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##Yes and no. Bards are designed to be flexible; they're a jack-of-all-trades, with an emphasis in being The Face. They have magic - but they're weaker than wizards and clerics. They can have rogue skills - but they're weaker than thieves, because they have multiple important stats and can't just max out dexterity. They can fight - but not as well as fighters or even rogues. And as the bard levels up, those party-wide bonuses start to pale in comparison to having the bard do something other than sing in combat. You can focus in one aspect or another, and get a bard who is great at, say, magic, but they still won't be as powerful in that aspect as, say, a wizard who focuses on magic. But the fact that bards can take almost any role is their prime strength.

If your party lacks a role, then bards can do it - just not quite as well as a character dedicated to filling that role. The trouble with bards in D&D is that the system rewards specialization more than generalization, and bards are generalists. If they're on their own, then they're less likely to be stuck because they can't do something, though they may have problems doing it well.

##Bards are The Face Between bardic knowledge, high social-interaction skills, bardic music, and their sheer reputation, bards are good at persuading people to go their way. People want to be remembered well in bardic songs, and don't want to be vilified by a bard's next original song. Bardic knowledge lets you know what tack to take with people: is the duke insecure about his title? Are those ruins just ruins, or do they have a long history? Bardic knowledge can also short-cut some puzzles or clues, though it won't hand you the quest objective.

Of course, this makes a bard's powers dependent on the GM: if they ignore the (somewhat broken) Diplomacy rules, and don't include any situations where talking will help, and run roughshod over the players' attempts to get information out of an enemy, then all of those bardic powers won't do much; bards won't be very effective in a pure dungeon crawl.

But if your GM likes to include intrigue, skulduggery, persuasion, and talking in the campaign, then a bard far outshines what its mechanical numbers say on the character sheet. A few well-turned phrases at the right moment can end a war or topple a kingdom, and bards are the kings of well-turned phrases.

Yes and no.

Bards are designed to be flexible; they're a jack-of-all-trades, with an emphasis in being The Face. They have magic - but they're weaker than wizards and clerics. They can have rogue skills - but they're weaker than thieves, because they have multiple important stats and can't just max out dexterity. They can fight - but not as well as fighters or even rogues. And as the bard levels up, those party-wide bonuses start to pale in comparison to having the bard do something other than sing in combat. You can focus in one aspect or another, and get a bard who is great at, say, magic, but they still won't be as powerful in that aspect as, say, a wizard who focuses on magic. But the fact that bards can take almost any role is their prime strength.

If your party lacks a role, then bards can do it - just not quite as well as a character dedicated to filling that role. The trouble with bards in D&D is that the system rewards specialization more than generalization, and bards are generalists. If they're on their own, then they're less likely to be stuck because they can't do something, though they may have problems doing it well.

Bards are The Face

Between bardic knowledge, high social-interaction skills, bardic music, and their sheer reputation, bards are good at persuading people to go their way. People want to be remembered well in bardic songs, and don't want to be vilified by a bard's next original song. Bardic knowledge lets you know what tack to take with people: is the duke insecure about his title? Are those ruins just ruins, or do they have a long history? Bardic knowledge can also short-cut some puzzles or clues, though it won't hand you the quest objective.

Of course, this makes a bard's powers dependent on the GM: if they ignore the (somewhat broken) Diplomacy rules, and don't include any situations where talking will help, and run roughshod over the players' attempts to get information out of an enemy, then all of those bardic powers won't do much; bards won't be very effective in a pure dungeon crawl.

But if your GM likes to include intrigue, skulduggery, persuasion, and talking in the campaign, then a bard far outshines what its mechanical numbers say on the character sheet. A few well-turned phrases at the right moment can end a war or topple a kingdom, and bards are the kings of well-turned phrases.

##Yes and no. Bards are designed to be flexible; they're a jack-of-all-trades, with an emphasis in being The Face. They have magic - but they're weaker than wizards and clerics. They can have rogue skills - but they're weaker than thieves, because they have multiple important stats and can't just max out dexterity. They can fight - but not as well as fighters or even rogues. And as the bard levels up, those party-wide bonuses start to pale in comparison to having the bard do something other than sing in combat. You can focus in one aspect or another, and get a bard who is great at, say, magic, but they still won't be as powerful in that aspect as, say, a wizard who focuses on magic. But the fact that bards can take almost any role is their prime strength.

If your party lacks a role, then bards can do it - just not quite as well as a character dedicated to filling that role. The trouble with bards in D&D is that the system rewards specialization more than generalization, and bards are generalists. If they're on their own, then they're less likely to be stuck because they can't do something, though they may have problems doing it well.

##Bards are The Face Between bardic knowledge, high social-interaction skills, bardic music, and their sheer reputation, bards are good at persuading people to go their way. People want to be remembered well in bardic songs, and don't want to be vilified by a bard's next original song.

Of course, this makes a bard's powers dependent on the GM: if they ignore the (somewhat broken) Diplomacy rules, and don't include any situations where talking will help, and run roughshod over the players' attempts to get information out of an enemy, then all of those bardic powers won't do much; bards won't be very effective in a pure dungeon crawl.

But if your GM likes to include intrigue, skulduggery, persuasion, and talking in the campaign, then a bard far outshines what its mechanical numbers say on the character sheet. A few well-turned phrases at the right moment can end a war or topple a kingdom, and bards are the kings of well-turned phrases.

##Yes and no. Bards are designed to be flexible; they're a jack-of-all-trades, with an emphasis in being The Face. They have magic - but they're weaker than wizards and clerics. They can have rogue skills - but they're weaker than thieves, because they have multiple important stats and can't just max out dexterity. They can fight - but not as well as fighters or even rogues. And as the bard levels up, those party-wide bonuses start to pale in comparison to having the bard do something other than sing in combat. You can focus in one aspect or another, and get a bard who is great at, say, magic, but they still won't be as powerful in that aspect as, say, a wizard who focuses on magic. But the fact that bards can take almost any role is their prime strength.

If your party lacks a role, then bards can do it - just not quite as well as a character dedicated to filling that role. The trouble with bards in D&D is that the system rewards specialization more than generalization, and bards are generalists. If they're on their own, then they're less likely to be stuck because they can't do something, though they may have problems doing it well.

##Bards are The Face Between bardic knowledge, high social-interaction skills, bardic music, and their sheer reputation, bards are good at persuading people to go their way. People want to be remembered well in bardic songs, and don't want to be vilified by a bard's next original song. Bardic knowledge lets you know what tack to take with people: is the duke insecure about his title? Are those ruins just ruins, or do they have a long history? Bardic knowledge can also short-cut some puzzles or clues, though it won't hand you the quest objective.

Of course, this makes a bard's powers dependent on the GM: if they ignore the (somewhat broken) Diplomacy rules, and don't include any situations where talking will help, and run roughshod over the players' attempts to get information out of an enemy, then all of those bardic powers won't do much; bards won't be very effective in a pure dungeon crawl.

But if your GM likes to include intrigue, skulduggery, persuasion, and talking in the campaign, then a bard far outshines what its mechanical numbers say on the character sheet. A few well-turned phrases at the right moment can end a war or topple a kingdom, and bards are the kings of well-turned phrases.

##Yes and no. Bards are designed to be flexible; they're a jack-of-all-trades, with an emphasis in being The Face. They have magic - but they're weaker than wizards and clerics. They can have rogue skills - but they're weaker than thieves, because they have multiple important stats and can't just max out dexterity. They can fight - but not as well as fighters or even rogues. And as the bard levels up, those party-wide bonuses start to pale in comparison to having the bard do something other than sing in combat.

If your party lacks a role, then bards can do it - just not quite as well as a character dedicated to filling that role. The trouble with bards in D&D is that the system rewards specialization more than generalization, and bards are generalists. If they're on their own, then they're less likely to be stuck because they can't do something, though they may have problems doing it well.

##Bards are The Face Between bardic knowledge, high social-interaction skills, bardic music, and their sheer reputation, bards are good at persuading people to go their way. People want to be remembered well in bardic songs, and don't want to be vilified by a bard's next original song.

Of course, this makes a bard's powers dependent on the GM: if they ignore the (somewhat broken) Diplomacy rules, and don't include any situations where talking will help, and run roughshod over the players' attempts to get information out of an enemy, then all of those bardic powers won't do much; bards won't be very effective in a pure dungeon crawl.

But if your GM likes to include intrigue, skulduggery, persuasion, and talking in the campaign, then a bard far outshines what its mechanical numbers say on the character sheet. A few well-turned phrases at the right moment can end a war or topple a kingdom, and bards are the kings of well-turned phrases.

##Yes and no. Bards are designed to be flexible; they're a jack-of-all-trades, with an emphasis in being The Face. They have magic - but they're weaker than wizards and clerics. They can have rogue skills - but they're weaker than thieves, because they have multiple important stats and can't just max out dexterity. They can fight - but not as well as fighters or even rogues. And as the bard levels up, those party-wide bonuses start to pale in comparison to having the bard do something other than sing in combat. You can focus in one aspect or another, and get a bard who is great at, say, magic, but they still won't be as powerful in that aspect as, say, a wizard who focuses on magic. But the fact that bards can take almost any role is their prime strength.

If your party lacks a role, then bards can do it - just not quite as well as a character dedicated to filling that role. The trouble with bards in D&D is that the system rewards specialization more than generalization, and bards are generalists. If they're on their own, then they're less likely to be stuck because they can't do something, though they may have problems doing it well.

##Bards are The Face Between bardic knowledge, high social-interaction skills, bardic music, and their sheer reputation, bards are good at persuading people to go their way. People want to be remembered well in bardic songs, and don't want to be vilified by a bard's next original song.

Of course, this makes a bard's powers dependent on the GM: if they ignore the (somewhat broken) Diplomacy rules, and don't include any situations where talking will help, and run roughshod over the players' attempts to get information out of an enemy, then all of those bardic powers won't do much; bards won't be very effective in a pure dungeon crawl.

But if your GM likes to include intrigue, skulduggery, persuasion, and talking in the campaign, then a bard far outshines what its mechanical numbers say on the character sheet. A few well-turned phrases at the right moment can end a war or topple a kingdom, and bards are the kings of well-turned phrases.