D&D 5E I would really like a return of the old Bard class.

[DEFCON 1]

*Cue DM's Guild class build*

 

[Prism]

Now, if you want to make a Rogue subclass that has minor magical abilities and musical abilities, I'm 110% on board.

All though in some ways the 2e rogue like bard was the most powerful spell caster of the lot as they would likely be about one and a half times the level of the party wizard even if though had more limited spell choices

 

[Corpsetaker]

I will agree that the Bard seems to have continued moving forward in 5e rather than retreating from the ground gained by the other modern editions. And that it's even unusual in that sense, as 5e classes have been mostly backward-looking to evoke classic feel - with great success in every sense.

I disagree. I believe it's made more of a left/right hand turn than went forward. Forward indicates that the bard has gotten better than the old bard. Looks to me like it's different with it's full spellcasting ability.

 

[Corpsetaker]

Bard went from one of the least popular, least liked classes in prior editions (on average) to one of the most popular and liked classes with this edition. I don't think going backwards is in the cards. They scored well with this version of the bard (again, on average).

It's actually one of the most popular classes in Pathfinder.

 

[Psikerlord#]

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. 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.

Spell-less Bard attempt #1:

http://dndhackersguild.weebly.com/blog/spell-less-bard-for-dnd-5e-and-primeval-thule

 

[Tony Vargas]

I disagree. I believe it's made more of a left/right hand turn than went forward. Forward indicates that the bard has gotten better than the old bard. Looks to me like it's different with it's full spellcasting ability.

It doesn't seem like too wiggly a line from the 2e Bard (Rogue group, some spells) to the 5e full-caster (side of expertise) version. In-between we had a 3e bard that was more magical than before, less roguey (or the rogue had become more roguey), and whose claim to fame was a pretty good buff from 'singing,' and a 4e bard that was fully a caster (arcane source) and primary support. 'Better' of course, is subjective. Relative to 4e it has a lot more daily spells, relative to 3.x it goes up 9th level spells - it'd seem to be a better caster, anyway.

 

[Staffan]

The Pathfinder Bard is a fantastic class and one of the best iterations I've seen ever. I would like to see an alternative bard who is more able with his "song" abilities than his spellcasting.

Huh. The Pathfinder bard was a big disappointment to me, particularly Bardic Performance. Going from uses/day to rounds/day hurt the bard a lot IMO, particularly as each 3.5 use is generally good for 5+ rounds. The biggest nerfs were to Fascinate and Inspire Competence (3.5e: Rogue wants to take 20 on searching a chest for traps. Bard spends a Bardic Music use to give her +2. PF: Rogue wants to take 20 on searching the chest for traps. Bard won't Inspire Competence, because doing so would cost 20 rounds of bardic performance), and the downgrade of Song of Freedom (play for 1 minute to break enchantment, a very powerful effect) to Soothing Performance (4 rounds to mass cure serious wounds plus some minor condition removal, which is nowhere near as useful) was almost insulting.

As a comparison, the 3.5e barbarian gets one rage + one rage per four levels, while the 3.5e bard gets one use of Bardic Music/level. While one should shy away from directly comparing individual class features, both are primary components of their respective classes, and the bard gets about 2-4 times as many uses of Bardic Music as the Barbarian gets rages. In PF, both have 4+stat mod rounds/day, +2 rounds/level. That's either a big nerf to bardic music, a big buff to rage, or (more likely) both.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Going from uses/day to rounds/day hurt the bard a lot IMO, particularly as each 3.5 use is generally good for 5+ rounds.

Also, tracking individual rounds of use is kind of annoying. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

 

[Moorcrys]

I really like this version. The 4e bard was great and the 2e bard was fun. I liked the quirkiness of the 1e bard but it was too much jumping around imho. And it took too long to become one. Makes me wish there was a skald build though. I really liked Monte Cook's version of the bard in the Book of Eldritch Might for 3.x. Really cool flavor.

I agree with others that if they were going to give them a full spell progression in 5e they should have given them a few bard-specific spell songs per level in the core book. But hopefully this will be fixed over time by both DMs Guild and official releases.

 

[Celtavian]

I have to admit I would have preferred a less magical bard built more like the paladin or ranger. I liked the uniqueness of a bard's abilities in 3E/Pathfinder being tied less to spells and more to unique abilities that only the class has.