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Message: <blockquote data-quote="airwalkrr" data-source="post: 6092990" data-attributes="member: 12460">Well IMHO bard spellcasting in and of itself is slightly inferior to sorcerer spellcasting. However, a bard can UMD many items a sorcerer cannot (at least not as easily) and at any rate can UMD any spell-related item, giving them the ability to use scrolls, staffs, and wands quite easily and to great effect. So they are more versatile by virtue of their better UMD skill. A sorcerer can have a decent UMD with cross-class ranks, but not anywhere as great as that of the bard. A sorcerer could multiclass a level of bard or rogue to get UMD as a class skill, but that dilutes their primary caster level which for most powergaming purposes is beyond reproach. So I still give the edge to the bard. Bardic music is still the main reason (with fascinate and suggestion being the most powerful abilities), but using the assumptions of medium fantasy and standard character wealth UMD should be taken into account as well and if bardic music isn't enough to convince you, UMD should.Overall I think they are roughly equivalent, and a sorcerer is probably going to be more powerful in the hands of an inexperienced player, so long as he gets some basic advice on spell selection. An advanced sorcerer player will expand his repertoire by taking spells that duplicate other abilities like shadow evocation, shadow conjuration, limited wish, and wish. But an advanced bard player will make full use (abuse?) of fascinate and UMD as many items as he can fit into his bag of holding so I feel the bard has more potential.</blockquote>

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