My Bard needs help

[RareSwordfish]

Hello everyone, I am DMimg a game that has a party of a barbarian (human), a fighter (dwarf), a fighter (hippogriff), a fighter (direwolf), a ranger (gnome), a wizard (chicken), and our poor bard (teifling). So naturally, this group does a lot of fighting, but the bard dosn't do much besides stand back and use shatter or walk up and heal people. Boring for him, so I really need to let him do more. The main problem comes from the fact that one player controls all fighters and the wizard, because in the game they were his pals before he awakened them all. Also the game is not heavy in roleplaying, so a character interaction often ends in a dice roll. I know I have to make it more interesting for the bard, but how? He can't just fight more, and I just can't seem to add enough plot so his +4 charisma is needed. Thanks. :smile:

[Specter]

Whoa, whoa, slow down.

Leave the Shatter for the Wizard. The bard will either buff, debuff, or heal through spells. Even with basic stuff like Faerie Fire or Suggestion or Phantasmal Force, you have encounter-breakers when used correctly. If all else fails, Bardic Inspiration and Vicious Mockery should be a staple.

And this is not even considering levels 6+, where the Bard can do pretty much whatever he wants in terms of spells.

'Poor Bard'? He's not playing right.

[scalyfreak]

Let the bard player control some of the other characters.

You have one player controlling six characters, and the other player controlling the one bard, that's both unfair and inefficent. Give the bard control over the wizard and the ranger at the very least. That way, the fighter-focused player can have all the fighters, andthe playe of the bard can still do stuff and not feel like that after-thought who's not really necessary most of the time.

[Citan]

Let the bard player control some of the other characters.

You have one player controlling six characters, and the other player controlling the one bard, that's both unfair and inefficent. Give the bard control over the wizard and the ranger at the very least. That way, the fighter-focused player can have all the fighters, andthe playe of the bard can still do stuff and not feel like that after-thought who's not really necessary most of the time.
This. No level of in-game fluff/story can justify that ONE player can play SIX CHARACTERS while another only has his.

Obviously he will get bored. Even if the other player was lightning-fast in his decision making and dice rolling, Bard still has to wait multiple times more seconds/minutes without having anything in which he can really partakes.
Plus obviously if the other player is smart he can readily create combos and coordinated actions, making his group even more efficient than what you could expect, leaving even less space for Bard to shine...

Explain the problem out of game and try to find a split that will make everyone happy. :)

[RareSwordfish]

I guess I should elaborate;
The one player just controls the three fighters and the wizard, the ranger and barbarian are independent. Part of the problem is that I can't create encounters that need the bard besides healing or occasional inspirations/cutting words. Almost any situation can be simply fought through, and the party has a compass that shows them wherever their objective is, so they don't have to question, survey, or research anything or anyone. I want to allow him to use his skills more, but I need some advice on how to do that.

[nickl_2000]

I guess I should elaborate;
The one player just controls the three fighters and the wizard, the ranger and barbarian are independent. Part of the problem is that I can't create encounters that need the bard besides healing or occasional inspirations/cutting words. Almost any situation can be simply fought through, and the party has a compass that shows them wherever their objective is, so they don't have to question, survey, or research anything or anyone. I want to allow him to use his skills more, but I need some advice on how to do that.

Not all encounters need to be fought or fight able. In a campaign I was playing we had to beat a homing pidgen to its roost on the other side of the city (or else an ally would die). There was no way we could fight it out since we needed to know where the pidgen was going.

My bard saved the day with the flight spell in his instrument of the bards.

[scalyfreak]

That's still one player with four characters, to one player with only one. In my world, that's still a problem.

[RareSwordfish]

Not all encounters need to be fought or fight able. In a campaign I was playing we had to beat a homing pidgen to its roost on the other side of the city (or else an ally would die). There was no way we could fight it out since we needed to know where the pidgen was going.

My bard saved the day with the flight spell in his instrument of the bards.

That would be great since my bard also has a fly-granting instrument, but the magic compass would simply show everyone exactly were an objective like that is. I tried to get rid of the compass, but the party just fixed it (because the players ruin all plans, of course). I think since it was just repaired I can make it lead them off cliffs or into traps. That way they would not rely on it much.

[nickl_2000]

That would be great since my bard also has a fly-granting instrument, but the magic compass would simply show everyone exactly were an objective like that is. I tried to get rid of the compass, but the party just fixed it (because the players ruin all plans, of course). I think since it was just repaired I can make it lead them off cliffs or into traps. That way they would not rely on it much.

The race to the roost could be a midpoint that gives clues to the final place that you need to be. The compass would point them to the final place since it is showing where they should be. However, some they didn't get to the midpoint something bad happens.

You control the adventure, make the compass cause issues is they always follow it (like you mentioned). The compass leads to the direct path, which is sometimes much more dangerous than the quest based path.


Also, like others said, kill the awakened minion NPCs each player gets one character...

[lebefrei]

Awakened NPCs become their own people (controlled by you like any other NPC) with their own desires and motives, they should not be controlled by players. They aren't slaves or pets. They definitely shouldn't start taking character levels and join up. I'm not sure why you allowed this, maybe you felt you didn't have enough players, but it is making it way harder for the bard to shine. Let the awakened animals all head off on their own quest. Then maybe later the players can run into what's left of them. The hippogriff left to start a family, the direwolf ate the chicken and now needs to be hunted down. Whatever, but I really advise you don't let the player keep controlling them.

Go read the bard class guides. They, like all good guides, cover extensively what is good about the class. Then, with less characters in the party, build more strategic combat giving the bard a chance to shine. And by all means, expand your tool set to have roleplay encounters that let that charisma matter. Being a DM should be a learning and growing experience. If one of your players doesn't have anything to do, and they didn't somehow break their character into being useless, then either you or they are doing something wrong.

[Citan]

I guess I should elaborate;
The one player just controls the three fighters and the wizard, the ranger and barbarian are independent. Part of the problem is that I can't create encounters that need the bard besides healing or occasional inspirations/cutting words. Almost any situation can be simply fought through, and the party has a compass that shows them wherever their objective is, so they don't have to question, survey, or research anything or anyone. I want to allow him to use his skills more, but I need some advice on how to do that.
Then I'd say provide several "encounters" (in its largest meaning) in which there are obvious ways to avoid fight with proper discussion/influence, so the Bard can demonstrate his skills.

Also observe the spells your player has, which Wizard don't, and try to include some monsters that are weak against those (Heat Metal? Put heavily armored guys. Plant Growth? Include a horde of little melee critters. Hypnotic Pattern? Make a group of thugs with one big boss and several guards. Etc).

[sithlordnergal]

So, first thing is first. The awakened allies need to be killed off. This shouldn't be too hard, unless everyone focuses solely on defending them.

Next, what skills did they choose? Your party seems to lack skill monkies, other then the bard. Toss them into traps that will need the bard to use their skills.

Next up, the spell lists. What sort of spells did your bard take? Toss a few battles that are crafted to be difficult without the bard's spells. For example, toss in a dragon that can fly to total cover up on a ledge. Have them swoop down and breathe on the fighters, then return safely to their roost to hide. Now the only way to reach it is the fly spell

[RareSwordfish]

Thanks for the imput. Unfortunately, I can't just get rid of the awakened NPCs because my players would probably go through hell and back again to keep them alive. So I am going to create a puzzle that only the bard can solve, and see what he thinks of it. If it is effective, I will start doing stuff like that more, and when he next picks spells I will recommend some more utility spells. I will also start making the compass more of a back up plan than a necessity, because I will limit its effectiveness. I will see how it goes.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

It was probably a mistake to give one player direct control of the Awakened allies. They're not summoned minions or animated corpses, but their own people with their own desires now that they've been Awakened, and as NPCs, should have been run by the DM.

Too late to fix it now but that's something to keep in mind if it comes up again.