The Crimson Binome
Hero
The iconic bard is Edward Chris von Muir, aka Gilbert, from Final Fantasy IV. He would be almost entirely useless, if the game engine didn't allow him to deal damage by playing music at people.
In any case, the iconic aspect of the bard - the reason why Edward is so iconic - is that he wields his instrument during combat. He's the one playing the harp, while dragons are breathing fire on the party. When the chips are down, and everyone's dying, he still looks like the picture of the Bard from the 2E PHB. He isn't just pretending to be a bard, and then switching to become a rogue or wizard once combat starts.
How to reconcile that into a useful character class, in any world that doesn't let you kill things by playing music at them, is a tougher question. I would probably start with the Songstress dress sphere, from FF X-2, and go from there.
In any case, the iconic aspect of the bard - the reason why Edward is so iconic - is that he wields his instrument during combat. He's the one playing the harp, while dragons are breathing fire on the party. When the chips are down, and everyone's dying, he still looks like the picture of the Bard from the 2E PHB. He isn't just pretending to be a bard, and then switching to become a rogue or wizard once combat starts.
How to reconcile that into a useful character class, in any world that doesn't let you kill things by playing music at them, is a tougher question. I would probably start with the Songstress dress sphere, from FF X-2, and go from there.