Bards are great entertainers and tend to be enjoyable companions on an adventure. Bards are generally well respected in most settlements, being the bringers of news from far away lands, the lorekeepers of the realms, and the voice of many a king or noble to their people and to other cities. They are known for maintaining a degree of neutrality in most matters. They get by on their wit and their charm, leaving some to be known as roguish troublemakers. Bards can be of all resonances, but they rarely reach either extreme.

They dabble in being flexible in many areas of combat, rather than being a master of one. They have a rogue's basic combat ability, as well as six levels of arcane spells, which unlike most casters can be used spontaneously. Their casting abilities are based upon their charisma score. They also have the ability to remember and recite lore that they have been told about.

Bards are spontaneous casters that prepare spell levels in place of individual spells. They use the <master> command to learn new spells from the bard spell list. See <spells bard (by level)>. They can <cast> a spell they have mastered by expending a spell slot, which they can prepare with the <prepare> command. To see how many slots you can prepare, use <recall bard spells>.

As a hybrid class with spell casting abilities, bards would benefit from a combination of martial and magic feats. They will need the perfect caster feat to avoid harming their allies and summoned creatures with area-affecting spells.

Bards also get the following cantrip spells (type 'recall cantrip spells'): Daze, Detect Magic, Dancing Lights, Mending, Flare, Resistance