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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Is the Bard broken?
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<blockquote data-quote="Primitive Screwhead" data-source="post: 2810498" data-attributes="member: 20805"><p>That depends entirely on how the campaign is run.. ie, DM catering. Social skills can be as big a peice of the game as combat is. If your game slants in such a manner that social skills do not have a great impact on the game, then yes the Bard sucks. In a game where social skills can have an impact on the game, then the Bard rocks.</p><p></p><p>Combat and spell slinging are staples in every game.. hence Fighters, Mages, and Clerics have thier play no matter what.</p><p></p><p>Traps and sneaky has a play in most games, so the Rogue gets the limelight often enough.</p><p></p><p>Wilderness stuff crops up, usually when a Druid or Ranger is present, and most DM's can handle running this sort of encounter fairly well.. but most people think these classes are underpowered or pointless duplicates of the Fighter...and most 'wilderness' encounters end up being a flat, level ground with no underbrush or fallen logs.....</p><p></p><p>Social skills? Show me a published module that actually has enounters designed to challange the party in the social arena... and I will buy it <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> DnD is about dungeon crawling and monster slaying.. not debating with the Mayor or winning a local election. The biggest use most people get out of the social skills is the diplomancy of 'dont fight us, just let us in'</p><p> Part of this is due to the need for a robust social skill resolution mechanic, something like Penumbra's book delivers {which would take players some time to get used to}. But most of it is because DM's don't encourage a non-violent solution to encounters.</p><p></p><p>YMMV, of course. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> </p><p></p><p>To me, the DM's job is to present opportunities for each character in the party to hold the limelight for a bit.. preferably an equal share. This means if I have a Bard in the group, non -violent options will be viable and part of the planned story arc. Social skill use would be a major part of some of the encounters. If your DM is not doing this.. sit down with him or her sometime and say "Man, tell me straight, do you want me to play a fighter or a bard? cause all this bardy type stuff just doesn't fly the way you set us up."</p><p></p><p>BTW.. what exactly do you mean by 'bardy' anyway?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Primitive Screwhead, post: 2810498, member: 20805"] That depends entirely on how the campaign is run.. ie, DM catering. Social skills can be as big a peice of the game as combat is. If your game slants in such a manner that social skills do not have a great impact on the game, then yes the Bard sucks. In a game where social skills can have an impact on the game, then the Bard rocks. Combat and spell slinging are staples in every game.. hence Fighters, Mages, and Clerics have thier play no matter what. Traps and sneaky has a play in most games, so the Rogue gets the limelight often enough. Wilderness stuff crops up, usually when a Druid or Ranger is present, and most DM's can handle running this sort of encounter fairly well.. but most people think these classes are underpowered or pointless duplicates of the Fighter...and most 'wilderness' encounters end up being a flat, level ground with no underbrush or fallen logs..... Social skills? Show me a published module that actually has enounters designed to challange the party in the social arena... and I will buy it :) DnD is about dungeon crawling and monster slaying.. not debating with the Mayor or winning a local election. The biggest use most people get out of the social skills is the diplomancy of 'dont fight us, just let us in' Part of this is due to the need for a robust social skill resolution mechanic, something like Penumbra's book delivers {which would take players some time to get used to}. But most of it is because DM's don't encourage a non-violent solution to encounters. YMMV, of course. :) To me, the DM's job is to present opportunities for each character in the party to hold the limelight for a bit.. preferably an equal share. This means if I have a Bard in the group, non -violent options will be viable and part of the planned story arc. Social skill use would be a major part of some of the encounters. If your DM is not doing this.. sit down with him or her sometime and say "Man, tell me straight, do you want me to play a fighter or a bard? cause all this bardy type stuff just doesn't fly the way you set us up." BTW.. what exactly do you mean by 'bardy' anyway? [/QUOTE]
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Is the Bard broken?
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