Greetings!
Yes, I hate the AD&D Bard. The class is an utter mess, and it has always appalled me that Gygax and company--with their esteemed knowledge, education, and brilliance--could not compose a Bard class that was more effective, fun, and enjoyable--as well as somewhat more faithful to the historical Celtic Bards and Norse Skalds. From this long-standing frustration on my part--I've been seriously considering creating my own damned Bard--that's elegant and playable from level 1. Of course, such a Bard must be more reflective of it's noble, historical roots, than a weird, much-watered down medieval quasi-rogue and minstrel. I suppose some aspects of a rogue/minstrel are fine--but Bards were more like herald/druid/scholars in the Celtic traditions, and musical/warrior-poets in the Norse and Finnish traditions.
Any good suggestions and ideas on how I should proceed with this project my friends?
Your commentary is much appreciated!
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
I to hate the bard class. From reading your blog the past month or so you have strong historical background. I'd just take what you already know and make a real bard class with the game system you use. Not much help, but when I saw the title I knew I had to scribble my agreement with you. Hate them bards.
ReplyDeleteMy advice: Fix 'em.
ReplyDeleteThe AD&D 1e Bard is basically the first official prestige class. There are other alternatives to use as a starting point. For example: (1) the D&D 3x version, which is essentially the rogue with arcane spell-casting and lore knowledge or (2) Castles & Crusades has the Bard as a fighter variant with lore and inspiration abilities, but no spellcasting.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to go full Celt, why not have four classes? (1) Fighters; (2) Druids; (3) Bards, able to use magic spells; and (4) Rogues. That's just off the top of my head.
The 2nd edition Bard seemed like a pretty good fix to me. Before that came out my group used the variant bard from Dragon #56 (iirc) to good effect.
ReplyDeleteGreetings!
ReplyDeleteHello everyone! Hmmm--Rusty Battleaxe--multiple classes of bards? That's kinda neat! Very interesting.
I hope to post a Bard later on this week.
We'll see how it goes, and what you all think.
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
Personally, I've taken the elements of the bard that are its strength, the elements that allow the bard to buff his comrades, and used them to create a Warlord-like option in my retro-variant. As a class, I think the Bard concept is too restrictive, but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteWith Regards,
Flynn