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Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder RPG: Hints of Bards to Come
- Thread starter joela
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Gotham Gamemaster
First Post
joela said:
Ah! Just the news I have been waiting for. The song of Doom sounds particularly sweet as does the +3 to Knowledge skills. I'm hoping with that the bard has weak backwards compatibility since the base was so flimsy to begin with.
Johnny Angel
Explorer
I must say that I'm pleased that they intend to support the Bard. I wouldn't have paid for a copy of the Book of Experimental Might if I had known they would be writing the bard off.
However, the rule that a bard gets +3 to knowledge skills instead of a lore check means that players will have to choose whether to play a lore bard or a swashbuckling bard, because there aren't enough skill points to cover both. So, a class that is generally sneered at for being useless already gets even less useful.
However, the rule that a bard gets +3 to knowledge skills instead of a lore check means that players will have to choose whether to play a lore bard or a swashbuckling bard, because there aren't enough skill points to cover both. So, a class that is generally sneered at for being useless already gets even less useful.
James Jacobs
Adventurer
The bard's my favorite class in the game, and since I sit right next to Jason here at Paizo... I will be pestering him more or less non-stop to awesome them up. Never fear.
Johnny Angel
Explorer
Right, well of course we don't need any crazy game mechanics to tell us the bard is supreme. But some of the other players in the party may not get it, so it's important to have something to point to. But replacing the Knowledge check with bonuses to a bunch of skills that points would have to be put into is basically taking it away, because surely you don't want a bard that can't tumble, bluff, schmooze, and sing. Plus, by 3.5 rules, the bard needs to buy each other type of performance as a separate skill (because apparently WotC thought being able to play a lot of different instruments was way too overpowering), and stringed instruments is practically sine qua non. So, that's five of the bard's 6+Int Mod skill points spoken for.
In our local game, we actually use the 3.0 rule on Perform, at least for bards. So far, no one seems to have noticed the staggering imbalance it introduces into the game. Nor, strangely, has anyone become jealous that the bard automatically gets any musical instruments found during looting because the GM let the power mad minstrel be proficient with one instrument type per Perform rank.
In our local game, we actually use the 3.0 rule on Perform, at least for bards. So far, no one seems to have noticed the staggering imbalance it introduces into the game. Nor, strangely, has anyone become jealous that the bard automatically gets any musical instruments found during looting because the GM let the power mad minstrel be proficient with one instrument type per Perform rank.
Johnny Angel said:
Nah BoXM is still $9 well spent. Any improvements to the Bard can't be a bad thing. The 3.5 Bard was much better than the 3.0, but still nothing all that special. Which is sad, I played one shortly after 3E came out and had fun, but he didn't fit in well w/our mostly dungeon crawling group so he got swapped for a rogue. I had a fun combo of whip and shortspear for combat even I think
Johnny Angel
Explorer
I'm sure I'll have occasion to pick through it later for useful bits, but I clearly need to look elsewhere for my 3.75 solution, especially since part of the reason I'm not too sanguine about plunking down cash for 4e is that they cut bards and gnomes out of the Player's Handbook, and there are a lot of bards and gnomes in my campaign. Supposedly the Player's Handbook II will have bards, but it's not on the schedule for this year.SSquirrel said:
Gotham Gamemaster
First Post
James Jacobs said:
How's that pestering going, James? I plan on playing a bard in the Pathfinder Society games at Gen Con and any news would be welcome. I'm hoping for 1st-level spells at 1s-level and a more standard (and expanded) spell progression following.
-peter
Mustrum_Ridcully
Legend
Johnny Angel said:
I would be very much in favour for
- Buying Perform "Subskills" with each rank (3.0 style)
- Increasing skill points per level to 8+INT.
I mean, come on, why is the Bard supposed to be Jack of all Trades, if he gets less skills then a Rogue?
The bigger question might be if this is enough? I don't know if, given the Bard spell list, giving the Bard more spells per day improves his playability during combats that much. It would be nice for the Bard to be able to do something every round.
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