Zaruthustran
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[Bards] What options are there to make them more interesting
- Thread starter yipwyg42
- Start date
Firebeetle
Explorer
Here are some general ideas of bard builds I've done and plan to do:
Whip Bard- Human, High STR, takes two levels of fighter for Improved Disarm and Improved Trip. Picks up a whip-dagger from Arms and Equipment. This guy rocks as long as he isn't fighting four legged monsters with natural weapons (which is a lot). For those you'll need another weapon (I like quarterstaff myself). This character was inspired by Petruchio
Juggling Bard-Halfing, High DEX, decent STR, Point Blank Shot, Two Weapon Fighting, Quick Draw, this guy quickly becomes a knife throwing fool. In fact, I played this character as a fool, jester that is.
Trickster Bard- Gnome, High CHA, multiclass with Sorcerer. Specialize in "trickster" spells. Goes into one of the now many "Trickster" PrCs well. Rogue gives "sneak attack", which works well with this guy.
Pyscho Bard- Half-Orc, High STR, min 10 CHA, believe it or not, the bard doesn't suffer much from a mediocre CHA as they get no buffs in Bluff or Diplomacy anyway. This guys job is to pysche people out, use Inspire Courage ability along with Enrage spells to get your party hopping. I play this guy like the Hulk, quiet and calm one minute, nutso crazoid (and taking everyone with him) the next. "Have no fear gentle, inevitably Hulk will smash"
Robin Hood Bard- Human, High DEX, med STR. Archer all the way, picking up the feats as fast as possible. Improved Disarm is great. A couple of levels of fighter go a long way here. I like the Errol Flynn Robin Hood here.
Bard Paladin- Half Elf, High CHA, decent STR, DEX. There is a feat that allows this (source folks?) in one of the "Complete" books I believe. Paladins and Bards go well hand in hand. Of course, this is your opportunity to play "The Singing Knight"
Cleric of Banjo (or Olidammara or something)- Bard/Cleric, can be a dwarf if you want. Combining the abilities of these two support classes works well. In particular, virtually any spell can be spontaneously cast as a Cure spell (good cleric and spontaneous bard casting.) I would be tempted to play this guy as a "party priest" who was always drunk and charming.
Now, if you want to take about commonsense changes to the bard, we can do that too.
Whip Bard- Human, High STR, takes two levels of fighter for Improved Disarm and Improved Trip. Picks up a whip-dagger from Arms and Equipment. This guy rocks as long as he isn't fighting four legged monsters with natural weapons (which is a lot). For those you'll need another weapon (I like quarterstaff myself). This character was inspired by Petruchio
Juggling Bard-Halfing, High DEX, decent STR, Point Blank Shot, Two Weapon Fighting, Quick Draw, this guy quickly becomes a knife throwing fool. In fact, I played this character as a fool, jester that is.
Trickster Bard- Gnome, High CHA, multiclass with Sorcerer. Specialize in "trickster" spells. Goes into one of the now many "Trickster" PrCs well. Rogue gives "sneak attack", which works well with this guy.
Pyscho Bard- Half-Orc, High STR, min 10 CHA, believe it or not, the bard doesn't suffer much from a mediocre CHA as they get no buffs in Bluff or Diplomacy anyway. This guys job is to pysche people out, use Inspire Courage ability along with Enrage spells to get your party hopping. I play this guy like the Hulk, quiet and calm one minute, nutso crazoid (and taking everyone with him) the next. "Have no fear gentle, inevitably Hulk will smash"
Robin Hood Bard- Human, High DEX, med STR. Archer all the way, picking up the feats as fast as possible. Improved Disarm is great. A couple of levels of fighter go a long way here. I like the Errol Flynn Robin Hood here.
Bard Paladin- Half Elf, High CHA, decent STR, DEX. There is a feat that allows this (source folks?) in one of the "Complete" books I believe. Paladins and Bards go well hand in hand. Of course, this is your opportunity to play "The Singing Knight"
Cleric of Banjo (or Olidammara or something)- Bard/Cleric, can be a dwarf if you want. Combining the abilities of these two support classes works well. In particular, virtually any spell can be spontaneously cast as a Cure spell (good cleric and spontaneous bard casting.) I would be tempted to play this guy as a "party priest" who was always drunk and charming.
Now, if you want to take about commonsense changes to the bard, we can do that too.
Nareau
Explorer
I haven't gotten the chance to play-test this idea, but I think it could be fun: Change the bonus damage granted by Bardic performance to a die of damage (instead of a straight +1 or +2). Let the bard's player roll that damage whenever it comes up.
That way, you can play a supporting class but still feel like you're adding something to the combat. Instead of feeling like you just wasted your action on buffing your allies, you get to roll extra damage every time they hit.
Nareau
That way, you can play a supporting class but still feel like you're adding something to the combat. Instead of feeling like you just wasted your action on buffing your allies, you get to roll extra damage every time they hit.
Nareau
Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad
yipwyg42 said:
I've been working for some time on the optimization of the Bard's Inspire Courage ability, and I think it is now at the point where it is pretty potent.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=185372
Theron
Explorer
My current bard is a cross between being a support guy and a front line fighter in an admittedly unorthodox group (a Warlock, a Psionicist, a Paladin, a Barbarian and some sort of psionic Jedi wannabe make up the rest of the group.) On the support side, his bardic songs + inspirational boost have been tide-turners in a number of fights and he splits healing duties with the paladin. On the front-line fighter end of things, thanks to the optional Elven racial proficiency with the Thinblade from CW, he wields a +1 longsword equivalent at +10 to hit before adding in his bardic music. On the defensive end, with his Dex bonus, an enchanted buckler, and a suit of Elven Chain, he's got an AC of 20. Again, not great, but for his level, pretty decent. His hit points suck, but that's what healing magic's for, right?
The DM doesn't really give him enough chances to do out of combat stuff, but I haven't felt bored or useless in the campaign so far. In fact, his Fascinate was the only thing that got us through to the latter stage of our last big adventure. A lot of it probably comes down to expectations. When I play a bard, I'm not expecting to be the best at any one thing in particular, but I do expect to be second best at pretty much everything. My PC isn't quite there, but he's a long way from being dead weight or boring. After all, someone has to get the girl, why not the guy with the 18 CHA?
The DM doesn't really give him enough chances to do out of combat stuff, but I haven't felt bored or useless in the campaign so far. In fact, his Fascinate was the only thing that got us through to the latter stage of our last big adventure. A lot of it probably comes down to expectations. When I play a bard, I'm not expecting to be the best at any one thing in particular, but I do expect to be second best at pretty much everything. My PC isn't quite there, but he's a long way from being dead weight or boring. After all, someone has to get the girl, why not the guy with the 18 CHA?
Tinner
First Post
Counterspeller - Max your initiative. Take all the counterspelling feats possible, and ready actions to counter spells. You might cast like a bard, but you can counter like a wizard of the same level. Don't overlook the chance to occaisonally use countersong as well.
Professional Liar - High CHA, Bluff as a class skill, Skill Focus Bluff, etc. By level 6 you'll be able to tell a Paladin the sky is green.
The reason people think bards are weak is because playing a bard requires you to make an effort to learn some of D&D's more obscure subsystems. You can't just roll a d20 a bash people.
If you don't want to play a thinking, creative style of D&D, then don't play a bard.
Professional Liar - High CHA, Bluff as a class skill, Skill Focus Bluff, etc. By level 6 you'll be able to tell a Paladin the sky is green.
The reason people think bards are weak is because playing a bard requires you to make an effort to learn some of D&D's more obscure subsystems. You can't just roll a d20 a bash people.
If you don't want to play a thinking, creative style of D&D, then don't play a bard.
Remathilis
Legend
Races of Destiny has the half-elf bard sub levels.
grodog
Hero
I played a 3.25 elven bard (mixing and matching 3.0 and 3.5 rules), and enjoyed it a lot: my PC was probably the best archer in the party (a high Dex + elven bonus to hit is nice!), and he was also the only arcane caster once our PC wizard player dropped the game and that PC got turned into an NPC who betrayed the party. The bard as an arcane "expert" was very useful: I had maxed spellcraft and several high knowledge scores, and while the character was certainly not able to cast Fireball or Lightning Bolt, he was still very handy 
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