What makes a bard a bard?

[pawsplay]

I've always thought of a Bard as a singer and/or musician, who has many stories and songs of history and legend, with exceptional dexterity, meaning they're are very good with thrown weapons and such (slings, throwing knives, throwing axes) and a supernatural ability to talk through and around tough situations.

Like Willie Nelson!

 

[Lucius Drake]

Tight pants, smugness, and a devil-may-care attitude?

Seriously, what I look for in a bard is someone that can fill a much-needed skill gap in many situations and has the ability to sway the minds and souls of people with powerful music.

 

[Bold or Stupid]

The over arching common factor in Bards in my games is a tendency to sleep with anything pretty that made eyes at them. Tarty Bard is a redundant phrase for us.

 

[The Little Raven]

What makes a bard for me? The ability to play either Haruko Haruharu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLCL) or Buddy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_String_Samurai).

 

[Afrodyte]

I think I posted this somewhere else before, but here's what I think:

Heroic bard: Disney princesses (especially the ones that talk to animals), Jareth (the one in the tight pants), Jimi Hendrix, Pied Piper, sirens
Paragon bard: Orpheus, Luthien, Sauron
Epic bard: Apollo, Dionysus, Pan, Satan/Lucifer/the Devil, Ulmo (any of the Ainur, actually)

 

[Sadrik]

Since in 4e, Bards have Otherworldly patrons I would like to see them work something like this:

This is if his powers are based off the control and manipulation of emotion.

The Otherworldly patrons would be beings beyond the gods, who feed and play with the emotions of mortal creatures; a tingle of fear down your spine, a flush of excitement from a thought, that is the work of these beings.

A Bard is someone who has gained the interest of these patrons by heightening and enhancing the emotions of others through his/her art. As such the patron that discovers the Bard begins to allow him to manipulate, the certain emotions that patron resides over and has a taste for.

So almost like a Warlock with pacts, the player chooses which patron took a interest in them (obviously related to whatever background the character has) and gains powers based around that patron's dominant emotion. Be it; fear, joy, sadness, anger, etc.

The Bard would have some basic control over other emotions, but the patron's dominant emotion be the most easily manipulated/controlled.

Now through their own research and lore-study and what has been given to them through the patron. A Bard learns much about mortal lore, for it is through tales and legends we truly see the effects of emotions and feelings on mortal beings.

I expect power-wise, a Bard would have lots of controlling spells (based off manipulating emotions), illusion (cast images inside people's minds by provoking their emotional state) and some basic social and physical attributes to showcase the Bard's life prior to being discovered by the patron.

Emotional control is going to be hard to pull off. My understanding is that will be the province of the psion. Also, illusion should be a part of the illusionist. I personally don't want to see a bard that is being covered better by two or more other far more interesting classes. Master of none, is not the right approach. They need something unique. Also, as stated before by someone very few play a bard and have the "singing or lute playing" be a major function of their character's identity (because it is dumb).
DM: "Fiddlesticks, what do you do?"
Bard Player: "I ignore the 9 headed hydra in front of me, break out my lute and pluck a melody."
DM: "Why are you playing a bard?"
Bard Player: "I don't know."

Bard's should have the minstrel aspect as one of their build options but the other should be a non-minstrel --> so the class will actually get played.

What could these Arcane Patrons be? Arcane magic is supposed to come from the Feywild so is it Satyr king or something?

 

[MarauderX]

Besides the obvious necessity for someone in the party to ROCK, I can speak from band experience. I'd vote for a controller heavy on the social skills. By the time WotC is done we'll have each of the 4 role types with each ability score - may as well get the bard out there as the CHA controller/buffer.

 

[Lizard]

The over arching common factor in Bards in my games is a tendency to sleep with anything pretty that made eyes at them. Tarty Bard is a redundant phrase for us.

Yes, the running gag is that the bard is friends with the druid because of regular castings of cure disease.

Of course, the entire cover for the PCs is that they're a touring rock band called Random Encounter, so the bard is important in a lot of ways.

 

[DandD]

Whenever I see this argument, I remember the bard in our group:

Level 12 Half-Orc Barbarian, raging, buffed with Heroes Feast, Greater Magic Weapon, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful from the Cleric and has the Reckless Rage feat. +32 to hit normally, power attacking for full lowers his to hit to 20.

Barbarian: I power attack for full. I roll a 5, I hit AC 27 with flanking.
DM: Yeah, the monster has a AC of 24.
Barbarian: Oh, in that case I hit and crit with my second attack, hit with my third attack, but miss with my 4th. I do 2d6+49+1d6(flaming) damage each attack, so I do 225 damage to the creature this round.
Bard: Umm, don't forget my +3. That means you did 12 more.
DM: Yeah, like it matters. The creature had 160 hitpoints. He's dead.
Cleric: Besides, Bard Song doesn't stack with Righteous Wrath of the Faithful or Heroes Feast. You didn't actually add anything.

Man, that's a mean one. I know that some people would really get terribly depressed for seeing that.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

When I think "Bard" for D&D, I think inspiring allies, reasonably good fighting skills (at least in a swashbuckling sort of way), and a flair for dramatic stunts. I see someone who engages in banter that infuriates his enemies.

They have also read a lot and are well-travelled, able to use the knowledge both in combat (perhaps to gain bonuses). They also are artistic, although whether or not this has in-game ramifications isn't so important to me (I'm willing to treat it as the fluff that serves as a rationale for their powers).

I feel like the Bard has traditionally been something of a dabbler (but not really a hybrid class) and scholarly adventurer - it should kill the 3.x Factotum and get most of his stuff, at least in the concept department. Perhaps the class should provide some incentive to multi-classing, or provide options for getting a few powers from other classes? I don't know - but I would be okay if the "dabbler" angle was dropped.

I imagine their key ability scores being Dex, Int, and Cha. Halflings, Tieflings, Half-Elves and Eladrin would then make pretty good Bards, which all makes sense IMO. I'd also like Gnomes to be good Bards, but I don't know much about their racial abilities or stat bonuses, so they may not in fact be good Bards. "Arcane Leader" is a perfect fit the class's Role and Source IMO.

I really like what I've heard so far about the Bard class regarding how they are individuals whose artistic talent has gained the favor of "otherworldly patrons." I really want to see who these patrons are. For whatever reason my image of the stereotypical Bard doesn't have a lot of spell casting ability, but having patrons bestowing magical gifts really seems to mesh well with my conceptions and I have no difficulty with the idea now.