Bards College Expansion

After completing Viarmo’s quest and joining the College, Helvana will approach you and introduce you to the new teachers who will guide you through all of the new stories and systems that make up the Bards College Expansion. One of those characters is Archbard Sledrig. He is the driving force behind the main storyline.

As Bards are masters of their voice, it is only appropriate that a wielder of The Voice – the Dragonborn – could leverage this mastery to greatest effect. The various Shout-related mechanics added by Bards College Expansion are taught and unlocked during this main quest.

If you’ve not already done so, Sledrig will encourage you to pursue the main quest of Skyrim through the initial training with the Greybeards.

Since some players enjoy bypassing the base game’s main story, the rest of the content of the Bards College Expansion does not require doing so. The main quest generally only gates Shout-related mechanics. You can choose to avoid Sledrig if you would prefer to have no mention of shouting for your character, and instead focus on the other teachers.

Each of the base game Shouts, the DLC Shouts, and most of the new Shouts introduced by Bards College Expansion can be enhanced.

These enhancements come in the form of inventory items called Resonating Crystals. Holding these in your inventory will enhance your Shouts by adding additional effects or bonuses to them.

Unlocking these enhancements requires using the Shout near a Resonating Crystal in a particular location which you’ll learn about during the main quest which captures its essence. You can find additional crystals throughout the main quest dungeons, and will eventually unlock a crafting recipe to make more.

Each Shout may have one active enhancement at any given time, if you have multiple crystals that affect a particular Shout, removing them all from your inventory and picking up just the one you want will make that one active. These enhancements will show up in the Active Effects section of your Magic menu.

A Chant is a set of three Shouts that can be strung together with the aid of a Cadence Rod – which is a new weapon type.

• Equipping the Chant will set your Shout to the first in the series that make up the chant.
• After using the Shout, if you then use a Cadence Rod, your Shout cooldown will reset and the next Shout in the series will be queued up.
• Repeat this again to queue the final Shout.
• Speaking the third Shout of a chant will unleash the power of all three together.

There are a variety of visual and audio cues to help you time your Shouts properly to take advantage of Chanting.

Chanting creates a powerful new combat style using Shouts as a key component for offense or utility. The ability requires clever timing and strategy during battles, and pairs well with the support nature of a Bard.

During the main quest you’ll be granted a new power: Chant of Ravaging. This is one of many new Chants you can learn by engaging in the Resonating Shout system.

Each time you capture the three Shouts that make up a Chant in Resonating Crystals, you’ll find the corresponding book to teach the chant on an altar nearby. Experiment with all of the Shouts to discover different combinations that can be used in a Chant.

You’ll eventually find a stone mural that is reminiscent of a constellation. You can use this mural to unlock a variety of perks and skills that will enhance your abilities with Shouts and music.

Rather than using your normal skill points, you’ll use Bardic Inspiration as a currency. Things like playing music, competing in duels of wit, discovering locations, reading books, Shouting, and more can grant you more points to invest in this system.

Note that most of the skills can be upgraded for additional points though it’s not always linear, while the first rank may cost a single point, the next rank may cost more.

If music-playing is most exciting to you, you’ll want to speak to Olvus after joining the college.

To gain access to these, you’ll need to help the various professor’s recover their lost instruments, and in return Olvus will teach you to play an instrument – as well as hand you a special “Bard’s” version.

The instrument he gives you can be found in the Apparel category and can be Favorited and Equipped. Equipping an instrument will force your character to third person and begin playing music.

While playing, you can move freely, jump, and even use Shouts and powers! Your attack keys though will have different functionality:

• Left Attack will put away your instrument so you can quickly get back into standard combat stance, pressing it again will equip your previous weapons/spells and prepare you to fight.

• Right Attack will change the song you are playing. Note that this only works while in the unsheathed pose.

• Sheathe/Unsheathe will toggle your character between the sheathed weapon and unsheathed weapon pose. While in unsheathed pose, your companions will un-sheath their weapon, your camera will stay tight behind your character, and the song change action will be available as described above. When in Sheathed pose, your companion will sheathe their weapon and your camera is more free to rotate around your character.

In addition to incorporating the base game music, Bards College Expansion adds brand new songs you can play, composed and recorded by the wonderfully talented Jacob McNatt.

When playing music in public spaces, NPCs may gather around and clap for you, over time they may tip you with periodic donations of gold.

Playing music in combat scenarios will buff you and your companions, increasing health, magicka, or stamina regeneration rates depending on the instrument you play.

As you complete major questlines, you may speak to Olvus. He will then invite you to choose how you acted during the questline. These will help to establish your reputation in Skyrim as a valiant hero, a cunning strategist, or an underhanded ne’er-do-well.

The following quests each have a ballad associated you can unlock:

• Base Game Main Quest
• Companions
• Thieves Guild
• Mages Guild
• Dark Brotherhood
• Dawnguard DLC
• Dragonborn DLC
• Bards College Expansion main Quest

As Ballads are written, there’s a chance that in major cities you’ll find a team of Bards singing them in town squares. The more Ballads written, the more likely you’ll come across them, and the longer they’ll stay and spread your tales.

Over time, you’ll be granted benefits from your renown, such as discounts or boosts to intimidation chance.

If verbally sparring with other bards resonates with you, you’ll want to speak to Peras.

Referred to as the Duel of Wit, insult dueling involves challenging other bards found throughout the taverns of Skyrim, trading insults and retorts, and expanding your repertoire to earn gold and prestige.

Each insult has a corresponding retort that both matches the context and rhymes with the insult. Peras will teach you a small handful of insults, and a couple of retorts. The rest you will learn in challenges.

Your goal in a Duel of Wit is to insult your opponent with a line they don’t know the retort to. You’ll trade barbs back and forth several times, the person with the most landed insults wins the match and takes home the gold.

It’s a game of memorization and quick thinking, as you’ve only a minute to respond!

Tips for Insult Duels:

• Don’t be afraid to take a loss, it will only cost you your bet, but you’ll come away with new dialogue options the next time you challenge someone.
• Certain races are unfamiliar with the cultural insults of others. Learn to recognize the faces of Bretons, Imperials, and the other races of Skyrim to give you an edge.
• After a duel, you must wait 24 hours before you can duel the same opponent again.
• Each bard you come across that will play the Duel of Wit will have a rank. The higher their rank, the more money they will demand you bet to face them – but also the more advanced insults and retorts they will know (and therefore can teach you!).
• Occasionally, you may find yourself spontaneously learning new retorts – this can happen once per duel and the chance is tied to your Speech skill.

As masters of speechcraft, those with Bardic training can be called upon to help with negotiations, put someone in a particular mood, or convince people to reveal information they’d tell to no one else.

For those who enjoy puzzling out motives and manipulating with speech, engage with Valerine, who will teach you the ways of the Emissary.

After she teaches you the basics, ask her if she has any Emissary work, each time you complete a task, ask her again – she may immediately have additional or she may tell you to return later.

When completing Emissary quests, your goal is to pay attention to the types of things the people you are speaking to are saying, consider your objective, and try and guide that person in that direction. They will react positively or negatively, giving you clue as to whether you are using the correct approach with them

For example, a character that sees themselves as especially honorable will respond well to a Heartening phrase as something inspiring, but would reject Enigmatic lines as something seedy and under-handed.

Learning who will respond to what requires carefully paying attention to what is said, the tone it’s said in, and your particular objective. Sometimes you may want a positive reaction, other times a negative, sometimes you want to keep things emotionless. Each mission is its own puzzle to solve.

One of the most important parts of the Bardic way of life is being a great storyteller, and so Bards are students of history.

Tyriana offers a special service in this realm: finding locations and relics. You can hire her to uncover map markers or lead you to word walls for learning new Shouts.