Troll Lord Games

So I've played my fair share of characters: the fighter, a wizard, a rogue, all the basics... But today I have a question about something new to me: The lowly bard. What's everyone's opinion on personalizing the bard's inspiring abilities? Kind of similar to how a cleric has his turning mantras or a wizard has his casting incantations. The only problem I see with it is a bard inspires his allies, who he knows personally and they'll have different names whereas a cleric appeals to the same deity to turn a group of zombies and the wizard draws on the same power each time to cast a lightning bolt. Should the bard just be allowed some generic poems or songs, or should he spend the time for more personalized tunes? Thanks in advance

It is a flavor call.

If you require the bard player to perform the speech / action to get the bonuses, they're likely to come up with something new each time, depending on the situation. If you do not require the player to "do" anything other than "I want to use this bard ability" then it can be described as being a rallying cry or whatever, or you can just say "OK, allies, you all get +X on this and that."

But, all that said, a bard does not necessarily call upon supernatural forces so they cannot be directly correlated to a spellcaster. They can do that, or they can be little Malcolm X's (or MLK's) or Aragorns or Shakespearean play people and simply use the power of knowing what to say to get people moving, perhaps because they understand, innately, the psychology of people (or maybe they're psychopaths, according to Criminal Minds.)

I personally rule that the same "speech" cannot be used over and over, and require the player to speak out what they want to say to have the effect, and it is always situation dependent. So, in that regard, the answer at my table would be: yes.

It has become a local favorite class. The C&C bard is a really well designed class, it just needs flavoring. Some of what we have done with it includes:

The Sage - The know-it-all who is constantly looking over peoples shoulders and offing unwanted advice. "According to Theiurbart's Locksmithing, you should hold your pick at a 70degree angle,not 45. IT will increase the tension." The Legend Lore ability comes into play a lot here, of course.

The Tactician - The man with the plan. Also great for groups that like to try things, make Siege Checks for weird actions. Similiar to #3:

The Drill Sargent - "Okay maggot, move further left, grab that sword tight and leap. The pit won't kill you, but I will!" *Actually game quote.

Locally, we encourage role-playing to use this ability (and most others), but we acknowledge that the player may not know what to do as well as the character. So if they can't role play it (really important for those anti-social gamers with the Char Primes), we give it to them, on the "Its a game" theory.

I have a list of Celtic Bardic 'abilities/spells' that never quite made it into the Codex Druidum because of a lack of space when it is was completed. These could be easily converted into class abilities, and might, if I put them into a supplement. They all derive from Welsh and Irish Bardic myth and history and sound like they are what you are looking for. I will keep them ready and see about preparing them for general gaming use soon for everyone. This might add some color to the bard.

If I spent the time and went with it, I could completely make the bard, according to its original Celtic tradition, into a very colorful and richly detailed class worthy of Taliesin, Aneirin and Amargain.

Sound like a good idea?

Celticgamer wrote: If I spent the time and went with it, I could completely make the bard, according to its original Celtic tradition, into a very colorful and richly detailed class worthy of Taliesin, Aneirin and Amargain.

Sound like a good idea?

Sounds like a great idea.

And while we're at it, any Finnish scholars want to take a stab at Väinämöinen?

Finnish culture is not my expertise....that would be a good addition though!

Aergraith wrote:

Celticgamer wrote: If I spent the time and went with it, I could completely make the bard, according to its original Celtic tradition, into a very colorful and richly detailed class worthy of Taliesin, Aneirin and Amargain.

Sound like a good idea?

Sounds like a great idea.

And while we're at it, any Finnish scholars want to take a stab at Väinämöinen?

I'll second that its a great idea!

Think Chacer from the knights tale.