D&D 5E Bards, muscical instruments, spell casting and spell casting focus

[muppetmuppet]

Just checking I understand the rules for bards and musical instruments.
At level one a bard has proficiency in 3 instruments from the class.
They can use an instrument as a spell casting focus but as far as I can see they don't have to be proficient in that instrument to do so.
They add their proficiency to the spell DC, but it is not clear if it matters if they are proficient in the instrument they are using to do so.

All this is only of interest as the bard in question has currently been stripped of all items and it is possible they may try to make or improvise a musical instrument to enable spell casting of spells needing components they don't possess.

Talking of which if a bard with no other skill were to try to make an improvised instrument say a flute would you impose a penalty to their spell DC or some other course till they can obtain a properly made one?

 

[KahlessNestor]

Bards actually don't even need an instrument. They can cast via song, oration, dance, etc.

 

[pukunui]

Bards actually don't even need an instrument. They can cast via song, oration, dance, etc.

This. I would not penalize the bard's spell save DC on account of having no instrument. All a spell focus does is allow you to ignore non-costly material spell components anyway, so there's already a built-in penalty: if he's got no instrument (and can't sing or dance or whatever either) and no spell component pouch, then he can't cast any spells that have a material component.

 

[Kobold Stew]

None of those are actually mentioned in the PHB, of course, and so would require DM permission. Plus, it's unlikely that the player has previously chosen these.

Fortunately, that doesn't matter.

The rules for Bardic instruments are particularly disappointing for me, but they are straightforward:

* a bard may use a musical instrument as a spell casting focus.
* "use" does not mean playing (which can require two hands); waving it around is apparently sufficient: "stand back, I have a fiddle".
* "use" does not require proficiency: proficiency only matters for spell checks when playing.
* a bard may use a component pouch to equal effect.
* proficiency bonus has nothing to do with the item you are using as a focus (if you are not just providing separate components).

All this to say: a bard stripped of all equipment can still cast spells requiring only V/S, and can a component pouch or wave around any instrument (proficient or not) to replace individual M components.

The final issue, of hand-making a flute or whatever to achieve this? Obviously, that's a DM's call. To me, that sounds awesome and I'd want to support such creativity, especially in the face of the overall weakness of bardic instruments.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[akr71]

Or a rap battle.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Epic Rap Battles of Fantasy!

 

[DEFCON 1]

Epic Rap Battles of Fantasy!

[video=youtube;ZIMoQHpvFQQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIMoQHpvFQQ[/video]

 

[mellored]

Any caster stripped of items cannot use spells that require Material components (M).