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

[JacktheRabbit]

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.

Yes, very true. An all bard party, just like any other party can steamroll most level appropriate encounters if they want to. An all bard party with access to so much Crowd Control can probably do it better than most.

But what happens when you encounter the second group of goblins in a day? Or a third?

 

[ClaytonCross]

We've bounced this idea around before in our group, but some of the Kotaku team apparently tried it: an all-bard party:
https://kotaku.com/my-all-bard-dungeons-dragons-session-went-up-in-glori-1822930147

Now it sounds like they made a bit of a mess of it (possibly not helped by a fairly unsupportive DM - who throws a completely magic-immune opponent at a party of 1st level full casters?) but I was wondering what people's experience has been of single-class parties (particularly bards, but anything, really).

I have not actually done it but my group talked about after I made quite successful Warlock scout. It seems to use that an all warlock team is feasible.

Healer: High CHA/INT Human variant with inspiring healer feat (healer feat at level 4), Celestial patron, pact of the tome (for book of ancient secrets)
Scout: High DEX/WIS Half-elf (Dungeon Delver feat at level 4), The Old One Patron, Pact of the chain
Tank: High CON/STR Mountain Dwarf (Tough feat at level 4), Fiend Patron, Pact of the blade
DPS: High CHA/CON Scourge Aasimar (Great weapon master at level 4), HexBlade Patron, Pact of the blade (for two handed pact weapon)

 

[CTurbo]

I've done an all Fighter party and it worked out pretty well. Combat was a breeze of course. I think an all Bard party would be great fun and quite effective. I would also like to see an all Cleric party. I think they would be great too as long as they all don't dump Charisma. and then of course an all Paladin party would just be silly powerful overall.

Seems like there was a thread about this not too long ago. I like these types of discussions. I think Barbarian and Monk would be the two worst classes for this and probably Wizard and Sorcerer at low levels as they'd be far too squishy for any kind of fight.

 

[bgbarcus]

I played a one-shot with three rangers as a test to see if the PHB ranger was as bad as so many people claimed. We were 7th or 8th level. The DM put us against a mix of individual big monsters and fairly large groups of orcs. Several different types of terrain were used (dungeon tunnels, dungeon caverns, outdoor orc camp, cliff edge). We all agreed that the ranger worked pretty well in that test session, everyone had a lot of fun and the three rangers (sharpshooter, dual wielder, great weapon master) complemented each other well and we had just enough spells that they were useful when used well.

I have often thought an all bard party would work really well. The bards have a good mix of spells and combat ability. If any single class is general purpose enough to be the only class, bard seems to be it.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I don't know why his DM was so fixated on intelligence as a stat. If the wand required an easy roll, going from the biggest first level intelligence bonus to the smallest (ie - you have no proficiency and an intelligence penalty) only halves your chance of success. You're better off having some character flaw that you can exploit for inspiration than worrying about whether your stats are right for what you're attempting.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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.

View attachment 94196

Cirque du So SLAY!

 

[Lucas Blackstone]

For a month or two, my old Adventurer's League group did an all cleric group but we wrote down all the domains and each one of us picked randomly. It was amusing.

 

[ProfessorDetective]

Oh, I just thought of another one. A party made up entirely of planetouched races, Aasimar, Tieflings, and Gensei. Could be good for a Planescape campaign.

 

[Jamie Trevino]

Magic Immune Enemies

There are actually a couple enemies that are mostly or conditionally immune to magic.

the Rakshasa is immune to all spells lower than 5th level.

the Tarrasque is immune to cantrips.

demi-liches have an aura of anti-magic.

All golems have magic resistance, and common spell damage types that heal.

Helmet Horrors are immune to certain spells and force damage.