Provocation
Provocation
Provocation is the flagship Bard skill — the art of pitting two creatures against each other through music. A Bard with high Provocation can make a pair of dragons fight to the death without ever drawing a weapon, making it one of the most powerful skills in Ultima Online. Like all Bard skills, it requires Musicianship as the gating discipline and a musical instrument equipped or in pack.
Using
The Bard targets one creature first, then a second. If the skill check succeeds the two combatants attack each other and continue until one dies, the Bard moves out of line of sight, or the Bard fails a follow-up check.
A failed Provocation is dangerous: both creatures retarget the Bard. Provoking up the chain — pulling a tougher monster onto a weaker one — is the hallmark technique, but always carries the risk of both combatants turning on the player when the song falters.
Barding Difficulty and the success formula
Provocation, Discordance, and Peacemaking all roll against a creature's hidden Barding Difficulty rating. The check compares the Bard's combined Musicianship + Provocation + instrument bonus against twice the Barding Difficulty value. Provocation specifically rolls against the harder of the two targets — the formula picks the larger Barding Difficulty number, so provoking a Cu Sidhe onto a Yamandon checks against the Yamandon, not the Cu.
A Crystal Ball of Knowledge — purchased from Bard NPCs — reads a creature's Barding Difficulty and reports whether the player's current skill is sufficient. Use it to verify each new training target.
Range
The base range of every Bard ability is 8 tiles, increasing by 1 tile for every 15 points of skill in the ability. At 120 Provocation the working range is 16 tiles. The Bard must remain within range to maintain the song; stepping outside, breaking line of sight for more than ten seconds, or being killed all end the effect immediately.
Instruments
Instrument quality contributes directly to the success roll. The hierarchy:
| Instrument | Effect |
|---|---|
| NPC-bought lute, lap harp, drum, etc. | No bonus |
| Carpenter-made (under 80 Musicianship at crafting time) | No bonus |
| Carpenter-made (80+ Musicianship at crafting time) | +10% success chance |
| Exceptional GM-Carpenter instrument | +10% success chance |
| Slayer Instrument — matching slayer | +20% to the matching creature group |
| Slayer Instrument — non-matching slayer | -20% (used as a deliberate "anti-bonus" for skill gain) |
The non-matching-slayer trick is the workaround for the post-90 skill-gain plateau — a Bard wielding a Repond Slayer instrument against a Giant Beetle (which is not a Repond creature) sees their effective skill registered 20% lower, which puts the gain check back into the sweet spot for the actual skill range.
Training
Multiple proven paths cover 0 → 120. The "boat method" — staging two creatures on separate ships moored alongside the Bard's central deck — is the durable evergreen because the boats prevent the targets from breaking off and pursuing the Bard during a failure window.
Method 1: Three-boat staging
Park three boats lengthwise. Stand on the middle deck with the plank open on either side; lure one target to each flanking boat. Provoke the pair off the Bard's deck.
| Skill | Targets |
|---|---|
| 0 – 30 | NPC purchase, or birds, rabbits, low wildlife |
| 30 – 40 | Cows, hinds, sheep, farm animals |
| 40 – 65 | Bulls, scorpions, great harts, polar bears, gamans |
| 65 – 90 | Giant beetles (best gains in this range) |
| 90 – 100 | Hiryu — break the 90-skill gain barrier |
| 100 – 110 | Cu Sidhes |
| 110 – 120 | Daemons, blood elementals, succubi (Blood Dungeon, Pass of Karnaugh) |
Method 2: Mainland progression
| Skill | Targets |
|---|---|
| 30 – 70 | Boat plus grizzly bears |
| 70 – 90 | Plague Beasts at the swamp east of Britain or far west of Trinsic — anchor a boat off shore and pull two off the bank |
| 90 – 120 | Destard (Felucca preferred) — Drakes, Wyverns, Dragons. Highest-yield range; also highest-risk |
Method 3: Dungeon tour by skill range
| Skill | Locations |
|---|---|
| 0 – 30 | NPC, or wildlife in Jhelom Farm, the Delucia cow corral, any forest |
| 30 – 40 | Damwin Thicket (strongbats), low-tier undead in cemeteries |
| 40 – 50 | Cemeteries, Orc footmen, swamp creatures |
| 50 – 60 | Wraiths and Spectres in cemeteries; Covetous L1 (avoid Gazers); Despise L1/L3; Ogres on Despise L4 |
| 60 – 70 | Covetous L1, Despise L4 Trolls, Shame L1/L2, Ophidian Fortress, Terathan Keep, Orc forts/caves, City of the Dead, Fire L1, Ice L1, jungle creatures |
| 70 – 80 | Tougher creatures of the previous tiers, plus Titan Valley, Wyvern Isle |
| 80 – 90 | Titan Valley, Wyvern Isle, Shame L4/L5, Wrong, Yew Lich Forest, Trinsic Passage to Lost Lands, Covetous L2, Wind, Fire Temple, Ophidian/Terathan strongholds, Despise L4 |
| 90 – 100 | Wind and Hythloth L2 daemons; Fire Temple; Despise L4 Ogre Lord Isle; Titan Valley |
| 100 – 110 | Destard Felucca dragons (mainstay); Rotting Corpses on Covetous L4; Nox Tereg; Wisp Dungeon |
| 110 – 120 | Blood Dungeon (Daemons, Blood Elementals, Succubi); Central Dungeon; Pass of Karnaugh; Sorcerer's Dungeon |
Method 4: Boat-plus-Cu-Sidhe
A pet Cu Sidhe on the Bard's deck serves as the permanent target; the Bard provokes the wild creature onto the Cu, the Cu absorbs damage, the Bard repeats.
| Skill | Setup |
|---|---|
| 30 – 60 | Minoc — provoke Great Harts onto the Cu |
| 60 – 65 | Fens of the Dead — Giant Serpents onto the Cu |
| 65 – 90 | Tokuno — Tsuki Wolves onto the Cu |
| 82 – 110 | Inside a Tokuno house; box the Cu in with crates so it cannot move; provoke Lesser Hiryu onto it. Boat near Tokuno Champ also viable. |
| 96 – 120 | Tokuno boat — provoke a Yamandon onto the Cu (requires Exceptional instrument and 115+ Musicianship) |
Skill above 100 requires Power Scrolls (Champion Spawn drops). The cap rises in 5-point increments to 120.
Mastery — Resilience and Inspire
Provocation pairs with the Bard Masteries system introduced in the Time of Legends expansion. Activating the Resilience Mastery (a Bard mastery scroll learned from the Bard Masters in Skara Brae) gives a Provocation bonus against bonded creatures and grants the Bard's allies a stamina-and-mana regeneration aura. Inspire boosts allied damage instead. Both mastery activations consume a charge of the Mastery instrument and run on a cooldown.
Strategic uses
- Solo PvE damage. Two provoked dragons hit harder than any solo player. Bards farm peerless and champion spawns by stacking provocations on the boss adds.
- Taming assist. Provoking a target's bodyguards off it lets a Tamer approach a high-aggression creature — most commonly a White Wyrm or Ki-Rin in Ilshenar.
- Champion Spawn pulls. A high-Provocation Bard can clear a champ-altar room by pitting the spawn against itself, soaking minimal damage.
- Tribulation chain. With Discordance also trained, a Bard can debuff one target and provoke it onto a stronger ally — the debuffed creature dies fast, and the survivor weakens with each kill.
Strategy notes
- Always carry three instruments. One NPC-bought, one Exceptional, and a Slayer for the day's target. Switch on the fly to chase the gain sweet spot.
- 120 is reachable from 90 in one weekend at Destard. The Felucca dragon spawn is the most studied Provocation grind in the game.
- Failure recovery. If a Provocation fails, the targets attack the Bard. A boat is the cheapest insurance — even a low-skill target cannot reach a deck. Always have a recall rune to your house.
- Crystal Ball every new target. Barding Difficulty is hidden; the Crystal Ball is the only public read on it.
- Pair with Peacemaking. Targeted Peacemaking on a creature you cannot yet provoke buys time to pull the engagement away or escape entirely.
See also
Musicianship, Peacemaking, Discordance, Bard Masteries, Book of Bard Masteries, Crystal Ball of Knowledge, Slayer, Carpentry, Champion Spawn, Power Scrolls, Cu Sidhe, Lesser Hiryu, Yamandon, Plague Beast, Destard, Blood Dungeon, Pass of Karnaugh.