The current iteration of the Red Book bard has been added to Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book (check the red book class previews zip file). It’s a 1-20 spread, with nearly 60 talents to choose from (up from less than 20). Major changes are the addition of Countersong, removal of Attack Bonuses (a single talent choice gives […]
The usual way of handling the bard’s magic in Dungeons & Dragons is to give it leveled spell slots, like all the other spellcasters. D&D’s pseudo-Vancian system already doesn’t make any sense no matter which way you approach it, but it struck me as especially odd that a bard can just run out of of […]
The sixth issue of Appendix D has been added to Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book (for free of course, just check the product page for another PDF download). It increases the level cap of the monk, ranger, and warlock to 10 (along with some new talents for each), adds the bard class (also with 10 levels), some […]
A long time ago Melissa and I played in a Dungeon World campaign where she gave the bard class a shot for like six or so levels. She hated it so much that we decided to just make our own bard (that a lot of other people also like, so I guess that was more productive than just […]
You might have heard that outside of 4th Edition I’m not much of a bard fan. I generally don’t have much of a complaint when it comes to Dungeon World: I’m not a fan of the alignment or races being limited by class, but it did manage to improve on some stuff, like the wizard (it’s much more Vancian). […]
3rd Edition’s bard was a big bag of poorly designed suck: your attack bonus was too low to make you a competent fighter, your hit points were on par with a rogue (whom you also had fewer skill points than), and your spellcasting was, well, to put it nicely inadequate. Some mistakenly labeled is as a […]
Bards have often ironically been pretty much a joke, especially in 3rd Edition where they are billed as the “ultimate generalist” and best in a “supporting role”. The reality is that with only two cantrips per day, fewer skill points than the rogue (a good chunk of which are probably getting dumped into various Charisma-based […]
You know the drill: more spells, a couple feats, and a trio of magical instruments. A lot of the spells seem to add in various controller effects such as forced movement, or “encouraging” a monster to move in a specific manner. Almost all of them are linked to instruments, which is a shame since after […]
Katho, level 1Goliath, BardBardic Virtue: Virtue of ValorBackground: Geography – Mountains (+2 to Athletics) FINAL ABILITY SCORESStr 13, Con 16, Dex 15, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16. STARTING ABILITY SCORESStr 11, Con 14, Dex 15, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16. AC: 15 Fort: 13 Reflex: 13 Will: 15HP: 28 Surges: 10 Surge Value: […]
A friend asked about making a good multiclassed rogue/bard, or bard/rogue, whichever works. I think that they can both work extremely well since both classes use Charisma in some capacity. Rogues can get a lot of mileage out of it with the Artful Dodger class feature, and bards are entirely dependent on it, so there’s […]
Points of Light 