How do YOU play a bard?

[cdsaint]

No bard PC's in the game I'm running so far, but saturday night the party did manage to finally kill an NPC bard who had been driving them nuts. She was a half-dragon barb1/bard2 with a 6 int. There were only enough skill points for one perform skill, so perform: comedy it was. All through the first 4 rounds of combat she inspired her goblin and ogre allies by pelting their enemies with grade school level insults.
Apparently she made an impresion, because one of the players is bringing in a bard next session.

Chris

 

[ManicFuel]

I like the bard class, and played one that was a really important part of the party. To me that's the key to playing a good bard, teamwork. Let's face it, the definition of courage is charging your bard into melee. You have to be creative, as bards probably are, and make yourself useful.

Out of combat, bard's are easy. All those skill points and social class skills makes that half of the game a no-brainer. I'm introverted, and played this bard as fairly quiet, but friendly and trustworthy. I liked the earlier poster's comment about being a leader, too. That's a great approach to the bard.

IRL, sometimes managers have to manage people who are more skilled at the job functions than the manager is. In these cases, business leadership says "lead by helping". In other words, recognize you can't help directly, and take the grunt work off your skilled employees. With that in mind, here's how I played it in combat:

-- Be willing to sacrifice anything and everything for the team, including yourself. In a fight, the bard is expendable. When the line starts to break, charge to the front and fight (defensively) for all you're worth. Give the others a chance to regroup, heal, etc.
-- Against greater or equal numbers, pair off with the rogue and use the Aid Another to give him/her a +2 to hit. The rogue's sneak attack damage and +4 bonus to hit is better than each PC attacking seperately, at least above 3rd level or so.
-- Against greater or equal numbers, if they break the lines and come after the mages, go back and try to rescue them with similar tactics.
-- When the party has a numbers advantage, but the monsters are tough, stand back and use music or magic items.
-- Don't bother much with missile combat, because your team is more effective if you are using Aid Another. Even if your party doesn't have a rogue, granting a +4 bonus (+2 Aid Another, +2 flank) to a fighter or barbarian means big Power Attacks.
-- If another party member falls, go help them. Take max ranks in Heal and know Cure spells, and keep the Cleric battling.
-- If another party member is in some other trouble (entangled, etc), go help them. Keep the other party members fighting.
-- If a party member loses a weapon or shield, run over to them and give them yours. You can't hit with it anyway, and you only need a dagger to use Aid Another.
-- Take every wand, scroll, etc that is leftover and use every charge of every one. Take some ranks in Use Magic Device, and always (try to) use the items no one can use for whatever reason.
-- For spells, don't bother taking anything that is supposed to harm or disable an opponent. Never trust an opponent's saving throw. Pick spells that "work everytime", like remove fear, the cures, summoning, and divinations.
-- I know it sounds wierd, but strive to never be the last one standing. If you are the last man standing, then your opponents will be the last men standing over you.

Surprisingly, if you do this for a little while, the other players actually begin to believe that you are indispensible in combat. The rogue loves you for making him the star, the cleric loves you because now everyone calls you for healing every other round, the fighter loves you for making him mighty, the wizard loves you for watching her back. Everyone loves you in combat?!? Now that's charisma!

 

[Neil Aitken]

So, that said, how do YOU play a bard? Are you a really fun, funny, outgoing person so playing a bard is really natural for you? Or, do you take some other angle to it that makes it a bit less showy and more down to earth? Because, I'd like to hear various role-playing suggestions on this class.

I think I'm fond of playing bards largely because I'm somewhat of a bard in RL (I write poetry, read at open mic venues, and will be starting my MFA in Creative Writing this fall).

Being a bit on the introverted side, I'm usually not standing up and acting out my bard abilities, but I do compose lyrics to commemorate our actions following each gaming session. Often I write parodies of popular songs, and have produced such cult classics as:

*The Fate of A Courageous Band (based off of Gilligan's Island Theme)
*The Devil Down in the Dungeon (based off of The Devil Went Down to Georgia)
*Snuffed the Magic Dragon (really, this was quite fun)
*Eye of the Beholder (yep, the standard Eye of the Tiger rip-off)

As a bard, I've also written original work - usually eulogies and dirges for fallen comrades. These are sometimes performed in-game, and usually posted on our yahoo group list for posterity.

In terms of practical roleplaying - I tend to run a support bard. Being fairly smart and aware of one's mortality, I focus on accomplishing the necessary tasks which sometimes get forgotten in the midst of battle: pulling the levers, creating diversions (bluff), retrieving items and transporting things between other players.

I will admit though, that the best bard I ever ran was actually a rogue/wizard who told everyone he was a bard It took some people a long time before they realized that there really wasn't any special "bardic damage modifier" in 3.0.

One of the best bard variants I have seen was a gnomish Rogue/Speaker in a Midnight d20 game. Everything was built into his Bluff and Diplomacy, and by the end of the campaign he could talk his way out of almost any combat (he had almost epic level modifiers around +50 to +60). We neutralized several potentially fatal encounters because he chose to speak first before attacking.

In general, I've probably played my bards as intelligent witty and sometimes sarcastic characters.

One option I've recently entertained though has been to create a Mime bard wizard or sorceror levels. I think having a silent bard who pantomimes everything could be quite fun -- especially if that was how he cast spells.

 

[Trainz]

Yeah, the picture of someone singing in a combat is weird.

Two updates per week of the order of the stick is just not enough.

 

[der_kluge]

And to expect the bard player to have to be skilled in the things his character can do seems... cruel. If D&D is an escape, telling a player that 'well, you can't give a rousing speech, so your character, who's sole focus is public speaking, can't do it either' really defeats the purpose of playing a role outside of yourself, doesn't it?

I don't expect players playing bards to recite poetry or whip out a mandolin. But, I would expect some kind of basis for whatever it is their trying to do.

In other words, something like this:

DM: The populace is rising up in anger of the tarrifs. It's starting to look ugly.
Bard: I try to quell the populace.
DM: How?
Bard: By making a perform check *pre-emptively rolls*
DM: "But, what do you say to them?"
Bard: I don't know. Something. I got a total of 18, did they stop rioting?
DM: uh, never mind.

See? Someone who plays a bard should, at the very least, be a creative person that has to at least come up with ideas about what it is he's trying to do. A player playing a bard just can't rely on a dice roll like a rogue or a spellcaster can.

 

[Crothian]

I agree with Curtis, but I don't just deamnd it from the Bard. I'd ask anyone one no matter what race or class to do the same thing. I don't think asking a player to talk in character is out of line.

 

[Trainz]

Someone who plays a bard should, at the very least, be a creative person that has to at least come up with ideas about what it is he's trying to do. A player playing a bard just can't rely on a dice roll like a rogue or a spellcaster can.

Wether you're a bard or not, you SHOULD make an attempt at role-playing if the action you do involves interaction between two parties.

Rogue and Bluff.
Paladin and Diplomacy.
Wizard and Suggestion.
Etc...

If you don't like role-playing, snakes and ladders are your friends.

I give a -4 penalty on social mechanics that aren't played at all. If you try to role-play and fumble the words, well you at least tried, and you can roll at no penalty. If you're quite eloquent, bonus.

"I bluff the guard to let me pass"
"what do you tell him ?"
"I don't know, something *roll* 14 !"
"Uh... no. That's 10."

 

[der_kluge]

Tessarael, I knew if I asked, someone would come through with those stats for me. That R/F/W/AT would make an awesome bard alternative. Thanks for that.

Trainz - funny.

 

[der_kluge]

My most recent bard was a dwarven alchemist. I played him as a character who had an immense fascination with minerals and other "natural" materials (hence alchemy) first and a fascination with music/sound second (the way sound at certain frequencies caused materials to vibrate, for instance, or the way that you could change the "sound" of a wooden flute by petrifying the wood).
--The Sigil

Gotta admit, Sigil. That's one cool character concept. Definitely unique.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

I'm willing to go along with you requiring the bard to have to be inspiring to inspire as long as you're willing to create several hundred years worth of quotes, great battles, ballads, epic poems and stories to use. Sound fair?

And you don't HAVE to be singing.

The orcs thundered forward. Mezzik And Rell stood back to back amongst the chaos. "Did I ever tell you," Rell spoke up "About the vinyards back home?"

"I don't think this is -"

"Green as far as the eye could see, like looking out on the ocean. In the summer heat, they'd shimmer, almost like it wasn't real. And the berries, you'd bite through the skin and it was like heaven just falling onto your tongue."

The battle joined. Mezzik didn't have time to think, but Rell kept chattering, a low, calm heartbeat of words. One phrase rang clearly though, and in that thought, Mezzik took heart. "I'll have to take you there sometime."

I always tried to convince my DM to have my bardsong be really flashy combat. This was in 3.0 and I had perform (theatrical combat). The idea was that I was a wirling dirvish of flashy moves, always confident, always dodging by a hair's breadth with a smile. Didn't always work that way, but it was fun to try.