Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7194404" data-attributes="member: 6775031">This is the first I've heard of that. If it's all based on one epic, then that would explain the very specific pre-requisites to get into the class. That Aragorn could be played at level 1, and Väinämöinen required levels in three different classes first, could be attributed to either the power of the class (bards are supposed to be rare and super magical, I guess?) or just because the author was weirdly interested in the story and there wasn't a player pressuring him to get the class playable quickly.If we're going to talk about self-referential reflections, though, then we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Gilbert Chris Von Muir. As the iconic bard from the unlicensed-yet-ridiculously-influential D&amp;D video game series, Final Fantasy, Gilbert was a reflection of the state of D&amp;D bards circa 1990. He had a feathered cap, and he played a harp. (He kind of looked like the picture of the bard in the 2E PHB.) His main combat options were to sing debuffs at enemies, run away, use healing items more effectively by spreading the effect to the entire party, and play the harp in such a fashion that it causes damage to enemies.Of those options, the last one seems the most controversial. Should a bard be able to deal damage by playing music in combat? Or should they pick up a rapier (or bow) and just impale dudes? It presents an interesting dichotomy between a low-magic setting and a high-magic setting. Honestly, as much as I prefer a lower-magic setting where wizards and clerics are the only spellcasters you need, a bard who shreds on their harp so hard that it literally melts the face of any enemy who hears it sounds super rad. Could that angle save the bard from appearing silly?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7194404, member: 6775031"] This is the first I've heard of that. If it's all based on one epic, then that would explain the very specific pre-requisites to get into the class. That Aragorn could be played at level 1, and Väinämöinen required levels in three different classes first, could be attributed to either the power of the class (bards are supposed to be rare and super magical, I guess?) or just because the author was weirdly interested in the story and there wasn't a player pressuring him to get the class playable quickly. If we're going to talk about self-referential reflections, though, then we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Gilbert Chris Von Muir. As the iconic bard from the unlicensed-yet-ridiculously-influential D&D video game series, [I]Final Fantasy[/I], Gilbert was a reflection of the state of D&D bards circa 1990. He had a feathered cap, and he played a harp. (He kind of looked like the picture of the bard in the 2E PHB.) His main combat options were to sing debuffs at enemies, run away, use healing items more effectively by spreading the effect to the entire party, and play the harp in such a fashion that it causes damage to enemies. Of those options, the last one seems the most controversial. Should a bard be able to deal damage by playing music in combat? Or should they pick up a rapier (or bow) and just impale dudes? It presents an interesting dichotomy between a low-magic setting and a high-magic setting. Honestly, as much as I prefer a lower-magic setting where wizards and clerics are the only spellcasters you need, a bard who shreds on their harp so hard that it literally melts the face of any enemy who hears it sounds [I]super rad[/I]. Could that angle save the bard from appearing silly? [/QUOTE]

Verification