Bards and Custom Designed Characters Bards are versatile adventurers whose primary abilities include a fair assortment of spell powers. Unlike rangers and paladins, who don’t gain spell abilities until relatively late in their careers, bards may make use of a limited selection of spells at the beginning of their careers and cast spells at their actual experience level, not at a reduced level of effectiveness. In addition, the rapid level progression of the rogue character group means that low-level bards increase in magical power almost as quickly as their wizard counterparts, especially if player characters share spells.

Bards are described in great detail in the Player’s Handbook . As the jacks-of-all-trades of the AD&D game, bards have the weapon choices of a fighter, the skills of a thief, and some of the magical power of a wizard. Bards have a slower spell progression than true wizards, and they are limited to spells of 6th level or less. In addition, bards never gain spells automatically and must acquire their spells by luck and circumstance, finding them wherever they can. Bards are subject to all the normal restrictions concerning wizard spells, including maintenance of spell books and use of armor while casting spells.

The term ‘custom-designed character’ refers to any other dilettante who has access to spells throughout their adventuring careers. A character of this type may enjoy the spell progression similar to that of a bard, or he may acquire spells in some other fashion, but he is not a true wizard or priest. Generally, custom-designed characters are created using the character class design rules from the Dungeon Master ® Guide.

Bards and customized characters may not specialize in a school of magic. Bards do not gain the ability to cast spells until they reach 2nd level, at which point they begin with a spell book of 1d4 randomly determined spells. Note that bards are not guaranteed spells of the school of universal magic, as wizards are—their lack of formal training means that these spells are as unfamiliar to them as spells of the other schools.

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