The Bard

[HLHartman]

I decided to beef up the bard class for my campaign (The Wandering) which is about to start. While I like the class as it is represented in the PH, I just felt there needed to be an extra little kick or two which emphasized the singing/instrument playing, as well as a few abilities which worked off those kinds of skills.

So, without further ado, I present:
The Bard

Prime Attribute: Charisma

Hit Dice: d8

Alignment: Any

Weapons: Broadsword, club, dagger, hand axe, light hammer, longsword, rapier, scimitar, shortsword, sling

Armor: Padded armor, leather coat, leather armor, ring mail, hide, studded leather, leather laminar

Musical Instrument: In order to gain the special song abilities listed below a bard must pick one, and only one, of the musical instruments available on the equipment list (or another which is not listed but is agreed upon between the player and CK), and it must be an instrument which is conducive to song accompaniment. However, due to the nature of music, almost any instrument can accompany a song, even if the player cannot be singing at the same time as playing, as is the case with horns, harmonicas, or even the diggery-do. Regardless of the instrument chosen, the goal of the bard is mastery of the instrumentwhich they will achieve over the course of their career. If the instrument should ever be destroyed the bard will suffer a penalty equal to half of their current level (rounded up) on all rolls until a replacement instrument of the same kind may be found because the instrument, as an extension of the bard, is akin to being a part of their body, really, and the loss of the instrument would cause anger and grief. In some cases, a CK or player may want to give instruments hit points or even special abilities.
Abilities:

Decipher Script: per PH.

Exalt: per PH, but a +1 to hit, with level increases of +2 at 4th, +3 at 9th, +4 at 15th

Hypnotic Song: A song which is played, or sung, or both, and which causes nearby creatures to stop and stare blankly at the bard, working as does the Hypnotism Spell (Level 1, Illusion). 1x per day, 2x per day after level 10.

Song of Influence: per Level 0 Illusion spell. 1x per day.

Listen: per rogue ability.

Ventriloquism: per Level 1 Illusion.

Legend Lore: per PH.

Seduce: at 5th level the bard gains the ability to seduce a medium-size or smaller humanoid with a successful Charisma check which includes any appropriate modifiers as deemed necessary by the CK. The seduction must take place in a secluded, private location, and the bard must use either a poem or song that includes the name of the person being seduced. Furthermore, during the seduction attempt, the bard must make eye contact with the person being seduced and be able to hold the contact for a minimum of one round. Once a successful attempt is made by the bard, the humanoid being seduced is allowed a Saving Throw v. Charisma (Charm) with a negative modifier equal to the bards current level/halved (rounded down). Once seduced by the bard, the humanoid will do anything asked of them short of ending their own life. The seduction will last 1 day per level of the bard. The seduction will end if the bard attacks the seduced humanoid or if the bard verbally ends the seduction by stating that the relationship between the two is over. The seduction may also be broken with a Remove Curse. A bard may only seduce one humanoid at a time, and may only use the ability once a month.

Fascinate: per PH.

Shout: gained at 6th level, per Level 4 Wizard.

Exhort Greatness: as per PH.

Please, let me know what you think!
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A boy named Sue.

[Morgrus]

Seduce may need tweaking, IMO it plays like a 4e power. A bard in a bar can have lots o young ladys falling for him or what if story calls for seduceing 2 persons, in defining seduce as a power you gimp a basic ability of the CHA score(and good rp.ing) that can logically be used with SIEGE.
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Awww Craap.

[HLHartman]

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

Morgrus wrote:
Seduce may need tweaking, IMO it plays like a 4e power.

Hmm. I agree to the tweakage part, but am unfamiliar with 4e. No resemblances were intentioned, heh.

Quote:
A bard in a bar can have lots o young ladys falling for him or what if story calls for seduceing 2 persons...

I was going for the "lets seduce the young princess/prince (or middle-aged queen/king)" over the typical seduction which involves the lasses (or lads) at the local brew pub. The uncommon over the common, if you get my meaning?

Quote:
...in defining seduce as a power you gimp a basic ability of the CHA score(and good rp.ing) that can logically be used with SIEGE.

I agree with you here, Morgrus. Of the changes I made to the bard class, the ability to seduce did feel as if I were taking something that could be rp'ed much better and reduce it to a few die rolls. Yet, I also felt that by the time a bard reaches 5th level they have learned more than a few tricks about how people are motivated and what it takes, if anything, to seduce them. Why not give them an ability which puts that knowledge to use? How could this be reworked to reflect such?

Still, I am *this close* to removing the ability.

Thanks again for your input!
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A boy named Sue.

[Morgrus]

So you want a milestone ability? Ok give the ability to seduce at 5th but don't over define the ability, the way it is put down is limiting(#oUse time/use) & can cause problems(doing all that is asked). Just keep it simple. Say you want to "woo said crumpet" Do a series of SIEGE checks as the wooing progresses changing CR based on difficulty of request (little suminsumin +3-5, Give me those jewls +10-20,adding lev+mod+-misk"i.e.gifts" to the die rol).This ability is emulateing lust/love so is a hard to properly define IMO best to keep it etheral. Heck you can do a adventure just on getting a mistic/romantic gift, The old arabian nights had alot of that "Horns of plenty,blue rose". I also migh make ventriloquism/hypnotic song a nonmagical SIEGE check(or if u have a higher magic setting keep as is) and cut shout ,give out bard only items to make up for lost power i.e. horn o blasting Harp o seduceing/charm. Just my opinion though hope it helps.
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Awww Craap.

[HLHartman]

Morgrus wrote:
So you want a milestone ability? Ok...*Snip*... Just my opinion though hope it helps.

I really, really like your ideas! Especially the idea about continued SIEGE checks as the seduction continues. Nice.

Thanks!
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A boy named Sue.

[Breakdaddy]

The seduction thing brings to mind the bard in Dorkness Rising. That made me chuckle. A good variant, by the way, but I really like the bard as is.

[Morgrus]

Breakdaddy wrote:
The seduction thing brings to mind the bard in Dorkness Rising. That made me chuckle. A good variant, by the way, but I really like the bard as is.

Yea I like the new bard too. The norse skald is my kind o bard. But its hard to do mr. long nose & roxan ala steve martin or a true fop of a pc. This is why we need the CKG...blink...
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Awww Craap.

[serleran]

I would likely change the "seduction" ability to something else, increasing in potency as the bard levels -- like, at level 1, it functions as an "influence" spell, and then as a "charm person" spell, and then, maybe much later as an "emotion (lust)" spell... and so on and so forth. Obviously, a bard would be able to utilize any of those as desired, and available.

The reason I would opt for this is that those rules already exist and do not require recreating anything.