Bards

I don’t like the Bard class. I think it’s silly. Not “a bit silly,” but rather “all the silly.” 

That said, I do like poets, performers, and storytellers. We are telling stories here, after all.

I do not want to discourage my players from having artistic characters. Quite the contrary: my game Crown & Valor even has a rule about how music can speed up healing on the road.

Here is the process of becoming a Bard in my D&D games:

1) Tell me your character is a musician. Spend some money on an instrument. Like 25GP is fine. 

2) Get a busking license from the thieves guild. 

3) There is no step three. Bam, you’re a Bard. 

If you have a character who wants to become a bard, he will have to get the instrument and take six months to become proficient in it. It counts as a language for the purpose of calculating your total languages known, but even an INT 3 guy can learn to play one instrument (by ear.)

I think you could gish this concept with a spellcaster. The arcane casters could cast a spell with their guitar or whatever. The cleric could be a Cantor, or a hymnist caster.