NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="thewok" data-source="post: 7085824" data-attributes="member: 60907">Obeliske wrote:"I have never liked bards, until fifth edition. Granted I havn't done a lot with dnd and them (4th and pathfinder mostly) but for fifth I really feel like they have a spot and I really feel like they bring their own to the table."I'm with you.I currently play two bards in separate campaigns.  IN one, my character is a scout of her country's military whose entire unit was torn apart (quite literally) around her.  She was saved before her own death by her constant companion since then, and she went AWOL.  She's since been found and, as the only living person with knowledge of the terrain in the past campaign, has been sent back to lead another team in the campaign against the dragons and their draconian minions (DM loves him some Dragonlance).  She's a Lore bard who inspires her people by getting to know them and being able to tell them what they need to hear when they need to hear it, by mentioning heroes of the person's heritage, general encouragement, and so on.  In the intervening years between backstory and campaign start, she made money by traveling and telling fanciful tales to tavern patrons, but, in combat, she's a veritable living Ginsu with her dual short swords.The other bard is a valor bard from a Viking-esque society.  She's a skald of the tribe, and she holds the entire history of her people within her.  She is historian, judge, arbiter and mediator for the tribe.  Her one real desire is to fight in glorious combat with her brother (a totem barbarian) at her side.  Since losing her unborn child before campaign start--her own fault, as she was too far along to really participate in the raid "safely," but she threw caution to the wind--she has severe problems with how she views herself and her place in the world at large.  Due to recent campaign events, she's had to step up as the primary arcane source of the group,  and is starting to embrace her role in that regard.  And so she's starting to open up, banging spear against shield in battle to keep rhythm as well as letting her brother and the others hear her voice over the clash of weapons to keep them fighting.  Details are different, but every society has tales of its heroes.  Soon enough, the bards will sing of their group and how they stood against the impossible--and succeeded.Bards need not be Elan types.  Bards can be any sort of inspirational type.  Music is certainly a common theme, but it doesn't need to be as demonstrated by Elan.  I save actual lyre playing for Song of Rest.  In Combat, the music is more primal and raw, made by instruments of war rather than instruments of refinement and leisure.I don't really care for the "spoony bard" archetype myself.  But I also don't buy that that is the only representation of the bard in D&D.</blockquote>

Verification