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D&D doesn't need bards
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<blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 8107366" data-attributes="member: 14159"><p>Well, despite WotC's marketing hype, the standard is, that if it's in the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, or Monster Manual, then it's core.</p><p></p><p>Saying "Everything is Core" ignores the whole point of what "core" rules are. </p><p></p><p>It really all comes down to 4e being driven more by marketing than game design. That or, as I heard someone describer it once, 4e was designed assuming the old WotC forums were a representative sample of D&D gamers, and not outliers. Thus, the game was designed to assume that every player bought every book and that strict mathematical balance between the classes was a goal because most players would work hard to actively "break" the system through elaborate "builds" if they didn't.</p><p></p><p>Getting this back to talk of Bards, bards have long been hated by powergamers as not specialized enough to work with powergamer logic. They're great for players that want a versatile character. They are great for characters that can fit into a variety of jobs in the party. They are a popular roleplaying archetype among fans. What they aren't, and probably never will be, is raw optimized power (especially while remaining true to their concept). This mentality probably shaped why 4e didn't have a bard in its initial release, and why it's perennially complained about as being an under-powered class.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wingsandsword, post: 8107366, member: 14159"] Well, despite WotC's marketing hype, the standard is, that if it's in the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, or Monster Manual, then it's core. Saying "Everything is Core" ignores the whole point of what "core" rules are. It really all comes down to 4e being driven more by marketing than game design. That or, as I heard someone describer it once, 4e was designed assuming the old WotC forums were a representative sample of D&D gamers, and not outliers. Thus, the game was designed to assume that every player bought every book and that strict mathematical balance between the classes was a goal because most players would work hard to actively "break" the system through elaborate "builds" if they didn't. Getting this back to talk of Bards, bards have long been hated by powergamers as not specialized enough to work with powergamer logic. They're great for players that want a versatile character. They are great for characters that can fit into a variety of jobs in the party. They are a popular roleplaying archetype among fans. What they aren't, and probably never will be, is raw optimized power (especially while remaining true to their concept). This mentality probably shaped why 4e didn't have a bard in its initial release, and why it's perennially complained about as being an under-powered class. [/QUOTE]
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