MasterTrancer
Explorer
Huh? Care to elaborate?
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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Building a Better Bard - Some examples of non-musical bards for character builds
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Huh? Care to elaborate?
Samloyal23
Adventurer
Well, some people say it was a hoax perpetrated by Pierre Plantard, but others say that there are real historical hints that Jesus had a son, Yehudah, by his wife, Miriam of Migdal and that Guillem de Gellone, king of Septimania, was descended from this bloodline. Guillem had several children whom he married off to aristocractic families in Germany, France, and England, so pretty much every modern royal family in Europe is descended from him. Supposedly the royal lineage going back to Jesus was an open secret among the elite of Europe.
Neonchameleon
Legend
It took some digging (including to archive.org - stupid Gleemax) but I've found my very old post on archetypes the 3.5 Bard covers well - extending far beyond the couple in your linked article
The Scholar (probably NPC)
The scholar loves his books and loves learning. Although the scholar has learned some magic, he is more interested in the theory than the practice and considers the wizards to either be amateurs or annoying barbarians who aren't interested in true learning. His usual use of Bardic Music is through the oratory category and making helpful suggestions (which can occasionally get annoying for those being helped). His fascinate usually comes from finding the pet subject of whoever he is trying to fascinate and knowing enough to talk to them for hours on end about it.
The Elder
The village Elder (also known as the Witchdoctor, wisewoman or witch) is the leader of the community who all turn to in times of trouble and who knows the inns and outs of the workings of his community. Some knowledge of magic but not much is normal, as would lore be. This probably wouldn't make a very good PC (unless the PC was an apprentice)
The Aristocrat
The aristocrat has had some of the best teachers that money can buy and, although most of it went in one ear and out the other, some of it including elocution and other perform lessons stuck, as did some of the knowledge and some of the basic grounding in magic. Diplomacy isn't just useful, it's a survival skill as are both bluff and sense motive for the aristocrat, but the other bardic skills aren't so heavily practiced.
The Charlatan
The charlatan doesn't have any magic- he is just very good at convincing people of a lot of things, possibly including the fact that he is a wizard. Most of his spells should either me mind affecting or rationalisable away (silent image and CLW are both just about possible). Whether he actually has no magic (and is just using it as a mechanic) or whether he just believes he doesn't is between the player and the DM, and if he actually does have magic and just doesn't know it, it could be interesting when he realises that he actually has the magic he's been trying to persuade others that he has.
The Son of a Preacher Man
The son of a preacher man thinks that he's a priest. Always charismatic and usually trying for converts, the preacher may have his powers from divine sources, may be a complete charlatan, may believe his own rhetoric or may just be trying to do what he thinks is right. How normal clerics react to the preacher is an issue to be handled by the DM or other players.
The Court Wizard
The Court Wizard isn't as powerful a wizard as a normal wizard would be, but is much better at the court functions. Chiefly an illusionist, the court wizard mostly performs using his magic and bluffs any challengers. He is also one of the most influential people within the court and one who either hears everything or who people bring their problems to.
The Spy
Invis. Hide. Sculpt Sound. Listen. Move Silently. Alter Self. Disguise. Bardic Lore. Gather Information. Scrying. Suggestion. 'nuff said.
The Officer
Usually a bard/fighter multiclass, the officer leads his men from the front inspiring them with his words and deeds. He's also an all round professional who's studied magic and history if only to see how it will affect his men, and tends to be very thorough about learning about his enemy, the terrain and anything else that may be useful.
The Bounty Hunter
Often a bard/ranger (although can be almost any class, with bards, rangers and rogues being the favourite), the bounty hunter is adept at finding and pursuing his prey through any environment then either killing it or bringing it back wherever is necessary.
The best use the DM can make of a bard in my opinion is... The BBEG
Yes, I am serious. What better feat for a BBEG than Bardic Lore, giving him a lot of knowledge about most things, from which to formulate his plans? Who better to lead a set of disparate factions than a Bard with his high Cha, good social skills, fascinate, suggest and other bardic music skills and a variety of mind altering spells? It does not matter that there are other badguys with more direct power than he holds- with massive bluff and diplomacy skills he can persuade them to do what he wants (remember most classes other than the rogue don't have this- and most rogues are also busy with other things). There may be tougher enemies than this BBEG, but if you don't kill him he can restart and become more powerful than ever.
Four examples of Bardic BBEGs:
1: The General- Essentially the Officer on steroids. His men love him and will follow him anywhere, and he inspires both his men and allies around him when he is giving orders (Perform (oratory)) skill. He usually starts the battle with a speech to encourage the men (We few, we happy few...), and shows up wherever the action is hottest, giving orders and rallying the men and increasing their effectiveness. (Needn't be bad in this case). Sense Motive and Bluff both help the General immensely in working out what the enemy is doing, as does bardic lore and his scrying spells. (For direct combat (or even more powerful scrying), he's got an army hasn't he?)
2: The Demagogue- Perform (something), fascinate, diplomacy and sky high charisma used to build and maintain a cult of personality about him and whip up crowds into a frenzy in a direction of his choice. Not much of an opponent if you catch him when he's alone, but that's unlikely and with his inspiration even first level commoners can hit PCs, and don't much care about getting hit back (probably because they are in two pieces, but that's another story)
3: The Maniac- enter the Evil Lord's castle and you hear either screams or some sort of music (Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor on an organ if you are being cheesy, and put it on as background music). Although the Maniac is completely off his rocker, his staff are loyal and devoted, and while the screaming or music is going on, they get the benifit of his music on Inspire Courage. The actual fight with this BBEG is going to be short and uneventful, but getting to him is much harder due to his presence than it would be without.
4: The Mastermind- see the early appearences of Blowfeldt in the James Bond movies for a good example of this. The Mastermind is seldom seen (and when the PCs do catch him, he usually goes invis, casts expeditious retreat and flees down a prepared path). Instead he sits in his lair (or behind the throne...) and directs things. Most of his important minions (say 5th level or above) have a minor wonderous item which he can direct them with (variant of the message spell enchanted into this). They use it to report to him, and he uses it to either guide and explain (inspire competence), encourage (inspire greatness) or coordinate (inspire courage on alll) his minions. Bardic Lore allows him to formulate some nasty plans, and although he probably won't be much of a fight when the PCs finally manage to trap him, he will have given them far more trouble than a straight encounter would be.
The Scholar (probably NPC)
The scholar loves his books and loves learning. Although the scholar has learned some magic, he is more interested in the theory than the practice and considers the wizards to either be amateurs or annoying barbarians who aren't interested in true learning. His usual use of Bardic Music is through the oratory category and making helpful suggestions (which can occasionally get annoying for those being helped). His fascinate usually comes from finding the pet subject of whoever he is trying to fascinate and knowing enough to talk to them for hours on end about it.
The Elder
The village Elder (also known as the Witchdoctor, wisewoman or witch) is the leader of the community who all turn to in times of trouble and who knows the inns and outs of the workings of his community. Some knowledge of magic but not much is normal, as would lore be. This probably wouldn't make a very good PC (unless the PC was an apprentice)
The Aristocrat
The aristocrat has had some of the best teachers that money can buy and, although most of it went in one ear and out the other, some of it including elocution and other perform lessons stuck, as did some of the knowledge and some of the basic grounding in magic. Diplomacy isn't just useful, it's a survival skill as are both bluff and sense motive for the aristocrat, but the other bardic skills aren't so heavily practiced.
The Charlatan
The charlatan doesn't have any magic- he is just very good at convincing people of a lot of things, possibly including the fact that he is a wizard. Most of his spells should either me mind affecting or rationalisable away (silent image and CLW are both just about possible). Whether he actually has no magic (and is just using it as a mechanic) or whether he just believes he doesn't is between the player and the DM, and if he actually does have magic and just doesn't know it, it could be interesting when he realises that he actually has the magic he's been trying to persuade others that he has.
The Son of a Preacher Man
The son of a preacher man thinks that he's a priest. Always charismatic and usually trying for converts, the preacher may have his powers from divine sources, may be a complete charlatan, may believe his own rhetoric or may just be trying to do what he thinks is right. How normal clerics react to the preacher is an issue to be handled by the DM or other players.
The Court Wizard
The Court Wizard isn't as powerful a wizard as a normal wizard would be, but is much better at the court functions. Chiefly an illusionist, the court wizard mostly performs using his magic and bluffs any challengers. He is also one of the most influential people within the court and one who either hears everything or who people bring their problems to.
The Spy
Invis. Hide. Sculpt Sound. Listen. Move Silently. Alter Self. Disguise. Bardic Lore. Gather Information. Scrying. Suggestion. 'nuff said.
The Officer
Usually a bard/fighter multiclass, the officer leads his men from the front inspiring them with his words and deeds. He's also an all round professional who's studied magic and history if only to see how it will affect his men, and tends to be very thorough about learning about his enemy, the terrain and anything else that may be useful.
The Bounty Hunter
Often a bard/ranger (although can be almost any class, with bards, rangers and rogues being the favourite), the bounty hunter is adept at finding and pursuing his prey through any environment then either killing it or bringing it back wherever is necessary.
The best use the DM can make of a bard in my opinion is... The BBEG
Yes, I am serious. What better feat for a BBEG than Bardic Lore, giving him a lot of knowledge about most things, from which to formulate his plans? Who better to lead a set of disparate factions than a Bard with his high Cha, good social skills, fascinate, suggest and other bardic music skills and a variety of mind altering spells? It does not matter that there are other badguys with more direct power than he holds- with massive bluff and diplomacy skills he can persuade them to do what he wants (remember most classes other than the rogue don't have this- and most rogues are also busy with other things). There may be tougher enemies than this BBEG, but if you don't kill him he can restart and become more powerful than ever.
Four examples of Bardic BBEGs:
1: The General- Essentially the Officer on steroids. His men love him and will follow him anywhere, and he inspires both his men and allies around him when he is giving orders (Perform (oratory)) skill. He usually starts the battle with a speech to encourage the men (We few, we happy few...), and shows up wherever the action is hottest, giving orders and rallying the men and increasing their effectiveness. (Needn't be bad in this case). Sense Motive and Bluff both help the General immensely in working out what the enemy is doing, as does bardic lore and his scrying spells. (For direct combat (or even more powerful scrying), he's got an army hasn't he?)
2: The Demagogue- Perform (something), fascinate, diplomacy and sky high charisma used to build and maintain a cult of personality about him and whip up crowds into a frenzy in a direction of his choice. Not much of an opponent if you catch him when he's alone, but that's unlikely and with his inspiration even first level commoners can hit PCs, and don't much care about getting hit back (probably because they are in two pieces, but that's another story)
3: The Maniac- enter the Evil Lord's castle and you hear either screams or some sort of music (Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor on an organ if you are being cheesy, and put it on as background music). Although the Maniac is completely off his rocker, his staff are loyal and devoted, and while the screaming or music is going on, they get the benifit of his music on Inspire Courage. The actual fight with this BBEG is going to be short and uneventful, but getting to him is much harder due to his presence than it would be without.
4: The Mastermind- see the early appearences of Blowfeldt in the James Bond movies for a good example of this. The Mastermind is seldom seen (and when the PCs do catch him, he usually goes invis, casts expeditious retreat and flees down a prepared path). Instead he sits in his lair (or behind the throne...) and directs things. Most of his important minions (say 5th level or above) have a minor wonderous item which he can direct them with (variant of the message spell enchanted into this). They use it to report to him, and he uses it to either guide and explain (inspire competence), encourage (inspire greatness) or coordinate (inspire courage on alll) his minions. Bardic Lore allows him to formulate some nasty plans, and although he probably won't be much of a fight when the PCs finally manage to trap him, he will have given them far more trouble than a straight encounter would be.
