I can imagine bards fighting, not with weapons, but with instruments. The music of 'special' instruments could inflict different types of damage for bards, mirroring the existing weapon types. Drums would be impact, stringed would be blades, and wind would be pole.
Riffs within the song could be the damaging actions, acting like the swing of a weapon, hit or miss. Riffs would be perform-able in an allotted time. That is, the pole-like winds would take longer to be available between riffs but do more damage, as a pole weapon would.
This idea could revitalize a forgotten bard guild and have many positive aspects about it.
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