hey all, thanks for reading.

I'm playing a warlock with a sailor background and pretty working class townie type.

I'm thinking about dipping bard to get healing, I'm my party's only caster.

but i don't think this sailor is a showy, musical or performy type.

anybody have experience with unconventional ways you chose to manifest your bardness? and maybe how you chose to roleplay that during spellcasting? cheers 😀

You don't actually have to do any sort of performance in order to be a Bard. You can absolutely just take it as just a pure spellcasting class. I'm not sure it's the best choice to pick up just for healing, however? Have you considered picking up levels of Divine Soul Sorcerer? That way you can just outright take Cleric spells.

So with a character as a sailor, like other forms of labor, song was often used to organize work and maintain morale during said work (not the same occupation but people thought the ice cutting singing at the beginning of Frozen was weird ... but that's how that sort of work was done).  Also sailors are known for sailor stories and also having a bit of a knack for banter.  I play a Bard with a different background but his "song of rest" is actually just bantering with the party (coincidentally the Alien RPG makes available the "banter" talent to Colonial marines as a way to reduce strain in that game, so it's not without precedent).  I think you could easily consider the Bard dip as an outgrowth of the character's sea faring ways ... the magic could be anything from a few tricks they picked up in their sea faring days to a relationship to powers of nature it's uncovered through personal experience with the deep (so to speak) lore of the sea.  There's a really long poem in British lit called The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ... I could totally see the speaker of that poem as a sailor Bard.

So not so much salt of the earth as salt of the ocean type, doesn't mean he doesn't possess a high level of wits with their grit.

Also therefore not uncommon for a sailor to have music proficiencies etc.  They wouldn't be a professional performer or anything, but their ability to use song or a quick joke or some salty language to make the voyage better was likely a welcome trait on the crews they served.

Sea shanties are one example of still available songs sailors sang while working or to pass the time.  You could sing sea shanties.  Or tell poems - epic poetry was popular among Vikings (like Beowulf) - such as limericks, couplets, haikus, etc.