Latest / Bards and Barrels / S2 Ep. 11 - Class Review: Bard

Transcript

S2 Ep. 11 - Class Review: Bard · Bards and Barrels

0:02
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Bards and Barrels, the podcast for Dungeons and Dragons players, new and old.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm Phil Boone and I'm joined by my friends and co-hosts Ross Struess and Brett Miller.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: We'll be exploring the world of Dungeons and Dragons in each episode, sharing our experiences, offering tips and advice for those who play and run this classic game.
0:18
SPEAKER_01: So whether you're a new player just starting out or a seasoned veteran looking to get a new perspective on things, Bards and Barrels has something for everyone.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: So sit back, grab a drink, and join us as we roll for initiative and embark on an epic adventure.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: There it is, the opening crack.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back, everyone.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: Phil here in the saddle tonight with Ross and Brett.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: How are we doing tonight, guys?
0:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm feeling inspired.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: Oh, aren't we all?
0:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, as Brett uh was mentioning, we are looking at the Bard class tonight.
0:55
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna hit you with a class review.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're gonna hit on some magic tonight with the Bard.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, what do you guys uh what were your first thoughts when reviewing this one?
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is this is an interesting one that you know you kind of forget about, uh especially when it comes to spellcasting.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: I think when we were talking through some of the other main spellcasters, we didn't include Bard.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Like when we were running through Sorcerer, Warlock, yeah, wizard.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: I think that's fair.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: It's almost a different style, right?
1:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's different.
1:26
SPEAKER_02: I would I would almost compare them.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: Closest thing would probably be like a wizard, right?
1:31
SPEAKER_02: So it's it's not an innate magic to them, it's not granted by a deity or a pack that you made.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh a wizard learns his magic from books, right?
1:40
SPEAKER_02: And so the player's handbook actually says that a bard discovers their magic from the music that they play.
1:46
SPEAKER_02: And not every musical person, not every performer is a bard either.
1:51
SPEAKER_02: So I think that's a that's a very interesting distinction because I always thought that when you ran into a minstrel and a pub somewhere in Feirun, that that was a bard, but that is not necessarily the case.
2:01
SPEAKER_02: So a bard is just the ones who have found that magic.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so yeah, that's true.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: I picture them almost like memorizing lyrics, and that's how they learn their magic, you know.
2:09
SPEAKER_02: Dude, I am such a bard that I can pull lyrics out of my butt.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: Like nobody's business.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: You should play Rocket League with us sometime.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: The whole time.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: If you just like make any quip, Ross starts.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: I can find a song.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: It's great.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: Every time.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: I just can't hide.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: You are a bard.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: This is so true.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
2:35
SPEAKER_02: Oh god.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: Wow, what did I walk into?
2:38
SPEAKER_02: I should have kept my mouth shut.
2:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: It's fine.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh, all right.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, we touched on a couple things, but what are some of the uh pros and cons of the bard?
2:50
SPEAKER_02: Well, first con not first conge's first pro for me is this is a charisma-based character.
2:56
SPEAKER_02: So I love the fact that uh if if you listen to the show at all, I love charisma-based characters.
3:02
SPEAKER_02: Um, so for me, I I love that.
3:04
SPEAKER_02: I've never really looked at a bard before.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, if you're trying to get me to play a specific class, step one, check.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: I think one of the exciting things for me is that this is a very dynamic uh role.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Like you can role-play this a lot of different ways.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be sitting there strumming a loot or a guitar or something.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: You know, you can go a variety of different ways and make this your own character.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: My number one pro here was that it's versatile, and not just in that way, too.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: You're also like good at a so many things.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's true.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: I also like the fact that uh one of the things I had, and it's probably because of the charisma, that it it just seems from like building the character and reading through like your first level stuff in particular, it seems to lean heavy into your role-playing too.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: Like it lets you just develop this character however you want to, and it kind of lays some seeds, and like I'll get into that with my character, but it's like one of the things it pointed out was like, you know, a bard may have come from a very mundane background, but they want the flair of the dramatic and stuff like that.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: So they make up a new backstory for themselves in order to get people to listen to their music.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: So I think that's a very interesting role-playing hook.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: I think I had it written down as like social potential, but oh yeah, exactly.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely same thing.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's like any of the skills that you're probably gonna be picking up as a bard are some of the most commonly used skill proficiencies.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely, like deception, uh stealth, persuasion, performance, like you're gonna run into a lot of those on a pretty regular basis.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: And with a bard, you're gonna be pretty stacked.
4:44
SPEAKER_02: Oh, heck yeah.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh, one of the ones I had, which I listed as a pro and a con, uh, and even the handbook admits this a little bit, was it tends to be a support character.
4:55
SPEAKER_02: They can definitely defend themselves when needed, but a lot of their spells and stuff like that is built more for buffing other people, for creating situations versus doing actual attacking, which, if that's the kind of character you want to play, definitely a pro.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: If you want to be in the fight, like right up front, swinging and landing the punches, probably a con.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: I listed it as typically not a heavy damage dealer.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: They can do some stuff, but they're not gonna be your big hitter by any means.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: Which I I guess, and we'll and we'll get to this in the pop culture stuff too.
5:23
SPEAKER_02: But if you think of Scamblin from Vox Machina, he was never the guy that was up front.
5:27
SPEAKER_02: The first battle in episode one, they're all downstairs in the in the the tavern brawl, and he's upstairs with the the the orc in business time.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, he was doing some business.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he's doing business alright.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, uh one of the other cons I had listed is that the choices could be overwhelming for a new player.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: Like you got a lot of spell choices you gotta make, yeah, quite a few different proficiencies that you gotta pick.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: There's just a lot of choices.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: And I think another con is that you can potentially kind of railroad your party by being the face and being the main role-playing person on a lot of circumstances, so you gotta make sure you're bringing your party along with you.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I agree with that for sure.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: You could accidentally speak steal the spotlight pretty commonly on a regular basis.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: And just be playing your character.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, nothing wrong with that.
6:20
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, depending on the makeup of your party, that might be okay too.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: Like if you want to be the face and the voice of the party and everybody else wants to be the muscle and the brains.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: That I mean, that's entirely possible, but that's one of those things that you work out in a session zero is like what do you want this character to be?
6:35
SPEAKER_02: And hopefully your party lets you know that they also want to talk to people.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: So and maybe you have a party full of bards and you can all fight for who gets to talk first.
6:43
SPEAKER_01: You're a traveling band.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: I could just see it now.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: It would be pretty great.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: It would be pretty world tour.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: That would be fun.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: Well, we hit on a couple of these already, but what uh what pop culture references are out there, or maybe even not pop culture, but what you know historical references did you guys come across?
7:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, this is the first one that I've had to dive a little bit deeper to find some good examples.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: Like, there are plenty of examples out there, especially like real-world current people.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: Like you go from anybody like Taylor Swift to Jack Black to Weird Al, Lady Gaga, Freddie Mercury, like all sorts of musicians that are just over the top, yeah, developing their own music, their own stories.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Totally see.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: Those are probably bards, but then you go into like Edgin from the DD movie, which is uh slightly uh controversial if he actually is a bard or if he's a rogue, but they say he's a bard, so we're gonna include him here.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, and like Ross mentioned Scanlon from Kitakrol Roll or Vox Machina.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then there's so many other ones.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: If you get into the world of movies and TV shows, Dewey from the School of Rock.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, Allison Hargraves as I say that's just Jack.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but okay, yeah, basically Jack Ryan.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: I can.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh Allison Hargraves or Rumor from an Umbrella Academy.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: Sean and Gus from Psyche.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh the flamethrower guitar guy thing from Mad Max, the one that's like strapped on the front of the vehicle on Mad Max.
8:24
SPEAKER_02: Does he ever actually have any lines, or does he just play the guitar?
8:26
SPEAKER_00: Apparently, supposedly there's a whole backstory to this guy.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: They don't include anything in it, though.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: I know that.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: Is Eddie as I see Eddie sitting back there?
8:37
SPEAKER_01: I know he's the DM of that group, but could he be able to do that?
8:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he he's rocking some of Eddie from Stranger Things.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: Rocking some Metallica later in that one.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: End of season three, four, whatever it was.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: It's three.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh Peter Quill or Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I agree with that one.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: That one might be like a rogue bard multiclass thing.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say that too, but that's a good example.
8:59
SPEAKER_02: I like that.
8:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: And then the last one I had, the probably the biggest one, is if you go old time Shakespeare.
9:06
unknown: Yeah.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I could see that.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he literally was called the a bard.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not music, but is still a bard.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, there's some others in that realm too, right?
9:16
SPEAKER_01: If you're looking at like old orators like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, there's a group there that kind of fit that mold.
9:22
SPEAKER_02: Getting very deep in here.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: I read a I read uh some controversial ones.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm curious what you guys think too.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: So, like Princess Leia, they said that maybe she could be considered like a college of lore-esque type of bard, or in that Star Wars realm as well, Padme.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: I saw more like diplomacy, like college of eloquence style of barding?
9:47
SPEAKER_01: It depends.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: You could play bards a lot of different ways.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: They're not traditional, by the way.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, I had not thought of like politicians in general as possible bards.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: That's I mean, if the cornerstone is performing, yeah, politicians certainly follow fall into that realm.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of performing, so like grifters, do you guys ever watch the show Leverage?
10:08
SPEAKER_01: Oh Sophie Devereux from Leverage was a huge grifter, disguises, charm, like the whole work.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: So she kind of fits into that bard world as well.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, Jaskier, the dandelion from the witch, yeah.
10:21
SPEAKER_02: Uh the only other one I could think of, because you started naming like music movies, was uh the Blues Brothers.
10:27
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a good one.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: It's dark outside.
10:31
SPEAKER_02: It's 3 a.m.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: It's dark outside, and we're wearing sunglasses.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: So there there are quite a few pop culture references out there.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: They're just maybe they don't pop to mind as quite as easily as some of the other classes that we've dug into.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: And I think some of that too comes from just what we historically see or what we typically see out of a bard.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: And like if you start to look at the quick build that they have in the basic rules, you know, it doesn't necessarily outline anything other than the stereotypical bard.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: So they tell you take charisma as your highest score, which it's your spellcasting modifier.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: That's what you're gonna do, right?
11:10
SPEAKER_01: And then you're gonna take decks because while you're performing, you may need to be acrobatic or you know, something along those lines.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: Right.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: Then they tell you to take the entertainer backgrounds.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: We're just gonna keep stacking these things on of like, hey, here is the stereotypical bar that is still fun to play by all means, but I think that you can take it in so many other directions.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: Um in the basic rules, if you are trying to build this as a first-time player, they even go as far as suggesting which cantrips and first level spells you should take.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: So there's suggestions were dancing lights and vicious mockery.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, I agree with at least one of those.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: And then first level spells, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Healing Word.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: So I don't think we necessarily mention that in the pros-cons section, but you can do a little healing with a bar.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: Not a main healer, but you can fill out a little bit of a gap in your party.
11:59
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like the paladin.
12:00
SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah, it's great.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: They can help you if you're about to die, but really probably not the healer in your party.
12:06
SPEAKER_02: Make sure you have a cleric or something.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: Would recommend.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: And then Thunder Wave was their last one, which is more of an area of effect spell.
12:14
unknown: Yeah.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: So I didn't see anything else really in that quick build.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: What did you guys think of that?
12:20
SPEAKER_01: You I mean, really, it's it's not a bad setup.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: No, I think I think the the charisma decks make sense.
12:28
SPEAKER_02: And then how they built, and we'll get into the colleges later, but how they built like the flexibility to take the character outside of that traditional music playing bard, they did it in such a way that it still fits.
12:39
SPEAKER_02: So it's like if we're talking like a politician, you're you're still gonna want charisma for sure, because that's that that persuasion ability that gets you in it's the performance ability, right?
12:49
SPEAKER_02: So I I think that still fits and it makes sense.
12:51
SPEAKER_02: It it's just it's just a little counterintuitive in some ways.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think the the quick build can scare a lot of people off, though, just by they had this impression that a bard has to sing at the table.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Based on kind of how the quick build sets you up, is you've got to be a musical bard.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to be.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: They've added a lot of extra stuff after those first entry-level things that have expanded the world or possibilities of bards to be able to do a lot of non-musical options.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: If you're worried about singing at the table because you picked a bard, stay tuned because my bard doesn't sing anything.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: So there are ways, trust me, there are ways.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so what does a first level bard look like?
13:38
SPEAKER_01: Hit points wise, we're looking at a d8 per bard level.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: So at your first level, your HP is gonna be eight plus whatever your con modifier is.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: Not a bad idea to keep your con maybe up towards the top, give yourself uh some concentration, yeah.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Boosting.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then uh proficiency-wise, uh armor-wise, we got light armor proficiency, uh, simple weapons, hand crossbows, long swords, rapiers, and short swords.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we can be proficient with three musical instruments of your choice.
14:11
SPEAKER_02: Bagpipes.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: Bagpipes, bagpipes.
14:14
SPEAKER_02: Mostly because this is annoying issue.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: Or the loot or the lyre.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: Those are popular ones.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, pan flute.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's some good ones out there.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh, violin, uh, saving throws matching what the quick build said we should take.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: So Dex and Charisma, here are your saving throws you're proficient with, and then skills.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: You get to choose any three skills in the entire list to be proficient in.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: And this is where I think we were touching on you can do a lot of different things and be good at a lot of different things.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: But this is where that really starts to show.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: Is you start to pick whatever skill you want to be proficient in, straight out of the base base level one.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: I also think this is immediately where it starts opening the door for you to customize your bard.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't want to be the performer and you don't want to be the singer, like you don't take things like performance and that kind of acrobatic style of play, you can go a completely different route here.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: I do find it interesting for for a character that they described as being more of a support character in a lot of ways, how many weapons that they're proficient in.
15:18
SPEAKER_02: That is that interesting to anybody else?
15:21
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it that list is a lot bigger than some of the others.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: Other classes for sure.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: But I think they're all a lot of them are dexterity-based.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Which where I think they encourage you to take decks as your second highest skill, just because you're gonna need those for actually using a weapon.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: Right.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh starting equipment-wise, then you're looking at um a rapier, a long sword, or any simple weapon, uh, either a diplomat's pack or an entertainer's pack, a loot or any other musical instrument.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: So you can pick one of those instruments that you had a that you were proficient in.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: And then you also get to start with a set of leather armor, which you can add your dex modifier to.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: Another reason why they tell you to put your decks high, and a dagger.
16:04
SPEAKER_02: So you were talking about like the ability with choosing those skill proficiencies as being the first way to to really start to customize this character.
16:11
SPEAKER_02: The the next clue that this does not have to be a musical singer or performer is that diplomat's pack to me.
16:18
SPEAKER_02: It's like it does you don't have to be an entertainer.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: You there is a path out of that right off the bat in first level.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: I also I I could argue a case here that if you were interested in a different pack, maybe like a burglar's pack or something along those lines, you could talk to your DM and see if you could make it fit your backstory.
16:35
SPEAKER_02: I think that still fits, especially since decks, I mean that's sleight of hand for a rogue.
16:40
SPEAKER_02: So I think that still fits really well with this type of class.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: So really any of that starting equipment, it fits better with your background than your class.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: One of the other big things at first level is bardic inspiration, which is like one of the key features as a bard.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: At first level, it only starts out as a d6, but with this d6, you get to inspire your party and just hand out these extra dice that they can use as needed to enhance one of their rolls.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and this is just a bonus action on your turn, right?
17:12
SPEAKER_01: And then you give them this d6.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: They can only have one at a time, but they can use it for an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: And most of the time that can happen after they roll, but before the DM has announced the result.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: Right.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: So you can roll and be like, 12.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: I think I might use it this time.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: Right.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think the Bardic inspiration is huge because that's the bread and butter for this class in a lot of ways.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: And you get this and the dice only go up.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: So it's a it's a big again, buff support, character roll.
17:39
SPEAKER_02: Big thing to have throughout the the campaigns that you're gonna play with this character, especially as that damage or that the dice scales.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: So um later on as we go up in levels, uh at level five, it goes up to a d8.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: At level 10, it goes up to a d10 and beyond.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's get becomes really powerful.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: It also plays into a lot of the colleges, which we'll get into a little bit later as well, which is another character choice that you have, but a lot of those things either boon or it can be used as a debuff, all based on your Bardic inspiration as well.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: I think the only other thing you get at first level um is spellcasting, which we touched on.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: You get to start out with two cantrips and four first level spells.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, as we get beyond first level though, there's a lot of cool things that start to happen.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: So at first level, bardic inspiration comes back on a long rest only.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: But once you hit level five, you can start to get regain those bardic inspiration points on a short rest.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: So you at first you're kind of like, Oh, I'll give you one now, but it kind of hurts a little bit.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Later on, you're just passing them out like handy.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get them back so quickly that just feel free to use them.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, it becomes a lot more powerful when you can hand them out that freely.
18:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, you get quite a few other things too.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: So even starting out at second level, you become what they call jack of all trades.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: So on any of your ability checks that you make that you're not already proficient with, you can add half your proficiency bonus bound rounded down.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: So you're seriously good at everything, right?
19:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which is ridiculous.
19:13
SPEAKER_00: You're a jack of all trades.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: You'll figure out how they did that, right?
19:19
SPEAKER_01: So the big choice as a bard though, right, really comes in at third level.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: And that's what a bard college or what college or bard went to craft their skills.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: So this is where you start delving into the advanced techniques of the bard college of your choice.
19:34
SPEAKER_01: You get features at third level, and then again at sixth, and then at fourteenth as well.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: So we're talking basic rules.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: We got one choice.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: It's a good choice, actually.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: It's not a bad choice.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: So basic rules give you the college of lore.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh, here you know something about most things.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of what it boils down to.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: So you get some bonus proficiencies, three more skills.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: So if you're thinking back to originally, we took three at the very beginning.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: Here you're taking three more.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh, already at third level.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna be proficient in like a ton of stuff.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right?
20:09
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: Um you learn cutting words at third level as well.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: So you can use your wit to distract, confuse, sap the confidence out of others.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, you get some magical secrets earlier on, and we'll hit on that too once we uh get past this basic rules one.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: So uh you get to start picking spells from any class, but not just the bard class.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: It opens up the entire like spell repertoire to you.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: That's how much you started to master your craft.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: Ross, I think this is the one you are in.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: If you're a bard, you're a college of lore bard.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: You're good at trivia, you can kind of go across a lot of different things.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is your college of lore.
20:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a good point.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: I'll take that.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: That's fair.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: I like it.
20:52
SPEAKER_02: Keeper of random shit.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: So once you get kind of beyond that fifth level um that Brett had mentioned before, uh, you if you even if you don't choose the College of Lore, you still gain access to those magical secrets.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: It's just not until you get to up to 10th level.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: So you do still get an opportunity to learn spells off of someone else's spell list.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: So whether that be wizard, ranger, sorcerer, cleric, paladin, it doesn't matter.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: Right.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh you can learn two spells off of theirs.
21:20
SPEAKER_02: And really the only place you can do that with other classes is by taking like a magic initiate feed or something like that.
21:25
SPEAKER_02: So, like if you really want that, you know, that uh that warlock spell, so you can cast Eldric Blast or something, but you have to cast those at a specific level.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: The way I understand it is you can cast these at any bard level that you have available to you.
21:37
SPEAKER_02: So you can take a spell off any list and then cast it off of any level that you have.
21:41
SPEAKER_02: That's a big dang deal.
21:43
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: It's huge.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the chances of a bard taking fireball are probably pretty high.
21:49
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: I I and I even think to things like Magic Missile, whereas you get to upper level upper upper goodness gracious, English.
21:56
SPEAKER_02: As you get to upper levels and magic missile automatically Hits that's a good choice to give yourself an offensive weapon that you can use at a distance.
22:04
SPEAKER_02: Can you just choose?
22:05
SPEAKER_02: You know, I have three hits, they're all going to you and I'm a cast at level five.
22:08
SPEAKER_02: Good luck.
22:09
SPEAKER_02: Bye.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, as a college of lore bard, or even just at a higher level bard with magical secrets, that is a good way to round out your party's weaknesses.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Like if you're noticing we're a little light on battlefield control or healing, sure, you can start to pick up some of those key additional spells from anybody's list.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's huge too.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: And especially, so I don't know if we hit this when we talked about spellcasting with the bard a little bit, but you, as you level up, can swap out old bard spells for new ones too.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: So you could potentially, when you took these, if you needed to readjust some of your other spells when you hit that level, you could swap one out for a different one.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: So every time you take a bard level, you get to replace one of your existing spell slots with or one of your existing spells with a new one.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: So you can kind of cycle them out, upgrade them over time.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're not stuck with what you picked at the very beginning.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, get rid of those first level spells later on, probably.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, makes sense.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then if we kind of start looking at other colleges for the bard here, too.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: So if you crack open the player's handbook, you get a second option.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: So in addition to the College of Lore, you now get access to the College of Valor.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: Your tales keep alive the memory of the great heroes of the past and thereby inspire a new generation of heroes.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: So in this one, you are more so taking on the role of almost a uh, I think of like a uh someone in the corner cheering on someone boxing.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: Like that type of, you know what I mean?
23:40
SPEAKER_02: Like that type of pull yourself together, Rock!
23:43
SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you do gain some more proficiencies here, but not on the skill side.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: This is in medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: So back to Ross's point earlier, now you have access to even more weapons than you did before.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you get some combat inspiration, so you learn to inspire others in battle, basically meaning that someone that you've granted a bardic inspiration die to can roll that die and add that number to their weapon damage.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: So now you're not just talking about adding it to an attack roll, a saving throw, or an ability check.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: Now you can actually add it to the damage roll.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, now I want to go back and recreate my bard for this episode and just create a uh an armored up cheerleader.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: Yes like standing on the sidelines, just armored up to the teeth.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: And yeah.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: You rah-rah, remote.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: This is perfect.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: You would definitely be College of Valor because you could also use it instead of like adding it to a damage roll, you could use it to uh add your AC instead.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: So you really could buff up like be this huge armored cheerleader.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Don't give them roses, give them bloody noses.
24:57
SPEAKER_02: There we go.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, favorite feature of College of the Valor is that at six level you get an extra attack.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: And who doesn't love an extra attack?
25:03
SPEAKER_01: Everybody, and then you eventually get get access to battle magic.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, so when you use your action to cast a bard spell, you can also make a weapon attack as a bonus action.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: So you can cast a spell and do a weapon attack both in the same turn, and that's huge as well.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: Outside of those sources, um, there are quite a few different options.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, we'll hit on them quickly, don't want to spend a whole lot of time there.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: But you've got the College of Creation in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: This grants extra boons to your Bardic inspiration die, such as re-rolling it, doing extra damage, getting temporary hit points.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, the cool kind of part of this, the College of Creation piece, is that you can create a non-magical item and then eventually you can begin animating it.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: And it can get up to the point of what you can create a large item and then animate it.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: So if you're thinking through like non-magical items though, like you're talking weapons, armor, tools.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: Right.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: The caveat is that it only lasts for an hour.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: There's a few other rules out there too, but still be fun to play with.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
26:06
SPEAKER_02: I'll be down for that.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh you've got the College of Eloquence, and that comes from the Mythic Odysseys of Theros.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: So you are a mastery of persuasion and deception.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, your Bardic inspiration can eventually be used to subtract from someone else's saving throw.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: So you can try to make the enemies fail their saves.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: Um when a creature adds one of your inspiration dice to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, and that fails, they actually get a keep the bardic inspiration dice.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: You don't just lose it.
26:36
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's cool.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: And then if we take a look at Xanathar's guide to everything, you have the College of Glamour.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know that we hit on.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we talked about quite a few music musicians.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if we hit on like David Bowie.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's another one again.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: He kind of fits into that College of Glamour style of uh of a bard.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, so the interesting part kind of reading through this one is that it says that this craft was either like mastered in the Fey Wild or that you were under the tutelage of someone who'd spent some time in the Fee Wild.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: So your performances are the stuff of legend.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: That is literally what the description said, and I don't feel like anything else needs said.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like you can charm an entire group of people with your performance, it's got some pretty powerful stuff in it that could kind of wreck combat for the DM.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: Hashtag Taylor Swift.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: It's a pretty great choice, too.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, Xanothars also has the College of Swords.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so you entertain through daring feats of weapon prowess, whether that be something like sword swallowing, knife throwing, or juggling, uh, mock combats.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: So you gain some proficiency with medium armor and the scimitar here.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, you can start using some of your weapons as a spell casting focus, so you don't actually have to use your instrument as your spellcasting focus.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: You get a pick fighting styles here.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: You could be either a duelist or two weapon fighter.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, you start to learn blade flourishes to do extra damage with your attacks, and like the College of Valor, you also gain an extra attack at six level here.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: This is the first one you really get into more melee combat.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: This is what my bard is.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: Shocker! So not your ranged damage dealer, jack of all trades, like supporting character, you're actually getting into the fray with this type of bard.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: And I liked I kind of enjoyed that that was different than some of the others.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, the other one from Xanathar's is the College of Whispers.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: So here these bards use their knowledge and magic to uncover secrets, and then basically take those secrets and use them against others, like through extortions or threats or blackmail, like that kind of a style of play.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: So you can do some psychic damage um on hit spikes, bend your dark inspiration.
28:45
SPEAKER_01: You can basically seed paranoia in people uh to start doing some damage that way as well, which I thought was kind of a fun little mechanic.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh you can uh yeah, this is College of Whispers.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you can disguise yourself with the shadow of a deceased humanoid, like to the point where you gain access to general details of their background, their personal life, like not secret information that they knew, but weird enough to become them, though.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: Basically, yeah, you take on their persona and are disguised as them.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: That's creepy.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's kind of an odd one.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: Anyway.
29:19
SPEAKER_01: Um then in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenlof, we've got the College of Spirits.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you get the guidance cantrip for free on this one.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, it expands your spellcasting focus and ability, gives you the ability to do bonus damage and recover bonus HP when you use it.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: Um basically, spirits can tell their tales through you, and there's an entire table that you roll on to see what the effects of that are.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: So if you like kind of enjoy playing a wild magic sorcerer, I would maybe look into the College of Spirits bard, potentially.
29:49
SPEAKER_01: It's got some similar mechanics like that.
29:52
SPEAKER_01: Um in the Teldori campaign setting Reborn, which is from Critical Roll, they have the College of Tragedy.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: So these bards specialize in the power of tragic storytelling.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: They weave words and spellers excuse me, they weave words and spells together to dramatic and devastating effect.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, one of the kind of most interesting pieces I found in this one when reading through it is if one of your allies or yourself roll a Nat 1 on the D20, you get to regain um one of your expanded Bardic inspirations.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: So it's almost like a boon from a failure, in essence.
30:26
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of how this college works is based on that.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: At one point you can gain a plus ten bonus to an attacker or saving throw, but then on the next one of those, it's a minus 10.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: So like boom and bust.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: Great success, great failure.
30:42
SPEAKER_01: So that was pretty cool too.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then the last one that I've got on here, uh I think it's from some newer material from the Humblewood campaign setting.
30:49
SPEAKER_01: It's called the College of the Road.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, so this taps into kind of the eclectic and diverse uh skills and talents of a bard subclass that represents its free-spirited nature and long travels.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: It really would be like a barred part of a caravan traveling across the road.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: In essence, is kind of how this one works.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: And that's all I've got for uh all the different colleges uh across all of that material.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: But um, did I miss any that you guys don't know of?
31:23
SPEAKER_01: Alright, I think that's gonna take us into it's like no, I don't know about it.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: Or anything else that you want to say.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: We're good.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: You know, the only other big thing that I think we didn't touch on is coming in at third level, um, right along with your bard college, you also gain expertise.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: So you can take some of your skill proficiencies and double them.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: So get getting expertise with some of your skill proficiencies really can boost you up to basically having constant successes on some of your key proficiencies.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: I think this is one of those things that makes a bard so powerful, too.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: Because if you want to be great at performance or you want to be great at deception, you're already putting your charisma modifier in there, which is your highest one, and now you're gonna double what you have there too.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: Look out.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, it's huge.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so let's take a look at the characters that we built for this class.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: So, for those that may be just joining us for a uh class review, we each create one of these characters because we've come across situations where maybe we are talking about a character that we haven't played in real life before.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: So we wanted to take some time and build these characters for you.
32:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I saw a lot of pointing.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: Who decided they were gonna go first?
32:45
SPEAKER_02: I'll go first.
32:46
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
32:46
SPEAKER_02: Shh, don't say that, Phil.
32:48
SPEAKER_02: God.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: Behind the curtain.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: Pulling back the curtain.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: I was just gonna say that.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: All right, Brad, what do you got?
32:52
SPEAKER_00: So I am going with a tiefling bard at level one.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, and mine is named Jimbe Blurk.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: So Jimbe plays a hand drum, or also a Jimbe.
33:04
unknown: Okay.
33:05
SPEAKER_04: I see what you think there.
33:07
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so he comes um with the entertainer background coming out of Baldur's Gate.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so instead of doing like songs and a lot of things, he is a poet that does like um some poetry satire, um, and just doing sick burns on his opponents.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so I was kind of setting him up to go down the path of the College of Whispers.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: So being able to spread rumors, uh possibly sabotage some of his uh people he's going up against, and the skill proficiencies, even at level one, are really strong.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: So with charisma, I had some hot dice and ended up with a 20.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: Jeez at level one.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: So plus five to charisma at level one.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so that cascades through.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: So, like performance, persuasion, deception, all of them already at plus a seven when I'm doing a skill check on those on those skills.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh the other ones, my second skill was in my second skill actually ended up coming in at with a 16 with intelligence um and dexterity closely behind at 15.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: So I wanting I wanted to set this one up to be kind of like the tactician of what you're gonna be doing with the party, going trying to figure out the game plan of how you're gonna handle a battle, uh adding some intelligence to the character instead of just being a goof.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: I think you can which you you can easily end up with if you're not taking wisdom or intelligence.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: You can kind of end up with just a a comic of a of a bard.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: A true jester.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: Uh everything else is fairly straightforward.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh, like I mentioned, I'm taking the hand drum as my main uh musical instrument.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: My main musical instrument.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: That thing.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: How much of you had to do that?
35:09
SPEAKER_00: That you play.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: The thing that you tap on.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: So as he's doing his poetry, you do boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: Gotta keep that time.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and just dropping those sick beats.
35:23
SPEAKER_02: Sick birds.
35:25
SPEAKER_02: MM is totally a bard.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, it is.
35:29
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh, a rapper bard?
35:31
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of them then.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: So much material.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: So much.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: But this in the spell lineup, I really like being able to take a wide variety of spells.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: So I took Mage Hand, Thaumaturgy, uh, which is I was is one that I picked up, uh, and then Vicious Mockery.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then at first level, Charm Person, Dissonant Whispers, Healing Word, and Tasha's Hideous Laughter.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: So a variety of different use cases of what they're going to be, how they're going to come into play, um, and then continuing to expand upon those, so I'm not pigeonholed into one any one key thing.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Ross, who did you come up with?
36:16
SPEAKER_02: So I created a half-elf bard by the name of Eloin Swiftwater.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh Elwin, I I rolled pretty decently for the most part.
36:26
SPEAKER_02: Um, started with an 18.
36:28
SPEAKER_02: We dumped that into charisma.
36:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh, got a 16 for my dexterity, had a little more disparity than you did, so I didn't put something ahead of decks.
36:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh let's see, intelligence came next with 14.
36:39
SPEAKER_02: I put 13 in constitution, left wisdom wisdom down for the bottom for a specific reason.
36:46
SPEAKER_02: Because of the ability to add proficiency in some skills, I made up for my lack of wisdom by adding proficiency in some of those skills.
36:54
SPEAKER_02: So that's a way to do it too, if you don't roll really well.
36:57
SPEAKER_02: And then my dump stat was strength, and I rolled an eight for that, and so my strength is a negative one.
37:02
SPEAKER_02: So I really am kind of a Scandlin-like character, and I was thinking of Scandlin the whole time, which is also why I didn't go with like a halfling or a gnome or anything like that, because I didn't want to be too close to that.
37:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, I did choose for my proficiencies, I didn't get quite as good as Brett, um, but I do have like a plus six in persuasion and performance.
37:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, I have a uh plus three in perception, so I took uh proficiencies in persuasion, performance, wisdom, or wisdom, perception, investigation, insight, arcana, and acrobatics.
37:35
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
37:35
SPEAKER_02: So I I mean I think there's some cool things there, but I was thinking very much of a state, like a very eclectic stage performer type person.
37:43
SPEAKER_02: And so that you could that's also reflected in the spells that I chose.
37:47
SPEAKER_02: So the two cantrips that I took are vicious mockery because he swears a lot from the stage.
37:52
SPEAKER_02: Uh light, so he adds his own lights to his concert.
37:55
SPEAKER_02: And then uh the four spells that I took are hideous laughter.
37:59
SPEAKER_02: So uh not necessarily connecting back to vicious mockery, but I mean you could cause some people to like roll around and laugh and take a lot of damage because of that.
38:08
SPEAKER_02: Sleep, just as if almost as an offensive weapon for that.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: Thunder wave area of effect, and then disguised self.
38:14
SPEAKER_02: So when he pisses too many people off, he can get out of there uh without uh too many issues.
38:20
SPEAKER_02: Uh, backstory on this guy, though, a little bit kind of connects back to what I was saying earlier.
38:24
SPEAKER_02: He did have a very mundane upbringing, uh, but he starts all of his concerts with a song where he literally lays out the lies that he's telling.
38:34
SPEAKER_02: So he is like totally uh he tells everybody that he, you know, he lost his parents and things like that.
38:40
SPEAKER_02: And then at the end, he tells you it's a lie.
38:42
SPEAKER_02: And I have something special for you.
38:44
SPEAKER_02: I went to ChatGBT and I asked it.
38:46
SPEAKER_02: I was very specific in what I wrote to it, and it wrote me a song that I actually took several verses out of.
38:52
SPEAKER_04: I'm saying it.
38:53
SPEAKER_02: I'm not singing it, but I will read it as a poem to you.
38:56
SPEAKER_02: How about that?
38:57
SPEAKER_02: So I'm thinking read this fairly quick.
38:59
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't take up a lot of time.
39:00
SPEAKER_02: Uh, in the moonlit elven glades where shadows softly sway, a tale unfolds of a half-elf it half-elf in the night he'd play.
39:09
SPEAKER_02: Elohim's swift water, his heart aching and forlorn, born in sorrow's cradle by the crescent tide was born.
39:16
SPEAKER_02: His parents gone too soon, a tragic twist of fate vanished in the shadows, leaving him to contemplate.
39:23
SPEAKER_02: Whispers in the moonlight, secrets left untold, Elohim's heart a story, in sadness it would fold.
39:29
SPEAKER_02: Through the misty woods where shadows softly weep, Elowin wandered aimlessly in memories so deep, a phantom pain, a yearning for a love he never knew, a tale of tragedy in the moonlight, it grew.
39:41
SPEAKER_02: Now he roams the realms, a troubadour so grand, singing tales of woe with a lute in his hand.
39:47
SPEAKER_02: But every note he plays, every tear he cries is part of the illusion, a melody of lies.
39:55
SPEAKER_02: I thought that was really good, actually.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
39:59
SPEAKER_01: I have to follow that?
40:01
SPEAKER_02: So I'll leave it at that.
40:02
SPEAKER_02: That that was pretty cool.
40:03
SPEAKER_02: I was going heavy on backstory on this guy.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, one thing we hadn't touched on is how powerful a half half elf is as a bard.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: You automatically get a plus two charisma bonus just for being a half elf, and that really comes in powerful.
40:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's true.
40:22
SPEAKER_02: It's my kind of character.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I went with another half race as well.
40:27
SPEAKER_01: So uh my character's name is Rohe, the half orc bard.
40:33
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, and I chose half orc because you get proficiency with the intimidation skill.
40:40
SPEAKER_01: If you get zero hit points, you reduce to zero hit points, but not killed, you drop to one instead.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: You can use that once per long rest.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: And when you score a crit hit, you can roll one of your weapon's dice an extra time and add it to the extra damage because Roheed is a sword slinging bard, not a orator or a musician by trade.
41:02
SPEAKER_01: So he's a rogue.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
41:05
SPEAKER_02: Raise your hand if you're surprised.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: And everybody take a drink.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: He's a rogue in Bard's clothing.
41:09
SPEAKER_02: Uh so if you're keeping a log, uh if you're keeping tallies out there and want to take a drink now, please do.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: How many classes can Phil become a rogue?
41:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh, primary score is charisma.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: I followed the rules.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: I dropped my 16 in charisma for plus three modifier, and then uh strength, constitution, and dexterity all basically were the same.
41:31
SPEAKER_01: I've got plus two modifiers there, um, which left me with like wisdom and intelligence, and I had to pick one.
41:36
SPEAKER_01: So wisdom got my 11 with a plus zero, and intelligence got stuck with my five for a minus three.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: Ouch.
41:46
SPEAKER_04: Dang.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: So he didn't have the wisest upbringing.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: He was born to an orc tribe.
41:53
SPEAKER_01: They didn't like him because he wasn't like the other orcs.
41:58
SPEAKER_01: Though it's fine, it works.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: He's definitely gonna be a uh college of swords.
42:02
SPEAKER_02: You don't see a number that very often.
42:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't know if he's going to college, but that's kind of what I thought too.
42:08
SPEAKER_01: He's a college of swords dropout.
42:11
SPEAKER_01: He decided he can make more money like juggling swords in the bar than he had the tavern than he actually could in class.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: So understandable.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, he just he's not that bright.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: There's no way he could have written an epic tale like what Ross's character wrote.
42:27
SPEAKER_01: That's just not in his repertoire.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: So uh, but he did take uh sleight of hand, stealth, performance, because he still at least has to put on the facade.
42:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh acrobatics, intimidation, and perception.
42:40
SPEAKER_01: So thankfully, perception's wisdom base.
42:43
SPEAKER_01: It's not an intelligent score because that would have been rough.
42:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh equipped with a dagger, a rapier, and a couple spells.
42:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh blade board and vicious mockery is his cantrips, first level spells.
42:57
SPEAKER_01: We went dissonant whispers, healing word just in case he needs it.
43:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh Silvery Barbs, which is a buff spell, and then sleep for obvious roguesh reasons.
43:10
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
43:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I think that's kind of it.
43:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't think there's anything else that you guys didn't hit on already that uh I I almost said rogue, that a bard gets.
43:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh, damn it.
43:22
SPEAKER_01: You guys got me.
43:25
SPEAKER_01: Alright, final thoughts on a bard, which is what we're talking about tonight.
43:29
SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about a rogue.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: Oh gosh.
43:31
SPEAKER_01: I gotta fix my notes.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, this is a class I was not excited about playing.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: Like, I would probably not have picked this up if I hadn't taken it more of a deep dive into what a bard could be.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: Like, I was definitely under the impression that a bard sings at the table, a bard has to know a lot of lyrics or song references.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: In trivial pursuit, I am terrible at the purple category.
44:01
SPEAKER_00: Like, I skipped that one.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, a bard was not of interest to me at all.
44:05
SPEAKER_00: But it's there's a lot of possibilities of what you can do with a bard.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to just be singing at the table.
44:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think uh one of the things that we've talked about in past past class reviews is like we talk about versatility, and a lot of the times when we're talking about versatility, we're talking about like backstory, so you don't have to be necessarily the stereotypical version of that class.
44:26
SPEAKER_02: This one truly, more than anything we've done so far, literally, like you said, does not have to be the music person, but can be anything else.
44:35
SPEAKER_00: The fundamental version of the of it changes.
44:38
SPEAKER_02: Totally, yeah.
44:39
SPEAKER_02: And I mean the fact that, Phil, I know we make fun of you for it, but the fact that you took a bard and essentially created a roguish character out of it, speaks to that versatility of this character, which I think is what everybody looks for, but it is still a little intimidating to where I don't think people would ever jump straight into this, though.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: It takes a lot of decision points to get there, right?
44:57
SPEAKER_01: Like to tweak that kind of character out of being the stereotypical bard.
45:01
SPEAKER_01: It's definitely doable.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: Anything is possible with it, but kind of have to be conscious and make some decisions early on, like based on what you want your character to look like later on.
45:11
SPEAKER_01: Right.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: And I think it pays to look up some possible options for bards that aren't musicians.
45:17
SPEAKER_00: If you're not wanting to go that route, look up some uh just take a Google search and look, hey, what are some non-musical bards?
45:26
SPEAKER_00: And take some references from those and use it to create your own.
45:30
SPEAKER_01: That's gonna do it for this episode of Bards and Barrels.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: You can listen to past episodes of the show anywhere podcasts can be found.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: Want to stay in the loop and not miss the latest from us?
45:38
SPEAKER_01: Be sure to head over and give us a like and a follow on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube at Bards and Barrels.
45:44
SPEAKER_01: We'll see you soon.