The Bard and Bard Colleges

[Sadrik]

Bard is the one core class I never played in 3e. I am not a fan of the Bard, however, I am a very big fan of the niche that the bard encompasses. The Bard has always been a really cool concept in so much as: they know a lot of obscure stuff, they give themselves and their allies buffs, they have arcane spells with a little sword fighting ability, they can be the face of the party, and again they have seer like knowledge abilities which are handy for the DM and the players alike.

Where they fall flat for me is their "music" and I suspect for a lot of others as well. How lame is it when the barbarian whips out his greataxe and cleaves some fools that were too close and the wizard roasts a swath of enemies with his fireball, and then the bard whips out his harp and starts strumming it and reciting poetry? Is combat really a time when you should be reciting poetry and strumming a harp- apparently yes in 2nd and more so in 3rd edition. The only time you should be playing an instrument in combat is if it is a horn of blasting.

What should a 4e Bard look like? Apparently he will be the arcane leader (which is fine), but should his focus be on "music" again? I don't think so. I think the bard should focus on their other abilities and leave the music as an option for them but not a requirement. There probably is someone out there who think playing a french horn in combat is cool but I would take a guess that most players do not.

I have a poll for if you would like a musical bard or a non-musical bard in 4e.

So here is my idea to spruce up the flat bard:
Bardic Colleges can be like Bene Gesserit past lives. If you have not read Dune let me explain. The Bene Gesserit are a group that go through a mind opening ritual that links their consciousness with all other previous people who have gone through the same ritual. So, they can access old memories from previous people and seem to have great knowledge because of this. They have to train their whole lives for this ritual otherwise they might not be strong enough to resist the other consciousness that they are constantly in contact with.

Running with that and altering it to a Bardic College it would give a "mystical" reason why the Bards have the powers and knowledge that they do. Different bardic colleges could adapt to different types of knowledge, one could be for performing, one for history, etc. These different colleges would be like the different pacts a warlock takes (fey, infernal, star). The college would represent an arcane library of knowledge that bards from that college can link into and utilize and be sort of like a group consciousness between those in the college. I really like this concept.

 

[TerraDave]

Re: the 3E (and 2E) bard: at least there is room for improvement!

Re: the musical bard: I don't think you will get a lot of disagreement. But the guy who does powerfull stuff with music does have a place in mythology..and could have it in the game. Though I agree it should be more optional.

Re: colleges. Interesting ideas. In practice it can be hard when a charecter power must depend on an organization. It can be interesting, or it can be just a hastle, and really depends on the pc, dm, and campaing.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

While a artist form should have a prominince with the Bard (could be music, dance, art, etc.) it would be something that be used primarily outside of combat. So Bard Rituals and Utility Powers (those for any situation or specifically non-combat).

This is what I would like to see Bards as given they have a Patron (if they are Arcane, I plan on simply changing it to Primal):

Say, that these otherworldly patrons are the patrons that reside over things like emotions/feelings. They are the ones that pluck our heart-strings when our future lover crosses our path, or the fingers that dance up our spine when fear is about to grip us.

What if then, you could choose a emotional patron to draw most of your impact from. The Primal side comes from the fact that emotions are a Primal thing that resides within us. These patrons simply can manipulate this.

So these Bards by using their art-form or even just their natural aura can use a touch of their patrons power to manipulate a specific emotion of those around them in various ways. The art form and the amount of emotion they conveyed/brought forth from those who witnessed it, is what interests these patrons in the first place.

Now some may view this limiting, but I think with enough creativity it can be used in a variety of interesting ways, some both subtle and dramatic.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

ADnD had so flavourful bard classes... many didn´t use music... Rätselmeister or sages...

 

[Wormwood]

I, too, would like to see a take on the Bard that didn't revolve around 'magic-user/minstrel'

 

[Zurai]

There's nothing in 3.5 that requires a bard's "music" to be at all musical. Any perform skill can be used, and Perform is one of those open-ended skills where you can invent things. The bard I'm running for Curse of the Crimson Throne uses Perform: Fortunetelling for his bardic "music".

 

[Saitou]

I really like bards. But only because they resemble an archetype for which I harbour much more love: the Red Mage. Someone who can balance physical combat, restorative magic, destructive magic, and excels in a support role.

Music is just added fluff to me. And, more often than not, in the way.

I imagine engineering a Red Mage class for myself would be easier in 4E, though. I might not have a need for the Bard anymore...

 

[fuindordm]

I agree that playing music in combat is kind of lame, but I wouldn't want the bard to lose touch with his roots.

In my mind, here are the key abilities:

1. Legendary knowledge: this works better as a class ability than a skill, I think.
2. Key skills: history, diplomacy, plus four of their choice.
3. Combat Inspiration: lift some warlord powers. The bard always has the right words at the right time, but they need not sing tunes!
4. Musical magic: utility powers such as fascination/suggestion, rituals for lifting afflictions, taming beasts, and at high levels maybe some truename/binding magic. This should be a short list of powers.

and potentially...

5. A free "dabble" into some other class to pick up odd powers here and there.

Other than that, I wouldn't want too much fluff attached to the class. I think a musician/lorekeeper leader is a broad enough archetype to apply to many cultures and settings, but your two ideas are too campaign specific for my taste.

They are very cool ideas, though!

 

[Kobold Avenger]

A bard has always been something like part rogue/part song mage/part enchanter/part illusionist/part battledancer.

I think the 4e bard will mostly use spells as it is an Arcane Leader, and that fact has been confirmed. It's likely it songs could be spells or songs could be much like the Cleric's: Channel Divinity or Healing Word powers.

As a leader they'll probably have a "song of healing" power as a class feature, while their other powers will be spells that rely much on trickery and illusions with a focus on using those to help allies. Spells which distracts an enemy and gives an ally an opportunity attack, a couple that inflict thunder damage (Shout), ones that enchant a bard's weapon to do something like attack enemies in an area and return to the bard's hands, and a bunch of buff spells along the lines of Heroism or Improvisation.

 

[Byronic]

I would agree (in theory) with a Bard class that for the most part left poetry, songs and such outside of battle, but I doubt it if the fourth edition one will be like that. It seems far to engrained in the class.

In practice I think a bard will simply perform his magic in a poetry, oratory, musical or other matter. If you want though, I'm pretty sure that you could change the Bards powers to have a psionic instead of its current source. If you change the "fluff" a bit then you'll have a coherent character without music but with all the things you do like. Not very medieval fantasy though...