Improving the Bard
The bard is generally seen as the player character class with the least amount of merit in the entire game. No real magical firepower, an ability that is roughly equivalent to a first level spell. Mostly the only people who use bards are those who want a unique role-playing challenge, but why should that come at the cost of a playable character?
Well, some improvements to the class have been suggested, and here’s one that might make bards worth playing. Generally, a plus one to attacks and damage is only useful in the lower levels, and shouldn’t bards get progressively more powerful as they gain experience. Instead, we suggest benchmarks, and as they are hit the bardic song gets more powerful. The normal plus one has a DC of fifteen, but under our rules if you manage to roll a twenty-five, you get plus two instead. Thirty-five gets you plus three, and so on. Suddenly, bards can be a very useful class to have at any level.
It has also been suggested that a bard could change exactly what sort of bonus he conveys with his song. With a roll of forty-five, instead of giving a general plus four bonus to all of his allies, a bard could focus his song on one combatant and give his weapon an enchantment for the round. Exactly what this entails is up to you, however we suggest that it not be anything too flashy. For example, it isn’t logical that a bardic song can make someone’s weapon light on fire, therefore you should not allow bards to add the flaming quality. However, it is believable that a fighter could be inspired to have better aim, or to attack more frequently, so either keen or speed could be added.