Why bother with a bard miniature?
This one seems like it’s a bit of a no brainer, but it’s also a funny one like the druid, being both a PC class as well as a Humanoid NPC creature. You need bards as NPC’s. You need bards as PC’s. You just need bards, period. Bard miniatures will get used quite a lot. If nothing else, they are needed when you go to taverns for entertainment. But let’s get real: you will use them for much more than that. This one’s race is loxodon; it is not just a class.
What about this mini?
This mini came from Krakenships Miniatures, the Elephas bard. Krakenships Miniatures specialise in selling PC’s minis for hard to find races and classes. They have nice sculpts, as you can see from this miniature, and they are really detailed so they are fun to paint. When my players are choosing minis for their characters, Krakenships minis are very popular choices. This miniature also has a medium sized base, which is the right size, so that’s another good thing about it.
For me, this miniature really resonates as well, since I used to work with elephants, long ago and far away, and I really appreciate them. They are far more intelligent than you expect them to be, as well as far more mischievous. Loxodons are way too small, but I’m OK with that. Elephants are just so incredibly huge, that until you work in close proximity with them you really have a hard time getting your head around their size.
How useful is this mini, really?
Bards are included in 5 published Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition books:
- Ghosts Of Saltmarsh
- Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters Of The Multiverse
- Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
- Volo’s Guide To Monsters
- Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Five books is not a lot of books, but bard minis are still going to get used. If nothing else, one of your players will want to play a bard one day. Bards are great fun for NPC’s as well. Even if Wizards of the Coast don’t put them in the official publications very often, that doesn’t mean you can’t sprinkle them around.
But why are you doing this?
As usual for these videos, my point is to provide good views of the miniatures featured and sizing information about them. As I already pointed out, the loxodon bard miniature is on a medium size base and that’s the correct size. I would like to also thank the wildlife artist Sherrie York, an amazing reduction linocut artist, for kindly allowing me to use one of her reduction linocuts, Shivano Sunset, as the backdrop for my minis in the video.