Iconic Bard?

[The Crimson Binome]

The iconic bard is Edward Chris von Muir, aka Gilbert, from Final Fantasy IV. He would be almost entirely useless, if the game engine didn't allow him to deal damage by playing music at people.

In any case, the iconic aspect of the bard - the reason why Edward is so iconic - is that he wields his instrument during combat. He's the one playing the harp, while dragons are breathing fire on the party. When the chips are down, and everyone's dying, he still looks like the picture of the Bard from the 2E PHB. He isn't just pretending to be a bard, and then switching to become a rogue or wizard once combat starts.

How to reconcile that into a useful character class, in any world that doesn't let you kill things by playing music at them, is a tougher question. I would probably start with the Songstress dress sphere, from FF X-2, and go from there.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don’t have A bard in mind when I think of the adventuring class. Why? Because there are so many ways to be charming, cool, entertaining, artistic, aesthetically minded, surviving by his wits, etc., and still be able to contribute to a good fantasy tale.

Take, for instance, Danny Kaye in The Court Jester.

[video=youtube;TJ9f2rnjB84]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ9f2rnjB84[/video]

Or depictions from Asian folklore of wanderers whose long flutes double as staves. Or from various legendary tales- especially things like The Kalevala- where songs and poems have great power.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think inspiring word and strong lore/knowledge skills are the defining mechanics of Bards. I like the 5e bard and am content with it being a full caster - I think it works well thematically - I just wish it had its own spells.

The 5e Bard, IMO, just needs a series of spells, starting at level 1, that inspire the whole team as long as you keep concentration on them, with effects like the 3/.5e Inspire Courage.

And a college that harkens to the old Druid association for people that want that back.

I do wish the Bard got less spellcasting, while remaining a full caster, and more Bard stuff. Replace magic secrets with the ability to inspire the whole team with a BI usage, for instance.

 

[Zardnaar]

The 5e Bard, IMO, just needs a series of spells, starting at level 1, that inspire the whole team as long as you keep concentration on them, with effects like the 3/.5e Inspire Courage.

And a college that harkens to the old Druid association for people that want that back.

I do wish the Bard got less spellcasting, while remaining a full caster, and more Bard stuff. Replace magic secrets with the ability to inspire the whole team with a BI usage, for instance.

Bard I am mucking around with is a 2/3rd caster (2E-Pathfinder), inspire courage is back, and it can steal spells from other classes. Its kind of the 2 5E subclasses merged but trading off full spellcaster for a bit more fighter/rogue/old bared stuff. Work in progress havbe not decided on a final version but thinking about Bard dice similar to the amount a Rogue gets but you can use them to heal or deal damage as an AoE. AUra effects and singing is its niche is the idea at least.

 

[cbwjm]

One of the subclasses for my half-caster fighter/mage class (I really need a better name for it) is the bard. I haven't had a real look at it yet, but the plan is to condense what I see as the core bard abilities into the subclass. Part if it is also taking from the castles and crusades version of the bard which is a warrior class.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Bard I am mucking around with is a 2/3rd caster (2E-Pathfinder), inspire courage is back, and it can steal spells from other classes. Its kind of the 2 5E subclasses merged but trading off full spellcaster for a bit more fighter/rogue/old bared stuff. Work in progress havbe not decided on a final version but thinking about Bard dice similar to the amount a Rogue gets but you can use them to heal or deal damage as an AoE. AUra effects and singing is its niche is the idea at least.

See, thing is, that can be done with spells, and some subclass abilities.

A Lore Bard can already start stealing AoE buff and debuff spells early, and any Bard can get spells like the Paladin “Aura of X” spells.