Musicianship
Musicianship is the foundational support skill for all Bard abilities. It is not used directly in combat — instead, it is checked automatically every time you attempt Peacemaking, Provocation, or Discordance. A failed Musicianship check causes the bard attempt to fail immediately, before your actual bard skill is ever rolled. At higher levels, Musicianship also provides a direct difficulty bonus to targeted bard abilities.
What Musicianship Does
Musicianship serves two distinct purposes:
1. Success Gate
Every bard skill attempt begins with a Musicianship check. If this check fails, you play poorly and the attempt ends — your bard skill is never rolled, and you receive the message: "You play poorly, and there is no effect."
The formula is straightforward:
Success Chance = Musicianship / 100
| Musicianship Skill | Chance to Pass |
|---|---|
| 50 | 50% |
| 70 | 70% |
| 80 | 80% |
| 90 | 90% |
| 100 | 100% |
| 120 | 100% |
At 100 Musicianship and above, the music check always succeeds. Below 100, every failed check wastes a use of your instrument and triggers a cooldown, so reaching at least 100 is a high priority for any bard build.
- A failed Musicianship check still consumes a use of your instrument, so low Musicianship means you burn through instruments much faster.
2. Difficulty Bonus (Above 100)
When your Musicianship exceeds 100, every point above 100 reduces the effective difficulty of Peacemaking, Provocation, and Discordance by 0.5:
Difficulty Reduction = (Musicianship − 100) × 0.5
| Musicianship | Difficulty Reduction |
|---|---|
| 100 | 0 |
| 105 | −2.5 |
| 110 | −5.0 |
| 115 | −7.5 |
| 120 | −10.0 |
This bonus stacks with instrument properties and the flat difficulty bonus each bard skill provides. At 120 Musicianship, the −10.0 difficulty reduction is equivalent to having an additional matching slayer on your instrument. Against high-difficulty creatures where every point matters, this bonus can turn an impossible attempt into a workable one.
How Musicianship Affects Each Bard Skill
| Bard Skill | Music Check | Difficulty Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peacemaking (Area) | Yes — failure ends the attempt | No — area peace uses a flat 0–120 check | Music check still gates the attempt |
| Peacemaking (Targeted) | Yes — failure ends the attempt | Yes — full bonus applies | Most common use case |
| Provocation | Yes — failure ends the attempt | Yes — full bonus applies | Applied after averaging both targets |
| Discordance | Yes — failure ends the attempt | Yes — full bonus applies | Same formula as targeted Peacemaking |
Combined Bonuses at 120 Musicianship
To illustrate how valuable 120 Musicianship is, here is the total difficulty reduction a bard gets against a creature at 160 Bard Difficulty, combining instrument properties, the bard skill's flat bonus, and the Musicianship bonus:
| Source | Peacemaking/Discordance | Provocation |
|---|---|---|
| Bard skill flat bonus | −10.0 | −5.0 |
| 120 Musicianship bonus | −10.0 | −10.0 |
| Exceptional instrument | −5.0 | −5.0 |
| One matching slayer | −10.0 | −10.0 |
| Total reduction | −35.0 (160 → 125) | −30.0 (160 → 130) |
- Provocation averages both targets' difficulties before applying the flat bonus, so the numbers above assume both creatures match your slayer type.
Training Musicianship
Musicianship gains are checked every time you use a bard skill, as part of the music check itself. You can also train Musicianship by simply double-clicking an instrument in your backpack — this performs a Musicianship check against a 0–120 range and plays a success or failure sound.
At lower skill levels, the fastest way to train is to repeatedly use an instrument or attempt bard skills on any valid target. Because the skill check range is 0–120, you can gain Musicianship at any level up to the cap.
Tips
- Reach 100 Musicianship before relying on bard skills in dangerous areas. Below 100, you will randomly fail the music check and waste instrument charges, cooldown time, and potentially your life if you needed that peace or provoke to survive.
- Push to 120 Musicianship for endgame barding. The −10 difficulty bonus at 120 is as valuable as having a matching slayer instrument. Against 160-difficulty bosses, this bonus is often the difference between a viable success rate and a hopeless one.
- Musicianship trains passively as you bard. You do not need to dedicate separate training sessions to it — just using your bard skills will raise it naturally. If you want to speed things up, double-click instruments while idle.
- All instrument types train Musicianship equally. There is no difference between a Lap Harp, Lute, Drum, or any other instrument for training purposes.
- Musicianship does not affect bard range. Your range for Peacemaking, Provocation, and Discordance is determined by the respective bard skill, not by Musicianship. The range formula is 8 + (bard skill / 15).