Third level Bard...?

[NightKrowe]

So I've never played D&D before, and I sort of wasn't sure what to go with, so I went with Bard. I was going to head into the direction of obtaining a dragon familiar at level 9 (with leadership at 6), but at level three I'm not really sure what to do. I started the game with my party being magic-less. None of them have had, up to this point, any magic. We gained a new member (Warlock), and our old Rogue is now multi-classing into sorcerer, so now I feel kinda useless. In the setting, there's not much magic. If we ask about an enchantment in town, people give us weird looks. So I was playing a social game, up until this point, to hide my magic from the rest of the party. Now that half of us can wield it, though, I feel kind of useless, and I'm not sure I want to spend my third level into bard anymore. What do so I feel like I contribute again?

[holywhippet]

If you don't have any clerics or druids in your party then the bard should be providing healing to the party.

Your talking skills should be pretty high as well - make sure you have all the synergy bonuses you can get.

A bard is a valued companion on combat. They aren't a damage dealer generally, but instead on making others better able to deal damage.

[NightKrowe]

I have all my synergy bonuses for Diplomacy so far, and I have a pretty high Sense Motive since the rogue in our party likes to steal and lie. As a Half-Elf who took Negoatiator as their first feat, I have that part covered. It's the rest of my role I'm not entire sure about. If I kept going with the 'keep my magic a secret' thing, I was going to go for a third level as Bard, grab the Obtain Familiar feat, and then just cast spells through my familiar. Everyone would think my familiar is magic, not me. At this point, I took Perform (Comedy), and I cast Inspire Courage through crappy puns. They aren't even aware of the effects so far.

[ArcturusV]

This is kinda a problem that happens when you have low/no magic settings, but still allow spellcasters. Eventually someone realizes that in worlds with no magic... having a guy who can sling a spell makes them insanely more powerful and interesting than they otherwise would be.

It happens about... 3/4ths of the time I'd say I've tried to run "Gritty" or Low Magic settings... and it ends up everyone writes up a Wizard/Sorcerer/Druid/Wu Jen/etc/etc/etc so my party is nothing but casters.

I would actually avoid healing. Healing is boring. It's annoying too because when people realize you're the First Aid Kit... they keep demanding that you do nothing but stand back and be safe because they need you to patch them up. It gets lame. Fast.

Going with your Stealth Caster? I'd load up on Illusions. Do cast illusions. BLuff it as "Stage Magic" if you must, sleight of hand and misdirection if someone calls you out on your "tricks". But illusions are a bard's bread and butter. With social skills you can help "Sell" your illusions, presuming your DM is willing to roll with it.

And illusions are... really kinda powerful unless your DM hates imagination and outside the d20 thinking.