A human who starts as a fighter or a half-elf who begins as a fighter/thief does not know whether he will be a bard. He might choose not to do so when he reaches that point; his ability scores might be such that he does not at that time qualify; some disastrous magical attack could alter his alignment rendering him ineligible. It is entirely likely that the character would be killed in combat before he qualifies for acceptance by the druids. Within the world imagined, it is even probable that many who start as fighters or fighter/thieves of an appropriate alignment have no intention or expectation that they should ever become a bard, and yet may ultimately choose to do so. Therefore, a human who intends to become a bard is a fighter, and a half-elf who intends to become a bard is a fighter/thief. Nothing about their future as a bard enhances their status in the present; therefore nothing about their future as a bard should limit it, beyond the obvious qualifying requirements of ability scores and alignment.
This means that a future bard may do all that a fighter may do while a fighter. He may specialize in any weapon. He may learn special maneuvers if such are available to fighters within his campaign world. We are told specifically that as a bard his skill with weapons will always be that which he attained as a fighter. This would logically include his chance to hit, number of attacks, hit and damage bonuses, and the effects of specialization, all of which would remain with him as a thief and as a bard. Further, any future bard may do all that a thief may do while a thief. He may learn weapons available to him as a thief. He may use all thief skills. Logically, he may choose upon reaching level six to become a thief-acrobat if he qualifies for that split class. It has been generally accepted by most referees of my acquaintance that a fighter who becomes a thief, although forbidden to use "fighter skills", still fights with the skill he had as a fighter, including attacks per round, chance to hit, hit and damage bonuses, and effects of weapon specialization. The only caveat is that the rules make clear that certain weapons and armor will interfere with the ability to perform thief functions. Thus a fighter who specializes in the long sword will have those bonuses as a thief, since the long sword is an acceptable weapon to the thief; but the one who specializes in the long bow cannot use it as a thief, since carrying this weapon will interfere with such abilities as moving silently, hiding in shadows, and climbing walls.
However, once becoming a bard, the character retains all of his fighter and thief skills. Thus the character who specialized in the long bow as a fighter will resume use of that weapon with all bonuses for specialization, with the limitation that he cannot use most of his thief skills when carrying the bow. But, as with any character with two (or more) classes, he can function as any one of them, with the limitations of the others indicating only that he cannot perform all of the functions of the other class if attired or equipped for the one. Thus the restrictions on armor which a bard may wear will be enforced by his ability to perform bard functions (and so earn bard experience if he has not attained a higher level as a bard than the level attained in the other class), but the weapon restrictions for the bard class only refer to which weapons a bard can learn once beginning his bardic studies. (However, the restrictions on thief's weapons may be enforced against the human bard in restrictions on the use of thieving skills when so armed--it is difficult to hide in shadows with an awl pike; the fact that multiclassed non-human fighter/thieves can do it reflects more the magical nature of the world than the observed facts of the weapons.)
In summary, the character who will become a bard begins with a selection of weapons from those of the fighter, and may spend proficiencies on specialization if desired. This list is those weapons which the character will still be able to add to his skills after becoming a bard. (A player may wish to defer learning many of these until he begins bardic training, so he has something on which to spend his proficiency slots.) (Note: MyWorld rules do not permit spending thief or bard proficiency slots to increase from single specialization to double specialization. A character who chooses to specialize in a melee weapon and spend two (instead of three) slots in that weapon may choose to spend an additional slot for full ability at any time while he is a fighter, but once he changes professions, he may not improve his fighter skills by spending a thief or bard proficiency slot on his weapon of specialization.)
Since a Bard can use any weapon available to a fighter when a fighter, this list indicates only those weapons to which he will be limited once he becomes a bard:
Return to Step 10 at the proficiencies count for the Bard.
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