D&D 5E An All Bard Party Don't Stop

[Wiseblood]

Power Trio, Quartet, or Guitarmy?

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Last year I ran through LMOP with 3 bards(whispers, lore, and Valor) and an oath of ancients paladin. It was so difficult to challenge my players when 3 of them roll well on initiative and use shatter to end 3 enemies before the enemies even move.

Also throwing a magic immune enemy at a party of bards at level 1 is a total dick DM move

Goes both ways though, it is also IMHO a dick move to have your party shoot its entire load in the first battle then cry ceaselessly when you do not let them immediately get a long rest and dare to attack them again.

Heck, you blast off three Shatter spells and EVERYONE knows about you.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Yeah. That DM was not fair. Magic immune mobsters are no real thing in 5e.
Yes... one of the bards could have int as a secondary stat. And knowledge arcana. No problem.
On the other hand, bardic inspiration is +1d6 to any arcana roll. An average of +3.5. You are way over the usual proficiency bonus at level 1. So actually bard inspiring each other should be able to solve many problems.

 

[Tallifer]

I have yet to play in a party composed entirely of bards, but as dungeon master I did throw this group against my players: acrobatic moves, fiery hoola hoops, tossing juggling batons, a big squeaky hammer, firecrackers and banana peels.

 

[Finglas]

I want to be in a party like this, if only so I can deadpan “no ma’am, we’re musicians” when asked if we’re the heroes, the law, etc.


Sent from my iPhone using EN World mobile app

 

[chunkosauruswrex]

Goes both ways though, it is also IMHO a dick move to have your party shoot its entire load in the first battle then cry ceaselessly when you do not let them immediately get a long rest and dare to attack them again.

Heck, you blast off three Shatter spells and EVERYONE knows about you.

That's just one example. Even at level 1 having 6 spell slots for things like sleep or tashas hideous laughter or dissonant whispers makes challenging a party of Bards very difficult. For instance in Cragmaw cave in Lost mines the chamber where you can rescue Sildar 2 of them cast sleep to end the entire encounter. 1 dissonant whispers ended up killing Klarg because they all got in melee range with him. It was trivially easy

 

[JacktheRabbit]

That's just one example. Even at level 1 having 6 spell slots for things like sleep or tashas hideous laughter or dissonant whispers makes challenging a party of Bards very difficult. For instance in Cragmaw cave in Lost mines the chamber where you can rescue Sildar 2 of them cast sleep to end the entire encounter. 1 dissonant whispers ended up killing Klarg because they all got in melee range with him. It was trivially easy

Have a monster or two make decent saving throw rolls and suddenly the party is screwed. You can potentially nuke foes but a couple good saves and you have nothing left.

 

[chunkosauruswrex]

Have a monster or two make decent saving throw rolls and suddenly the party is screwed. You can potentially nuke foes but a couple good saves and you have nothing left.

A lot of beginning monsters have negative saving throws for the mental stats, so that makes that unlikely. Also things like sleep have no saving throw

 

[JacktheRabbit]

A lot of beginning monsters have negative saving throws for the mental stats, so that makes that unlikely. Also things like sleep have no saving throw

First level spell DC will be 13 assuming point array. Assume on average 0 to -1 saves and you still have 30% of mobs making saves. Add to that sheer luck and it can get a lot worse and you have blown your load.

Is it likely? No, more often than not you can overwhelm foes, but if those saves are made or the players roll bad on the Sleep spell (which to me is a weak spell, 5E foes even weak ones have tons of hit points) and you are in trouble as you have nothing to fall back on.

Doesnt really matter anyway, any DM that wants to make his campaign fun is going to tailor it around the makeup of the party. A party with nothing but bards can be OP in some situation and way underpowered in other situations.

 

[chunkosauruswrex]

First level spell DC will be 13 assuming point array. Assume on average 0 to -1 saves and you still have 30% of mobs making saves.

At low levels getting hit by tashas or dissonant whispers is a death sentence for a goblin or kobold or knoll or insert generic low level enemy here, so by your own admission 70% of mobs are just straight ed and there is nothing they can do. The way action economy works if 3 mobs are attacking you and 2 are totally down for even 1 turn then it's trivial to overcome the 1 still standing, and then mop up the others.