@richardgoodness that's why 5e is rad they are way different and defined by oaths. They don't have to be lawful good

@richardgoodness bards are even cooler. They are effectively able to be full healers in 5e

@richardgoodness also vicious mockery is a cantrip where you insult somebody for psychic damage it's fantastic

@richardgoodness bards of valor get extra attacks and can give attackers bonus damage dice they are rad as heck

Basically they are that one guy who walked around in WW2 playing the bagpipes

@richardgoodness I don't remember bards from 4e at all

5e went back to a circled spell system, but everyone still gets rad abilities

Spellcasters have "spells prepared" and "spell slots" so you prepare spells every day but you use whatever slot to cast it. Lots of spells can be cast at a higher level spell slot. Spontaneous casters get access to more spells at a time at the cost of being less flexible for a future situation.

Sorcerers are the only ones who get metamagic. It's good

@richardgoodness SORCERERS ARE GREAT IN 5E ALRICK WAS ONE

@richardgoodness I wish I could send you a picture. Alrick is a kobold who created a collective for kobolds escaping the underdark and navigated the politics to be safe from adventurers and is working to normalize monstrous humanoids in the forgotten realms

By the end of the campaign he expanded the city to all monstrous creatures (even duaregar!) and ended up befriending two dracoliches and cornered them into coming back to life and became besties with them

@richardgoodness a wizard ally gave him a genie and Alrick befriended the genie too!! Even though the genie wanted to enslave him he really fought the genie and sacrificed a lot to do good, and even sacrificed the power of a legendary staff he was borrowing in front of the wizard who loaned it to bring them back to life

I loved Alrick so much he was truly a queer kobold