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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8392426" data-attributes="member: 6796468">The way I've always seen the Jack in TTRPGs is in three broken categories.1) Weak at everything, but able to do it all. This is your basic Bradley Tank issue. For those who don't know, the Bradley was a tank that couldn't take a hit or shoot back with big rounds, it was a personnel carrier that couldn't carry troops, it was an amphibious vehicle that sank, and it was an all-terrain-vehicle that would get stuck. The US Military tried to do too many things at once and couldn't engineer any of them properly. 2) Good at 2-3 things, but rubbish when it counts. You see this a lot in videogame Jacks, too, where they're survivable in melee, do decent healing, but can't actually hit worth a darn. But they'll pick every lock and woo every barmaid.3) Really good at 1 thing, decent at several others. The 5e Bard. You can build them to be good healers, good melee-support, good thief-replacements... but the amount of specialization you have to put in means they wind up lacking in other directions.To make a really top-notch Jack of All Trades you need a class that is -almost- as good at everything as everyone else... Or something most people don't really delve into too much: Able to do multiple things at once.A Bard class that has decent melee attacks and survivability who can keep up a "Healing Song" that isn't a spell but provides on-demand healing to their team without using up their action economy for attacking? Choice. Able to fire a cantrip off at range -and- slap someone in melee? Choice. For a real Jack you just need to let them do their thing -and- something else at the same time. Maybe their secondary effect is weaker (Like making that Healing Song provide low actual healing, or use your reaction to apply it in response to someone getting hit) but by doing both at once you show the character is doing a whole bunch of stuff in the fight, rather than one or two things.</blockquote>

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