Songs for Bards

[cheezewizz2000]

A long while ago I wrote some quick and dirty poems for bards to use in-game as bard songs as my DM liked to give bonuses for creative roleplaying. I thought I'd post them here for criticism (read: blatant attention seeking) and to create a thread for people to perhaps provide their own. A quick search didn't bring anything up, so I don't think this has been done yet, but if it has, please provide a link. I like random poems.

Basic Bard Songs

Spoiler

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Counter song
You think your song to be alluring
But my friend I find it boring
If you’ll permit me to be terse
I think I have a better verse

Fascinate
Come one, come all throughout the land
To hear tales tall and tales grand
‘bout courage, greatness and even woe
on a tuneful journey we shall go!

Inspire courage
Friends, dear friends, do not fret
The battle is not over yet
Those wounds you have on face and back
Why they be merely but a scratch
So turn around and face your foe
With blade in hand, to battle go!

Suggestion / mass Suggestion
Come over here and listen thus
And play a game with all of us
<insert command here>
And I think you’ll agree that when you’re done
You will have had far more fun!

Inspire Greatness
The mighty deeds of heroes old
Through the ages have been told
By bards and wordsmiths, using verse
But next you you, they all look worse
The heroic things you shall do today
Shall go down in history

Song of Freedom
My dearest pal under horrid curse
Let me lift your spirits with my verse
And free you from this woesome fate
Just listen up, and you’ll feel great!

Inspire heroics
Against odds insurmountable
Against foes near uncountable
You my friend shall arise the victor
(though I may not be the best predictor)
so let your voice reach through the sky:
“Hello <insert name of foe here>, today you die!”

Inspire Competence (by skill)

Spoiler

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Appraise
With keen eye and keener mind
Analyse this most recent find
To see if it is filled with worth
Or just some crap pulled from the earth

Balance
Keep your footing strong and sure
Or else you’ll be feeling very poor
if you fall toward the ground below
embarrassment will soon follow

Bluff
A lie is a very funny thing
For mirth and sorrow it can both bring
Not that we ever would
Lie, I mean, but we could
Should the need ever arise
But not right now, tell filthy lies.

Climb
A spider climbs along the wall
But, miraculously, she does not fall
So be like our arachnid friend
Else your journey may swiftly end

Concentration
Keep your mind focused on one thing
And all the glories it may bring
Don’t be distracted, even by me
To fill your heart with so much glee
And satisfaction of a job well done
You finished yet? Oh what fun!

Craft
Practicality, working with the hand
To make wonders both small and grand
To fill observers up with awe
And hear them cry “oh! Make some more!”

Decipher script
Reading things is hard at best
But this is a much harder test
For this to me just looks like scrawl
But you are better, above all
At making out what’s on the pages
Of text from long forgotten ages
So get to it, read swift and sure
Things that I would find a bore

Diplomacy
Combatants on either side
Of a much enlarged divide
A battle fought by those most able
Sat around, or at, a table
Fighting with their words most wise
To come to some compromise

Disable Device
A twist here, a turn there
Parts and pieces everywhere
If only the instructions were still here
We wouldn’t be looking on in so much fear
So hurry up and turn that off
No one move, no one cough
For the slightest mistouch of smallest parts
Could stop the beating of all our hearts.

Disguise
A bit of paint and some new clothes
A slight re-shaping of the nose
Make the cheeks a different hue
To make you look completely new
And completely fool the untrained eye
Into seeing just some random guy.

Escape Artist
Those bonds look a little tight
But soon you’ll be back in the fight
A wiggle, then a little twist
Will free you all, from leg to wrist

Forgery
People have a unique style
Of writing, so use all your guile
To imitate completely true
The documents in front of you
Or p’raps one that you’ve never seen
So keep your pen flowing clean
And so appear before our eyes
A paper telling perfect lies

Gather Information
People, all come to this hall
And, pray you, please tell us all
Of everything about this place
And all the problems we may face
And people here with noble birth
Or rumours ‘bout some hidden worth
Tell us now and please, be quick
Because I’m running out of shtick

Handle Animal
Attack, come, defend and down
Or p’raps performing, like a clown
Fetch, guard, heel and seek
Just one of these will take a week
Stay, track and even work
A heavy load to tug and jerk
What ever tricks you need to learn
Perform well, and treats you’ll earn!

Heal
Alas! Alack! Yea, even woe
Our friend has suffered a heavy blow
So bandage well his grievous wounds
So that he may recover soon

Hide
In shadows dark we move unseen
Unspotted by even senses keen
Around the corner, behind a wall
Or even down on ground we crawl
In this hidden place we lurk
And at our foes, we gladly smirk

Intimidate
Listen well you little snot
We don’t like you a whole lot
So tell us what we need to know
Or through a table you will go/
Give us what we want to have
Or we shall cleave you right in half
(pick the most appropriate two final lines, though the 2nd one needs work)

Jump
Like the grasshopper, or even flea
Leap! Leap with bended knee
Soar high into the air
And land safely over there
Else troubles you will surely face
As you fall from lofty place
Into the unforgiving earth
While the rest of us point with mirth!

Knowledge (arcana)
Into musty tomes you dove
Your mind an arcane treasure trove
Of powers beyond mere mortal men
All at the tip of mundane pen
So call forth your arcane facts
Of spells more powerful than axe
And bring us all these things to bear
And then with us, please do share

Knowledge (architecture and engineering)
Buildings mighty, high and tall
Or what holds up a simple wall
All these things that you should know
Skills you learned long ago
So tell us 'bout this edifice
And all the things that make it tick

Knowledge (dungeoneering)
Caverns deep and filled with woe
Into these places we must go
But by the most tremendous luck
An expert we do have with us
So tell us please. Do Pray tell
About this horrid dungeon hell

Knowledge (geography)
Lake and stream, vale and tor
All these things you know and more
The land is spread before your eyes
And about it all you are most wise

Knowledge (history)
The past is indeed a funny place
But relevant to what we face
So recall the facts of a bygone age
Written down on dusty page
That you once learned at tutor’s knee
And tell us all. This is my plea

Knowledge (local)
Legend has it that you have ken
About this place that we are in
About the facts within this vale
So spin us an interesting tale
That we might listen and come off wiser
And with your facts, be not a miser

Knowledge (nature)
The difference between ash and oak
Or the games of fairy folk
What creatures hide ‘neath rock or bough
Tell us all, and tell us now

Knowledge (nobility and royalty)
Lineage and noble birth
People with much greater worth
Nobler blood than you or I
Those people live in towers high
And yet you above all should know
About the places that they go
Or who indeed did sire whom
By which nurse and in which room

Knowledge (religion)
Mighty gods with powers great
Their holy priests that castigate
The sinner or indeed the saint
And clerics that pray with no complaint
About these things and maybe more
You learned at church in days or yore
So bring to mind this holy writ
And tell us. Well? Get on with it!

Knowledge (the planes)
Fire, earth and air and water
Shadow that flows through bricks and mortar
The mighty homes of holy gods
Or this humble plain with tilléd sods
To these places we soon may go
So please good sir/ma'am, tell us all you know

Listen
Listen well with keenest ear
Beyond the silence you should hear
Things said with whispered hush
Or footsteps that come after us
Or cries of help from far away
From some princess most cliché
Or even the scurrying of some rat so near
What, dear friend, can you hear?

Move Silently
Creep across the dusty ground
Foot by foot, not make a sound
Lest something wicked hears your step
Like Orc or may be worser yet
Even so, they’d hear this song
‘tis me that has put his foot wrong!

Open Lock
Tumblers that tightly brace
This door so firmly held in place
Will soon be moved by nimble hand
And obey the pick’s command
And so slip firmly to the side
Allowing portal to open wide

Perform
A dance or song or drunken verse
All a part of showbiz curse
To entertain a gathered crowd
Who clap and whoop and cheer aloud
So for this circus, to earn our bread
A little coin for the joy we spread
Every little helps a lot
So give a little of what you’ve got
Then we’ll be on our merry way
To entertain another day

Profession
Indeed an expert in his field
All his work perfection yields
Knows his way around the ropes
With hardest task he easily copes
Toiling ‘till the end of day
Awesome skill he does display
So work, good friend to earn your bread
In chosen field, until you’re dead.

Ride
Get on your horse
Spur its side
Into the sunset you will ride
Force it on
Until the dawn
When new sun is freshly born
And there by babbling stream reside
Horse and rider side by side
To rest weary hooves and feet
That through night has been so fleet

Scry
Through obscuring mists the eye does peer
With force of will his sight does clear
Seeing into worlds unknown
Knowing more than can be shown
Any secret you can hide
Will soon be surely pushed aside
As diviner looks into your soul
Seeing unseen, clear and whole

Search
Seeking out what can be found
Lying hidden on the ground
Or stashed away in secret place
Leaving nothing but a trace
Invisible to untrained eye
But soon uncovered by those who try

Sense Motive
A subtle sweating of the palm
Thinly veiled by falsest calm
A quick dart of the eye to side
Soon reveals what he has to hide
So seek out all these subtle clues
And lies will be revealed to you

Sleight of hand
Now you see it, now you don’t
Will it be seen, or perhaps won’t
Nothing hidden up this sleeve
Hands swifter than eyes can believe
No magic in this simple trick
It’s just that for you, we are too quick!

Spell Craft
A subtle difference in glow
Every spell does have you know
That belays their very form
And how reality has been transformed
So delve into magical lore
What witchcraft is this? I implore

Spot
For things that think they move unseen
Our sight and hearing are too keen
For hidden dear foe you are not
For your are too easy for us to spot
Bow drawn back, we draw a bead
Then in the dark, you silently bleed

Survival
Tracks in the earth or dusty ground
Leading us around and round
Soon belay their hiding place
As keen eye the steps to trace

Swim
Drowning here until you’re dead?
Why not have a swim instead?
Just kick the feet and sweep the arm
Draw yourself away from harm
Until the shore you safely reach
To dry yourself upon the beach

Tumble
Head over heels, or feet up high
With ground in place of lofty sky
The right way up just does not matter
As hands instead of feet do patter
While you tumble round about
Taking unorthodox route

Use Magic Device
Who said wands were just for wizards?
They aren’t the only ones who can cause blizzards!
A little flicker of the wrist
Or words said making tongues twist
Make sure it’s held round the right way
If head on shoulders you want to stay

Use Rope
50 feet of woven string
Is more than often just the thing
To do exactly what you need
And make light work of heavy deed
So tie the knots in the right places
With different knots for different cases
And surely you soon will find
That climbing just got more refined/ The prisoner is now confined (pick one)

[Raewyn]

Move Silently
Creep across the dusty ground
Foot by foot, not make a sound
Lest something wicked hears your step
Like Orc or may be worser yet
Even so, they’d hear this song
‘tis me that has put his foot wrong!

This one doesn't really work, but the rest are nifty!

[Deastorm]

/cast Message
/inspire competence

Problem solved.

On topic, cute!

[Mando Knight]

Inspire Heroics
Strong as ten regular men, definitely!
He faced the galloping hordes
A hundred bad guys with swords
Who sent those goons to their lords?
Why, Prince Ali!

[cheezewizz2000]

Inspire Heroics
Strong as ten regular men, definitely!
He faced the galloping hordes
A hundred bad guys with swords
Who sent those goons to their lords?
Why, Prince Ali!

*facepalm*

This one doesn't really work, but the rest are nifty!

Thanks! I sort of tried to include that in the song, but I like the message solution!