What do you think of the 4e Bard?

[jgsugden]

I thought they should have made the bard more 'old school' by making it a paragon path/epic path combo. That would have made it seem more like the 1E version...

 

[Samurai]

Yes, yes, yes...based on the first 10 levels made available in Dragon, I believe that the 4e bard is probably the best version available in any edition of the game. Ritual casting, skill versatility and multiclass versatility were a really good way to implement a jack of all trades type aspect to the class.

What's this "multiclass versatility" you speak of? Can they take more than 1 multiclass?

 

[Greg K]

Personally, I am "meh". I don't care for multiclass versatility or skill versatility. They remind me too much of jack of all trades bard which I don't like. As for the spells, some I like and some I don't.

That said, I like it better than the sorcerer and some of the other PHB2 previews.

 

[RefinedBean]

What's this "multiclass versatility" you speak of? Can they take more than 1 multiclass?

Yep! So far, they're the only class I've seen that is explicitly allowed to take more than one multiclass "path" or however we're calling it.

So you'd like to do a Dragonborn Bard/Fighter that specializes in bolas (from the MC weapon-specific feats from the Gladiator article)? Go nuts!

I'm hoping that no other class gets this ability. It will help keep the Bard as one of the iconic classes of D&D.