Bard Variants?

[Shadowdancer]

die_kluge: Well, I don't think the character is weak so much as there are inconsistencies in the presentation, such as some charisma-based skills not on the class skill list.

I think the bard should get more skills per level. We use 6. That makes the bard more versatile. Actually, we give one rank of perform free, and 6 other skills, per level. And the spell progression is really slow, and there aren't enough bard-specific spells to make the character unique. I do like the image of a spellsinger, so I would like to see more music-related spells and powers. I'm gonna have to check out Monte's alternate bard.

I multiclassed my bard with a sorcerer, mainly to get access to more spells. I chose sorcerer since they both use Charisma as the modifier for their spells.

We changed up the skills list for the Bard. I'm at work right now, so I don't have the stuff available, but we basically made changes, as you said, to correct inconsistencies in the class list. We didn't add intimidate, but did add spot and innuendo, some others that are charisma-based and should logically belong in the bard skill list.

We have a lot of political intrigue going on in our campaign, and my bard is right at the forefront of all that. But we do go into the dungeon quite a bit, too, so with my sorcerer and bard spells, and missle weapon abilities (the character also has a good dex) I can support the party from a distance.

 

[Ruvion]

Shadowdancer: Addition of innuendo makes sense (although it does infringe on rogue territory), but why spot? The spot skill being a class skill is essentially one of the few edges that rangers (and to a lesser extent, rogues) get over other classes IMHO. Giving it to bards as class skill weakens the relative strength and importance of the (already shafted IMO) ranger.

 

[der_kluge]

I think I've figured out what kind of Bard I want. I'm holding the 3E Bard to the idea of the EverQuest Bard, and frankly, it doesn't hold a candle to it.

The EverQuest Bard was truly a Bard. They weren't spellcasters, but they could create spell-like effects with their music. They got one new song per level - and every song (IIRC) was a AOE song that affected the party positively, or the enemies negatively. Which, in the latter case, could be a problem if the long Bard in the group ended up making all the monsters mad at him. I've seen many Bards run in fear for that very reason.

So, I think the Bard that I'm going to try to create is something like this :

d6 HD
6 SP per level
No spell-casting ability
Remove 'Scry'; add 'Innuendo'
1 new song per level with new rules that I'll have to think about - but *most* songs will be AOE songs that affect the entire party or the entire set of enemies within the range of the songs radius, perhaps using the rules from "The Sigil's" Enchiridion of Mystic Music .pdf.
The ability to sing songs a number of times per day equal to the level + charisma modifier.