need inspiration for 2e Bard

[Herobizkit]

Hello, all!

I am currently gearing up to play a D&D 2e mini-campaign with some old buds from my hometown, and I am interested in playing a Bard.

Now, I have also been playing D&D for 20+ years, and I am finding my well of inspiration to be dry. I would like to pool the collective knowledge of EnWorld and come up with a character concept that is more inspired than "knowledge guy".

I know that Bards, by default, are the Jack-of-all-trades but generally get slotted into either the entertainer, or the lorekeeper. As such, the scope of those stereotypes is limited, and I want something a little fresher.

Assume that all rules are "as is" (ie no houseruling) and assume any story elements you like. If you have one, use the Bard's Handbook as reference as multi-classing is limited as to what is printed there. The world is set in the Forgotten Realms 4e setting (for some reason).

I can't wait to see what you all have to offer!

 

[Crothian]

The kits from the Bard Handbook are some of the best in the game. THey are full of ideas and offer great role playing potential. I'd go with the Halfing Whistler.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

The Celtic bard was a diplomat, able to travel anywhere, even through the middle of opposing armies, and not be attacked. They were also guardians of morals (Celtic morals such as hospitality and bravery) and when they saw violations of these unwritten laws they would take action by making up satirical songs. Some of these songs wer so potent that they could kill a warrior with the humiliation!

HAve arecollection that they were also a stage in the training required to become a Druid so maybe a Bard with aspirations of joining the priesthood.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My 2 faves out of the Bard's Handbook are the Blade and the Jester.

I love the idea of a bard who is not just dangerous, but entertainingly so! They may not hit as hard or often as a fighter, but their whirling weapon displays make foes think they're facing the most dangerous weapons masters on the planet.

I never got to play a true Jester, but I did play a Ftr/Mu/Thief who might as well have been one. She was an Elf who was so frustratingly chaotic and inquisitive that she didn't so much go adventuring as get kicked out of town. She frequently talked her way into trouble...then talked her way out. Her bauble (the rod with a jester's head & bells on it) was actually a disguised club. You know, just in case talking wasn't good enough?

 

[Thanael]

Take a look at the Complete Bards Handbook, seriously. It not only has great bard kits and nice reputation system, details on instruments and new spells and proficiencies, it also introduces Bard multiclass options for demihumans and new demihuman bards, so you can be a half-elf Thief/Gypsy, a dwarven Fighter/Skald or a halfling Thief/Jongleur for example, or a Dwarven Chanter, Elven Minstrel, Gnome Professor, or Halfling Whistler.

Each of the kits offers a very different view on the bard, just the read the very flavourful introductions of each! My favorite combination was the half-elf fighter/blade, though playing a Gnome Jester should also be very much fun.

The Dragon article "Completing the Complete Bard" has two more bard kits, the Dandy and the Outlaw, which are also quite good.

I also very much like old the 1E dual-class Old Lore ("prestige") bard with the different colleges and the magical items for each college (the so called Instruments of the Bards artifacts). This is more what the celtic bard would be.

In another vein the 1.5E optional bard from Dragon #56 (?) is more similar to the 2e bard. I also like the "reversed 1E bard" gypsy from Dragon #59's article on gypsies. (There's also Dragon #93's The Gypsy Train, but this is an adventure.)


All these can exist in the same campaign imho, with the 1.5E and 2E bards as more modern minstrels and the 1E bard as a old holdover tied to the druidic organization. In fact this adds so much facets to the bard, that an all-bard group looks like a very interesting interesting option.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I was a player of the Herald kit myself. I liked it because it helped my diplomatic abilities quite a bit and my status as a herald helped get our party into see barons and dukes much more easily than otherwise would have occurred.

I had tried the Blade as well at one point, but found that the bonuses to combat that the Blade gave you, still didn't make you that effective as a swordsman (at least compared to the fighter or thief). So the schitck of the kit did not play to the strength of the class. If I wanted to be a dark and sneaky combatant, better to just be a thief than to try and layer a kit onto a class that just would never match up.

 

[Marius Delphus]

Perhaps you could turn the "jack-of-all-trades" aspect into a character trait. You get a character who wants to be everywhere, do everything, talk to everyone, and write it all down. He'd be bursting at the seams with information and can't keep it inside... since this is a mini-campaign, it might not matter much if the character has a terrible habit of tossing out (barely remembered? badly remembered?) random factoids about the campaign world.

One of my favorite characters of all time was a bard who was convinced of his own fame. "What do you mean, you've never heard of me? Well, no matter; you will!" He was also convinced that everyone loved his music and that he could entertain anyone at any time. This didn't go over so well at the largest inn in Kartakass (in Ravenloft,

Spoiler

a domain full of wolfweres, who are natural bards

), but he didn't let that deter him... he merely told himself his audience was awestruck rather than

Spoiler

unimpressed and hungry

.

Back in the day, one of my players suggested we run an all-bard campaign using kits from Complete Bards. I don't recall any of them seeming overpowered or underpowered relative to the core bard, so I can't point out any trouble spots. The dwarven chanter would make for a very unusual PC bursting with inspiration, IMO, but then again all of the kits come with inspiring flavor, IIRC.

Good luck with it, and let us know how it turns out!

 

[Herobizkit]

I like what I've seen so far, but I've played most of what you've already suggested. I haven't actually tried a Halfling Whistler but I DID NPC one once. Dwarves and Halflings are very unattractive choices as they lose their Wizard spell-casting ability. At the moment, I got a hit of inspiration in a half-elven Ranger/Bard; I picture a gunslinger with paired pistols who wanders the land searching for [x]. I may even roll up a completely random persona using AEG's Toolbox which could prove very interesting and an RP challenge.