D&D 5E The Bard: A missed opportunity.

[Sailor Moon]

I think I've been reading quite a different description of Bardic Inspiration from what those who are saying it's underpowered have been describing.

I don't have my PHB, but I seem to remember it being cha mod number of uses, can recharge on short rest with font of inspiration. Increasing die size, and variant uses depending on college.

It is Cha mod.

You don't get Font of Inspiration until 5th level, Countercharm only lasts until your next turn (yuck, sounds too much like 4th edition), your Bardic Inspiration only effects one person and at first grants a d6, then all the way to 12 at 15th level. Also, you can do it once within 10 minutes and can only apply it to one thing. Bardic Inspiration doesn't even effect you unless you want to count yourself as that one person who is eligible.

I'm sorry but this is a far far far cry from the Bard of previous editions.

 

[Quartz]

Bardic inspiration is also super weak. It's the bard's signature power but they can do it three times per day and it only applies to a single check and has a good chance of not doing anything.

Is Bardic Inspiration not much the same as the fighter's superiority dice? And you can use it a number of times equal to your Cha mod per long rest up to 5th level and per short rest thereafter.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

My Pathfinder Bard was really only good at kill-stealing, as I would spend most of the battle reminding everyone they had +2 inspiration to a bunch of things and haste (harder to do when you the player is intoxicated)... And if he had a chance cast blur and mirror image on self staying mostly out of the fighting. Everyone else mostly did all of the work, and maybe if he was lucky he'd deliver the killing blow to something only because everyone else exhausted themselves.

Well that's certainly a way to play one, I certainly don't mind having a Bard that would be of a more active role.

 

[Jester David]

High Charisma + Expertise + proficiency in any 3 skills you want (even more if you go Lore) + spells like Friends, Charm Person, Suggestion/Mass Suggestion, Tongues, Dominate Person/Monster, Modify memory, etc. not enough for you there? I mean, all of that together pretty much rules the social interaction pillar as utterly as you can get.

But then what's the difference between a bard and an enchanter wizard?
Yes, a bard might have a higher Charisma, but a dedicated enchanter might opt for a 14 Cha. So the difference is a wopping +1 to social skills.

5E bard is the realization that the second best at everything is not an incredibly popular character concept. Either they could have placed the bard in equal footing with the rogue as a damage dealer, and that would be really weird, or they could raise it to cleric/druid level in combat support, the choice they ended up making.

Being "second best" is not popular, except for people who loved the bard. Not everyone wants to be "the best", especially if they're the 5th member of the group and don't want to step on any toes. Many people liked being the non-combat character.

However, the bard was traditionally "the best" at buffing. They were awesome at making the party awesome. They were the class who went around casting fighter on the enemy. Less so in 4e and 5e, where they have offensive magic of their own. Heck, the bard has offensive cantrips.
And they've lost some of their buffing for spellcasting. The cleric, with bless is much more effective. Instead, the bard has gained much more offense.

I enjoy the fact that classes such as bard, ranger and paladin use spell slots to power special abilities and you can pretty much ignore that they are spells if you want to. A smite or hunter's mark don't need to be a spell if you don't want them to be, and the same is true of a bard's healing word. If their choice had been to create a specific song mechanic (or a smite/hunter's mark mechanic, for that matter), additional effort would be needed to balance it. Not worth the resources, if you ask me. I can easily pick my instrument as focus and consider that the spell descriptions are the supernatural effects of my songs.

Healing word is also a cleric spell. The bard doesn't really have any class features hidden as spells like the ranger, or the ability to fuel class features with spells.

A spell song that buffed would make all the difference. Something comparable to bless, possibly where you can pick a few other bonuses to apply.

 

[Wrathamon]

We get it, you hate the 5e bard, we arent going to change your mind.

Why not design a Bard Class that you do like or convert your Pathfinder bard class over to 5e.

 

[Jester David]

Is Bardic Inspiration not much the same as the fighter's superiority dice? And you can use it a number of times equal to your Cha mod per long rest up to 5th level and per short rest thereafter.

But the fighter doesn't spend their superiority die unless it is an opportune moment. It's on a round-by-round basis. You need to use it, so you use it. Many of the uses are automatic successes. Parry and rally cannot fail. Most are rolled after a hit. Even if there is a miss chance, you're deciding at that moment; you use commander's strike and that person attacks right then. Or you use lunging attack to strike a creature you could not otherwise hit. There's no delay and the results are immediate.

The bard spends inspiration on their turn, granting it to one ally, who *might* need it. But that ally might not need it and thus the die is wasted. The best use is out of combat, when the bard can inspire prior to an ally making a check. Since you know for a fact someone is going to make the attempt.
Even when an ally makes a check the +3 bonus is only going to help within a narrow range: too high a roll and the inspiration wasn't needed and too low and the inspiration won't help. There's a 15% chance inspiration makes a difference on a d20 roll. There's not a 15% chance the barbarian's rage will affect a combat, or a 15% chance a rogue's sneak attack will prove useful.
Most of the time, the Help action will be more useful.

 

[Jester David]

We get it, you hate the 5e bard, we arent going to change your mind.

Why not design a Bard Class that you do like or convert your Pathfinder bard class over to 5e.

1) I didn't spend $50 on a game to have to design my own content.

2) Mearls has said they want to reevaluate people's reactions to content in the coming year, to see how well they hit the mark and what needs to be changed/improved.
If I can make a great case that the bard needs a little extra love, there's a better chance WotC will make that change. Even if it's something as small as a spell or tweak of a class feature.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

And when you criticize the bardic inspiration rules, can you please refer to the version in print.

 

[Imaro]

The bard spends inspiration on their turn, granting it to one ally, who *might* need it. But that ally might not need it and thus the die is wasted. The best use is out of combat, when the bard can inspire prior to an ally making a check. Since you know for a fact someone is going to make the attempt.

I don't think that's exactly how inspiration works... The inspiration die can be used by the ally it was granted to at any time within 10 mins of the bard granting it (for comparison a round is 6 seconds) ... do most combats in 5e last more than 10 mins? If not, I'm not seeing how the best use is outside of combat... could you explain that? The ally also gets to decide whether to spend it after seeing the d20 roll... so I would assume that an ally is going to wait until he needs it for an attack roll, save, skill check, etc. and then use it in most circumstances.

 

[Umbran]

If I can make a great case that the bard needs a little extra love, there's a better chance WotC will make that change.

Just so long as we don't confuse "great case" with "being a pest about it and annoying other posters".

I haven't played them in depth to know how the balance works out, honestly, but the bard looks pretty cool.

If there was a missed opportunity, for me it was in not making some version of the bard druidically themed. Much as the class structure was baroque, the 1e bard had a certain style I liked...