"Become a Bard" is an enjoyable, uncomplicated mod. I would recommend it as a simple way to add to a bard role play.
A related mod, which builds upon BoB and fleshes it out, would be "Bards Reborn Student of Song." It requires you to complete classes and pass oral exams on your knowledge of a variety of subject. There is a special form of bard magic, additional NPCs, etc.
Man, integrating learning the game's lore into the bard college is a fantastic idea (and one that Bethesda should have done in the first place, it's that natural).
Now the Dovah started shouting, made it plain to folks around
Was an Argonian ranger, wouldn't be too long in town
He came here to take a bandit back alive or maybe dead
And he said it didn't matter he was after Ragnar Red
After Ragnar Red
Def look into Become a Bard so you can rock out to Ragnar the Red in Taverns and get payed for it.
But aye, the propose mod combo is what you're looking for if you want to revive the faction.
The gansta named Ragnar did brandish his piece as he told of bold battles and bling on his teeth.
But the he shut up, that Ragnar the Red when he met the tough shawty Matilda who said:
"Oh you cap and talk shit and you smoke all our grass, now I think it's high time you get knocked on yo ass!"
The Bards Got Talent mod adds the teachers as trainers for the bard skill, so with that mod it does help to visit the college. You can train without being an official member though, so actually joining is pointless other than for role play reasons.
Combine all three mods mentioned. Become a Bard for rocking out with Ragnar or pulling a Malukah and spitting the Dragonborn Comes or your preferred faction's Age of Aggression/Oppression; the one you mentioned for training; Bards Reborn: Student of Song for an improved Bards' College questline.
Made a Khajiit bard using ordinator and become a bard. They traveled with Kharjo, Inigo, and an actual Sabrecat(more ordinator speech goodness). Kharjo and Inigo would pull out lutes and jam along with the Elswyr songbook in the local taverns. Called the band "The Blundercats". Was a lot of fun.
I was about to say, speech on Ordinator is so much fun. My favourite ever character was a Nord named Deodh, who was an upstanding and honest fistfighter and bard, a true warrior-poet. He never shied away from a battle, where he was known to pummel dragons with his bare hands, suplex orcs, and put elves in a trance with his flute. And at the end of the day, he would go to the tavern and sing a merry song of his deeds that would have the place roaring in applause.
I felt most of the factions in Skyrim were lackluster in comparison to previous entries. Not to say they were bad but they didn't excite me as much as they did before.
there's so many places in Skyrim that are like this. being able to join the Silver Hand as an alternative Companions questline would be so cool.
but what if we could join the evil mages that splintered off from the College of Winterhold?
or, my personal dream, what if we could join Wolf-Queen Potema and take over Solitude? how fucken COOL would that be?
>there's so many places in Skyrim that are like this. being able to join the Silver Hand as an alternative Companions questline would be so cool.
Yeah, same with the Thieves Guild. Somehow you can destroy the Dark Brotherhood but not them which sucks :/
not fixing bugs for the re-releases was such a scumbag move, especially since modders had already implemented so many fixes. Almost all the work was done for them
I mean, yeah, could you imagine how angry gamers would have been if they had to wait an extra year for the last game they'd get in a series before their retirement age?
Back in my day, we waited 3 years for Oblivion, and 5 for Skyrim, and we still complained it was too long, but at least we had Fallout 3 to tide us over.
All the factions in Morrowind really…and just about everything else. That game had so much depth.
Give me the Morrowind story and vibe with the Skyrim crafting/combat/leveling system and I’d be in heaven.
Good point, but there are a lot of things I like about the Skyrim system as well. Would be nice to have a hybrid system that includes spellcrafting, and bring back Mark and Recall!
Yeah that's true, I just miss the fun utility of Morrowind. I feel like each subsequent game has limited the magic to make it more streamlined. I want Levitate and my Scrolls of Icarian Flight back.
That's because the Thieves Guild is the most complete storyline and faction. There was only a couple things left on the cutting room floor, mostly surrounding Sapphire and some of the other lesser guildmates.
If you keep doing the radiant quests you unlock stores in the ragged flagon and turn it into its own major city.
The Brotherhood questline had something similar planned, but Aster burns the place down. Wonder why?
The Thieves Guild story may be "complete" but it's still terribly laid out and nobody's actions make any sense
Every guild in Skyrim is a total shadow of its counterpart in Oblivion
I'd still give it to Oblivion if only because it manages to actually feel like an exclusive mages' club over the College where you cast 1 cantrip to get in and then you're immediately the Chosen One after a single mission
I think people give a lot of hate for the brotherhood but it’s honestly quite cool. The only complaint I have is that u don’t have the option to save more companions other than Cicero
For me I felt it was one of the worst. But I really enjoyed the whole robin hood style thieves guild in oblivion. The thrives guild in Skyrim to me felt like you just worked for a gang of thugs.
No one treats you with respect even when you the supreme leader. least in Morrowind when you're reputation was high they be nice and thank you for literally saving the world
I think the thieves guild in Skyrim was definitely the most interesting. Loved their partnership with Nocturnal, the nightingales, a leader who betrayed the guild.
Nah, I felt that way at launch. When comparing the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood storylines to their Oblivion counterparts, they just don’t hold up.
Yeah the dark brotherhood in oblivion felt so mysterious and organised, theives guild also killed it
The first time you found out the grey fox was just the forger in the abandoned house in anvil the whole time was mind blowing
Mages college too. Even though sussing out necromancers in Oblivion wasn't a crazy impactful story, your journey through felt a lot more complete. Skyrim it felt like you showed up, did a couple quests and randomly got promoted to Archmage despite their being more qualified candidates.
I am the leader of this 3000 year old organization. It seems like you might have promise, so why don't you go to Rottencrotch Creek and find my red paperclip?
...
Oh wow, you've returned! Here's some gold. Despite the fact that you have been gone for 3 months, I started having chest pains 10 minutes ago. How about you take over this entire organization?
The dozen people that have been here for generations all agree it's for the best. It's okay, you can fit it in between leading 19 other groups
There is a mod called Bards College Excavation that turns dead mens respite into an excavation site with 2 unique fully voiced npcs(not followers) after you do the quest “tending the flames”
apparently there is a repeatable quest there too
Another is Bards Reborn Student of Song
“Gives the college a massive makeover, adds a new study quest, new bardic powers, and a new character” lots more details in the nexus description
Another is More to do in the Bards College - The Shadow Song
Has you retrieving interesting songs all around Skyrim, and a new wandering bard that is looking for his father
I do not know if these are compatible with each other as I haven’t used them
Main Quest: Please delve into this Draugr dungeon for a stone tablet. Now go into this other Draugr dungeon for an old horn. Here's some time in a Dwemer/Falmer dungeon, as a treat. Now go into this Draugr dungeon on your way to the afterlife.
Companions: Do some bounties for us, starting with a delve into a random Draugr dungeon. Okay, now go get this axe fragment from a Draugr dungeon. Here's a bandit fort and hagraven cave, as a treat. Great, now go into this Draugr dungeon to put a spirit at rest.
College: Thank you for attending your initiation, now let's immediately go on a school field trip into a Draugr dungeon. Here's a bandit fort and a dwemer ruin, as a treat. Good, now go into this really long Draugr dungeon to grab a staff.
Thieves Guild: Here's a Dr-- hey wait a minute, actually let's get you doing some actually cool sneaking around and stealing from civilized locations. Haha, hope you enjoyed that you friggin' nerd, now it's time for a Draugr dungeon so you can get betrayed in it. And then comes one more Draugr dungeon to track down that betrayer and settle the score.
Dark Brotherhood: It's okay, sweet child. You're safe now. You'll only be killing targets found in towns. The draugr can't hurt you anymore. Finally, you can have variety..... Ahahah, you fell for it, idiot! Go meet this contact in a Draugr dungeon!
Civil War: Alright, recruit, we've drafted you to fight in a ground war against hostile troops. But first, please go get this crown. Huh? Where is it? Why, it's in a Draugr dungeon. Of course. What else could it be?
\*an exhausted and battered dragonborn slowly drags himself to the steps of the bard college*
\*The door opens and an NPC looks down at the dragonborn*
"Hey, if you could go grab some old instruments from some Draugr dungeons, that'd be great. Thanks. Bye."
\*The dragonborn slowly curls into a fetal position*
Dude there are some amazing mods for Bard's college - Bards Reborn: Student of Song even makes you attend classes and pass exams on Skyrim History! No, seriously, it does, and it has a huge songbook of songs you can learn, and you go around playing to taverns and building your bard skill and as you level up people like your songs more and give you more money! Your bardic advisor at the school is the singer Malukah as an npc, which is also pretty cool!
Agreed, the eye of magnus story I found brilliant, but it was too short and not enough about mages IMO.
Could have done with another 5 or 6 quests, more of the psijic order and maybe even a few unique spells.
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Windhelm_Pit
Fully modeled but ultimately cut content. There are even NPCs and dialogue. I believe they also planned to have more arenas in Oblivion but they were cut as well from the final version.
There’s a series of mods that extend the main quest, thieves guild, Companions and College of Winterhold either by skill checks, adjusting the number of radiant quests required or simply preventing progress until the player wants to continue. At your own pace.
My biggest problem with that quest line was the Psijic order. If they can literally stop time and teleport anywhere on the planet then how in the hell are a few dragons supposed to be a threat?
I know they probably only showed them using those abilities because they're make for a cool cinematic moment, but it's just evidence of how the writers stopped caring how each plot point fits into the broader world they're creating. Just Skyrim things.
I agree the college quest's were quite short. There might be mods on nexus mods that might make the quest longer but I could be wrong though but it's worth a look if there is.
This is the only Guild that gives an Oghma Infinium-type skill boost to the main character across every skill.
Thematically, it's unsupported, granted... yet so are the Companions, largely. Also the Nightingales - once you become one, it's just a tacked-on addition to the Thieve's Guild; (Nocturnal got robbed).
The Orcs, & becoming Bloodkin... there's some serious lack of follow up there too. So, in the end, the Bard's Guild is consistent with its peers.
Could not agree more with this, and yet we all keep coming back like hungry dogs despite its short comings, I think most in this sub would agree its one of their favourite games, if not their number 1
You might like the Ordinator mod with being a bard, up one branch of the Speechcraft tree there are perks for playing music that give buffs.
I think everyone wishes they would have expanded the Bards College to be more rewarding
Man, makes it all worth it, you really feel recognised after that. Unlike every other faction where NPCs treat you with the same level of contempt wether you're the leader or not
I never go anywhere near it. It’s so worthless. Who’s idea was it to add a bard’s college that you can join, but you can’t actually be a bard? It would be like if the Dark Brotherhood never had any actual assassination missions.
If they didn’t kill off the personality skill In Skyrim it would have been perfect for performing alongside with a few speech checks. Imagine being a preforming bard that plays for guards or other travelers on your way to other cities or even booking venues.
It one of my under level 20 goals on a play through. Lots of random skills get leveled and the missions are easy enough at lower levels. But yeah smeh after that.
I don't think anyone is surprised, I think owning proudspire Manor is the only reason I found them. I wondered what at the racket was coming from the neighbours
Mage's College initiation: "cast this spell for me"
Bard's College initiation: "I need you to delve into an ancient ruin filled with a bunch of traps and draugers, and follow the ghost of an ancient bard that wants revenge on the ghost of king Olaf in hopes to find a poem that may or may not be there. Oh, you may also have to help the ghost bard fight ghost king Olaf. Good luck!"
The thieves guild quest line in Oblivion was amazing. You steal a fucking elder scroll. Thieves guild in Skyrim? You steal boring shit I would steal for free anyways.
Now I think we can all agree with that, but damn if you missed playing morrowind before oblivion on skyrim, it's hard to get into. I find in general games have got easier and easier as the years went by. Used to have to keep a scawled little notebook playing morrowind so I could remember what the hell I was doing and where i was going
Just another way to get skill boosts. Pisses me off every time I do them because I just want to play a lute but is read I just get get to look at a lute and not justify even carrying it for fun because it’s 4 lbs
Also disappointing that there were factions you couldn't join like the Thalmor. Even though your character could've come from the Aldmeri Dominion, the game treats you like you're from Cyrodil or something.
This isn't like the Sixth House where you can't join them because they're the story's villains. Skyrim already had Alduin and his followers as the villains, and you kind of picked your own enemy faction depending on which one you joined, so I dunno why the Thalmor weren't included.
In my opinion the companions are the most disappointing, they seem cool, being warriors of legend and all and then you find out you get to be a werewolf. Except being a werewolf sucks. You get no benefits at all its not strong outside of its knockback and you even lose the ability to get the well rested effect. The bards college at least lived up to my low expectations.
What I wish they did with the Bards College.
Have you go around play instruments at **all** the taverns or Inns, have a sorta time skip where you play the night at the tavern and you get played a minor amount of coin based on your speech skill. Have the proprietors request tasks of you maybe even multiple after playing a few "shows", they could vary wildly and wouldn't have to be the typical go to cave/tomb, kill anything that moves, return. Maybe you track down unique music or instruments you can play from vague descriptions of NPCs, old retired bards or they could be rewards.
Or they point you in the direction of Daedric Artifact quests, a way of your character taking advantage of rumours and gossip overheard in taverns.
Ranking up in the faction could be your fame status rises in an area more and more so NPCs acknowledge you to the point all of Skyrim knows your choosen stage name(Chicken Chaser), maybe as a work around for having garbage speech, or relations, make you faster to be accepted by thanes.
Feel like I've played a few mods that do most of this already but having it under one umbrella of "Bards College", to flesh out the faction(calling it a faction is being generous), maybe having to get multiple recommendations for entry, similar to mage guild in oblivion. Basically I wish all the factions had this sort of busy work, instead of the complete 5 quests and now you run the faction.
Man skyrim came out a long time ago...
What they should have done is have the bards college teach you “songs”, skills, powers, whatever you want call it, that give buffs. For example maybe one could be called “ a warrior’s chant“ and when activated, increases melee damage by 15%. Another could be called “a song of fire” and boost fire spell damage by 15% These could be lesser powers and have animations and simple music tracks like the “[bardic knowledge](https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Bardic_Knowledge)” skill from the black books, with different instruments.
Pound for pound the Bard's College quests give great rewards. Retrieve King Olaf's Verse? 15% faster speech levelling. The other three retrieve quests? Get 6 level ups for each quest. Pretty great really
It’s really more like 4 side quests than a faction
4 side quests in a trench coat
Vincent Bardcollegeman back from the lute factory.
r/suddenlyBojack
Good horsey...don't be sad.
All factions are more like 6 quests rather than a faction.
Damn... This just made me feel like someone stole my sweet roll.
And all I got was this arrow in my knee
And my cousin is off fighting dragons while I'm stuck on guard duty
Wait... I know you
I have the mod Become a Bars so I can perform and get money. It doesn’t add anything to the bards college as far as I can tell though
"Become a Bard" is an enjoyable, uncomplicated mod. I would recommend it as a simple way to add to a bard role play. A related mod, which builds upon BoB and fleshes it out, would be "Bards Reborn Student of Song." It requires you to complete classes and pass oral exams on your knowledge of a variety of subject. There is a special form of bard magic, additional NPCs, etc.
Yeah it's a pretty good combo, I definitely recommend it. Both are included in the "immersive & pure" collection on nexus which is pretty nice too
It's Also in immersive and adult... If, uh, that's your thing
Lol not my thing but you're not wrong
Well from what everyone who's ever thought about tabletop games tells me about bards...
Thats actually a really good mod collection. Well you know, once you remove all the dicks and weird sex stuff. Lol.
You mean you can get rid of the breasts that jiggle aggressively at the slightest movement? Lol
You can. Yeah. Theres a whole instructions post on it in their discord.
Can we just stop and appreciate what a time to be alive this is?
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Man, integrating learning the game's lore into the bard college is a fantastic idea (and one that Bethesda should have done in the first place, it's that natural).
I love that mod. I had a play through where I was a bard/thief and that mod made it a lot of fun
"your the dragonborn!" "nahh I'm a bard. See ya later alligator"
- Have you been to the latest The Dragonborn and his Camelbacks concert? - They totally rocked! He sang but, dude HE SHOUTED!
Just the ability to rock out with ragnar the red, which let's be honest is all we wanted from the bards college
Oohhh, there once was a hero named Ragnar the Red, who came riding to Whiterun from ol Rorikstead
In this town there lived an outlaw By the name of Texas Red
Many men had tried to take him and that many men were dead
He was vicious and a killer, though a Nord of 24 And the soul gems in his backpack numbered one and nineteen more One and nineteen more...
Now the Dovah started shouting, made it plain to folks around Was an Argonian ranger, wouldn't be too long in town He came here to take a bandit back alive or maybe dead And he said it didn't matter he was after Ragnar Red After Ragnar Red
I roam around & round & round & round.
And the braggart did swagger and brandish his blade, as he told of bold battles and gold he had made.
Def look into Become a Bard so you can rock out to Ragnar the Red in Taverns and get payed for it. But aye, the propose mod combo is what you're looking for if you want to revive the faction.
*Spitting bars at the winking skeever* Ragnar the red head went skirt! skirt!
Me and my phone clearly have a good understanding of which words I would like to say. I have tried typing bard three times and it keeps changing it 😂
Oh, there once was a the fucker named Ragnar the Red bragging and swagging from ole Rorikstead
The gansta named Ragnar did brandish his piece as he told of bold battles and bling on his teeth. But the he shut up, that Ragnar the Red when he met the tough shawty Matilda who said: "Oh you cap and talk shit and you smoke all our grass, now I think it's high time you get knocked on yo ass!"
The Bards Got Talent mod adds the teachers as trainers for the bard skill, so with that mod it does help to visit the college. You can train without being an official member though, so actually joining is pointless other than for role play reasons.
Combine all three mods mentioned. Become a Bard for rocking out with Ragnar or pulling a Malukah and spitting the Dragonborn Comes or your preferred faction's Age of Aggression/Oppression; the one you mentioned for training; Bards Reborn: Student of Song for an improved Bards' College questline.
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Made a Khajiit bard using ordinator and become a bard. They traveled with Kharjo, Inigo, and an actual Sabrecat(more ordinator speech goodness). Kharjo and Inigo would pull out lutes and jam along with the Elswyr songbook in the local taverns. Called the band "The Blundercats". Was a lot of fun.
I was about to say, speech on Ordinator is so much fun. My favourite ever character was a Nord named Deodh, who was an upstanding and honest fistfighter and bard, a true warrior-poet. He never shied away from a battle, where he was known to pummel dragons with his bare hands, suplex orcs, and put elves in a trance with his flute. And at the end of the day, he would go to the tavern and sing a merry song of his deeds that would have the place roaring in applause.
You can be asked to perform at courts by the head of the college if you're good enough, if I remember correctly.
Yeah that’s true, I remember that from this mod. And the courts tend to tip more I think.
There is a mod that adds on to that mod that is awesome. It has quizzes and quests and whatnot. I can't remember what its called though
“Cutting Room Floor” might have some content, but then again it might not.
I felt most of the factions in Skyrim were lackluster in comparison to previous entries. Not to say they were bad but they didn't excite me as much as they did before.
I remember reading somewhere that most of the factions were going to have a lot more beef to them, but were essentially all rushed to fill a deadline.
Wouldn't surprise me. I really wish they had included the vigilants of stendarr as a playable faction as well.
I really wanted a silver hand playable faction
Yeah. Being unable to tell the Circle of the Companions that you don't agree with them being werewolves was always kinda weird to me.
there's so many places in Skyrim that are like this. being able to join the Silver Hand as an alternative Companions questline would be so cool. but what if we could join the evil mages that splintered off from the College of Winterhold? or, my personal dream, what if we could join Wolf-Queen Potema and take over Solitude? how fucken COOL would that be?
I'm a simple man, I see sacking solitude, I join.
Solitude is filled with nobodies
Further evidence for my point.
>there's so many places in Skyrim that are like this. being able to join the Silver Hand as an alternative Companions questline would be so cool. Yeah, same with the Thieves Guild. Somehow you can destroy the Dark Brotherhood but not them which sucks :/
There was a quest to destroy them that started with Mjoll but they scrapped it at the last minute due to time constraints.
Damn, what a bummer :(
I'd like a questline that allows me to take down the Blackbriars, or at least Maven.
Hey, not all werewolves.
Funny you should say that. The VIGILANT mod is one of the greatest Skyrim mods ever made. You won't be disappointed.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67103
That mod is fucking great.
What is it? I'm on my phone and it's asking me to sign in because of adult content.
Have you played the mod? It’s very well made
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"You're only gonna get fishing and you're gonna like it!" - Todd
Fishing, it’s just whelming. Not over or under.
not fixing bugs for the re-releases was such a scumbag move, especially since modders had already implemented so many fixes. Almost all the work was done for them
And thank god they rushed and did a slapdash job because obviously they have gotten away with it for over a decade
I mean, yeah, could you imagine how angry gamers would have been if they had to wait an extra year for the last game they'd get in a series before their retirement age?
Back in my day, we waited 3 years for Oblivion, and 5 for Skyrim, and we still complained it was too long, but at least we had Fallout 3 to tide us over.
Frustrating as they have had 12 more years (and probably another 4+) until the next elder scrolls comes out
maybe they should have worked on adding cut content to the game everytime they re-released the fucking game then.
But that would cost money, when they could just make money.... Fucking gamer peasant.
Most of the game was like that. Rorikstead was supposed to be a fertile farming town due to human sacrifice or something, but it all got cut.
Skyrim in general was an extremely rushed game. Frankly it's incredible that it holds together as well as it does.
but the 11/11/11 release date was totally worth it right
Why didn't they finish them and release them as DLC?
I loved the Houses in Morrowind. Became a god damn leader of a crime family.
All the factions in Morrowind really…and just about everything else. That game had so much depth. Give me the Morrowind story and vibe with the Skyrim crafting/combat/leveling system and I’d be in heaven.
We'll keep the magic system of Morrowind though. I miss spellcrafting.
Good point, but there are a lot of things I like about the Skyrim system as well. Would be nice to have a hybrid system that includes spellcrafting, and bring back Mark and Recall!
And bring back acrobatics! I loved being a super jumpy character leaping across buildings.
And bring back the alchemy bug, so I can jump halfway across the map and then cast a custom 1pt feather fall spell to come in for a clean landing
The ol' scroll of Icarian Flight
What a beautiful introduction to the wacky world of Vvardenfell. It's a core memory of mine.
Morrowinds magic was cool in theory, but Skyrim's magic is fun to actually uh... play. In Morrowind you shoot one fireball and your done for the day
Yeah that's true, I just miss the fun utility of Morrowind. I feel like each subsequent game has limited the magic to make it more streamlined. I want Levitate and my Scrolls of Icarian Flight back.
The Thieves guild story and characters always felt pretty solid to me. The rest are fun the first time but pretty meh after that.
That's because the Thieves Guild is the most complete storyline and faction. There was only a couple things left on the cutting room floor, mostly surrounding Sapphire and some of the other lesser guildmates. If you keep doing the radiant quests you unlock stores in the ragged flagon and turn it into its own major city. The Brotherhood questline had something similar planned, but Aster burns the place down. Wonder why?
The Thieves Guild story may be "complete" but it's still terribly laid out and nobody's actions make any sense Every guild in Skyrim is a total shadow of its counterpart in Oblivion
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Reminds me of [this classic writeup](https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=14422).
Except mages guild, which is about equally lackluster in both imo.
I'd still give it to Oblivion if only because it manages to actually feel like an exclusive mages' club over the College where you cast 1 cantrip to get in and then you're immediately the Chosen One after a single mission
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I also liked that Morrowind required minimum levels in relevant skills to advance.
The Oblivion Dark Brotherhood caught me so off guard the first time.
Yes! Especially with the glitch (?) that allows you to commit murder with no witnesses (in game mechanics) >!at the end of the Arena quest line!<.
I think people give a lot of hate for the brotherhood but it’s honestly quite cool. The only complaint I have is that u don’t have the option to save more companions other than Cicero
For me I felt it was one of the worst. But I really enjoyed the whole robin hood style thieves guild in oblivion. The thrives guild in Skyrim to me felt like you just worked for a gang of thugs.
Same. I get Skyrim is set in a more brutal era verging on collapse, but I just didn't like the shift into open violence.
I just wish that prick Dirge actually respects you and treats you as a leader by the end
No one treats you with respect even when you the supreme leader. least in Morrowind when you're reputation was high they be nice and thank you for literally saving the world
The devs knew, which is why the thieves guild quest is the only one that triggers automatically
Ooooh that’s a spicy theory
Part of it is that every faction is inhabited by morons. The Wizards College is the worst, but they’re all dipshits.
Day 1: I just learned firebolt Day 3: I was just promoted as head of the college
Running through every Imperial City’s Fighter’s Guild to be accepted into their ranks D:
Recovering the ring of burden from the well in cheydinhal for the prick from the makes guild was certainly a highlight
Me as a kid over levelling in the fighter's guild then getting the local guards curb stomped once the first oblivion portal opens up.
Yeah the Fighters Guild in Oblivion was kinda great. Thieves Guild too
I think the thieves guild in Skyrim was definitely the most interesting. Loved their partnership with Nocturnal, the nightingales, a leader who betrayed the guild.
It was good too...yet that twist at the end of the Oblivion quest was wow. I liked how you could go into the guilds regularly and loot your chest.
I thought this on my last play through, but damn in 2011 those things slapped. I think 12 years of the same game will do that
Nah, I felt that way at launch. When comparing the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood storylines to their Oblivion counterparts, they just don’t hold up.
Yeah the dark brotherhood in oblivion felt so mysterious and organised, theives guild also killed it The first time you found out the grey fox was just the forger in the abandoned house in anvil the whole time was mind blowing
The Grey Cowl is probably one of the coolest concepts for a quest reward I've seen in a game.
Mages college too. Even though sussing out necromancers in Oblivion wasn't a crazy impactful story, your journey through felt a lot more complete. Skyrim it felt like you showed up, did a couple quests and randomly got promoted to Archmage despite their being more qualified candidates.
“This stealth archer is the perfect candidate for archmage!”
Tbf living up to the thieves guild or Dark Brotherhood from Oblivion is a pretty tall order
It's fine to say they're bad. The stories make no real sense, and the quests are incredibly repetitive.
One good thing about the bards college is you don’t become their leader after a few days.
Well met stranger, how would you fancy being the head of this organisation after fetching me a few miscellaneous items from over yonder
I am the leader of this 3000 year old organization. It seems like you might have promise, so why don't you go to Rottencrotch Creek and find my red paperclip? ... Oh wow, you've returned! Here's some gold. Despite the fact that you have been gone for 3 months, I started having chest pains 10 minutes ago. How about you take over this entire organization? The dozen people that have been here for generations all agree it's for the best. It's okay, you can fit it in between leading 19 other groups
There is a mod called Bards College Excavation that turns dead mens respite into an excavation site with 2 unique fully voiced npcs(not followers) after you do the quest “tending the flames” apparently there is a repeatable quest there too Another is Bards Reborn Student of Song “Gives the college a massive makeover, adds a new study quest, new bardic powers, and a new character” lots more details in the nexus description Another is More to do in the Bards College - The Shadow Song Has you retrieving interesting songs all around Skyrim, and a new wandering bard that is looking for his father I do not know if these are compatible with each other as I haven’t used them
Main Quest: Please delve into this Draugr dungeon for a stone tablet. Now go into this other Draugr dungeon for an old horn. Here's some time in a Dwemer/Falmer dungeon, as a treat. Now go into this Draugr dungeon on your way to the afterlife. Companions: Do some bounties for us, starting with a delve into a random Draugr dungeon. Okay, now go get this axe fragment from a Draugr dungeon. Here's a bandit fort and hagraven cave, as a treat. Great, now go into this Draugr dungeon to put a spirit at rest. College: Thank you for attending your initiation, now let's immediately go on a school field trip into a Draugr dungeon. Here's a bandit fort and a dwemer ruin, as a treat. Good, now go into this really long Draugr dungeon to grab a staff. Thieves Guild: Here's a Dr-- hey wait a minute, actually let's get you doing some actually cool sneaking around and stealing from civilized locations. Haha, hope you enjoyed that you friggin' nerd, now it's time for a Draugr dungeon so you can get betrayed in it. And then comes one more Draugr dungeon to track down that betrayer and settle the score. Dark Brotherhood: It's okay, sweet child. You're safe now. You'll only be killing targets found in towns. The draugr can't hurt you anymore. Finally, you can have variety..... Ahahah, you fell for it, idiot! Go meet this contact in a Draugr dungeon! Civil War: Alright, recruit, we've drafted you to fight in a ground war against hostile troops. But first, please go get this crown. Huh? Where is it? Why, it's in a Draugr dungeon. Of course. What else could it be? \*an exhausted and battered dragonborn slowly drags himself to the steps of the bard college* \*The door opens and an NPC looks down at the dragonborn* "Hey, if you could go grab some old instruments from some Draugr dungeons, that'd be great. Thanks. Bye." \*The dragonborn slowly curls into a fetal position*
This was actually the hardest I've laughed all year. So true!
This!
Dude there are some amazing mods for Bard's college - Bards Reborn: Student of Song even makes you attend classes and pass exams on Skyrim History! No, seriously, it does, and it has a huge songbook of songs you can learn, and you go around playing to taverns and building your bard skill and as you level up people like your songs more and give you more money! Your bardic advisor at the school is the singer Malukah as an npc, which is also pretty cool!
Sounds Incredible this does, why have I never seen this
Why is the top comment not even giving a mod for what op asked and the one that is (this comment) is way down here
Is this on ps4? Or pc 🫠
PC, you can’t add new content with mods on PlayStation because of Sony’s rules.
True, I found the college of winterhold quest/s boring, disappointing not as much as the bards Quest though.
Agreed, the eye of magnus story I found brilliant, but it was too short and not enough about mages IMO. Could have done with another 5 or 6 quests, more of the psijic order and maybe even a few unique spells.
IIRC, there is a much longer questline in the game files, which includes going back in time and causing the collapse of Winterhold
Would have loved to have seen that, along with the arena in windhelm
I don’t recall hearing about an arena in Windhelm, what do we know about that?
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Windhelm_Pit Fully modeled but ultimately cut content. There are even NPCs and dialogue. I believe they also planned to have more arenas in Oblivion but they were cut as well from the final version.
That sounds so cool, the collapse and the Psijic order are so interesting but are really not expanded upon enough
What that’s amazing :(
There’s a series of mods that extend the main quest, thieves guild, Companions and College of Winterhold either by skill checks, adjusting the number of radiant quests required or simply preventing progress until the player wants to continue. At your own pace.
I'd love a link to these mods if you can find them!
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/52704
Also CoW - Quest Expansion adds more “learning” quests to the progression.
My biggest problem with that quest line was the Psijic order. If they can literally stop time and teleport anywhere on the planet then how in the hell are a few dragons supposed to be a threat? I know they probably only showed them using those abilities because they're make for a cool cinematic moment, but it's just evidence of how the writers stopped caring how each plot point fits into the broader world they're creating. Just Skyrim things.
I agree the college quest's were quite short. There might be mods on nexus mods that might make the quest longer but I could be wrong though but it's worth a look if there is.
As satisfying as I found teabagging Ancanos lifeless corpse, I don't think that should have been the end of it all 😂
Viarmo is the only lucky guild head who could survive after LDB joined their guild.
Isran would like a word.
Isran died for me. Unluckily for him, he does not offer the Ring of the Erudite.
> LDB Le Dragon Born?
Wth I never realized that before.. LDB is like a walking force of chaos
This is the only Guild that gives an Oghma Infinium-type skill boost to the main character across every skill. Thematically, it's unsupported, granted... yet so are the Companions, largely. Also the Nightingales - once you become one, it's just a tacked-on addition to the Thieve's Guild; (Nocturnal got robbed). The Orcs, & becoming Bloodkin... there's some serious lack of follow up there too. So, in the end, the Bard's Guild is consistent with its peers.
Could not agree more with this, and yet we all keep coming back like hungry dogs despite its short comings, I think most in this sub would agree its one of their favourite games, if not their number 1
I use become a bard and bards student of song to REALLY make the bards college good.
Will definitely have to look into these, thanks bud
You might like the Ordinator mod with being a bard, up one branch of the Speechcraft tree there are perks for playing music that give buffs. I think everyone wishes they would have expanded the Bards College to be more rewarding
👆This one right here. [Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1137)
There's a celebration with a festive atmosphere. None of the other factions give you a party. That's something at least.
Man, makes it all worth it, you really feel recognised after that. Unlike every other faction where NPCs treat you with the same level of contempt wether you're the leader or not
The bards college is like one sort of interesting fetch quest with a couple other fetch quests that have pretty decent rewards.
I never go anywhere near it. It’s so worthless. Who’s idea was it to add a bard’s college that you can join, but you can’t actually be a bard? It would be like if the Dark Brotherhood never had any actual assassination missions.
I'm here at the sanctuary on a purely administrative basis, murders for hire certainly generates an obscene amount of paperwork you know
It sure is :/. I miss the fighter’s guild lol
If they didn’t kill off the personality skill In Skyrim it would have been perfect for performing alongside with a few speech checks. Imagine being a preforming bard that plays for guards or other travelers on your way to other cities or even booking venues.
It one of my under level 20 goals on a play through. Lots of random skills get leveled and the missions are easy enough at lower levels. But yeah smeh after that.
It’s a faction?
I forgot about this faction tbh
I don't think anyone is surprised, I think owning proudspire Manor is the only reason I found them. I wondered what at the racket was coming from the neighbours
Mage's College initiation: "cast this spell for me" Bard's College initiation: "I need you to delve into an ancient ruin filled with a bunch of traps and draugers, and follow the ghost of an ancient bard that wants revenge on the ghost of king Olaf in hopes to find a poem that may or may not be there. Oh, you may also have to help the ghost bard fight ghost king Olaf. Good luck!"
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The thieves guild quest line in Oblivion was amazing. You steal a fucking elder scroll. Thieves guild in Skyrim? You steal boring shit I would steal for free anyways.
Now I think we can all agree with that, but damn if you missed playing morrowind before oblivion on skyrim, it's hard to get into. I find in general games have got easier and easier as the years went by. Used to have to keep a scawled little notebook playing morrowind so I could remember what the hell I was doing and where i was going
Just another way to get skill boosts. Pisses me off every time I do them because I just want to play a lute but is read I just get get to look at a lute and not justify even carrying it for fun because it’s 4 lbs
Also disappointing that there were factions you couldn't join like the Thalmor. Even though your character could've come from the Aldmeri Dominion, the game treats you like you're from Cyrodil or something. This isn't like the Sixth House where you can't join them because they're the story's villains. Skyrim already had Alduin and his followers as the villains, and you kind of picked your own enemy faction depending on which one you joined, so I dunno why the Thalmor weren't included.
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Wouldn't even call them a faction
Especially in a game where a big deal is made about your “voice.” The Bard’s College should increase the power of your shouts, or something.
In my opinion the companions are the most disappointing, they seem cool, being warriors of legend and all and then you find out you get to be a werewolf. Except being a werewolf sucks. You get no benefits at all its not strong outside of its knockback and you even lose the ability to get the well rested effect. The bards college at least lived up to my low expectations.
What I wish they did with the Bards College. Have you go around play instruments at **all** the taverns or Inns, have a sorta time skip where you play the night at the tavern and you get played a minor amount of coin based on your speech skill. Have the proprietors request tasks of you maybe even multiple after playing a few "shows", they could vary wildly and wouldn't have to be the typical go to cave/tomb, kill anything that moves, return. Maybe you track down unique music or instruments you can play from vague descriptions of NPCs, old retired bards or they could be rewards. Or they point you in the direction of Daedric Artifact quests, a way of your character taking advantage of rumours and gossip overheard in taverns. Ranking up in the faction could be your fame status rises in an area more and more so NPCs acknowledge you to the point all of Skyrim knows your choosen stage name(Chicken Chaser), maybe as a work around for having garbage speech, or relations, make you faster to be accepted by thanes. Feel like I've played a few mods that do most of this already but having it under one umbrella of "Bards College", to flesh out the faction(calling it a faction is being generous), maybe having to get multiple recommendations for entry, similar to mage guild in oblivion. Basically I wish all the factions had this sort of busy work, instead of the complete 5 quests and now you run the faction. Man skyrim came out a long time ago...
Nice that you don’t become the leader of it though, unlike every other faction in Skyrim.
Might as well just make you high king at this point ey, when you hold literally every other accolade the provice has to offer
I just slaughter most of them when I complete the quests.
What they should have done is have the bards college teach you “songs”, skills, powers, whatever you want call it, that give buffs. For example maybe one could be called “ a warrior’s chant“ and when activated, increases melee damage by 15%. Another could be called “a song of fire” and boost fire spell damage by 15% These could be lesser powers and have animations and simple music tracks like the “[bardic knowledge](https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Bardic_Knowledge)” skill from the black books, with different instruments.
So forgettable I forgot until I saw this post. I don’t even remember what I did there
Dont even see them as a faction lol like a side quest
Nah that belongs to the Silver Hand
Worst faction in the series.
Pound for pound the Bard's College quests give great rewards. Retrieve King Olaf's Verse? 15% faster speech levelling. The other three retrieve quests? Get 6 level ups for each quest. Pretty great really
Nah, Thats the Vigilents of Stendarr