Bards: How to RP in 5e Dungeons & Dragons - Web DM

hey there youtubers I'm Pruitt this of course is Jim Davis and today on web DM we pick up with our class role-playing series with one that has a lot of pluck it causes some to fret but strikes a chord with others of course I'm talking about the bard so let's not wheedle about and get to play in this thing so let's tell the bard's tale let's wear the bards from an RP aspect where do they fit into a world and they're not just the guy on the corner playing a song you know I start with a bards place in the world particularly there's social function in a game world because I see them as this character archetype that combines sort of music and information knowledge as well as magic yeah and they kind of fit into this niche of a disseminator of knowledge and that the bards whether they are sort of a wandering troubadour or menstrual or something that travels the highways and byways of the provinces of your fantasy kingdoms stopping in taverns and Tap Room's and coaching Inns and things like that to sing songs and spread news and and you know make fun of authority figures parody and satire or you know pump up a hero or heroic narrative through through song and information and while they're there because they're in inns and places where travelers gather they're picking up bits and pieces from everywhere else they're spreading information themselves and they just become these sponges of knowledge that then spread that all around maybe their official like that maybe there's an official capacity for them and they are part of an order organization that's specifically designed to spread this information around because people need to know it the union of Town Criers sure something like that or just a you know a group that wants to keep the disparate parts of a kingdom or a you know a fantasy state in touch with each other and so the bars are like warriors or the Pony Express or something like that where they're connecting the different parts of a kingdom through this sort of common language of music and parody and satire and and gossip story story and things like that or perhaps they're sedentary and they're in a big city and they hold salons and debates and symposiums that are designed to bring in the intellectuals and the movers and shakers of this particular location get them talking to one another but they are the the host or hostess that keeps everything flowing and moving and oh don't you know that this particular Wizard is working on this sort of magical research and you really should talk to this sorcerer who's also you know area of research and and and practice isn't the same area like get those two people together or this cleric and this ruler or this you know and there there's someone that brings people together yes and in all of those situations the bard is at the center of a crowd of people they're not alone even though they might be wandering the highways and byways of the kingdom by themselves or as part of a traveling troupe they're always at the center of attention somewhere or the center of a network of people that they are either bringing together or who come together around the bard to get some kind of information like animals around a watering well yeah the Bard is the font of knowledge for a great many people and that's that's kind of where I start with bards not really my frame of reference for everything Bartok in Dungeons and Dragons like you said they're disseminating knowledge but also that can be just straight up through storytelling or singing also through satire and parody and sometimes that's not the best thing for them sometimes there are ramifications right let's say you're playing a bard and the antagonist of the setting is a local lord or something yeah to me bards like they shine during downtime activities and in those quiet moments in a campaign where there's not much happening or a long period of time passes and the dm's like a week goes by to me that's where the bard is like why isn't the bard spreading rumors during that time fomenting unrest against their antagonist or seeking ways to undermine the power base of whoever it is it's there through gossip comment here and there a word an anonymous poem nailed to the front of a door or post where everyone's gonna see it and read it like those sorts of little things that they can do will set the stage for when the confrontation comes it ensures that say the local populace is on your the hero's side or they see them as you know the heroic people who are solving their their needs as opposed to the oppressive evil whatever it is that they're opposing you yeah using your bathroom wall writing class feature right every day every house you go to you each in a a thing about the local Lord of a the Pope or whatever yeah but I mean like let's think about it for a second the typical adventuring party are a group of vagabonds and Wanderers who come into a location and pose themselves as problem solvers of some kind but they're not necessarily from that location and kind of the typical D&D campaign they're they are outside they're from all over the place and they kind of come together under dire circumstances and go on their quest then the Bard is there to ease that transition because a lot of these villages first off D&D world's dangerous there's monsters everywhere there's all sorts of weird cults and groups that have nefarious purposes you can understand why an isolated village or town or even like a big city might be mistrustful of outsiders might view them with a bit of suspicion because like we don't know you yeah especially if they come in like armed to the teeth with like animal companions following in tow right it could be a tenant selling and there's all sorts of monsters and things that can look like other people that can you know that can deceive you and so having a bard who like eases that transition maybe they travel ahead of the party a couple of hours and announce the arrival like brave and virtuous citizens of the whatever you know the noble party of such-and-such will be traveling and paving the way for the rest of the group so that you can ease those social tensions and social interactions that they're gonna have now that means you have to have a Dungeon Master who is paying attention to the social relationships of the places that they're creating and the impact that the party has on those things yeah if your NPCs just sit in their shops and taverns and don't do anything until the players interact with them until they walk up at hit X right then that's gonna be less satisfying than if you have a living breathing world where there's agendas going on and the NPCs are doing things regardless of what the player characters are doing and there's a move to the whole thing then the bard is there to navigate that space and to make sure that the party doesn't have to deal with any of this other stuff while they're out there adventuring and then of course the bard is in there in the thick of it with them because they're a full spell caster and they've got a lot of great abilities to support venturing party oh yeah a lot of a lot of that I love that idea though like of the bard showing up a couple of hours ahead like oh I'm hoping to catch this party I've heard tale of their exploits from the minds of family Oliver and I just I heard they were coming this way and they're just having drinks talking them up and then the party walks in oh my it is the heroes of Louisville and then you have this fresh encounter that kind of eases that and now you've built them up in right in the local populace his eyes and mine I travel with you then you just do that every time you like it might be a little tricky why don't you go ahead and go do the of all the character types who are you know equipped to deal with say a mob of angry villagers or something like that with without killing them because there's just a lot of classes that can deal with a mob of angry villagers just fine but it tends to split sure it's being dead a fireball or been raging barbarian like that boil it down to just brass texture then yeah they're just for hit points each they're just for hit points each 10 AC so I think that like you can have a character who can gauge the reaction that the party might receive if they're about to enter town are they gonna run afoul of the authorities so when they come into town or is there a problem there that the bard can start solving yeah before the players arrive so that they can hit the ground running while they're there and the bard sort of acts as like an advanced party when the party finally arrives the bards like oK we've got this this and this that need doing or these are the movers and shakers we should talk to or I've already met with this person and gotten the wheels greased on that yeah now that presents a practical problem at the table where does the Dungeon Master like just focus on bard to DM all the rest of the players do nothing keep those times to a minimum but there's nothing wrong with having someone one time exactly I mean it is the bards shock you are the face right right you know your bard has high charisma they're interacting with people there they're moving and shaking like you said but what if you're a player who isn't necessarily as glib as you imagine your bar to be you don't have the the social acumen you know to grease those wheels the way that you see your character how does a player do that so I we've kind of touched on this before a bit in the previous run down on barge that we did as a player you not being the most charismatic socially savvy type of person should not prevent you from playing a satisfying bard I think I mentioned last time it's one of those weird things where Dungeon Master's and some players sort of get this thing in their head where they're you can play a hyper genius whose mind is capable of bending reality to its will you can play a character who's so strong that they're breaking rocks with their bare hands and wrestling monsters and but for some reason there that we're uncomfortable saying this person is a highly adept social mover and shaker they can read people well they know what people want they know the little nudges to push people in they're a competent liar and most people never find out that this person is is weaving these threads of deception but because the player can't do that that's somehow a penalty on the character and this is this is one of those things where you're gonna have to work with your dungeon master and say like you know I'm not a socially manipulative kind of person I don't want to play someone like that you know whether or not you speak in character or not is one thing I think it's important to describe your intentions to the dungeon master build up a rapport with a certain NPC so that they will trust us my character is trying to flatter their way into the good graces of a nobleman or a noblewoman that they know you know responds well the flattery again you now are required as a dungeon master to have have NPCs with flaws and ideals and motivations and things for the social character in your group to latch on to and it's not I think it's perfectly appropriate for the dungeon master to then say hey you know this NPC to be XY and Z you don't think that that course of action is gonna work and until that player starts getting more and more comfortable describing their social interactions and how they approach things it's up to the dungeon master and the player to make sure they're both on the same page when it comes to a social interaction before or after the roleplay and before our after any roles are made so that everyone knows what's going on what are the stakes and what would we like to accomplish let's face it we're Dean dears here so we're probably kind of socially awkward you're gonna penalize a player for being that way and not being able to be socially adept and maneuverable in the scene that same social awkward nah roll a has in real life at nine or ten story right that's playing the barbarians playing the barbarians like what he can't rip up the phone book in half so write to him I mean I feel we're coming from and I double shame yeah it is adults there and I'm not sure where exactly that comes from honestly but I have encountered it both personally and seen it online I honestly think it is there are people that just don't like bards so there are plenty of people any reason to just be like well how would you like to undercut the effectiveness of a bard and that's just one way well I need you to sing that then yeah so that's I didn't have the guy cut off somebody's head when he went the Barbarian made an attack role right right that's that's something to touch on in a minute about like do you have to sing are you required to create little limericks and palms yeah ends like that no you're not it's fun if you do ya any DM who's like you can't play a bard if you don't sing is one of those dm's that needs to be reminded of what the purpose of the game is yeah it's not to make people jump through stupid little hoops because that's what you want them to do yeah that's that's how I kind of feel about yeah getting back to making sure that you're socially adept mover and shaker type type of character can be played well requires an extra step of clear intentions from both the dungeon master and the player as well as a willingness and a patience to let that player work out their comfort level with portraying that social character give an example in my personal game in my home I've got a brand new player she's been playing for maybe four months now although we're not able to meet that often she was like I want to be a bard she wants to mix it up she wants lots of skills she wants some magic and she wants to like have a character that can get into trouble but for her it's difficult she doesn't like talking in character it's a little bit weird for it's and you know she's just not feeling it but she wants to be she's got high perception high high persuasion high deception and so when we get to those moments where she wants to use those skills or just persuade someone something I basically asked like how do you approach that describe to me the tactic that you're going to use is it flattery how are you going to try to persuade them to your cause you don't need to tell me the actual words your characters saying just give me the feel for the approach that you're using yeah you want to you want to insult them and force them into or you challenge their pride yeah you want to trap Ryder you want to flatter them in a certain way or you want to try to figure out what it is they maybe want so that you can use that as leverage and then it's an a question and answer I will ask clarifying questions until we arrive at a satisfying framework for that scene because if you don't and you make assumptions on your part and you don't get to ask clarifying questions of the players that's when you get in those situations where the players like hold up that's not what I wanted like I wanted something else or that's not what my character would do and and really you want to avoid making as many assumptions about you about your characters as possible do so like just talking it out very long-winded way of saying just talk it out with her yeah you know just talk through you got to think these things through Jim how do you feel about moving on to Santa thar's guides I feel good about there let's go there so you they get there they're there three things yeah they're three like RP hooks the three are your defining work your instrument and your embarrassment yes I do like I'd like that I like as well so defining work what like as a bard what is your what is your defining work what does that mean Toolbar you're gonna need to define what performative aspects your character participates in is it music is that acting is it some other sort of artistic expression up comedy stand-up Cochrane Stuart is a bard like I want to make a John Stewart character who goes around and just talk [ __ ] about the king and a joking manner but you signed up for a bard because performance is something that you want to embrace with your character now you can play a bard where that's not on the table I have but for the most part it like the barbarians rage or the monks sort of perfection of themselves you sign up for a bard because music and performance is something you'd like to include in your character concept are you a recent convert to this is this something that you only recently picked up and you have yet to craft your magnum opus or maybe your magnum opus is a a work in progress that your character workshops and and plays little snippets of and the different towns that they pass through and it's constantly refining it until one day they've released their epoch into the wild perhaps they were you know I had like a one-hit wonder type situation early on and they are writing as far as they can off of that sort of resting on their laurels as long as they can off of that one defining work but they're now chasing after the inspiration for their next big thing and it motivates them they're like oh yeah I have this great hit right out the gate everybody loved that ditty yeah deep blues oh yeah but now I've got nothing and so I adventure to be inspired to more great you know great works yeah you can't play Breakfast at Tiffany's so many times you really can only play it so many times before he gets old oh I will say this because it kind of fits I actually saw them one time in Austin and they played that like the third song and they were literally like alright here's the song I wanted to hear and they play Breakfast at Tiffany's and then I got all right now y'all can go and you could see like about 50 60 people left after they played breakfast with Tiffany's and then I watch the rest show by the way depot something a great band a lot of fun there are many songs I'm like that's a way better song than Breakfast at Tiffany's I actually check that out anyway protip there you go when we think about defining work is it a work in progress is it something that you've already accomplished and now you're sort of chasing the other the next one but think about it like this if it's so popular if what you're doing is so popular and so influential and it's so definitive to you then you might have a rival oh yes who is out to get you a rival who's out to steal your secrets or who out to ruin your good name yeah someone who is there to dog your every step and oh it's like oh I my rivals in the same tavern we've got to have a battle of the bands yeah like we cannot let this stand my rival is in the crowd not gonna we've got a duel you know Dueling Banjos yeah you get there and you find out like wait a minute I'm opening for him you got a [ __ ] up there and you got to rip the house down yeah we're like yeah follow that [ __ ] yeah exactly that's something like Amadeus Mozart kind of stuff yeah that's that's the kind of thing that we're looking at here you know to create rivals and this is how you build a rich full campaign you've not your big plot you've got the thing that's gonna happen and your kingdoms gonna be destroyed or whatever yeah but you've got these other little threads that you just weave in and out occasionally it doesn't always need to be the bard spotlight but when you do shine the spotlight on them draw from their characters background think of the implications of what their characters background means for your setting if they are a bard that performs and people know them that means people don't like them there's always somebody out there people put thumbs down on our videos right like they just average about six to eight I accept the thumbs down we are not for everybody no but you accept that when you perform and you put yourself out there that there are going to be people who do not like you and use that for your bard what if it's a monstrous rival who's like yeah I cannot stand this bard and the beautiful music this bard makes makes my world a living hell and just yeah they are out there to destroy yes thing of beauty that the bard is created now I'm thinking of like a bar that starts out in a small village like maybe next to a mountain and they play in the tavern every night and that music drifts up the mountain to the orcish will orcish whatever yeah I'm a cave it's just like I just hate it I go out hunting every night and the music just drives the game away and all I want to do that becomes the focus in that bar isn't this why the Grendel attacks the the hall and Bale because they're having too much of a good time yeah and the noise that they're making there is offensive to the Grendel see he's just got to come in and rip them all the pieces and eat them up and it's been a while since I've read Beowulf so I could be really wrong about that but I'm not gonna pretend way too long or perhaps it's different perhaps the rival is envious and possessive and jealous and it's like that Bard that's my Bard you I'm going to take them I'm gonna keep them in my castle and my cloud castle in the sky where they will sing for me forever and only this is where like genies and Dragons and Fae who come across your Bard are gonna be like well I'm not gonna kill you but you're gonna sing for me for the rest of your life yeah it's a it that it's a total way like if they they're down in town and they make it they roll a 20 on that performance check oh yeah and there was a dragon Polly morphed into a human who's eroded or something that's just hearts form around that bar yep and then the bard wakes up and they're in a cave yeah I'm sorry yeah the last thing you want is a dragon that's fallen in love with you uh-huh right last thing that you want or or a Fae Lord or lady who are just who's just like oh yeah you were a beautiful mortal like come and sing and dance for my my courts enemy after playing for eight months straight right great great fingers are bleeding a good place for your bar now you know that's a rescue mission a whole bunch of stuff there's obviously a lot packed into the defining work and I think it's it's one of the options that Santa thar's gives you that I think is really rich with possibilities is that defining work written down that means it can be stolen that means it can be copied that means a rival can run around performing it claiming it as their own the instrument is is another one of those that can be a defining feature of a bard is it made from an exotic material or in an unusual shape heirloom item an heirloom item that's part of their past the big question that I that I have there is less like role playing focused and more what to do when the player comes up the concept this instrument is part of my characters past it has meaning and significance to them but that magic item musical instrument that we just got is really awesome when that happens how do you replace a piece of equipment your character starts with that has significance with an upgrade that mechanically is better but doesn't have that resonance with them guy with the two Lutz yeah yeah and so there are ways to there are ways to enchant a musical instrument that yeah that's different than just giving them a new one maybe their musical instrument is blessed by a spirit of music and beauty and performance Lu Lin's are like that they're type of celestial that looked like a winged snake woman that are sort of foster creativity and and wherever creative pursuits are found they're the doorway to their realm is nearby yeah realm being the infinite staircase perhaps it's a spirit like that that blesses the bard or blesses the bards instrument could be that could be enchanted by any number of magical beings or it could just be that the bards natural ability their connection with music and magic and knowledge produces a I'm spinning again it happens it produces a magical effect that it amused the magic into the instrument or the magical instrument was always magical and they just had to get good enough right they had to be good enough to be worthy of the magic of the instrument right also I love the idea going back the dragon who gets the bard in that rescue they maybe like do a counter charm or something so well that amuse descends yeah and they're playing is so like bursting forth of creativity yeah that is so much so that they're like oh I'm gonna bless your item because if you roll a magic item in a dragon horde and the bards they're doing something awesome you know the dragon breathes fire now the thing does a thing things are they yeah there's a lot of different ways than just like replacing a knife yeah yeah you know last but not least is the embarrassment what's like who did the bird sleep with then had to leave to you know they like this so many any number if they got a bad performance oh that broke three strangers yeah the first like that just dogs them and they just cannot get over it or a very impressive performance but the aftermath you know they were caught with someone they weren't supposed to you know you can imagine a bard you know their wanderer they're there they love beauty and performance they bring that into the dreary lives of the peasants that that come to these performances and hear them and you can you can see we're you know amorous trysts and the fairs and things like that might happen and there's always jealous spouses and jealous lovers and all of those kinds of things can be that I'd be honest there's not enough sex and romance and Dungeons & Dragons and it's great fodder for adventures and Dungeon Master's should use more of it and a bard is a good way to introduce some of that yeah because they're an enticing exotic character yeah I mean people will pursue them yeah and seek them out and obviously you know talk with your players about exactly when you want to cut to black you don't have to it doesn't have narrow graphic porno here and that's the kind of game you're playing yeah which case more power to you or you could be the bard that you're the one that plagiarized something and you took someone else's magnum opus yeah because you know you heard it one time it was just somebody in a [ __ ] I'm just sampling yeah it's just a same sample you mentioned earlier in the show yeah that the bards their culmination of these three things yeah these three kind of magic knowledge and music yeah these three things define the bard for men music is one of those that I think is the biggest contention for a lot of people when you see people that they don't like bards you hear things like well it's really stupid that someone would bust out a mandolin in the middle of a dank dungeon while while we're knife fighting with a bunch of bugbears and play a jaunty little ditty on their on their tiny little stringed instrument yeah yes that image is stupid yeah sometimes sometimes it's kind of interesting but I was gonna say if you're in the middle of all that I'm sorry and then somebody just was in the back just like losing an embarrassing that meme of somewhere and you know we're the guys with the acoustic guitar and he's and he's in the he's the last in a stack yeah there's like a bunch of other operators with their guns behind them and that's one thing and I will admit that the poofy sleeved floppy hat wearing prancing bard in the brutal grim edge of our you know we're fighting for our lives type of Dungeons and Dragons there's an incongruity there yeah but you're not gonna convince me at all that music does not belong in combat right you were not because whether it is music that helps soldiers stay in step and stay in formation and and you know provides a cadence and rhythm to the battle or its music designed to get you pumped up and to focus on the fight and to just keep your adrenaline pumping music has a place in violence it's been used it has yes sir right you're blaring war horns to intimidate the enemy right war horn no or drums a dirge is the haka the New Zealand Mike Weir I mean what is that they're doing a cadence in a dance to scare the [ __ ] out of people right or to get themselves pumped to get themselves pumped up and it has to mean being something because what the New Zealand team there of the New Zealand Australian football team is like undefeated or some [ __ ] as they do this haka oh boy does the other team sit over there like and this is what's going back to is like if they're doing that right before fighting like you might be like courser dc1 and they have a system they know what's going and you know you're fighting a group of people who are in a perfect unison unity and harmony they're in this violence it could be a tad unsettling and so it is worthwhile to think about how your bards instruments maybe they have different instruments for different situations and the delicate harps and lutes and stringed instruments that require precision and skill and are delicate in and of themselves they come out in the taverns but when it's down in the dungeon its drums and horns yeah and percussion and rhythm yeah and it's something more primal and and it's like the blood flowing through your body and the bard is in the back getting you ready for that slinging spells offering inspiration shouting out encouraging words that's where I see the bard in the action yeah you can't tell me that you can watch the scene in Apocalypse Now where the helicopters are flying in literally turns on the right of all threes because it scares the [ __ ] out of them yeah I mean like that's what we're talking about here yeah right and then there's there's a place for the Bard after a fight right this if you've played the video game darkest dungeon part of the reason why you bring the the Bard analog that's in that video game along is because after a fight you got to reduce your stress you got to heal up and the Bard is also there if you take these characters seriously if you take them as you pretend that they're real people you pretend that they inhabit a real place then something like a series of five or six brutal fights in a dark dungeon where your life is on the line the long rest of its coming after that is there's there's probably a lot of D stressors going on and a lot of characters and and I think I find that the role players who factor that into their role-playing descriptions post-fight we're like yeah my character does this after a battle or this is their ritual to D distress or or something that the bard has a place there and providing soothing music that's the song of rest that they get that they you know you heal a little bit extra whenever you rest with the bard that that's where that kind of stuff comes in and it's time to cool down it's time to forget the fact that our lives were just on the line and celebrate the fact that we are alive and we overcame our enemies and those are the kinds of moments where a bards music and their performance comes in and it doesn't have to be music you can recite epic poetry you can tell Jodi tell jokes you can mock the enemy vicious mockery is obviously a part of this but just like taunting and mocking and what a bunch of scum what a bunch of incompetent your weak sword arms and here battered shields will never stand against us that kind of thing is the way to the battle Bard Oh totally totally and and moving in into the the magic yeah like like like how does that manifest itself yeah like how did you get that magic like is it you know college how does it come out so there's three primary charisma casters bard sorcerer and warlock the sorcerer hat and they were born this way or an event unlocked magical potential that's inside them and their mastery of themselves leads to mastery of the magic that's within them etc the warlock compacts with extra planar entities in order to gain strange and wonderful powers that they then used through force of will and personality themselves but the bard is one of those where they're a charisma caster I think not because it the demands of the story but because they're a charisma class their abilities are factored around charisma based skills they're a social character it makes sense that charisma would be the primary stat for a bard and this is one of those things where I would allow a player to do this where they might say I want my spell casting only to be intelligence based everything else can be based on charisma you're more of a storyteller you're more of a storyteller you collect stories and then the collecting of those stories you collect magic snippets and you learn magic and by drips and drabs and you're a dabbler at first you know part of fifth edition in making barge full spell casters sort of gets rid of that Bard's as the dabbler the the sort of jack-of-all-trades i know a little bit of magic a little bit of skills a little bit of something else elevates them to full casters but it's worthwhile to think like how did you learn those things how did you learn the magic and I think an intelligence based casting for a bard really signifies like I collect little bits and pieces and over the course of that I put them together maybe I have found an old wizard spell book here a couple of spell scrolls there maybe a prayer book over here I'm collecting magic from different traditions and bringing it together in a way that makes sense for me that's that's my case for an intelligence based castra bard right like Aesop's fables like you have a bard that is a SUP just collecting all these stories and those are his spells and out of those stories comes the type of man locus right it's also the magnum opus maybe it's their book of of stories that they tell that becomes a kind of pseudo spell book but you don't have to have the intelligence base you can do all of this with just charisma but it's worthwhile to think of where does your magic come from what does it look like is it tied in to your magic when you cast a spell or is your magical is your musical instrument part of your focus or the way that you channel magic do you sing and then the music of creation wills the spell into existence and you know a certain type of music or a certain type of language that you can speak in that unlocks that magic you don't have to study it you don't have to have it within you you don't have to go deal with an extra planer into your god you just like there's a magic in music and you know a secret to get that others don't you that you can then conjure those yeah the exact note to pluck vibrate let's not even get into the vibrational music just like oh I can ya beat this drum a certain way or well I mean this engine I just think of uh was it Kung Fu Hustle you don't fight at the slogs you have three people playing the I can't remember the name of the actual Japanese in China but it's the big long lap guitar thing uh they're probably just ripping things apart yeah I mean like there you go there you go that's an inspiration right there you know thinking about what it what it looks like when it manifests and how they came by it where'd you go where did you get that knowledge they're called bard colleges the college of glamour the college of lore the College of valor and others besides and it's worthwhile to think are those literal colleges that a prospective bard goes to to learn their magic to learn the knowledge that they will need when they go out into the world and and help others and and bring beauty and joy into their lives and and spread information are they more metaphorical colleges where it's not a literal place that you go but it is instead a sense of camaraderie and Brotherhood amongst other bards yeah you went to the school of hard knocks right yeah there's no physical location for it but there's a common language of common understanding and when you when two bards meet each other on the road it's you know practice to you know spin the evening together exchanging stories and notes and and performing together or something like that because you are part of the same fraternity or fellowship of like-minded individuals I think it's worth thinking about that because what the place is it a literal college or is the metaphorical college is it you know is there a normal organization for bards or is it more just a loose affiliation if anything all of those things the answers to those questions and will help the player understand what kind of magic they have what kind of knowledge they have and then it lets them you know that not thinking and churning and brainstorming for your character when when interacted with the DM setting and you've got a session zero or pregame talk when you're like I want this is how I see my character and then you start to build up things and in that building up you're also giving the dungeon master ammunition to use to integrate your character into the wider world with their created Oh No Game of Thrones man Ramsay Bolton when he took Winterfell and the guys come up and they're just blowing a horn all night ya know kill ya Ramsay Bolton comes up and Beyond Greyjoy's like and I'll give it all to whoever kills ya people hey bards you know I think it's one of those things where in order for the kind of plots and schemes that a bard is good at to play out it takes time and if you if you're playing the style of D&D that's just like go go go go go go go go go kick down this door long rest short rest go go go next encounter next encounter and you don't give time for bards to work their magic which is slow and and I'm talking like not just spells but like they're what the bar does best requires time in order to switch an NPC from being a someone that mildly distrust the party to a staunch ally yeah that takes time it takes the bard character and and the rogue player and all the others the party working in conjunction to allow the bard to work little by little to bring that NPC around we talk about music as psychological warfare it's the same thing it's like oh we've got to go against those orcs that are up in the hills then we can start that by by by trying to psych them out by playing a song or scares that scares them or something like drives them nuts or drives them nuts or just like whips them into such a frothing frenzy that you can draw them into a trap yeah or or make them do something stupid or foolish yeah are you you know you finally figured out that spell that is the brown note the brown we make people fit themselves on a guitar you know that's your stunning attack yeah there's a lot you can do with right I mean it all is any of these classes we could talk about a specific rival whether it's like a fighters rival who like no matter what they remember the Harvey Keitel the duelists you remember that one where it's like the three or four duels across these two cavalry officers lives that they they go through you can do something like that with a fighter where it's like yeah there's a guy who I just we can't stand each other and when we meet we have to fight like we just can't not but every time something prevents one or the other of us from finishing it yeah you know now and patience yeah in Firefly do you shoot you once everybody's making a fuss it's so rivals or one but I think something like a bard of rival works really well because I want to be a rival that's like not true cuz it's a rival that's not trying to kill them Tupac and Biggie I mean come on yeah like they are literally bards that are right that were rivals right no yeah yeah he hates all that joyous noise coming up plenty of monsters that hate beauty and truth and Dungeons and Dragons and the Bard represents beauty yeah joy is hateful and yari and sounds out of tune for him yeah it sounds discordant someone's having a good time I gotta go stop them yeah

Channel: Web DM

Views: 149,216

Rating: 4.9607415 out of 5

Keywords: Dungeons, Dragons, Role, Playing, Tabletop, Game, 5th, Edition, 5e, Web, DM, WebDM, D&D, DND, dungeons and dragons, Dungeons & Dragons, bard, bards, 5e bard, bard 5e, 5e bard build, 5e bard colleges, 5e character creation, geek & sundry, geek and sundry, gm tips, dm tips, player tips, how to rp, bard song, skald, glamour, vicious mockery, how to play a bard, inspiration, bardic inspiration, rpgs, funny, d&d story, character, player, player character, dnd bard, d&d bard, dungeons and dragons bard

Id: De1X7kgvkKE

Length: 38min 37sec (2317 seconds)

Published: Wed May 23 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/SirAppleheart]

I love the topic of why there is an expectation for high charisma to be role-played very directly, but high strength is okay to just be done by the character.

I've come across this too many times, and it stinks. I am not a poet or a singer, by a long-shot. :D

[u/[deleted]]

A glorious thumbnail.

[u/69001001011]

Great episode, but I'm a bit disappointed that you guys barely mentioned any type of bard except for ones that use music. I find bards that give inspirational speeches, or recite epic poetry, or their words simply have the power to manipulate the world to their whim are way more interesting than ones who play music.

Although now I want to play a bard who had to play for a dragon for several months, escaped and joins an adventuring party despite his scarred hands, carpal tunnel, and arthritis.

[u/AnActualTalkingApe]

A great example of a bard in action is Cyrano de Bergerac. The 1950 film has the first sword fight occur when the Marquis insults Cyrano's comically large nose. Cyrano spends a few minutes roasting the Marquis, before composing a rhyming couplet during a sword fight and wounding him...classic bard.

[u/mildlyinterestingyet]

I hate stuff like this. Our DM forces the player to sing at the table whenever their bard uses their abilities. This means no one will play a Bard; effectively deleting a useful class from the book. I tied to argue that the PHB states that bards can create their music from drumming or wind instruments, but nope you have to sing. I even said why don't player's with wizard characters have to say their incantations when they cast magic then? He said Bardic magic is different. This sort of "role-playing" (actually it's acting) ruins the game for many people. If I wanted to do acting I'd go join a LARP.

edit: turns out I replied to the video not to the comment I intended to. As it is the video suggests it is quite reasonable to play a bard without singing. I'll see if my DM will watch this.

[u/haragos]

I've just had a campaign where I played my Bard of many editions and the DM refused to have any downtime. Non-stop combat. Ugh.. It's so frustrating for social inclined characters.

[u/Govika]

Do these guys have a subreddit?

[u/Spoonunit]

I see all these people talking about DM's making their players sing if they want to play a Bard.

While I'm sitting here worried for my group because I want to play an obnoxious Bard that belts out random over the top songs.

[u/Dagos657]

I envy my buddy who can play a (tambura? I think it’s called? Sounds like the “guitar” used in much of diablo 3’s soundtrack) and bought it with him when he played his bard character. He would play idly, softly whenever we camped and had our party discussions, and sometimes struck up a up-beat tone during combat, or went more slow and soothing if he tried to cast a sleep spell or so. Bloody great, really