How to enjoy playing a bard?

[Mansen]

Edit: Thanks for the feedback and thoughts, folks. I'll bookmark the thread for later and digest it.

I've been bouncing between character concepts, and the Bard keeps rearing its ugly head every so often.

But I just can't seem to "connect" with the class. How do you people do it genuinely? It feels so jack of all trades to me

Without having the old 3rd edition song selections, and playing an instrument by yourself feeling silly, I'm struggling to see both a thematic and meta build for BG3 specifically.

I'm currently playing a Level 1 Tempest Cleric multiclassed into Bard (mostly for the heavy armour, to and then forego dex for CHA and STR) trying to force myself through Act 1, but I can already feel the interest vaning slowly as I leave the Druid camp for the first time.

[Non-binary Tiddies]

I love playing bard. It's hard for me not to keep making bards. First thing you need to do is decide if you are going to go for a damage, buffing, or magic focused build. I prefer Sword Bard/Thief Rogue with dual hand crossbows for maxed range damage, but Bardlock is a good dueling build. Valour will buff your other teammates. Lore bards hang back and throw spells, insults, and debuffs on enemies.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Mansen:

How to enjoy playing a bard?
I've been bouncing between character concepts, and the Bard keeps rearing its ugly head every so often.

But I just can't seem to "connect" with the class. How do you people do it genuinely? It feels so jack of all trades to me

Without having the old 3rd edition song selections, and playing an instrument by yourself feeling silly, I'm struggling to see both a thematic and meta build for BG3 specifically.

I'm currently playing a Level 1 Tempest Cleric multiclassed into Bard (mostly for the heavy armour, to and then forego dex for CHA and STR) trying to force myself through Act 1, but I can already feel the interest vaning slowly as I leave the Druid camp for the first time.

Then do not play bard. You do not need to force yourself, though.
Personally I recommend a Fighter 2/Bard 10 combo, especially when you "aim" for heavy armour. Tempest Cleric on everything makes no sense.

Bard is sort of Jack of All Trades. And unless you determine how you want to play them, you are better off with something else you like.

Sword Bard who can teleport with dual wielding is incredibly strong in melee and range with the focus on DEX instead of STR. If you do not want a Jack of All Trades you might enjoy much more Rogue/Ranger.

[Anna]

I finished the game as a Bard. At first I thought it would be just a weak healer. I was so wrong. I chose College of Swords and my bard pretty much became a cool fighter with some interesting maneuvres, extra attack, medium armor, shield and at the end a legandary weapon. Using defensive maneuvre my AC was 26... unstoppable :) Spells were a cherry on the top.

[Mansen]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Then do not play bard. You do not need to force yourself, though.

I did get carried away a bit - I'm moreso curious as to how other players play and enjoy them, than try to force myself to adapt.

[causality]

Mentioning sword college bug abuse speed run any %.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Mansen:

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Then do not play bard. You do not need to force yourself, though.

I did get carried away a bit - I'm moreso curious as to how other players play and enjoy them, than try to force myself to adapt.

In that case there is much to tell, and it depends on the people and their playstyle. In particular because the bard is a Jack of All Trades it is easily played very different depending on your party composition. Some use them mainly as support/debuffer which the bard is very strong in, especially with the debuffing role. Others are more into "I want a rogue, but with magic". Others again are the faction of "handsome face who can do everything" because they want their main character actually to be able to do everything instead of being dependant on certain party members which you either keep as static "always with us" or have them switch out or respecced depending on the situation.

Anna's example is great too with shield an high AC. I like on the other hand dual wielding which allows me to use DEX -> making my bard good in melee with finesse as well as in ranged attacks. Pair it with e.g. Sussur blade for silencing enemies and lifesteal blade with crits -> you get a different playstyle than playing it with poison blade and elemental blade.

I use poisons, effect arrows and throwing stuff a lot too, while others do not. You just have too much what the bard can do to limit yourself, and if you like it you are gold.

But that does not make the bard superior to other classes or especially unique. You can get similar effects with Warlock just by using Pact of the Blade.

My suggestion with ANY CLASS you are unsure about: have patience. They shine especially later on wheras at the beginning the pure classics seem to be stronger.
Classics aka Fighter, White Mage, Thief, Red Mage.

[donastree]

I'm running a Monk/Bard multi on Balanced atm, and it's pretty alright (taking 3 levels in Bard, going Lore for the skill monkey, and the rest in Monk)? I'm not particularly high Charisma, but the Bard conversation options are plenty useful, Jack-of-All is helping me all over the place, and it's just making a lot of things more fun/reliable. I'm not worried about debuffs and damage, but keeping the focus on buffs and assisting, where my measly +1 bonus doesn't matter much...when I'm not beating things with my fists. XD

(For example, Longstrider + Monk's bonus movement/options is just nuts, and talk with animals is highly useful. And amusing. Feather Fall let's me safely traverse areas, and so on)

I wouldn't say this is anything like a powerful build, and it would certainly be worse in 5e proper, but it's letting me do what I want to do in-game, and as an enabler, those Bard levels are more than pulling their weight.

[FunkyMonkey]

I played Paladin 2 / Swords bard 10. It's amazing. You get Smites, Paladin spells (Bless, Shield of Faith...), flourishes, inspiration, heavy armor... I went sword & board, used Belm to get bonus action attack (3 attacks per round end-game) and at Bard level 10 chose Spirit guardians as one of my magical secrets. It was really strong all through the game.

[nullpo]

multiclass sword bard with warlock. You basically have a strong melee fighter with great ranged option in eldritch blast, and you also have the ability to gaslight people in act 2

[The1Kobra]

Bards are an extremely versatile class. They have extra attack, full spellcasting, a decent number of proficiencies, so there's a lot bards can do.

How I built mine was:
Stats:
13/16/12/8/10/16
2 Paladin (Oath of Ancients) 10 Bard (College of Swords)
Both feats went into bringing DEX up to 20

This build can do a lot, casting at CL11, it has enough spellslots to use for paladin smites AND college of swords song-strikes. Jack of all trades means it is good for a lot of the skillchecks. And you can dual wield hand crossbows for good melee damage.

Has a good debuff with hypnotic pattern, utility spells, and the 20 DEX means the AC is very strong too, so makes a good tank. Get the defense combat style from paladin and you can hit 29 AC unbuffed by the end of the game.

[Illuminary]

Originally posted by Mansen:

Edit: Thanks for the feedback and thoughts, folks. I'll bookmark the thread for later and digest it.

I've been bouncing between character concepts, and the Bard keeps rearing its ugly head every so often.

But I just can't seem to "connect" with the class. How do you people do it genuinely? It feels so jack of all trades to me

Without having the old 3rd edition song selections, and playing an instrument by yourself feeling silly, I'm struggling to see both a thematic and meta build for BG3 specifically.

I'm currently playing a Level 1 Tempest Cleric multiclassed into Bard (mostly for the heavy armour, to and then forego dex for CHA and STR) trying to force myself through Act 1, but I can already feel the interest vaning slowly as I leave the Druid camp for the first time.

Equip two hand crossbows, select swords bard, find gear that buffs ranged damage, maybe select sharpshooter, find more gear that increases bardic inspiration charges, and profit.

[E man]

Bards are a ton of fun. However, it's not the easiest class to "get into" since they don't really "kick into gear" until Level 6/7. But come Act 2 you will start to notice a huge spike in power and enjoyment. In my experience; Lore and Sword are a bit more exciting than Valor. I've played all 3 Colleges and even tried some Multi-classing.

Because the Bard starts slow, when "Barding" it's tempting to take an early dip into a few levels of Warlock, Fighter or Paladin, since level 11 & 12 Bard aren't overwhelming. You end up sacrificing "Eyebite" and/or "Otto's Irresistible Dance" and 1 ASI for stuff like Smites, Eldritch Blast and Action Surge....... it's a tough call.

But you can't go wrong with straight up 12th level Bard either. Lore is probably the "strongest". But that also depends on your party composition. Bard can fill in for Caster/Melee/Stealth/Healer. So, at the end of the day, build your Bard to compliment your party. Just expect them to be "the weakest link" in Act 1 before they turn into the GLUE that holds it all together and the GREASE that makes the motor hum!