Getting the Bard to Cast

[Kesnit]

I'm in a 3.5 game run by my wife. The other players are my mother-in-law and two of our friends. The friends have played with multiple, diverse DMs. I've been reading this forum for years, so have decent knowledge of the system, though I haven't played a lot. My MiL, on the other hand, has really only played with 1 DM, who runs a world so outside the reality of anyone familiar with 3.5 that it barely fits within the system. (The more knowledge you have of 3.5, the worse it will be since you expect things to work a certain way.) She wanted to play an Elf Bard, and asked me to build her PC, and level it when the party levels. No problem - I pulled up Bard Handbooks and went to town.


Bard 9

Abilities (with magic items included)
STR 10
DEX 18
CON 12
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA 20

+2 Longbow
+1 Chain Shirt
(She has other items, but they aren't really important)

Feats
Dragontouched
Dragonfire Inspiration +2d6
Master Manipulator
Haunting Melody

Skills focus on Perform and social skills.

Class Features
Bardic Music 6/day
Bardic Knack
Countersong
Fascinate
Inspire Competence
Suggestion
Inspire Greatness


0-level
Prestigitation
Detect Magic
Songbird
Ghost Sound
Mage Hand
Resistance

1-level
Tasha's Hideous Laughter
Grease
Charm Person
Silent Image

2-level
Glitterdust
Hold Person
Detect Thoughts
Alter Self

3-level
Dispel Magic
Haste
Good Hope

I made a "cheat sheet" which has full explanations of all her feats and the full write-up of all her spells known, which she keeps with her character sheet.


The rest of the party:
Human Cleric Archer. (This is his third PC. The first - a Wizard - betrayed the party in epic fashion and has become Enemy #1. I can't remember what his second was, other than it was a caster.)
Homebrew race Rogue/SORC, who will eventually go into Daggerspell Mage (The DM is letting him do a rebuild once he does, since he didn't know the PrC existed when he originally built).
Azurian Totemist with the Feral template (me. I took an extra level of LA in order to get the abilities of the template to progress with my HD).

Every time we go into combat, she does the same thing - Dragonfire Inspiration, then shoots her bow. I've never seen her use any Bardic Music other than DFI (though she just got Inspire Greatness and Haunting Melody). She occasionally casts Detect Magic, but that's it. She's never used another spell. She's having fun, but there are times when her other abilities would be really useful. I don't want to tell her how to run her PC (which is what would end up happening), but it would be nice to get more out of her than 1 song and finding magical items. (DFI is great - we get a lot of use out of it. But there's a lot more she could do.)

Is there anything I can do to encourage her to get more involved?

[AnonymousPepper]

Give her Inspirational Boost to work with, for one. That'll get her into the practice of using spells every time.

Beyond that, try items that directly boost her spellcasting - orange ioun stones for example? - that would get her into using the stuff she has available.

At the very least you should directly impress on her the value of Dispel Magic, though. That ish saves campaigns.

[Fallenreality]

Throw some role play into things if needed.

Her second level spells are excellent for taking someone alive. Hold person traps them. Detect Thoughts is great for interrogations.

Have a door with rusty hinges that she could use grease on. (Have some oil or something hidden nearby in case she doesn't do so. Just to avoid frustrating the other players)

With her 3rd level spells, you can talk to her about the haste spell at the very least. It's an incredibly useful buff.

But all of that with the exception of the last one would be DM stuff.

From a player end, appeal in character to the bard's magical knowledge. They are a well learned traveler who must have picked up a useful trick or two somewhere. Her spell list seems fairly versatile at the very least, a lot of the time the other player just needs a nudge.

Worst case scenario, go over her spell list with her. Ask her what she likes and dislikes. If needed, go over some other options with her and find stuff that she would be more comfortable using on a regular basis.

All in all, straight stat boosts might not be the way to go, especially in a system she isn't used to. Try nudging her towards checking her sheet and coming up with some creative solutions through roleplay. If there is one thing the bard spell list is good for, it's creative solutions.

[johnbragg]

Maybe she'd rather play a ranger? Role-playing-wise, is she interested in singing and diplomancy and such? If she's happy just taking up a position at the back and shredding things with a longbow, why not get her into a class where that's her strength?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You didn't give her Melodic Casting, so she'll have to stop inspiring when she casts a spell. You could have made her a Forestlord Elf in Dragon Magic to not have to spend a feat on Dragontouched, and taken it at 1st level. Perhaps she can go on a quest to awaken this dormant heritage, and swap out that feat per the retraining rules in PH2.

You also didn't give her the spell Inspirational Boost, which would add an extra +1d6 to her Dragonfire Inspiration. You could have also swapped out her Suggestion song for Song of the Heart, per the Bard class description in the Eberron Campaign Setting, which adds yet another +1d6. If all she wants to do in combat is sing and shoot, build the character for that purpose, and give her spells that are useful outside of combat.

Throw a Circlet of Rapid Casting (MIC) with a Cha bonus added onto it (MIC p234) into the loot at some point so she can cast Glitterdust or Hold Person or Grease without sacrificing her other actions. Throw in monsters with invisibility like Invisible Stalkers or Imps/Quasits to necessitate casting Glitterdust. Include opponents who use basic illusions (floor where there's a pit, wall where there's a hallway, hallway where there isn't one) so she'll realize just how tricky and useful they can be. Enable her to use those spells while still doing what she wants to do, or make her need to cast certain spells, and lead by example by showing her just how useful certain types of spells can be.

[Troacctid]

Sounds like most of the spells are redundant for her. She has plenty of things to do in combat and doesn't need the extra options. I'd swap them for more utility spells along the lines of Invisibility to expand her options outside combat instead.

[Hiro Quester]

Seconding Meloding casting. Be able to continue singing while casting.

Also remind her that Haste gives everyone an extra attack, which synergies with the DFI bonuses.

Also Lingering Song (CAd 111) can help encourage a few different songs. Songs continue to affect the other players for 10 rounds.

And tell her about the Harmonize spell. Races of Stone, I think. A minute/level duration self-buff that enables one to begin a bardic music as a move action. Cast it when an encounter is about to happen. Then she can sing and cast each round, rather than only singing.

[Honest Tiefling]

Get the DM to make a bard NPC focused on spellcasting. Give them a nice little musical doodad, say, a lyre that does a thing useful for bards. (I...Don't know magical items well, sorry.) Now, this NPC has teamed up with the Evil Wizard who betrayed them. They're making it their life's work to annoy the party whenever possible. So they'll get a few encounters against or within sight of the party. (They might not reveal their allegiances immediately). The party will probably want to kill this NPC, which means fighting them soon enough, especially if they start stealing (or trying to) from them.

The point is, have a bard use spells in combat. Show her what she could be doing. And then have her kick that other bard's behind and take their stuff. Not only can she take their stuff, but their tactics as well!

[ericgrau]

Inspire courage lasts for 5 rounds after she stops singing, longer than the important part of most fights, so she can still cast after using it.