1. Some spells that bards get are better than wizards, but you can take spells from different classes from magical secrets.
2. The best races are human, half elf, tiefling and Lightfoot halfling. Any race with increase to charisma is good.
3. Not really. Just make sure you read the abilities a few times, just to make sure you understand. The only hard one is bardic inspiration, but that isn't too complicated.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
Playing a bard is a lot of fun if you're in a RP group. But when it comes to mechanics there are two questions to ask ... How big is the party? Do I need to be a direct damage dealing character?
If you have a small party (I would say less than four including yourself) then a bard is a potential hindrance because there are few players for you to buff. One of the mechanical aspects of a bard is to buff your team. The second question get further down into the weeds. What is the make-up of your party? If your party is light on tanky players, you may as a member of the party find yourself in combat taking melee damage often. You will have to decide if you want to force your bard to be a tanky player.
Woven into all these questions is, "Do you want to play a bard with that type of build?" If you have a big party, do you want to play a support bard? If not, you'll be struggling to get into combat with your fighting bard to keep up with the tanky players. You may find yourself wishing you just played a barbarian or something else. If you have a small party and need to be in the thick of things, again, will you wish you played something else?
I currently have a Lore Bard in a party of seven PCs. I am enjoying the game but with seven people I don't get to have long conversations with NPCs to get information, which is one thing I enjoy about playing a bard. I like to ask the right questions and convince NPC to give me the information I want, preferably without having to deceive them. I recently received an Elven Chain Mail that really boosts my AC because you don't have to be proficient with medium armor to be proficient with Elven chain. I have an AC of 16, which is pretty good for a bard. My other melee liability is I use my rapier and a dagger when I'm not holding my flute as a spellcasting focus. Both weapons do piercing damage. We've fought several monsters that have resistance to piercing damage.
Good luck and enjoy the game.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
i have been thinking to use a bard character in my first campaign but i have a few questions about it: \
1: are the spells from the bard better than the wizard?
2: What are the best races for the bard?
3: is the bard complicated to use?
1. The Wizard spell list has basically everything except healing. The Bard spell list concentrates on a few areas: supportive buffs, controlling debuffs, light healing, and non combat utility. It's pretty low on damaging spells, but as a Bard you also get to steal a handful of spells from any spell list so you can fill in some of those gaps. So do you want a massive and complete toolkit, or do you want half that toolkit with a few tool of your choice stolen from anyone?
2. Any race that has a Charisma bonus, but really any race you want for roelplay purposes. Don't feel like you must optimize, just have fun!
3. Ehh ... kinda? For people who want a simpler play experience I usually recommend against spellcasters, and Bards are definitely full casters.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
i have been thinking to use a bard character in my first campaign but i have a few questions about it: \
1: are the spells from the bard better than the wizard?
2: What are the best races for the bard?
3: is the bard complicated to use?
1. That's subjective and depends on what a person wants to do with those spells. Wizards are generally better spell casters because of arcane recovery, spell availability (prep vs known), a better ritual mechanic, and subclasses that enhance spell casting. Bards can heal (IF they learn those spells) and any spell that uses ability checks is better in the bard's hands. Magical secrets gets over-rated and generally doesn't come online until the third tier, but it's still a really nice feature.
2. Variant humans or half-elves are generally the best for a bard, imo. An extra feat or half-elf ability score allocation are good if a person is learning the class.
3. 5e is forgiving for most classes to learn. That's the point of the apprentice tier as well as using a simpler sytem in general (to avoid system mastery requirements). A few spells and bardic inspiration is not very complex in play. I think spell preparation requires familiarity with a larger number of spells sooner if a person plans on using that prep. I would pick one based on what you like and not worry about complexity in either unless starting at a higher level.
Both classes stress versatility but the bard is more of a renaissance class that becomes proficient in multiple areas while the wizard focuses on spell casting. How you envision your character would be the better way to decide because both are good choices.
Vicious Mockery - disadvantage is a KILLER, particularly when facing a Rogue. Best use is on someone that planned on having advantage against you and they are stuck with nothing. Still use it at level 20.
Faerie Fire. Best first level spell, period.
Bestow Curse. Really good FIFTH level spell (read the higher level casting)
Animate Object
Raise Dead
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i have been thinking to use a bard character in my first campaign but i have a few questions about it: \
1: are the spells from the bard better than the wizard?
2: What are the best races for the bard?
3: is the bard complicated to use?
1. Some spells that bards get are better than wizards, but you can take spells from different classes from magical secrets.
2. The best races are human, half elf, tiefling and Lightfoot halfling. Any race with increase to charisma is good.
3. Not really. Just make sure you read the abilities a few times, just to make sure you understand. The only hard one is bardic inspiration, but that isn't too complicated.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Playing a bard is a lot of fun if you're in a RP group. But when it comes to mechanics there are two questions to ask ... How big is the party? Do I need to be a direct damage dealing character?
If you have a small party (I would say less than four including yourself) then a bard is a potential hindrance because there are few players for you to buff. One of the mechanical aspects of a bard is to buff your team. The second question get further down into the weeds. What is the make-up of your party? If your party is light on tanky players, you may as a member of the party find yourself in combat taking melee damage often. You will have to decide if you want to force your bard to be a tanky player.
Woven into all these questions is, "Do you want to play a bard with that type of build?" If you have a big party, do you want to play a support bard? If not, you'll be struggling to get into combat with your fighting bard to keep up with the tanky players. You may find yourself wishing you just played a barbarian or something else. If you have a small party and need to be in the thick of things, again, will you wish you played something else?
I currently have a Lore Bard in a party of seven PCs. I am enjoying the game but with seven people I don't get to have long conversations with NPCs to get information, which is one thing I enjoy about playing a bard. I like to ask the right questions and convince NPC to give me the information I want, preferably without having to deceive them. I recently received an Elven Chain Mail that really boosts my AC because you don't have to be proficient with medium armor to be proficient with Elven chain. I have an AC of 16, which is pretty good for a bard. My other melee liability is I use my rapier and a dagger when I'm not holding my flute as a spellcasting focus. Both weapons do piercing damage. We've fought several monsters that have resistance to piercing damage.
Good luck and enjoy the game.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Bards am fun
1. The Wizard spell list has basically everything except healing. The Bard spell list concentrates on a few areas: supportive buffs, controlling debuffs, light healing, and non combat utility. It's pretty low on damaging spells, but as a Bard you also get to steal a handful of spells from any spell list so you can fill in some of those gaps. So do you want a massive and complete toolkit, or do you want half that toolkit with a few tool of your choice stolen from anyone?
2. Any race that has a Charisma bonus, but really any race you want for roelplay purposes. Don't feel like you must optimize, just have fun!
3. Ehh ... kinda? For people who want a simpler play experience I usually recommend against spellcasters, and Bards are definitely full casters.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
1. That's subjective and depends on what a person wants to do with those spells. Wizards are generally better spell casters because of arcane recovery, spell availability (prep vs known), a better ritual mechanic, and subclasses that enhance spell casting. Bards can heal (IF they learn those spells) and any spell that uses ability checks is better in the bard's hands. Magical secrets gets over-rated and generally doesn't come online until the third tier, but it's still a really nice feature.
2. Variant humans or half-elves are generally the best for a bard, imo. An extra feat or half-elf ability score allocation are good if a person is learning the class.
3. 5e is forgiving for most classes to learn. That's the point of the apprentice tier as well as using a simpler sytem in general (to avoid system mastery requirements). A few spells and bardic inspiration is not very complex in play. I think spell preparation requires familiarity with a larger number of spells sooner if a person plans on using that prep. I would pick one based on what you like and not worry about complexity in either unless starting at a higher level.
Both classes stress versatility but the bard is more of a renaissance class that becomes proficient in multiple areas while the wizard focuses on spell casting. How you envision your character would be the better way to decide because both are good choices.
Best Bard spells: