Bard

This page is in need of cleanup. Srsly. It's a fucking mess.

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The basic bard image, from Players Handbook 3.5.

An orc is okay too!

The Bard is a Dungeons & Dragons class widely regarded as one of the weirdest inclusions in the game (alongside the Monk). This is because the basic idea of the Bard is that it's a character who marches into battle with the rest of the party, singing and/or playing musical instruments whilst everyone else does all of the work. It's a rather odd concept, to say the least.

The existence of the bard class arguably stems in one part from D&D's roots as a wargame - it's a conversion of the "unit musician" troop model, which traditionally grants various boosts to its attached unit - and in another part in the bard's existence as a magical hero-figure in several European countries, where characters being able to perform music are capable of literally magical feats, stemming from the Finnish hero-god Vainamoinen or many Welsh mythological tales.

At its core, the Bard is a support class, focused on buffing players through their Bardic Music ability and rounding out their options as a Skill Monkey class. Unfortunately, it has a reputation for trying to do too many things and ultimately ending up not being able to do anything very well at all. As our frenemies on TVTropes would say, Bards attempt to be a Jack Of All Trades, but ends up being a Master Of None.

This has varied a lot over editions, but Bards are generally regarded as an underwhelming class that mostly chosen by people who want to be "wacky" and thus make themselves a nuisance.

The bard traditionally relies on Charisma as its most important ability score.

AD&D

In Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the Bard started out as a right mess of a class. You started the game as a Fighter] and then, at any point between levels 5 and 8, you had to dual-class over to the Thief. Then, after reaching a minimum of 5th level as a Thief, and before they reached level 9, they had to dual-class again, this time to Druid - except this time, they didn't gain Druid abilities but gained Bard abilities, which was a kind of subclass of Druid.

Needless to say, this was ridiculously complicated and was quickly changed; 2nd edition introduced the now-iconic definition of the Bard. This version of the Bard was considered a Rogue-school class (what later editions call the Rogue was, at the time, called the Thief), and gained most of the same abilities as a Thief, like picking pockets and finding/removing traps. What made it unique was its party-buffing Bardic Music ability, its slightly better combat skills, its inferior thieving skills, and its ability to cast a number of Mage spells.

3e

The idea of the Bard being the weakling class mostly started in 3rd edition. Here, it become more seperate from the newly renamed Rogue, and it gained its own distinctive spell-list, which included some spells on both the Wizard and Cleric lists - Bards were the only non-Cleric classes in the corebook to have access to Cure Wounds spells. But, individually, the class was pretty weak if taken entirely straight from the corebook; as 3e progressed, bards became more powerful because they could be customized better with feats and Prestige Classes.

On the other hand, a lot of their abilities were just busted. Bardic Knowledge basically meant they never had to worry about failing any kind of knowledge check by even mid-levels, and with even modest optimization their Jack of All Trades skill could let them effectively replace almost any actual skill-person in the party.

Plus, even a half-caster is still a caster, and this was a caster's world.

4e

Bards were one of several classes, alongside the Barbarian, the Druid and the Sorcerer, that did not appear in the 1st Player's Handbook for 4th edition, which WoTC explained was because they needed more time to tinker with them and make them work. Grognards raged at the delay... but when it came out, it was proven well worth the wait.

Released in the Player's Handbook 2, the 4e Bard is an Arcane Leader, a combination of Source and Role that it shares with the Artificer from 4e Eberron. Its unique class features are Bardic Training (free Ritual Caster feat & ritual book, can cast a Bard ritual 1/day per tier without any components) and Skill Versatility (+1 to untrained skill checks), but also has a number of shout-out features.

Firstly, the bard's traditional ability as both a healer and the party's face is reflected in its two innate class powers; Majestic Word (2/encounter healing burst) and Words of Friendship (+5 to a Diplomacy check 1/encounter).

Secondly, the bard's long association with multiclassing is reflected in its Multiclass Versatility feature; it's the only class in 4th edition that can take multiple multiclass feats.

Finally, Bardic Music is covered not just by the bard's attack & utility powers, which are various magical notes & melodies that have buffing or debuffing effects. but also by its Song of Rest feature; during short rests, bards can play music or sing in order to grant their audience the ability to spend healing surges, gaining bonus HP equal to the bard's Charisma modifier.

A Bard's subclass-feature is its Bardic Virtue, which basically reflects the kind of qualities who the bard prizes in their stories/poems/songs and which they consider the most important virtue to try and emulate themselves. The PHB2 features the Virtues of Cunning and Valor, with Arcane Power adding the Virtue of Prescience.

Essentials added a variant Bard in the form of the Skald, an Arcane/Martial hybrid bard that is more "fightery" and less "castery".

5e

In 5th edition, Bards have a few mechanical changes. The horribly broken Bardic Knowledge has been removed (because bards were essentially omniscient at even mid-level). They can get up to 9th level spells now, they get 3 instruments, and they are capable of dealing more damage (in the form of better offensive spells and more weapon profs), but the most notable change is how their Bardic Inspiration works. Instead of providing a constant bonus, they bestow a floating D6 upon whomever they inspire. The inspired can roll that D6 and add it to any roll (attack, damage, saving throw) during combat. As they level up, this expands to higher dice sizes, and eventually the bard can even anti-inspire his enemies, forcing them to take a penalty on any roll of his choosing. Also hilarious is the Bard-only cantrip Vicious Mockery, where the bard literally insults someone so hard they take psychic damage from it. The bard has two choices at 3rd level: the battle bard, which gives him medium armor, more weapons, and makes him able to inspire while stabbing, or the Knowledge bard, who gets more skills than the Rogue and also borrows spells from other classes.

For a long time the most unloved class in 5e - even the Monk got some new swag in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide - but the first Unearthed Arcana of 2016 finally gave it some more stuff. Kits of Old, as its name suggests, converts a pair of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons kits into class options; the Jester (who's better at thieving and trolling NPCs) and the Blade (who's better at killing shit and dabbles in the Swashbuckler role).

Then they got the second of the November 2016 UAs dedicateds to them, gain two more new Colleges; Glamour and Whispers.

Glamour Bards are, basically, faerie-taught mentalists, with features based on super-charging their ability to use enchantments. Mantle of Inspiration lets you spend a Bardic Inspiration slot to give allies within 60 feet temporary hit points and a free move to rally towards you. Enthralling Performance basically lets you cast a Charm Person spell on everyone within 60 feet watching you perform after you spend at least 10 minutes doing a performance; furthermore, unlike the normal Charm Person spell, creatures who resist this effect aren't made aware that you tried to monkey with their minds, though you can only do this once per short rest. Mantle of Majesty lets you envelop yourself in a cloak of glamour for a minute, during which time you can throw out a free Command spell (which auto-hits on your charmed victims) each round as a bonus action. Finally, Unbreakable Majesty lets you cast a Sanctuary spell on yourself once per short rest that also gives you Advantage on Charisma checks and forces Disadvantage against your spells on any creatures that succumb to the sanctuary's effects.

Whisper Bards, meanwhile, are more creepy assassin-bards with some fairly spectacular illusion & enchantment tricks. Using Bardic Inspiration to conjure poison on your weapon for bonus damage via Venomous Blades not enough? How about Venomous Whispers, which lets you terrify someone AND send them scrambling to find their safest, most secret place just by spending 10 minutes talking to them? Or Mantle of Whispers, where you can capture the shadow of a creature of your size & type that dies within 5 feet and wear it, gaining free access to its appearance and its surface memories for an hour? And then there's Shadow Lore, where you can basically cast an 8-hour-long Charm Person spell on somebody once per long rest. Obvious inspiration from the Dark Sun incarnation of the class.

Deekin the Kobold is a famous bard from the Forgotten Realms, showing up in NWN and spawning far too much rule 34. He is also Daaawwww

The Classes of Pathfinder 1st Edition
Core Classes:	Barbarian - Bard - Cleric - Druid - Fighter - Monk Paladin - Ranger - Rogue - Sorcerer - Wizard
Advanced Player's Guide:	Alchemist - Antipaladin - Cavalier Inquisitor - Oracle - Summoner - Witch
Advanced Class Guide:	Arcanist - Bloodrager - Brawler - Hunter - Investigator Shaman - Skald - Slayer - Swashbuckler - Warpriest
Occult Adventures:	Kineticist - Medium - Mesmerist Occultist - Psychic - Spiritualist
Ultimate X:	Gunslinger - Magus - Ninja - Samurai - Shifter - Vigilante

Gallery

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