D&D 5E Song of Rest Abuse?

[AaronOfBarbaria]

If it makes your party feel better, you could let them roll 5 times and take the highest.

Yeah, that would be in the spirit of the errata'd rule since it says "only the effects of one of them - the most potent one - apply"

Probably how I'd handle it should my group ever decide to have multiple bards in the same party.

 

[Flamestrike]

Song of rest seems like a cute little bard class ability that buffs p your healing rate with hit dice a little bit. However we have been talking about a mono class party for fun and games mostly to see what would happen.

Now if you had a 5 person party made up of 100% bards at level 5 song of rest restores an extra 1d8 healing to HD based healing. With 5 bards though if you spent a hit dice to regain hit points would you gain an extra 5d8 hit points per hit dice?

A five man party of bards?



Seeing as you only get 2-3 short rests a day, it breaks nothing.

 

[Ashrym]

If it makes your party feel better, you could let them roll 5 times and take the highest.

It's what we do. Role separate dice for each bard using the ability and keep the highest roll. Something like advantage/disadvantage on the bonus die. That gives a higher average amount of healing for a benefit but doesn't go overboard.

 

[zaratan]

With the party AC and HP, they will really need song of rest abuse.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

It will work, but only if they sing barbershop around an old oil drum brazier.

"Woah, oh, oh
Healin' hit dice time
Woah, oh, oh
Healin' hit dice
If we cast five Songs of Rest tonight
There will still be monsters left to fight
What else can we do
But get Inspired by you
That's Bardic healing in the shortest time"

 

[Ashrym]

With the party AC and HP, they will really need song of rest abuse.

No they won't. The AC isn't any different than a regular group. The only thing heavy armor really does is remove the DEX investment. The hit points aren't any lower than clerics, druids, rogues, monks, or warlocks because d8 is the standard. Being average isn't low just because it isn't high.

What the party does have is a lot of spell support and a lot of bardic inspiration dice. Don't forget that valor inspiration also includes AC bonus as an option.

 

[Zardnaar]

Also a lot of healing as well.

 

[zaratan]

Just a joke, dont take serious. But at low lvls needing to buff dex, cha and con, with only light armor and no shield, no, this team is below avarage. But you start to solve this at lvl 3.
Agree that bardic inspiration abuse will cause more impact than songs of rest.

 

[Ashrym]

Just a joke, dont take serious. But at low lvls needing to buff dex, cha and con, with only light armor and no shield, no, this team is below avarage. But you start to solve this at lvl 3.
Agree that bardic inspiration abuse will cause more impact than songs of rest.

Naw. Human variant for the bonus feat on a lore bard grabs medium armor and shield if a person is worried anyway, just as an example. Most bards who are looking at combat focus on DEX anyway. It's usually a 14 or 15 AC on the bard or rogue at first compared to 16 AC for the heavy armor classes that might have the proficiency. 16 (18 with a shield) is high, not average, at first level. There are literally only 2 classes with heavy armor proficiency (plus some clerics by domain bonus proficiency) and every other class is looking at the same AC as the bard options or less. Shield proficiency is a bit more common but not commonly used in favor of damage from weapons requiring two hands or the two weapon fighting style.

Almost every class is looking at STR or DEX for combat, CON for hit points, and another attribute score. That's not different for bards. Going with DEX, CHA, and CON on a bard isn't different than STR, CHA, and CON on a paladin; or STR, DEX, CON on a barbarian; or DEX, WIS, CON on a ranger; or DEX, WIS, CON on a monk; etc to demonstrate the same thing happens.

The typical party only has one or two classes with slightly higher AC at those levels, and levels 1 & 2 go by very quickly regardless.

The abundance of spells from versatile options and bardic inspiration easily cover quite a bit of ground. The entire party can also be stealth based. Running a group stealth check that would only require 3/5 characters to beat the highest passive perception opposing them when the group is all bard with some DEX investment works well, especially if they focus on it more with expertise and invisibility later. It may have been a comment made in jest, but bards aren't hurting for AC compared to most classes. A typical group would be a wizard who had cast mage armor (AC 15), rogue (AC 14 or 15), fighter with a big weapon (AC 16), and a cleric with a 15 or 16 AC who is more likely to take a shield bonus, plus something else similar in those same AC's. The bards have more overall magical firepower, healing, and buffs; and each would be TWF for better damage than the wizard or cleric is contributing. Parties with 5 rogues, 5 bards, or 5 rangers are examples that work well.

 

[Zardnaar]

Just a joke, dont take serious. But at low lvls needing to buff dex, cha and con, with only light armor and no shield, no, this team is below avarage. But you start to solve this at lvl 3.
Agree that bardic inspiration abuse will cause more impact than songs of rest.

We roll 4d6 drop the lowest and you can multiclass the bards with the default array anyway. THose that roll well become valor bards, the weaker rolls can be lore bards as they are less MAD.