Troll Lord Games

http://sites.google.com/site/ssfsx17srp ... stuff/bard

After doing a bit of research on Bards in AD&D 1e and 2e, I decided to make a few adjustments, and the "adjustments" quickly became my usual style of house rules.

If anything seems too 3rd-edition-esque or Pathfinder-esque, do tell.

Having only given a very quick reading, this looks cool!
Not studied it enough for constructive criticism

How do Bards of the Epic Tradition give spell slots to others? Are these spell slots converted to their own spells? Are the given spell slots equal to the bard spell slots, except a fighter could use them?

This is pretty cool stuff ssfsx17

~O

Omote wrote:How do Bards of the Epic Tradition give spell slots to others? Are these spell slots converted to their own spells? Are the given spell slots equal to the bard spell slots, except a fighter could use them?

I hadn't actually thought that far. Good catch!

One thing's for sure: the spell slots would only be given to true spellcasters.

Here's my input...for what it's worth! Please understand that I mean no disrespect and this is an attempt at an unbias critique.

It's interesting. I like it, but here are my concerns.

Fast movement. Does it have a place in the class? To me, it doesn't seem to have much reason. But, maybe that's me.

Most of the abilities of a bard and a rogue, and full caster progression? I know this was traded for the Fascinate and Exhort Greatness, but full casting progression is more than a fair tradeoff. Add in the roguish abilities and I feel the XP chart needs to ramped up a lot. In my opinion, this bard would have the heftiness XP chart among all classes.

I know I sound like I'm thrashing it good, and I apologize for that as I do like it. I might would do some retooling,though. Take a look at the Bardic traditions (which I like, a lot) and maybe expand on them some more. Flesh them out as legitimate branches, like specializations of the class. I would drop the rogue abilities - there are already two-and-a-half classes that do that sort of thing (rogue, assassin, and ranger)...or make it as one of the aforementioned specializations. But in the end, it's your character. I see this class as a diamond in the rough - it's got a lot of potential, but (in my meaningless opinion ) needs a little more refining.

They don't have full caster progressions, they have very slow ones. Look at the table carefully.

And, I realize this version loses its uniqueness by being very Rogue-like, but it is inspired by the AD&D 1e Bard which was also basically... I hate to use the word... a prestige class of Fighter, Rogue, and Druid

ssfsx17 wrote: And, I realize this version loses its uniqueness by being very Rogue-like, but it is inspired by the AD&D 1e Bard which was also basically... I hate to use the word... a prestige class of Fighter, Rogue, and Druid

Well, apples & oranges power wise really. In 1st Ed one had to become fighter of 5th-8th level THEN, a Thief of 5th-9th level and THEN become a Druid. Plus, they had to meet the requirements for ALL the classes.

But, toned down, it is an interesting idea.

ssfsx17 wrote:They don't have full caster progressions, they have very slow ones. Look at the table carefully.

And, I realize this version loses its uniqueness by being very Rogue-like, but it is inspired by the AD&D 1e Bard which was also basically... I hate to use the word... a prestige class of Fighter, Rogue, and Druid

That is true, they don't have full caster progression. It's a pretty significant progression, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, my intention wasn't to offend, so I hope I didn't. My input was what I would do different from your end result if I started at the same place. In the end, if you're happy with your creation, then that's what matters!