Bard
The class that can do a little of almost everything, just not so well. A lot of people think they suck.
The primary focus of bards is their party-buffing "Bardic Music" ability, which when combined with a high Charisma score and lots of ranks in Perform, can work wonders for a combat-heavy party. If your party is interested in roleplaying, the performer/scoundrel aspect of the bardic class offers lots of opportunities for acting in character. As noted above, bards combine some of the elements of almost every class, but the price they pay for versatility is ineffectiveness. Bards will never outshine any core class in their specific role (unless you use splat-books, like most people do now), but make suitable fill-ins for almost any class. Notable exceptions include the barbarian, fighter, and ranger; the bard cannot hope to match the combat abilities of these more martial classes (Am I the only one that's heard of Snowflake Wardance?).
(Get with the program people. 90% of 3.5 clases are better fighters than the fighter. Including the bard.)
- Combine with the Gnome race for maximum efficiency!!(at driving everyone insane)
