Bard perks feel underwhelming

[NeedForGreed]

Bard perks require single-classing, but most of them feel pretty underwhelming and it's commonly said that Good/Cantor is easily the best.

I'd love to see more perk progression for each path, or more options, other classes get a monumental amount of flavor and benefit from each perk.

Some ideas, perhaps as level 8 bonuses to existing perks. I don't have a good sense of what is reasonable for skill bonuses or other perk bonuses, these are just rough ideas.

Rebellious Voice
Stealth bonuses, something like +2 MS/Hide and Bluff. The bard gives voice to the voiceless and is well accustomed to giving authorities the slip.

Loremaster 2
Gain a +5 bonus to Lore and Archaeology.

Orator 2
Orator right now feels pretty pointless, the only potential benefit might be for pickpocketing?
Level 8 Orator gets an extra Bard Song per day (or a free Extra Songs).

Minstrel 2
+5 Perform, small wage anywhere

Jester
More throwable objects per day.

Piper 2
Animal, Dog, Rat Summon Theme +1

[Egon the Monkey]

Why perks?
Currently there's nothing wrong with bards! They're a good class with some nice EfU changes. But they tend to be quite samey in the sort of builds they use, because some of their spell and skill list just doesn't work well. But perks are typically good for giving classes the ability to do things they thematically should be able to do, but actually suck at. In the case of bards it's Stealth, Summoning and Healing for starters. There's no point gating those basic perks behind L8 as they're pure class only. That would just make L8 even more of a huge breakpoint for the class, rather than giving the character-defining thematic ability ASAP.

Orator's actually excellent for scripted content as there's some whacking great 1/24h hidden checks around the place. It used to be better when you could Persuade/Bluff extra pay out questgiver NPCs, under the old quest system. Jester's currently underpowered because 'per reset' is a much greater wait than it was. if it was per rest like Rogue Engineer, it'd be good. Jack of All Trades is a damage boost/more stuff to UMD, which is just great. 10% movespeed is pretty good for exploring/PvP, especially with the right song.

Stealth
I agree, Bards really need a stealth perk. Or possibly just a default stealth ability. It's one of those where it doesn't matter if everyone gets it, as it does nothing without a major skill investment.

They don't have Rogue H/MS perks, or Ranger wilds benefits or spells. And they get access to Invis, which is a cheaper way to explore. Heck, I'd say 'give them Camouflage as a L1 spell, that feels thematic for a class skilled at illusion and stage makeup'. I've never heard of anyone playing a stealth bard. It's so expensive in skillpoints, Perform is already a skill tax, and they don't have any abilities that benefit from stealth. Only thing I'd say is it needs a more generic name as you might want to play that as a Lawful Bard and people get weirdly intense about what a perk is called. There's a stealth *song* but it's hard to lurk when you have to break stealth by regularly dooting.

It was easier in V5 as bards had 5 SP/level and didn't need to spend them on Athletics, Archaeology etc. When EFUSS was scrapped, everyone else got +2 skill points but Bards and Rangers only got 1. Leaving them worse off if they wanted to use EFU-specific skills.

Loremaster
Loremaster really needs that +lore like the Rogue version, as permanent XP is gone. it doesn't do what it says on the tin, which is 'make you better at Lore'. You need to dump 2 feats into GSF Divination for that.

Healing Perk
Bards get healing spells, but other than Cure Minor they're a terrible pick. There's enough healing  around since V4 or so that even 'spend one of your two L3 spells on Cure Serious and brew potions' isn't worth it. This might be easier to balance in the spells though. Give any healing spell cast by a bard some 10 rounds + round/level regen like Astral Regeneration gives, or other strong lingering bonuses. Any spell has to answer the question of 'is this at least as useful or fun for its level as Keen/Sound Burst etc'

Summoner
Bards can summon, but their summon point progression is low and their spells are weak. Plus picking a weak spell is costly as you don't know many different spells. There's plenty of L1 summon trinkets so why bother? You'd need +1 Summon Level and +Summoning Points to make it worthwhile, and maybe a token of Summon Swarm. As it is, best way to play a summoner bard is the Rat Song. I'd just make it a flat +1 to all Summons. Bards get a 1 level discount on a lot of spells (Lesser Dispel at L1, Fear at L3) and this would be the equivalent. Ranger summons are equally a bit of a joke, and giving them +1 summon level would make that spell a decent contender in the same way 'Resist Elements at L1' is.

Spirit Chanter
Even with Animate Dead, Bard Necromancer is hard because of the low summon points and the fact a L3 spell is more expensive for a Bard than a Cleric/Wizard/Sorc. You can't do stuff until L7 minimum, as there's not the same level of Animate Dead loot around.
+Summoning points and a 1/Day Animate Dead player tool similar to the Sorc Necro Perks would fix that.