Thanks for the recent discussion of Lullaby vs. Charm. I am always
interested to hear how other people use their skills, especially when
it gives me strategies that I haven't yet thought of. As I approach
30, I am interested to hear what other mid- to high-level bards think
of recent and upcoming songs in my repertoire. Here are my thoughts
on the songs in the 20's.

20 -- Largo's Melodic Binding. I found this to be a great "taunt"
when I first got it. I could pair with a wizard and easily pull
a mob off of him. However, I now feel much more comfortable
with the targetted Consonant Chain for the same purpose.
Lately, I've been grouping with druids who get pissed off when
I've chained and they can't snare, or when my chains break their
snare, so I'm thinking of reviving this one. As for the attack
speed and AC adjustments, I've never noticed any tangible
benefits. Currently never memorized.

21 -- Melanie's Mellifluous Motion. Great for getting off the top of
the aviak structure in S Karana. Conceivably a reasonable panic
button, but now I'd rather use Appalling Screech for that.
Otherwise, it's just a party game. It's amusing (in relatively
safe areas) to bounce your casters around while they're
meditating, but, like baking, it seems mainly useful for
entertainment. Currently never memorized.

22 -- Alenia's Disenchanting Melody. As far as I can tell, this
doesn't do squat. Never memorized.

23 -- Selo's Consonant Chain. Great "taunt" and as a bonus, it can be
used to snare runners if you don't have a snare caster in the
party (or on the mob). The attack speed slow-down is
noticeable, and when combined with enchanter debuffs is truly
remarkable. It quickly superseded Largo's in my collection once
I got it. I always have this memorized.

24 -- Lyssa's Veracious Concord. Um. Why is this such a high-level
song? As a wood-elf, I don't care about ultravision. If I were
human, I'd have long ago come up with a decent light source.
I've never checked to see if I can really see invisible with
this, but since I can't sing it with Shauri's, the usefulness of
that effect seems limited anyway. Never memorized.

25 -- Psalm of Warmth. Woohoo! Although new people are always asking
me, "Do you really think we need cold protection," everyone
loves the damage shield. Even those druids who already get a 15
point personal shield are impressed by the 5 point addition. I
always have this memorized, and I am almost always singing it in
battle.

26 -- Angstlich's Appalling Screech. In the wrong place at the wrong
time, this can be a disaster. However, I have used it
effectively a few times as a panic button, giving my party (or
what remained of it) time to zone. I guess it could also be
used for reverse-kiting in safer areas, but I've never tried
that. Because of its limited usefulness, I rarely have it
memorized, unless I strongly suspect a pending disaster.

27 -- Solon's Song of the Sirens. I was really looking forward to
this, but once I got it, I was terribly disappointed. It seems
that by the time I can type "/pet sit down," the charm is nearly
expired. Does this last longer as my level goes up? And can I
really charm multiple mobs at once, as described in an earlier
post? I thought you could only have one pet at a time. As
someone else noted, it can be useful to pull a single mob from a
group that would not normally attack you, or to pull a caster in
to your fighters, but I'll be damned if all of the interesting
stuff doesn't just resist anyway. Currently, I am not using
this at all, except for entertainment in newbie zones, but I may
have to re-evaluate this. (By the way, one of the funniest
things I've seen in a while was the griffawn that I charmed and
told to sit down. Hee hee.)

28 -- Crission's Pixie Strike. If this cleared the mob's shit-list,
it would be fantastic. As it is, I find it disappointing. It
is certainly no substitute for the enchanter's mesmerize. If I
can really charm multiple mobs at once, then I see no real
advantage to mesmerizing, but if charm is limited to one at a
time, then I guess mesmerize could be useful as an alternative
to lullaby. Still, it seems that when mesmerizing two or three
mobs, I'd have to pull out of the fighting completely, whereas
with lullaby I can still be in there bashing on the same guy the
party is attacking. Not currently memorized, but maybe I need
to experiment with this more.

29 -- Psalm of Vitality. Um. Okay, great disease resistance. (No
poison resistance at all, despite what I've seen on some of the
song listings.) Big whoop. Am I going to be fighting anything
where people are going to care about this? The last time I
fought anything with disease, it was the undead gnolls in Lake
Rathe (at the S Karana zone border), and we just had our druid
cure us after the fight. No biggie. I don't think anyone in
the party would have even cared for extra disease resistance.
Does anyone out there ever use this? I sure don't.

So, of all the songs in the 20's, there are only two that I find
useful enough to memorize all the time. Bummer.

I'm looking forward to 30 and 32 for sure. 31 could be nice for
flying across Lake Rathe, especially when I wake up naked in the
Arena, as seems to happen all too often. 33 will probably be great
for Solusek. (Does it include a damage shield like 25?) 34 looks
like a novelty. I have no clue what to expect from 35.

I'd appreciate any observations that run counter to my own analysis,
plus some insight on what's coming up for me in the 30's. Do any of
these new songs really rock?

Thanks,

Purna Hodari of Quellious