/tg/ - Traditional Games » Thread #14734607

[25 / 5 / ?]

223KiB, 500x500, unknown.jpg

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 19:10:00 No.14734607 View View Reply Original Report

U've never played D&D before. I wanted to make a bard for some reason but the GM advised against it; also, that class always seems to be the punchline, if not the entire joke, in anything D&D related I've seen.

Are bards really that useless in all situations and overshadowed in every aspecrt by other classes? We'll be playing 3.5, I intend to be a half-elf because it sounded more standard and boring than even standard humans, and the two other party members will probably be cleric and sorcerer

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO unknown.jpg, 78KiB, 1920x1200

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 19:31:00 No.14734730 Report

Quoted By:

Have a wall I made.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 19:32:00 No.14734735 Report

Quoted By: >>14734750

>>14734607
Is that guy in the front Sheldon Cooper?

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 19:33:00 No.14734739 Report

Quoted By:

Am guessing they want you to be a fighter.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 19:33:00 No.14734750 Report

Quoted By:

>>14734735

Might as well be. These guys founded electronic music as a whole and are incredibly eccentric. Hell, they'll sometimes use robots of themselves for live shows if they don't feel like going out.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO unknown.jpg, 44KiB, 347x346

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 19:37:00 No.14734764 Report

Quoted By:

You just cost me $20 in Kraftwerk songs because I realized I didn't own them on my iTunes yet.

You may take solace in the fact that you have made my day better because I can now listen to good music on my way to work instead of the same songs I have been listening to.

I LIKE Bards. They can "fill in" when other classes can't quite cover the gaps. But frankly FUCK "how useful" a class is. I've seen parties led by the weakest characters MANY times, because the player was the best roleplayer. THAT is what is important.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 19:37:00 No.14734767 Report

Quoted By:

Play a multi-class Orc Bard-Barbarian. Sing your Bloodsongs on wardrums crafted from the skins of your enemies.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 19:42:00 No.14734795 Report

Quoted By: >>14735107

>>14734607
Bards are good in larger parties, not in smaller parties. They're not specialized enough to work well as a frontline fighter, nor can they be effective as spellcasters can. As stated, they're an all-round patch for larger parties where any area needs boosting.

For small parties, a bard is not very effective, and in particular is going to make things harder if the DM scales the fights to include 3 people instead of 2.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 19:59:00 No.14734886 Report

Quoted By:

Bards are great. Not only will your jack-of-all-trades skillset come in handy when the party splits up to do stuff (Making up for the rogue who went with the other half), but you'll find that you've got the ability to do a lot of things that other party members simply didn't have the capacity for.

That high charisma and natural affinity for diplomacy/intimidation will be a helluva lot of fun, trust me. There's nothing more awesome than getting into the BBEG's castle by telling one of the guards that you're catering, then opening the gate to let your friendly army in (This happened once).

Plus, especially in later levels, I don't think your party will mind you giving everyone a +4 on all combat related nonsense. Plus, having access to cure spells ain't too shabby either, regardless of what role you fill.

Bards can kick a lot of ass. Look up Snowflake Wardance from Frostburn, for starters.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 20:00:00 No.14734889 Report

Quoted By: >>14734909

bards, aren't usueless, they are just pretty gay. "I sing at the orcs"Yeah, there's tons of fantasy stories where some fag in minstrel tights sings their enemies into submission.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 20:03:00 No.14734909 Report

Quoted By:

>>14734889

Hardly. I played a half-orc bard once who used his charisma (DM gave me a by) and great strength in tandem to inspire his foes. He had a pair of timpani strapped to his front like drumline quads and had max ranks in preform (percussion) and perform (oratory). Took levels in war chanter. In combat, he used two light maces that acted as his timpani mallets. When he wasn't fighting, he was getting all the women by telling them grand tales of his and the party's exploits, which made him a great wingman.

Alpha as fuck.

op Wed 27 Apr 2011 20:34:00 No.14735107 Report

Quoted By: >>14735125 >>14735150

Thanks for the replies. To be honest I only used that image because of the blue/orange contrast. And to be honest a part of me wanted the bard just to fuck with the GM-to-be because he's trying to forcibly minmax me and fuck that. He talks contemptuously about the 0 level spells I could choose from, so I shout "WHAT CREATE WATER THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME" in each of them

I'll probably go ahead with the bard thing but I guess>>14734795is right, we do have a very small party. I forgot to mention we start at level 5; in this group, would multiclassing be preferrable (to what?) or I should stay only bard to get the later healing spells (when were they accessed?). Dunno, I still wouldn't want to be the combat-impaired sidekick who let my two bros die just because I felt like pissing the gm by picking the class he hated.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 20:36:00 No.14735125 Report

Quoted By:

>>14735107
If you minmax create water right you can flood worlds.

FLOOD.

WORLDS.

Oh, but bards can't because you don't get level 8 spells, forgot about that.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO unknown.jpg, 91KiB, 580x800

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 20:39:00 No.14735141 Report

Quoted By:

Your GM is a moron, Bards are great fun, both in 3.5 and Pathfinder (don't know about 4th though). You can be the face of your party and solve most situations without pulling up a fight. Good support in large parties, but also a good solo class with a lot of tricks up his sleeves.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 20:41:00 No.14735150 Report

Quoted By:

>>14735107

If it's low-level stuff, you're probably going to feel a bit gimped for a while. Once you get a few levels under your belt, the bard starts to be a really fun class - lots of singing, counterspelling, charming. I'd recommend getting some ranged weapons, because you're not going to be great in melee.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 20:45:00 No.14735170 Report

Quoted By: >>14735184

Right, actual helpful information:
Cure Light Wounds is a level 1 spell, meaning you can get it at level 3. However, you've already got a cleric so don't need THAT much healing unless the cleric goes down. And before you ask, YOU will be the first do die, since you'll be in the front line more than the other two. You'll be able to hit the enemy better than them, for one, and you'll be the one wearing armour (along with the cleric, possibly).

At level 5, you can think about prestige classes instead of just multiclassing; how does a paladin/bard sound?

As a half-elf, you can multiclass to anything, so that's fine. Bard/something fight-y would be ok.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 20:49:00 No.14735184 Report

Quoted By: >>14735253

>>14735170

Oh wow, just saw your party line-up. You might want to get a hireling fighter or something because you do NOT want to be the tank. If you can't do this, your lack of armor is going to make melee deadly. Consider multi-classing to good low-armor melee classes.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 20:58:00 No.14735231 Report

Quoted By:

the thing is, if you're new you might as well start with a simple class that ISN't a spell caster.

it's tempting to dive it but you ahve to get your feet wet first and you can still be the comedic relief.

hell, as a bar bar, you can make decisions and back them up with your axe.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 21:02:00 No.14735253 Report

Quoted By: >>14735357

>>14735184
why should he be the one to multiclass? Bards have a nice progression of abilities, but gets less spell and more slowly. Let the fucking cleric be the tank, he can handle it. Stick to support/skillmonkey/being awesome and solve situations with wit and charms.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 21:11:00 No.14735301 Report

Quoted By: >>14735357

Fighters suck in 3.5, and it's not like a pure spellcaster party is nonviable. Bards are awesome diplomancers, great skill monkeys, and they have some pretty unique spells, like Sympathetic Vibrations. Between the cleric and the sorcerer, you'll eventually be able to cast anything you want with scrolls & wands anyway.

op Wed 27 Apr 2011 21:19:00 No.14735357 Report

Quoted By: >>14735409

>>14735301
>>14735253
What you're suggesting is sticking with only bard levels? About the tank, yes the cleric was getting heavy armor iirc

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 21:28:00 No.14735409 Report

Quoted By: >>14735454

>>14735357
I'd say yes. Mainly because you said you never played D&D, so you should at least see how it goes and then decide if you need multiclassing or you like the bard as it is.

Bear in mind that more players could come, filling in for the roles others expect you to do. Don't be discouraged by the bard's shortcomings, learn to play out his strenghts. Assuming your GM is not a moron, he should plan the campaign with your group's capabilities in mind. No fighter in the party? Then the missions won't be combat heavy.

"Party balance" is just another thing the min/maxers like to jack off on, don't worry too much about that.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 21:36:00 No.14735454 Report

Quoted By:

>>14735409
> Assuming your GM is not a moron,
Which to be fair is a pretty big leap of faith considering the GM is trying to minmax the OP for him.

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO unknown.jpg, 2MiB, 272x200

op Wed 27 Apr 2011 22:01:00 No.14735551 Report

Quoted By:

>Bear in mind that more players could come
idontthinksotim.jpg

>he should plan the campaign with your group's capabilities in mind
I believe they said it was going to be one of those premade modules, not sure

Looking at the bard spell list; at first I thought "xth level bard spell" meant you can choose from those spells when you're a x level bard, but they only go up to 6. Where can I see at which bard levels you access which bard spell levels? Did I just type that sentence?

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 22:06:00 No.14735582 Report

Quoted By:

In 3.x and earlier editions, the bard is awful. It's supposedly a "jack of all trades", but it starts out pretty bad at everything and only gets worse. With proper buffs and good equipment the bard is only very slightly weaker than a fighter at melee combat (though that speaks more of how awful the fighter is than how strong the bard is). As a spellcaster they start with a limited spell selection which only becomes more noticeably behind the wizard or even a sorcerer as you get more levels. As a healer... yeah, let's not even go there. About the only thing he's good for is using his bard songs to buff, and even that isn't so great. They are destined to be mediocre, then overshadowed, then completely useless at everything.

There is one thing the bard is good at, and that's making a mockery of the 3.5 skills system. Take the 1st level spell Glibness and with only a tiny bit of effort you can make people believe you're the moon.

Capcode	All Only User Posts Only Verified Posts Only Moderator Posts Only Manager Posts Only Admin Posts Only Developer Posts Only Founder Posts
Show Posts	All Only With Images Only Without Images Only Spoiler Images Only Non-Spoiler Images
Deleted Posts	All Only Deleted Posts Only Non-Deleted Posts
Ghost Posts	All Only Ghost Posts Only Non-Ghost Posts
Post Type	All Only Sticky Threads Only Opening Posts Only Reply Posts
Results	All Grouped By Threads
Order	Latest Posts First Oldest Posts First

On these archives

Your latest searches