Bards: Classes in 5e Dungeons & Dragons - Web DM

[@WebDM]

Thanks for watching! Want more Web DM in your life? Get our podcast here: www.patreon.com/webdm

[@IamMcBobb]

Playing a bard vs Doppelgangers was the most heart-breaking thing I've ever done. I used vicious mockery against one of them and my insult was "No matter what you turn into, you'll always be ugly" it then transformed into me. Man that was crushing.

[@JPruinc]

Get the cleric to apply some ointment to that sick burn...

[@vamtheanomaly]

Man you forgot to keep it going! "No matter what you turn into, you'll always be ugly heh heh!" it then transformed into me, and then I said, "OoOoOoo I Didnt expect that ( in a sarcastic condescending tone ) **throw a small barrel of alcohol at the doppleganger that looks like you** "Here! Ya better drink till Im pretty then!" The Doppleganger would probably do that in an attempt to do everything you can do and not being used to heavy drinking would pass out.

[@Troglodytarum]

Vam The Anomaly Yeah no you ruined it :(

[@bacchus8081]

Vam The Anomaly No matter the D&D group, there is always that one RPer who just doesn't know when to stop...

[@UltimaHeartless]

Pretty sure that deals 3d8 emotional damage.

[@Grimbanks]

The only class capable of killing/disabling enemies with insults alone. Best. Class. Ever.

[@cormacfleming9058]

When you finish off that Dracolich with Vicious Mockery...

[@JPruinc]

Not a bard, but.... My diviner in 'RoT' got Vicious Mockery with Magic Initiate, and it was his only attack spell. He was a pacifist. He used it twice. Two enemies. Two kills. He retired shortly thereafter due to a crisis of conscience.

[@Grimbanks]

That is glorious.

[@FarothFuin]

"i just start to argue with that orc on the bar and now he's dead... is the weirdest shit that have been happened to me..."

[@ProfFlatTop]

I JUST made a pirate captain. She is a Halfing Bard, named Bree the Petty. She literally roasts her opponents for damage. Vicious Mockery, and Dissonant Whispers. My DM then allows me to release hot insults at the monster.

[@AJ-kj1go]

Love Left Nerd and Right Nerd, but props to Nerd behind the Camera too. Nice work.

[@JPruinc]

Trav is reason you all get to enjoy us week in and week out. It cannot be overstated how much he contributes to the show. Everything about this show that isn't Jim and I...is Trav. Look forward to having in front of the camera again. He's a nerdy hoot. edit: Right nerd here. Hi!

[@Nerdarchy]

5E the best rendition of the bard. This is the 1st edition of D&D that I actually wanna play the class. Nerdarchist Dave

[@blakebailey22]

I think 5e has really succeeded in making everything accessible while also being open enough to accommodate players with high skill levels

[@Nerdarchy]

Blake Bailey Couldn't agree more. I consider 5th an amalgamation of most of the best stuff of each edition of the game. Nerdarchist Dave

[@Moleje1337]

Nerdarchy oh my gosh so true, when I do go Bard it's going to be glorious I'll write songs about our adventures and sing of the plight of our enemies.

[@thanossendak6489]

HEY..... Stay Nerdy

[@Recardoguy007]

Nerdarchy I have an idea for the game that I run when they get to Sigil to meet a tiefling bard who is a total metal head lol

[@m82m107barrett]

Bard with a dip into warlock with a Great Old One patron allows you to cast Vicious Mockery telepathically

[@pyroparagon8945]

Barrett Cortellesi see the shout in Skyrim "throw voice"

[@kyubii972]

Barrett Cortellesi ouch that's mean.

[@theonlymatthew.l]

Or u could just be a Klashtar and have double the range on your telepathy then you would get from the Warlock dip.

[@korrinekamb3806]

I play a Life Cleric Dwarf named Danielle Dawnforge and her patron diety is Ileria the Goddess of Joy. So she literally heals with laughter by telling jokes or making her teammates laugh. I keep a joke book that I write down jokes in for her. I plan to multiclass her for bard.

[@Andrewc87563]

+Korrine Walker. Not a Cleric but a Clown!

[@JPruinc]

You can get access to some interesting healing spells with Lore Bard.

[@korrinekamb3806]

JPruInc That was my intention, definitely go Lore. Bonus it plays well into my character. My main focus is the RP and story.

[@JPruinc]

Korrine Walker I'm loving my Life Cleric in our 'Curse of Strahd' game. Loving RPing a life cleric in Barovia.

[@korrinekamb3806]

JPruInc That would be a blast! Definitely a light in the darkness lol. I love my Cleric, even though playing her feels like trying to herd cats with all the squishy part members.

[@TheCyberwoman]

I played my first game of werewolf the apocalypse recently, and basically made my character a bard. My brother kept telling me that there was no such thing as a support character in werewolf, "if you're not playing a furry chainsaw, you're playing it wrong". But I still tried it, put almost everything in things like expression, intimidation, and performance. Played a flute in combat. Surprised the hell out if my DM when I started haggling with shop keepers, apparently no one tried that before... And kept trying to use performance to basically give bardic inspiration. They kept saying "this isn't d&d, there's no such thing as bardic inspiration!!!" One day, I'm trying to figure out how to help in a situation where I supposedly couldn't. I'm looking over my sheet, and suddenly have an aha moment. I slam my hand on the table and shout "I DO have bardic inspiration!!!" And tell my DM I want to use call of the wyld to inspire my pack to solve the puzzle they were in. It's actually super vague how call if the wyld works in the manual, and basically leaves a lot up to DM. He reads the description and just goes "huh...I guess there's no reason you couldn't use it for that". It worked. After the howl, they were able to make their investigation roll, and get out if the trap. This was actually the last game cause beat the quest that day, and moved on to another game for a while. Needless to say I didn't ever win a lot of glory, but I earned a lot of wisdom by getting us out of jams and saved us a lot of money. AND got to run into my brothers face that you CAN play and effective support character in werewolf.

[@cmklusman]

Starts out talking about bards, ends on Klingon love making...god I love this channel :)

[@keejinjohanson]

Bards are badass. Scanlan Shorthalt.

[@Double___]

Scanlan Shorthalt is best Shorthalt

[@sportsnut1473]

keejinjohanson Sam riegel plays the best bard I've ever seen. *spoilers* Happy that scanlan is back!

[@finnianquail8881]

Sportsnut14 Ye He does

[@hail2tfreeman]

Vecna fight MVP

[@VechsDavion]

The bard has the cheat codes to this game, big league. Valor bard, polearm master. Getting to make three attacks while under Greater Invisibility before the Figher gets to swing three times. :) Party member low on HP? Polymorph them into a Giant Ape, Mammoth, or T-rex. Bonus action healing word to pick up a 0 hp friend, and keep swinging. Teleportation Circle True Polymorph (turn into an Ancient Bronze Dragon permanently at level 20 and you can then freely shapeshift back and forth) Cherry pick some of the best spells in the game: Swift Quiver, Conjure Fey (summon Korred, who summons a Galeb Duhr who makes two copies of itself) Resurrection, Wish, Gate. Valor bard can melee like a boss and still cherry picks the best magic in the game, I love this class.

[@crazylegs5063]

Oh, hey Vechs. Fancy meeting you here, I'm a huge fan.

[@thatoneloser9623]

I dont see true polymorph working like that

[@cesarfortson8245]

You can use natural abilities that the average of that creature can use, which means that you can use its shapeshifting ability at will. I THINK that is how it works

[@gnarlestongnu637]

DnD: "Hey guys, check out this social class! Tailor made for social encounters, as good at talking as a fighter is at fighting!" So now the bard "finally doesn't suck" because it's good at everything else too.

[@joshuahollowell9170]

@@gnarlestongnu637 eh, bards are IMO actually really weak. their spells list is really weak, they dont really have too many spell slots or spells, and they are waay too often played as a half caster. and dont get me started with bardic inspiration - 1d8 once? id rather have bless thanks. song of rest as well, and valour is objectively inferior to both the melee wizard (bladesinger) and melee warlock (hexblade), and even melee sorcerer. I mean if you want a good flexible caster, play Druid

[@MHTriBlazii]

STR and CHA bard? Can I please be Gaston? :P

[@MHTriBlazii]

Dump stats INT and WIS

[@IAmTheStig32]

How can you read this? There's no pictures!

[@500a6500]

You use antlers in all of your decorating?

[@josephmort4039]

As a specimen yes you're intimidating!

[@miles6283]

I have a cat named Gaston. Unrelated to B&TB

[@Azetchki]

For a social bard model, I would actually take inspiration from Lando Calrissan.

[@JPruinc]

Hello....What have we here?

[@craigbainton4173]

Maybe like a Swashbuckler Rogue, Lore bard? That's literally the second best idea I've seen since Moon Druid iron man

[@MCKerrnel]

Your outro segments are the BEST!! LOL

[@JPruinc]

We're having fun with them.

[@TheMimiSard]

On the idea of a non-musical bard, I once had a character idea for Baldur's Gate (the computer game) of a jester bard whose bardic skill was more in sound imitation. The idea is that she was spectacular at imitating animal sounds in particular, which was part of a story idea that she was a twin and her brother was a ranger who was also good at animal sound imitation. They would use animal sounds as a kind of twinspeak between them.

[@kylefindlan4450]

Mimi Sardinia Or how about an emo beat poet who just makes terrible poems that don't rhyme but make enemies lose the will to live?

[@TheMimiSard]

Lol yeah, that sounds great. :)

[@quagz47]

This is my favorite channel on KZbin currently. It's just awesome.

[@EnbyNomad]

Ah finally, my home turf! I'm glad you guys got to bards, and I love this series, keep it up!

[@MagnusGuard]

Yamitori Sōkei same here bard is by far most fun class I've played

[@EnbyNomad]

Aren't Bards just so versatile?

[@MagnusGuard]

Yamitori Sōkei yes my favorite is vicious mockery kills

[@Sentinel_Soul]

I've had this idea kicking around in my head for a while for a valor bard that has a campaign long quest where he will search for the greatest artisans in the land and doing quests for them to put them in his debt so he can conscript them to make an armor/weapon set instrument combo where multiple pieces of the set function as different instruments. I just envision him moving rhythmically down the battlefield making music as he casts spells and melee attacking on the front lines, the only thing is I'm fairly new to dnd so I'm not to sure how I'd go about building it but the idea sounds like a really cool fun character concept.

[@williamozier918]

You all definitely opened my mind on how to envision Bards. I now see Merry and Pippin as Bards. I also think a great model for a Bard are Disney Princess'.

[@sadsackkvisling9694]

Cossack bard: mounted combat plus the valor bard abilities... Badass!

[@Ryan_Winter]

7:46 Lore Bards get 8 Spells through Bardic Secrets. 6 of them count against the Spells Known, the two additional ones they can pick at 6th level do not count against Spells Known.

[@BigMac8000]

You absolutely must watch the after-credits scene on this one, DO NOT MISS IT. I would watch a show based entirely around the socio-political issues holodecks represent.

[@ProfessorButts]

Bards are my hands down favourite class. You can really build them into anything that you can dream up, you may need to dip here and there to get a few things to finish it off, but they quite literally are the Jack of all trades. A dip in to Rogue gets you insane ability checks with the extra Expertise which has seen my Bard achieve double proficiency in Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Persuasion, Deception, Investigation and Intimidation... He can handle just about any social situation with a natural +12 before dice... Then if the enemy rolls high? I'll just cutting words that. I play my Bard as a mentalist. His magic is more seeing the Astral fabric of the universe and tweaking it ever so slightly to change the physical composition of the world around him. Going into his little trance like state he can see the code and messes with the 1's and 0's to get the desired outcome. All of his spells are all built around mental manipulation with you Fear, Dissonant Wispers, Bane, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Suggestion, Detect Thoughts. High CC potential and if you use fear in a way that forces enemies into a corner, that's GG buddy, they run away from you and make saving throws only once they break line of sight with you? Looks like you're running into a wall for a minute while my fighter rips you open, champ. There's just so much interesting potential with the Bard, interesting combat, interesting social mechanics, and the freedom to land where ever you like on that scale. What more could you ask for?

[@birdiechirps746]

I came across this channel recently when trying to find helpful tips on DnD DM-ing, and ever since I've been watching your videos pretty non-stop. The DM tidbits are so insightful, but as a new person to DnD even the strategy/combos and character creation gives me... inspiration!

[@ccswelding1599]

>singing< ...play me a song. you're the harpsichord man.."

[@NaushyTCG]

a friend is starting a 5e game and I haven't played since 3.5 and this has made my decision easy! Thanks

[@zanzabarsideways]

You guys have great content, I like all your videos. I just have to ask though, why are you in a dome? (It's a great dome, by the way, love the old school beholder art.)

[@WebDM]

+zanzabarsideways just worked out that way... don't get used to it!

[@IseeDeadLlamas]

zanzabarsideways I always felt they were in a d20 with its triangular faces

[@chaddixon9764]

Web DM Please don't leave the d20, it's kool.

[@patrickthoma5320]

Have I mentioned how much I like watching your vids!!!??? You guys give me so many good ideas for campaign pieces and PCs!! Thanks so much for all your hard work - I'm spreading it around through my friends, and they love it too!!!

[@Summerfast]

just finished my first game of dnd (5e as the DM) thanks web DM for the quality content. Spent months fleshing out an adventure and they spent the whole day in one small side room, but it was fun and interesting none the less.

[@Warlord6000]

Not only do I find these video's very insightful but you guys are entertaining to watch. I accidentally stumbled upon your channel and gave one video a watch. Before I knew it 5 hours had gone by of me watching your content. Great jobs guys, keep up the good work.

[@deltaphant_]

Every time I'm making a new character to play I always come watch one of these on them, as well has your how to RP series on classes. Thanks for all the help!

[@jthompson7175]

I'm currently playing as a con artist bard inspired by 80's Eddy Murphy. :D

[@JPruinc]

Please tell me you do the laugh...

[@jthompson7175]

Of course. :D

[@boringstory2849]

My party has the deadly duo of a bard and a warlock that both cast fireball

[@JPruinc]

What's better than casting fireball? Casting it twice..

[@BurgersforBreakfast127]

i prefer the "insult/comedian/bullshitter/saleman" bard to a whimsical, musical storymancer

[@docnevyn5814]

there's no wrong way to be a bard. Personally I tend to go storytellar (not musician) or Skald.

[@sportsnut1473]

Hatchet House so Scanlan shorthalt?

[@mikegould6590]

I used to play Bards all the time waaaaaay back in 1E/2E. For the first time in 5E, I'm doing it again. Perhaps it's because I see them in s different way now (shout out to Matthew Colville). When I read Lore Bard, I see someone who's "the press" or "the media" of the age. I see a political satirist who keeps the ruling class on their toes. Bards have been typified as musicians, but why not jesters, poets, actors, public speakers, storytellers, and the like. And that's where Blunderpuck the banjo-playing Goblin Bard comes in. Thanks to Volos, I learned that Hobgoblins will take in Goblins who exhibit magical talent (called Booyahgs) and will make them Jesters. That's the role Blunderpuck plays. He's the Jester, the wise-cracking truth finder, the thorn in the side of arrogance. Cutting Words and Vicious Mockery de-buff attacks, Healing Word helps wandering allies, and a whole list of spells sort the battlefield. I even play tunes on my phone for some. Hypnotic Pattern - Comfortably Numb Shatter or Thunderwave (called "turning it up to 11")- Thunderstruck (Steve'n'Seagulls cover) ...you get the idea. I've even used Minor Illusion to create visual symbols or images to convey messages across a battlefield. Arrows, thumbs down, bag guy faces...essentially using "emojis " to talk to others who don't speak my language or when silence is important. Looking forward to Magical Secrets so I can "cock my banjo like a shotgun" and cast Fire Bolt and Fireball (or as Blunderpuck who call them...) "Blunderpuck know no show complete without good pyro" :) Damn I love playing this character.

[@svankensen]

Yeah, third edition was the only one were bards sucked. In first it was a pain in the ass to qualify for it, and to survive until you actually became a bard. In second they were blaster magelings that leveled faster than wizards and when out of spells could don armor and fight. And also got a couple thief skills for free. They laged behind a bit in the really high levels, but most campaigns never came to that. In third they sucked. In 4th, I heard they were good, but never played them. And in 5th... Damn. In fifth they are amazing battlefield control casters that can also get the best spells from other classes. Before magical secrets, tho, your bard will be invaluable to the party, but will be unable to kill anything on its own. Which is all fine, that is why you are a diplomat.

[@Andrewc87563]

Think Pruitt and Jim should do a books to inspire DMs episode so they can truely get The name of the Wind book out of their system. Might be a four hour episode tho.

[@Camtrain1989]

Andrew C a 4 hour per episode saga maybe hahaha

[@Andrewc87563]

+CoachCam_ reasonable suggestion!

[@girostrike]

Been waiting for this one the most with warlock in close second. You guys are the best!

[@charlesknapp2503]

I love my lore bard. It is set up as a healer and social character which is very different for me as a more frontline fighter type. I would love to play a lore or valor again. It is an awesome class.

[@michaelminugh5357]

Damn I just want to have an endless conversation like the ending of the video to put on in the background whenever I'm doing dishes etc. Can't get enough of it.

[@steveunderwood9307]

I love that name for your holiday bard, Yolo Swaggins. You have inspired me to convert my 3.5 joke barbarian to 5e, Laktose the Intollerant.

[@urkburker681]

I really enjoy the content you guys put out. I've watched some other D&D videos on youtube and some are great and some I feel like they don't have the personality you two bring to the show. What I think I enjoy most aside from all the knowledge you've dropped on a DM's perspective was the relationship you two have together. You can tell by both are lifelong friends and it transfers well into the show! Feels natural! If you ever wanna do a guest appearance in my Roll20 game I would be honored! Would be interested to have one of you play the villian or just PC they encounter in my world!

[@AzzoOfficial]

You guys should consider doing a podcast or something. I know life is busy and all that but the clips you've started showing after the "Show" ends reveals the fantastic chemistry you guys have. I think listening to an hour of you guys just chat and banter about things for 45 minutes to an hour or whatever would be a big hit. Thanks as always for the great content.

[@TheMagsterize]

I just created my own plane in the Astral Sea to run my campaign, which is the first time I have ever DM'd. these videos have helped soooo much with pretty much everything! BINGE THE WEB DM!!

[@bisonhappenstance]

Where can I find Yolo Swaggins?

[@rappletek2955]

In your heart Jeremy, Yolo Swaggins lives in us all.

[@bisonhappenstance]

Rapple Tek Oh Yolo, wherever you are Swaggin,' I hope you find a wagon.

[@JPruinc]

Rapple Tek knows. Listen well.

[@bisonhappenstance]

Yeah. I just want to see more of your game play.

[@FirstnameLastname-kn5sw]

The answer is and always will be, 'with yo momma'.

[@JapanTarko]

Goblin bard with sock puppets.

[@mikegould6590]

The Holodeck conversation made me laugh until I choked on my drink. Awesome. The Pruit hand gesture about certain...substances...falling was enough to make me laugh REALLY loud at work. Thanks for that. :)

[@JPruinc]

I'm not going to be happy until I get one of our viewers reprimanded for watching our vids at work. Is that evil?

[@mikegould6590]

JPruInc The answer: yes. To disappoint you, though, I likely will not be reprimanded as these videos run while I'm at a manual screen printing press. It's not like they're interfering with work. Sorry. ;)

[@swadow1497]

that last part reminds me of when my dm allowed me to with my bard trying super hard to be this casanova guy to flirt with this one shopkeep who gave us a discount if i met her in the other room, the next morning he said that i had slept with the protector of waterdeep an ancient dragon and i know have 1 bonus to charisma because a little silvery dragon scaley hue (aka dragon stds).

[@sportsnut1473]

swadow that is hilarious 😂

[@DMachoMickey]

Yolo Swaggins? lolololololol! What's next, a bullywug bard named Dat Boi?

[@HuntedHydraGaming]

Frederick Pagliarulo now it is

[@JPruinc]

o shit waddup!

[@Dr.Speller]

Came here to learn about bards, stayed for Star Trek discussion. So much win.

[@JuanRodriguez-rb6zm]

That Star Trek tag is why I love you guys!

[@erikrick]

I like that 5e let’s me finally make the bard I always wanted. A guy who was a sailor for a few years, and now he just tells sea stories. On a ship there isn’t extra people so it makes sense to have someone who does a bit of everything.

[@pedropages6111]

I’ve recently created a Tiefling Mariachi, who is multi-classing as a bard and warlock. A super joyous and partying kind of fellow, with a very dark hungry desire in him. I made it because there’s not a lot of Latinx inspirations in DND from what I’ve looked in, since it’s so Euro-centred in its lore.

[@EmperorSteele]

As per your Star Trek dystopia concerns, well, it depends on the series, but Captain Picard always talks about how humans have evolved beyond greed, and evolved to WANT to aspire to something. So basically, no one NEEDS to do anything, but they just WANT to. Personally, I find using impossible faster-than-light travel to meet aliens who look JUST LIKE US but with rubber prosthetics on their heads easier to swallow than what I typed above. Meh.

[@TheGreatPumpkin]

"Hey Pruitt". Completely lost it.

[@codysmith481]

Have y'all ever thought of doing a podcast?

[@GamerNxUSN]

I would love this in podcast format so I can stream on my way to work without using a lot of data for youtube.

[@JPruinc]

We have discussed this very thing and working on it.

[@bisonhappenstance]

Yesssss!

[@skylord8625]

I played a bard the other day. Hands down the funnest class I've ever played in D&D. This one will be in my pocket for many more adventures.

[@tayplaysgaymes]

I look forward to these videos so much every week. I know you guys have mentioned time constraints before, but if you started a Patreon and a podcast, I'd be one of the first people to sign up.

[@TheNerdySimulation]

I love Bards! Always have and there has been this part of me that has always wanted to run either a full Bard party/campaign, but I know it would almost never happen, so I turn to the alternative of trying to get my bud to play a Tenacious D inspired Bard duo with me. I know he'd be up for it, but we'd just have to hope one of our other friends would be willing to run a game like that. It doesn't even have to be D&D either, but maybe an Urban Fantasy setting. Speaking of 5E bards, after my barbarian has completed the current story arc, my DM is going to let me switch to Bard and I am super excited! I'm just trying to decide which character concept I should go with, one being influenced by Weird Al Yankovic and the other was an idea I came up with while listening to 2112 by Rush, which involves the character discovering a magic guitar one day whilst out on a small adventure and is visited by some shining spirit in his dreams that night. The entity sees the desire to become a grand musician within him (this follows after he meets with a Bard who has always been his hero, but finds out the guy is essentially garbage) and offers to teach him the ways of Rock N' Roll. I like both equally, but I've just put more thought into the second idea, but I think the new College (Glamour) would be a best fit for him, if the DM allows it. Otherwise I'd probably have him multiclass into Warlock with his pact being with a Archfey. Sorry, that was a lot of words, but I just can't help but gush about bards. Do you have any opinions on the character concepts? If not, since you might be too busy, I understand, but I would love to hear anything you might have to say about it.

[@localatlantis809]

TheNerdySimulation My BF played a bard/paladin based on Eddie Riggs from Brutal Legend. His backstory was basically the story from Tribute! 😂 So weird because I’m literally going to see Tenacious D tonight!! 🤘

[@SuperBurgermister]

The star trek talk after the episode was JUST as good as your bard talk!!

[@TheHareedo]

been waiting for you guys to get to Bard. Hands down my favorite to play. 5e lets you do a huge amount of things well instead of just middling like in earlier editions. Skills galore, able to pluck spells from every list, and if push came to shove you can still handle yourself in non-magical combat. What's not to love? Love your channel. Looking forward to the next shows (particularly Warlock)!

[@Ghorbadul]

What a nice surprise. I swear I searched for a bard episode on your channel just yesterday with no luck.

[@rufflesandfalcor199]

Put that on a t-shirt immediately. "Rough Night?" "Nah, just some Klingon love making. "

[@MartyrPandaGaming]

On the point of full social bard, I have actually just wrote up the background for one. A Teifling Bard Noble, raised by Elves and was educated in politics and other sorts of social studies. I like to play around with interesting characters, in this character's case, an RP sense.

[@brianstephens7572]

I'm impressed with the amount of content you guys have been putting out lately! It seems like most videos are over 20 minutes now. Have you found more, or less, game time to have so much to talk about? Keep it up!

[@LittleNemoGaming]

Literally every time I see a holodeck I think of how cool D&D would be in there.

[@docnoximus]

As some one currently playing a lvl 11 lorebard who is a noble goblin baron from the fire plane . I play him as a duelist and fire elemental summoner. Your opening comments on reflavoring made me happy. Having elemental weapon, defensive duelist, absorb elements, conjure minor elementals, polymorph. Its just tons of fun. Getting in and out with goblin features of disengage, flying in on my planer bound summoned gargoyle to hit with green flame blade and +2fire elemental rapier

[@some_hippies]

I had the chance to play a Valor Bard in Out of The Abyss.It pretty much cemented bard as my favorite class. I played him as a wanna be legend/ throwback to old school heavy metal, and picked a bunch of spells that were sound based. He was a big strong dude who charged headfirst into the fray shouting vocal power chords and swinging a halberd. The bard has a HUGE spell selection to choose from and gets to pick from a bastard list of divine and arcane magic and magical secrets is one of the best abilities to have. The Bard gets the bard access to Swift Quiver before the Ranger even does. You want counterspell, fireball, haste, fly, transport via plants, firestorm, wall of force? Whatever you want its yours. Getting 4 skills to get expertise in is also amazing, and lets you sneak as well as the rogue, grapple just as well as the barbarian, or know more about arcana than even the 65 year old wizard. The sheer versatility of the class allows you to play a huge variety of character concepts that I dont think can hope to be matched by the other core.

[@calvinballaka8905]

Bards are a class I love; nice breakdown of the Bard! Just wondering, do y'all have any thoughts on the UA Bard classes, e.g. Colleges of Glamour, Satire, etc.? I've got a player thinking about leveling into College of Glamour, so I was wondering if you had any tips on what to keep an eye out for as a DM or what my player can do with those features and abilities.

[@eliaspatrikis1926]

I think its interesting that Jim's 3 best designed classes paladin,bard,rogue would result in a really interesting 3man adventuring party together.

[@JeneralDethray]

5e Bard is the absolute most fun I've had in the game.

[@precariousplays9469]

On the topic of what it's like living on Earth in The Next Generation, I imagine that a large number of people are like Pichard's brother. That guy just says "no" to replicators, then spends his time running the Pichard family vineyard. It's probably just a ton of people self-regulating the difficulty of their lives, and being super-dedicated to neat hobbies.

[@joebonar]

The great thing about the holodeck is that you don't need a DM, you can program your own games, and given that we, currently, are able to write games that procedurally generate worlds, npcs, quests, etc., you'd just have data read the DnD books (all of them, with dragon magazines and all that), convert them to a single unified edition, then program a game world that reflects all this (a physics engine that accurately models the DnD world, magic has known and discoverable effects and interactions, etc.), and can procedurally generate content, then whoever wrote it can play too. You simply hop into the world, select/create a character, and then start interacting with the world. Wanna just RP? Go to the tavern and RP. Want to quest and adventure? Go find quests and adventure. No DM necessary and actual vibrant and developed NPCs (since the game would generate race, class, background, personality, quirks, inventory, have an AI for combat, etc.) of any race in any environment, etc. Holodeck DnD would basically be the only way to play DnD, and hey, no having to figure out facing rules and all that kind of crap because the computer does it for you :P

[@laurelhill3505]

Bard's Tale. I spent countless hours playing that game. Spectre Snare ftw! And the last 2-3 minutes...that escalated quickly!

[@krashkow]

On reskinning the bard: For my own 5e character, I found the bar worked PERFECTLY for a magic using diplomatic official. If you ever need a character who is an envoy or a consular, look to the bard.

[@jontnorwood]

I played a non-musical Bard that I RPed as an Archaeologist. Essentially his spells and magical effects were tied to different ancient artifacts he found and all of his lore was tied to ancient civilizations. It worked well.

[@marijumanji]

The banter at the end is hilarious guys.

[@GamerNxUSN]

Played a bard in the starter box adventure, loved it, had been my favorite class to play so far.

[@mickmack1409]

you should turn the Star Trek discussion from 20:15 on into a KZbin Shorts.

[@Jaricko]

I had an idea for a character. I have never actually played DnD yet, hoping to at some point with a DM whos a bit more willing to work with me on my idea. My idea is actually playing as a Mimic / Bard. The name i got for him is simply Bon. I figure a mimic wouldn't see much need for more than simply a word to identify themselves in a group and Bon is a very short and simple name that would work for that need. Basically the setup for my character would be just an abnormal mimic. One that just wasn't feeling the whole eating people and pretending to be a chest thing. Ventured out sort of cautiously observing people, not really attacking them and not only learning to speak their language but actually obtaining a decent level of understanding for humanoid culture. With a more posh sort of speak and a chatty nature though only really speaking to people he trusts. Allignment would be neutral, preferring adventure and fun and not really caring about moral decisions, probably favoring whatever decision his friends come up with. For example if a party member decided to burn down an orphanage because all the children were carrying the plague. Bon doesn't hate children but if his friends picked this route he wouldn't hesitate. It would probably spend most of its time as a napsack in towns, not actively engaging with much and it would be built more for support than combat (though vicious mockery might need to be an ability it has because of the flavor behind that option)

[@kyubii972]

Jaricko there is a doppelganger race in the eberron unearthed arcana, they are a shape shifting race, could fit your theme while being a humanoid race that's already been brainstormed by wizards of the coast to some degree.

[@Matt-md5yt]

the bard is a specialist skill set in Dragonage series of Video games, it goes with the Rouge class. what about a ranger with Bard multiclass

[@Matt-md5yt]

*****​ true, thinking on making my current Skyrim SE character a Bard since I got the Ordinator mod.

[@witchesbruise8792]

2nd edition bards were awesome. One of my favorite RPG books to this day is the Complete Bards Handbook from 2e - so many cool takes on bards!

[@Fluffy-sf4dp]

Great videos guys, been going through em all slowly but surely. Just wondering what yall think of Critical Role. Scanlon the bard played by Sam Riegel really makes the show for me. Keep up the good work guys!

[@JohnTheNecrofreak]

Dat Star Trek rant at the end, fucking priceless!

[@JPruinc]

LOL...that one got a little out of hand.

[@eliaspatrikis1926]

Love Bard in this edition. Personally I like the idea of making your allies more awesome with inspiration or buff spells. The expertise allows you to be an awesome skill monkey and with high charisma as well as charm spells you can talk your way out of a lot of situations. Finally my favourite feature is the magical secrets allowing you to pick up some spells which can be literally anything.

[@bathrobesan]

One thing that I feel like you should have mentioned is the Instruments of the bards. A 5th level bard with an instrument of the bards, Doss lute is my personal fav for that level range, is forcing 30ft cubes of enemies (And friendlies if they aren't careful) to make Wis saves at disadvantage or incap with Hypnotic Pattern. Not to mention the fact that the Instrument grants them at least 5 additional once per day spells that free up spells known for other slots.

[@jackcho634]

This channel got me back into DnD! Thanks guys :)

[@JPruinc]

Sweet! Glad we could bring you back to the fold.

[@sword7166]

Bards are a little bit broken, they're one of the top skill classes, a full caster with one of the most versatile lists, with the valor subclass they're a pretty strong melee, and even on top of all that they still have bardic music

[@dustinkreis]

Never mind the fact that you guys reinforced my lust for playing a bard...the last three minutes of this video is solid fried gold.

[@alexandraelizabeth8522]

My current Bard bills herself as a Musician, Scholar, Linguist, and Diplomat. I'm far from the strongest party member, but I have fun every session. 5e is slowly becoming my favorite edition!

[@stevethedragonborn]

My cleric/bard character is one of the favorite characters I've made. His gimmick was that his bardic magic was from preaching instead of playing music, using his holy symbol in place of his instrument.

[@DougVehovec]

Bards have been my favorite class since 2nd Ed. and 5E is their best iteration yet! i've always liked that you can play a bard with no interest in doing any fighting themselves but still contribute a ton. All that extra damage everyone did - that was the bard. in 5E they're so magical too, i love it. but i do miss their fascinate, although with all that magic you can achieve similar effects

[@benjaminodonnell258]

The after-credits scene is hilarious!

[@timothye.2902]

my favorite way to approach creating my favorite class (lore bard) is this: charismatic wizard. Bards are friendly, part-time wizards. I tend to make my bards historians rather than performers. They adventure to uncover lost pieces of lore and to, of course, write down the heroic deeds of the party. They might also act as some sort of law-keeper or propaganda minister for the local government. More often than not though I make my bards seekers of truth, so they wouldn't be willing to spin lies for the king. They'd be the first one to call the king out for his failings.

[@Eric_The_Cleric]

The bard we have in my ECL (effective character level) party is literally our cleric. We don't have a cleric, we have a bard. Since level 5 he has been able to both boost us and heal us while fighting. By far one of the most amazing characters we have throughout all of our games.

[@scabbynack]

"The Fluff and the Crunch" sounds like a restaurant that only makes fluffernutters with crunchy peanut butter.

[@scabbynack]

Also... Buddy of mine is playing a lore bard and is talking about a dip into sorcerer and using magical secrets so that he can twin haste on a couple martial players. It seems like a /pretty/ hard to beat combo.

[@JPruinc]

When are you opening this million dollar idea of a restaurant?

[@scabbynack]

We'll have D&D night! (It's every night)

[@ShadowmarkReturns]

I loved playing as a Jester in BG, just doing my song and making everyone running around confused.

[@TheGreatBlueBeastie]

Fuck yeah! i was so pumped for these guys to talk about Bards. I just started playing my Bard when I found this channel, but there was no Bard Video, BUT! now there is! aw Yeah!

[@gilan2729]

12:55 described my bard exactly, down to backstory and description... thats both scary and awesome

[@caligulaincarnate]

That intro threw me off, because my last name is pruitt and my friends call me that

[@METALGEARMATRIX]

I would have also accepted "Singing the Bard's Song" just because I love Blind Guardian

[@TheSodaShop]

I had never played D&D before until this year and my friend finally convinced me to play. I picked Bard because it seemed like how i would be in this setting. Needless to say it was the best decision ever. Bards are great and I had a blast with my first campaign