Why Are Bards...Bards?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Fafhrd was a bard -- but you don't see him mooning over pansies and twinkle-toeing through the tulips.

'Course, he was more technically a skald, aka bardbarian, but you get my drift.

 

[Silver Moon]

My wife plays a bard regularly. She has a great singing voice and will sing her parts and improvise lyrics as we play. It adds a whole lot to the role playing at the table.

 

[warlord]

See people all bards donm't have to be pansies take a a level or two in barbarian and you can be like Fafhrd or Wizards or Monte Cook or some d20 publisher could make a skald core class.

 

[Jdvn1]

As I see it there are really three or four types of skill users:

I don't really know about your skill groups, but I thought they had a decent skill list. Aside from that, they have a _much_ better spell list.

 

[fusangite]

Obviously, the bard is supposed to model the medieval troubador... which is kind of a shame. I think there are much better traditions on which to base the class. Taliesin, the original Merlin inspiration, for instance, gives us a much richer and interesting bard archetype. Unfortunately, the weapon selection and some of the skills situate the bard as a late medieval thing rather than as a bronze-age or iron age mage/hero; I'd love to see a good Celtic-style bard in place of the D&D troubador in the PHB.

 

[Kashell]

Bards should be multiclass and should refer to the complete adventurer.

Kinda like sorcs in a way. Useless by itself.

 

[reanjr]

Of the two bards I've played, one was storyteller. He'd always relate the current situation to some old story of his or someone else's or something from myth in an effort to inspire those around him to the greatness of those in the stories.

IMO, Bard is the uberclass. I love 'em. I think everyone should be a bard. I do wish there was a non-spellcasting variant, though, with more emphasis on Bardic Music (revamping it).

 

[el-remmen]

I just found out today that the game I play fighter/bard in was permanently cancelled.

This thread reminded me of it. :\

 

[Greylock]

Many of the very interesting takes on bards in film, fantasy, and myth above conveniently ignore the class restriction against being of Lawful alignment.

Please, tell me how you get around this peccadillo. I find many aspects of the Bard kinda neat, but the Chaotic nature of the class has kept me away from it. That, and the feeling that knowing guitar chords is some unspoken RPGing prereq.

 

[Crothian]

Bards are great, the only class I took from first to twentieth without multi classing. bards though are very much team players and many of their abilities are not as exciting as some of the others. They are not what I would call an easy class to play, and it is obvious from this thread and others that some people arn't cut out for the Bard. Which is good since there are 10 other core classes.