D&D 5E Bards Should Be Half-Casters in 5.5e/6e

[Malmuria]

Maybe the bard could be a half caster but with a read (or sing) magic feature like rogues had in previous editions

 

[GMforPowergamers]

No.

why not?

if fireball doesn't come on line until level 9 and 5th level spells until level 17 you can continue up to 30 or 40 with the current spells... and that will give the fighter and the rouge a chance to shine

 

[FrogReaver]

Bardic Inspiration is great. My point is that full caster part of the class holds Bardic Inspiration and JOAT aspects back and keeps the bard at the edge.

This allowed Divine Soul Sorcerers, Bladesinger Wizards, Celestial Warlocks, Knowledge and Arcane Clerics, and most Druids to steal the bard's thunder. And this is what makes the bard seem to do little.

Like I said. It depends on which rules the table uses. The Bard loses its shine faster than other classes the more additions to the game you allow.

I don't see it. How exactly are those classes stealing the bard's thunder?

 

[Gladius Legis]

Bardic Inspiration is great. My point is that full caster part of the class holds Bardic Inspiration and JOAT aspects back and keeps the bard at the edge.

What else do you expect Bardic Inspiration to even do other than the nice things it already does plus whatever additional stuff it can do based on subclass?

This allowed Divine Soul Sorcerers, Bladesinger Wizards, Celestial Warlocks, Knowledge and Arcane Clerics, and most Druids to steal the bard's thunder. And this is what makes the bard seem to do little.

I don't see any of those classes and subclasses stealing the Bard's thunder, except maybe the Bladesinger stealing Valor's and Sword's thunder because it has a better designed version of Extra Attack that a sword-and-spell character can actually use properly. A design that, by the way, I recommended be retroactively applied to the Valor Bard in the recent PHB survey.

Divine Soul is still held back by the Sorcerer's pathetic number of spells known, Celestial Warlock just has some healing and a few Cleric spells most of which aren't the best spells from that list, Knowledge and Arcana Clerics are nothing that special and do not overshadow any Bard in the least, and only Moon and Shepherd Druids are at all comparable in scope to what any Bard can do.

 

[Faolyn]

Does the Sorcerer even have any? I can't recall off the top of my head.

Chaos bolt. I think that's it.

 

[Aldarc]

Chaos bolt. I think that's it.

WotC was so generous.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I don't see any of those classes and subclasses stealing the Bard's thunder, except maybe the Bladesinger stealing Valor's and Sword's thunder because it has a better designed version of Extra Attack that a sword-and-spell character can actually use properly. A design that, by the way, I recommended be retroactively applied to the Valor Bard in the recent PHB survey.

The Valor Bard would also need native access to a more robust set of combat cantrips for that to shine without multiclassing, I think.

In general I agree that the various spell-list transgressing subclasses added over the years haven't really "stole the bard's thunder" in the sense of overshadowing them in actual power, but I do think that they have made the Bard a less unique option than it was when the PHB debuted. I don't think this was a bad thing for the game overall, just an inherent drawback of niches becoming more blurred as new options were introduced.

 

[Faolyn]

So the Bard as a full caster has noting truly unique. Thus becoming a "enchanter who can heal, sneak, and wears armor." The bard ends up defined by its subclass as the base is a bland yet overtuned jack of all trades. The bard only shines the fewer additions you add to the game.

Well, the second half of the saying "Jack of all trades" is "and master of none."

Whether or not you keep the bard as a full caster or make them a half-caster (or something else), the easy way would be to give them--and indeed every other class--more unique spells. For instance, there used to be a bunch of power words. They should all be unique to bards. The number of spells that are accessible to more than one class should be low in general (IMO, of course). As it stands, there seems to be a grand total of three bard-only spells.

Also: no unique spells for artificers, 22 for clerics, 19 for druids, 13 for paladins, 9 for rangers, one for sorcerers, 7 for warlocks, and a mere 28 for wizards, unless you count the 16 dunamancy spells. Even though there are over 500 spells (I'm not counting archetype spells here; I think crossover is fine for archetypes). Four-fifths of all spells are available to two or more classes.

 

[Faolyn]

I think sorcerer should killed an and the little unique stuff it has to be cannibalised by other caster classes.

I saw an interesting idea elsewhere on these forums (I believe) that would combine monk and sorcerer together. Your innate magic gives you complete control over your body and allows you to produce magical effects.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Does the Sorcerer even have any? I can't recall off the top of my head.

Not in the PHB or Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, but, yes, in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Sorcerers get exactly 1 unique spell: Chaos Bolt.