Chapter 8: Role-Playing Bards

A Bard's Mind Isn't Barred

Welcome to the mind of a bard. To play a bard, you must think like a bard. He is a dreamer, a romantic, and a part-time philosopher. A bard wants to be a master of all skills. He wants to try everything, know everything, and be everything. Unfortunately, most bards are mortal. The constraints of mortality keep a bard moving from one profession and activity to the next. He fears that if he spends too much time in one place or doing one thing, he will miss out on something else.

Pragmatists claim that bards suffer from "green pasture syndrome." This syndrome gets its name from cows. They constantly poke their heads over or through fences in an attempt to eat the grass on the other side. Farmers laugh at their livestock because the grass in their own pasture is often greener than the grass on the other side. But the cows have green pasture syndrome and always seem to think that things are better somewhere else.

Bards are easily excited about new developments, upcoming events, and change in general. If things aren't changing, they become bored very quickly. Thus, bards are not ones to hold down long-time jobs. When they do take jobs, they work at them at a breakneck pace at first. Then, as the job becomes routine, their pace slows and they spend more time pondering the future and where it will take them next.

All of this is also true for adventuring bards. They want to get going, attack now, stop listening at every door, rush forward and meet life head on. Bards don't always select the most effective spells or the most advantageous proficiencies. Instead, they select the most dramatic, the most fun, those that can be used in unique situations. A flashy spell, such as color spray, is always preferable to a boring one, such as hold portal or sleep .

Bards love crowds and love to be around people. They tend to have many acquaintances but few close friends. Some bards actually push away those who try to get too close. A binding friendship or relationship is like a root: It attempts to plant the bard in one place and lock him into the relationship. This is far more than just undesirable to most bards-it is downright frightening. Bards enjoy their freedom and don't want anything to jeopardize it.

Of all the character classes, none are as carefree and lighthearted as bards. These characters rarely own more than they can carry. To bards, all the world is their home and their imagination is the only limit to their aspirations. Although they can be profoundly moved by others' plights, bards recover quickly from any sadness they might feel. Often they deal with problems by leaving them behind and traveling on to some greener pasture.

If you are going to play a bard, remember at least this one rule of thumb: Your character's main goal is to, "move on and experience all that there is."

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