Ring Side Report-Keeping it Classy: The Bard

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!

Product- Keeping it Classy: The Bard System-DnD 5e Producer-Kim Frandsen Price- $5 here https://www.dmsguild.com/product/281863/Keeping-It-Classy-The-Bard?affiliate_id=658618 TL; DR-Another Solid Entry in the Series. 98%

Basics-CAN YOU HEAR ME! Keeping it Classy: bards is another book in the keeping it classy series this time focusing on bards. This book has items, bard colleges, a new race, and backgrounds all focusing on the musical characters in the party.

Mechanics or Crunch-What’s here is great! I like the new mechanics, and they all feel balanced with everything else. I like the items and the backgrounds as they fit as well. I’ve never been a fan of new races because it’s strange to just have a group of creatures that have always been here just appear out of nowhere, but the new race feels balanced as well. What I want more of is feats. This book and the bard need some more feats, so this feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Aside from missing feats, I love the stuff that’s here. 4.75/5

Theme or Fluff-This again feels right. That’s what I want in a book for a class. The stuff here feels appropriate for the class and the various settings that the bard plays in. That means its done well. 5/5

Execution- PDF? Check! Hyperlinked? CHECK! Great layout and ease of readability? CHECK! This is how I want products made. It’s got some original art, but the art that is there does exactly what it was supposed to do- break up the text and intrigue me. The layout is nice. The font reads easily, and the overall presentation is top notch. 5/5

Summary-This is a 6 dollar book that provides a solid punch of material. You get great mechanics that build the class in a new direction by playing with some different resources. You get some new backgrounds, and you get solid items. I always want more,and here I feel a few feats would help round out the product. But, aside from that, the book has an amazing execution, and all the new toys feel like they belong in the fantasy world of DnD. This is a rock solid book most bards should at least check out! 98%

I open with saying that I think bards very rarely get the respect they deserve, as there are so many scattered acros the history of our world - Orpheus, Taliesen, Shakespeare, et cetera. So the base PH is rather limiting on what the class can do for colleges when really there are so much more! With what Kim has created in Keeping It Classy: The Bard, now you have fifteen new college options, as well as a new race, new backgrounds, and new equipment.

My favorite new college I believe is the College of Discord, as very often bards are seen as sewers of chaos and madness, which can give them an interesting stand roleplay and mechanics-wise. It is also rather darkly comedic, as seen in the final level 14 bonus called Waking the Dead: "At 14th level, your voice or your musical ability takes on cataclysmic proportions. As a reaction, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration. This allows your next spell to affect any creature that is normally immune to a condition imposed by the spell to affect it with a single condition." This ability is so terrifyingly funny, but also scarily powerful.

The Windsinger race is an excellent addition, playing on the concept of angels and sirens singing on high, and the new backgrounds - such as the Apprentice - really root the entire supplement in realism and truly look at the academic nature of bards that is often lost. Singing, storytelling, tale collection, and performing are all studies that take a great deal of time, and I think players sometimes forget that bards are actually masters of their craft.

Finally, with slews of artwork from across European movements showing various great masters and their dedication to the arts of music and theatrics to really cement the supplement, Kim has outshone many colossal handbooks in just 42 pages of bardic bliss.

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