Mini Adventure: On Being a Bard
I quite enjoyed playing a Bard, even though the use of the class features was limited and my spell list was pretty much useless against plants. Having a high Charisma was certainly different, and the skills used could be put to good effect.
To get myself in to the role I practised my Sleight of Hand first, by palming Bert's new, large D20 without him noticing. It took a few minutes before he missed it, and then he looked around for a short while before someone gave me up. When I gave it back I nicked his new D12, which he noticed a bit quicker, but not straight away. I took this as a good sign for my Bard.
During the adventure, I managed to use Diplomacy and Bluff quite effectively, but the bit I most enjoyed was when we found a skeletal figure wearing two nice rings, one magical and one not, but still ornate and expensive-looking. The Barbarian went in to the room and plucked the two rings off the body, bringing them back. I managed to persuade the others to let me wear the magical ring, so the Barbarian held out the rings in the palm of his hand.
As I picked the magical ring up, I told the DM I would use Sleight of Hand to palm the other, expensive ring out of his hand at the same time. Even though he was paying attention, I rolled so well against his miserable failure that he had no idea where the ring had gone. A successful Bluff check on my part made him think that he must have dropped it in the room, so he had a quick look but couldn't find it before we had to move on.
I thought this was great, as I had myself a nice gift and no one could prove that the Barbarian hadn't dropped the ring in the room, particularly as he was convinced he had dropped it. Sure, a Rogue could have done that, but not with as much charm. I'll be keeping the Bard around, ready for further adventures.