Provocation

The Provocation skill allows players to make creatures fight each other, dealing increased damage. Provoked creatures receive a 200% damage bonus against other creatures. The effect remains active as long as the bard stays within 50 tiles, though normal Barding Breaks may still occur.

Mechanics

• Players can use the Provocation skill to make creatures fight one another.
• Provoked Creatures have a 200% bonus to damage dealt to other creatures.
• Provocation effects will remain in place as long as the bard remains within 50 tiles of the affected creatures.
  • Barding Breaks can still occur as normal.
• Skill usage cooldown:
  • 10 seconds on success.
  • 5 seconds on failure.
  • Players may use Discordance once every 5 seconds (i.e., a player may alternate between using Provocation and Discordance every 5 seconds).
• The Bard Codex greatly enhances the Provocation skill.

More Details

• A player's base Provocation skill is capped by their Musicianship skill. For example: A player with 50 Provocation and 25 Musicianship is considered to have 25 Provocation.
• A player's Effective Provocation Skill is calculated as:

 (Provocation Skill + Instrument Skill Bonuses + Applicable Instrument Slayer Bonuses + Supplemental Skill Bonuses +
 Lyric Aspect Armor Bonus)

• Players can increase their Effective Provocation Skill using:
  • Forensic Evaluation and Tracking skills (listed as "Supplemental Skill Bonuses").
• A player's total bonuses to Effective Provocation from Instruments, Supplemental Skill Bonuses, or Lyric Aspect Armor cannot exceed their Musicianship skill. For example: A player with 25 Musicianship can only gain 25 Effective Provocation from Instruments, Supplemental Skills, or Lyric Aspect Armor.
• Provocation effect duration is calculated as:

 ((60 seconds - (Highest Creature Difficulty Value)) * (Effective Barding Skill / 100))

• The minimum duration of provocation is:

 (15 * (Musicianship Skill / 100)) seconds.

• If a player Pacifies a Provoked creature (or vice versa), the new barding effect overrides the existing one.
• Players attempting to Provoke creatures that are already Pacified or Discorded gain:
  • (+12.5 Effective Barding Skill per barded creature)
  • Since Provocation targets two creatures, both are checked.
• Chance for skill gain is doubled on a successful Provocation check.

Barding Songs

The Barding Songs are:

Barding Songs
Skill	Effect
Discordance	Provides a (5% * (Effective Barding Skill / 100)) Damage Resistance bonus to Players and their Followers
Peacemaking	Provides a (5% * (Effective Barding Skill / 100)) Healing Amounts Received Bonus to Players and their Followers
Provocation	Provides a (5% * (Effective Barding Skill / 100)) Damage Bonus to Players and their Followers
All AoE Barding Song Buffs durations are 15 minutes
Casting a Barding Song has a 10 second cooldown that is independent of normal bard skill usage

Provoked Creatures

• Provoked creatures will attack each other until the effect expires.
• Provoked creatures now deal +50% damage to other Provoked creatures.
• Creatures display a timer (*provoked Xs*) above their head showing seconds remaining when using AllNames.
• If the bard moves further than their Tether distance, the creature only deals 1 damage to other Provoked creatures.
• Players and creatures receive a 10% Accuracy bonus against Provoked creatures.
  • This can be toggled in the Bard Codex settings.

Miscellaneous

• Tamed creatures cannot be provoked.
• Provocation "Tether Distance" is calculated as:
  • (Effective Provocation Skill / 2) tiles.
  • Default Tether distance was previously 18 tiles.

Training

Skill	Activity
0-50	Train from NPC
50-80	Use Provocation on creatures in New Player Dungeon
80-100	Use Provocation on creatures at the Prevalia Zoo