1st Edition PH Excerpts: Bard
Bart Carroll
In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax
introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his
innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen
in virtually every facet of gaming today.
To help honor his work and his memory, we've created limited-edition
reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual,
Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide. These premium versions of the
original AD&D rulebooks have been lovingly reprinted with the original art
and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this
re-release.
Your purchase of this monumental book helps support the
Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize the "Father of Roleplaying
Games" with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva ,
WI
n this preview of the 1st Edition re-release of the Player’s
Handbook, we venture into the appendixes of the book to rediscover the bard!
The Bard
As this character class subsumes the functions of two other
classes, fighters and thieves, and tops them off with magical abilities, it is
often not allowed by Dungeon Masters. Even though this presentation is greatly
modified from the original bard character class, it is offered as supplemental
to the system, and your DM will be the final arbiter as to the inclusion of
bards in your campaign.
Bards begin play as fighters, and they must remain
exclusively fighters until they have achieved at least the 5th level of
experience. Anytime thereafter, and in any event prior to attaining the 8th
level, they must change their class to that of thieves. Again, sometime between
5th and 9th level of ability, bards must leave off thieving and begin clerical
studies as druids; but at this time they are actually bards and under druidical
tutelage. Bards must fulfill the requirements in all the above classes before
progressing to Bards Table I. They must always remain neutral, but can be
chaotic, evil, good or lawful neutral if they wish.
This article was copied from the wizards of the coast page which can be found here. The following is a link to the Bard pdf provided by WOTC: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/excerpts/excerpt_ph1_bard.pdf
a portion of the proceeds will go to http://gygaxmemorialfund.com/
a portion of the proceeds will go to http://gygaxmemorialfund.com/
