Post by robosnake on Sept 6, 2015 4:54:43 GMT
This has been an issue I've had with every D&D edition's version of the bard class. First off, I really like the bard class. I like being a generalist who is sort of good at everything with the potential for a big personality. I've played a lot of bards, in all their underpowered glory.
The thing is with bards - their bard-ness is always secondary to how they function. Pure color. What I mean is, bards might lug around musical instruments, but there is basically no reason for them to do so. 5E you can use inspiring words to activate your abilities. Previous editions have been basically same, if your musical abilities were dealt with at all. (Pathfinder tries to get around this by letting you use a Perform skill subset to replace a couple of social skills, and that's kind of cool, but still just a bonus skill). But in each edition, any points put into a musical instrument skill, or inventory space assigned to a bagpipe or lyre or something, is basically wasted.
What brought bards once again to mind was watching Fury Road again. In D&D terms, there has never been a reason for that guy to be on a huge rig made of giant taiko drums thrashing on a fire-spewing double-necked guitar backed by a wall of speakers. And, dammit, there should be. Military unites throughout the ancient and historical world have utilized music in combat, from bagpipes to war-drums to whistles the Aztec made out of human skulls (no joke).
I've house ruled this various different ways over the years. The one game (an MMO) that comes to mind that I think did a good job of this was actually the original EverQuest. In EverQuest, you could play a bard with a normal weapon attack, who used her music while fighting, which would do something like slow or damage your opponents as an AoE, or AoE regenerate health, or mana, or whatever. But you could forego a weapon attack to play an instrument, and this would greatly increase the range, power and duration of your bard songs. You could also layer effects over each other, and if you had a good enough connection and good timing, you could have five overlapping bard songs in effect at the same time. For a while, everyone wanted a bard in their group. No, seriously.
What about something like this for bards in 5E, as a class hack? If a bard foregoes a weapon attack, carries a lute instead of a sword and shield or whatever, could there be some big beefy bonus? Maybe spells have expanded range or duration, or spell saves are harder, or more uses of bardic inspiration, or maybe use the "song of rest" effect even in the thick of battle, letting everyone within earshot spend a hit die to recover some hp? Allies can use your musical instrument skill check in place of a save?
Ideas?
The thing is with bards - their bard-ness is always secondary to how they function. Pure color. What I mean is, bards might lug around musical instruments, but there is basically no reason for them to do so. 5E you can use inspiring words to activate your abilities. Previous editions have been basically same, if your musical abilities were dealt with at all. (Pathfinder tries to get around this by letting you use a Perform skill subset to replace a couple of social skills, and that's kind of cool, but still just a bonus skill). But in each edition, any points put into a musical instrument skill, or inventory space assigned to a bagpipe or lyre or something, is basically wasted.
What brought bards once again to mind was watching Fury Road again. In D&D terms, there has never been a reason for that guy to be on a huge rig made of giant taiko drums thrashing on a fire-spewing double-necked guitar backed by a wall of speakers. And, dammit, there should be. Military unites throughout the ancient and historical world have utilized music in combat, from bagpipes to war-drums to whistles the Aztec made out of human skulls (no joke).
I've house ruled this various different ways over the years. The one game (an MMO) that comes to mind that I think did a good job of this was actually the original EverQuest. In EverQuest, you could play a bard with a normal weapon attack, who used her music while fighting, which would do something like slow or damage your opponents as an AoE, or AoE regenerate health, or mana, or whatever. But you could forego a weapon attack to play an instrument, and this would greatly increase the range, power and duration of your bard songs. You could also layer effects over each other, and if you had a good enough connection and good timing, you could have five overlapping bard songs in effect at the same time. For a while, everyone wanted a bard in their group. No, seriously.
What about something like this for bards in 5E, as a class hack? If a bard foregoes a weapon attack, carries a lute instead of a sword and shield or whatever, could there be some big beefy bonus? Maybe spells have expanded range or duration, or spell saves are harder, or more uses of bardic inspiration, or maybe use the "song of rest" effect even in the thick of battle, letting everyone within earshot spend a hit die to recover some hp? Allies can use your musical instrument skill check in place of a save?
Ideas?
