onthetown
2010-06-28, 11:27 AM
THE BARDIC COMPOSITION
Bards and bard-multiclasses can benefit from the Bardic Composition set to enhance and become one with their music.
LORE
The Bardic Composition is considered the worst-kept secret of bards; even the newest, wet-behind-the-ears adventuring minstrel will have heard of the quintet of items. Sung of as legendary, the Bardic Composition was created by the five musical maestros of a long-lost academy in order to carry on their legacy.
COLLECTION BENEFITS
A character can wear as many pieces of the Bardic Composition as she likes, but the only one that makes a difference is Nocturne, the Staff of Dissonance. Possessing Nocturne and any other two pieces of the Bardic Composition gives the character a +1 bonus to her caster level and Nocturne awakens to become a sentient weapon with a bard's special abilities (see entry).
Belt of Glissando
Price (Item Level): 8,000 gp (11th)
Body Slot: Waist
Caster Level: 3rd
Aura: -
Weight: -
A single quartz gem lies in the centre of the buckle on this belt of braided silver cording. As music plays, it slips from one colour to another with the cadence of the notes.
A Belt of Glissando allows the wearer to begin a bardic performance and to switch between performance effects as free actions and grants a +2 bonus to the bard's Charisma score.
Cost to Create: Craft Wondrous Item, 1,000 gp, one large quartz gem, bard.
Bracers of Fortissimo
Price (Item Level): 10,258 gp (13th)
Body Slot: Arms
Caster Level: 16th
Aura: Evocation (strong)
Weight: -
These bracers are made of soft leather treated with silver hemming and embroidering. As you activate the spells contained within them, the two amethysts on the wrist of each start to glow violently.
Bracers of Fortissimo grant a +2 AC bonus when worn together, and the wearer can use the following spells in them by using the command word crescendo:
Shout 3/day
Greater shout 1/day
Cost to Create: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, 4,000 gp, two large amethyst gems, shout, greater shout, bard.
Circlet of Adagio
Price (Item Level): 350 gp (2rd)
Body Slot: Head
Caster Level: 3rd
Aura: Enchantment (weak)
Weight: -
This circlet looks to be just a thin band of silver at first sight, but closer inspection reveals tiny amethyst gems cut in the shape of music notes.
When worn, a Circlet of Adagio provides a +2 bonus to the wearer's Perform rolls. When the wearer uses any of her bardic music abilities, she can choose to add lullaby to the ability's effects 1/day.
Cost to Create: Craft Wondrous Item, a plain silver circlet, lullaby, bard.
Chain Shirt of Echoes
Price (Item Level): 13,395 gp (13th)
Body Slot: Torso
Caster Level: 7th
Aura: Illusion (medium); Transmutation (weak)
Weight: 25 lbs
This chain shirt is silvery and almost ethereal. As you look at it, you find it's hard to focus on exactly where it is.
A Chain Shirt of Echoes is a +1 chain shirt. When worn, the Chain Shirt of Echoes has a constant ghost sound effect that distracts nearby enemies. Any living creature within 30 feet that is looking for the character and the people with her receives a -2 to all Perception rolls that apply to find them. The wearer can also activate blink as a standard action 3/day.
Cost to Create: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, 1,000 gp (plus 250 gp for masterwork chain shirt), ghost sound, blink, bard.
Nocturne, Staff of Dissonance
Price (Item Level): 25,075 gp (16th)
Body Slot: Held
Caster Level: 16th
Aura: Evocation (medium); Transmutation (weak)
Weight: 5 lbs
Elegant, symphonic scores are engraved in silver on this perfectly smooth, mahogany staff. Small silver bells adorn the cap of the staff and chime softly and lowly with musical energy.
Nocturne is a +2 sonic burst quarterstaff with bardic melodies imbued into its creation. The staff is brought to life by the bard interpreting and playing (or singing) the scores on the staff each morning. This takes about an hour, like a wizard's spell preparation. The staff will then function for 24 hours before needing to be reawoken. It doesn't need to be activated to function as a +2 sonic burst weapon.
Nocturne has the following spells when it is prepared:
Resonating bolt 3/day
Body harmonic 2/day
Sympathetic vibration 1/day
In addition, if a character possesses Nocturne while two or more pieces of the Bardic Composition are worn, Nocturne awakens and becomes a sentient weapon. It speaks to its wielder's mind and nobody else except another bard. All bards can hear Nocturne if it decides that it wants to be heard. It seems to have the voice of five different men and women and a quiet, informative personality. Nocturne is true neutral in alignment and has 16 Charisma, 16 Intelligence, and 10 Wisdom. It can speak Common, Elven, Dwarven, and Draconic.
Nocturne has the following abilities as a 16th level bard when it is sentient:
Bardic knowledge
Countersong
Lore Master 2/day (using its wielder's Knowledge skills)
Cost to Create: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, 8,000 gp (plus 600 gp for masterwork quarterstaff), resonating bolt, body harmonic, sympathetic vibration, bard. This does not create Nocturne itself, but just another sentient Staff of Dissonance.
3.x Conversions
I swear I've seen sonic and sonic burst weapons somewhere before; treat Nocturne's sonic burst like you would a shocking burst weapon, but with sonic instead of electricity damage.
The Belt of Glissando allows you to switch between Bardic Music effects as a free action.
+2 to Perception becomes +1 to Search and Spot; -2 to Perception becomes -1 to Search and Spot.
Nocturne's Lore Master becomes ... I don't know. Any ideas?
You may have to bump up the Caster Level of the items by 1; 3.x has something about giving you 0 spells before you can cast 1 at your new level. It's up for interpretation.
Notes (Hahah, get it? Haha... ha...)
It's probably no secret that I love the bard class, so I made a magic item set for them.
I am absolutely horrid at math -- I need a calculator just to add 9 and 7. I don't know why, I just can't do it very well. That means that the prices on the items are slipshod at best, done with my basic understanding of how the magic item creation table works. Yes, even after I posted an entire thread about it (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157814), I still managed to get myself confused.
These are done with Pathfinder skills and abilities. The 3.x versions are above.
Resonating bolt and body harmonic can be found in the Spell Compendium on pages 174 and 35, respectively.
Bards and bard-multiclasses can benefit from the Bardic Composition set to enhance and become one with their music.
LORE
The Bardic Composition is considered the worst-kept secret of bards; even the newest, wet-behind-the-ears adventuring minstrel will have heard of the quintet of items. Sung of as legendary, the Bardic Composition was created by the five musical maestros of a long-lost academy in order to carry on their legacy.
COLLECTION BENEFITS
A character can wear as many pieces of the Bardic Composition as she likes, but the only one that makes a difference is Nocturne, the Staff of Dissonance. Possessing Nocturne and any other two pieces of the Bardic Composition gives the character a +1 bonus to her caster level and Nocturne awakens to become a sentient weapon with a bard's special abilities (see entry).
Belt of Glissando
Price (Item Level): 8,000 gp (11th)
Body Slot: Waist
Caster Level: 3rd
Aura: -
Weight: -
A single quartz gem lies in the centre of the buckle on this belt of braided silver cording. As music plays, it slips from one colour to another with the cadence of the notes.
A Belt of Glissando allows the wearer to begin a bardic performance and to switch between performance effects as free actions and grants a +2 bonus to the bard's Charisma score.
Cost to Create: Craft Wondrous Item, 1,000 gp, one large quartz gem, bard.
Bracers of Fortissimo
Price (Item Level): 10,258 gp (13th)
Body Slot: Arms
Caster Level: 16th
Aura: Evocation (strong)
Weight: -
These bracers are made of soft leather treated with silver hemming and embroidering. As you activate the spells contained within them, the two amethysts on the wrist of each start to glow violently.
Bracers of Fortissimo grant a +2 AC bonus when worn together, and the wearer can use the following spells in them by using the command word crescendo:
Shout 3/day
Greater shout 1/day
Cost to Create: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, 4,000 gp, two large amethyst gems, shout, greater shout, bard.
Circlet of Adagio
Price (Item Level): 350 gp (2rd)
Body Slot: Head
Caster Level: 3rd
Aura: Enchantment (weak)
Weight: -
This circlet looks to be just a thin band of silver at first sight, but closer inspection reveals tiny amethyst gems cut in the shape of music notes.
When worn, a Circlet of Adagio provides a +2 bonus to the wearer's Perform rolls. When the wearer uses any of her bardic music abilities, she can choose to add lullaby to the ability's effects 1/day.
Cost to Create: Craft Wondrous Item, a plain silver circlet, lullaby, bard.
Chain Shirt of Echoes
Price (Item Level): 13,395 gp (13th)
Body Slot: Torso
Caster Level: 7th
Aura: Illusion (medium); Transmutation (weak)
Weight: 25 lbs
This chain shirt is silvery and almost ethereal. As you look at it, you find it's hard to focus on exactly where it is.
A Chain Shirt of Echoes is a +1 chain shirt. When worn, the Chain Shirt of Echoes has a constant ghost sound effect that distracts nearby enemies. Any living creature within 30 feet that is looking for the character and the people with her receives a -2 to all Perception rolls that apply to find them. The wearer can also activate blink as a standard action 3/day.
Cost to Create: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, 1,000 gp (plus 250 gp for masterwork chain shirt), ghost sound, blink, bard.
Nocturne, Staff of Dissonance
Price (Item Level): 25,075 gp (16th)
Body Slot: Held
Caster Level: 16th
Aura: Evocation (medium); Transmutation (weak)
Weight: 5 lbs
Elegant, symphonic scores are engraved in silver on this perfectly smooth, mahogany staff. Small silver bells adorn the cap of the staff and chime softly and lowly with musical energy.
Nocturne is a +2 sonic burst quarterstaff with bardic melodies imbued into its creation. The staff is brought to life by the bard interpreting and playing (or singing) the scores on the staff each morning. This takes about an hour, like a wizard's spell preparation. The staff will then function for 24 hours before needing to be reawoken. It doesn't need to be activated to function as a +2 sonic burst weapon.
Nocturne has the following spells when it is prepared:
Resonating bolt 3/day
Body harmonic 2/day
Sympathetic vibration 1/day
In addition, if a character possesses Nocturne while two or more pieces of the Bardic Composition are worn, Nocturne awakens and becomes a sentient weapon. It speaks to its wielder's mind and nobody else except another bard. All bards can hear Nocturne if it decides that it wants to be heard. It seems to have the voice of five different men and women and a quiet, informative personality. Nocturne is true neutral in alignment and has 16 Charisma, 16 Intelligence, and 10 Wisdom. It can speak Common, Elven, Dwarven, and Draconic.
Nocturne has the following abilities as a 16th level bard when it is sentient:
Bardic knowledge
Countersong
Lore Master 2/day (using its wielder's Knowledge skills)
Cost to Create: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, 8,000 gp (plus 600 gp for masterwork quarterstaff), resonating bolt, body harmonic, sympathetic vibration, bard. This does not create Nocturne itself, but just another sentient Staff of Dissonance.
3.x Conversions
I swear I've seen sonic and sonic burst weapons somewhere before; treat Nocturne's sonic burst like you would a shocking burst weapon, but with sonic instead of electricity damage.
The Belt of Glissando allows you to switch between Bardic Music effects as a free action.
+2 to Perception becomes +1 to Search and Spot; -2 to Perception becomes -1 to Search and Spot.
Nocturne's Lore Master becomes ... I don't know. Any ideas?
You may have to bump up the Caster Level of the items by 1; 3.x has something about giving you 0 spells before you can cast 1 at your new level. It's up for interpretation.
Notes (Hahah, get it? Haha... ha...)
It's probably no secret that I love the bard class, so I made a magic item set for them.
I am absolutely horrid at math -- I need a calculator just to add 9 and 7. I don't know why, I just can't do it very well. That means that the prices on the items are slipshod at best, done with my basic understanding of how the magic item creation table works. Yes, even after I posted an entire thread about it (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157814), I still managed to get myself confused.
These are done with Pathfinder skills and abilities. The 3.x versions are above.
Resonating bolt and body harmonic can be found in the Spell Compendium on pages 174 and 35, respectively.