Bard
April 4, 2017
15:31
The good news: Actually has some really potent support abilities that add a surprisingly huge amount of power to the team without being limited by resources in any way.  You have an absolutely AMAZING set of endgame buffs, and some amazing tools for subduing enemy teams in the meantime.
The bad news: It might be an amazing support unit, but it doesn't stand too well on its own two feet.
Strength
-8
Agility
+8
Vitality
-9
Magic
+11
Hands
Daggers
Harps
Armor
Light Headgear
Light Armor
Light Accessories
Command
!Sing
Abilities
Level
AP
Ability
Innate
Equip Stats
Description
1
10
!Hide
No
Temporarily 'removes' the user from combat, allowing them to come back during their next turn.  This can be used to evade damage from certain spells you know are coming.  If all alive party members are Hidden, it counts as an escape attempt (unless, of course, battle can't be escaped from).  Don't underestimate this, you might be surprised.
2
50
Equip Harp
No
Agility +8
Magic +11
Allows any class to equip Harps.  Harps don't really give a damn about their weapon power and instead are more generally middling-use special effects most classes might not want, barring the Legendary Weapon.  You may get more mileage out of the stat transfers (+8 Agility is nothing to laugh at!) than the actual harp equipping.
3
100
!Sing
No
Allows any class to use the !Sing command.  Only the Requiem song actually uses the caster's stats (Magic), and thus for almost all purposes, another character class carrying Sing will be just as good (or better) for it!  Of course if you're on a Natural challenge you don't have this liberty, but hey.
Success Strategy
While the Bard lacks in the ability to output numbers, their songs are absolutely amazing.  Use them. Constantly.  Endlessly.  Spam them, because you will learn to love them.
Special Equipment
The Bard is capable of equipping Harp weapons.  Harps do not deal damage in anything even resembling a traditional manner; instead, they basically cast effects on their targets.
As they effectively cast spells, Harps ignore Rows for damage calculation
Harps use both hands
Harps cannot be thrown or used with Magic Sword
See notes on the Magic Accuracy section for how spell hit rate works, because it matters for this
Weapon
Attack Power
Where to find
Notes
Silver Harp
"15"
Bought: Act 1, Crescent
99% chance of dealing damage equal to 1/16th of the target's current HP
Does nothing to Heavy enemies
Dream Harp
"25"
Bought: Act 2, Rugor/Bal/Kelb
99% chance of dealing damage equal to 1/8th of the target's current HP
Also inflicts Sleep unless the target is immune
Does nothing to Heavy enemies
Lamia's Harp
"35"
Found: Act 2, Bal
99% chance of dealing damage equal to 3/16ths of the target's current HP
Also inflicts Charm unless the target is immune
Charm can enable you to learn various Blue Magics
Apollo's Harp
"45"
Found: Act 3, Legendary Weapon
Casts a spell with Magic Power 75
8x damage (!?!) to Undead and Dragon enemies
Song Magic
Songs are technically spells, and like spells, must be learned before use.  They are NOT learned from shops like most magic - instead, you must be taught by various NPC Bards throughout the game, including one who will only teach you the songs after playing the Pianos across the world.
The Pianos used to learn Power Song and Hero Song are located in the following locations:
Act 1: Tule, Carwen, Karnak, Crescent, Jacole
Act 2: Regole (Via secret passage), Moore
Act 3: Mirage (via a set of secret passages)
No Songs cost any MP, and they have no restrictions (beyond being silenced), and none are affected by Reflect.
Song
Power
Found
Notes
Mighty March
--
Found: Act 1, Crescent
Casts Regen on the entire party, steadily recovering the party's HP
Higher Vitality classes recover HP faster
Romeo's Ballad
--
Found: Act 1, Istory
99% chance of inflicting Stop on all enemies
Does not work if targets are immune to Stop
Don't underestimate how much is NOT immune to Stop.  Seriously, it's a lot!
Many enemies can be straight up locked into doing nothing by spamming this
Alluring Air
--
Found: Act 1, Lix
99% chance of inflicting Charm on all enemies
Does not work if targets are immune to Charm
Use Charm to learn Blue Magic if applicable to your playthrough
Requiem
225
Found: Act 2, Kelb
Deals huge amount of damage to all enemies
...Well, all undead enemies, that is
Does absolutely nothing to non-undead, sorry
Gets even more hilariously powerful with increased Magic
Swift Song
--
Found: Act 2, Surgate
Places the user in Singing state (Lasts until struck)
While singing, the party's Agility is steadily increased over time
Agility remains increased when knocked out of Singing state but will stop increasing unless resumed
Agility caps at 99
Increasing agility leads to progressively more turns
Max Agility > Hastega, god help your enemies if you have both though they'll never get to act ever
Increased Agility also enhances the damage of the Chicken Knife and the Ninja's !Throw
Mana's Paean
--
Found: Act 3, Ancient Library's top (Don't miss it!)
Places the user in Singing state (Lasts until struck)
While singing, the party's Magic is steadily increased over time
Magic remains increased when knocked out of Singing state but will stop increasing unless resumed
Magic caps at 99
Obviously, high Magic enhances the party's magical damage output significantly
Many command abilities (such as Dragoon's !Lancet) also use Magic and are thus enhanced
This doesn't affect the success rate of spells, however.
Sinewy Etude
--
Found: Act 3, Crescent (Must have played at least 7 Pianos)
Places the user in Singing state (Lasts until struck)
While singing, the party's Strength is steadily increased over time
Strength remains increased when knocked out of Singing state but will stop increasing unless resumed
Strength caps at 99
Obviously, enhancing the party's Strength increases the power of all weapons that use Strength
Hero's Rime
--
Found: Act 3, Crescent (Must have played all 8 Pianos)
Places the user in Singing state (Lasts until struck)
While singing, the party's Level is steadily increased over time
Level remains increased when knocked out of Singing state but will stop increasing unless resumed
In-battle Level caps at 255, NOT 99, as you might expect!
Obviously you revert between battles
When enemies cast Level spells (e.g. L5 Death) it still uses your original Level, not modified
Almost every damage formula in the game uses Level, so this increases ALL forms of damage by the party
Also enhances the success rate of magic with a percent success rate / chance to resist them
Maxing level in battle AND maxing Strength or Magic or whatever IS MULTIPLICATIVE in effectiveness.
Do you see why Bard is actually amazing late-game yet?