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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6836656" data-attributes="member: 4937">The big problem with the Bard as a class is that it's only powerful if there are six or more players in the party.  The Bard's buffs tend to effect all allies, so the more allies they have, the more potent their influence on combat.   If they only have 3 allies, the boost they give to the party isn't necessarily worth the slot they are taking up, which might more usefully be filled with full spell-caster or a tank-y combatant.  Still, there are a lot of things that a good Bard can do that ought to be greatly influencing combat.  They have sleep and grease as 1st level spells, and summon swarm, silence, and mirror image as 2nd level spells.  For third level spells they pick up charm monster, haste, and slow.  There is little reason why a mid-level Bard shouldn't always have a charmed body guard tanking for them, and be able to powerfully counter most threats as needed.  Summon swarm is devastating against monsters with only physical attacks.  Silence can be devastating to spellcasters.  Slow is a great general purpose debuff that shuts down brutes like giants and elementals and lets you kite anything without a ranged attack.   As a GM if you see a player lagging behind the rest of the party, you need to take them aside and coach them on keeping up, not just for their sake but to avoid resentment that can build up from other party members if they feel one player isn't carrying their share of the load, or is forcing them to continually take risk and spend resources to keep them alive.If they won't be coached on how to contribute more, you need to assess the group dynamics.  Is the rest of the group OK with a party member in mostly a RP role and little tactical influence?  Are the power gamers taking up the slack, and are they OK with it?   Is the player with the weak character sensitive and highly attached to their character?   In some cases, the proper approach is to simply let the PC die in the normal course of affairs.   In some cases, it's OK to have the PC continue in a party sidekick, PC henchmen, sort of role and just avoid washing the party regularly in dragon breath weapons and the like.</blockquote>

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