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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 3255558" data-attributes="member: 42040">I don't like the bard. I can't find a way to make the class fun to play, despite several attempts. Now I'd rather not play than have to play a bard. Here's what I don't like.1. Can cast in light armor. Wow. Whoopidity doo. That's a worthless ability. A sorcerer's Mage Armor provides the same amount of AC as a chain shirt (the best kind of light armor you can buy). It lasts an hour per level, has no check penalty or weight, and provides its bonus against incorporeal creatures. So that means that every arcane caster who has Mage Armor can already cast in light armor.2. Bardic knowledge. The game mechanics behind this are vague. It's completely DM's fiat and provides no quantifiable benefit to the bard character or his party. 3. Charisma. It's a dump stat, yet it's the focus of the bard's powers. Charisma is a dump stat because it doesn' give you extra hit points, armor class, skill points, improve saves, or increase your chances to hit and damage. [On the other hand, a rogue can pump a lot of points into his Dexterity score, which improves his AC, Reflex Saves, many rogue skills, attack bonus (if using a ranged weapon or weapon finesse), and also improves his initiative, making it more likely to catch an opponent flat-footed to deal sneak attack damage.)4. Low hit points. What's this talk about having good hit points earlier in the thread? You are aware that it's a d6 hit die, right? That's the second worse in the game. Only the sorcerer and wizard have worse hp. 5. Can use some martial weapons. But why do you want to be up there in the thick of it with low hit points, crummy AC, mediocre attack bonus, etc. Yeah, elven wizards can use longswords too, but it doesn't mean they should.6. Bardic music. Oh, this stinks. You give buffs not unlike the bless spell. But while the music is active, a bard can't use a scroll, cast another spell, use a wand or other magic item with a command word. And most DMs probably won't let you even talk while you do it. So a cleric can cast bless (or prayer) at the beginning of a combat, and the bard can get the same effect as long as they do nothing else for the rest of the combat and can maintain concentration. Meanwhile, the cleric is attacking, turning undead, healing comrades, etc.The bard just seems like an altogether poorly conceived class. The weapon and armor proficiencies, mediocre attack bonus, and the 1d6 hit points seem like a waste if the bard's major abilities is magic and bardic music - in which case he should be avoiding melee combat. The bard's abilities are all so lukewarm that he's woefully inadequete in magic, skills, and combat. Retreater</blockquote>

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