Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ashrym" data-source="post: 6849211" data-attributes="member: 6750235">Naw.  Human variant for the bonus feat on a lore bard grabs medium armor and shield if a person is worried anyway, just as an example.  Most bards who are looking at combat focus on DEX anyway.  It's usually a 14 or 15 AC on the bard or rogue at first compared to 16 AC for the heavy armor classes that might have the proficiency.  16 (18 with a shield) is high, not average, at first level.  There are literally only 2 classes with heavy armor proficiency (plus some clerics by domain bonus proficiency) and every other class is looking at the same AC as the bard options or less.  Shield proficiency is a bit more common but not commonly used in favor of damage from weapons requiring two hands or the two weapon fighting style.Almost every class is looking at STR or DEX for combat, CON for hit points, and another attribute score.  That's not different for bards.  Going with DEX, CHA, and CON on a bard isn't different than STR, CHA, and CON on a paladin; or STR, DEX, CON on a barbarian; or DEX, WIS, CON on a ranger; or DEX, WIS, CON on a monk; etc to demonstrate the same thing happens.The typical party only has one or two classes with slightly higher AC at those levels, and levels 1 & 2 go by very quickly regardless.The abundance of spells from versatile options and bardic inspiration easily cover quite a bit of ground.  The entire party can also be stealth based.  Running a group stealth check that would only require 3/5 characters to beat the highest passive perception opposing them when the group is all bard with some DEX investment works well, especially if they focus on it more with expertise and invisibility later.  It may have been a comment made in jest, but bards aren't hurting for AC compared to most classes.  A typical group would be a wizard who had cast mage armor (AC 15), rogue (AC 14 or 15), fighter with a big weapon (AC 16), and a cleric with a 15 or 16 AC who is more likely to take a shield bonus, plus something else similar in those same AC's.  The bards have more overall magical firepower, healing, and buffs; and each would be TWF for better damage than the wizard or cleric is contributing.  Parties with 5 rogues, 5 bards, or 5 rangers are examples that work well.</blockquote>

Verification