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<blockquote data-quote="Feaelin" data-source="post: 1015308" data-attributes="member: 1614">&quot;2. Use ranged attacks and avoid melee....I guess I just don't like the idea of hanging back.&quot;It is a difficult role to play.&nbsp; I tend to be fairly gung ho and charge into the thick of things.&nbsp; My most recent character, however, couldn't do that.&nbsp; He was a dwarven cleric (which normally would have been a fairly combative character), but he had a poor strength, and I chose not to go for too many combative feats.When he first started at 1st level, he was young and would charge into the thick of things, which often nearly got him killed.&nbsp; He (and I) slowly learned that he was much more useful as &quot;support&quot;, it stuck in his craw, but he helped his companions more by hanging back and casting Prayer, bless, bull's strength...I've seen a similar effect with the Bard.&nbsp; Bard can really beef up the party with support songs and spells.&nbsp; A group that I GM'd for greatly benefited when my brother joined with his Bard.The strategy I've not seen mentioned so far is that a Bard should be able to AVOID a fight completely.&nbsp; Charm, Diplomacy, &quot;the song that soothed the savage beast&quot;, are the weapons of choice for the Bard...Admittedly, with certain groups, the bard's charm &amp; diplomacy isn't useful, either the GM doesn't like having his fights dodged, or you have too many &quot;companions&quot; that &quot;stab first, ask questions before their last breath wheezes out&quot;. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Feaelin</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Feaelin, post: 1015308, member: 1614"] "2. Use ranged attacks and avoid melee. ... I guess I just don't like the idea of hanging back." It is a difficult role to play. I tend to be fairly gung ho and charge into the thick of things. My most recent character, however, couldn't do that. He was a dwarven cleric (which normally would have been a fairly combative character), but he had a poor strength, and I chose not to go for too many combative feats. When he first started at 1st level, he was young and would charge into the thick of things, which often nearly got him killed. He (and I) slowly learned that he was much more useful as "support", it stuck in his craw, but he helped his companions more by hanging back and casting Prayer, bless, bull's strength... I've seen a similar effect with the Bard. Bard can really beef up the party with support songs and spells. A group that I GM'd for greatly benefited when my brother joined with his Bard. The strategy I've not seen mentioned so far is that a Bard should be able to AVOID a fight completely. Charm, Diplomacy, "the song that soothed the savage beast", are the weapons of choice for the Bard... Admittedly, with certain groups, the bard's charm & diplomacy isn't useful, either the GM doesn't like having his fights dodged, or you have too many "companions" that "stab first, ask questions before their last breath wheezes out". :) Feaelin [/QUOTE]

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