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<blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 8384846" data-attributes="member: 50987">Thanks!&nbsp; Coming from you, this is the highest praise that the Bard class could ever hope to achieve (&quot;interesting&quot;).&nbsp; I'm right there with you: Ivann here is my best effort at making a Bard that interesting and unique, yet still fundamentally a bard.&nbsp; I had to pull out all the stops to get there (up to and including a friggin' elephant), and it took all afternoon.&nbsp; If the Bard class were more cohesive, with better baseline abilities like better equipment proficiencies and better cantrips, my job would have been easier.I learned a lot from this little exercise.&nbsp; I learned that the bard class can be versatile and malleable, and can be shaped to fit a number of character concepts and builds.&nbsp; It just takes a lot more effort than other character classes, and not many folks want to work that hard.&nbsp; Thus, the trope was born.&nbsp; (Or perhaps the trope came first, and the mechanics were shaped to fit it?&nbsp; It's one of those chicken-or-the-egg things, innit?)&nbsp; But I understand why so many folks play the same bard the same way.Yeah, agree...sort of.&nbsp; Maybe Ivann here would make more sense as a Feypact Warlock, or an Oath of Ancients Paladin, or a Nature Cleric, or a Circle of the Land Druid, or a (Subclass)(Class) with the (Background).&nbsp; An elephant-riding warrior is going to look impressive no matter what he does for a living, so maybe that's the trick to playing an interesting bard:&nbsp; find an impressive gimmick and then lean in hard.&nbsp; Because the bard class mechanics, as written, aren't going to do you any favors in that department.My goal wasn't to somehow prove that [USER=7023840]@Snarf Zagyg[/USER] secretly loves bards.&nbsp; The goal was to explore whether or not anyone could create a bard that was fun, interesting, and effective, and wasn't the same tired &quot;D&amp;D Bard&quot; trope.&nbsp; I figured that if I could do it, anyone could...and if it managed to impress Snarf (and others), the experiment would be a success.So alert the presses!&nbsp; Inform your players!&nbsp; The bard doesn't have to be that same, tired, overdone, boring fop!&nbsp; Join me in the revolution!&nbsp; Down with the smarmy class-clowns and their vicious mockery cantrips, flimsy rapiers, and optimized stats!&nbsp; Up with elephant-riding dwarven jousters, bell-swinging battlefield necromancers, and wave-commanding naval officers!&nbsp; Don't let anyone tell you that you have to be a promiscuous dandy with a lute fetish and a flimsy outfit just because you're a bard!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CleverNickName, post: 8384846, member: 50987"] Thanks! Coming from you, this is the highest praise that the Bard class could ever hope to achieve ("interesting"). I'm right there with you: Ivann here is my best effort at making a Bard that interesting and unique, yet still fundamentally a bard. I had to pull out all the stops to get there (up to and including [I]a friggin' elephant[/I]), and it took all afternoon. If the Bard class were more cohesive, with better [I]baseline [/I]abilities like better equipment proficiencies and better cantrips, my job would have been easier. I learned a lot from this little exercise. I learned that the bard class can be versatile and malleable, and can be shaped to fit a number of character concepts and builds. It just takes a lot more effort than other character classes, and not many folks want to work that hard. Thus, the trope was born. (Or perhaps the trope came first, and the mechanics were shaped to fit it? It's one of those chicken-or-the-egg things, innit?) But I understand why so many folks play the same bard the same way. Yeah, agree...sort of. Maybe Ivann here would make more sense as a Feypact Warlock, or an Oath of Ancients Paladin, or a Nature Cleric, or a Circle of the Land Druid, or a (Subclass)(Class) with the (Background). An elephant-riding warrior is going to look impressive no matter what he does for a living, so maybe that's the trick to playing an interesting bard: find an impressive gimmick and then [I]lean in hard[/I]. Because the bard class mechanics, as written, aren't going to do you any favors in that department. My goal wasn't to somehow prove that [USER=7023840]@Snarf Zagyg[/USER] secretly loves bards. The goal was to explore whether or not anyone could create a bard that was fun, interesting, and effective, and wasn't the same tired "D&D Bard" trope. I figured that if I could do it, anyone could...and if it managed to impress Snarf (and others), the experiment would be a success. So alert the presses! Inform your players! The bard doesn't [I]have[/I] to be that same, tired, overdone, boring fop! Join me in the revolution! Down with the smarmy class-clowns and their vicious mockery cantrips, flimsy rapiers, and optimized stats! Up with elephant-riding dwarven jousters, bell-swinging battlefield necromancers, and wave-commanding naval officers! Don't let anyone tell you that you have to be a promiscuous dandy with a lute fetish and a flimsy outfit just because you're a bard! [/QUOTE]

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