#D&D Classes | justavulcan (2024)

Some classes and backgrounds mesh naturally, from a conceptual standpoint. Soldier and Fighter, Entertainer and Bard, Sage and Wizard. But backgrounds aren’t class-restricted, and so I wonder what it would look like if you paired every class with every background, even the ones that seem at odds, like Sage and Barbarian, or Outlander and Wizard. So I thought about it, and this is what I came up with. Some character concepts for each class, and each Player’s Handbook background for each class.

Bard

The term bard probably brings to mind some image of some fool with a lute. Probably a horny one. Let's set that aside for a moment. I'm here to argue that the heart of a bard is a performance. All too often that's interpreted as instrumentation, and the mechanics support that- specifically, bards can use a musical instrument as their spellcasting focus. But that's so constrictive! To be a bard is to master the performance. Tell me your actor, or poet, or comedian, or orator, or dancer isn't a bard. I'd advise working with your DM, obviously, but see if they're willing to take some alternative arcane focus items into consideration. I certainly used a few different ones below.

The Acolyte Bard performs with organ, flute, and dance. She joined her church to Urbanus young, and the progress, trade, and beauty within brings her such joy, uplifting people from what she views as a dull, lonely life surrounded by empty country to the clash and clamour of the musical city. She's picked up a great many things in the service of her church, from swordsmanship to deceit, and puts her talents to use in service of the city she serves at Urbanus's command. A symphony can be silent and deadly, she thinks, and if it keeps the metropolis and roads safe, why not?

The Charlatan Bard performs with tongue, sword, and viol. He's been neck-deep in the court intrigues of the Court of Stars since he could speak. The youngest son of a lesser courtier fallen from grace, he's cultivated his swordsmanship and tongue to serve the Court's interests, and the front has worked. He's being approached for work by these people who control his nation's future, and asked to put his swords to their use. Access means information, and the time approaches when he could use what he learns to take his family back up the political ladder one cut at a time.

The Criminal Bard performs with lute, comedy, and bagpipes. A member of the criminal underworld has long been kept as a troubadour to the nation's royalty, a way for the legal and illegal to cross paths without overly endangering anyone important. He's new to the role, but has already used his jester's motley, comedy mask, and false cheer to hide approaching death for foes to king and crime lord alike. It's a walk on a tightrope, but if murder is the artistry they demand, give the people what they want.

The Entertainer Bard performs with violin, saxophone, and voice. As an eladrin child in the Feywild, she was taught to play to please those among the Fair Folk's nobility for wealth and power, and now that she's migrated to the Material Plane she's keen to bring the same skills to bear. Rumors spread of her commanding manner and entrancing performances, and so too rumors of her fiery temper- temper to match her firelight-orange hair.

The Folk Hero Bard performs with banjo, harmonica, and horn. Adopted child of human parents, this wood elf lad lived a farmer's life until they passed, then took to the road to see what his homeland had to show. After convincing some goblins to seek an easier place to get food one winter, he earned himself a name, and is keen enough to sing the song about it if asked. he still tries to do some good, helping his huge and widespread family keep their homes safe as best he can.

The Guild Artisan Bard performs with flute, lute, and horn. Years of luthier's work left her hands calloused and strong and deft, and what's the good of working in an instrument shop without learning to play? Making things has always come naturally to her, so her favorite songs are working tunes, and she shows signs of pursuing a magic item creator's path one day- but for now, she will settle for playing her art into being, strumming forth tools and setting stars of inspiration free in the air.

The Hermit Bard performs with voice, sign, and speaking-cone. After joining a reclusive monastic order for years to study the arts of debate and oratory, he sought to depart into the world to spread the message his order's leader had instilled upon him. The veiled leader of the order granted him leave, pending the answer to the question: what do you expect to find out there that you do not in here? His answer was satisfactory for the moment as he presented his first argument, but the order's leader demanded he return one day, with all he has learned, to face the same question once more.

The Noble Bard performs with voice, lyre, and viol. As a boy, he met the small man living in the stove of his manor's kitchen. Rather than cast the small, strange man out, he spoke with him often, learning many stories about the other Fair Folk that lived around his home and village. He sought them out, and they taught him much of song and speech, music and the rhythms of the mortal heart. After eating one charred faerie-cake too many, the lad's manner changed- now, his gaze is magnetic, and his voice near-hypnotic; a talent that his father has been keen to put to use securing his fief.

The Outlander Bard performs with horn, bagpipes, and drum. As eldest son of the Son of the Hunter, it's his honor to blow the horn to signal the hunt, spurring the other warriors to heights of courage and daring in their pursuit of giant scorpion, spider, or wasp. His music is simple, primal, but compelling to all, and few, orc or no, can resist the call of his horn, the cry of his pipes, or the rhythmic beat of his drum. When he leaves home, to see the world and hunt prey of his own, it's his instruments he bears, not the javelins and bows of his clan's greater hunters.

The Sage Bard performs with flute, dance, and zither. Unwillingly apprenticed to a yuan-ti malison wizard as a teenager, she always sought a way to improve her lot and get out from the old serpent's gaze. Mastering the flute was a first step, but stealing glimpses of her master's spellbook, encoding the incantations as music, and playing them was next. Now, she knows all of her master's spells by ear, and even for the ones that don't bring magic along yet, she's certain those will come in time.

The Sailor Bard performs with fiddle, concertina, and voice. Adopted by a passing ship after her own sunk in a storm, she quickly got a grip of the movement of wind and waves- and still more, as her growing musical and magical talents attested. Soon she was summoning breezes, calming heated tempers, and playing the crew of her ship just like her fiddle. it could have been a fight forestalled too many times or just ill luck that made her hop ship, but she figured a weather eye on the horizon and an ear for gossip and music was enough to live with.

The Soldier Bard performs with flag, pike, and drum. They volunteered to serve as flagbearer out of a sense of national pride, and they stuck with it out of sheer stubbornness and a conviction that nobody else would live through it. After the war ended, they mustered out and went on to continue rallying folks for whatever cause caught their eye. A keen veteran despite the horrors of the campaign, they’ve not missed a veteran’s parade yet.

The Urchin Bard performs with flute, shawm, and drum. She’s been on the street a while, and while her music used to be a way for her to beg, she’s since developed other talents with it- a stranger came to her and explained that music was a path to magic, and she bought in so hard the force of her belief brought her coins rattling to life and dancing before her. She’s strived to play that dancing tune again since, and feels that if she pursues the path of a bard greater things than a life on the street await.