I would play a bard if. . .

[RFisher]

I don't love the Bard, but I played one & enjoyed it a lot. I didn't need any boosts from anything outside the core books or special dispensations from the DM.

If your players don't want to play Bards, I have a hard time seeing any need to change the class so that they will.

 

[Slaved]

Congratulations on surviving first level! Ask you DM about "DM Intervention" which often is the only thing that saves we bardies at the fatal first level.

Bards have a d6 hit die and may use light armor and shields. That means that he will have decent hit points and a comparable armor class to most anyone at first level.

What is so fragile about them that is not true about everyone else at this level?

 

[Darklone]

Bards have a d6 hit die and may use light armor and shields. That means that he will have decent hit points and a comparable armor class to most anyone at first level.

What is so fragile about them that is not true about everyone else at this level?

No idea. My bards started to have problems around level 6 when going toe to toe with hostile fighters got difficult and the incoming fireballs started to hurt.

I never had problems at lower levels, especially not with bard multiclass characters.

 

[lukelightning]

I once begged my players to have someone play a bard. I play very story heavy campaigns, and bards work well to uncover all that story.

You see, there is your problem. Don't expect players to do things just for your story. D&D is a game first, a story second. One of my pet peeves is bardic knowledge...so many DMs just use it as a crutch for their stories, basically using it as a way to keep the plot going and nothing else. Hooray, you've got a class feature that is useless! It would be like giving paladins and knights a class feature "Sent on Quests."

Perhaps your players sensed this. Not to say that was your intention, but perhaps that was their worry; bardic lore should be useful, not just "you know that the Necklace of Power needs to be thrown in the Geyser of Destruction in order to slay the Dark Lord." That's not really lore, that's the plot of the game. The lore part would be useful info like "you know that the Dark Lord can sense when the necklace is worn. You know he has demonic fire monsters guarding the geyser" etc.

 

[Fishbone]

Gnome bards NEVER die. Its true. Bucklers and light armor along with the small size and constitution bonus means they have nice ACs. I like to go Charisma, Con, Dex, everything else with a gnome so they have good HP. Max HP and a 16 Con means 9 HP, that isn't too bad for a low level character.

 

[greywulf]

It sounds to me like you need to take a look at how I made the bard cool without changing a thing: http://wiki.greywulf.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/LupusGris/WhenIsABardNotABard

Y'see. I dislike bards too, in all their doublet-and-hose pansyass frippery.

So, I cool'd 'em. Seriously.

Even my players will play bards now. Only we don't call them bards. And they're cool.

 

[Chimera]

Instead of music, his 'performance' would be based on inspiring speeches. Any music / sonic themed stuff would be downplayed or removed.

As it is, the wandering sorcererous minstrel, the class is far too restrictive for my tastes.

Therein lies a false perception of the class. Sure, it's called "Bardic Music". But look at the seven different kinds of Perform.

My Bard is an Orator. He doesn't "sing". He gives rousing speeches. He's not a "wandering minstrel", he's a Storyteller/Diplomat.

 

[lukelightning]

My Bard is an Orator. He doesn't "sing". He gives rousing speeches. He's not a "wandering minstrel", he's a Storyteller/Diplomat.

Which also saves you the trouble of worrying about lugging around a musical instrument.

 

[Voadam]

I've played a 3.5 bard straight.

Their songs are great for big parties, they can be a back up healer with cure light wound wands, they get lots of knowledge and social skills, and a few trickster spells. I think they'd be decent for solo games too.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

It sounds to me like you need to take a look at how I made the bard cool without changing a thing: http://wiki.greywulf.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/LupusGris/WhenIsABardNotABard

Y'see. I dislike bards too, in all their doublet-and-hose pansyass frippery.

So, I cool'd 'em. Seriously.

Even my players will play bards now. Only we don't call them bards. And they're cool.

Very cool writeup greywulf.

I do the same type of thing with each character I create and try to encourage my players to do the same. But I treat it as more of a matter of describing the character's background and role. No class should restrict you to one concept, not even you redubbed Knight-Commander. We still call the class "Bard" for game rule purposes, but each concept can be expressed without the class. One bard could be a "Wandering Minstrel" another a "Knight-Commander" another a "Banshee Sorceress." The class name is just a tag. My current PC is a Sister of the Dancing Blade, not a Monk/Fighter/Dervish.