Questions tagged [bard]
For questions about the bard, a charismatic class involving limited spontaneous casting, the use of songs to buff allies and average chance to hit with weapons. The bard class appears in D&D, Pathfinder and many other tabletop RPGs.
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Is there any explanation or discussion regarding the change in the Bard class from its AD&D1ed orignal implementation?
If I recall correctly, the Bard in AD&D1ed was a true dual (triple) class character who had to progress as a pure fighter, then a pure thief, and then finally could begin to progress as a bard. In ...
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Do bards have to make sounds to cast spells?
Bard spellcasting is described as
In the worlds of D&D, words and music are not just vibrations of air, but vocalizations with power all their own. The bard is a master of song, speech, and the ...
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Can an Animated Piece of Clothing Be Worn Without Cancelling the Animation?
Relevant quotes:
Animating Performance.
By 6th level, as an action, you can animate one Large or smaller nonmagical item within 30 feet of you that isn’t being worn or carried.
By this quote from ...
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Does Casting Enlarge/Reduce on a College-of-Creation-Bard's Dancing Item Cause that Item to be Inanimate?
Relevant quotes:
Enlarge. The target’s size doubles in all dimensions, and its weight is multiplied by eight. This growth increases its size by one category – from Medium to Large, for example. ...
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Did the stereotypical horniness of bards come up some time after development, or were they part of the original fantasy/intended design?
One argument I found in the internet was paladins being lawful good and bard being the only other charisma focused class at the time.
This could mean and emergent property based on the situation.
The ...
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Can a bard with ritual caster share spells in his book with a wizard? Could a tome warlock share their Book of Ancient Secrets rituals? [duplicate]
We currently have a party that has a wizard, a bard with Ritual Caster (Wizard), and a warlock with Pact of the Tome and the Book of Ancient Secrets invocations.
Could these characters share each ...
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Expertise and additional doubling proficiency bonus [duplicate]
I have been experimenting with a multiclassed Draconic Bloodline sorcerer (lvl 14) and bard (lvl 6). I have expertise through bard on both persuasion and deception giving them both +12 and then with ...
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What instruments are wind instruments for purposes of being a Windsinger?
In the game I am running, there are several characters who are bards with the Windsinger feat (Stormwrack p94). The players and I have been debating what qualifies as a wind instrument for purposes ...
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What does the +1 to damage rolls of Inspire Courage apply on, exactly?
In Pathfinder 2, bards get the Inspire Courage cantrip which, among other things, provides a +1 status bonus to damage rolls.
For the most basic scenarios, this is a no-brainer: hitting with a sword ...
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What happens when a level 14 bard uses Nimbus of Pathos on a wild shape Druid currently in wild shape?
Nimbus of Pathos states:
When this effect ends, the creature immediately drops to 0 hit points and is dying. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
By ...
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Can Bards learn Oath of the Open Sea Spells via Magical Secrets? If so, does it require the GM's discretion?
The Oath of the Open Sea Spells section of Tal’dorei Campaign Setting: Reborn says:
Paladins of the Oath of the Open Sea automatically gain two new spells through their Oath Spells feature. These ...
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Can you use the Message cantrip to grant Bardic Inspiration?
I have never chosen Message (PHB, p.259) as a cantrip for my Bard but I wonder whether it could come in handy at times. For instance, if we are setting up a trap and I need to grant Bardic Inspiration ...
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What spells or features can be reasonably used to convey inspiration in place of an instrument for a bard with an action or reaction?
One of the common rulings my DM allows at my table is the usage of any source of music or wordplay to grant Bardic Inspiration, if you have that class feature. For example, I commonly use Minor ...
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Do bonus rolls, like guidance and Bardic Inspiration, affect a passive check? [duplicate]
After reading this question: Bless/Bane and their effects on Passive checks, I want to ask about the general bonus rolls to passive ability checks.
The description for passive check is:
A passive ...
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Can a College of Swords bard use the Slashing Flourish option to apply a Smite spell to all creatures in range?
The description of the Wrathful Smite spell says (PHB, p. 289):
The next time you hit with a melee weapon attack during this spell's
duration, your attack deals an extra 1d6 psychic damage. ...
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Can a lvl 20 CoC Bard waive the spell cost to cast and sustain the spell, Imprisonment, for six hours?
The relevant quotes are as follows:
Performance of Creation. Also at 3rd level, as an action, you can channel the magic of the Song of Creation to create one nonmagical item of your choice in an ...
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Does a Swords Bard's extra damage count as damage that the original attack inflicts for Vampiric Bite's HP gain and roll bonus?
I know that Slashing Flourish, and the rest of the options, deal extra damage to the original target, but I'm asking if the damage it deals to creatures of your choice within 5 feet of you counts as ...
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Can the Simulacrum of a Bard regain its Bardic Inspiration dice?
The spell Simulacrum reads as follows:
It obeys your spoken commands, moving and acting in accordance with your wishes and acting on your turn in combat. ...The simulacrum lacks the ability to learn ...
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Can I use Performance of Creation to provide the 100gp gem for a homunculus servant?
The College of Creation Bard has the class feature Performance of Creation, which states:
As an action, you can channel the magic of the Song of Creation to create one nonmagical item of your choice ...
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Can a Dragonborn bard use a two handed greataxe as a weapon?
If so the greataxe is a axe and a electric guitar if you was wondering
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Would someone help with understanding my DM's homebrewed magic item? [closed]
As the title states, my DM made the whole party custom magic items according to our character's class, history, and other details, which is crazy awesome. My character is a Bard that plays a drum for ...
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Guidelines for Virtuosic Performer
The Virtuosic Performer feat says:
You have exceptional talent with one type of performance. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus when making a certain type of performance. If you are a master in ...
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Can a Bard restart a Glamour Bard's Enthralling Performance after being interrupted or is the ability used for that day?
I have a friend playing with a Bard and wants to use the class ability, but he is asking me if the person he wants to enchant leaves the place for a moment during the use of the ability he can ...
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Can Cutting Words be used while in an area of Silence?
In a current combat encounter, a bard character is unable to move out of the area of effect of a Silence spell. Silence is very clear on a complete lack of sound:
For the duration, no sound can be ...
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Wail of the Banshee Trap vs Bard's countersong
The party have just set off a Wail of the Banshee Trap.
Can a Bard's Countersong be used to mitigate the effects. The bardic music had not been started before setting off the Trap. My feeling is it ...
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Boosting Poet’s Cloak? (Pathfinder 1e)
I’m trying to make my Skald a bit more versatile to assist the party and the Poet’s cloak caught my eye. Not all the party greatly benefits from my inspired rages all the time but being able to shift ...
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Can an army of bards with lyres of building make a castle wall invulnerable?
The item Lyre of Building is a rare magic item from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything:
Lyre of Building
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement by a bard)
While holding this lyre, you can cast Mending ...
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Are you saving 'against' an effect if that effect applies when you successfully save?
The party tonight was about to face a Demilich. They didn't have any specific knowledge of demiliches, but it was clear they were about to confront the boss, and just about every minion they had ...
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Would Fey Ancestry affect Cutting Words?
Now, I know that Cutting Words is inferred to be a Charm effect based on the last sentence of the paragraph. This raises a question for me; would Fey Ancestry affect Cutting Words? (I.e. reducing the ...
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In Dungeon World, is the Bard's Arcane Art subject to the same failure outcomes as other spells?
Because Arcane Art is a spell with multiple utilities for the Bard, if 1-6 risks them forgetting it, it feels quite a brutal outcome compared to a wizard suffering a similar consequence.
As a result I'...
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