A perfectly lore friendly build for a bard class, you’re welcome nerds. Complete with plenty of homebrew.
Bard
Bards harness the magic of the cosmos through performance. As a mage uses ancient words in draconic or titan to construct spells, a bard is capable of creating magic effects through musical focuses and long-forgotten stories. The stories told by a bard can construct images from thin air or heal wounds using cones of restorative sound.
Specs: Lorewalker (Ranged Summoner DPS), War-Singer (Ranged/Melee hybrid DPS), Laureate (Healer)
Lore
The bard is an invention in modern times with roots in ancient traditions. As the world moves towards peace and the exchange of culture, the common magic from performances have been compared and explored. Several colleges sprung up on Azeroth dedicated to studying these magic-weaving forms.
-Lorewalker
The College of Lore is the home of the Lorewalkers and historians of Azeroth who derive their power from vellum parchments and ancient stone tablets. The stories gathered by the Lorewalkers replace need for a sword or shield, as living entities can manifest with the right urging and knowledge.
As a Lorewalker the player will rely on managing their summons, each creature present will drain or gather resources. Clever management can allow a lorewalker to maintain an extensive show of creatures in a battlefield.
-War-Singer
The College of Rhythm was built in the Eastern Kingdoms at the heart of the Badlands where fire, earth, and sky meet. The powerful magic of orcish war-drums once sung through Azeroth, and many have come to unravel the secrets of these sounds. The War-Singer is trained in a mix of performance and combat. Their weapons are modified as instruments, axes to lyres and guitars, shields become drums.
The War-singer focuses on keeping their rhythm consistent, measured by a bar that fills or lowers depending on which powers are used. Taking too much damage can break focus and cause the rhythm to break. After playing some music, the War-singer is boosted for a moment and is able to perform amazing feats of physical prowess.
-Laureate
The College of Words was built in the floating city of Dalaran, and is considered the first college by most bards due to its accessibility and popularity. The College of Words research the verbal components of spells trailing back as far as the first arcane spell. By stringing together the right verses, a student of the college of words can speak words that cause severe damage or stitch a body together again.
DISCLAIMER
This is %90 for fun and by no means a way to maintain it’s hard lore. However, I realized there’s room for the performing magics in Azeroth, and wanted to do this as an experiment.