The General D&D thread

A bit of that might come down to fluff. For instance, the spell Glitterdust could be you shredding on your guitar so hard that the invisible enemies come out of hiding to headbang, only to be blinded by your light show.

...wait, that's incredibly silly. I'm holding on to it.

Now that's what I call Glam Rock.

Sure, Why Not?. Can bards do necromancy? I'd really like to do this song at a higher level:

But maybe this could only work on the Planescape setting?

edited 30th Nov '12 11:55:43 PM by TheHandle

4E. Play a Skald wielding an "axe" that's a guitar.

It's POSSIBLE to make a decently-powered Bard in 3.5.... Just very difficult. I'd say go with 4E.

Okay

In 4E you can cast a spell called "staggering note" which is a sound so powerful it sends the enemy reeling into an ally's attack!

And you can always get some fun with Vicious Mockery. It's an at-will power that makes you insult the opponent THAT badly they suffer psychic damage and get a nasty debuff.

It's always hilarious to kill something by insulting it, if only to see how the DM is going to justify it. "Yo momma is soooo fat, she needs a mythril belt buckle!" "The orc walks slowly towards the corner and weeps silently. He won't bother you guys ever again."

And then there's the awesome "bard of all trades" feat. Can't decide what skills to train? TRAIN ALL THE SKILLS!

edited 1st Dec '12 11:50:19 AM by Kayeka

To a Drow: "You are so darkly handsome. That is, you are only handsome when it is dark."

To an Orc: "Why don't you go into that corner and finish evolving?"

To a Fighter: "Sorry, I can't understand what you're saying... I'm wearing a moron filter."

To a Druid: "Where's your girlfriend? Outside grazing, I presume..."

To a female Druid: "She loves nature in spite of what it did to her."

To an Elf: "Well, at least he has found his true love – what a pity he can’t marry himself."

Doesn't that just result in Master of None?

edited 1st Dec '12 12:11:41 PM by TheHandle

Skill training doesn't work that way in 4E. You're either trained in a skill or not; as such, training in more skills just flat out gets you more bonuses.

But there's a limit to how many skills per level you can do, right?

No. It's not on a per level basis. Everyone rolls 1d20 + 1/2 level (round down) + ability mod + Training bonus (if they have it) + esoteric bonuses.

Training bonus is +5.

Bards can get a bonus to untrained skill checks, however.

At character creation, you can gain training in a certain number of skills, "training" meaning "+5 on all checks with that skill", and that's it. After that, you can only gain training in new skills by using a feat.

The interesting part about bards in 4e is that, in addition to having the second-highest number of trained skills right of the bat (right behind the rogue), they also get a +1 to all untrained skills. The FUN part about bards in 4e is that, with the feat "bard of all trades", they can boost that +1 to +4, which is almost as high as if it were trained.

Of course, you still won't be excellent at everything. You'll still have dumbstats, after all. Instead, you'll be decent/above average at everything, in addition to having a bunch of choice skills at which you are excellent. This gives you all the options you will ever need in every possible situation.

And that is AWESOME!

edited 1st Dec '12 12:46:11 PM by Kayeka

If you're an Int/Cha bard, you can multiclass sorcerer (not to mention, you know, EVERY SINGLE OTHER CLASS IN THE GAME! because Bards are the only class that can theoretically do that) and take the Arcane Insight feat (I think it's called).

Lets you use Arcana checks in place of Insight or Perception-wisdom based skills.

Of course, that's paragon only, so tread lightly.

And once you get into that, you can also take the Resourceful Magician paragon path. Expect to step on the toes of any other Arcane character on your party. Gloriously.

So I can become a Wizzard?

...I am familiar with the reference, but I don't see why you would use it in this context.

Like, could I become a Wizard rather than a Sorcerer, and would I be a legit Wizard or just a wonky "Wizzard"?

Bards multiclassing into wizard will do just fine. Of course, multiclassing in 4e doesn't work like it does in earlier editions, so you won't be much of a wizard, but there is still some really good stuff to be found there.

If you actually want to outdo wizards, you take Resourceful Magician.

edited 1st Dec '12 2:41:24 PM by Kayeka

Grease is better than Expelliarmus anyway.

A Resourceful Magician won't outdo a Mage in Wizardry, though they're definitely close to a basic Wizard.

Man, when I describe 4E to someone not familiar with it, it sounds really complicated!

Me (dm) throwing some vampire dire wolfs at the party.

Party Bard: [using Vicious Mockery ] okay I score a 20 on the last wolf.

Me: okay what do you say?

Party Bard:Umm.. is it a boy wolf?

Me: Yes.

Party Bard: Fine, then I call him a little bitch

Me: Nice, ashamed at his failings at unlife the dire wolf implales himself a upwards pointing stick and explodes into a shower of gore, fur and gender identity disorders

edited 1st Dec '12 4:04:56 PM by joeyjojo

Man, that's not cool man. Not cool. Poor wolfypoo.

Party Bard is in the house tonight...