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<blockquote data-quote="Rystil Arden" data-source="post: 2055997" data-attributes="member: 29014">In all honesty, whether you should go Bard or Rogue depends on your party composition.&nbsp; Find out what the other PCs are playing first.&nbsp; If they have a cleric and a wizard, you are probably better off going Rogue because Rogues can fight better and they are less likely to need your magic for buffs and healing (and the cleric's Bless won't stack with the Bard's Inspire Courage, etc).&nbsp; One of my PCs was frustrated by his Bard's inability to aid the party significantly in combat (the few times it broke out), so he retired the Bard for a charismatic Rogue and fared just as well socially and better in combat.&nbsp; If the party is not balanced properly, a Bard could help to fix that more than a Rogue.&nbsp; Also, ask your DM about campaign style and find out if it will be heavily combat-based.&nbsp; One PC I created was a third-level telepath who was great at social situations, but he was killed by a gang of four housecats 75% of the time in my playtest, and the DM told me there was significant combat, so I switched his powers up a bit before the first game.&nbsp; It may seem like metagaming, and it is, but this is to ensure that everyone has fun and understands what the game is about, not min/maxing advantages.&nbsp; Remember though, if you do choose to go Bard, expect to be in a support/subsidiary role except in social situations.&nbsp; And I don't mean support like the wizard or cleric where the party thanks the gods that you were there to save them after every encounter: for bards it is more of a subtle numeric edge that your party members might well take for granted, as it is far less visible, if not that much less potent, than the edge from the cleric or wizard.&nbsp; My players have refrained from choosing to play Bard characters for a while for this reason, although they often pick up a Bard cohort once they have Leadership to sing them some buffs.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rystil Arden, post: 2055997, member: 29014"] In all honesty, whether you should go Bard or Rogue depends on your party composition. Find out what the other PCs are playing first. If they have a cleric and a wizard, you are probably better off going Rogue because Rogues can fight better and they are less likely to need your magic for buffs and healing (and the cleric's Bless won't stack with the Bard's Inspire Courage, etc). One of my PCs was frustrated by his Bard's inability to aid the party significantly in combat (the few times it broke out), so he retired the Bard for a charismatic Rogue and fared just as well socially and better in combat. If the party is not balanced properly, a Bard could help to fix that more than a Rogue. Also, ask your DM about campaign style and find out if it will be heavily combat-based. One PC I created was a third-level telepath who was great at social situations, but he was killed by a gang of four housecats 75% of the time in my playtest, and the DM told me there was significant combat, so I switched his powers up a bit before the first game. It may seem like metagaming, and it is, but this is to ensure that everyone has fun and understands what the game is about, not min/maxing advantages. Remember though, if you do choose to go Bard, expect to be in a support/subsidiary role except in social situations. And I don't mean support like the wizard or cleric where the party thanks the gods that you were there to save them after every encounter: for bards it is more of a subtle numeric edge that your party members might well take for granted, as it is far less visible, if not that much less potent, than the edge from the cleric or wizard. My players have refrained from choosing to play Bard characters for a while for this reason, although they often pick up a Bard cohort once they have Leadership to sing them some buffs. [/QUOTE]

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