Bard the Bowman

[Arros Winhadren]

Black arrow! You've never failed me, and I've always recovered you. I had you from my father, and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true King under the Mountain, go now and speed well! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75sxn8c7CIc&feature=PlayList&p=EE1C979233D3D098&index=6)

So what I'm looking for is a relatively simple build that focuses on delivering single, powerful arrow attacks each round. Since I don't want multiple attacks per round, I'm thinking that taking Scout and going with Skirmish would be a good idea. I would also have to have an amazing spot check and be able to speak to thrushes.

[Bosh]

Order of the Bow Initiate PrC from Complete Warrior?

A bit on the weak side but not any weaker than a Scout is without abusing skirmish damage.

[PinkysBrain]

Well, he said single attack and not single arrow. So a greater manyshot scout build would work just fine.

[JonestheSpy]

Well, speaking as a snotty bastard who thinks that most non-core classes are for munchkins only, I'd say you want a Ranger/Fighter. Ranger with the archery combat style for some bow feats, plus spells for Speak with Animals and maybe even a thrush animal companion. Fighter for the Weapon Specialization family of feats to apply to your bow.

Then there's being a half-elf and adding all the Arcane Archer bennies into the mix...

[Telonius]

I've considered that build for a while, actually. The thing you need to realize is that Smaug was over 1200 years old, so by definition a Great Wyrm red dragon. That means that to kill him by normal damage, you'd have to deal an average of 660 hit points. A true one-shot kill with a single arrow would probably require some sort of really crazy Ranger/Scout//Rogue mix, favored enemy dragon all the way, holy icy burst bow of Bane (Dragon), and even that probably wouldn't even come close to killing him outright.

So if Bard worked by D&D rules, he probably didn't kill him with regular damage. What's left after that? Two possibilities come to mind: Death by massive damage, or save-or-die effect. If it's massive damage, all Smaug had to do was be damaged for 50 points or more with a single arrow, and then roll a 1 on his fort save. Second possibility: Bard was an Arcane Archer 10, hit Smaug with an Arrow of Death, and Smaug rolled a 1. Arcane Archer is a silly PrC to take, but it's no sillier than naming someone who's clearly a ranger or fighter after a spoony minstrel. :smallbiggrin:

[Epinephrine]

The problem with typical scout is that it's a 30' max range. You want a real bowman? Use the sniper scout variant.

http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Classes-Base.pdf

Gets a sniper shot bonus damage if they fire only one arrow in a round, but at any range.

‘Sniper’ Class Features:
Sniper Shot +Nd6 – as a Full Round Action (that does not allow a 5’ Step), make a single shot with a projectile weapon. If it hits no matter what the range, it does
+Nd6 damage. The target must be alive, corporeal, vulnerable to Critical Hits, not benefiting from Cover or Concealment, etc.

Seems to suit rather well.

Edit: That or look at ToB and mod up a bow-based attack school, using single big shots. Model it after Stone Dragon possibly, with attacks that deny movement, standard actions, knock enemies prone or stun them, and big bonus damage that punches through DR. Possibly use some of the Diamond Mind type abilities, too, as Concentration seems really appropriate for an archer.

[slexlollar89]

I think the black arrow was a magical arrow (like an arrow of slaying or something) or Bard just rolled 3 20s in a row... but to address your idea:

I thnk he would just be a fighter/ranger, but heavy on the fighter... and take weapon mastery and spec and the like. Bard might just be really lucky though... or maybe Smaug was unlucky... or had low HP...

[ericgrau]

Unless you want the ranger for something rangery, you'll get the ranger feats faster by simply taking all fighter levels

For the attack, you can either go for extreme damage or a death effect. For the death effect you could try a slaying arrow or being an arcane archer, though that'd require several levels before you get a death arrow.

For infrequent massive damage, I'd talk to your DM to see if he'll let you buy arrows individually. You'd still enchant your bow, but you'd focus more gp on enchanted arrows. This will be effective if you use far less than 50 arrows every 2-3 levels. Maybe 20 arrows. Stack damage enchantments onto the arrows: mainly energy damage and bane effect. Put different energy damage enchantments on your bow; no bane effects b/c the bow itself must be versatile. Bonus damage from other sources is good too, as long as you can get it at the range you're probably looking for. An oathbow would help with declared attacks against a single target. And it's spot on for the flavor you want. You even have to declare an oath to get the bonus.

Besides that you'd want to get your accuracy way up, i.e. your AB to make sure the arrow hits. Get a full BAB class, weapon focus, greater weapon focus, bracers of archery, later get greater bracers of archery and gloves of dexterity. Arcane archer can boost it further, though it's preferable to simply get a greater magic weapon cast by a friendly party member if you can. And some classes with good bonus damage might not be full BAB, so you might have to compromise. A source of true strike might be worth the consideration, but probably isn't worth the round it takes to cast it.

For range: Eyes of the eagle add +5 to spot checks. I think there's a feat somewhere that halves range penalties to spot checks. Far shot doubles your range increment. Your max range is 10 times a bow's range increment, so you can get almost half a mile of range pretty easily.

Note that against stationary targets (i.e., usually nonliving or helpless or otherwise totally still) you may spend a full round to lining up the shot for +5 AB. I think that means you make the attack in the same round, but the wording is annoyingly ambiguous.

Finally note that you can use cover for +4 AC and kneeling for +2 AC vs. ranged targets (-2 vs. melee), both with no penalty to AB. Arrow slits or the like add +8 AC and +4 to reflex saves IIRC. As a ranged damage dealer you probably don't want to spend much coin on defense but you can still grab a couple different cheap +1's.

[OverdrivePrime]

I imagine that Bard the Bowman was just a Dragon hatin' Ranger 16/Scout 4 with the Swift Hunter feat, improved critical, a few feats from the complete books to boost his damage against dragons and then cast Exacting Shot(SC) and Sniper's Shot(SC) before stepping up 20 feet and loosing his fateful shot.

The epic arrow probably helped too.

Let's see:

Feats
Weapon Focus: Composite Longbow (PHB)
Swift Hunter (CSc)
Improved Skirmish (Csc)
Improved Favored Enemy (CW)
Improved Critical: Composite Longbow (PHB)

Maybe Telling Blow (PHBII)

and then give him a Holy Magebane Mighty (+9) composite longbow of Thundering Distance,
a +5 Adamantine Axiomatic Dragonbane Arrow of Freezing Burst
along with Greater Bracers of Archery, a Belt of Strength +6 and a general disregard for the laws of probability.

1d8(bow)+9(mighty)+5(enhancement)+2d6(axiomatic)+2 d6(holy)+2d8(sonic)+2+2d6(dragonbane)+2+2d6(mageba ne)+2d6+4d10(freezing burst vs Fire subtype)+7d6(skirmish)+10(favored enemy)

With a x3 critical multiplier that's 3d8+84+17d6+2d8+4d10, or at best 266 if o' bard rolled a critical and then maxed every die.

Hmm... More likely Bard was just a high level fighter/ranger who lucked out and rolled triple 20s.

[SimperingToad]

I think the black arrow was a magical arrow (like an arrow of slaying or something)

We have a winner! Cigar.. or cookie.. or whatever you prefer for you! :smallbiggrin:

Arrows of Slaying have been around since the early days of D&D, most likely modeled on this passage (no mythological one comes to mind at the moment - demon slaying arrows in India maybe). Although in Bard's case, it seems to be an Arrow of Slaying Anything, rather than a specific creature type. What's worse, it can be retrieved once successfully used unlike the game's magical arrows.

[Iku Rex]

The Raptor Arrow from MIC works. It's not destroyed when it hits, it returns to the bow on its own, and with the True Believer feat it's bane against its target.

Add the hunter's mercy spell (SpC) for an automatic critical hit if you hit.

You can bump the damage with Peerless Archer (Silver Marches) for Power Shot, Deepwood Sniper (Masters of the Wild) for increased crit multiplier, Fighter 4 for Weapon Specialization and thus Ranged Weapon Mastery (PHBII) or any ability or weapon enhancement that grants bonuses (not dice) to damage.

Edit: Oh, and he seems to be using an improved, by-proxy version of the Deft Strike (CAdv) feat.

[Zephyros]

Well if you actually see the clip of Hobbit that OP posted you ll notice that Bard was standing still and that before shooting a "birdie" spoke to him and told him about the missing dragon scale at the dragon's belly. Then he just pinned that hole hard... More likely a "True Strike Arrow" used with some obscure called shot rules. :smallcool:

[JonestheSpy]

Unless you want the ranger for something rangery, you'll get the ranger feats faster by simply taking all fighter levels



In my mind, the ranger part was more about being able to talk to thrushes and whatnot, with the Archery style thrown in as an extra.

Really, there's no real way to duplicate Bard's Feat using standard DnD rules. Literature and the game just don't always mesh.

However, an interesting bit of trivia in that in the Chainmail wargaming rules that were Gygax's first bit of game creation, there was a supplemental Fantasy section to include Dragons, Heroes, Wizards, etc in the traditional historical recreation that wargaming had focussed on up til then. It was obviously inspired by Tolkien, and a Hero or Superhero piece with a bow had the ability to slay a dragon flying overhead with a single shot if the player got a good enough die roll.

[zakk2to2]

the black arrow sounds more like an artifact and being an artifact would explain the recoverability of it. for the class it depends on wether you want steady damage or the chance of crits in the stratosphere. the class itself I would say fighter for the bonus feats because the feats will make or break your character in this case.

[Thurbane]

Yep, my group always assumed that Bard had some kind of special Slaying arrow.

[Arros Winhadren]

I would also agree that the Black Arrow was an artifact of some sort, but of course no good character build would rely on an Artifact. I was thinking it would be hilarious if my character painted all of his arrows black, and then gave a speech about the Black Arrow before firing off a shot. I'm torn between the Ranger/Scout and just going all Fighter. I suppose that I could try the Sniper Scout Variant with the Ranger levels. The problems there though is that a)Ranger archery tree gives rapid/multishot and stuff like that - feats that don't fit the character.
b)Getting a high BAB is an important part of the build.

One thing I was thinking was going with a Zen Archery Cleric, but I'm not sure how to make it work (besides using Divine Power as much as possible).

[Thurbane]

I'd suggest Fighter 6/Order of the Bow Initiate 10/Fighter 4.

There's plenty of feats you can pump into archery/ranged attacks, so the Fighter levels will snag you access to 6 of them. OotBI is self explanatory. There's probably more optimal and/or cheesier builds than this, but I think this makes for a solid base.

No doubt you could muddy the waters with casting classes, Factotum, ToB classes, psionics etc. if you felt like it...

[Ryuuk]

I saw it as a combination of a magical arrow, a critical shot dealing > 50 damage and the dragon rolling a 1 on its fort save for massive damage.

[Eldariel]

I saw it as an artifact "Vorpal" (the effect, not the fluff) Arrow and a scored critical (hitting the one weak spot in its armor).

[zakk2to2]

for the build whatever you go with its important to get it so your shoots will hit on basicly anything but a 1. after that its just depends on the type of damage you want done.

for my examples i will use aDb+c. a being the number of dice b being the size and c being the modifier.

option 1 is getting a as high as you can. the reason for this is because a+c equals the minimum damage you can do with it. this setup will allow for high damage but also an average low end damage on bad rolls.

option 2 is having b be as high as you can get it. this is a very limiting option seeing as there is only so many sizes you can use though it will allow for a chance at high damage its not really worth it.

option 3 is where c is as high as possible. this is the easiest to get seeing as its the number affected by ability modifiers and bab. its also nice because no matter what comes before it a +10 will always do atleast 11 damage.

overall i like to combine options 1 and 3 because it lets you have a decently high roll while having a nice minimum to fall back on. after all a 2d4+2 has the same max damage as 1d10 but a minimum of 4 instead of the 1d10's 1. also improve that crit range. even if the crits only double the damage 2d4+2 will have a minum of 8 instead of 1d10's 2.

[Tengu_temp]

Not to rain on everyone's parade, but I'd like to point out to some posters that the OP asks for a build that can deal the most damage possible with a single arrow, not how it'd be possible in DND rules that Bard killed Smaug with a single shot, which is pointless as Hobbit wasn't a DND adventure last time I checked. Not to mention that looking at everything through the perspective of DND rules is just silly - I am pretty sure Bard didn't have any exotic prestige class, and that his arrow wasn't magical.

[zakk2to2]

Not to rain on everyone's parade, but I'd like to point out to some posters that the OP asks for a build that can deal the most damage possible with a single arrow, not how it'd be possible in DND rules that Bard killed Smaug with a single shot, which is pointless as Hobbit wasn't a DND adventure last time I checked. Not to mention that looking at everything through the perspective of DND rules is just silly - I am pretty sure Bard didn't have any exotic prestige class, and that his arrow wasn't magical.

man back off. he asked how to make a character that could do stuff like bard so it is fully within our rights to try and figure out how he did it in the first place with dnd rules. also arrows don't just get retrieved over and over for no reason nor do they stay in one piece so easily thus magic arrow is a go.

for the character unless you want to make it specificly human you could go with a psionic race so you can psionic focus and use the feat psionic shot.
psionic race's I adviseElans
Also see the Elan monster listing.

-2 Charisma
Aberration: Elans are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
Medium: As Medium creatures, elans have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Elan base land speed is 30 feet.
Elans (unlike most aberrations) do not have darkvision.
Naturally Psionic: Elans gain 2 bonus power points at 1st level. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
Resistance (Su): Elans can use psionic energy to increase their resistance to various forms of attack. As an immediate action, an elan can spend 1 power point to gain a +4 racial bonus on saving throws until the beginning of her next action.
Resilience (Su): When an elan takes damage, she can spend power points to reduce its severity. As an immediate action, she can reduce the damage she is about to take by 2 hit points for every 1 power point she spends.
Repletion (Su): An elan can sustain her body without need of food or water. If she spends 1 power point, an elan does not need to eat or drink for 24 hours.
Automatic Language: Common. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). Elans’ past lives expose them to wide ranges of language.
Favored Class: Psion.
Level Adjustment: +0.

Xephs
Also see the Xeph monster listing.

+2 Dexterity, -2 Strength
Medium: As Medium creatures, xephs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Xeph base land speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision out to 60 feet.
+1 racial bonus on saving throws against powers, spells, and spell-like effects. Xephs have an innate resistance to psionics and magic.
Naturally Psionic: Xephs gain 1 bonus power point at 1st level. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
Burst (Su): Three times per day, a xeph can put on a burst of speed to increase her speed by 10 feet, plus 10 feet per four character levels beyond 1st, to a maximum increase of 30 feet at 9th character level and higher. These bursts of speed are considered a competence bonus to the xeph’s base speed. A burst of speed lasts 3 rounds.
Automatic Languages: Common, Xeph. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Elven, Gnoll, Goblin, Halfling, Sylvan.
Favored Class: Soulknife.
Level Adjustment: +0

psionic focusGain Psionic Focus
Merely holding a reservoir of psionic power points in mind gives psionic characters a special energy. Psionic characters can put that energy to work without actually paying a power point cost—they can become psionically focused as a special use of the Concentration skill.

If you have 1 or more power points available, you can meditate to attempt to become psionically focused. The DC to become psionically focused is 20. Meditating is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. When you are psionically focused, you can expend your focus on any single Concentration check you make thereafter. When you expend your focus in this manner, your Concentration check is treated as if you rolled a 15. It’s like taking 10, except that the number you add to your Concentration modifier is 15. You can also expend your focus to gain the benefit of a psionic feat—many psionic feats are activated in this way.

Once you are psionically focused, you remain focused until you expend your focus, become unconscious, or go to sleep (or enter a meditative trance, in the case of elans), or until your power point reserve drops to 0.

Psionic ShotPsionic Shot [Psionic]
You can charge your ranged attacks with additional damage potential.

Prerequisite
Point Blank Shot.

Benefit
To use this feat, you must expend your psionic focus. Your ranged attack deals +2d6 points of damage. You must decide whether or not to use this feat prior to making an attack. If your attack misses, you still expend your psionic focus.

[Tengu_temp]

also arrows don't just get retrieved over and over for no reason nor do they stay in one piece so easily thus magic arrow is a go.


Magic items in Middle-Earth are rare, powerful and named. This was Bard's special and lucky arrow... but it wasn't magical in the slightest.

How did Bard kill the dragon with one shot? Plain and simple - DND doesn't work the same way Hobbit does.

I'd like to add that, no, the OP doesn't ask for a character who can do the same thing Bard did. He asks for a character that can deal a lot of damage with a single shot, and gives Bard as an example.

[zakk2to2]

just because black arrow sounds like a discription why not be a name? lets not fight about this no matter what you post if you give an example from something like the hobbit and the character has yet to be dnd stated it will be stated just a common reaction. and he wants to speak to thrushes why has no one talked about that yet? best you can do is magic or druid level maybe. possibly a magic item.

[Vexxation]

Wasn't there a Monk feat that lets you use Monk abilities, such as Stunning Fist with a ranged weapon? If there is, and I believe so, maybe you could call it Quivering Palm at a range. That's just an idea on Bard.

But anyway, I suppose that Ranger/Scout or Rogue/Scout with the appropriate Swift X feat would be powerful.

[Draz74]

Magic items in Middle-Earth are rare, powerful and named. This was Bard's special and lucky arrow... but it wasn't magical in the slightest.

Uh huh. Very prove-able. Because there were so many viewpoint characters in The Hobbit who could cast Detect Magic.

[/sarcasm]

[Tengu_temp]

Uh huh. Very prove-able. Because there were so many viewpoint characters in The Hobbit who could cast Detect Magic.

[/sarcasm]

You do realize that third era humans in Middle Earth are incapable of magic beyond simple parlor tricks, and that, unlike DND and like most other good fantasy, this is not a setting where every hero poops with magic items, right?


and he wants to speak to thrushes why has no one talked about that yet? best you can do is magic or druid level maybe. possibly a magic item.

Ranger, if you absolutely have to look at it from DND perspective (but for God's sake, don't - Hobbit is not DND!). Or, which is far more likely, the bird was magical.

On topic. Feats that weren't mentioned yet are Psionic Shot and Greater Psionic Shot - look it up in SRD. Ranged Skirmisher (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Ranged_Skirmisher,all) doubles your skirmish range, and therefore is good for a sniper scout. I vaguely remember a feat or magic item that let you deal a lot of damage when combined with Dungeoncrasher, but not any details.

[zakk2to2]

i mentioned psionic shot and would have mentioned greater if i had known of it. also mentioned how to actually be able to use it instead of just having a useless feat that looks preaty.

on another note so in a low magic world magic birds all the sudden pop into existence when needed? that don't sound right. also "I had you from my father, and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true King under the Mountain, go now and speed well!". you know dwarfs make magic items! go figure and also if he has to specificly state it came from a non-human origin and humans not so good at magic maybe its because its magic.

and once again he asked for a way do do this stuff in dnd not in The Hobbit so how can we tell him if we do not know and the easy way is to stat bard into dnd.

[Tengu_temp]

Bard's arrow was dwarf-made? Hmm, I should re-read that. It will surely mean it was of exceptional quality that dwarfs (groan-inducing pun intended) the capabilities of human weapons... but still low chances of being magic. And surely not a vorpal-equivalent.

Anyway, you got my stance backwards. I don't mind people creating DND characters with abilities similar to Bard - this is the point of this thread, after all. But I do mind when people say "Bard was obviously a <insert DND class combo here> and used <insert DND magic items and feats here>". No, he wasn't. Because he was in Hobbit, not DND, and those settings work in very different ways.

There's lot of ToB maneuvers that let you make only one attack in a round, but with lots of increased damage. I'm not sure if any of them are ranged-compatible, though.

[zakk2to2]

most people instead of saying things like "this level progression will create a character with the abilitys that Bard showed" will say "Bards most likely this level progression" its almost interchangable for alot of people and getting upset at people for saying bard is so and so will get you nowhere because in alot of cases it answers the question just as well and the only difference between that and making a character like Bard is in the fluff around the info

[Tengu_temp]

The difference is seeing non-DND stuff through DND perspective, as if DND was the perfect system that can 100% accurately represent anything. Which is as far from truth as possible. And I don't just mean transferring concepts and such - I mean people who really, seriously, when playing a game or watching a movie look at it through DND perspective. Or any other RPG system, doesn't matter here. What matters for me is that it bugs me.

[zakk2to2]

it probably bugs alot of people its just that no matter what people will do it and as long as it answers the question asked it does not matter. we appreciate what you helped with here lets make up now and stop derailing this thread.

[Arros Winhadren]

Quite the argument you guys are having . . . :)

Just to clarify, I understand that Bard would not fit easily into D&D rules but he's still a really cool character, so my goal is to make one inspired by him. Those psionic feats sound really cool, but the problem is that would mean expending 3 feats to get +4d6 damage (then again, going scout would be expending 20 levels to get +5d6 damage . . .). Actually, a Fighter/Order of the Bow Initiate would be a pretty good option I think if the OotBI could actually use their attacks from more than 30 feet away.

Something that fits flavor wise (isn't marvelous though) is the Cragtop Archer (or something like that) that eventually lets you make attacks at full range without penalties. It also helps with spot checks at distances, which ties right in with Bard's scoping vision.

[Triaxx]

Sting, Glamdring, Narsil/Anduril. And that's only one party. For a world that's supposed to be low magic, that's quite a lot of magic.

[hamishspence]

Add in the Morgul knife "with evil spells" and the hobbits knives and their effect on the witch-king.

[Satyr]

Sting, Glamdring, Narsil/Anduril. And that's only one party. For a world that's supposed to be low magic, that's quite a lot of magic.

It is still a less than 1:1 ratio of magical items to fellowship members. Even if you include stuff like the horn of Gondor and the ring itself, you wont' have more magical items than characters. And that is pretty low magic from a D&D viewpoint.
The idea is different. In Lord of the rings (and many other fantasy settings), magical items are artefacts. They are unique. In this context, it is not An arrow of dragonslaying, but The Arrow of Dragonslaying.

For pure D&D rules, take the Serpents&Sewers Archer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5651663&postcount=7), a class which was designed exactly to represent characters like Bard or Willhelm Tell.

[Thurbane]

Actually, a Fighter/Order of the Bow Initiate would be a pretty good option I think if the OotBI could actually use their attacks from more than 30 feet away.
From memory it doubles to 60 feet at 10th (?) level...still, not great though. It's OK if most of your archery is taking place indoors or in dungeons, not so good in the outdoors or massive catherdrals.

[Marshall]

Frodo: Sting, Mithril Shirt, The One Ring, Elven Cloak, Phial of Galadriel
Sam: Elven Cloak, Soil of Lothlorien, Elven Rope
Pippin: Blade of Westernesse, Elven Cloak, Ent-draught
Merry: Blade of Westernesse, Elven Cloak, Ent-draught
Boromir: Horn of Gondor, Elven Cloak
Aragorn: Anduril, Elven Cloak
Legolas: Elven Cloak
Gimli: Elven Cloak
Gandalf: Glamdring, Wizard's Staff, Narya

These are just the items that we know were magical. So in a party of nine people, we've got two major artifacts, ancient and powerful magical weapons all around, and other magic items. And there are just the ones that are explicit. It's completely reasonable to believe that every weapon and piece of armor worn by the group was 'magical' by some definition. While the hobbits don't start off with magic other than the ring, everyone else is a Very Important Person wielding ancient items from their houses.

[Thurbane]

http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/M2/images/2010.jpg

[WalkingTarget]

Post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3623664&postcount=321) on known "magical" weapons and armor in Tolkien.
Post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4326024&postcount=3) about Tolkien's "magic" in general.

Pretty much anything made by the Elves and a fair amount by the Dwarves would qualify as Masterwork as a baseline just because they're naturally good at making stuff. That's a feature of the race(s). Some of it is "magical" too (by D&D definitions), but (with the exception of the Rings and stuff derived from their power like Galadriel's mirror and phial) most of it is by way of just being better at what that type of thing is for in the first place (swords are more effective when used against the enemy they were forged for, trail rations are better than anything man can make, cloaks are exceedingly good camouflage, etc). You can model most of this stuff in D&D, but the high-end and/or flashy things available in D&D don't show up in Tolkien (no Thundering weapons, no boots of Haste, stuff like that). In fact, the Cloaks from Lothlorien and the Helm of Hador are the only pieces of "magical" clothing/armor mentioned in the text that I'm aware of.

So:
Aragorn: Well-made sword that flashes with a light of its own occasionally.
Legolas: archery gear probably on par with normal run-of-the-mill Elf quality (it's as good as bows/arrows can get, but likely not augmented in other ways)
Gimli: similar to Legolas' only specific to his axe and armor.
Merry, Pippen, and Sam: good-quality knives, extra effective against Witch-king (or maybe nazgul in general, no way to know). Sam also gets the equivalent of Elvish fertilizer and uses some Elf rope.
Boromir: the horn he carries might be "magical" but we have few details.
Gandalf: Well-made sword, glows when orcs are near. A Ring of Power (which cheats). Staff might have some intrinsic value, might just be a tool for him to focus through.
Frodo: Well-made knife, glows when orcs are near. Chain shirt made of better quality materials than are readily available. A Ring of Power (again, cheating). A magical lamp (probably derived from another Ring, so might also be cheating).

All of them have Cloaks of Camouflage, Broaches of Not Coming Undone Accidentally, and Rations of Staying Appetizing and Not Going Stale.

As for Bard, the Black Arrow (which I think was mentioned as being made by Dwarves, so would get the baseline benefit from that) might have some lucky mojo going on, but it's not specific.

I agree with Tengu that RAW D&D is not a good match for simulating Middle-earth. It would wind up being something like an E6 campaign with severe class/spell list/itemization limitations. It's wrong to say that the Fellowship had little-to-no magical equipment, but the effects that they provide are mostly subtle and not on-par with the type of gear that your average D&D party is likely to end up with. The philosophies of what magic is and how it works in Tolkien's works and the standard D&D campaign settings aren't very compatible, but that never stops people from trying.