The Sims Medieval Bard Hero Class Guide

Poems, Lute Playing, Inpsiration, and Earning Money with the Profession

by Tom "Metro" Schlueter

Monarch | Bard | Blacksmith | Jacoban | Knight | Merchant | Peteran | Physician | Spy | Wizard

Hero Overview
The Bard is the entertainer of your kingdom. His profession becomes unlocked after you place the Tavern. He's a poet and performer, like a Jimi Hendrix with a lute. But, he's also a playwright, like a William Shakespeare...sort of a groovy, trippy, tragic character all rolled into one. So I'm calling my Hero Jimi Shakespeare.

Jimi Shakespeare looks off into a purple haze as he prepares to begin the Legend of the Talking Frog Quest. "Yeah, baby. Diggeth this - I'm going to play my lute with my teeth on that stage behind me and set it on fire for you beautiful people."

Leveling the Bard
As Bards gain levels, the main thing that happens is new songs unlock for them to perform on their lute. At level 5 the ability to write Tragic Plays and Epic Poems also unlocks. Finally, at lvl 10, a Bard can write a Legendary Play.

Since Bards have a nice mix of Daily Responsibilities, performing all of them on a regular basis will give your Bard good early XP. But, the main thing I would focus on is simply practicing on the most expensive lute you can afford. The cheaper the lute, the less XP gained. And the strings break on the cheap lute all the time as well. When this happens, simply click the Lute in the inventory and get it restrung for $10.

Earning Money as a Bard
Performing a song, Reciting a Poem, and Performing a Play is kind of like Playing for Tips in Sims 3. You choose the interaction your Bard is to do and then you'll see the Simole amount float up the screen towards the end of the interaction. Writing plays and poems and turning around to immediately sell them them is a definite money maker. In fact, that may be the smartest route because for some crazy reason poems and plays in your inventory depreciate in value just like objects purchased in Furnish Mode!

In the beginning, I would do a combination of selling plays/poems, but also performing them for XP. Once you sell something, it's gone and you can't perform it or recite it again. But, the lute is the one constant that's always there ready to earn money for your Bard. Simply choose Perform Song and your Bard will pick from a list of available songs. As far as I can tell, 3 main things influence how much you are paid for a song - the quality of the lute, the level of your Bard, and the number of patrons watching you. Oh, and make sure it's been 2 or 3 hours since your last performance. If you perform a song right after finishing another song, then your pay is greatly reduced. I suppose that cooldown period is necessary to avoid the obviously exploit of just playing songs all day. Not that I would do that. Ahem...

Now...ready for some surprising information? All of the various "Themes" gained from Inspiration - to the best of my knowledge - how zero impact on poem and play value no matter how you mix them up. Not only that, but Epic Poems sell for the same amount as regular Poems ($35), and Comedic, Tragic, and Legendary Plays all sell for the same amount as well ($95). But, I thought about this a bit and realized that it just makes sense for EA to do it this way for Medieval. It's not a complicated game like Sims 3 where various ingredient combinations have a huge impact on nectar value, for example.

So, all of that said, what kind of money can be made from playing a Bard? Plenty. When Jimi Shakespeare finally hit the profession cap and was using a Heavy Metal Lute he saw some payments in the $500 range for individual song performances. That was when there were 5 or 6 patrons dancing and watching. Play performances are not as attractive - they take longer to set up with the recruiting of another person and then there's the recruiting fee too. But, Jimi did see a couple play performances bring in the neighborhood of $400 Simoles. As far as payments for reciting Poems, it's pretty low - less than $40. I would opt for that only when your Bard needs to do it for a Daily Responsibility or during a cooldown period for lute playing. There's plenty of money to be made. You just need to be patient and push your Bard all the way to the top and use the best lute available.

Jimi plays All Along Romeo and Juliet's Watchtower for some enthusiastic Tavern patrons. "Good evening Metropolis Sims! Let's crank it up to 11 with this next number..."

Tavern
Like most kingdom buildings, the Tavern's building cost will depend on how many other buildings you have placed. It adds 1 Well-Being, 2 Culture, and 1 Knowledge aspect capacity. The Tavern is in the general vicinity of the town square. It's a small, 2-story building right on the edge of the road heading to the Village Shoppe. On the lower level you have the stage where your Bard can put on plays, tables for patrons, a cauldron, and some casks. Upstairs is a bed and the Bard's Archive where he can write Poems and Plays.

A Barmaid NPC comes with the Tavern. The Barmaid will replenish the casks, so don't bother wasting the money to brew your own drinks. At any rate, the term "drinks are on the house" is definitely appropriate for the Bard when drinking at the Tavern.

The Tavern can get very cramped with that massive stage. You can remove some of the tables to make more room, and even consider moving the chamberpot downstairs (like under the stairs) to keep Sims from getting blocked all the time heading to the Bard's private area.

Good Traits and Fatal Flaws for a Bard
I chose the Eloquent and Fun-loving traits for Jimi Shakespeare. Eloquent certainly seemed appropriate since Jimi is sort of a Frankenstein version of William Shakespeare. Fun-Loving Sims get more powerful buffs from fun interactions, such as playing the Lute (+50 Focus vs. +40 after hitting the fun cap).

The Drunkard Fatal Flaw just makes sense. The casks are right there in the Tavern and they "refresh" on their own, saving your Bard the Brewing expense.

Bard Interactions
The Bard has quite an assortment of possible interactions from performing on a stage to gathering inspiration from his surroundings to writing memorable plays and poems at his Archives.

• Gather Inspiration Click on the ground -- pretty much anywhere -- and your Bard will Gather Inspiration. This takes about an hour and your Bard will whip out a scroll and quill and jot down his thoughts while some "Themes" will be added to his inventory - Sports, Art, Food and Drink, Love, etc. There's most definitely a connection between the area a Bard Gathers Inspiration from and the types of Themes dumped into his inventory.
• Ask For Inspiration This is accomplished by clicking on another Sim: Bard > Ask for Inspiration. It's a lot quicker than the Gather Inspiration interaction, but you'll also only gain 1 Theme as opposed to 5 or 6 from the Gather interaction. The nice thing with this social is there's apparently no relationship requirement. You can Ask for Inspiration on complete strangers.
• Write Comedic Play (click on Archive) Comedic Plays require 3 Themes and are available at lvl 1. Select your Themes and then your Bard writes the play.
• Write Tragic Play (click on Archive) Tragic Plays require 4 Themes and unlock at lvl 5.
• Write Legendary Play (click on Archive) Legendary Plays require 5 Themes and unlock at lvl 10.
• Perform Play So long as you have a play in your inventory, click on the Tavern stage and then Recruit a nearby Sim to perform in the Play with you. Click on the Sim: Bard > Recruit. You pay a small fee (approximately $40 Simoles), and then the actor goes up to the stage. Click the stage again to begin the Play. Your Bard and the recruit go through some short amusing animations and you'll be paid towards the end.
• Write Poem (click on Archive) Poems require 2 Themes. Select your 2 Themes and then your Bard can write the poem.
• Write Epic Poem (click on Archive) Requires 3 Themes and unlocks at lvl 5.
• Recite Poem This can be accomplished by clicking the Tavern stage (your Bard needs to have a poem in inventory) and choosing Recite Poem or by clicking a Sim: Bard > Recite Poem. At the end of the recital, your Bard is paid a fee.
• Perform Song (click on lute) Just select the lute in inventory and then choose from the list of available songs. At level 10, a Bard will receive a +20 Buff for 2 hours while all nearby Sims will benefit at +35.
• Practice (click on lute) This is a nice XP booster in the early stages of the profession.

Bard Daily Responsibilities

Here's a complete list of the various daily responsibilities you'll have as a Bard:

• Pay Taxes No Hero is immune from this Daily Responsibility. Just find the nearest Messenger Post and you're done.
• Perform a Lute Song Click the lute in your Bard's inventory and select Perform Song and you can choose from a selection of available songs.
• Practice Lute for 2 Hours Click on the lute in the Bard's inventory and select Practice. XP will generate nicely while practicing. But, be ready for lots of string replacements on the very cheapest model.
• Gather Inspiration for 2 h Simply click on the ground wherever your Bard happens to be and they can Gather Inspiration from the surrounding area. You'll need to cue this up twice to fulfill the 2 hour requirement.
• Be Inspired by 3 People Click on a Sim - Bard > Ask for Inspiration and you'll receive 1 Theme.
• Finish Writing a Play You do not need to write a play in its entirety in one sitting although doing so also accomplishes this task.
• Perform a Poem You can tackle this on the Tavern Stage, but this can also be done anywhere in the kingdom provided you have a poem in your inventory. Just click on a Sim > Bard > Recite Poem.
• Write 2 Poems Done at the Archive.

Jimi recites an Epic Poem: "Dig this you Medieval cats...I call this poem...Sword on Loins...
"Ouch, my loins. Ouch, my loins. Something sharp just hit my loins.
Shiny and sharp, I hear a harp. Blade of death hath taken my loins."