Template: Bard Tamer

Unverified community build

This is a classic-era community build (Stratics / UO Outlands wiki / UO forums) adapted to this shard’s caps, not yet field-verified here. Skill values and pet behavior await in-game confirmation; file discrepancies per wiki conventions.

The bard tamer is the quiet end-boss of PvM. A plain tamer lets the pet do the fighting; the bard tamer first walks up and breaks the monster — strips a chunk of its resists and skills with Discordance — so the pet then fights a weaker, dumber version of it. You command, debuff, and heal; the pet does the damage. It is the control-and-pet archetype in one body.

The build (seven GM, ~700 total)

On this shard skills cap at 100.0 each and 700.0 total (Config/PlayerCaps.cfg), so the endgame is seven Grandmaster skills:

Skill	At	Role
Animal Taming	100	Tame and control the pet
Animal Lore	100	Pet command/control + tame checks
Veterinary	100	Bandage-heal and resurrect the pet
Musicianship	100	Gates every bard skill; raises their success
Discordance	100	The force multiplier — debuffs the target
Magery	100	Recall mobility, utility, backup healing
Meditation	100	Mana to recall, heal, and cast

Total: 700.0, seven skills at GM. See 7x GM Templates for the cap math.

Flex slot. Peacemaking or Provocation can replace Meditation (or Magery) for boss control — area peace calms a dangerous spawn while your pet finishes a target. You only have seven slots, so pick the one your hunting grounds reward.

Power scrolls go past 100 here

On modern OSI these builds run 120s via power scrolls — earned from champion spawns and treasure chests. Power scrolls raise a single skill’s cap past 100.0 on this shard too, so a 110/120 Taming or Discordance is reachable; treat the 100s above as the default endgame, not a ceiling.

What it does

Discordance is the whole point. A successful disco (gated by Musicianship) lowers the target’s resistances and skills by a percentage that scales with your skill — roughly a quarter of its stats at GM. That means:

• the monster’s resists drop, so your pet’s damage lands harder;
• the monster’s own skills drop, so it hits your pet less often and for less.

Stack that with a pet that already out-tanks you, and a dragon becomes a chew toy. Add Veterinary to keep the pet topped up and Peacemaking to shut down a second attacker, and you can clear content far above your “solo” weight.

Musicianship is mandatory plumbing: every bard attempt rolls against your Music skill first. Below GM Music, disco fails too often to rely on; over 100 (via power scrolls) it adds extra success to your other bard skills.

Stages and playstyle

This build layers on top of the Animal Tamer progression — read that page for the taming ladder (hinds → bulls → drakes → dragons/nightmares) and pet economics. The bard half slots in as follows:

• Early (taming up): train Taming/Lore/Vet exactly as the tamer template describes. Raise Musicianship alongside — it gains just by playing an instrument near a creature. Don’t bother discording trash mobs; the debuff is wasted.
• Mid (you have a real combat pet): start opening fights with Discordance. The rhythm becomes disco the target → send the pet → bandage the pet → re-disco when it wears off. Discordance has a duration and falls off; re-apply on tough targets.
• Endgame: dragon/nightmare at your heel, GM disco in your pocket. You debuff bosses the pet would otherwise lose to, peace away adds, and out-earn every pure dexxer.

The feel is orchestration, not reflexes — you are managing a fight, not winning a duel. See combat (advanced) and the taming-and-pets guide.

Gear and pets

• Instrument: carry a few — lutes/harps wear out. Buy from bards/provisioners. A slayer instrument is not needed for disco; any working instrument plays.
• Pet: the same top-tier pets as a pure tamer — dragon (3 control slots), nightmare (2 slots, mage AI), white wyrm. Discordance lets a cheaper pet punch above its weight, so a disco tamer can field a strong second pet within the control-slot budget.
• Reagents and bandages: Magery reagents (reagents) for Recall and emergency heals; bandages for Veterinary.
• Stats: favor INT (mana for music/magery) and STR (carry weight, survival); DEX last — pets do the swinging.

Money

Top-tier PvM income: with a debuffed boss dying fast, you farm Destard dragons and Deceit lich lords at the top of the hunting ladder, plus champion spawns for the power scrolls that push your skills past 100. Loot is FilthyRich-tier; the pet tanks what no armor could. Surplus gold funds power scrolls and a second pet.

Decision points

• If disco keeps failing, your Musicianship is too low — Music gates every attempt. Grind Music before relying on the debuff.
• If the pet is dying on bosses, you skipped the disco step or it wore off — re-apply Discordance and keep Veterinary bandages flowing.
• If a second monster joins, Peacemaking it (area peace) rather than splitting the pet’s damage.
• If you want raw control over raw debuff, consider the Provocation / Tri-Bard instead — it trades the pet for turning the whole room against itself.
• Mistake: discording trash. Save it for targets the pet would otherwise struggle with.
• Mistake: treating Music as optional. Without GM Music the build’s force multiplier simply doesn’t fire often enough.