{"id":663836,"date":"2026-04-02T19:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/stop-overlooking-bards-life-wouldnt-be-the-same-without-them"},"modified":"2026-04-02T19:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:04:14","slug":"stop-overlooking-bards-life-wouldnt-be-the-same-without-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/stop-overlooking-bards-life-wouldnt-be-the-same-without-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop overlooking bards – life wouldn’t be the same without them"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

I was 38 years old when I realised I was a bard. I shouldn’t really have been surprised – I was Danny Zuko in my high school production of Grease after all, and then I was Frank n’ Furter in stockings and suspenders. But the realisation vexed me, because until that point I’d never had much time for bards. They were, as far as I was concerned – and I can barely bring myself to write it now – padding. Oh the hollowness! Oh the shame! How could I ever have been so empty? Yet, perhaps the fault was not entirely my own.<\/p>\n

You see, I grew up on bards as interpreted by computer games, and to me, there, they were a forgettable class. They were there only to serve others. In Dark Age of Camelot, which I spent a long time playing, the bard-likes were the speed buff your group needed to get around quickly – that was their purpose. They could do a few other things but none as well as the other classes could. And in World of Warcraft, another game I put a lot of time into, bards weren’t a playable class at all.<\/p>\n

Look across RPGs and it’s a similar story. There’s no bard class in the Divinity: Original Sin series, and in Dragon Age, the whole series, the bard only crops up as playable in Origins as a rogue subclass. Those series couldn’t be more heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and yet, the poor old bard doesn’t get a look-in. And it leaves you wondering why. Or, it reinforces a belief somewhere in your head that bards aren’t good enough to make the cut.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was 38 years old when I realised I was a bard. I shouldn’t really have been surprised – I was Danny Zuko in my high school production of Grease after all, and then I was Frank n’ Furter in stockings and suspenders. But the realisation vexed me, because until that point I’d never had much time for bards. They were, as far as I was concerned – and I can barely bring myself to write it now – padding. Oh the hollowness! Oh the shame! How could I ever have been so empty? Yet, perhaps the fault was not entirely my own. You see, I grew up on bards as interpreted by computer games, and to me, there, they were a forgettable class. They…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":663837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[585,3911,8284,291,6216,5880,7174,900,3302,8285],"class_list":["post-663836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-baldurs-gate-3","tag-divinity-original-sin","tag-divinity-original-sin-2-definitive-edition","tag-dragon-age","tag-dragon-age-2","tag-dragon-age-inquisition","tag-dungeonsdragons","tag-pillars-of-eternity","tag-pillars-of-eternity-2-deadfire","tag-the-bards-tale-4"],"yoast_head":"\nStop overlooking bards - life wouldn't be the same without them | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was 38 years old when I realised I was a bard. 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