Skalds guild question...

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Minariel
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Skalds guild question...

#1 Post by Minariel » Fri Sep 11, 2009 9:37 pm

Now, I'm not certain about how it works entirely, but if you're part of the Skalds, is the only bonus you get the ability to see your song levels?

Or do you get some other bonus, like your songs effects last longer or something? Or they have more of an effect?

It seems that the Skalds is used as a sort of launching pad for new players to learn new languages. Now given, there seems to be no way outside of the Scribes or the Skalds to learn new languages from ground 0, so I can sort of understand.

I know that it's frowned upon to keep your instrument after you leave the Skalds, but there's nothing really to stop you.

Maybe I'm missing something?

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Re: Skalds guild question...

#2 Post by krelji » Sat Sep 12, 2009 4:17 am

The skalds are mainly being used as 'launching pad' because they're easier to
join the scribes or alchemists guild. For the majority of scribes the only bonus
available to them is the rather large library, and in case of the alchemists guild
this would be access to recipes which would otherwise be mostly unknown.

Yes, there's nothing to keep you from keeping your instrument(s) when leaving
the skalds, but there's also nothing that keeps alchemists from keeping their
mobile kettle(s) when they decide to leave the guild.
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#3 Post by Minariel » Tue Sep 15, 2009 2:16 pm

I see your point. For some reason, I was under the impression that the guilds offered some passive benefit, such as the Legions hidden bonuses to their combat stats when I first played this game. Of course this was well before my 3 year hiatus, and I didn't get very far then, but still.

Thank you very much for your reply, though. It makes a lot of sense. :)

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Re: Skalds guild question...

#4 Post by anglachel » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:14 am

The skald guild gives you follwing advantages:
- you have acess to the three trainers
- you can buy instruments in the guildshop
- you can learn and improve your mastery for magic songs

Ther is also a other advantges: As offcla skald is is a bit
easier to earn some coins in the pubs with singing and playing

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Re: Skalds guild question...

#5 Post by triska » Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:24 am

The Skalds are under-rated in my opinion because they are not valued as they ought to be.

Wonderful to be able to learn the languages of the world.

Yes they can earn coins singing in pubs but so can any one that once was a skald and can still sing. I find the magical songs not the singsongs are valuable in combat and in many other ways too. Master Skaldens will be happy to tell you about the advantages if you meet them in game.

I do however feel that once you leave the skalds the magical songs should be not taken away from you but maybe only allowed to use it at the lowest level. The mobile kettles are frowned upon for lots of reasons but I understand you cannot mix a potion to perfect with the mobile if its used outside the alchemist guild so.

I think if you were a cleric or another type of guild you would lose the use of miracles and other benefits so I do not see why Skalds are used as an inferior guild to use its skills and dump just cause you can or cause we dont come after you to kill you !

Someone once tried to infer she was the 'LEADER' of the Skalds when inf act there is no leader the highest rank attained being Skalden and those that reach it are all equal. The person in question tried to tell new Skalds they had to go through her for promotions and such and had to hand over instruments to her if they left which is nonsense. If you leave or are shown the door the instrument you paid for is yours until it breaks or you lose it then you wont be allowed to buy another.
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#6 Post by Delia » Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:06 am

There are other guilds as well that do not exactly jump to the conclusion of "We kill you!" when you leave, depending on the reason of course. There are other considerations as well, such as a certain ex-shao being the leader of a certain religious military order...treacherous waters, these are. Pushing the "Rejoin us, or die!" button might have, erm, consequences :P

Nearly all(if not all?)of the benefits you can lose when leaving a guild involve gods. If it is something you have learned yourself as opposed to being a god given ability you can keep.
you can learn and improve your mastery for magic songs
Implies that only skalds can improve the song masteries, which is fine by me. Skald members should have SOME perks as opposed to ex-skalds. The songs are good when you have good masteries. Currently, even more so(hint hint). I can see good skalds becoming a valuable commodity when people realise their true potential.

As for the leadership bit...If it flies, go for it! Any such things can be decided ingame and if someone tries and succeeds in usurping the leadership position, congratulations! No organizational structure needs to be completely static, IMHO.
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#7 Post by krelji » Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:08 am

Delia wrote:Implies that only skalds can improve the song masteries, which is fine by me
Ex Skalds can improve song masteries. They are actually treated like skills in this
regard.
triska wrote:I do however feel that once you leave the skalds the magical songs should be not taken away from you but maybe only allowed to use it at the lowest level. The mobile kettles are frowned upon for lots of reasons but I understand you cannot mix a potion to perfect with the mobile if its used outside the alchemist guild so.
You seem to be forgetting here that the brewing limitations apply to alchemists as
well, and not just those that left the guild and happen to have a mobile kettle, and
it's not exactly impossible for others to brew potions of perfect quality. The brewing
limitations are not due to the kettle, but due to other factors.

The skalds have been a pretty much headless guild far too often. Either the leaders
were unknown or nowhere to be found, and getting promoted a major quest. I think
it would be a welcome change to see someone actually trying to change this, even
if the code doesn't support it.
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#8 Post by Minariel » Thu Sep 17, 2009 10:35 am

I was under the impression that there -was- a sort of leader to the Skalds. Like a Master Skald or something... the one that also sits on the non-existant council. I think I read it on the boards or something, but I'm not certain.

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Re: Skalds guild question...

#9 Post by krelji » Thu Sep 17, 2009 10:49 am

The highest rank for Skalds would be 'Skalden', but as far as I can tell those aren't
limited in number. I would think that the council was an attempt to get some structure
into the guild.
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#10 Post by lanyara » Sat Nov 14, 2009 6:01 pm

One drawback for any type of council may be that it requires active players (else such a council will be inactive quickly, as is even the case for some major guilds). There are ways to "compensate" slightly for such a drawback, as in trying to keep them more interested in being active. For example being a member of such a council might help one raise reputation in town more easily, perhaps they may earn a bit more money with songs if they are citizen of that area, or get a small payment from the skald guild every once in a while. Or perhaps an even slightly better instrument than lyre, only reserved to be bought by these "leader" guys.

These small incentives might help keep such a council more interested, but usually people will always look for other, more interesting guilds, with more options (or "power"). Scribes and Alchemists are a good example for that.

Discovering potions sounds like a lot of fun. And the scribes seem to have a lot of options at their disposal (their scrolls).

Personally, I am not sure if a council for skalds would be good to have.
The magical songs are nice and useful, the normal songs can be fun in certain situations (props to whoever wrote the ranger song) but in general the guild is somewhat smallish, if not to say unimportant. That may be both good and bad.

Would there be any real gain having a leader type for such a guild? The potential for the skalds seems to be small, I am not sure if they will develop much, whereas I could see scribes and alchemists still being interesting due to them being able to "evolve", finding new recipes, scroll stuff, or some combinations ... At least that's how I see it.
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#11 Post by luminier » Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:16 am

It seems to me really that the leaders are the only people that seem to play in force. Although that seems to be changing with the Crusaders (which I am grateful for because I just can't seem to play Geas any longer unless someone else is on to talk to) and the Clerics of Taniel.

I think potential for any guild exists and it really just depends on how you roleplay it. Personally I am not the person that likes roleplaying the fruity singer/musician, so I choose something else, like a fighting type of roleplay. While a "council" type thing does help usually most guilds can survive pretty well without one.
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#12 Post by lanyara » Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:47 pm

It all boils down to constant hard work recruiting fresh blood, really!
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#13 Post by Cuetlachtli » Sat Nov 21, 2009 6:43 pm

Urlyth (and to some degree my char) are making some efforts to restore some structure to the guild and promote interactions between elders and younger musicians.

I mentioned this in another thread...but a small perk for being a Skalden like being able to implement your own songs (similar to how a scribe can write a book or something) would be a cool incentive, and actually have the non-battle bard function of the skalds more real in game. Telling stories of events and what not.

*shrugs*

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Re: Skalds guild question...

#14 Post by lili » Fri May 27, 2011 3:11 pm

I'm going to ask this here.. a little off subject but in the same category.

When you do 'singsong' it gives you a list of songs, are these 'normal' songs? By normal, I mean songs you can sing that do not give any magical means. I was a little scared to try them out since the first says 'play terror- causes fear and pain' i didn't want to start singing one to test out if it was going to have some affects on people. I understand the ones taught by the tutors are magical.
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#15 Post by Olrane » Fri May 27, 2011 3:28 pm

The long horizontal list of songs are the non-magical songs, and the vertical list which also shows the effect are clearly magical ones.

"Terror" isn't really a song, but rather a defensive tool if you're caught in combat with an instrument. You can make a horrifying tune and hopefully cause your assailants to flee.

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Re: Skalds guild question...

#16 Post by lili » Fri May 27, 2011 3:37 pm

Ah I do not have a vertical list, i must not know those songs. Thank you for the help!
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#17 Post by Olrane » Fri May 27, 2011 3:42 pm

Actually I think it's minorly bugged....the known magical songs show up only if you type play and are wearing an instrument that's compatible.

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Re: Skalds guild question...

#18 Post by lanyara » Mon May 30, 2011 11:41 pm

It used to be possible to do 'songs' but that got, unfortunately, changed.

It would be nice to have a new file for skalds to explain the songs in an overview. And bring back 'songs' command - asking a trainer about them isn't as great!

PS:

SKILL: song seasons SKILL: KNOWLEDGE:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Info for this skill has to be written.


Also add a short description to that. Like:

"This song helps restore fatigue."

or something... and a helpfile for 'songs'.
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Re: Skalds guild question...

#19 Post by fernao » Wed Jun 01, 2011 6:11 am

If you type "play" as skald all songs get listed. The magical songs are listed with some info about what they do and the non-magical songs are listed by name.
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