Musicianship
Musicianship is the foundation of the bard profession. Every bard song first checks your Musicianship before anything else happens — a poor performance means no effect at all. On UO Sagas the bard skills are used through the song system (Songbook and music sheets), which is covered in full in Barding and Songs; this page covers the skill itself and your instruments.
Playing an instrument
Double-click any musical instrument in your backpack to play it. Whether the tune sounds good is a straight Musicianship roll: your skill is your percent chance (at 100.0 or higher you never play badly). Each play uses up one of the instrument's charges, and you must wait 5 seconds between plays.
The last instrument you played becomes your active instrument — songs from your Songbook use it automatically, as long as it stays in your backpack. If you have no active instrument, playing a song asks you to target one first.
Why Musicianship matters for songs
- Every song checks Musicianship first. Fail the check and you "play poorly" — no effect, and the song still costs an instrument charge (but only half the usual cooldown).
- Skill above 100 makes songs easier. Every point above 100 reduces a song's difficulty by 1, up to 20 at 120 skill — one of the biggest bonuses a bard can get. See the Difficulty section of the barding guide.
- The Repertoire songs (Song of Light and Song of Fortune) check only Musicianship.
Instruments
The Bard NPC sells basic instruments, and carpenters can craft drums, tambourines, lutes, lap harps and harps — instrument recipes require some Musicianship (45+) as a secondary skill alongside Carpentry.
- Charges: a normal instrument holds 300 uses; when the last charge is spent it breaks.
- Exceptional quality adds 25 charges and reduces song difficulty by 5. Low quality instruments make songs harder by 5.
- Magic instruments: instruments crafted from colored wood can roll magic properties — extra durability (up to 550 charges) and a tuning level that grants +5 to +25 skill to one bard skill (Provocation, Peacemaking or Discordance, e.g. "a supremely tuned lute of Discordance"). The bonus applies while the instrument is your active instrument in your backpack. Magic instruments must be identified before their properties show.
Raising the skill
Musicianship gains from every play, good or bad — double-clicking an instrument or playing any song rolls for a gain all the way from 0 to 120. It is one of the easiest skills to train:
| Skill | Method |
|---|---|
| 0–30 | Pay a Bard NPC to train you the basics |
| 30–120 | Simply play — either spam an instrument or play songs while hunting |
The skill cap can be raised beyond 100 to 120 with Barding skill scrolls; those last 20 points translate directly into easier songs. See Skills Overview for how skill gain works in general.
Related
- Barding and Songs — the Songbook, all songs, Bard Levels and difficulty
- Musicianship Mastery — the Musicianship mastery: Rhythm of Ruin, Virtuoso, Repertoire
- Skill Masteries — how the mastery system works
- Provocation · Peacemaking · Discordance
- Skill Scrolls — raising the cap to 120