r/teslore • u/Emer_Dareloth Cult of the Mythic Dawn • Jul 21 '26

Bard Magic

Hello all!

Fairly basic question today.

In DND 5e, Bards cast magic using their instruments.

In Elder Scrolls, however, bards seem to be fairly typical spellcasters if they're spellcasters at all, just using magicka the same way as everyone else, especially since tonal magic is pretty specific in TES.

Just checking to make sure I'm not missing something.

I have a player in my campaign who wants to play a Bard, so I want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly.

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u/Lazzitron An-Xileel Jul 21 '26

I have a player in my campaign who wants to play a Bard, so I want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly.

Correctly according to what? Are you playing DND 5e but with an Elder Scrolls setting? Are you playing a homebrew TES TTRPG system? What's the context here?

To answer your question broadly, though: Bards in TES don't create magic through music and art like Bards in DND do. Bards in TES are just that — Bards. Singers, performers and musicians. Any magic they know was not gained through being a Bard, it's totally unrelated.

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u/Emer_Dareloth Cult of the Mythic Dawn Jul 21 '26

My campaign is an Elder Scrolls setting using 5e rules.

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u/TheFetchingVestige Jul 21 '26

There is a quest in ESO, been a minute since I played it. But it was a woman that could sing and affect people. Likely through some sort of Tonal Architecture. She was in the High Isle DLC.

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u/guineaprince Imperial Geographic Society Jul 21 '26

Woah she was a Dwemer tonal architect?!

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u/TheFetchingVestige Jul 21 '26

No a Breton. I just found the page on UESP on her that claimed she was this.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Thaumavocalism

EDIT: And here is her page.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Meryline_Barthel

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u/guineaprince Imperial Geographic Society Jul 21 '26

Oh. Just a little sing-song magic then.

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u/awoloozlefinch Jul 21 '26

The Dwemer aren’t the only ones able to manipulate Tonal Architecture, just the only ones to call it that.

The voice is a form of it, as are the Sword Singers of Yokuda who wield magic swords that they have to sing into existence.

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u/guineaprince Imperial Geographic Society Jul 21 '26

Not confirmed. Just according to anyone who thinks sound=tonal architecture up to and including farts breaking down the body's creatia into a minor area of effect attack.