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Delvin Darkwood
2011-12-29, 05:42 PM
I love bards. I love the concept of them, the music playing tool box who can do a bit of everything. I only have one major problem with them in 1st edition: Actually being one. The requirements are nigh impossible to achieve, and incredibly ambiguous is many cases. While a bard is listed as needing 15 dexterity, in reality the character would need 17 or 18 dexterity to dual class into thief from fighter in the first place. Theres also the terrible problem of actually reaching 5th level in both fighter and thief. The campaign i play has a (sometimes painfully) slow rate of level up, and to aspire to be a bard would be a ludicrious notion. The campaign would be over before you hit the 3rd level of thief.

The homebrew im about to present is my way of remedying this problem, while still retaining the intended flavor of the bard class. In the players handbook, it draws from the norse skald (fighter), the english troubadour (thief), and the celtic bard (druid). The problem of course, is that it accomplishes it incredibly ineloquently, putting far too much emphasis on the druidic aspect. The build i present is one more along the lines of that presented in second edition, but still drawing from 1st edition

{table=head]Level | XP| HD(d6) | Charm | Lore | Title
1 | 0 | 1 | 15% | 5% | Rhymer
2 | 2,000| 2 | 20% | 10%| Lyrisist
3 | 4,000 | 3 | 25% | 15% | Sonnateer
4 | 8,000 | 4 | 30% | 20% | Skald
5 | 16,000 | 5 | 35% | 25% | Racaraide
6 | 25,000 | 6 | 40% | 30% | Joungleur
7 | 40,000 | 7 | 45% | 35% | Troubadour
8 | 60,000 | 8 | 50% | 40% | Minstrel
9 | 85,000 | 9 | 55% | 45% | Muse
10 | 110,000 | 10 | 60% | 50% | Lorist
11 | 150,000 | 10+2 | 65% | 55% | Bard
12 | 200,000 | 10+4 | 70% | 60% | Master Bard[/table]

To Become a bard, one needs a minimum strength and dexterity of 12, a constitution and wisdom of 10, an intelligence of 13, and a charisma of 14. A bard gets no xp bonuses for having high stats. A bard fights as a fighter, and saves as a thief. A bard also has the same number of weapon and non weapon proficiencies as a thief, and gains them as so. A bard incures a -3 penalty to attack with a weapon he is not proficient with. A bard can be proficient with axes, clubs, darts, crossbows, slings, spears, staffs, and long and short swords.
A bard can move silently, pick pockets, detect nose, and read languages at 5%, 10%, 20% and 5% respectivly. These skills increase by 5% with each level. A bard also can rally his allies, giving them a +1 to hit and damage as long as hes playing. A bard also has the power of countersong, which can break any attempt at charm involving word or song.

A Bard also casts spells per day on the following table
Bard Level | 1st| 2nd | 3rd | 4th
1 | - | - | - | -
2 | 1 | - | - | -
3 | 2 | - | - | -
4 | 2 | 1 | - | -
5 | 3 | 1 | - | -
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | -
7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | -
8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1
9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2
10 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2
11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3
12 | 4 | 4 | 4| 3



A bard knows no spells when starting. Upon reaching second level, hell automatically learn 1-4 spells chosen by the dm or by random. All other spells must be learned from other bards. The bardic spell list draws from the druid, magic user, and illusionist spell lists.

Level 1: Animal Friendship, Audible Glamer, Comprehend Languages, Dancing Lights, Darkness, Entangle, Friends, Hold Portal, Light, Protection from Evil, Shield, Sleep

Level 2: Continual Light, Deafness, Invisibility, Knock, Levitate, Obscurement, Scare, Shatter, Strength, Ventriloquism, Warp Wood, Wizard Lock

Level 3: Call lightning, Continual darkness, Fly, Gust of wind, Hold animal, Hold person, Protection from Evil 10', Protection from Normal Missles, Tongues

Level 4: Animal Summoning I, Call Woodland Beings, Dispel Exhaustion, Dispel Magic, Emotion, Fear, Fire Charm, Fire shield, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Repel Insects

In some aspects this isnt so much a homebrew as it is a merging of many other already presented takes on bard. Many a few hours i spent pondering the interwebs doing reasearch to try and get a good idea of what i wanted to do with the class. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, as i do plan on making this a class in one of my campaigns soon and want to make sure its good from the get go.

Viktyr Gehrig
2011-12-29, 06:44 PM
That's not bad. I quite like it, but I don't think it grants enough spellcasting.

If you're familiar with Player's Option 2nd Edition, this is the Bard class that I designed for my home games:

Base Class: Priest. (Specialty Priests use the Druid XP table.)
Ability Prerequisites: Dex 12 and Cha 15. Bards do not gain bonus spells for high Wisdom and their spellcasting is not limited by low Wisdom.

Restrictions:
Armor restriction (10): Bards may not wear armor heavier than Studded Leather
Limited Spell Acquisition (5): Bards must keep a prayerbook to prepare spells.
Reduced Spell Progression (15): Bards gain 1 fewer spell of each spell level per day.
Reduced Hit Dice (10): Bards use d6 for Hit Dice.

Spell Access: Major: All (5), Animal (10), Charm (10), Divination (10), Healing (10), Plant (10), Thought (10), Travelers (5)-- Total (70)
Wizardly Priest (25): Bards may learn spells from the Song school.
Weapon Selection (10): Bards may be proficient in any weapon.
Communication (10): Bards learn one additional language each level.
Proficiency Crossovers (15): Bards may learn General, Priest, Warrior, Rogue, and Wizard NWPS.
Thief Skills: Read Languages (10), Scroll Use (10), Detect Noise (10).

Delvin Darkwood
2011-12-29, 08:11 PM
I'm not very familiar with second edition actually, I've only taken a look through the players handbook to see thief and bard, however ill certainly take a look at players options since you've brought it up. Do you think it grants too little spell casting in terms of number of spells cast per day or the spell selection available?

Viktyr Gehrig
2011-12-29, 09:04 PM
I'm not very familiar with second edition actually, I've only taken a look through the players handbook to see thief and bard, however ill certainly take a look at players options since you've brought it up. Do you think it grants too little spell casting in terms of number of spells cast per day or the spell selection available?

Pretty much every possible way; the Bard example I just posted has the rough equivalent of the Druid's spell list (plus an entire arcane school) and gains a maximum of 7th level spells.

Player's Option is serious black magic. It's broken as Hell, but it's basically the equivalent of Paizo's Advanced Player's Guide for AD&D, letting you build the character class you want to play-- it took me ten minutes to design that Bard class.

viking vince
2011-12-30, 10:53 AM
The rules specific to bards override normal rules for dual class. They do not require a 17 DEX.

Delvin Darkwood
2011-12-30, 12:07 PM
While that may be true, it still offers little clarity in the book itself. While that one small flaw may not actually be true, it doesnt automatically shoot down the other points i made about the flaws of the bard class. The point of this thread isnt even really so much to discuss said flaws, but to present and discuss alternatives.