OP, I'll tell you, Bard is tied for my favorite class with Paladin. In combat, out of combat, you name it...bards are epic.

Now, Solo some bards run in to problems. But when they fight in a group, theyre amazing. And the bigger the group, the better.

I LOVE Lore bard, its my favorite class. You need to understand, Bard create soooo much. Cutting words turns hits into misses...all the time. And Bards get a LOT of Inspa dice once it shifts to short rest refresh.

My last campaign, my bard was, honestly, the best in combat character.
Our party was a Gloomstalker Ranger, a Shadow Monk, A Totem Barbarian, a Life Cleric, and me - a Lore Bard.

I used magical secrets to get Counterspell and Crusaders mantle.

So, try to understand, i put up crusaders mantle adding 1d4 damage per hit from everyone - so add up all the hits between the Barb, Ranger, and Monk - often times just from that Aura im passively doing like 6-8d4 damage.

Now account for the idea of my meddling - Once per round i have a high chance of turning a hit into a miss with cutting words, or counterspelling a spell.

Now account for my charms. We had a BIG fight where we were totally outmatched, and we were supposed to lose this fight. It was us 5 up against a Demon, 2 small hell hounds, 1 giant 3 headed hell hound, and 1 hill giant with a tree he was swinging as a club.

Now, this fight the DM had planned for us to lose.

But, in walks the Lore Bard. Hill giant, you say? They're not so wise, *Suggestion - "That's a MEAN dog! Kill that MEAN dog!"

the Giant hell hound and the Hill Giant kill eachother (Giant kills hound, then bleeds from the hound's claws). Party smokes the regular hounds, gangs up on the Demon woman with skull whips.

DM realizes Bard broke the encounter, Demon dimension door's out...Nope. Counterspell. Bad roll? Thats OK, i have Lucky feat. Oops, Bard rolled a 20 and broke the encounter.

DM contemplates what loot we just got from this demon, and how to fix the story.




Bards wont blow up the game with Damage, they'll break the encounters with creativity and manipulation. That's their combat roll.