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Message: <blockquote data-quote="InVinoVeritas" data-source="post: 2894974" data-attributes="member: 41485">Bards are terrific characters. I love them to pieces. However, you've got to approach them with a particular mindset.Bards are the party's managers. As high social characters, they are the ones who find leads for adventures, find out whether particular courses of action are good or not, how safe it is for the rest of the party to adventure in a particular direction, all that stuff. Furthermore, as excellent party buffers, they figure out what the party needs, when they need it, and make sure that the other members of the party can succeed when it matters most. And, as generalists, they act as backup for when one of the other members of the party is out of action.Of course, as managers, they get a lot of crap like managers in the real world. After all, the bard doesn't DO anything. Yeah, he got the caravan to get the party to the dragon's lair without trouble. Yeah, he coached the rogue through opening the vault then healed her when the trap went off. Yeah, he sang a rousing tune as the barbarian destroyed the dragon. But did he open the vault? No. Did he clear the path to the lair? No. Did he kill the dragon? No. But he made it all possible. That's the strength of a bard.If you like being a star performer, showing direct success through your works, the one doing the actual defeating, then the bard isn't for you. The other classes will be much more satisfying for you. However, if you like being part of a winning team, like helping everyone be the best they can be, and enjoy smoothing the path, then the bard is terrific.There is one area, though, that a bard can outshine everyone else: Use Magic Device. They'll have the Charisma and skill points to pull this off, and it can pull a party out of a bunch of jams. Wizard falls in battle? Use his scrolls and wands. Held back by an evil artifact? Tap into it and shut it off. Yeah, it's scary and can kill you, but a bard dedicated to Use Magic Device can pull off really amazing (and occasionally DM-frustrating) stunts.So I like bards. Build personal credibility, keep tabs on the environment around the party, and be a strategist. That's how the bard succeeds. No class is more dependent on other people to get the job done, and it's the bard's job to keep those other people at their best.</blockquote>

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