D&D 5E Anyone else think the Bard concept is just silly?

[Tony Vargas]

Drummers were standing in the fray in the revolutionary war they were used to give battlefield commands. Only thing missing is they did not dance around throwing fairy darts

And bagpipes - the original terror weapon.

 

[Redthistle]

No. LOL
The difference is when its silent you can actually see how stupid it looks LOLOLOLOL

Well, that, too.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Part of me is quite comfortable with the idea of bards not having cantrips (if they were reduced to less-than-full caster), and another part of me feels like the whole magical dabbler thing could have been the feature that broke the mold (instead of lifting from other lists, they would have cantrips).

My main thing is just that they ought to have Bardic magic, by which I mean magical abilities that help them feel like a Bard. Stuff like 3.5's Songs, 4e's incredibly evocative Bard spells and bard specific rituals, and spells like unearthly chorus.

And yes, I think Vicious Mockery helps that. It was my favorite Bard at-will spell in 4e, and it's one of my favorite cantrips in 5e.

 

[Brandegoris]

Drummers were standing in the fray in the revolutionary war they were used to give battlefield commands. Only thing missing is they did not dance around throwing fairy darts

Yea sure.Did they give like TWO commands before they were sliced down wielding their drum LOLOL
Im not talking about ARMIES guys. Im talking 5-6 dudes fighting 10 Orcs and one of them is being an obnoxious poet while everyone else is sword swinging.
Some of what people are saying sounds fine when they say Bards as casters or without musical instruments etc... Except that why even have a bard if you take away the instruments? Then they are the same as a sorcerer or Wizard. My point? They are silly if played as is with an instrument or poetry in combat, and if you try and ignore the Musical part they are not needed because they just duplicate a class already in play.
I like the idea of them being an NPC class a Little better

I HAVE heard some better concepts in this thread though. My problem may just be that its hard to find someone that can play a bard that doesn't make it feel wanky and silly, but it CAN be done sometimes

 

[Redthistle]

I am still holding out hope for the college of dance bard.

Can I stir the debate, and suggest it be named the Brandegoris College of Bardic Dance? Heh-heh-heh!

 

[Arnwolf666]

What the rules say are not nearly as important as why they say it. The bard is the way it is because it is supposed to convey the same concept that the art is trying to get across. Without art, we would have nothing to go by aside from the words alone...

... in which case it would still matter that the class is called Bard rather than Skald.

If the art is what is keeping you from enjoying a class then dear god discard the art and use other art.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

If the art is what is keeping you from enjoying a class then dear god discard the art and use other art.

If you disagree with the underlying intent of a class (or race, feat, spell, whatever), then ignoring that intent is ignoring the real problem. Pretending that something is not what it actually is would be both disingenuous and antithetical to role-playing.

 

[Patrick McGill]

I've got a player playing a bard in my current Al-Qadim game. They were fighting a Dao on these floating platforms that would move around the grid map randomly, and when they crashed into each other everyone on the platforms that contacted had to roll a Dex save to not get knocked prone. The bard did get knocked prone, but kept casting magic while down, and we decided it was like a Jimmy Page doing a guitar solo on stage laying down.

 

[Henry]

I did back when they were hose and lute style troubadours in 2E AD&D.

Even back in 2e bards were sneaking around, using two-handed swords, and casting Fireball spells!

 

[eayres33]

I like my concept of a bard, but think the bard as presented in the PHB handbook, by the art and some of the fluff is a little silly, like the meme on one of the how to build a bard sites of the man playing a guitar in a gunfight. Still the bard is a valid class.

I think the bard can be improved on and given a little more marital status, and support abilities and be moved to a half caster. The valor bard is one of my favorite classes once you get to level six, you can cast support spells with abandon and once those run out you can mix it up in combat and still lend bardic inspiration and song of rest. Of course this all comes down to how you play your bard, my bard is more along the line of Gurney Halleck, compared to the bard in darkness rising.