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<blockquote data-quote="Cap'n Kobold" data-source="post: 7086076" data-attributes="member: 6802951">Nope. Unless you count shouting encouragement or the verbal component of spells (which could be flavoured as song if you wished.)Bards are able to cast spells while holding a musical instrument, but that is more likely to happen out of combat: during combat component pouches are more likely to be used due to item/action economy.&nbsp;To be fair, that is a strange concept unless you were going full caster. I'm guessing that you don't really have an issue with the &quot;magic-through-music&quot; aspect of the bard? Chanting, waving and throwing bat guano while other people fight for their lives also seems a little odd to visualise.&nbsp; <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=":-)" />I can't really speak for all previous editions, but I'm not sure where you're getting the concept of the prancing-around-with-a-lute-in-combat bard in 5e. There are two illustrations and three text examples of bards and in none of them is the bard actually playing a musical instrument in the middle of a fight. Only one illustration and one of the flavour texts have the bard playing an instrument at all.&nbsp;Because bards were a distinct class in previous editions, and even in 5th ed they are more distinct from wizards and sorcerors than wizards and sorcerors are from each other. As a class they have less emphasis on magical attacks and utility spells, and much wider range in terms of skills and party support. They're pretty much the greatest jack-of-all-trades of the classes. The full-caster status is new in 5e, but the general class is still pretty distinct.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cap'n Kobold, post: 7086076, member: 6802951"] Nope. Unless you count shouting encouragement or the verbal component of spells (which [I]could [/I]be flavoured as song if you wished.) Bards are able to cast spells while holding a musical instrument, but that is more likely to happen out of combat: during combat component pouches are more likely to be used due to item/action economy. To be fair, that [I]is [/I]a strange concept unless you were going full caster. I'm guessing that you don't really have an issue with the "magic-through-music" aspect of the bard? Chanting, waving and throwing bat guano while other people fight for their lives also seems a little odd to visualise. :-) I can't really speak for all previous editions, but I'm not sure where you're getting the concept of the prancing-around-with-a-lute-in-combat bard in 5e. There are two illustrations and three text examples of bards and in none of them is the bard actually playing a musical instrument in the middle of a fight. Only one illustration and one of the flavour texts have the bard playing an instrument at all. Because bards were a distinct class in previous editions, and even in 5th ed they are more distinct from wizards and sorcerors than wizards and sorcerors are from each other. As a class they have less emphasis on magical attacks and utility spells, and much wider range in terms of skills and party support. They're pretty much the greatest jack-of-all-trades of the classes. The full-caster status is new in 5e, but the general class is still pretty distinct. [/QUOTE]

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