Bards: In my view bards are not just good at talking but can also entertain/seduce/reduce prices and have a good knowlegde of lore.
So they have skills which include:
Entertaining - In a npc friendly group you can sing/storytell. The higher the skill the more elaborate your tales are..the more money you get afterwards.
Bartering - reduce prices obviously.
Conversing - Opens up more dialogue options and maybe gets you free items and hints as to how to solve quests, you can even reach a non-combat ending to quests where you might have to kill a monster.
Sooth - Allows you to play an instrument..this allows some nearby hostile creatures not to attack for a period of time. Will allow you to sneak past or take on fewer enemies.
Commanding - Allows you to attract followers or npc's who will fight for you.
Lore - Deciphering runes/foriegn words and some items become automatic.
So if you cast sooth and then commanding you will get a a permanent npc to join you who was previously evil.
