Greetings and welcome to the Guild!

Congratulations on your choice, I hope that you find being a 
bard to be as enjoyable and rewardable as we do.  Right now, 
your mind is probably reeling with all the new options and 
choices available to you, so this post will (attempt) to answer 
a few of your questions.  It is a tad long, so go grab some food
and I'll wait here. Back? Cool, let's get the show on the road...

Q: How do I find out my new abilities?
A: Look at your Bag of Tricks (BoT).  This will tell you most of
   your new powers in general.  To see a listing of what you'll 
   learn at each level, type 'repertoire'.  Most of us are a tad lazy, 
   so we  aliased it with 'alias rep repertoire $*'  Now all you need
   do is type 'rep'.

Q: What can I wear for armor?
A: There's a wide variety of player-vaultable gear, and closet/guild-
   vaultable only gear available to bards.  First of all, you should try
   to get together a set of gear to keep in your player vault.  Popular
   items are brass greaves, brass gauntlets, brass bracers, diamond
   ring, artisan's/leather gloves, wolven mask/executioner's hood,
   fur trimmed boots/sandals, and emerald necklace/fire opal
   pendant.  For suit armor and cloak armor, you'll find the best
   stuff stored in the guild vault.  What suit/cloak armor would be
   best for you depends on your level.  Consult the section on gear 
   for more information.

Q: Why can't I use a sword?  Warhammer?
A: Easy, swords tend to play sharp and hammers always seem
   to be flat.

Q: Okay, smart alec, what CAN I use?
A: Use 'rep fabricate' to see a list of the instruments you can 
   make. Regardless of the type of instrument, its power will be
   based on your level and musicianship, so go ahead and make 
   whatever tickles your fancy.  At level 15, instruments will have 
   specials, so you need to be patient until then.  Additionally there
   are a variety of non-fabricated weapons to choose from that may
   be stored in the instrument lockers.

Q: How long is this post?
A: Muhahahaaa

Q: Okay, I did the rep thingy, what's with that concert power?
A: Due to the work of a hard working, diligent, handsome, and 
   incredibly humble and modest GM, we can band together and 
   submit Astaria to our poems and songs.  There will be posting 
   ahead of time on the bard board so you'll have time to practice, 
   or flee the realms.

Q: What should I go kill?
A: My gut reaction is anyone who doesn't make it through all 
   of this spam, but that may get you in trouble.  You're best off 
   killing what you did to make it through heritage until you get 
   comfortable with your new abilities. Anywhere listed when you
   type 'help newbieareas' is a good place to get yer feet wet.

Q: Hypothetically speaking, how do I recall a GM?
A: Sorry, too much lag, missed that last question.

Q: I have some really lame jokes, how can I get them added 
   to jest?
A: If the jokes are pathetic, not just bad, but REAL groaners, 
   send them to your helpful GM and s/he will forward them on
   to the appropriate wiz to get them added- and take credit for 
   it, of course.

Q: How do I get a player vault?
A: Go to the vault and 'rent vault'  geesh, these questions are 
   getting boring.

Q: Where do I get Pvaultables?
A: You can ask any of the friendly Bards online for help, our you can
   ask a 'Helper' for some.

Q: What is a Helper?  What are these mystic Pvaultables?
A: A Helper is a player that has decided to help newbie players such
   as yourself get started in the realm.  You can find a list of them
   by doing a 'who helper' command.

   Pvaultables are equiement you can store in your Pvault.  They are
   generally bought, but sometimes can range up to EQ dropped by a
   certain mob.  Any Bard is good to ask, and you can find a list of
   Bards by the 'who bard' command.

Q: What do I do if I just want starter equipment for now to play with?
A: A NPC has been created by the name of Wormy.  He is located:
   1w, 1s, 1e from GH.  I'm sure if you ask him about equipment he
   can get ya started out quite nicely.  But bewarned ... you can't
   always use his equipment.

Q: Ok, lemme clarify that.  How does a newbie get 1 crown?!
A: Ahh, that's better.  Well, begging over the guild line is usually 
   good. The bigger folks will usually scrounge up some pocket 
   change if you ask nicely enough.  If those jokes you mentioned 
   are as bad as you claim, you may be able to get people to 
   donate $$ to you to get you to stop telling them, as well.

Q: You seem a little odd...
A: I'm sorry, you need to word that in the form of a question.  
   Judges?  EEEEEEE.....sorry, thanks for playing.

Q:  What is that sidestep power used for?
A: I use it mostly to avoid rotten fruit hurled at me by party 
   members, but you can also use it to sneak into a room unseen.  
   Handy if you're going after an aggressive critter that attacks 
   on sight.

Q: What about that shamsay thingy?
A: Mostly good for harassing people who stand in Grand Hall, 
   but I've been known to start interesting conversations with 
   fighter's pages.  Seems the pages are most happy to talk 
   about their masters odd practices with his horse...

Q: Where do I stick my instrument when I'm ready to go?
A: Heh, do you REALLY want me to answer that <snicker>

Q: ARG!  I should have been a Cleric.  Where is the instrument 
   locker?!
A: Oh that.  It's 2 west, 1 south of here.  Better go there now 
    before you forget.

Well, that's about it, enjoy the guild :)

Cynan Windsong, Second Guildmaster of the Astarian bards.

Updated by Opus on March 27, 2006