Theres been some discussion of Bard skills and how underpowered Bard prime is.
Perhaps a new skill for bard could work like the pied piper of hamelin.
for those not familiar with the story [url:255q86fn]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin[/url:255q86fn]
The bard sings his song and all level 1-5 (or whatever increasing with bard level) mobs in the vicinity (maybe 5 squares or increasing with level again) flock to the bards location follow him and will automatically assist him in whatever battle he's taking part in.
Not traditional pets in that they dont take orders but only assist in battles. This would leave the bard with potentially 20-30 (perhaps capped at level dependant number) very level self managing pets (if he wandered through say gremlins en route to say murkwood) that could soak up damage while he does whatever he does to kill a mob.
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