Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Bards - The Greatest of All Classes
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="gizmo33" data-source="post: 2133675" data-attributes="member: 30001"><p>You're right. The hiding of information is a time honored tradition among DMs and is in direct conflict with the bardic lore ability. </p><p> </p><p>Here is a hypothetical - say you're running an Arthurian campaign and all characters are knights. You've got a bunch of great dungeons lined up with fiercesome giant guardians and swooning damsels. At the center of the dungeon is the holy grail. Some player comes along with the new "thieves supplement" to your game system. Next thing you know, he's sneaking past the giants, ignoring the damsels, and bounding off with the grail. This is comparable to what I infer from your "butler did it" example.</p><p> </p><p>So I agree - changing the bard to be more interesting and effective requires more than just handing out more information. It would probably require some organization of information into tiers (to a greater degree than what's done in the PHB). You'd really have to anticipate a bard's contribution to the adventure, and design things so that it is important but not a plot killer. But how does a DM even design such a framework when, IMO, because of our cultural biases and spotty educations on the subject (and I could include myself) we instinctively take such a dismal view of the culture of knowledge from which the bard is derived. </p><p> </p><p>I DM parties of PCs who won't go on an adventure without a cleric to heal them. Most dungeons take into account that PCs will be healed in due course, and this is an important/essential contribution of the cleric. I'm saying why not bardic knowledge as well? (Well, I'm saying alot of things, but this is one of the more rational ones)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gizmo33, post: 2133675, member: 30001"] You're right. The hiding of information is a time honored tradition among DMs and is in direct conflict with the bardic lore ability. Here is a hypothetical - say you're running an Arthurian campaign and all characters are knights. You've got a bunch of great dungeons lined up with fiercesome giant guardians and swooning damsels. At the center of the dungeon is the holy grail. Some player comes along with the new "thieves supplement" to your game system. Next thing you know, he's sneaking past the giants, ignoring the damsels, and bounding off with the grail. This is comparable to what I infer from your "butler did it" example. So I agree - changing the bard to be more interesting and effective requires more than just handing out more information. It would probably require some organization of information into tiers (to a greater degree than what's done in the PHB). You'd really have to anticipate a bard's contribution to the adventure, and design things so that it is important but not a plot killer. But how does a DM even design such a framework when, IMO, because of our cultural biases and spotty educations on the subject (and I could include myself) we instinctively take such a dismal view of the culture of knowledge from which the bard is derived. I DM parties of PCs who won't go on an adventure without a cleric to heal them. Most dungeons take into account that PCs will be healed in due course, and this is an important/essential contribution of the cleric. I'm saying why not bardic knowledge as well? (Well, I'm saying alot of things, but this is one of the more rational ones) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Bards - The Greatest of All Classes
Top