Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 6835536" data-attributes="member: 22779">Bards make an interesting case. In 1e bards were full fighters and thieves before they were bards. You didn't get any spells at all until about seventh level. Bards were Fighters/Skill Monkeys/casters. 2e shifts this. You get some spells earlier and compared to actual fighter classes you were pretty weak. But you still got most of the thief's skills. In 2e bards were Skill Monkeys/casters. 3e shifts thing again. Taking a bard into a fight was a bad idea. They were strongly a support class. Much broader spell list and sorcerer style casting plus the niche protection of rogue skills made bards Casters/skill monkeys. Now we have 5e. Despite things like Valor Bards, a bard isn't really very good at stabbing things. No sneak attack, no secondary attacks, a 5e bard really isn't a fighter at all. Other than maybe a better AC, a bard isn't much of a step up from a wizard in fighting. Plus bards are now full casters with lots of options that are every bit as good as stabbing things. We've gone from bards who cast a handful of times in a campaign to bards that cast every session to bards that cast every encounter to bards that cast every round. Why?  What about a bard says, "hey I should be able to cast just as often as a wizard?"  There's a pretty much straight line increase in the casting abilities of a bard.</blockquote>