Ever wonder what a forum would look like without edition warring?
Which edition are you thinking about?
Valor Bard has about as much, if not more combat competency as I recall any edition of Bard (except the many superpowers of 4E) having.
Only a little teeny bit different, really.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread...
In my opinion, the Bard in 5th edition just reminds me of a singing wizard. I would love to see a Bard with less spellcasting, more melee combat, and more support for himself and his allies. I don't really understand this need to go all the way up to 9th level with spells but either way I don't like it.
Support, in 5e, so far comes mainly from spells, so fewer/lower-level spells and more support doesn't jibe. Adding more support spells to the bard list would fairly trivially let a given bard focus more on support, though, he just has to resist the temptation to load up on other spells at chargen & level-up. The Valor Bard already gets extra melee abilities...
I wouldn't mind more of a focus on augmenting his musical abilities. Kind of like how the paladin uses his spell slots to increase his abilities.
An option to burn spell slots to enhance melee, like the Paladin - though probably not exactly like the paladin, not for DPR, but for a group buff, for instance - could be another way to give it 'more melee.'
Apart from that, stripping spell ability is beyond what any sub-class has yet entailed. But, a Fighter sub-class, 'Skald' perhaps, that is to the Bard what an EK is to the Wizard might be on the table. It would have far less support capability than the Bard, of course, but more melee ability. I suppose, for the more 2e-style Bard (it was a Rogue sub-class), a similar scheme could work with the AT as a guide.
