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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ipissimus" data-source="post: 2895836" data-attributes="member: 41514">Bards, like all the classes, are good in some circumstances but bad in others. Unfortunately, the bad often outweighs the good in comparison to other class options.I've played and DMed Bards, so my opinion here comes from experience. As a stand alone PC, or in a small party of 2-3 players, Bards shine, particularly at low levels. They can substitute for a cleric in a pinch (@ low levels), fight reasonably well and take care of the more social aspects of adventuring when others aren't so inclined. About the only thing they can't do is sub for a Rogue effectively without Trapfinding.Bards also make GREAT cohorts, particularly at higher levels where they can buff the begeebus out of everyone with the Inspire specials. In addition, you can consult them on bits of obscure lore and get them to take ranks in those 'useful skills that hardly anybody has' like Knowledge (Architecture).Unfortunately, having played and DMed Bards in larger parties as '5th wheels', Bard PCs suffer the death of a thousand cuts, and it only gets worse the higher levels get. You have healing spells, but the Cleric's already healed everyone. You can fight, but the fighter's already killed everyone. You can cast spells and examine arcane objects, but the Wizard/Loremaster has already done all that. Worse, if you start butting into their fields of expertise, the other players can get shirty. So, in the end, the most effective thing you can do is inspire, which is like watching paint dry. Bored players are unhappy players, and you really don't want that.It gets even worse when you start throwing in non-core, official, options, like Cloistered Cleric from UA, or even core PrCs like Arcane Trickster. The Cloistered Cleric does everything the Bard does, only they get the full Cleric spell list (including the uber-stackable buffs that quickly outmode Inspire). An Arcane Trickster gets trapfinding, full sneak attack, better spell progression and nice specials at the cost of BAB (+feats like Cosmopolitan which lets you grab Perform for flavor) and they don't have to spend Epic feats to get 9th level spells. Eldrich Knights are better if you want a Fighting/Spellcasting man.The 'fix' for this is to go for the Bard PrC from UA, or go for one of the PrCs from the Complete Series (Sublime Chord, etc.) but I personally feel that the Bard is such a cool concept that it deserves a better treatment in the rules as a core class.</blockquote>

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