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== Tabletop Games ==
* Varies in the RPG ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]'', depending on edition and campaign. There are a lot of "trap" classes in almost all editions. This is where [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]] came from after all.
** First edition bards were an odd class that required several levels in 3 different classes before you could begin taking levels in bard, and even then the abilities were of questionable use at best.
** Interestingly enough, the second edition bard was just the [[Jack of All Stats]]. However, at a certain range of experience (party average around 3 to 12) this trope was [[Inverted Trope|inverted]], making bards curiously but non-obviously overpowered during this common range of play. Due to their being on the Thief experience table, they gained levels much faster than their wizard buddies, which allowed them to outperform wizards in their area of expertise for a good portion of the game due to their nukes being stronger—not to mention the Thief skills, the weapon proficiencies, the improved [[THAC 0]] table, and bardic music. Unfortunately, [[Zig-Zagging Trope|the straight use of this trope]] comes into play after the middle levels, as they hit a hard limit on their spells and wizard-classes's advancement scheme became less stingy.
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* And then there was [http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/bard.html#bard Pathfinder. The Bard] now supplies large bonuses to his party without it taking up his actions and has class features which grant him "virtual" skills by allowing Perform to double up for two more skills. In addition, the Bard is able to use all Knowledges without training, and half his level is added as a bonus. You have a class which buffs his whole team, is a skill monkey, and without spending a single skill point is likely to know more about everything than the rest of the party combined, plus serves as a natural face for the group. Sure, the Bard is still not a powerhouse in combat, but in any but the most hack-n-slash campaigns, it's a solid, non-spoony choice.
* The [[Returners Final Fantasy Roleplaying Game]] practically inverts this trope, especially in relation to the [[Trope Namer]]. They can endlessly throw around group affecting buffs and debuffs for free while still doing decent magical damage and they can use Hide to avoid predictable attacks making them very valuable against both tough mobs and bosses. Their main weakness, just to further separate them from [[Final Fantasy IV|Edward]], is a tendency to go last.
* [[Warhammer 4000040,000]] has the iconic Tactical Squad, which can be given a Missile Launcher (with two types of ammo, one for anti-tank and one for anti-horde), a flame thrower for close ranged combat, the sergeant being tooled up for actual close combat, and can be split into two squads so that the close combat half can move and cap objectives while the heavy weapon guy can sit back and shoot. They can also take a Razorback Transport, which can bring the Close combat half up to the enemy while providing another heavy weapon, which is mobile. To top it off, they're pretty cheap for what you pay for. This all ''looks'' good on paper, as they can theoretically take on any threat they see, it's actually horrifying bad, as they cannot put enough shots/attacks to ''kill'' whatever threat they see. Especially glaring is the Missile launcher, whose anti-horde firing mode in theory can hit multiple targets, but because of coherency rules, it'll likely hit no more than 2, and that's if it's ''lucky'' (and on top of that, there's roughly a 75% chance of the target in question surviving anyways). The only reason they are still widely used is because the only alternative to fill the standard marine's troop choice is the badly-priced Scouts, which are roughly the same cost as marines, but lack their stats and survivability in lieu of other rules. In armies that gives the player another choice for troops, Tactical Marines are almost universally passed up in favor of those.
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' gave us kobolds, a tribe as weak as physically possible without going straight to the graveyard, but cost nothing to play. They [[Magikarp Power|can be upgraded with other kobolds]], but these tend to come out on turn three or later, and the bonus isn't that much. And they're all in red, a color known for [[Leeroy Jenkins|winning fast, or not at all]].
 
 
== Video Games ==
* In the [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]] based game [[Baldur's Gate]], bards tend to be bad fighters and bad magic users, but get more bonuses toward identifying items through the "Lore" statistic than any other class. If your party loadout includes a specialist wizard who can't cast the Identify spell on an item, having a bard can help avert spending large amounts of money identifying the magic items you frequently encounter but their utility usually stopped there.
** The sequel, Baldur's Gate II, introduced class kits that would allow bards to beef up aspects of the class. Picking a Blade, one of the DPS oriented kits, and combining it with some defensive mage spells potentially made characters which could outpace other fighters in terms of armor and damage output.
* The [[Trope Namer]] is Prince Edward Chris von Muir from ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]''. After the death of an otherwise plot-unimportant daughter, the party's sage Tellah rails against the unfortunate lute player with a stream of insults and threats including "You spoony bard!", a somewhat [[Bowdlerise]]d translation that [[Good Bad Translation|became popular and was retained when the game was re-translated for the GBA version]] (though in the DS game the retranslator NPC found in the dwarven kingdom's Developer's Room states, "The bard ''is'' spoony. [[Lampshade Hanging|We checked!]]", see page quote.). Edward himself is [[Joke Character|singularly useless]], employing a ''[[Musical Assassin|harp]]'' as a weapon and possessing the special ability of [[Musical Assassin|"singing" at enemies]]—a skill that's supposed to inflict [[Standard Status Effects|status ailments]] but [[Useless Useful Spell|which frequently does nothing at all]]. Edward's other special ability, unsurprisingly, is to run away and hide for a turn. In "hard-type", though, he's ''slightly'' more useful because he can also spread potions amongst the whole party. Slightly.
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** All this said, the famous line that named this trope doesn't appear in the original Japanese version. In its place is Tellah screaming [[What the Hell, Hero?|"You bastard! How dare you!"]]; one way or another, it's not nearly as memorable as the line that took its place.
*** Seems like poor Edward just can't seem to catch a break. While he's shown to be much less wimpier storywise and he still retains his Salve ability in After Years, his Bardsong is again randomized. At very least you can still choose whether you want to target your party or enemies with it, including being able to choose from a single/all party members/enemies and the negative statuses it can cause have potential to at least be useful this time around since the game follows the DS version trend of making [[Useless Useful Spell]]s less useless. While he's not the [[Glass Cannon]] he was in the GBA version anymore, his damage output isn't that far behind from the other characters, he's still decently fast, the aforementioned Salve can be even more useful than the White Mages' healing spells both because of the buyable X-Potions and Elixirs and an item that doubles the effectiveness of items in battle and his ability to hide can still be useful against enemies who telegraph their [[Total Party Kill]] attacks.
*** And seeing how Edward is still moping over his beloved Anna ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years|17 years]]'' after her death, such that his kingdom is without an heir, he apparently still fits the literal definition as well. That said, he's ''much'' [[Took a Level Inin Badass|more confident and assertive]] now, and is one of the only heroes to get the better of the villains, if temporarily, so far.
* The Dancer and Bard classes in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]''. Dancers can use their weakest dance to enormously powerful effect in a properly tweaked party (three Dancers and two Mimes with strength boosted as high as possible). This is generally the second most powerful party possible in the game. Without this strategy, however, the Dancer class was mostly useless (which theoretically makes it a [[Magikarp Power|Magikarp]]).
** The Dancer being mostly useless is wrong. The rate of status effects from the various dances varies. The damage both to HP and MP effects were guaranteed, but it also had the ability damage enemy speed, attack and magic attack, as well as inflict statuses, or even reduce it's position in the turn roster to last. Spooniness varied as more powerful effects were attempted.
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== Web Comics ==
* Gildward, the bard from the webcomic ''[[Adventurers!]]'', is a parody of the original Spoony Bard from ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]''. His name is even a combination of "Edward" and "Gilbert", Edward's Japanese name. In [http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/0034.html this strip], he [[Defied Trope|almost]] gets called a Spoony Bard after demonstrating the utterly ineffectual powers of his magic harp.
* Elan from ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' is as [[Cloudcuckoolander|spoony]] as they come. His bard songs are pretty much useless, his motivational speeches have a tendency to horribly backfire, and the only weapons he can use can be [[Breakable Weapons|Sundered by someone cursing too loud.]] However, his real talent is a result of his bardic training: he's as [[Genre Savvy]] as they come, and sees damn near everything coming. Whenever he works close enough with [[Genius Bruiser]] Roy, he becomes [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]. And that training perfectly synergizes with the Dashing Swordsman [[Prestige Class]] he literally [[Took a Level Inin Badass|took a level in]] - which turns entertaining quips and drama into [[Badass|Bad Assery]] - turning him into a [[One-Man Army]].
** Notable in that his [[Took a Level Inin Badass|leveling up]] hasn't drowned out the endearing aspects of his character: optimism, ''extraordinary'' loyalty to his friends, and a certain bumbling charm that makes him what he is. [[Character Development|Elan's progression]] from a simple Spoony Bard to Dashing Swordsman isn't just about getting more/useful class powers, but him developing the chops to be a genuine [[Big Damn Hero]]. As part of this growth he also is slowly shown to be [[How Do I Shoot Web|learning how to properly use his regular bardic spells]].
* Julie, the protagonist of ''[[Our Little Adventure]]''. She's [[The Archer|good with a bow]] and she's the only group member with any sort of healing powers but seldom ever kicks ass and takes names. Julie's [[Reluctant Warrior|dislike of fighting]] might play into it, but she's got no problem with [[Magic Music|boosting her groupmates' killing skills]] using [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment|silly musical numbers.]]
* Gamzee of ''[[Homestuck]]'' subverts this. Despite being a [[The Stoner|Stoner]] [[Love Freak]] and having the title of Bard of... Something (exactly what it is, he forgot), he takes down the [[Final Boss|Black King]] of the Trolls' session with ''[[Beware the Silly Ones|frightening]]'' efficency and brutality. Subverted even harder when we find out that he's actually the Bard of {{spoiler|''[[Ax Crazy|Rage.]]''}}
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[[Category:Scrappy Index]]
[[Category:This Index Is Useless]]
[[Category:Spoony Bard{{PAGENAME}}]]
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