D&D 5E The indispensable Bard. Small parties and 5th wheels.

[Andor]

I had a thought while reading through the "Where did thief skills go?" thread.

If you were making a small party and couldn't make the iconic 4 man team, you could do no better than to make one of them a Bard.

He heals almost as well as a cleric, and is just as good a skill monkey as the rogue. He even gets expertise.

He's not as tough as a cleric, and lacks the spike damage of a rogue, but he brings both party buffs and foe debuffs to the table. At third level you get to choose more skills thus becoming more of a rogue replacement, or better at melee, shoreing up your one shortcoming compared to the cleric.

Rather than being the ideal 5th party member of 3e, the 5e Bard is now capable of covering two entire iconic positions all by his onesies.

Seems like a good thing to me, but I'm sure opinions will vary.

Thoughts?

Who else fills up the shortman party? Paladin to cover melee and backup healing? Ranger for combat capability and covering aoe damage? Eldritch Knight?

 

[ForumFerret]

I think you're on the money with bard, paladin, ranger. That would be a completely workable team.

 

[gyor]

If you have to Solo, aka its just you, a Paladin is the way to go. Buffing spells, Healing Spells, Smites, Magical Mount, strong combat ability, Channel Divinity, Heavy Armour, Shield, in time a protective Aura.

The single scariest PC is a Paladin Avenger. Unless your a major spellcaster that likes to throw damage around then a Fey Knight is.

Next is a high level Dwarf Champion, with his high damage and his virtual ability to regenerate his wounds, plus Second Wind will just steam roll through everything.

Bard Lore College and Beastmaster Ranger are the next best I'd say for soloing.

The Bard has versetility, Dwarf is even more important then for the Champion to help make up for the Bard's low hps and armour. Actually aside from no charisma boost, the Dwarf Bard rocks.

 

[TheGorramBatman]

If you have to Solo, aka its just you, a Paladin is the way to go. Buffing spells, Healing Spells, Smites, Magical Mount, strong combat ability, Channel Divinity, Heavy Armour, Shield, in time a protective Aura.

The single scariest PC is a Paladin Avenger.

Vengeance Paladin with a finesse weapon and heavy dex. Grab athletics and insight skill.

Halfelf for two more skill proficiencies. Pick up investigation and perception.

Urchin background for thieves tools, stealth, sleight of hand, ability to move through city shortcuts, and murdered parents.

Damage output, healing, buffs, debuffs, lock picking, trap disabling, stealth, social skills, condition removal, condition immunity, and great saves. Social skills will be passable with Charisma alone.

It's the ultimate one-man party. Holy, sword swinging, Batman stalking the night to bring JUSTICE and VENGEANCE to a corrupted city. Would make a great one-on-one campaign or a reliable character to bring to Encounters and always have a good time.

I had a thought while reading through the "Where did thief skills go?" thread.

If you were making a small party and couldn't make the iconic 4 man team, you could do no better than to make one of them a Bard.

He heals almost as well as a cleric, and is just as good a skill monkey as the rogue. He even gets expertise.

He's not as tough as a cleric, and lacks the spike damage of a rogue, but he brings both party buffs and foe debuffs to the table. At third level you get to choose more skills thus becoming more of a rogue replacement, or better at melee, shoreing up your one shortcoming compared to the cleric.

Rather than being the ideal 5th party member of 3e, the 5e Bard is now capable of covering two entire iconic positions all by his onesies.

Seems like a good thing to me, but I'm sure opinions will vary.

Thoughts?

Who else fills up the shortman party? Paladin to cover melee and backup healing? Ranger for combat capability and covering aoe damage? Eldritch Knight?

Bard is the best "cover down" class in the game. Their abilities and spells can, by default, be an effective Cleric stand-in from day one.

In a few levels they can perform rogue-skills just as well as a Rogue if the party needs it. Jack of All Trades is also amazing at making the Bard "good enough" for whatever skills the party doesn't cover. Great in a pinch.

Bards can't quite take on the role of the party's dedicated Arcane spellcaster or frontline fighter, but judicious selection of spells granted from Arcane Secrets can allow a Bard to fake either role well enough to count.

Essentially, it doesn't really matter what a party needs, the Bard can be built to perform that role -- Not exceptionally, but adequately -- and they'll do it while throwing around Inspiration Dice to make the rest of the party better.

Going to be playing a long campaign and not sure how party dynamics will work out in the long run? Play a Bard.

 

[kerbarian]

The bard is certainly the best cover-all-the-bases class, but 5e allows almost any class to do a respectable job of it. For example, if you have decent Dex and/or Cha (viable for almost any class) and go Human with the Healer feat and Criminal background, that gives you backup healing and a solid set of skills, on top of whatever your class actually does. Not as good as the specialists, certainly, but enough to get by.

I think a Circle of the Moon druid is possibly the strongest multi-role class. Not quite as flexible as a bard, but you can be better than a full healer (full healer plus lots of free hp from wild shape) and also a front-line combatant on par with dedicated melee classes.

 

[sithramir]

Totally agree about the Bard. It might be my favorite class now. I was always the wizard but liked the idea of fighting in melee too. This edition helps non fighters still perform adequately and the bard with the right powers, spells can be a great caster who can also stay in melee. I really hate Eldritch Knight because spells are just so weak.

*Cough* SMITE...Gotta love it. And being a full caster as a bard with a "few" selections from other spell lists just makes it great.

 

[jace]

I'm so glad that bards have finally caught up to my irrational love of playing them.

 

[gyor]

Bard's also make the potentially best summoners, if they use thier magical secrects for that, although Druids are a close second. Conjurer Wizards do not have the verstility, being confined for combat summons to Elementals, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air.

 

[BASHMAN]

I saw this versatility too. After reading the Gentlemen Bastards series, I got really inspired and created "Deric the Cleric", who is actually a Bard with the Charlatan background and the Lore build. He casts cure wounds, etc. like a cleric, but his "inspiration" spell works differently... But for some reason, his "turn undead" attempts always fail (his action on a note to the GM: "I fake turning undead, but do so in a way to distract the monster... I'm using the Aid Ally action to give someone Advantage against it.) Using the Lore build, he will eventually learn other Cleric spells and some iconic wizard spells so he can fake being a wizard, too (he collects fake identities the way some people collect stamps). His background info though includes "I really am a priest; just not to the god of life" (he's a priest to the god of thieves). He has two sets of equipment: Deric's obvous cleric gear (Holy Symbol of the god of life, mace, shield, etc) and he also has his real equipment (hidden stilettos, forgery gear, disguise kit, etc.)

But I really could see how a bard could be a cleric (without the "con" aspect in my previous concept). You just re-skin all your inspiration-y things as the result of religious zeal instead of music and you re-skin your de-buffing abilities as "rebuking" the enemy's sinful ways, etc.