Hey
So I’ve been thinking about roleplaying a bard, most probably a human, and was wondering if I could get opinions about that?
I know there are some nice instruments transmogs, also it would be interesting as to the RP possibilities.
Also, what kind of guild do you think a bard could join?
Let me know what you think!
Honestly, any guild. Military, mercenary, civilian, a house guild, anything. Also depends how you want to rp out your bars though, I’m guessing magical? Even if not magical and just a song writer / poet, a bard would fit in with most.
How would a magical bard work exactly? Also, which class is best suited for a bard in your opinion?
I think any class could work to be fair, and just come down to small differences like transmog.
Seeing as a majority of bards use toys to visualize the instrument and addons like musician to share their song easly in the game.
Depending on your flavour of music, perhaps a mage for the visual effects ( Spells / abilities) and they can use off hand.
Lore friendly (but slight headcannon), I’d say priest or even paladin for humans. Think a bard who uses his music to inspire, heal or invoke dread on the battlefield (like a supporting role), petitions the light kind of thing. Similar to prayer, but music instead…
Also possibly a mage who uses music and arcane to create illusions that trick the mind of the enemy.
Monk who uses music to bring balance and calmness to allies in battle, etc.
You’d likely find any class would work overall.
That kind of makes sense to me anyway.
I tried to do a bard type with a shaman, shakers and tamberines etc to invoke the loa, ritual dances etc.
You’d probably need muscian to really pull it off but be aware that is a learning curve and often has instruments you can’t possibly have ic at the time (outside of magical summoning I guess).
Best of luck.
reroll a 'Pera and come sing in our tavern
well…“sing” 
Thanks a lot for the advice.
Since I’d imagine my bard to be a support character, perhaps Priest or Paladin is most suitable.
On the other hand, I understand there are weapons and toys that look like musical instruments that my character could wield, but are there any emotes that could look like my character is playing an instrument?
The Fae Harp from Ardenweald in Shadowlands is what you want.
If there’s one thing I would suggest is don’t rely on Musician addon too much or at all. There’s a plethora of ways to convey a bard over emotes or limericks, but the expectation of having the person RPing with you install an addon so they could listen to a midi version of a song can be quite grating.
I reckon that a key part of RPing one is “doing” Bard-stuff. So I have a repertoire of poems, stories, songs, and so on that I can “perform”. If you’re really on the spot, ChatGPT / Copilot can write non-terrible lyrics:
Tubers of Stone and Gold
Hearth-root, stone-fruit, tuber of might,
Bronze-skin glows in the forge’s red light.
Mash you, roast you—each bite rings true:
Hammer-song strength in a miner’s stew.
Lift tankards, lads—let axes resound:
A single stout spud can turn battles around!
As someone else pointed out, I know of a harp toy in Shadowlands. The other toys I know of only really play background music - but I feel like I have seen other musical instrument items / toys recently. Perhaps someone else knows more about them that can elaborate?
If you were really wanting to invoke Blizzard’s flavour of bard I know there was that April Fools they did which you could incorporate as flavour too. Lot’s of people usually go medieval for a bard, but having a rocker / metal head would be fun (should you wish to spend lots buying the Arcanite Ripper).
As your music effects may be limited you could instead focus on writing songs and poems on deeds you witness on your travels with fellow roleplayers.
Are bards usually fighters? If so, what kind of weapons do they usually use?
Sure, bards can be fighters. I really like the concept of warrior poets or skalds. They can be dagger flashing rogues, sword&shield users, or archers.
No limits, really.
DnD bard class and it’s variants could give you some inspiration.
Most of the times someone has urged me to install Musician to listen to their bard song, it has always been a midi version of a pop song with lyrics slightly altered to be vaguely less reliant on real life references.
Oh, the misery… everybody wants to be my enemy…
Vicious Mockery
I would 1000 times rather read whatever a bard RPer comes up with on the spot than some soulless AI slop. If you’re really pressed for songwriting material, then you could just use real-life songs (within reason) and WoWify them by changing out some words to fit the setting.
Before the D&D bard revolved playing music an important part of the class’s combat mechanics, the character concept was less about buffing allies and destroying foes with sick battle music, and more about a jack-of-all-trades adventurer, journeying alongside heroes in order to seek inspiration for their tales and songs and to record the deeds of said heroes first-hand.
Considering being a bard requires a love of stories and song, I imagine that a lot of them lean towards more romantic weapons, such as the sword or the bow. Sure, there’s probably a few practical ones who can put aside their whimsy and realise that bringing a big bloody gun to a battlefield might be smarter than trying to go swashbuckling with a rapier, but I imagine that a lot of skalds would go for more skilful and “heroic” weapons.
Long-winded way of saying that there are no real limits, bards can go in whatever direction you like.
If one has to copy existing songs for inspiration, I’d be more inclined towards bard songs from other settings, since they already have the cadence and feel of what fits the genre rather than rehashing pop songs as people often do.
ESO in particular has some good ones, if one swaps names around. Dragon Age: Inquisition also has a wealth of bard songs.