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Post by dmistress on Aug 7, 2017 23:57:07 GMT
I have a new player who chose to be a halfing bard, but is playing like a fighter. He enjoys using talk with animals, but never uses bardic inspiration. He has a mastiff that he doesn't use and recently I gave him a bag of tricks, we'll see how that goes.
I've been trying to encourage more role playing in the group, which is going well overall. But when other players put him into the spotlight to be charismatic and sing a song, he just rolls his eyes.
I'm all for him trying different spins on a bard, but I don't know what to try on him and he isn't giving my any ideas. He gets upset when he can't contribute effectively to combat. I'm hoping that you might have some ideas about ways to set up him during combat that would be cool, or other spins on the bard that might be interesting to try.
Thanks!
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Post by dmgenisisect on Aug 8, 2017 0:33:10 GMT
It seems like you've come upon the age old issue with classes like bards and clerics. Mechanically they are designed to fill the support role, but it seems like your player doesn't want to play a support character. It's inevitable that if you try and force a class to play outside of its design space it under performs, like trying to tank as a rouge, or trying to crowd control as a barbarian.
Perhaps you should talk to the player and point out that mechanically bards are designed to be support, maybe even make direct references to video games when you do so. They might not have realised that might the reason their character isn't doing well is because they're playing the character outside of its optimal role. They can then decide that they want to continue to do so but will understand that they're choosing to play the character 'suboptimaly' so that might ease their frustration, or they might get enjoyment out of finding their characters nieche.
The issue with RP is a bit different. Can I make the suggestion that not all bards need to be singing and dancing. For example I consider India Jones to be a bard (he's a skill monkey with a lot of knowledge and performs rediculous and inspiring feets which can bring others to greater levels of ability to overcome challenges). Maybe your player finds the idea of being a minstrel a little silly when their friends get to be epic warriors and sneaky assassins, let them use there bardic powers by doing things that are cool to describe, let them give out bardic inspiration with an epic battle cry, or by performing an stunt in their own tight that gives the other player confidence to try it them self.
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Post by dmgenisisect on Aug 8, 2017 0:36:11 GMT
For some specific spins on bards that work particularly well;
-Play as India Jones like character as I described above
-If the player has a tactical mind letting them play as a kind of in game strategist works, directing the other PCs while giving them buffs.
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Post by DM Lord Neptune on Aug 8, 2017 0:59:29 GMT
Never thought of Indiana Jones as a bard, but it makes a ton of sense. He knows tons of lore, tells stories, inspires his comrades, etc. I'd agree that if they want to still play the bard that there are ways around the mechanics in order to cast the bard spells without playing an instrument. If they don't even want to do the bard spells or play an instrument, maybe they didn't even want to be a bard in the first place. If they just wanted to be hard to get the skills, maybe rogue would be a better suit. But if they are ok with a non support bard, even thought it means they would be crippled, maybe they can be ok with that after having a talk with you.
If they really meant to be a fighter, and the background still fits, it may be ok to retcon the game to make them a fighter instead and fudge the attributes around slightly to fit. As long as everyone is ok with that and they all have fun, that is the most important thing.
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