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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9645209" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Honestly, I could never understand why Bards were race-limited in the first place.  Ok, maybe you didn't want Halfling or Dwarven Bards because they could cast M-U spells, but by 2e, there wasn't a lot of reason to deny Gnomes (oh no, they might cast Evocation spells!) and definitely no reason to deny Elves.I'm sure the actual answer was "something something Humans are special", which I know some people liked, but I never really cared for.  There was a misprint in one of the PHB's that accidentally allowed for Dwarven Diviner Wizards, and I allowed them for the entirety of my 2e games without any issues whatsoever.  I eventually did away with Demihuman class limits and gave Humans a flat +10% to xp earned and allowed anyone to multiclass (inspired by the Lankhmar books) or dual-class (put forward as an option in the Complete Book of Elves) and the game didn't fall apart at the seams because of it.  Heck the D&D novels are chock full of characters who simply cannot be members of the class they profess to be (Shield of Innocence from War In Tethyr somehow manages to be an Orog Paladin of Torm, for example), and while it's arguable that them being unique is a part of what makes them memorable, I never saw a reason to deny someone to play against type if it led to fun roleplay.Of course then I discovered Earthdawn and never ran 2e again until my gaming group agreed to try it out a year or two back...which only lasted for one session because they were so confused by the AD&D-isms, lol.-On-topic, Olive is a great example of you don't have to have X class written on your character sheet to be something.  She was a Thief, unapologetically so, as in the very next book, she went back to Thieving and even took on an apprentice (one of Alias's ill-fated sisters).  It just so happened that she was a blessed with a very good singing voice and the ability to work an audience- she didn't need special abilities to be a very good Bard.One can fight without being a Fighter, or be a priest without being a Cleric.  You can steal without being a Thief.  Or protect the wilderness and live in tune with nature without being a Druid or Ranger.  Being a member of these classes can help, but there are other ways to embody these archetypes.A Cleric of Chauntea instead of a Druid, a Scout Thief instead of a Ranger.  A Fighter/Cleric instead of a Paladin (I can't remember the name, but there was a Kit, maybe two, that gave Dwarven Fighter/Clerics some of the advantages of a Paladin).  Even some Priests allowed you to either cast Wizard spells or be a Priest/Mage even if that wasn't normally allowed.  In the Myth Adventures series, someone was holding down the job of Court Wizard without the ability to so much as cast a cantrip, due to owning a large amount of magic items.  So while it might be easy to just say "hey this character fights unarmed, they should be a Monk", there are other ways to achieve "being an unarmed warrior".Maybe it's not as effective, but it can lead to an interesting character- especially if the character themselves believe, in their heart of hearts, that they are, in fact, a Paladin or a Druid, lol.</blockquote>

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