I once saw a YouTube comment with a really cool idea. This person played a Japanese based bard. Whenever they used bardic inspiration, they wrote a haiku and gave it to the player. I think there are plenty of cool ways to make non-musical bards.
Song and music is the easiest to pull off - remember a turn is just 6 seconds so you can't really inspire people in combat by making a sculpture or painting the Mona Lisa. Orating poems, giving a short but rousing speech, stand up comedy style jokes etc are all plausible alternatives. For out of combat situations then yes, using other art forms is completely viable. I have seen performance art, acrobatic style demonstrations, clown and mime acts etc.
I had the idea a while back to be a Bard who inspired through dad jokes, since I'm always making them at the table anyway. As a matter of fact, I'm in a campaign with an Eloquence Bard now. I think going to adopt that. Unsettling Words will be a dad joke that is so bad, the target facepalms, letting its guard down.
Just like everyone else here, bards can absolutely have their muse not song/music related. My first bard was a story teller and in the same campaign we had another bard who was a chef.
dance is a very common alternative to song that showed up even in 2nd edition when the Bard was most heavily wrapped up in musical performances for their powers. With multiple kit's that would now be considered subclasses based around it in some ways and elements of that are still found in things like the Valor Bard and the Swords Bard.
Bard of creation ask the dm to change the musical proficiencyies for artisan tools, you are a toy maker from the feywild now, can get an elf or a gnome race for it (2024 rules) then change the starting equipment, instead of the lute which is really expensive, allow some of the artisan tools and a component pouch, which is the same as an arcane focus
now you create stuff, with and without magic, you can say you are a gifter that once a year gift people toys to them to enjoy, or that simple minded as youa re, you enjoy making toys and tools and experiment with magic, you are now the magic item crafter of the group, and as a being of the feywild, items showing up from nowhere is "normal", like, they may need to open a closed door, and your lv6 bards goes like "why dont we use this cannon?" and use the song of creation feature to show up a cannon that wasnt there before hell, you can be a looney toon/animaniac and do weird shenanigans like using a cape to attract a minotaur to hit you but appear a big 600lb anvil behind of the cape so he crash into it in a very bugs bunny fashion style, and if you choosed gnome, you are "small" which by RAW you can enter spaces "tiny" like rabbit holes, heck, you can later on cast Reduce on yourself to be tiny and can crawl under a door in a very hammer space stuff of things To lv14 you can literally do the "why dont we use this thing i just found?" and show up a literal Huge Trebuchet out of nowhere or just summon a bazooka or a antimatter rifle to annihilate enemies
you are the encarnation of the meme of "i will defeat you with the magic of friendship!... and this gun i found..."
I am interested in a bard that the magic comes through dance. Is It possible?
Interpretive dance, flamenco, salsa, and/or swing dance could work. They all work for both solo and duet acts, and they’re all very expressive if you want them to be. Bards are performers, not just musicians. Even a comedian could work for the bard class.
If we're resurrecting this five-year-old thread anyway, it's probably worth pointing out that there's an entire Dance-based Bard subclass in the 2024 Player's Handbook.
and lets not forget the Creation bard, that with phb2024 rules, creation of stuff is awesome, so a bard that instead of musician is an artesan, is way cooler in a looney toon shenanigan of "look, i have a bigger hammer now" and pulls up a giant's hammer for the barbarian to use or a literal Trebuchet to destroy a tower, and yes, it can be a musician creation, but i rather use comedy instead on that one, or artisan, or anything else than just music
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I am interested in a bard that the magic comes through dance. Is It possible?
I once saw a YouTube comment with a really cool idea. This person played a Japanese based bard. Whenever they used bardic inspiration, they wrote a haiku and gave it to the player. I think there are plenty of cool ways to make non-musical bards.
What am I supposed to do with a signature?
Egg
Imo a bard can be any kind of artist who inspires people... Could be a storyteller, a dancer, a writer, a poet.. Whatever your heart desires :)
Any kind of performance. A public speaker inspiring a crowd, an actor, a grandiose personality.
Bards don't need to be musically based. It's just another medium used to perform.
"No pity, no remorse, no fear!"
Song and music is the easiest to pull off - remember a turn is just 6 seconds so you can't really inspire people in combat by making a sculpture or painting the Mona Lisa. Orating poems, giving a short but rousing speech, stand up comedy style jokes etc are all plausible alternatives. For out of combat situations then yes, using other art forms is completely viable. I have seen performance art, acrobatic style demonstrations, clown and mime acts etc.
I had the idea a while back to be a Bard who inspired through dad jokes, since I'm always making them at the table anyway. As a matter of fact, I'm in a campaign with an Eloquence Bard now. I think going to adopt that. Unsettling Words will be a dad joke that is so bad, the target facepalms, letting its guard down.
Bard (College of the Masterchef) casts Viscious Mockery:
Just like everyone else here, bards can absolutely have their muse not song/music related. My first bard was a story teller and in the same campaign we had another bard who was a chef.
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How about a Bard of Creation, whose performance is in making Origami. Could be very flavourful
College of Swords... that's basically dancing, with pointy stuff in your hands.
I like making Lore or Eloquence bards who are just really good at public speaking, so I would say that they don't need to be musically inclined
dance is a very common alternative to song that showed up even in 2nd edition when the Bard was most heavily wrapped up in musical performances for their powers. With multiple kit's that would now be considered subclasses based around it in some ways and elements of that are still found in things like the Valor Bard and the Swords Bard.
College of Whispers Bard who's an actor and who sounds like Vincent Price. Have him read Poe for inspiration.
"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality."
Confuse the enemy and your team while providing them "impetus" to end the fight. :)
Bard of creation
ask the dm to change the musical proficiencyies for artisan tools, you are a toy maker from the feywild now, can get an elf or a gnome race for it (2024 rules)
then change the starting equipment, instead of the lute which is really expensive, allow some of the artisan tools and a component pouch, which is the same as an arcane focus
now you create stuff, with and without magic, you can say you are a gifter that once a year gift people toys to them to enjoy, or that simple minded as youa re, you enjoy making toys and tools and experiment with magic, you are now the magic item crafter of the group, and as a being of the feywild, items showing up from nowhere is "normal", like, they may need to open a closed door, and your lv6 bards goes like "why dont we use this cannon?" and use the song of creation feature to show up a cannon that wasnt there before
hell, you can be a looney toon/animaniac and do weird shenanigans like using a cape to attract a minotaur to hit you but appear a big 600lb anvil behind of the cape so he crash into it in a very bugs bunny fashion style, and if you choosed gnome, you are "small" which by RAW you can enter spaces "tiny" like rabbit holes, heck, you can later on cast Reduce on yourself to be tiny and can crawl under a door in a very hammer space stuff of things
To lv14 you can literally do the "why dont we use this thing i just found?" and show up a literal Huge Trebuchet out of nowhere or just summon a bazooka or a antimatter rifle to annihilate enemies
you are the encarnation of the meme of "i will defeat you with the magic of friendship!... and this gun i found..."
Interpretive dance, flamenco, salsa, and/or swing dance could work. They all work for both solo and duet acts, and they’re all very expressive if you want them to be. Bards are performers, not just musicians. Even a comedian could work for the bard class.
If we're resurrecting this five-year-old thread anyway, it's probably worth pointing out that there's an entire Dance-based Bard subclass in the 2024 Player's Handbook.
pronouns: he/she/they
and lets not forget the Creation bard, that with phb2024 rules, creation of stuff is awesome, so a bard that instead of musician is an artesan, is way cooler in a looney toon shenanigan of "look, i have a bigger hammer now" and pulls up a giant's hammer for the barbarian to use or a literal Trebuchet to destroy a tower, and yes, it can be a musician creation, but i rather use comedy instead on that one, or artisan, or anything else than just music