Bards of the Forgotten Realms

The history of the Bardic arts goes back a long way. The faithful of the god Denier will say that music is the very stuff from which all is made, and the alchemists of Lantan speak of planar harmonics when they overlay magical enchantments on the finest gems ever seen. Music is beauty, creation, and life itself.

Long ago on the island of Alaron in the Sea of Moonshae, born in the little village of Hickorydale, simply the greatest bard the world of Toril has ever known was born; his parents were human and elven, the best of both worlds; they named him  Falataer, friend to all, he grew into a strikingly handsome young man who gained the love of his land of Alaron, in seeking out the legends of old, he achieved stunning deeds, becoming the foremost bard in Alaron's capital, Caer Callidyrr.

The kingdom gave Falataer a magnificent sailing vessel, and a brave crew flocked to his side; heroes one and all, they sailed to distant lands; the fame of Falataer grew as he bested pirates and monsters and saved countless lives; the other nations sent ambassadors and trade blossomed between the Moonshae isles and the Mainland's kingdoms, Callidyrr was always Falataer's home, but he found such amazing talent and opportunity on the mainland of Faerun that he founded a Bardic college, the first of its kind, combining his love of elven and human traditions, magical arts of the fey and fair folk, the sword fighting techniques that served him well on the high seas, a particularly versatile swash-buckling style and his greatest treasure so far, not only seven wondrous musical instruments but also a great collection of rare and comprehensive knowledge, including all his journals, for his students to absorb. He founded the first college in Silverymoon, named after the first instrument he played, the Fochlucan bandore. The school taught lore, and its mastery gained the bard the title of a Fochlucan level of skill, kind of like a white belt in Karate; the bards of the College of lore return to Silverymoon and the widespread network of that academia to continue learning and working after they complete the other levels of bardic skill if they want to, and a great many do. When you see references to the bardic college of Lore, it refers both to the location these arts are taught and also to the organization itself, bound by tradition and the bonds of masters and students, but there are many other colleges of the Bardic arts, those who focus on combat are taught in the style of the College of Swords and can attain the title of Blade, a type of bardic tradition and training that produces unequaled hired killers and mercenaries.

From the original college in Silverymoon, the students of Falataer went on to become masters of all seven of his fabled instruments and all aspects of his teachings; they each returned to their homelands to found their own bardic colleges; however, each taught both the basic levels of skill, and advanced training, mastery over one of the seven instruments, for which each college was named, and mastery over consecutively more difficult bardic arts.

Bards studying to obtain the rank of Magna Alumnae attended all seven colleges, starting with Fochlucan before moving on to Mac-Fuirmidh across the sea in Falataer's homeland, the Moonshae Isles. Named after the musical instrument the Mac-Fuirmidh cittern, the college taught healing and protection magic and the mastery of playing the cittern in a particular style; after this campus, masters would move on to study at Doss, a bardic college in the large city of Berdusk, the Jewel of the Vale, a fantastic city known for being a center of activity for the guild of Harpers, the bardic college in Berdusk taught a lot of noble born as well as master bards seeking Magna Alumnae status, they taught nature-based and healing magic there, along with mastery of the Doss Lute, rubbing shoulders with the next generation of nobility also taught bards the finer points of courtly ettique and intrigue, perhaps costing more than a few promising careers, and ensuring success for many others, some would call this the real purpose of the college of Doss. Bards who follow the College of Whispers have spread out in the shadow these traditions, no longer such an obvious campus, the dictates of their craft have seen this college disperse into many smaller groups, none know of them all, each of them is connected to just a few others, for the greater protection of all, and as a way to limit the spread of secrets.

The master bards seeking further advancement would then travel on to the land of Tethyr and the capital city of Zazesspur, a city of legendary wealth and intrigue where the culture of the Hartlands blends with the exotic Calishite influences and many tall spires decorate the city with impressive pennants and flags with windows decorated ornately, even roof edges are artfully crafted. Zazesspur's bardic college is named after mastery of the Canaith Mandolin, the school taught a lot of lore of the far eastern lands and the history of the Hartlands, it also taught spellcraft of a more energistic nature, perhaps influenced by the magic of the Djinn, thanks to the calishite influence. From there, master bards would travel to none other than the City of Baldur's Gate and the college named for the Cli Lyre, the ancient bardic college may no longer be there, but the famous Elfsong Tavern that served it still stands, and many would consider it a bardic college of sorts, undoubtedly many of the passionate voices which brought about the revival of the colleges of Fochlucan and New Olamn started out in the Elfsong Tavern. The College of Cli taught a diverse range of protective spells and further advanced other magical abilities of the elven song tradition, powerful protective magic, a good grounding for the power of the next tier of bardic mastery; from Cli, the master bards moved on to the walled city of Sundabar, one of the wealthiest and most militaristic cities within the nation of Luruar, or all of Faerûn for that matter. Heavy influence of Dwarven culture and the potent elemental magic of their arts is taught in the college of the Anstruth Harp, the graduates of this college go from there to the final college, traveling to the fabled city of Waterdeep and the college of the Olamn Harp, the last instrument of Falataer's tests and the school that teaches the most potent powers of the bards, to control not just the weather, but the minds of other people. Enchantment is a powerful school of arcane magic, but the bardic college of Olamn puts them to shame, I assure you.

So, advancing to our modern age, much has changed in the way bards learn their arts and interact with each other, originally taught from a single college divided in seven levels of skill, then a series of well-established college campuses spread across Faerun, by the 1480's in Dale Reckoning only two of the elder colleges are were still active, and as I mentioned, a lot of passionate individuals have brought about something of a bardic revival, with more traditional centers of learning being built, not just from buildings, libraries and musical equipment, but by trained and dedicated masters of the traditional bardic arts.

In the modern era, other bardic colleges now exist. The college of the Herald within Herald's Holdfast a full day's travel, about 30 miles west and a bit north of Silverymoon, is a huge library and museam protected by powerful magic, sturdy walls, mostly underground chambers of impressive size, and of course a highly skilled bunch of bards. This college teaches the bards who belong to the Heralds of Faerun, the holdfast is amazing and easily worth a video on all its features, history and associated heroes. 

Holdfast's Heralds are a very influencial group who maintain the traditions of Heraldry and keeping detailed records of the nobility of Faerun, they are foremost advisors to the organisation known as the Harpers, among others, the High Heralds begin their apprenticeships as assistants to the high heralds, the deliver messages, conduct secret business and learn a vast trove of lore. The high heralds are so well respected that they are referred to as Grand, so, the Grand Geoffrey of Arrabel, for instance.

There is an excellent article on the Heralds in the Forgotten Realms Wiki, and I quote,

"The Heralds of Faerûn organization was the brainchild of Harper Aliost Oskrunnar, who recognized some problems facing many leaders, armies, and countries of the time. First, miner guilds and settlements were placing metallic colors on top of one another in their coats of arms, which was forbidden in the rules of heraldry of Calimshan and other regions along the Sword Coast. Second, there were a number of heated arguments over who owned what symbols. Third, state-sponsored imposters had been known to foment unrest and put the blame on others. Bandits also took advantage by disguising themselves with the coat of arms of a legitimate lord or city. Finally, there had been some tragic accidental fratricides on the battlefield due to indistinguishable blazons in the fog of war. Aliost Oskrunnar proposed an organization to establish and enforce the Law of Arms, codify the chaos of the current heraldic emblems, and be independent of any political leaders or boundaries. He and the Harpers persuaded the rulers of Baldur's Gate, Calimshan, and Sundabar, and the leaders of various religions that supported the Harpers, to fund the creation of the Heralds of Faerûn. In the Year of the Watching Helm, 992 DR, nine High Herald offices were established, many of them filled by Harpers, but with the understanding that they were to be independent and neutral in settling matters of ownership, title, inheritance, enforcement, protocol, and legitimacy. 

The nine High Heralds are responsible for west Faerûn from the Calimshan border northward; all the islands in the Sea of Swords; northwest Faerûn; and most of the interior. They roam the territory in conjunction with the Harpers and commission local Heralds and agents to gather information, such as histories, genealogies, and other important records. The men and women of the High Heralds are persons of integrity, or at least they should be.

From its auspicious beginning, the Heralds of Faerûn were the catalogers and keepers of heraldic devices, lore, and etiquette. As an adjunct to this, they collected and collated vast numbers of names, titles, genealogies, and historical claims, keeping detailed records for the preservation of history and arbitration of disputes. Based on their reputation of integrity, all Heralds served as emissaries at whatever level was requested: as a member of diplomatic missions between kingdoms, liaisons between nobles within a realm, and information brokers between bards and sages."

End quote.

Another Bardic College is the Academia Vilhonus in the capital city of Chondath, the city of Arrabar, known for its crime and corruption, the chondathan culture favors the tradition of carrying a sword as a symbol of a citizen's status, you can count some of the best Blade subclass bards from this college, in Arrabar, each of the noble houses who have their impressive manors along the city walls has their own standing army but the city is ruled by a lord and has the loyalty of all the loyalist warriors of Chondath. This is a culture that is hostile to wizards and spell casters, the warriors of Chondath often refuse to even carry enchanted arms and armor, such is their distrust of magic. Don't forget, the Vilhon reach was devastated by elven magic so Arrabar is a very proud and traditional city, executions of mages is a common occurance. You can imagine then, that bardic training is much more about lore and martial arts than the use of magic, however, the powers of the mind are highly valued, and the art of performance, bards from the Academia Vilhonus are extremely confident masters of one on one combat with blades, they are also marked with a series of three dots on their foreheads, these symbolise their ability to read, write and practice the art of magic in Chondathan society, they are mandatory marks.

Turmish is also a nation that is famous for the skills of its deadly sellswords and duelists, its a prosperous country and sends shipments of glassware, grains, lumber, salt, metals, trade goods, tools and luxury items all through the Vilhon reach and the interior lands of Faerun through the Sea of Fallen Stars. Turmish is an interesting country, its been ruled by merchant families, coin lords who gained enormous wealth, the rise of the Wizard Conclaves and then their downfall at the hand of a Dragon, then a Dragonslayer who took the thrown but resigned from it in favor of a Democratic Republic, called the Assembly of Stars, established in the Year of the Cockatrice, 248 years ago. Unlike Arrabar, the cities of Turmish are safe enough for spell casters, in fact the country is said to be riddled with extradimensional safeholds, which is fascinating, as that is elven magic and is no longer practiced in faerun as of the 14th century of dale reckoning.

As of today, you can still train in the traditional school of Falataer, the two bardic colleges now operating teach the full body of training between them, but bardic training has now spread and diversified quite a lot since the days of Falataer, centuries ago.

Its funny to think that this whole character class is fairly recent in the forgotten realms and has such a well defined, but also frustratingly vague origin. What exactly are the secrets of bardic magic, lore and martial arts that are taught at each of the different instrument levels of accomplishment? The Moonshae Islands are an excellent place to start any sort of campaign in faerun, bards taught the traditional way certainly were well travelled and well grounded in the politics and cultures of Faerun, thats for sure.

Exactly what you would expect from a class so well suited to Half Elves, but the original bard colleges accepted Humans, Elves, Halflings, Gnomes and Tieflings, you wouldn't see a lot of Dwarves, Half Orcs, any of the goblinoids, they simply were not involved in the traditional bardic colleges. I am not saying they can't learn, I am simply saying they would be a unusual individual in the forgotten realms according to the source material.

Your game table is your own business of course.

Bardic magic is interesting since it existed before the fall of Netheril and the rise of the more modern wizarding traditions where there are many schools of philosophy, these cover Abjuration, Transmutation, Conjuration, Chronomancy, Dimensional, Divination, Elemental, Enchantment, Evocation, Feather, Force, illusion, Incantation, Necromancy, Shadow, Talisman, Thaumaturgy, Wild and Universal magic. I know, that sounds like more schools than you are used to, but now you can see your average wizard trained the traditional way is also limited in many ways. Bards trained in the seven instruments of Falataer recognise three schools of magic, they are Inventive, Mentalism and Variation, in a nutshell, Inventive spells are used to create or destroy, mentalisms are used to influence the minds of creatures and people, the bardic colleges are particularly good at this side of magic, and variations are used to transform things, change energies and states, including altering other spells, in what became known as Metamagic. 

Bards also have access to the secret arts of Song Magic, which along with the artifice of their magical instruments and their skill at harnessing wild magic, makes them a type of Thaumaturgy specialist spell caster. Once you step back and look at what Falataer actually taught, its clear he was establishing  school of Thaumaturgy, along with a private army of highly capable charismatic super operatives with a license to come and go where they pleased, thanks to their performance training.

And I am looking at the Harpers here.

One thing the old empires of Faerun passed on to their arcane traditions was a love of heirarchies and those with magical ability generally looking down on anyone with less or none of it. Bards are specialists in slinging insults, and they spare no quarter when being critical of the magical talents of others. Wizards and Bards always sling insults at each other, its not always serious.. not until you hear the bard say, "So much for wizard intellect, you brought a wand to a sword fight."

So, I have mentioned the various Sub Classes of the Bards, lets look at some of their traditions and the cultures surrounding them. In the North, you have the warrior poets, the Skalds, less inclined to carry musical instruments in favor of a decent war axe, you can find them among the Uthgardt and Reghed barbarian tribes, hunting reindeer across the Yeti-infested frozen Tundra, they follow along beside famous heroes if they can, recording their exploits in epic sagas and poems which they recite to avid listeners inside the long halls and chieftains tents, considered honored guests, skalds are afforded safe passage through tribal lands by their own strict traditions. Skalds are also found among the Frost Giants of the Northern lands, particularly Pelvuria, beyond Vaasa, Damara, and Narfell, the northernmost lands you normally find humans, so they tend to think the world stops there and maps of the giant lands and great glacier are rare.

Storytelling is also highly popular across the ocean from the Moonshaes in the Islands of Lantan, one small, rocky island named Orlil is home to a bardic college that invites guest speakers and lore experts, such as myself, to go and teach the students there as many stories and fables as they can, and the collection of folklore that island has amassed over recent years is quite amazing, The bards of Orlil are known as Fabulists and they include a race of sentient quadroped, human-sized Wombat people, about 50 of them live on the island, though not all of them are bards of course.

I have mentioned that Blades, a subclass of bard in 5th edition, a player character kit option in 2nd edition, I played a duelist in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons back when I was a teenager, I photocopied the pages from a dragon magazine, had copies of some pages from Unearthed Arcana and the approval of the Dungeon master to play a duelist as a player character, he was a bit underpowered compared to the other player characters in the campaign, but he had clear goals and actually managed to survive, though, he never really got to fight a lot of duels and advance his social standing, he got fairly wealthy out of his element, going on hair-brained adventures for a mysterious and intimidating wizard named Glint Nightshade.

Blades are masters at swordplay. Any single-handed bladed weapon in their hands can be used to disarm opponents, disable limbs, deflect just as well as a shield, counter and simultaneously attack, and deliver brutally fast lunging stabs that will skewer an enemy's organs very effectively. Blades are good against many types of monsters, but they excel at murdering humanoids.

Well, hopefully, disarming and forcing them to surrender with a bit of style, but it's sword fighting, it's very dangerous, and people often get killed. Most societies have accepted conditions in which an honor duel can be fought legally and publically, not killing any bystanders is very important, and minimal property damage is preferred, but mostly it is the public consent of both parties involved that absolves them of responsibility for murder, though reparations towards a slain opponent's dependants is often customary. From as simple as a few coins for the widow to taking on the opponent's orphaned child as a ward, taking care of their training until they are old enough to look after themselves. 

Moving on, I suppose we should talk about the so-called College of Whispers, a bard subclass well suited to those without a strong sense of morality; the whispers use secret identities, safe houses, mentalism and their wits uncovering closely-held secrets, and manipulating others, often for profound personal gain. They hide within the ranks of other bard colleges; they have no titles for their ranks; in fact, becoming well-known is something they aim to avoid. Their power to level antagonistic magic with the delivery of physical strikes and verbal tirades is without peer among bard styles.  College of Whispers bards know how to adopt the persona of a recently dead person. After witnessing someone's death, the bard can magically adopt the dead person's shadow as a disguise. So they take on the appearance and personality, the mannerisms of the dead person and even gain a little bit of knowledge about their life and person relationships, so you can see it is perfect for shapeshifters already, before adding their power to mimic others. By shapeshifters, I mean Doppelgangers, changelings, dragons and were-folk in some cases, who gravitate to this sort of lifestyle.

A whole lot of supernatural creatures native to the lands of Kara-Tur, Zakhara and the tropical islands far to the east. Halrua, a nation descended from Netherese mages, strongly leans toward College of Whispers bards, skilled at infiltrating and avoiding magical alarms, traps, and the occasional bout of spell-slinging from an irate wizard.

College of Glamour bards often house the most College of Whispers bards, operating in secret and maintaining a secret identity. Glamour bards lean heavily into the lore, mythology, folklore, exploration and magic of the Fey Realm, the Fairy Kingdoms, as real a place to them and the lands just over the next mountain range or stretch of ocean. Considered some of the most wondrous and awe inspiring bards in the Forgotten Realms they are never short of an audience when they perform for others, and there is a sense of excitement and fear as they weave tales of alien places, with spooky magic that rural folk tend to fear from fey folk, but provide enjoyable jump scares when used by Glamour bards in the packed and friendly atmosphere of a cosy Inn. As they advance in skill and rank, the glamour bards become so magnetic in appearance and magical presence that they can instil intense emotions of apprehension in bystanders and enemies, they can also cause opponents to hesitate in combat, giving them crucial advantages as they deliver deadly strikes with a light weapon or potent magical enchantments that cause enemies to act like best friends, stepping in harms way to protect the bard. Its hard to fight someone who can just command you to drop your weapons. Glamour bards are highly sought after by mercenary agencies and some of the most famous bardic performances have been delivered by Glamour bards.

Do we have many more colleges to go? Well yes, there are quite a few now, the college of Lore is the most numerous and has a few notable library centers where they train and people can pay to access their extensive collected knowledge, you can see a good example of that with the masters in Game of Thrones, who wear metal necklaces, each link in the chain representing mastery of a branch of lore, College of Lore bards are like that, they can retire and become sages, travel and sell their expert advice or tutor others, it's a great profession with a lot of options.

However, we now have the college of Creation, college of Eloquence, college of Spirits, college of Valor, college of The Road and a College of Tragedy, what can I tell you about those? Thankfully there is information on these sub classes online, so lets just read what they have to say on them.

Borrowing philosophy from the church of Denier, the avowed of Candlekeep, various other faiths and some of the oldest elven magical traditions from the ancient forest adjacent to Netheril, the college of Creation bards believe in the Song of Creation, the primal music that forms the basis of all reality. Some cults speak in gibbering whispers of the song really being the dream of an omnipotent primordial being, one of the great old ones, but most would rather not imagine a reality like that. Dwarves and gnomes often encourage their bards to become students of the Song of Creation. And among dragonborn, the Song of Creation is revered, for legends portray Bahamut and Tiamat—the greatest of dragons—as two of the song’s first singers. Greatest of Dragons is a bit of propaganda by the way, some ridiculously powerful cosmic beings started out as dragons, immortal spirits native to the prime material plane. Song of Creation bards are skilled at conjuring items and causing ordinary objects to come to life with magical vitality, dancing temporarily around to the bard's music.

Adherents of the College of Eloquence master the art of oratory. Persuasion is regarded as a high art, and a well-reasoned, well-spoken argument often proves more persuasive than facts. Diplomats, political or union leaders, charismatic pirate captains, those who the king trots out to inspire the troops with a stunning speech before battle, the Eloquence bards are extremely difficult to argue with, they are in their element the moment you start a debate with them, and woven into their words are the powers of mentalism, they can bind your mind at the same time they turn the hearts of anyone listening in their favor, and against you. They master the arts of deception, bluff and intimidation, they can also communicate with just about anything capable of understanding language and their words have the power to spread, passing on like memes from person to person, a powerful ability in a city with a population in the tens of thousands where rumors and scandals can be used as weapons.

Unlike the charlatans who pretend to summon the ghosts of the departed for a few coins, the college of Spirits bards can actually do that sort of thing. They channel spirits, what more can I say? They use crystal balls, candles, occult symbols, all that sort of thing; they tend to be popular enough, as long as they steer clear of actual necromancy; I don't think anyone is too bothered by them. The more nefarious will take advantage of wealthy widows and widowers, swindling them out of a small fortune, while others devote themselves to grief counseling, legal matters, criminal investigations and the like. There are any number of TV shows that can serve as inspiration.

The College of Tragedy and College of the Road are both third party content recently added to 5th edition's bard class options, basically a Jack of All Trades option and the classic architype of an Emo bard who sings mournful dirges and manages to learn some tricky magic that can bend the hand of fate, or at least predict when things are about to get very bad.

And that, my friends, is a fairly good primer on all the different bard schools, philosophies, traditions and varieties you can find in the Forgotten Realms. There are far-flung places on Toril I have not visited; the vast lands of Kara-tur and Zakhara no doubt have a whole other set of bardic traditions or the equivalent sort of role in society, but I am not the one to ask about that. 

Not yet, anyway; in the meantime, my name is AJ Pickett; thank you for listening, and as always, I will be back with more for you very soon.