue” a passive effect that gives you a good bonus to your speech. With a bit more effort: 1. Playable instruments 2. A non-fighter follower that just playes music a telles stories. 3. Possibility to create some basic music sheets… Even just a few notes that repeat. 4. A book to write our own stories just because that a cool roleplay option.
There’s a cool mod that actually “Finishes” the Faction, you can play Lute, Drum and Flute. You can actually “Level Up” in your bard’s journal, you will be able to perform in Inns and Jarls. You can even buy War Horns Imperial or Stormcloak, while playing it will scare the enemies away or spawn in the Faction as back up (if you preform the Age of Opression to the wrong side they will get triggered and try to kill you) also fun note there will be a Dossier in the Thalmor embassy calling Viermo a potential asset since bards can be used as a spy…. That’s all Bethesda missed out on….
I have enjoyed and agreed with most of your articles, but not this one. Yes, the Bard’s College, and especially the inability to play instruments, was a wasted opportunity. However, as small as it is, it offers some of the best rewards in the game (a sizable purse and 15 levels of advancement) as well as the most unique quest objective in Skyrim, the recreation of the Edda. Missing put on that, and the burning of King Olaf, would be a criminal waste.
I disagree totally with this: joining the Bards College allows you access to the instrument fetch quests which levels up all your skills by one and can potentially give you a level-up depending on your level at the time so it IS useful to the player. Also the fetch quest to Dead Mans Respite IS interesting as you are led on by the ghost of the bard killed by Olaf One Eye seeking vengance against him. Few words are said during that dungeon crawl so the player is expected to figure it out for themselves. Most of Skyrim’s too many dungeon crawls are mind meltingly boring. Then when you get the bards verse back to the college you learn the story of Olaf One Eye and Numinex and YOU get to fill in the blanks and then hear it read out loud. Considering how much of Skyrim’s history is oral as well as written, this stuff IS important. Again having a College teaching people to sing, read poetry and playing musical instruments directly to audiences IS important. In the Elder Scrolls universe they don’t have television, radio or any multimedia for entertainment, you have to make your own entertainment. So employing people to make music in Taverns, Inns, or Jarl’s Courts on those long winter nights is important.
Wow. I have been playing Skyrim since the wee morning of 11-11-2011. Waited in line on 11-10-2011 awaiting the follow up to my awesome Oblivion game. Yeah it has some cut content and other missed opportunities as we look back nearly 8 years later from a completely different perspective. Viewing this article and others created in a similar fashion, maybe Skyrim just really isn’t for you, nothing wrong with that if that is the case. Hey reality not everyone will enjoy the same things. So, why make articles, and ultimately obtain money on something that apparently is either according to you too stupid or idiotic? Honestly, it is not just an insult to the thousands of people who tirelessly worked on this multi award-winning game and its later variations, but upon millions of actual fans who love Skyrim for various reasons. Why capitalize on something you clearly do not like? It is a disservice to past, current and future fans. These articles just start rubbing me the wrong way, as I often times run across various mod authors who dedicate beautiful mods to lost loved ones etc., in great part they are able to express themseves due to Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls games. So, yeah a quest, storyline, or character arc may not resonate to you and others, fine. But, why constantly crap all over our game? It may mean a hell of a lot more to us, than to you and we’re not profiting off of the game! Keep gaming friends.
I do have a soft spot for the Bard’s College. I feel there’s something to be said for it’s simplicity. Get in, learn an interesting story. Do a few fetch quests. Have a party. What I love about it tho, is you don’t come out god-king of the fucking Bards. Every other like organization feels the need to lump you with extra responsibility at the end.
If anything the Bards college should have been an exiting prospect; think about it, the one mortal that can bend reality with his words learning the trade of bards. The main quest could have been something big; think about it. If anything that makes me think of a form of Rudimentary / Primitive Tonal Architecture !!
I don’t know about a minigame. It would have to be something like lockpicking that puts on a new interface, only that making that an instrument would be pretty strange. Maybe they should’ve had made most of the quest a dialogue based one, talking with other students, organizing a choir, writing a poem… etc (like the end of the actual bards quest, only more complete) It could be or have a side quest where you find a singing sword or something quirky like that. Oblivion and Fallout would have done it
When i start a new Playtrough i collect the Poem only because i whant the Whirlwind sprint complete before i enter Ustengrav (because the Gates are a Pain in the Arse when you have one Word). I only collect the Instruments when i enter the Dungeons for other Quests because becoming Thane of Falkreath/Winterhold/Rift.
Bards are more than just musicians, they spin tall tales from the corners of the world and regale others with the feats of warriors and kings. Honestly the fact that you rewrite an ancient text during you time at the college is one of the most bardiest things you could do. BuT HeY I JuSt WaNNa STruM a LUte!!
Well… as much as I agree, the main quest for the bard’s college, ie finding the lost verse, is not imperative to the player as such, but it does unlock the king’s burning festival for the good of the city. It is one of those instances where the player might not get a hefty and practical reward (like a pile of gold), but for something larger. That said, that you can’t learn how to play an instrument in the bard’s college is a major flaw, and I can think of several quests where playing an instrument could come in handy, from wooing someone who needs to be robbed/questioned/whathaveyou to using the instrument as a tool to unlock doors, like the tonal locks in the dwemer ruins. A real oversight, but considering all the other flaws in the game, I consider this minor.
I agree The Bard’s College is bland and the Dragonborn should be able to learn an instrument. I also thing reinstating the Burning of Olaf the One Eye is scummy. Olaf the One Eye based on seeing him in Sovengarde and witnessing the dragon trap capture a dragon a Dragon’s Reach proves Olaf was a true hero. Also this feels like a slap in the face to Jarl Balgruuf the current Jarl of Whiterun and by far the best Jarl in the game.
I never thought that Bethesda would give us anything more empty and wasted potential than the Mage’s College storyline. Until I found the Barf College. If I wanted to make some changes for the Bard College is to make an exclusive form of magic that is done through song and books. It’s a draft of an idea, but at least it’s something.
unlocking songs, both ingame sang or soundtrack songs, companions playing instruments while you travel. Why they didn’t even bother to try and tie into dragon speech or shouts is perplexing. Bards College: Yeah, we throw our students to dangerous and cursed dungeons because we’re scum, and hiring an adventurer would cost too much. Instead you pay us to send you on a dangerous mission.
I mean the fact that they ask you to into a freaking drauger dungeon before accepting you makes their safety standards rather questionable. You’re Dragonborn sure, but imagine if they gave that task to some poor kid who never raised a sword/spell in their life and just wanted to improve their talent in music/writing?
what a fiasco the bard’s college was. they mention “the ancient nord ART” of shouting. ulfric learned to shout somewhere. you’d think the college would be closely tied to the main quest, with shouts and all. Grey beards already said they don’t want to teach you, so the bard’s college is the logical choice to “earn” the knowledge as the greybeards put it. instead of relying on arngeir to give you fetch quests, they could have had the college take you to the places to learn the words, like a concert tour. the word walls would still be in the open for sandboxing, and they would be perfect backdrops for a concert or a stage performance. then when you encounter the dragons, if you completed the bard college quest, you could understand them instead of having the game say “oh, you’re stupid because you can’t understand the language.”
Not to mention the poem they have you recovered is incomplete and they make up complete lies about it and tell it as if it’s historical writing. We know for a fact that Olaf one-eye did capture the Dragon Numinex based on what Paarthurnax said. The poem seems to be written by a jealous lesser or someone he pissed off and they wrote a slander poem to get even with him. If he lied about something as well known as Olaf one-eye catching the dragon Numinex next then what else was a lie in that poem?
If bethesda decided to add every feature and mehanic that could be possible in this game there won’t be an end to its development. This game has the most variety of content ever existed in games which gives it the biggest modding community. And i think bethesda wants to keep this community growing. So yeah, a lot if things can be added but for a 2011 game that has this much content you can’t call bethesda lazy
Man I wish you were wrong. I loved the idea of being a bard in Skyrim. It’s sort of lacklustre in practice though. I think you’re right though about it being cut content, because in the Dragonborn DLC you are able to get some sort of bard spell that summons a drum or something. That would’ve gone nicely with playable instruments and ACTUAL rewards from the college. Give the guards a reason to actually call you a bard and not because you did a fetch quest for an author in Windhelm.
you know, looking at this game in hindsight you can actually see that bethesda’s downfall started with SKYRIM, not fallout 4. most people think skyrim is a great game but it’s just flawed. it’s dotted with small flaws (like the bard college or the volkihar clan) and clearly shows that bethesda had no intention in delivering a complete and fun experience, just push out the latest money maker
I would have kept the skeleton key but I wanted to stay true to my character and I enjoy and got very good at the lockpicking mini game and just wanted to finish the quest overall so I decided on returning it, doesn’t mean I’m stupid I just enjoy the challenge of not being able to open every lock instantly
the bards college also focuses on the skyrim equivalent of archeology and history. if you hang out in the bar area you can hear the teacher quizing the students on history. obviously bethesda didn’t capitalise on that either but that is part of the explanation on why you go dungeon diving at band camp
i think putting the bards college in the game was a mistake in the first place. not because it’s poorly executed as it is but because how would being a bard play out in the game? would you just select an instrument from the menu and then sit back and do nothing while your character plays it? i guess it could feature a rhythm game minigame but no one starts up an Elder Scrolls game to play a rhythm game. playing as a bard doesn’t sound fun which is why i think Bethesda didn’t put any such mechanic in the game. my guess is that with all the bards in the game Bethesda thought at one point to add some bard mechanics for the player only to realize along the way that it was a bad idea. by that point they had probably already made the bards college building and didn’t want to go through the effort of removing the building and redoing the entire area it takes up in Solitude so they merely simplified the role of the bards college.
Actually the college is pretty useful: The Initiation gives you a word of Whirlwindsprint (useful when overencumbered) and with enough speechcraft a nice heap of septims. In Winterhold Ranmir is missing a person and you often can find the body in one of the locations. The drum cave is full of nice mushrooms… And to remind the roleplayers out there: In our middle ages a knight had to be able to perform songs about his deeds in court.
imagine just letting a player pull out a lute and each chord is tied to a face button then your strings are the triggers, sounds too easy to do and maybe thats what bethesda though too but unlike us bethesda dont make logical decisions do they. i mean the whole skyrim menus and interface was so out there, slow and buggy. it was worst part of the game.
I’d like to think that by going on some adventures in Skyrim actually makes me a better bard. A bard will sing songs and tell stories about history and lore. The more adventures you go on, the more history and lore you can learn and discover. Also, you will be able to have more “original content” as a bard, because you have your own stories to tell. It would be nice if they built in a way for you to stay for free at Inns if you are a bard, and to further improve your speechcraft once you complete each quest. Finding instruments is kind of lame. The quests could have been improved by making you find a lost book of history and lore (the first quest does this well, I think). I can see fetching one instrument as a quest, and maybe finding a lost volume of historic works, and maybe one quest that solves a long standing mystery. That would have spiced it up some. As strange as it sounds, I wouldn’t like to have a “learn to play an instrument” element in this game, unless the instrument playing did something meaningful (like in Legend of Zelda). I’m okay not learning an instrument.
Why You Should NOT Join The Bards College – Dragonbron: Wheeew: what a leap! Alright here’s the verse let’s go!. (you go do the verse and return tot he bard college for burning man) Dragonborn: nice! Well…that all worked out: so guess it time for my drum! Giraud: Ahhh yes…and no. Dragonborn; what c’mon I got the verse… Giraud: Yeeeah…but no. Although…do you need Speechcraft training? Dragonborn: due to not handy Oblivion Speech Wheel? Yes…I do…. Giraud: Then see: you’re a bard with access to my knowledge… Dargonborn: (takes drum of shelf: due to quests: no bounty added) Fine… but im taking this…and putting it on one of my shelves… Giraud: (shrug) whatever floats your boat kid.
Two minutes in, and I already feel like this would be one mod I’d happily pay money for. I love the idea of being a wandering troubadour and having a group that feels like an extended family for my character. A character who, while he can fight, might not be a dedicated warrior, mage, or thief. I just wonder if it is and would be compatible with mods like: Bards Reborn: Student of Song, BA Bard Songs, and Skyrim’s Got Talent, as I have those and hopefully wouldn’t have to get rid of those in order to use this one. Skyrim, and the mod creating community for it are truly amazing, still adding more to a beloved game thirteen years later. It’s my very favorite game world space and setting of all time to date.
The voices are amazing! I wasn’t sure about Helvana at first since she sound too much trying to be funny at her introduction which I haven’t heard before in Skyrim, but hearing her in the inn makes it more obvious why she did that. I like the questline so far, and the enchantments on the Bard’s outfit make sense, including movement speed and fortify shouting. I’m looking forward to see more of this from you.
Its $15 and yes u might say oh paid mods, but this is a master piece of a mod that i bought. First it introduces a new play style. You can PLAY as a BARD now. It has a whole new mechanic that was never seen before. It works well with become the bard too with a better system. It adds immersion. These new characters actually do interact with old characters. New voice lines are well done and it also contains new voices for old characters that aint ai. Yes there are free mods like Legacy of Dragonborn and I know their tream will never supoort this, but this particular mod author is an exception. He didnt make an arnor mod. He made something that knew players would like and knowing that he has spent money to cast old voice actors is enough for me to support. I understand this is a privilege not many people have. Its fine to instal mid playthrough as well. If u ever want to spend money on a bethesda mod, consider this one.
hello George, thank you for introducing in detail this great Skyrim creation. Very well done and entertaining articles so far (I watched part 2 as well). Looks like this one could really inspire new playthroughs in Skyrim. To my surprise it wasn’t boring, even though very dialogue heavy. But these quests have been fleshed out and generate an atmosphere.
While I am enjoying my first play through with this mod, I have played other Bard’s College mods before. To me, it feels more natural as an actual musician that I can learn new songs from books or other bards AND play a song along with another bard, which this mod does not do. I do like the additions this mod brings, but it lacks in musicality as an experience, if that makes sense. I like jamming with other musicians and the progression of learning the instruments from making people cringe at low levels as a beginner (which is pretty realistic) to making them dance at higher ones. It was much more immersive on that level, as in comparing to real life experiences as a musician. I would like to see a merging of these two ideals, but I do not know how that will work when the instruments are used like a shield, which to me is less immersive than selecting performance as a power and it works more awkwardly. To make both happen, you would need to carry two of each instrument as it currently stands. The best feeling of a bard play through I had was out in the world playing in first person a song with another bard in a tavern. I hope this mod evolves these aspects in future updates. It’s cool to be like Jorn and and want play drums for the army as it were, but most musicians engage in music for many more, and often deeper, reasons. Being a bard is not just about going to school; at some point you are done with that and must play out as a performer, or so it seems to musician me. I have not finished this play through and despite my criticism, I am enjoying a new depth of Bard’s College that vanilla just does not have (like story, it’s a good story so far).
How is playing the instrument utilized in combat situation with party. So for example, do I just play instrument while in combat to “buff” my allies, or heal them, or do I have offense attacks with it as well such as cause fear or paralyze. Or a song to cause a bit of damage to an enemy or group of enemies? Thank you for any help.
My opinion on “creations” is that they are more or less “semi-official DLC”. While i think in their current form the asking price does not match what is given (same with creation club), there is undoubtably potential here and kingaths teams mods showcase this potential. The ability to work as a fulltime dev compared to the hobbyist approach modders take means we can get content that is of great quality on a consistent level. Lets hope the quality improves because wether we like it or not, the marketplace is staying. So it better be worth the space it takes.
Of course, Bethesda’s original intention was laughable: if you didn’t have the time or desire to complete a faction, it’s better not to include it at all. I mean…the rest of the factions in the vanilla game, without dlc, work. There are naiveties and not exactly magnificent plots, but at least they have quests and progression for the player character that are sensible, while the bard academy is such a sketchy work that I’m surprised they had the courage to include it in the game anyway, and they didn’t even complete it with the Hearthfire dlc, a move that seemed quite coherent.
Omw this is amazing, and I might actually buy this creation, which I never thought I’d say. I’m currently playing a bard character (with a slew of mods to do so), thus this should be a perfect addition to my playthrough once I’ve figured out which mods to remove due ro incompatibility or waiting for patches if those arrive
After having watched the trailer I am very interested in this creation, it looks like a well made addition to the game. Mod compatibility is the only part that worries me. The features, and all the custom placed bards will likely need quite a lot of compatibility patches with city and interior overhauls as well. Being able to compare it, or at least see which cells are edited would help a lot. Currently I am mostly worried that I will have to spend quite some time creation compatibility patches for this plugin before I am able to actually play it 😅
Crazy how we’re justifying paid mods if they are subjectively “worth it”. Enderal, Bruma, SkyBlivion, Fallout London, LOTD, Wyrmstooth, Vigilant, etc are all free. Nah but gotta shill for Kinggath who even acknowledges that paid mods are bad which is why he doesn’t make them for Fallout 4. This is just the start. TES6 will be worse. Welcome to Single Player MTX hellworld. Where 14 year old games will get constant new “dlcs”.
I wouldn’t recommend it. There is just as good mods you can get for free. It’s not worth paying $10. I mean all the other creation club ones that were verified. I was a little disappointed because they don’t function like a DLC they disable achievements And there are just as good mods out there you can get for free