Instruments

Most bards would not be caught dead without at least one musical instrument upon their person or near at hand. Many of their special abilities rely upon the use of an instrument. Instruments are also used as status symbols, trade symbols, and as part of the bard's personal garb. Some instruments take on a life of their own, gaining more fame than the bards who play them.

Musical instruments are very rare, expensive, and complicated devices. Only a master craftsmen would even think of constructing a lyre or herald's trumpet, let alone a pipe organ. Bards not only understand how these rare and complex devices work, they can use them to produce beautiful sounds. By simply working the strings and keys of these devices, bards can bring a crowd to tears or have them leaping for joy (all this without even using their kit's special benefits).

Most bardic colleges agree that the instruments of the time should be divide into four general categories: wind, stringed, percussion, and keyboard. Common instruments within each of these categories follow in Table 20 (as well as an "Other" category for several instruments that do not fall into the four general categories). After each instrument is a one-letter code that identifies the time period during which this instrument was developed and used; these periods coincide with the following dates.

Table 19: ERAS

Code	Era	Time Span
A	Ancient World	prior to A. D. 450
D	Dark Ages	A. D. 450"1100
M	Middle Ages	A. D. 1100"1450
R	Renaissance	A. D. 1450"1600

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