PHB2 In Play: The Bard

Let me begin by saying that of all the roles, the Leader is the most powerful.

Put down your Damage Per Round calculations, please!  The brilliance of the Leader role is that it augments the party’s offense and/or defense.  The Leader role is critical, but it means very little without the rest of the party.  WotC’s design team wisely made most of a Leader’s powers effect only others, so there is no crazy self-buffing like we saw with clerics and druids in 3.5, resulting in those classes not needing the rest of the party for anything but moral support.

See it in play, and you there’s really no denying it.  A well-played leader will let the party roll over fights that would otherwise be a challenge; survive fights that would otherwise be full party wipes.  Leaders can set up huge combat swings with well-timed/positioned powers that monsters quake in fear.

We now come to the Bard, who fulfills the Leader role.  Can the latest iteration of this much-maligned class fulfill the promise of its role, and retain it’s flavor?  In other words, can the bard not suck?

The Song of Not Sucking.

Not only do bards not suck, they are very good.  I’ll disclaim and say that I didn’t think that the bard was that bad in 3.5 –just out of place.  If you look at what the bard could do better than anyone else in the previous edition, it was acting as a force multiplier for other party members.  In a way, the bard was the first 4e class, designed to strengthen the whole party, not just itself.  In the world where Pun-Pun can exist, such charities were typically not needed.

The bard’s concept fits nice and snug within the framework of 4e.  Better yet, it’s flavor does not need to be maimed or hacked apart for it to fit.  The bard is still the arcane rogue, jack-of-all-trades who enhances his teammates with songs and battlecries.

Your Personal DJ

As a leader, the bard of course has healing capabilities. He speaks a Majestic Word and soothing energies flow over an ally. The healing is decent, and if you combine it with the ability to the Virtue of Valor bard’s capability to dole out temporary HPs, it should be sufficient.  What the bard excels at is getting people moving –like a DJ.  He dishes out tunes and people move their feet to the song being played.  The bard has tons of abilities that slide opponents where they need to be or get allies where they want to be.  This is the most critical thing to understand when playing the bard, and is the most likely reason for people to believe that the bard is just so-so.  If you’re looking for raw buffing, get a warlord.  If you want healing, get a cleric.  If you want to put people next to their appropriate dance partners, you are in the right place!  A bard’s controller tendencies serve him well, so put them to maximum use.

Many Hats

If there’s a hidden avenue for suck lurking in the reinvigorated heart of the Bard, it’s muliclassing.  The bard can take multiclass feats in any class that it wants.  Cool, right?  And it is, but don’t make the mistake of trying to spread the bard too thin.  You can’t take a class that requires Strength and Wisdom and expect your diverse troubadour to excel there.  What I’ve been finding works when multiclassing your bard is to pick a class that overlaps with at least on of your prime characteristics, and then you can branch out into another characteristic.  With this build you’re looking at some pretty weak rider effects, but the powers gained should be worth it. If you pick a third, it should be almost entirely for some key power (Feylock Eyebite is a fave of mine), or for powers that further enhance a theme.

There are a lot of ways to go with Bard Multiclassing but here are some of my favorites:

  • Bard/Warlord – with this build you really really want a mage’s weapon.  Once an encounter, swap a bard arcane power for a warlord power is slick.  With this combo you are up in the frontlines helping out your buddies with melee attacks.  Dragonborns are excellent for this build.
  • Bard/Wizard/Warlock (fey pact) –A ‘full caster’ bard, there’s a lot of controller goodness here.  Warlock is here for eyebite.  I love eyebite and it’s versatility. This build makes you a one-man controller party, as you get to slide around and position everyone, then blast them.  No excuses for hitting your mates with this build. An additional benefit is that you can use a wide array of implements –wands,staves,orbs, and rods.  With the feat Quick Draw, you can have just the right spell for any situation.
  • Bard/Rogue/Warlock  (fey pact) –Yes, I’m obsessed with eyebite!  A great multiclass for a halfing, this build leads from the shadows, and looks to lock down or cripple dangerous enemies.

Powers

My five favorite Bard powers between levels 1-11:

  • Shout of Triumph –everybody on the dance floor, move your feet!  My favorite power by far.  Shuffle everyone in a blast 3 around to your liking.  Your controller will worship you.
  • Impelling Force –It attacks Fortitude, which sort of sucks, but placing your enemy right next to you defender is great crowd control.  You can use it to get at sneaky backline foes, or help lock down a sneaky lurker.
  • Veil –Having problems sneaking into the enemy fortress?  Not anymore.  For one hour you get ultimate diguise for everyone in your party.  Veil is what I term an “open power”, meaning it’s power isn’t in the raw mechanics, but in it’s ability to enable people to be creative and clever.
  • Deflect Attention -the Bard’s Eyebite.  It’s more versatile, as you can nominate an ally to be invisible to the target as well.  Use this with your rogue to set up sneak attacks, or use it as a get out of jail free card to an ally in trouble.
  • Dissonant Strength –deals damage, gives a free saving throw, and debuffs the opponent’s attack roll.  This power does a lot of stuff.

Builds

One of the reasons this took so long was that there are a lot of interesting things to do in building a bard.  Most of them suck, so it took some time to get to builds that I’d like to share with you.

The Obvious Build

Gregg, Half Elf Bard (Virtue of Valor)/Adroit Explorer

The protoypical Valorous Bard, Gregg heals his allies, directs the shape of the battle, and looks good doing it.  Adroit Explorer is the human paragon class, and I love it.  It enables you to either get another encounter power or to double up on an encounter power that you already have.  It also gives resist 10 whenever you spend an action point.  Gregg can use all of these abilities to stay in a fight and inspire his allies until they conquer all foes.

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The Interesting Build

Arjhan, Dragonborn Bard (Virtue of Valor)/Warlord/Paragon Multiclass

Arjhan is fullbade-wielding, throat singing (check this youtube clip if you’re not familiar) instrument of death.  His draconic throat songs propell him and his allies forward into a line of devastated foes.

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About the Author

A Jack of All Trades ,or if you prefer, an extreme example of multi-classing, Gamefiend, a.k.a Quinn Murphy has been discussing, playing and designing games straight out of the womb. He is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of this site in addition to being an aspiring game designer. As you would assume, he is a huge fan of 4e. By day he is a technologist. Follow gamefiend on Twitter