Infamous 1e Class Guide: Bards

 Introduction

The Bard is by far the most difficult class to roll, and certainly one of the most challenging to play. Bards are more of a class-combination rather than a more streamlined class, being a Fighter, Thief, and Druid simultaneously. This creates an incredible jack-of-all-trades class which can easily be a team all on it's own. To play a Bard, one must have a minimum of 15 in Strength, 12 in Intelligence, 15 in Wisdom, 15 in Dexterity, 10 in Constitution, and 15 in Charisma. Bards are a very rare case in even standard 1st edition, but in Infamous they are nigh impossible to roll. They are however a very rewarding class, providing the user with an abundance of hit dice, combat potential, utility skills, and spells. Bards must always be of some form of neutral in alignment, though may be good or evil, lawful or chaotic. Bards must be Human or Half-Elven, with the maximum Bard level always being 23.

How Does This Even Work

The adventure leading up to the assumption of the Bard class is a very strange one indeed, having the Bard character in question hopping from class to class until Bard level can be attained. Bards will always begin the game as a Fighter, and must remain exclusively a Fighter until at least 5th level. After this, and at any time prior to attaining 8th level, the character may freely switch over to that of the Thief class. In this state the character will not lose any Fighter abilities, and will gain experience as a Thief while keeping Fighter abilities and proficiencies. After this, and at any time before attaining a combined level of 9, the character must then switch to a "Druid" class, though at this stage the character is considered a full Bard. Any character wishing to become a Bard must fulfill the requirements of all the above classes, hence the requirements on being Human or Half-Elf, the incredible stat requirements, alignment prerequisites, etc. One might say that progressing to this high a level in order to fully assume your role as your class is too much on top of the other requirements, but I assure you, this is nothing. The recommended times to switch classes are at 5th level for Fighter, (being as early as possible,) and 4th (9th) level for Thief, (being as late as possible) is seemingly the best combination to award the character with the most abilities. In this event, 18,001 experience points are needed for the Fighter class, and only 5,001 for the Thief class. This creates an experience point requirement of 23,002 for the Bard class, which is typically around the point a character begins becoming powerful anyway. The only difference is that instead of being a Fighter of 5th level (even with this much exp) you are a combined level of 10, counting Bard level. This puts you at around twice the level of the rest of your party. Combine this with the guarantied +10% experience bonus given by your high stat requirements and you've got yourself a high level character in no time. 

Once enough experience is gained, the character assumes his or her official position as a Bard, gaining access to several new abilities. In addition, once you've reached this point you suddenly have a very easy experience table again, and instead of needing around 25,000 experience points to gain your next level, you only need 2,001 to reach level 2 Bard (in addition to your other 9 levels.) 

Finally, the Bard!

You've finally become a Bard, and with this new class, you've gained some new abilities. Firstly, all hit points you've gained from your previous classes will be kept, and for each Bard level after the first (until 11th level) you will gain 1 six-sided hit die for future h.p. You will also gain a single 1st level Druid spell, and will continue learning new Druidic spells as you increase in level. In addition, Bards can employ the use of a Charm Person/Monster like ability through means of the character's music. There is a fairly low chance of the Bard's music charming an entity, the chance being at 15% for a 1st level Bard. This will steadily increase as you level up as a Bard. Note that as a Bard, several of your weapon proficiencies which are gained as a Fighter will not be usable as a Bard. Bards have a limitation on what weapons and armor they are allowed to use, much like many other classes. Firstly, they are only allowed to use leather armor or magical chainmail, and may never employ the use of a shield. They are also only allowed to use clubs, daggers, darts, javelins, slings, scimitars, spears, staves, and swords. This applies to all sword types except for two-handed swords, which are unusable by a Bard. This is due to the Bard needing to stay lightweight in order to perform Thief skills, while also needing to abide by many of the strictures of a Druid. Some of your Fighter abilities are limited by these other two classes, as they would be on a character with the above classes outside of being a Bard.

With the druidic spells you have access to, there is good reason to assume that your utility is far greater than other classes. This is mostly true, as with Bards you have all the utilities granted by the Thief class, as well as many Druid spells to use at your disposal. To top this off, you have the unique ability to charm beings without the need for a spell, allowing you to potentially turn creatures to willingly serve under you as subordinates without the need for even a spell to be cast. For your Druid spells, it is recommended that you take many of the same spells a 1st level Druid would take. Note that as a Bard, it is could be advised that the character should consider investing some stat points (if you somehow have any to spare) on Wisdom, as that will increase the number of spells you will know. Good first level picks are Detect Magic as always, Detect Snares and Pits for aiding your Thief skills, Entangle for a powerful combat support tool, Faerie Fire for it's amazing uses in combat, and Speak With Animals for an easy method of information gathering. Cure Light Wounds and Heat Metal are amazing second level spells, with Locate Plants also having good use for gathering components for spells, potions, etc.

In general, the Druid spells you have access to are about the same as a typical Druid, though certain spells like Shillelagh and Charm Person/Mammal may not be the best considering you already have abilities that reliably perform just as well (Access to Fighter skills, your natural Charm ability, and others.)

Bard Exclusive Abilities

As previously mentioned, Bards have a charm ability that allows them to charm people or creatures with music. A stringed musical instrument must be in possession of the Bard in order for this to be used. Note that this ability is not entirely a simple performance or the massive artistic talent of the Bard, but rather that the Bard laces his songs and words with an enchantment too subtle to pick up normally. The chance of this charm working is detailed in the Player's Handbook, and it will increase with the Bard's level. If the roll to use this charm ability is made, note that the saving throw against magic is still allowed for any who you wish to affect with this ability. Magical resistance is similarly not negated by this ability, as creatures with magical resistance are still capable of resisting the magic as they would any spell.

The Bard's unique Legend Lore ability functions in great similarity to the 6th level Magic-User spell by the same name, allowing the Bard to recall and gather relevant information to any person, place, object, or other circumstance. This ability is gained at the second Bard level, and will begin at a mere 5% chance of gaining information from this ability. This chance will rapidly increase with your level, becoming more and more powerful and reliable. This ability simulates the Bard's immense knowledge of legendary people and artifacts as a storyteller.

Lastly, Bards will gain languages steadily with each level after the third. On most levels after this point a Bard will be capable of learning a new language, meaning this class will reasonably be able to afford taking more interesting languages with powerful uses, such as the many draconic tongues, the different giant languages, and many others. 

Bard Colleges

With every few levels of experience the Bard gains, the Bard enters a new college from which he gains additional knowledge of Legend Lore and Druid spells. There are many Bard colleges strewn throughout the world, though each college must be found and a tuition paid in order for the Bard to progress in level. At first level the Bard has learned all his knowledge on his own, but with every 3 levels after this the Bard is apart of a college. These are as follows, in order from lowest to highest level: Fochlucan, Mac-Fuirmidh, Doss, Canaith, Cli, Anstruth, Ollamh, with the final Bard level (the 23rd level) being separate from any collage, the character functioning as his own entity once more. This final level is referred to as Magna Alumnae, the master class of all Bards.

Bards will never associate with another Bard of a lesser college, unless Magna Alumnae is the Bard's status. In this case the Bard is likely to be more than willing to aid another Bard, but through advice and suggestion only. If a Bard does not have the next college available to learn from, the Bard will typically find a Druid in order to learn magic, and a Magic-User in order to learn Legend Lore. In the case of the Druid, the character must seek out a Druid of a level capable of casting a spell that is currently beyond the Bard's ability.

More Bard Abilities

Bards always fight as a Fighter would, functioning at the level previously attained as a Fighter. Once this level is surpassed by Bard level, further advancement on the Fighter table is permitted. Bards can function as a Thief would, but only as the highest Thief level previously attained. Naturally all bonuses granted from Strength and Dexterity apply to weapon use, as do the bonuses from Dexterity apply to the Bard's Thief ability.

In addition to this, all characters who have become Bards can employ the use of poetics to inspire his force and increase morale by 10%. This also increases the "to-hit" rolls of all allies by +1 while the effect of this morale boost is active. This takes a total of 2 rounds of continuous performance to take it's effect, but will proceed to help the group for 1 full turn (10 rounds) after this performance is completed. While is performance is underway, the Bard is capable of fully engaging in combat, but will not be able to cast spells while this is being done. The Bard may resume spellcasting once the poetics have been completed.

A Bard's song is capable of drowning out the song effects of a harpy or siren, or any other character or monster which utilizes song as a weapon or ability. Even creatures such as shriekers are soothed by the Bard's songs.

Bard characters will never serve as another's henchmen for any longer than 1-4 months. In addition, they cannot employ the service of henchmen who are not Druids, Fighters, or Thieves. In addition to this Bards will often not gain henchmen who are not Human, Half-Elven, or Elven in race. Bards can maintain 1 henchmen after reaching 5th level, 2 at 8th, 3 at 11th, 4 at 14th, 5 at 17th, 6th at 20th, and may recruit an unlimited number once the 23rd level is reached. Only Bards who are 23rd in level will usually seek to build a stronghold of any sort, as Bards of lower levels are focused on increasing their mastery over their abilities and learning the secrets of the world.

Human vs. Half-Elf

In 90% of circumstances it is advised that the character select Half-Elf as his or her preferred race, though there are some situations where Human might have more potential. Half-Elves automatically start off better, having a wide variety of starting languages, as well as many other natural traits. These consist of infravision, the ability to detect secret doors, and a 30% resistance to sleep and charm spells. Humans get none of these things, so it is generally accepted that Half-Elves are the best race for Bards. There is one exception to this. Half-Elven Bards are incapable of multiclassing (more than they already have) as Bards. Humans however, may use their unique multiclassing rules and apply those to the Bard class. If a Human character has miraculously managed to achieve the stats required for a Bard, and 17 or greater in the primary stat of another class, a dual-classed character may be permitted. Normally this is just too absurd of a character build to even wrap one's head around, although in Infamous there are a few additional things that can be done with this. 

For one, a Bard with 17 or higher Dexterity might choose to increase his or her Thieving abilities. If this is done, the Bard will temporarily lose all Bardic abilities, and will become in effect a Thief of the level he or she was when Thieving was left behind to progress to a Bard. When your Thief level finally exceeds that of your Bard level, you will resume progression as a Bard with the enhanced thieving skills you have gained.

Secondly, Bards will be capable of gaining the Fighter's specialized weapon proficiencies if the character chooses to switch back to Fighter in order to learn these. When switching back to Fighter your hit dice will be stronger until you surpass your Bard level, at which point you will become a Bard once more. Any specialized weapon proficiencies you gained as a Fighter during this time will carry over, and you will ideally be more skilled in combat than you were before.

Lastly, if a Bard character wishes to switch to another class, the dual-classing rules apply as normal. If the character wishes to become a Bard/Cleric for example, a 17 in Wisdom is required. The character will switch over to Cleric as normal, and will be exclusively a Cleric until the character's TOTAL level as a Bard is reached. From there, the character will gain all of his or her previously attained Bard abilities, but will continue progressing as a Cleric. If heaven forbid, the character is capable of playing a Bard/Paladin or a Bard/Magic-User, the same rules apply.

Bard Proficiencies

When you start out as a Fighter, it is recommended that you put all of your proficiencies into whatever weapon you intend to use as a Bard. Without dual-classing, you will not be able to gain specialized proficiencies in any other way. If you feel as though your party requires a different skillset, it would be wise to consider taking the necessary first aid or charisma proficiencies that your team lacks. If your party can already handle this, or lacks a Fighter character, then taking a specialized weapon is ideal. As for additional proficiencies gained after level 1, it is always recommended that those be spent on skills that the team needs, such as charisma proficienices.

Bard Class Research (please, never do this)

If you miraculously have the luck to not only create a Bard character, but reach 10th level in order to create classes, the same research rules apply as normal. Bards are capable of researching a Fighter's fighting styles as normal, but would need a training center, as well as a lot of time and gold in order to finish researching one of these. Just as with Fighters, access to a library or significant natural location would be needed to research a spell, along with the necessary time and money. If your Bard chooses to research spells, it is necessary to specify whether the spell is made for general Druid use, or if it is specifically meant to be exclusive to the Bard class.

If you've made it to 10th level, then Bardic class creation is possible. Bards are capable of researching Fighter classes, Thief classes, and their own Bardic classes/colleges, though if a spellcasting class is ever to be created note that it will require access to some form of powerful magic item or artifact.

Conclusion

The Bard class is the personal torture device that Gary Gygax included to make 1st edition dungeon masters across the world seethe in agony and distress. This goes so far to the point where Bards aren't even listed in the normal Player's Handbook, and are instead placed in the appendices section of the book. Bards are certainly a unique and powerful class. They manage to balance all the abilities and benefits of Fighters, Thieves, and Druids while toping all three off with a series of unique abilities that only Bards can use. It sure is a complicated class. If you manage to roll one, use it wisely. It sure would be tragic if your impossible stats died to poison or something. Don't give your DM too hard of a time.

P.S. - Bards with Psionics are very !!fun!!