Bard Combat Abilities

With every level, bards roll a d6 to determine their additional hit points. At 1st level, bards are presumed to have rolled a '6' on the die, starting with 'full' hit points. Bards also gain hit points for their body mass, which is rolled by the DM.

Bards are limited in their armor types to padded, leather, studded leather or chain mail; they may not wear ring, scale, banded, splinted or plate mail. They are prohibited from using shields and great helmets, but may use normal helmets if they desire.

Bards are able to employ magic items that are normally employed by fighters and thieves. Bards are quite limited in the number of weapons they have been trained to use:

Weapons Available to Assassins

Weapon	Damage	# of Hands	Break Chance	Attack Form
club	1-6	one	1 in 4	hand-to-hand, hurled
dagger	1-4	one	1 in 6	hand-to-hand, hurled
dart	1-3	one	1 in 6	hand-to-hand, hurled
javelin	1-6	one	1 in 6	hurled
quarterstaff	1-6	both	1 in 6	hand-to-hand
scimitar	1-8	one	1 in 6	hand-to-hand
sling	1-4	both	1 in 6	hurled
spear	1-6	both	1 in 4	hand-to-hand, hurled
sword (broad)	2-8	one	1 in 4	hand-to-hand
sword (short)	1-6	one	1 in 6	hand-to-hand

When creating a character, the player chooses two proficiencies. Among NPCs, the club and spear are popular. Bards automatically gain new weapon proficiencies every fifth level after 1st: at 6th level, 11th level, at 16th level and so on. The penalty for using a non-proficiency weapon is -4 to hit.

The table below gives ranges for the bard's missile weapons. Weapons thrown or fired at point blank range are +1 to hit. There is no adjustment at short range. Medium range gives a -2 penalty, while long range gives a -5 penalty.

Missile Range in Combat Hexes

Weapon	Point Blank	Short	Medium	Long
club	2	3-5	6-7	8-9
dagger	2	3-5	6-9	10-12
dart	2	3-5	6-10	11-15
javelin	2	3-9	10-18	19-27
sling	—	2-13	14-25	26-37
spear	2	3-6	7-12	13-18