THough this is not a great item for most plate classes, it does have a few advantages for the Bard class, the str is nice for when lugging the ******* of equipment around, and for when a bard does melee, the sta is not much, but it gives a Bard a few extra hp, which they are sorely lacking among the plate classes, it has bonus hp making it even more useful, and the resists are a nice bonus, as casters like to Nuke the bard first, since he is casting at melee range. At higher levels bards get their resists as high as possible to avoid the nukes and dots of enemy casters. A smart bard positions him self so that that he is not in line for threat ripostes, and hence only gets the occasional swat from the mob he is assisting on.