Bard

The Bard is a class added by the Thorium Mod as of version 1.4.0.0. The Bard class' weapons, armor, and accessories focus on providing short, stat-improving empowerments while still dealing symphonic damage.

Although the Bard buffs themselves when fighting, a larger benefit can be found through teamwork; empowerments are also given to friendly players standing near the Bard, so they are a great addition to a multiplayer scenario.

The Bard class is largely developed, with content spread throughout the game. This includes 9 armor sets, 56 accessories, 30 buffs and 110 items.

Inspiration
Instead of using Mana, the Bard weapons draw from a unique resource called inspiration, which is increased using Inspiration Fragments, Inspiration Shards, and Inspiration Crystals. Inspiration regenerates automatically. Although many of the Bard items are specific to inspiration, the fact that it's separate from Mana makes it a tempting choice for another class' backup.

Symphonic Damage
The Bard's musical weapons hit with a specific damage type called symphonic damage. Accessories and armor can be used to augment symphonic damage output, and generic 'damage' buffs, such as the one from the Scuba Curva, still increase Bard's damage.

Big Instruments
Big instruments are a subset of Bard weapons that utilize a timing mechanic. When held out, a timer will appear underneath the player (or underneath the cursor if the Move Instrument Timer to Mouse configuration setting is set to true); the instruments' effects vary depending on whether their attacks are used within a specific window of time or not. As the player successfully times their attacks, the big instrument will gain power, provided empowerment level, along with other effects, whereas missing the timing will greatly decrease these bonuses.

Each instrument category, except for Electronic, has its own unique timer, with differing patterns:

While a big instrument is held out for the first time, a mouse icon will appear in order to provide a guide on each timer's function.