Bards - Why do so few people play them?

[Nightfall]

Crothy...Well I guess I should say, PC's Mike Gill's and Ethan Skemp's...but yeah I helped too! I did the spell section! But hey that was hard!!

But no I don't carry around a staff member. They're too darn heavy and I don't have the Persistant Spell metamagic feat.

 

[Olive]

Well since Sigil plugged his product, I think it only fair to plug ours.

do you actually work for S&S? or have you just adopted them?

 

[Nightfall]

do you actually work for S&S? or have you just adopted them?

Uhm not quite. I don't work for them presently Olive (subject to changes and things I can't disclose.) BUT as Crothy said earlier, I DID do work on this particular book from S&SS, the Player's Guide to Wizards, Bards, and Sorcerers.

 

[Apok]

everypne knows that bards are a great 5th party member. but i think they're a good allrounded for solo play too (which is what xilo is doing, not that she said it).

Oh, going solo is she? Well, in that case, yeah Bard is an awesome class. One thing I will give the Bard over every class except for Cleric; they are extremely self-sufficient. With the right skills and spell selection and a good stat spread, Bards make for awesome solo campaigns.

 

[Sniktch]

Also while we are on the topic of bards any one have any interesting suggestions on different perform types?

I love bards, bards are great. Although I usually play mine from the jack of all trade angle, a little this, a little that, a little seltzer down your pants, I have played evil bards, bards who were spies, a bard who charged into combat armed with only his claymore, bagpipe, and kilt, and some other combinations.

Some different perform types? How different do ya want 'em ?

Lessee, besides numerous instrument choices and styles of dance and writing there are a ton of options. Try comedy, contortionism, ballet, yodeling for a few. Anyone else have some funky or offbeat perform choices lying around?

 

[Crothian]

Re: Re: Bards - Why do so few people play them?

Lessee, besides numerous instrument choices and styles of dance and writing there are a ton of options. Try comedy, contortionism, ballet, yodeling for a few. Anyone else have some funky or offbeat perform choices lying around?

I had Dry Whit, Insult Comic, Face contortions, humming, whistling....

I'd have to look at my sheet, I had 27 of these by campaigns end.

 

[Sniktch]

Yeah, with all those Perform ranks you have to get creative after awhile. Satire, improv, fire swallowing, sword swallowing, ice dancing...

 

[Olive]

if you take perform (mime) or perform (interpretive dance), i'm flying home tomorrow to give you the smack down...

 

[Droogie]

Curious, what did your level breakdown look like?

He was Bard 3/rogue 1. I took the level of rogue for min/max reasons and rp reasons- my characters fighter/rogue brother was in the party, and I though it would be cool if we had similar streetwise style. We could flank enemies and give'em the ol' Malachi Crunch.

Of course, by not starting with rogue, I lost lots of extra skill points. Also, taking the level of rogue left him with a BAB of +2, whereas if he had gone Bard he would have had +3-- which would have been nice since we were getting spanked in the dungeon. Not to mention the fact that most of the monsters in the dungeon were oozes and immune to my shiny new sneak attack.

I liked the character, it just seemed my class-building decisions were all wrong. Its water under the bridge now anyway, all victims of a TPK.

 

[mooby]

I like to add my own personality to characters that I play, and I also like to have a character that always has a very good chance at being useful to the party most of the time.

This is why I like the Bard class a lot.

Personally, I can't sing, play an instrument, or do much of anything artsy. While most of my bards can do things like that, my favorite thing to specialize in is puns and storytelling. Inspirational singing is great too!

You can't tell me that Mel Gibson's character in Braveheart doesn't have a few levels of Bard in him! I'm talking about the speech he gives on horseback. That's awesome!

Brad makes a great complimentary class too. I'm really thinking of taking a level or two of it for my Half-Orc Barbarian (following the "Braveheart" idea).