Bring on the Noise! [Base Class, Pathfinder, WIP, PEACH]

[Tanuki Tales]

Bard

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs12/i/2006/308/5/5/Bard_by_XCBDH.jpg
XCBDH (http://xcbdh.deviantart.com/) has given his permission for the use of his image here.



We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams



When one answers the question "What is a bard?", one must first begin by answering with the word "humble". We do not mean this in terms of ego or overall personality, for the job of the bard is the spreading of stories and the embellishment of truths. No, we mean this in scope of capability and the direction of mission.

A bard is as close to the salt of the earth that one touched by the winds of magic can come. They do not shake the heavens with unbound arcane power, nor do they bring mighty devils to heel to answer their whims. Their magic is a magic of the people, of the heart and of the soul. Their bewitched words and songs uplift the common man and make him something mighty. Or they lay low the tin-pot dictator, turning a pompous warrior into a mewling child. They breathe truth into phantasmal illusions and breed lies into the perception of the world's truths.

A bard is something quite small and petty without comrades that he may call friends. Something more than a common scoundrel but something much less than a shaper of fates, a bard only finds their true worth and their true measure when tossing in their lot with the majesty of fellow heroes. With people he can rely on and who can rely on him, the bard now finds himself in the center of a magnificent tapestry of myth that only he is qualified to spin into a legend.

And thus comes the true essence and reason to exist for a bard. They are the storytellers of the world, the rough around the edges and charismatic rogues who can be found in every tavern bringing a smile to every face. They strive to find and be part of a narrative that would never be forgotten by the hearts of mankind; an immortal legacy that they can be proud of spreading to every corner of the world.


Role: A bard's purpose on the field of battle is to support their sworn allies while hampering the tactics of their foes. The bard emboldens with inspiration and courage while sowing fear and incompetence in the same breath. They use their innate magics to shape the course of events to be in their favor, through trickery and guile, both in heated combat and in social intrigue.

Alignment: Any, though as free spirits and collectors of tales to be told, bards are commonly of the Chaotic Good alignment.

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: 3d6 × 10 gp (average 105 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills
The bard's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks Per Level: (6 + Int modifier)



Bard
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Bardic Knacks Known|Bardic Verses Known

1st|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+2|Bardic Knack (Piano [p]), Bardic Knowledge, Bardic Performance|2|2

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+3|Versatile Performance, Well-Versed|2|3

3rd|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+3|Encore 1/day, Personal Muse, Personal Muse Trait|3|3

4th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Raise the Tempo|3|4

5th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Loremaster 1/day|4|4

6th|
+4|
+2|
+5|
+5|Bardic Knack (Mezzo-Forte [mf]), Personal Muse Trait, Versatile Performance|4|5

7th|
+5|
+2|
+5|
+5|Power Chord|5|5

8th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+6|
+6|Lingering Performance|5|6

9th|
+6/+1|
+3|
+6|
+6|Personal Muse Trait, Raise the Tempo|6|6

10th|
+7/+2|
+3|
+7|
+7|Jack of All Trades, Versatile Performance|6|7

11th|
+8/+3|
+3|
+7|
+7|Bardic Knack (Forte [f]), Power Chord, Loremaster 2/day|7|7

12th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+8|
+8|Encore 2/day, Personal Muse Trait|7|8

13th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+8|
+8|-|8|8

14th|
+10/+5|
+4|
+9|
+9|Raise the Tempo|8|9

15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+9|
+9|Personal Muse Trait, Power Chord|9|9

16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+10|Bardic Knack (Fortissimo [ff]), Jack of All Trades|9|10

17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+10|Loremaster 3/day|10|10

18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+11|
+11|Personal Muse Trait, Versatile Performance|10|11

19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+11|
+11|Jack of All Trades, Power Chord|11|11

20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+12|
+12|Final Performance|11|12[/table]



Class Features
All of the following are class features of the bard.


Weapon and Armor Proficiencies

A bard is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the longsword, rapier, sap, shortsword, shortbow, and whip. Bards are also proficient with light armor and shields (except tower shields).


Bardic Knack

Though the bard's talent comes from the same wellspring as all magic does, they do not forge this into spells like others do. No, their connection to magic is much deeper and more personal to them, even more so than it is for the sorcerer.

A bard begins play with two Bardic Knacks known (see list below) and gains an additional Bardic Knack known at every odd level after the first. The bard initially has access to only Piano (p) Bardic Knacks, but can learn higher tier knacks as they increase in level (as denoted on the table above). A bard may exchange one Bardic Knack known for another that they are capable of learning whenever they would learn a new Bardic Knack.

A Bardic Knack is a Supernatural ability that, unless noted otherwise, requires a standard action to activate. A bard can use any Bardic Knack an unlimited amount of times per day, but can only use an individual Bardic Knack every 1d4 rounds.

The DC to resist any Bardic Knack is 10 + 1/2 the bard's level + the bard's Charisma modifier.


Bardic Knowledge (Ex)

At 1st level, a bard adds half their class level (minimum 1) to all Knowledge skill checks and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.


Bardic Performance (Su)

Starting at 1st level, the art that a bard creates goes beyond the realm of mundane entertainment into the world of the metaphysical, moving the heart and soul of reality itself. A bard can use their Bardic Performance for a number of rounds per day equal to 6+their Charisma modifier. For every level that they possess after the first in this class increases the amount of rounds by 3.

Beginning a Bardic Performance requires a standard action, but maintaining it from round to round is a free action. A Bardic Performance must have an audible component, a visual component or both. A Bardic Performance cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the bard is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. A bard cannot have more than one Bardic Performance in effect at one time. The range of a Bardic Performance extends in a 40 foot radius from the bard. This range increases an additional 10 feet for every three levels they possess past the first, to a maximum of 100 feet at 19th level.

Each Bardic Performance has audible components (such as singing or telling a story), visual components (such as dancing or pantomiming), or both.

If a Bardic Performance has audible components, the targets must be able to hear the bard for the performance to have any effect, and such performances are language dependent. A deaf bard has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with an audible component. If they fails this check, the attempt still counts against their daily limit. Deaf creatures are immune to Bardic Performances with audible components.

If a Bardic Performance has a visual component, the targets must have line of sight to the bard for the performance to have any effect. A blind bard has a 50% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with a visual component. If they fails this check, the attempt still counts against their daily limit. Blind creatures are immune to Bardic Performances with visual components.

When starting a Bardic Performance, the bard must choose either a Ballad Bardic Verse (a positive buff for their allies) or a Dirge Bardic Verse (a negative effect on their enemies). Changing a Bardic Verse requires the bard to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard action.

A bard begins play knowing three such Bardic Verses (listed below), one of which must be a Ballad and one which must be a Dirge. The bard learns an additional Bardic Verse at every even level, to a maximum of twelve Bardic Verse at 20th level.

The DC to resist a Bardic Verse is 10 + half the bard's level + the bard's Charisma modifier. Bardic Verses are mind-affecting effects that require a Will save to resist.


Versatile Performance (Ex.)

At 2nd level, a bard can choose one type of Perform skill. When making a skill check that is associated with the selected Perform skill (as listed below), the bard chooses whether to use the bonus they receive to the original skill or to the Perform skill. They may make this decision even after knowing the result of the check. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the bard can select an additional type of Perform to substitute.

The types of Perform and their associated skills are: Act (Bluff, Disguise), Comedy (Bluff, Intimidate), Dance (Acrobatics, Fly), Keyboard Instruments (Diplomacy, Intimidate), Oratory (Diplomacy, Sense Motive), Percussion (Handle Animal, Intimidate), Sing (Bluff, Sense Motive), String (Bluff, Diplomacy), and Wind (Diplomacy, Handle Animal).


Well-Versed (Ex.)

At 2nd level, the bard becomes resistant to the Bardic Performance of others, and to sonic effects in general. The bard gains a +4 bonus on saving throws made against bardic performance, sonic, and language-dependent effects. If the bard succeeds on the check, they may make a Bluff check in order to appear as if they were affected by the effect.


Encore (Ex.)

At 3rd level, the bard's performance is not easily quelled or suppressed, raising back up to the rafters in the beat of heart.

If a Bardic Performance that the bard was maintaining (no more than one round prior) is ended for any reason, they may re-start it as an immediate action. A Bardic Performance re-started in this manner does not need to be maintained and persists for a number of rounds equal to the bard's Charisma modifier.

The bard can use this class feature once per day and one additional time per day at 12th level.



Personal Muse (Su)

At 3rd level, a bard learns a new secret of their Bardic Performance, forming a deeper connection to the very concept of their art. A piece of their mind and soul splinters off and takes a life of its own, only manifesting itself when the bard practices their craft. Possessed of a keen intellect and a personality that reflects its master’s own, the Personal Muse is a compatriot in the dangerous and lonely world the bard roams. The bard's Personal Muse manifests itself in a form that is meaningful to the bard's personality and inner self; no two bards have the same Personal Muse.

A Personal Muse is essentially an empty spirit that normally cannot interact with any plane that it occupies or is adjacent to in any meaningful way (though creatures have no such issues interacting with it). It has a number of hit points equal to one quarter of the bard's and receives the bard's Charisma modifier as a Deflection bonus to its Armor Class. The muse has a flight speed (with perfect maneuverability) of 10 feet. The muse is completely mute, communicating with the bard telepathically. It comprehends any languages that the bard does and has an Intelligence score equal to that of the bard.

At third level and every three levels thereafter, the bard selects one trait from the list below for its Personal Muse to possess. Once this selection is made it cannot be changed. Unless specified otherwise, a Personal Muse Trait is a Supernatural ability.

A Personal Muse only exists when a bard is in the midst of a Bardic Performance. It appears in a square adjacent to the bard and remains on the Material Plane as long as the Bardic Performance lasts and for a number of rounds equal to the bard's Charisma modifier.

If a Personal Muse is slain, the bard is automatically made aware of this fact regardless of distance and is nauseated for one round. The bard can not re-manifest the Personal Muse for 24 hours if this occurs.


Personal Muse Traits

Amplifier - The Personal Muse emanates any current Bardic Performance out to a radius of 5 feet as if it were the bard. This radius increases by one foot for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 10 feet.
Defend the Artist - The Personal Muse grants the bard a +1 Deflection bonus as long as it is adjacent to them. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6. The Personal Muse loses its Deflection bonus when it uses this ability.
Sacrifice for their Art - The Personal Muse can sacrifice itself to allow the bard to roll twice on a check or save of their choice and take the higher of the two results. This does not require an action and does not make the bard nauseated for one round as normal. The bard may expend a number of rounds of their Bardic Performance equal to one quarter their level to re-manifest the muse if it uses this ability (the bard need not wait the normal 24 hours).
Tap for Inspiration - The bard, as a full-round action, can expend a number of rounds of their Bardic Inspiration to give an equal amount to their Personal Muse. The muse can not use these rounds, but keeps them regardless of the amount of time that has passed. As long as the Personal Muse is adjacent to the bard, the bard can use the rounds held by their muse in place of their own to fuel a Bardic Performance. A Personal Muse can never receive more than a number of rounds equal to one quarter the bard's level in one 24 hour period and can have no more than half the bard's level in rounds at any one time.
Touch of Inspiration - The Personal Muse can lift and manipulate objects that weigh no more than a number of pounds equal to half the bard's level. The muse can not wield weapons, use spell trigger items or similar tasks with this ability. Additionally, the Personal Muse gains a melee touch attack that deals 1d6 points of Force damage. The muse uses the bard's base attack bonus and receives a +1 bonus to this attack for every five levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +5. The Personal Muse loses its Deflection bonus when using this trait.
Understudy - The bard, when using a Bardic Knack, may treat their Personal Muse as themselves in regards to range or as the target of a Bardic Knack that normally only affects the bard. The muse uses the bard's base attack bonus when appropriate.
Witch-light - The Personal Muse provides one of the following out to a range of 10 feet per four levels possessed by the bard (to a maximum of 60 feet):
The Personal Muse provides a heat-less light equivalent to that of a torch. This light is only visible to the bard and a number of creatures that they designate equal to their Charisma modifier.
The Personal Muse creates magical darkness, as the darkness spell, for a number of creatures that the bard designates equal to their Charisma modifier.

The bard can switch the effect of this trait and change the area of effect of the trait as a free action.


Raise the Tempo (Ex.)

The bard slowly masters their art as time goes by and this shows itself in the increased speed at which they can call upon their supernatural aspects of their craft.

At 4th level, a bard can start a Bardic Performance as a move action instead of as a standard action.

At 9th level, a bard further decreases the action needed from a move action to a swift action.

At 14th level, the bard is swift as lightning with their performance and can star it as a free action instead of a swift action.


Loremaster (Ex.)

At 5th level, the bard becomes a master of lore and can take 10 on any Knowledge skill check that they have ranks in. A bard can choose not to take 10 and can instead roll normally. In addition, once per day, the bard can take 20 on any Knowledge skill check as a standard action. They can use this ability one additional time per day for every six levels they possess beyond 5th, to a maximum of three times per day at 17th level.


Power Chord (Ex.)

Starting at 7th level, the bard learns how to expand the capabilities of their performances, bringing forth more wondrous effects to the world around them.

The bard selects two Bardic Components instead of one when starting a Bardic Performance and can add an additional Bardic Component for every four levels they possess past 7th, to a maximum of 6 Bardic Components at 19th level.


Lingering Performance (Su)

So skilled has the bard becoming in the weaving of eldritch combinations of the poet's soul and the mage's mind, that these creations are more stubborn at relinquishing their hold on the physical realm.

Starting at 8th level, when a bard ends a Bardic Performance, the effects of that specific Bardic Performance continue for one round. This increases by an additional round for every five levels after 8th, to a maximum of 3 rounds at 18th level. If the Bard starts a new Bardic Performance, the effects of the previous performance end immediately.


Jack of All Trades (Ex.)

At 10th level, the bard can use any skill, even if the skill normally requires them to be trained. At 16th level, the bard considers all skills to be class skills. At 19th level, the bard can take 10 on any skill check, even if it is not normally allowed.


Final Performance

The story of the bard's life is so potent, so woven with the magic and mystery and intrigue, so spread amongst the hearts of everyone they've touched, that something as simple as death does not come calling for the bard while they still have one last performance to give.

If the bard would die for any reason, they continue to function as normal as long as they have a Bardic Performance active and for a number of rounds equal to their Charisma modifier (these rounds need not be consecutive. For example, if a bard has one Bardic Performance end and cannot begin a new one for one round, they can use one of their remaining rounds granted by this class feature to bridge the gap and save the remaining rounds for after the new Bardic Performance or any other Bardic Performance).

While in the midst of a Final Performance, a bard still accrues hit point damage, ability damage, ability drain, negative levels, etc. as normal, but treat themselves as if they were at full health with no negative effects. Their state of being (hit points, ability scores, etc.) is the same as it was prior to the effects of this class feature, they do not actually have their full hit point total or any other beneficial effect of being at full health (thus they can be the target of healing magic per normal).

If the bard is not completely healed and cured of any fatal negative effects when their Final Performance ends, then they die as normal.



Comments

The birth of this particular piece of homebrew of mine starts back when I started recruiting for a Pathfinder campaign I will, hopefully, be running soon. One of my prospective players asked me, since I had said I'd be more than willing to, homebrew up an Archetype for the Druid class that made it a little more like the bard (aka be a Pathfinder equivalent of the Fochlucan Lyrist PrC). I was inspired though and gave him an entire new base class that was a blending of the Bard and Druid, with a little Ranger throw in for good measure.

Now, what I put into that base class for the bard flavor were things that I had been originally planning for my rendition of the bard. And after making that base class, I mulled things over and didn't feel it was right to give my bard pieces to another piece of 'brew first. So, I've scrapped what I originally gave him and plan to make it an archetype for what I've made here today.

So "Yay".



Change Log
4/3/2013 - Arcane Dilettante class feature removed and replaced with the Bardic Knack class feature.
Correction made to Lingering Performance class feature.

4/5/2013 - Image added to class.
Green Singer Archetype's Green Magic class feature updated to reflect new Bardic Knack class feature.
Cutting Tempo and The Road is Long Bardic Components added.


4/9/2013 - The Versatile Performance class feature has been changed to have more utility and versatility in its use.


4/15/2013 - Personal Muse class feature re-designed.
Language of Encore class feature clarified.

4/17/2013] - Companion of the Wild class feature added to Green Singer archetype.
Zephyr's Arrow, Form of the Kingdom, Nature's Juggernaut and Nature's Enforcer Bardic Knacks added to the Green Singer archetype.


4/18/2013 - Hungry like the Wolf, From the Right From the Left, Opportunity Missed and Shallow Cut Bardic Components added.


4/19/2013 - Spun into Myth capstone added.

5/05/2013 - Bardic Component at level 1 reduced from 3 to 2. Bardic Components are now gained every even level instead of every odd level.
Personal Muse changed from a Native Outsider to a partial non-entity. See class feature for particulars.
Language in the Personal Muse class feature cleared up.
Amplifier trait reduced from 10 feet and a maximum of 60 feet to 5 feet and a maximum of 10 feet.
Defend the Artist trait changed to reflect changes to Personal Muse.
Sacrifice for their Art trait changed to be more usable and worth selecting.
Tap for Inspiration trait re-written to avoid confusion.
Understudy trait revised.
Witch-light trait re-written.
Versatile Performance and Well-Versed revised.
On the Road Together class feature has been removed.
Spun into Myth capstone removed.


05/08/2013 - Final Performance capstone added.
Range of Bardic Performance clarified.


05/12/2013 - Fluff and role added.


06/01/2013 - Personal Muse class feature moved from level 1 to level 3. Personal Muse Trait acquisition spread out accordingly.
Language has been cleared up throughout the class.
Bardic Performance has been specified as being a mind-affecting effect that requires a Will save to resist.
Flight speed listed for the Bard's Personal Muse.
Clarifying rules text added to the Final Performance class feature.
Clarifying rules text added to the Deceitful Bauble and Now you See Me Bardic Knacks.
Bardic Components changed to Bardic Verses.

[Tanuki Tales]

Bardic Knacks


Piano

Deceitful Bauble - The bard creates an object of their choosing that weighs no more than one pound. Any creature, other than the bard or any creature the bard designates when using this knack, must make a Will save or believe the object to be worth one hundred gold pieces for every two levels the bard possesses. The created object functions as if it were the genuine article, but is always of subpar quality, imposing a -4 penalty to any check it is used as part of. A successful Appraise check (against the same DC as the Will save) reveals the object's true, worthless nature. Creatures that are intimately familiar with what the created object is masquerading as receive a +5 competence bonus to this check. The object breaks apart into worthless dirt one hour after its been created.
Excellent Performance - The bard gains an insight bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy and Perform skill checks equal to one quarter their total level (minimum +1). This bonus lasts for a number of rounds equal to one quarter the bard's level (minimum 1 round).
Haunting Noise - The bard creates a sound of their choosing that originates ten feet from the bard for every level they possess. Any creature, other than the bard or any creature the bard designates when using this knack, who hears this sound must make a Will save to discern that it is fake. If they fail this save, they must immediately make another at the same DC or feel compelled to go investigate it for a number of rounds equal to half the bard's Charisma modifier.
Minor Illusion - The bard creates an illusionary figment as if they had cast the Silent Image spell.
Polyglot - The bard becomes spontaneously fluent in a number of languages of their choice equal to their Charisma modifier. This lasts for a number of hours equal to their bard level.
Summon Instrument - The bard conjures any musical instrument of their choosing into their waiting hands. An instrument created in this manner is of Masterwork quality and gives the bard a +1 bonus to the DCs of any Bardic Component that is part of a Bardic Performance in which they use the summoned instrument. The instrument crumbles into dust if it ever leaves the bard's person.


Mezzo-Forte

Allegro - The bard increases their base movement speed by 10 feet. This lasts for a number of hours equal to the bard's Charisma modifier. If the bard uses this knack during a Bardic Performance, they are instead treated as if under the effects of a Haste spell. In that case, this knack ends when the Bardic Performance ends.
Cacophonous Arrival - The bard is treated as if under the effects of the Invisibility spell for one minute per level they possess. When the bard becomes visible (either voluntarily or from the time limit elapsing) they unleash a burst of blinding light and thundering sound. All enemies within ten feet of the bard must make a Will save or be rendered blind and deaf for one round. The bard may choose to not cause this effect of the knack by cutting the duration of their Invisibility down to one round per level they possess.
Cat's Paw - The bard gains an enhancement bonus to their Dexterity score and an insight bonus on Sleight of Hand and Stealth checks equal to one quarter their class level (minimum +1).
Improved Illusion - The bard creates an illusionary figment as if they had cast the Minor Image spell.
Quite the Charmer - The bard selects one creature who they have line of effect to. If the bard begins conversing with the selected creature within one minute of using this knack, the creature must make a Will save. If it fails the save, the creature's attitude towards the bard is increased by one step for every six levels the bard possesses. The creature's attitude towards the bard returns to normal as soon as they leave the bard's presence or after one hour passes, which ever occurs first.


Forte

Cunning Illusion - The bard creates an illusionary figment as if they had cast the Major Image spell.
Enchanting Trickery - The bard selects one creature within sixty feet that is currently suffering under a negative magical effect (such as an enchantment, transmutation or curse) and makes a ranged touch attack against another creature within sixty feet. The first creature is cured of the effect and the second creature must make a Will save or have the removed effect affect them. If the creature successfully makes the save, the first creature is simply cured.
Play it Cool - The bard coats themselves in an invisible aura which causes any creature(s), other than the bard or any other creature the bard designates when using this knack, who looks upon them to make a Will save. If the creature(s) fails this save, they treat any actions that the bard does as completely innocuous and not even worth remembering (as long as they are not hostile actions directed at the creature(s), which breaks the effect). This aura lasts for one minute per level the bard possesses.
Spare me some Sight - The bard touches an adjacent creature with an intelligence score when using this knack. The bard then sees and hears everything that the creature perceives as if they were there themselves. This lasts for one hour and as long as the creature is within one mile for every level the bard possesses. Unwillingly creatures can resist this knack by making a successful Will save.
Stunning Voice - The bard gains a thirty foot cone breath weapon that deals 1d6 Sonic damage for every four levels the bard possesses (A Reflex save reduces this damage by half). Any creature caught in this cone must also make a Reflex save or be stunned for 1d6 rounds. This lasts for one hour and the bard can use the breath weapon once every 1d4 rounds.


Fortissimo

Master Illusion - The bard creates an illusionary figment as if they had cast the Permanent Image spell.
Now you See Me - The bard is treated as if under the effects of a Greater Invisibility spell for a number of rounds equal to their bard level. While the bard remains invisible, they generate one random illusionary duplicate randomly within sixty feet of the bard's present location. The bard can perfectly control the actions of this duplicate as long as they have line of sight to it. If line of sight is broken, the illusion will continue doing the last action given to it by the bard.
Phantom Chorus - The bard summons an ethereal instrument that hovers within sixty feet of themselves. This instrument can independently begin, continue or end a Bardic Performance as the bard wishes and only expends one round of Bardic Performance for every two rounds it performs. This instrument remains for one minute per level the bard possesses.
Shadow Boxing - The bard crafts shadows into stunning facsimiles of living creatures, as if they had used the Greater Shadow Conjuration spell.
Voice Thief - The bard unleashes a burst of utter silence out to a thirty foot radius from themselves. All creatures caught in this burst, other than the bard and any creatures they designate when using this knack, must make a Will save. If they are successful, they are simply silenced for one minute for every level the bard possesses. If the creature(s) fails the save, they are unable to make any sound for one hour for every level the bard possesses. The bard is able to perfectly mimic the voices and sounds capable of being made by any creature that is afflicted as such as long as the duration persists.




Bardic Verses



Ballad Verses
Battle Brothers – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain a +1 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6. This stacks with any other morale bonuses granted by Ballad components.
Shield of Words - Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain a +1 morale bonus to their Armor Class. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6.
By the skin of your teeth – Allies who are in range of the Spellsong gain a +1 morale bonus on saving throws. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6.
The Flesh is Weak, the Soul is Willing – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain Fast Healing 1. This rate increases by 1 for every five levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of Fast Healing 5.
March On – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain a +10 foot morale bonus to all their movement speeds. This bonus increases by +10 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +60 feet.
Mastery is at the tips of your fingers – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain a +1 morale bonus on skill checks. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6.
They might be Giants – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance grow larger by one size category. They increase one more size category for every seven levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of three. This component does not stack with other sources that increase a creature's size category (such as the Enlarge Person spell).
Second Chances are beautiful – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance who fail a Saving throw may attempt the check again one round later against the same DC. They can do this once per the duration of the Bardic Performance and one additional time for every seven levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of three.
Cutting Tempo - Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance deal an extra 1 point of Sonic damage on any melee or ranged attacks for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 6 extra damage.
Hungry like the Wolf - Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance receive a +1 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls when flanking an opponent. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6. This stacks with any other morale bonuses granted by Ballad components.
From the Right From the Left - Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance receive a +1 morale bonus to their Armor Class against Attacks of Opportunity. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6. This stacks with any other morale bonuses granted by Ballad components.



Dirge Verses
Your Swords to Plowshares – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or take a -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls. This penalty increases by -1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of -6.
Shot through the Heart – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or take a -1 penalty to their Armor Class. This penalty increases by -1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of -6.
Quake in your boots – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Music must make a Will save or be Shaken. The enemy is afflicted by a state of fear one step higher for every seven levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of three steps. An enemy who succeeds on the save against this component cannot be affected by this component from the same bard for 24 hours.
Bleed you Dry – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Fortitude save or take 1 bleed damage every round. This damage increases by 1 for every five levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 5 bleed damage a round. An enemy who succeeds on the save against this component cannot be affected by this component from the same bard for 24 hours.
Let me Whisper in your ear – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or be treated as if under the effects of a Suggestion spell for one round. The duration of this component increases by 1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 6 rounds. An enemy who succeeds on the save against this component cannot be affected by this component from the same bard for 24 hours.
Fill your eyes with Double Vision – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or see two of each of the bard allies. The enemy has a 50% chance to miss on their next attack or targeted effect, but this causes the duplicate to vanish. This component creates an additional duplicate (and changes the miss chance accordingly) for every seven levels the bard possesses, to a maxim of 3 duplicates. An enemy who succeeds on the save against this component cannot be affected by this component from the same bard for 24 hours.
Here comes the Boom – As a standard action, the bard can make a ranged touch attack against all enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance. Those who are hit take 1d4 points of Sonic damage and take an additional 1d4 points of damage for every five levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 5d4. Creatures that are affected by this component may make a Reflex save to take half damage.
Sweet Dreams are Made of This – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Music must make a Will save or fall asleep for 1 round. The duration of this component increases by 1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 6 rounds. An enemy who succeeds on the save against this component cannot be affected by this component from the same bard for 24 hours.
He rides on a Pale Horse – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or take a -1 penalty on saving throws. This penalty increases by -1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of -6.
The Road is Long - Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or have all their movement modes reduced by 10 feet (minimum 5 feet). This reduction increases by 10 feet for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of sixty feet.
Opportunity Missed - Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or take a -1 penalty on Attacks of Opportunity. This penalty increases by -1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of -6.
Shallow Cut - Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or take a -1 penalty on Critical Hit confirmation rolls. This penalty increases by -1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of -6.

[Tanuki Tales]

Green Singer


Though the life of a bard is never tied down to one place and rarely does a bard claim brotherhood with any one people or nation, there are bards who are even more removed from the world of man. They live amongst the untamed wilds of nature itself, devoting themselves to the beauties and wonders of the cyclical splendor of life and pursuing a closer state of oneness with all things. Such are the Green Singers, the artists of the woods, glens and dales.


Class skills

Green Singers have the following class skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge (All), Linguistics, Perception, Perform, Profession, Ride, Spellcraft, Sense Motive, Stealth, Survival, Swim, and Use Magic Device.


Weapons and Armor Proficiencies

Green Singers are proficient with all simple weapons and any weapon made of wood. They are also proficient with light armor and shields (except tower shields).


Green Magic (Su)

Green Singers can select Bardic Knacks from the following lists:


Piano

Nature's Renewal - When using this knack, the Green Singer touches an amount of fruit, foliage or roots that is no larger than a handful. The affected flora becomes safely edible (if it was not already so) and heals 1d4 points of damage if eaten entirely. This change to the flora lasts for one hour per level possessed by the Green Singer and the Green Singer can have no more than their Charisma modifier in such modified flora at any one time.
One with the Forest - The Green Singer gains Hide in Plain Sight when in a natural environment for a number of minutes equal to their total level. This knack allows them to use the Stealth skill even when they wouldn't be able to, such as being directly observed or when dealing with a creature with Blindsense.
Verdant Armor - The Green Singer gains a natural armor bonus to their Armor Class equal to their Charisma Modifier and deals an additional 1d4 points of slashing damage with natural weapons or unarmed strikes. This lasts for a number of minutes equal to the Green Singer's level.
Zephyr's Arrow - The Green Singer makes a ranged touch attack against an enemy within sixty feet. If successful, the creature takes 1d4 piercing and slashing damage and an additional 1d4 for every four levels the Green Singer possesses (maximum 6d4). A successful reflex save reduces this damage by half.

Mezzo-Forte

Form of the Kingdom - The Green Singer can change shape into an animal they are familiar with, as if they had cast the Beast Shape I spell. This lasts for one minute per level the Green Singer possesses. While using this knack, the Green Singer is incapable of being discerned as anything except for the animal whose shape it wears.
Friend of Nature - The Green Singer calls to them the nearest creature that possesses the animal type and who's CR is no greater than the Green Singer's level (determined by the GM). The creature will heed the Green Singer's call to the best of its ability and follow it as a loyal ally for one minute per level possessed by the Green Singer upon its arrival. The Green Singer can not have more than one animal ally in this manner and the animal called will flee as fast and as far as possible once the duration expires.
On Humming Wing - The Green Singer summons 1d4 swarm(s) of any creature of their choice (so long as the swarm's CR is no greater than their Charisma modifier or one quarter their level, whichever is lower). The swarm(s) will attack the Green Singer's enemies to the best of their ability for one round per level possessed by the Green Singer before dispersing.
Pleasant Stroll - The Green Singer, and a number of creatures equal to their Charisma modifier, are treated as if under the Endure Elements for a number of hours equal to one quarter the Green Singer's level.


Forte

Forest Speech - The Green Singer gains the ability to converse with any creature of the animal type as if they shared a language for a number of minutes equal to the Green Singer's level. Any creature spoken to in this manner is treated as if having a intelligence score of 10 for a number of rounds equal to the Green Singer's Charisma modifier.
Nature's Juggernaut - The Green Singer selects one friendly creature of the animal type that is within thirty feet when using this knack. The selected creature is treated as if under the effects of the Animal Growth spell. The creature also is treated as if it had the Diehard feat (if it possesses it already or the Ferocity special quality, its Death Threshold is instead increased by the Green Singer's level) and it gains damage reduction bypassible by Adamantine equal to half the Green Singer's level. This knack lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Green Singer's level and no more than one creature can be affected by it at any given time.
Verdant Sustenance - When using this knack, the Green Singer selects one creature. For the next twenty four hours, the selected creature only needs to drink water and spend at least three hours in sunlight to be treated as if they had enough food and water for the entire day. The Green Singer can only have a number of creatures equal to one quarter their level under the effects of this knack at any given time.
Winter's Chill - The Green Singer designates a thirty foot by thirty foot square that is no more than sixty feet away from them. For a number of rounds equal to the Green Singer's level, the designated area becomes a patch of frozen tundra. Creatures within the area or who enter it take 1d6 points of cold damage automatically and an additional 1d6 for every round they remain. Creatures attempting to move through the area treat it as difficult terrain and must make a Reflex save to prevent falling prone. The Green Singer can only have one such patch active at a time.

Fortissimo

Nature's Enforcer - When using this knack, the Green Singer selects a number of nearby trees (that are at least of huge size category) equal to their Charisma modifier. The selected trees become Treants under the Green Singer's control for a number of minutes equal to half the Green Singer's level. Only one use of this knack can be active at any time.
Pursued by the Kingdom - The Green Singer makes a melee touch attack against an enemy when using this knack. If successful, the creature must make a Will save. If the creature fails, all creatures of the animal type that come within one hundred feet of the affected creature have a hostile attitude and will attack the creature as soon as they are aware of its presence. This lasts for a number of hours equal to the Green Singer's level.
Spirit of Hunger - The Green Singer is treated as if they are a natural Lycanthrope for a number of rounds equal to one quarter their level. The Green Singer selects a carnivorous animal for the purpose of the template when using this knack and cannot select a creature who's CR is greater than half their level.
Verdant Life - The Green Singer gains the Plant type and a slam attack appropriate for their size category for one minute per level they possess. Additionally, the Green Singer may willing inflict a bleed effect (1d6+1 damage per round) on themselves as a standard action. Any creature that drinks from the Green Singer's bleeding wound is treated as if the Green Singer had cast a Cure Serious Wounds spell upon them.




Companion of the Wild (Su)

The Green Singer makes a selection off of the Druid Animal Companion list, gaining a companion through thick and thin. The Companion of the Wild uses the exact same basic statistics as the selected Animal Companion, except that it is of the Fey creature type and has Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma scores equal to that of the Green Singer's. The Companion of the Wild has one racial hit dice and an additional hit dice for every level the Green Singer possesses (to a maximum of 21 HD). The Companion of the Wild also has Damage Reduction bypassed by Cold Iron equal to 5 + one half the Green Singer's level.


This class feature replaces the Personal Muse and On the Road Together class features.


Wild Empathy (Ex.)

A Green Singer can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person. The Green Singer rolls 1d20 and adds their level and their Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result.

The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.

To use wild empathy, the Green Singer and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

A Green Singer can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but they take a –4 penalty on the check.


Woodland Stride (Ex.)

Starting at 2nd level, a Green Singer may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at their normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. Thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion, however, still affect them.

This replaces the iteration of the Versatile Performance class feature that the Green Singer would have gained at 2nd level.


Favored Terrain (Ex.)

The Green Singer gains the Favored Terrain class feature, as the Ranger, at third, eighth, thirteenth and eighteenth level.

This replaces the Encore class feature and the iteration of the Versatile Performance class feature that the Green Singer would have gained at 18th level.

[Tanuki Tales]

Reserved Post C.

[Tanuki Tales]

Reserved Post D.

[Tanuki Tales]

Well, that's most of the class itself, the 17 initial Bardic Components I came up with and the Green Singer Archetype.

I'm still trying to come up with something to fill the hole in 13th level, as well as a capstone and some more Bardic Components.

[Saidoro]

Arcane Dilettante should allow selection off the bard list as well, there are some neat spells there not found elsewhere. You really need to find some way of limiting Arcane Dilettante at low levels, as it is there's really no reason to play anything which isn't a bard at first level. Casting spontaneously from the best spell list in the game with endurance no one else can match is really really good.
Personal Muses are better than fighters at first level.
I really dislike Versatile performance, it forces the bard to choose between being effective now and being effective later when allocating their skill points and wastes any points in skills it replaces. It's exactly what paizo was trying to fix when they redid the class skill system.
A 14th level bard with Lingering Performance can keep all of their components active at all times for very little cost. Was this intentional?

[Tanuki Tales]

Arcane Dilettante should allow selection off the bard list as well, there are some neat spells there not found elsewhere. You really need to find some way of limiting Arcane Dilettante at low levels, as it is there's really no reason to play anything which isn't a bard at first level. Casting spontaneously from the best spell list in the game with endurance no one else can match is really really good.

There's no Bard spell list with this class in play. But there's some food for thought.



Personal Muses are better than fighters at first level.

The Personal Muse has 1 more BaB and 1 less feat than a comparable Fighter at level 1. They have better skills, but require more capital sunk in to have armor or weaponry. So I think it's arguable how much better they are.

And the issue is more the Fighter needs a buff desperately.


I really dislike Versatile performance, it forces the bard to choose between being effective now and being effective later when allocating their skill points and wastes any points in skills it replaces. It's exactly what paizo was trying to fix when they redid the class skill system.

That...is a class feature of Paizo's Bard. I didn't add or change anything about it. :smallconfused:


A 14th level bard with Lingering Performance can keep all of their components active at all times for very little cost. Was this intentional?

It's actually a typo. I didn't mean for it be based off their Charisma modifier. Thanks for catching it.

[Saidoro]

And the issue is more the Fighter needs a buff desperately.
True.

That...is a class feature of Paizo's Bard. I didn't add or change anything about it. :smallconfused:
I know. I was saying you should have changed or added something, not that you shouldn't have. Consider a system for refunding skill points spent on redundant skills. Or maybe make it so that they can roll both relevant skills and take the higher one.

It's actually a typo. I didn't mean for it be based off their Charisma modifier. Thanks for catching it.
That wasn't the issue. The bard can take any number of free actions in a round, if the song lasts at least one round after they stop playing they can have all of their effects active simultaneously.(Though it would be rather expensive at just one round.)

[Tanuki Tales]

Alright, made a major change to the class!





I know. I was saying you should have changed or added something, not that you shouldn't have. Consider a system for refunding skill points spent on redundant skills. Or maybe make it so that they can roll both relevant skills and take the higher one.


Something to think over.


That wasn't the issue. The bard can take any number of free actions in a round, if the song lasts at least one round after they stop playing they can have all of their effects active simultaneously.(Though it would be rather expensive at just one round.)

Well, I made a change that affects this point already. :smallsmile:

[Tanuki Tales]

Made some updates to the class, check the Change Log for specifics.

[Tanuki Tales]

Made another update, check the Change Log for specifics.

[AugustNights]

I rather like where you are going with this.

EDIT: Put together a small critique if you like.
I rather like how you've combined the ideas of the marshal and the bard.

Level twenty in your table simply reads "Class Ability," which appears to be an error.

Under "Weapons an Armor Proficiencies" you might want to eliminate the "All other class features go here (Use the format shown directly below if you don't know what to do.)!" line.

Personal Muse seems a bit much, adding a lesser Animal Companion to the Bard's host of abilities. The secondary aura of bardic effect may also be a fair bit too much. I like the idea, but perhaps it is a bit early at first level.

Versatile Performance seems a bit more powerful than what Pathfinder presents. Rolling two dice and taking the better of either roll is strictly better than rolling a single die and adding a higher score. Is this intentional?

The language of Encore isn't very specific, it seems that there is no time limit between the ending of a Bardic Performance for "any reason" and the re-starting of it. Thus, it really just effectively allows the Bard to initiate any Bardic Performance that they have ever maintained in their life as an immediate action 1-2 times a day. Intentional?

Raise the Tempo seems like a bit much as well. It's already a free action to maintain the music, just a single standard action to initiate, and once to twice per day it's an immediate action, why cut back on all the action requirements?

This Base Class seems to be rather Front-loaded with new and interesting abilities. Levels 1-5 bring new powers and interesting ideas, while levels 6-20 rely on increases to previous class features. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but some people like to see more interesting abilities as a class gains levels. Then again, it has a warlock like spell-casting ability, which may simply call for the class features to be more spread out.

[Tanuki Tales]

I rather like where you are going with this.

Well, thank you very much. I consider this high praise. :smallredface:



I rather like how you've combined the ideas of the marshal and the bard.

Thanks, I do too. I always liked the concept of the Marshal class, but I never got a chance to play one or ever actually see it in play.


Level twenty in your table simply reads "Class Ability," which appears to be an error.

It's not. As I mentioned, this class is still lacking a capstone.


Under "Weapons an Armor Proficiencies" you might want to eliminate the "All other class features go here (Use the format shown directly below if you don't know what to do.)!" line.

Thanks for the catch.


Personal Muse seems a bit much, adding a lesser Animal Companion to the Bard's host of abilities. The secondary aura of bardic effect may also be a fair bit too much. I like the idea, but perhaps it is a bit early at first level.

Point.

I've re-worked it and have come up with 7 starter traits to select from. I plan to give the Green Singer the animal companion-esque Muse.


Versatile Performance seems a bit more powerful than what Pathfinder presents. Rolling two dice and taking the better of either roll is strictly better than rolling a single die and adding a higher score. Is this intentional?

Yup. Saidoro brought up how kind of lackluster the basic Versatile Performance was and I find myself agreeing. If the rate of probability of success is that great, I'll rework it.


The language of Encore isn't very specific, it seems that there is no time limit between the ending of a Bardic Performance for "any reason" and the re-starting of it. Thus, it really just effectively allows the Bard to initiate any Bardic Performance that they have ever maintained in their life as an immediate action 1-2 times a day. Intentional?

Well, I didn't even think of that being pulled. :smallredface:

Fixed.


Raise the Tempo seems like a bit much as well. It's already a free action to maintain the music, just a single standard action to initiate, and once to twice per day it's an immediate action, why cut back on all the action requirements?

Well, the Bard has always been compared to the Barbarian when it comes to their main schtick and people felt that applying the same change to the bard that was given to the Barbarian was an out and out nerf. So by cutting down on the action requirements and beefing up the rounds per day a bit, I felt this would help ameliorate this.


This Base Class seems to be rather Front-loaded with new and interesting abilities. Levels 1-5 bring new powers and interesting ideas, while levels 6-20 rely on increases to previous class features. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but some people like to see more interesting abilities as a class gains levels. Then again, it has a warlock like spell-casting ability, which may simply call for the class features to be more spread out.

Well, as is, what Tier would you personally call this class? I'm leery of adding more class features if it already is Tier 3, but I can look at redistributing things.

[Tanuki Tales]

Made some updates, check the Change Log for specifics.

[Tanuki Tales]

Made some updates, check the Change Log for specifics.

Second verse, same as the first.

[Tanuki Tales]

Finally came up with a capstone and it's been added.

[ngilop]

I like this treatment of the bard. two things i dislike immensly is the whole incorporeal subtype gained at the capstone, well that is bit onsensicle to me


the other being the whole capstone ability of 'now the bard can no longer die unless you do a HUGE crazy epic quest. because serisouly to have a lvl 20 bard with a cha mod of +12 or so is beyond anywhere close to relaistic that the bard has been completely forgotton.

I just cannot get behind the undieing part of that capstone. while i could be swayed for bards somehjow being made of in-material.

I love the muse aspect its completel unique ( in my experience) and fun.

some fo the abilities feel front-loaded in that they are a bit powerful whne you aqcuire them at say lvl 4 but later on their scaling dies off so at lvl 17 they really aren't as good as youd think based off of how good they were when you first got them. I sugggest stretching the first 6 or so levels' abilities out a bit more.

Other than that great take on the bard!

[Tanuki Tales]

I like this treatment of the bard. two things i dislike immensly is the whole incorporeal subtype gained at the capstone, well that is bit onsensicle to me

Did you mean nonsensical?



the other being the whole capstone ability of 'now the bard can no longer die unless you do a HUGE crazy epic quest. because serisouly to have a lvl 20 bard with a cha mod of +12 or so is beyond anywhere close to relaistic that the bard has been completely forgotton.

Well, the capstone only activates if the bard has already died once. I thought I had that as part of its rules text, didn't I?

And it all really depends on what the bard did during their life. If they did epic things and sunk the time into spinning their tales into legends that are passed down amongst the people who's lives he/she touched or existed in the periphery, than yes, they won't be dieing anytime soon. Of course, they exist as a kind of non-interactive semi-Ghost that's bound either to a specific person or place, so it's not like "Ha ha! I'm immortal now and can easily rule the world!"


I just cannot get behind the undieing part of that capstone. while i could be swayed for bards somehjow being made of in-material.

The capstone basically just gives the bard a gimped version of the Ghost template honestly.


I love the muse aspect its completel unique ( in my experience) and fun.

Do you mean the Personal Muse class feature or...?


some fo the abilities feel front-loaded in that they are a bit powerful whne you aqcuire them at say lvl 4 but later on their scaling dies off so at lvl 17 they really aren't as good as youd think based off of how good they were when you first got them.

Can you give me some examples? If the class honestly tapers out and weakens by a certain level, that's something I need to address.


I sugggest stretching the first 6 or so levels' abilities out a bit more.

I have a few places left to mine for ideas. I'll see if there are some more bells and whistles (:smallwink:) I can add for the class.


Other than that great take on the bard!

Thanks!

[Rizban]

Bard

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams

To be added later.


Role: To be added later.

Alignment: Any, though as free spirits and collectors of tales to be told, bards are commonly of the Chaotic Good alignment.It's nice to see things like this added, so I'll look forward to the fluff here. I always like to know what concept the author of the class was going for when I read a class. The fluff in the alignment is nice, as is the lack of restriction.


Hit Die: d8A step up from srd bard, which makes him a bit better in melee. Seems potentially appropriate.


Starting Gold: 3d6 × 10 gp (average 105 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.Interesting. Not many people include starting gold.


Class Skills
The bard's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks Per Level: (6 + Int modifier)That is quite the list of skills, though it seems about right.




Bard
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Bardic Knacks Known|Bardic Components Known

1st|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+2|Bardic Knack (Piano), Bardic Knowledge, Bardic Performance, Personal Muse, Personal Muse Trait|2|3

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+3|Versatile Performance, Well-Versed|2|3

3rd|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+3|Encore 1/day|3|4

4th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Personal Muse Trait, Raise the Tempo|3|4

5th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Loremaster 1/day, On the Road Together|4|5

6th|
+4|
+2|
+5|
+5|Bardic Knack (Mezzo-Forte), Versatile Performance|4|5

7th|
+5|
+2|
+5|
+5|Personal Muse Trait, Power Chord|5|6

8th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+6|
+6|Lingering Performance|5|6

9th|
+6/+1|
+3|
+6|
+6|Raise the Tempo|6|7

10th|
+7/+2|
+3|
+7|
+7|Jack of All Trades, Personal Muse Trait, Versatile Performance|6|7

11th|
+8/+3|
+3|
+7|
+7|Bardic Knack (Forte), Power Chord, Loremaster 2/day|7|8

12th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+8|
+8|Encore 2/day|7|8

13th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+8|
+8|Personal Muse Trait|8|9

14th|
+10/+5|
+4|
+9|
+9|Raise the Tempo|8|9

15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+9|
+9|Power Chord|9|10

16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+10|Bardic Knack (Fortissimo), Jack of All Trades, Personal Muse Trait|9|10

17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+10|Loremaster 3/day|10|11

18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+11|
+11|Versatile Performance|10|11

19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+11|
+11|Jack of All Trades, Personal Muse Trait, Power Chord|11|12

20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+12|
+12|Spun into Myth|11|12[/table]I like tables. Tables are good. My only complaint is that the knacks and components known aren't centered. Not really a problem, but it would be prettier. :smallwink:



Class Features
All of the following are class features of the bard.The following sections are spoilered by content. The post was just getting ridiculously long without them.


Weapon and Armor Proficiencies

A bard is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the longsword, rapier, sap, shortsword, shortbow, and whip. Bards are also proficient with light armor and shields (except tower shields).Pretty standard for a bard.


Bardic Knack

Though the bard's talent comes from the same wellspring as all magic does, they do not forge this talent into the same shape and form of spells like their wizard or cleric cousins. No, their connection to magic is much deeper and more personal to them, even more so than it is for the sorcerer.

A bard begins play with two Bardic Knacks (listed below) known and gains an additional Bardic Knack known at every odd level after the first. The bard initially has access to only Piano Bardic Knacks, but can learn higher tier knacks as they increase in level (as denoted on the table above). A bard may exchange one Bardic Knack known for another that they are capable of learning whenever they would learn a new Bardic Knack.

A Bardic Knack is a Supernatural ability that, unless noted otherwise, requires a standard action to activate. A bard can use any Bardic Knack an unlimited amount of times per day, but can only use one Bardic Knack every 1d4 rounds.

The DC to resist any Bardic Knack is 10 + 1/2 the bard's level + the bard's Charisma modifier.Seems like somewhere between invocations and a breath weapon in mechanics. I like the mechanic idea, and it seems fair. I'll have to see the knacks themselves before I can say more, though I may borrow part of this ability for some homebrew I wrote...


Bardic Knowledge (Ex)

At 1st level, a bard adds half their class level (minimum 1) to all Knowledge skill checks and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.Not what I was expecting from bardic knowledge, but okay. It seems potentially a bit powerful, but I guess the end result is really not different from the srd ability.


Bardic Performance (Su)

Starting at 1st level, the art that a bard creates goes beyond the realm of mundane entertainment into the world of the metaphysical, moving the heart and soul of reality itself. A bard can use their Bardic Performance for a number of rounds per day equal to 6+their Charisma modifier. For every level that they possess after the first in this class increases the amount of rounds by 3.Minor nitpick: "amount of rounds" should be "number of rounds". Also, you need to specify that these rounds can be broken up and used in any combination of durations throughout the day. Otherwise, as written, it seems to imply that you can activate the ability 1/day, and it lasts X rounds. That's surely not your intention. It seems like you really won't be able to use it very much throughout the day though. If this is supposed to be the core feature of the class, then it seems really limited.


Beginning a Bardic Performance requires a standard action, but maintaining it from round to round is a free action. A Bardic Performance must have an audible component, a visual component or both. A Bardic Performance cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the bard is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. A bard cannot have more than one Bardic Performance in effect at one time.I'd take out the "cannot be disrupted" part of this ability, as you list quite a number of things that can, in fact, disrupt it.


Each Bardic Performance has audible components, visual components, or both.

If a Bardic Performance has audible components, the targets must be able to hear the bard for the performance to have any effect, and such performances are language dependent. A deaf bard has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with an audible component. If they fails this check, the attempt still counts against their daily limit. Deaf creatures are immune to Bardic Performances with audible components.

If a Bardic Performance has a visual component, the targets must have line of sight to the bard for the performance to have any effect. A blind bard has a 50% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with a visual component. If they fails this check, the attempt still counts against their daily limit. Blind creatures are immune to Bardic Performances with visual components.You state that it can have both audible and visual components, but you only have rules for using one of the other. It is neat to have a bardic music effect not based on sound, but this needs a bit more development.


When starting a Bardic Performance, the bard must choose either a Ballad Bardic Component (a positive buff for their allies) or a Dirge Bardic Component (a negative effect on their enemies). Changing a Bardic Component requires the bard to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard action.Look forward to seeing those components.


A bard begins play knowing three such Bardic Components (listed below), one of which must be a Ballad and one which must be a Dirge. The bard learns an additional Bardic Component for every two levels they possess after the first in this class, to a maximum of 12 at 19th level. So, a bard gets knack and component progression at every odd level. That makes the even levels rather lackluster in comparison. I'd suggest maybe lowering the components to 2 at 1st level, then increasing it to 3 at 2nd and an additional 1 at every even level after that. This way, a bard gets something related to one of his two "key features" at every level and giving more incentive continuing with the class at each level.


The DC to resist a Bardic Component is 10 + half the bard's level + the bard's Charisma modifier.Standard.


Personal Muse (Su)

At 1st level, when a bard learns the secrets of their Bardic Performance, they form a deep connection to their very concept of their art. A piece of their mind and soul splinters off and takes a life of its own, only manifesting itself when the bard practices their craft. Possessed of a keen intellect and a personality that reflects its master’s own, the Personal Muse is a compatriot in the dangerous and lonely world the bard roams. The bard's Personal Muse manifests itself in a form that is meaningful to the bard's personality and inner self; no two bards have the same Personal Muse.

A Personal Muse is an incorporeal Native Outsider that is of tiny size category and that has a ten foot flight speed with perfect maneuverability. The muse has dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom and charisma scores equal to that of the bard's and a number of hit points equal to one quarter of the bard's. The muse can speak any language that the bard is fluent in and is telepathically connected to the bard out to a number of miles equal to the bard's class level. Otherwise a Personal Muse cannot interact with the world in any meaningful way, being more an empty spirit that even a proper ethereal creature.Seems like an empowered version of summon familiar with several ways, though there is some attempt to mitigate that.


At first level and every three levels thereafter, the bard selects one trait from the list below for its Personal Muse to possess. Once this selection is made it cannot be changed. Unless specified otherwise, a Personal Muse Trait is a Supernatural ability.Alright, make that a customizable empowered familiar...


A Personal Muse only exists when a bard is performing a Bardic Performance. It appears in a square adjacent to the bard and remains on the Material Plane as long as the Bardic Performance lasts and for a number of rounds equal to the bard's Charisma modifier.Performing a performance? Sounds weird. Just change it to "using Bardic Performance".
Where does it exist when it hasn't appeared? Does it cease to exist? Does it go elsewhere?


If a Personal Muse is slain, the bard is automatically made aware of this fact regardless of distance and is nauseated for one round. The bard can not re-summon the Personal Muse for 24 hours if this occurs.Being an Outsider (native), the must would be required to eat, drink, and sleep. Resurrection effects are easier with the native subtype though. The problem is that summoning doesn't really work with native, as it has to be summoned from somewhere, usually another plane.



Personal Muse Traits


Amplifier - The Personal Muse emanates any current Bardic Performance out to a radius of 10 feet as if it were the bard. This radius increases by 10 feet for every four hit dice the bard possesses, to a maximum of 60 feet.Having a second, independently mobile source of bardic music is quite powerful. I'd almost always pick this.


Defend the Artist - The Personal Muse grants the bard a +1 Deflection bonus as long as it is adjacent to them. This bonus increases by +1 for every four hit dice the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6. The Personal Muse ceases to be ethereal and incorporeal while providing this bonus. This is kind of meh compared to the first, but deflection is one of the absolute best AC types.


Sacrifice for their Art - The Personal Muse, as an immediate action, can sacrifice itself to allow the bard to roll twice on a check or save of their choice and take the higher of the two results. This does not make the bard nauseated for one round as normal.Hmm... Maybe as a last resort versus a near impossible save or die effect, but this seems like an absolute waste compared with the power of the other abilities.


Tap for Inspiration - The bard can store in their Personal Muse a number of rounds of Bardic Inspiration equal to half their level. Rounds stored in this fashion can then be called upon by the bard to start or continue a Bardic Performance as long as the Personal Muse is within sixty feet of the bard.What does this even do?
Does it give more rounds per day? If so, just say that.
Does it let you save your rollover minutes rounds each day if you don't use them? If so, say so.


Touch of Inspiration - The Personal Muse can lift and manipulate objects that weigh no more than 10 pounds. In addition, it gains a melee touch attack that deals 1d4 points of force damage. The Personal Muse gains a +1 bonus on such touch attacks for every four hit dice the bard possesses, to a maximum of +5. The muse ceases to be ethereal and incorporeal when manipulating an object or when attacking and for one round afterwards.Scales with HD rather than class level? Officially the strongest ability for the multiclass bard muse. You should really change it to class level, especially if there is a way to channel knacks through this touch attack (which I haven't seen yet but expect to see from a familiar).


Understudy - The bard, when using a Bardic Knack, may treat their Personal Muse as themselves in regards to range or as the target of a Bardic Knack that normally only affects the bard.So... limited share spells? Maybe you should check the srd wording on that ability and apply it here to make this more clear.


Witch-light - The Personal Muse provides a heat-less light in a 10 foot radius outwards from itself. This radius increases by a further 10 feet for every four hit dice the bard possesses, to a maximum of 60 feet. The Personal Muse can control the radius of this illumination as a free action.[/list]This is the absolute weakest familiar ability. Not only does it do practically nothing in comparison to the others, it also makes invisibility and hiding more difficult, as light is specifically not made invisible. Seems like a completely underwhelming ability when read at the end of the list after all the really powerful ones above it.

Alright, I'm going to take a moment out from my review to say, DANG. There is a LOT of stuff available at 1st level. The HD scaling touch attack of the personal muse would almost make this worth a level dip alone. Combined with all the other abilities, I can't imagine not dipping this class on a Cha focused build (other than a full caster).

Let's review 1st level: 2 spells with effectively unlimited casting per day, 3 aura abilities, bonuses to all knowledge skills, and a super familiar with very strong, customizable abilities on a 3/4 BAB, d8 HD chassis with two good saves. That's really quite powerful.

You might consider spreading those abilities out more or toning down their strength, as this is an incredibly powerful dip class.



Versatile Performance (Ex.)

At 2nd level, a bard can choose one type of Perform skill. When making a skill check that is associated with the selected Perform skill (as listed below), the bard rolls first for the associated skill (adding the appropriate modifiers) and then for the selected Perform skill. The bard may then choose which of the two results to use for the skill check at hand. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the bard can select an additional type of Perform to substitute.

The types of Perform and their associated skills are: Act (Bluff, Disguise), Comedy (Bluff, Intimidate), Dance (Acrobatics, Fly), Keyboard Instruments (Diplomacy, Intimidate), Oratory (Diplomacy, Sense Motive), Percussion (Handle Animal, Intimidate), Sing (Bluff, Sense Motive), String (Bluff, Diplomacy), and Wind (Diplomacy, Handle Animal).Pick a skill and substitute it for a different one with a bonus plus rolling twice and picking the higher? Hmm... seems awfully strong. It almost completely eliminates the need for spending skill points in anything but Perform. Perform is already one of the easiest skills to optimize. With this ability... dang. Bring back the build that break dances for everything, because it just got even more insane.


Well-Versed (Ex.)

At 2nd level, the bard becomes resistant to the Bardic Performance of others, and to sonic effects in general. The bard gains a +4 bonus on saving throws made against bardic performance, sonic, and language-dependent effects.Seems appropriate, if lackluster for a 2nd-level ability after reading all the cool stuff for first level. I now expect the rest of this class to be rather disappointing from here on out.


Encore (Ex.)

At 3rd level, the bard's performance is not easily quelled or suppressed, raising back up to the rafters in the beat of heart.Does that include when dancing? Unintended fly effect when using visual performance? :smallbiggrin: I'm kidding, but that's the image I got from that sentence.


If a Bardic Performance that the bard was maintaining (no more than one round prior) is ended for any reason, they may re-start it as an immediate action. A Bardic Performance re-started in this manner does not need to be maintained and persists for a number of rounds equal to the bard's Charisma modifier.

The bard can use this class feature once per day and one additional time per day at 12th level.:smalleek: So, I start my performance as a standard action, take my turn as normal, end it intentionally as a free action as the last thing I do on my turn, then immediately spend an immediate action before anyone else can act in any way for me to reactivate it. It is now active for a number of rounds equal to my Cha mod, and it can not be suppressed, even if I am "killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round".

Since my personal muse is still alive and active as long as my performance is going, I can still make him run around emitting my performance and attacking things with force effects even if I'm unconscious or dead. Hell, if he takes the Touch of Inspiration knack, he can even retrieve a healing potion from my pack and feed it to me to bring me back from the brink, and, yes, he would think of it and know how to do it, because he has my mental ability scores.

Works for me! The unconscious "self" heal ability means I just can't see taking anything else as the 1st-level muse ability now.


Raise the Tempo (Ex.)

The bard slowly masters their art as time goes by and this shows itself in the increased speed at which they can call upon their supernatural aspects of their craft.

At 4th level, a bard can start a Bardic Performance as a move action instead of as a standard action.

At 9th level, a bard further decreases the action needed from a move action to a swift action.

At 14th level, the bard is swift as lightning with their performance and can star it as a free action instead of a swift action.Makes the above combo even stronger. Apart from that theoretical use of the ability, this is pretty nice and seems appropriate to the levels at which it is received.


Loremaster (Ex.)

At 5th level, the bard becomes a master of lore and can take 10 on any Knowledge skill check that they have ranks in. A bard can choose not to take 10 and can instead roll normally. In addition, once per day, the bard can take 20 on any Knowledge skill check as a standard action. They can use this ability one additional time per day for every six levels they possess beyond 5th, to a maximum of three times per day at 17th level.Seems quite potent. Combined with bardic knowledge, you'll realistically never need more than a single point in any knowledge skill, unless you're trying to max out Knowledge Devotion or need them for a PrC prereq.
Also, you don't have to point out that they can roll if they choose. A player can always roll if he chooses. Taking 10 is an option, not a requirement.


On the Road Together (Su)

At 5th level, a bard can extend the presence of their Personal Muse on the Material Plane, bringing with them a more constant ally on their journeys. As a standard action, a bard may expend any amount of rounds of their Bardic Performance as they wish and manifest their Personal Muse. The Personal Muse remains for one hour for every round of Spellsong expended in this manner.Spellsong? I'm assuming you changed the name of the ability at some point.

Seems interesting, though I can't really see the additional benefit to this, as the performance rounds are already really limited. The encore ability makes this rather superfluous when it counts, though I suppose there are some uses for it. I might reduce it to 10 minutes/round expended, but it works as written.


Power Chord (Ex.)

Starting at 7th level, the bard learns how to expand the capabilities of their performances, bringing forth more wondrous effects to the world around them.

The bard selects two Bardic Components instead of one when starting a Bardic Performance and can add an additional Bardic Component for every four levels they possess past 7th, to a maximum of 6 Bardic Components at 19th level.I expected this ability to have a rank prereq in Perform (metal).

Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, and sectuple auras. Quite powerful, but, again, I'll have to wait until I get to the components before being able to judge just how powerful this actually is.


Lingering Performance (Su)

So skilled has the bard becoming in the weaving of eldritch combinations of the poet's soul and the mage's mind, that these creations are more stubborn at relinquishing their hold on the physical realm.

Starting at 8th level, when a bard ends a Bardic Performance, the effects of that specific Bardic Performance continue for one round. This increases by an additional round for every five levels after 8th, to a maximum of 3 rounds at 18th level. If the Bard starts a new Bardic Performance, the effects of the previous performance end immediately.So... a weaker version of what the srd bardic music does from level 1? Okay... I guess it works.


Jack of All Trades (Ex.)

At 10th level, the bard can use any skill, even if the skill normally requires them to be trained. At 16th level, the bard considers all skills to be class skills. At 19th level, the bard can take 10 on any skill check, even if it is not normally allowed.Hmm... The 10th level ability is rather nice. At 16th level, there's really no point to it, as it just gives him 5 levels to spend his skill points as class skills. Since that's all granting them as class skills does, it seems kind of pointless. The 19th level ability is okay, but it's pretty well useless by the level it's gained. At 19th level, there are 9th-level spells flying around. Taking 10 on a skill check is meh at best.


Spun into Myth

Death is the great equalizer of all things flesh and blood, but the shutting of its door on the bard is not the end of their great tales, but merely a transition of chapters.

At 20th level, if a bard is slain for any reason their soul does not pass on to any afterlife or other such place. Their soul and body combines with the essence of their Personal Muse and causes the following changes:

The bard's type changes to Outsider, with the Incorporeal and Native subtypes.
The bard gains any Personal Muse traits that their Personal Muse had access to.
The bard loses any form of attack they were previously capable of and can no longer use Bardic Knacks.
The bard gains the Rejuvenation special quality. The bard can only be permanently killed as described below.Wow, this list means I will NEVER take 20th level in this class, regardless of the benefits. Permanently losing the muse, knacks, and the ability to use any item that isn't ghost touch seems like a terrible price to pay to use a class capstone.


After this change, the bard then selects one of the following as the focus for their tether to the Material Plane:

Place: The bard selects a place that was of great importance to them (such as their ancestral home, the theater that they spent the last day with their true love, the site of their death, etc). The bard is automatically transported to the selected place and cannot leave it.
Person: The bard selects a person that was of great importance to them (such as their best friend, a stalwart comrade of arms or a close family member). The bard is automatically transported to the selected person and cannot move farther than ten feet from them. If the selected person dies (and is not related to the bard by blood), the bard is tethered to wherever the person's physical remains are laid to rest. If the person is related to the bard by blood, the bard is transported to the next closest blood relative to the bard.:smalleek: Yeah, definitely never taking this level.


The bard may leave the place or person they are tethered to if another, living bard requests for the bard to be their Personal Muse and the bard accepts. The bard then loses access to all their class features, save their Personal Muse traits, but increases the DCs of the Bardic Performance and effective level of the living bard by 5. If the living bard is slain, the bard is automatically returned to the place or person they are tethered to.Oh! I get it! This ability doesn't exist for the 20th-level bard! It exists to twink your 1st-level bard! It all makes sense now. Please, continue.


The bard can only be permanently slain if one of the two conditions below are met:
If the bard selected a place, then if it is completely destroyed beyond recognition, the bard is destroyed. If the bard selected a person who was not a blood relative, the bard is destroyed if their remains are completely annihilated or removed from the Material Plane. If the bard selected a blood relative, the bard is destroyed if the line is broken.
The bard is destroyed if their memory is completely forgotten from the Material Plane for a number of years equal to their Charisma modifierMeh. I guess you have to give the DM an easy out for letting someone use this ability in the first place.


Only a Wish or Miracle Spell or the direct intervention of deity can return a bard to life after they have fused with their Personal Muse. No power can return the bard to life once they are destroyed in this state.A non-epic ability that even the will of a god can't undo? Weird.

[Tanuki Tales]

Woof. I've yet to see a critique this large for anything I've ever done...let alone anything I've ever been around.

Time to dive in though!



It's nice to see things like this added, so I'll look forward to the fluff here. I always like to know what concept the author of the class was going for when I read a class. The fluff in the alignment is nice, as is the lack of restriction.

Well, seeing as this was just a whimsy thing that evolved from a hot fix for a game I'm going to run, the fluff has taken a serious back seat to playability. Only my Project G stamped work is going to have the magnum opus-esque level of work put into it from square one unfortunately.

I'm personally not a fan of alignment restrictions, let alone alignment period. I feel like unless your class is really niche fluff-wise that it should abstractly play to multiple possible kinds of personalities across the broad spectrum.


A step up from srd bard, which makes him a bit better in melee. Seems potentially appropriate.

Erm...that's standard hit die for the bard. I didn't change anything.


Interesting. Not many people include starting gold.

It's just a straight port of the bard's gold entry.


That is quite the list of skills, though it seems about right.

It's the exact same skill list and skill points per level as the bard.



I like tables. Tables are good. My only complaint is that the knacks and components known aren't centered. Not really a problem, but it would be prettier. :smallwink:

It's a headache for coding though. I usually just copy/paste my template from my contest. If I get the time and feel less lazy I could toy around and see how it looks. :smalltongue:



The following sections are spoilered by content. The post was just getting ridiculously long without them.

A long PEACH is never a bad PEACH though. :smallwink:



Seems like somewhere between invocations and a breath weapon in mechanics. I like the mechanic idea, and it seems fair. I'll have to see the knacks themselves before I can say more, though I may borrow part of this ability for some homebrew I wrote...

Yeah, I got the idea from a mix of Invocations, Shadowcasting and how certain Pact Magic abilities work. I really like new sub-systems from 3.5 over straight Vancian Magic.

Feel free!


Not what I was expecting from bardic knowledge, but okay. It seems potentially a bit powerful, but I guess the end result is really not different from the srd ability.

It's yet another thing I straight took from the bard. I hate to ask, but you do know this is Pathfinder material and not Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition material, correct? ^^;


Minor nitpick: "amount of rounds" should be "number of rounds". Also, you need to specify that these rounds can be broken up and used in any combination of durations throughout the day. Otherwise, as written, it seems to imply that you can activate the ability 1/day, and it lasts X rounds. That's surely not your intention. It seems like you really won't be able to use it very much throughout the day though. If this is supposed to be the core feature of the class, then it seems really limited.

A good part (I think most, need to double check) of the mechanics text was taken straight from the Bardic Music ability the bard already has. I've honestly never seen your interpretation of how the rounds per day class feature mechanic works come up. Why do you think the wording suggests that?


I'd take out the "cannot be disrupted" part of this ability, as you list quite a number of things that can, in fact, disrupt it.

Again, lifted right from the actual class feature. I'd need to look more in depth to the actual definition Pathfinder using for "disrupting" to see if it's used appropriately though.


You state that it can have both audible and visual components, but you only have rules for using one of the other. It is neat to have a bardic music effect not based on sound, but this needs a bit more development.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. And again, lifted from the mechanics.



So, a bard gets knack and component progression at every odd level. That makes the even levels rather lackluster in comparison. I'd suggest maybe lowering the components to 2 at 1st level, then increasing it to 3 at 2nd and an additional 1 at every even level after that. This way, a bard gets something related to one of his two "key features" at every level and giving more incentive continuing with the class at each level.

The bard does generally get something at every even level, but that is some food for thought.



Seems like an empowered version of summon familiar with several ways, though there is some attempt to mitigate that.

Well, there are several ways that a Familiar is superior to a Personal Muse. The fact that it has a much broader range of options in and out of combat while a Personal Muse has to blow limited resources (Personal Muse traits) to even be able to interact with the Material Plane in the same way that a Familiar takes for granted is just an example.

And that's not even counting what the Improved Familiar feat can grab you.


Performing a performance? Sounds weird. Just change it to "using Bardic Performance".

Well, that wording sounds odd to me personally. I'll see if I can clean it up.


Where does it exist when it hasn't appeared? Does it cease to exist? Does it go elsewhere?

For all mechanical intents and purposes it ceases to exist.


Being an Outsider (native), the must would be required to eat, drink, and sleep. Resurrection effects are easier with the native subtype though. The problem is that summoning doesn't really work with native, as it has to be summoned from somewhere, usually another plane.

In retrospect, "re-summon" was a poor choice of words on my part, since it has no connection to the game mechanic or spell line. I'll fix that.

Personal Muses are Incorporeal, so they don't need to eat, sleep or breathe.



Hmm... Maybe as a last resort versus a near impossible save or die effect, but this seems like an absolute waste compared with the power of the other abilities.

I'll see what I can do to bring it more in line.


What does this even do?
Does it give more rounds per day? If so, just say that.
Does it let you save your rollover minutes rounds each day if you don't use them? If so, say so.

It lets them basically bank and rollover their performance rounds from day to day. I'll see if I can clear up the wording.


Scales with HD rather than class level? Officially the strongest ability for the multiclass bard muse. You should really change it to class level, especially if there is a way to channel knacks through this touch attack (which I haven't seen yet but expect to see from a familiar).

I cannot remember if that was a typing goof or if I intended to let it scale for multiclass bards. I'll need to re-mull that over, but it's probably the former.


So... limited share spells? Maybe you should check the srd wording on that ability and apply it here to make this more clear.

The Share Spells rules text isn't really appropriate here, but I'll see if I can clear it up.


This is the absolute weakest familiar ability. Not only does it do practically nothing in comparison to the others, it also makes invisibility and hiding more difficult, as light is specifically not made invisible. Seems like a completely underwhelming ability when read at the end of the list after all the really powerful ones above it.

It was actually the first one I wrote. I think things kind of power creeped after it. :smallredface:

I'll revise it.


Alright, I'm going to take a moment out from my review to say, DANG. There is a LOT of stuff available at 1st level. The HD scaling touch attack of the personal muse would almost make this worth a level dip alone. Combined with all the other abilities, I can't imagine not dipping this class on a Cha focused build (other than a full caster).

I'll admit it gets more goodies than the vanilla bard at level 1, but once I fix the touch attack wording, is there anything that makes this an attractive single level dip though? Most everything the bard gets scales with the character's bard level, so I can't off the top of my head see this as more dippable than any Tier 1 or 2 class (or some Tier 3s, depending on archetypes, use of 3.5 backwards compatibility, etc).


Let's review 1st level:

Sure.


2 spells with effectively unlimited casting per day

Knacks still aren't spells and I don't believe I made too many of them as versatile or powerful as spells available.


3 aura abilities

You still can only use 1 at a time until 7th level.


bonuses to all knowledge skills

Bards already got this.


and a super familiar with very strong, customizable abilities on a 3/4 BAB, d8 HD chassis with two good saves.

I wouldn't call them "very strong" personally. And the Muse can't attack or even interact with the world outside having that one trait. And since spells are still just too good, I think it's arguable if they're really that much better than either the Familiar or Animal Companion.


That's really quite powerful.

I think this point is debatable until the class sees playtesting alongside Tier 3, 2 and 1 classes for comparison.


You might consider spreading those abilities out more or toning down their strength, as this is an incredibly powerful dip class.

See above.



Pick a skill and substitute it for a different one with a bonus plus rolling twice and picking the higher? Hmm... seems awfully strong. It almost completely eliminates the need for spending skill points in anything but Perform. Perform is already one of the easiest skills to optimize. With this ability... dang. Bring back the build that break dances for everything, because it just got even more insane.

The two rolls is the only thing I added to Versatile Performance. The bard already got the rest. But this is something I'm currently evaluating.


Seems appropriate, if lackluster for a 2nd-level ability after reading all the cool stuff for first level. I now expect the rest of this class to be rather disappointing from here on out.

Straight lifted, once again. Though I agree the ability is somewhat lackluster, especially with my face lifting to the class. I'll keep an eye on it for re-writing.


Does that include when dancing? Unintended fly effect when using visual performance? :smallbiggrin: I'm kidding, but that's the image I got from that sentence.

Just flavor text my good sir. :smalltongue:


:smalleek: So, I start my performance as a standard action, take my turn as normal, end it intentionally as a free action as the last thing I do on my turn, then immediately spend an immediate action before anyone else can act in any way for me to reactivate it. It is now active for a number of rounds equal to my Cha mod, and it can not be suppressed, even if I am "killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round".

Since my personal muse is still alive and active as long as my performance is going, I can still make him run around emitting my performance and attacking things with force effects even if I'm unconscious or dead. Hell, if he takes the Touch of Inspiration knack, he can even retrieve a healing potion from my pack and feed it to me to bring me back from the brink, and, yes, he would think of it and know how to do it, because he has my mental ability scores.

Works for me! The unconscious "self" heal ability means I just can't see taking anything else as the 1st-level muse ability now.

Huh, that's a neat little combo you pointed out. I see no issue with it. :smallbiggrin:

But I know I need to come up with more Personal Muse traits, I'm just stumped.


Makes the above combo even stronger. Apart from that theoretical use of the ability, this is pretty nice and seems appropriate to the levels at which it is received.

And I spot a spelling error. Blargh.


Seems quite potent. Combined with bardic knowledge, you'll realistically never need more than a single point in any knowledge skill, unless you're trying to max out Knowledge Devotion or need them for a PrC prereq.
Also, you don't have to point out that they can roll if they choose. A player can always roll if he chooses. Taking 10 is an option, not a requirement.

Yet another thing straight lifted from the bard. And Knowledge Devotion isn't Pathfinder material, so this feature wasn't built with it in mind by Paizo anyways.


Spellsong? I'm assuming you changed the name of the ability at some point.

Copy/Paste fail ahoy! *face palm*

Yeah, Spellsong was a working name for a time, but I ended up not liking it. I'll go fix that.


Seems interesting, though I can't really see the additional benefit to this, as the performance rounds are already really limited. The encore ability makes this rather superfluous when it counts, though I suppose there are some uses for it. I might reduce it to 10 minutes/round expended, but it works as written.

It's more a fluff thing and is a holdover from back when the Personal Muse was more like an Animal Companion without all the goodies. And since I gave the Green Singer basically just that, this ability is a survivor of edits long gone by. I'll keep it in as a place holder till I can come up with something better or just re-work it.



So... a weaker version of what the srd bardic music does from level 1? Okay... I guess it works.

Pathfinder Bards don't get this for anything, but are way less restricted than DnD Bards. Though something like this is a feat for them.


Hmm... The 10th level ability is rather nice. At 16th level, there's really no point to it, as it just gives him 5 levels to spend his skill points as class skills. Since that's all granting them as class skills does, it seems kind of pointless. The 19th level ability is okay, but it's pretty well useless by the level it's gained. At 19th level, there are 9th-level spells flying around. Taking 10 on a skill check is meh at best.

Lifted from the Bard word for word. And "class skill" means something significantly different in Pathfinder than DnD.


Wow, this list means I will NEVER take 20th level in this class, regardless of the benefits. Permanently losing the muse, knacks, and the ability to use any item that isn't ghost touch seems like a terrible price to pay to use a class capstone.

:smalleek: Yeah, definitely never taking this level.

Oh! I get it! This ability doesn't exist for the 20th-level bard! It exists to twink your 1st-level bard! It all makes sense now. Please, continue.

Meh. I guess you have to give the DM an easy out for letting someone use this ability in the first place.

A non-epic ability that even the will of a god can't undo? Weird.

This was honestly just flat insulting and unwarranted. I think I'm done here.

Thank you for your time and your critique.

[Rizban]

Phew. I literally posted that as the DDoS was hitting. I didn't even get the post confirmation before the site went down. I was worried that it hadn't gone through, and that I would have to write it all again. :smalleek:

[Rizban]

Erm...that's standard hit die for the bard. I didn't change anything.3.5 Bard is d6. I actually never realized that it was raised to d8 in PF.


It's the exact same skill list and skill points per level as the bard.*shrug* It was just a comment. I'm not really 100% in agreement with the skill list, even if it is "official."


It's a headache for coding though. I usually just copy/paste my template from my contest. If I get the time and feel less lazy I could toy around and see how it looks. :smalltongue:But... but... pretty! :smallbiggrin:


It's yet another thing I straight took from the bard. I hate to ask, but you do know this is Pathfinder material and not Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition material, correct? ^^;Yes, I did know that, but I was commenting based on my personal preconceptions of "how things should be" and offering my honest input on it.


A good part (I think most, need to double check) of the mechanics text was taken straight from the Bardic Music ability the bard already has. I've honestly never seen your interpretation of how the rounds per day class feature mechanic works come up. Why do you think the wording suggests that?When an ability is given a duration in rounds, it's usually assumed to be "activate for duration." I'm not overly familiar with PF, but I know that similarly activated abilities in 3.5 are always spelled out when the ability can be divided up because of that design standard. Maybe PF doesn't hold as rigidly to that paradigm, but I still think it should be specified.


Again, lifted right from the actual class feature. I'd need to look more in depth to the actual definition Pathfinder using for "disrupting" to see if it's used appropriately though.See above comment. In fact, just assume that whenever I comment on something taken straight from the SRD. I won't keep saying it.


I'm not sure what you're getting at here. And again, lifted from the mechanics.Just thought it would be neat to have more stuff defined about it, such as being able to have both auditory and visual and getting benefits from it.


Knacks still aren't spells and I don't believe I made too many of them as versatile or powerful as spells available.Alright, we'll call them "abilities similar to or occasionally mimicking spells".



Just flavor text my good sir. :smalltongue:Yeah, but it was a funny mental image. I had to share it. :smallwink:




Huh, that's a neat little combo you pointed out. I see no issue with it. :smallbiggrin:It's also crazy strong, especially at low levels. "I'm dead, but it doesn't matter. I'm still contributing to the party!"



Copy/Paste fail ahoy! *face palm*

Yeah, Spellsong was a working name for a time, but I ended up not liking it. I'll go fix that.

It's more a fluff thing and is a holdover from back when the Personal Muse was more like an Animal Companion without all the goodies. And since I gave the Green Singer basically just that, this ability is a survivor of edits long gone by. I'll keep it in as a place holder till I can come up with something better or just re-work it.It's design artifacts that usually mess up a good homebrew the most.



Pathfinder Bards don't get this for anything, but are way less restricted than DnD Bards. Though something like this is a feat for them.I was drawing the comparison to the 3.5 bards because of the similar effect gained at 1st level.


Lifted from the Bard word for word. And "class skill" means something significantly different in Pathfinder than DnD.True, I had momentarily forgotten that this was PF when I was writing that. It's still rather meh, since basically everything can be replaced by a Perform check and is rolled twice anyway. A collection of +3s isn't anything to get excited about, especially at 16th level.


This was honestly just flat insulting and unwarranted. I think I'm done here.

Thank you for your time and your critique.It wasn't meant to be insulting. It's an ability that gimps any character who takes it and is only beneficial to a character other than your own. I mean the concept is neat, but a 20th level bard who gets unlucky even just once is screwed out of several of his class features and can never be raised again. He is permanently dead and gone and serves only to make the next bard who comes along stronger.

This ability would actually make a good template as something awarded to a bard who died after achieving a particular level of fame of his own in addition to the fame he spread of others or who died in a particularly epic and heroic way. Perhaps it could be granted as an award from his deity so that he might pass his knowledge and skills on to the next generation.

As a class ability, I just don't think it works at all. Taking that level effectively forces you to sacrifice your character with no chance for recourse.

[Tanuki Tales]

Several changes have been made to the class. Please review the Change log for particulars.

[Tanuki Tales]

New capstone has been added.

[Rizban]

Other than maybe needing to clarify the capstone a little bit, I like it. The line about being treated as being at full health is a bit odd, as some DMs might interpret it to mean that "full health" = "can't be healed".

[Pesimismrocks]

I really lik this class, and will probably play it in an upcoming game, but to me it seems a little unclear on the range of the bardic performance. I can't see it in the original text. The Vocal Somantic component bit also confuses me. Do you choose which it is?

Other than that I just wanted to say great class and I look foward to the variants.

[Tanuki Tales]

I really lik this class, and will probably play it in an upcoming game, but to me it seems a little unclear on the range of the bardic performance. I can't see it in the original text.

I knew something was bugging me. I just couldn't put my finger on it. Thanks for noticing that. :smallredface:


The Vocal Somantic component bit also confuses me. Do you choose which it is?

It depends on the Performance. Pantomiming has no audible component for example, while Singing has no visual component.


Other than that I just wanted to say great class and I look foward to the variants.

Thanks and let me know how it goes in your game!

As for Archetypes, right now I need to create more Knacks, Muse traits and better polish the Green Singer Archetype.

[Tanuki Tales]

Got some fluff and the role for this class added.

Reading it over again, not a big fan of what I wrote for those two bits currently, but I'll reserve judgement till I can properly look back on it.

[Tanuki Tales]

I'm pondering looking at the bard archetypes for things to add to this class so that I can spread out the class features and possibly make this class less front loaded.

Thoughts?

[TheWombatOfDoom]

WOMBAT'S REVIEW OF:

Bard


PART 1 -
Initial Thoughts, Class Setup, and Class Features - Bardic Knack through Knowledge

Initial Thoughts: My favorite class to be the DM character! How could I resist (eventually) getting to this! Lets see if this makes the Bard more player suited! Part of the reason I feel the original class is great for a DM, but not as great for a player is that its a complimentary character. A buffer. And while most characters will in some way assist the others in the party, support roles aren't as fun if that is all you do. Not to mention the fact that its easier on the DM when the DM playes the Bard, because the Bard's knowledge is appropriate - the DM knows it already, and can use this knowledge to help the party, or not know it convieniently.

So what I hope to see: give the bard time to shine on thier own, so that players find it attractive.

Another note: I don't know pathfinder that well...I've never played it, and every time I try and read the online posts of it, I get really distracted...so bear with me if I ask you to clarify something, or I get it wrong based on the system changes from 3.5 to PF. Just might be a longer PEACHing process, and I apologize. The good news is the clarifications will help me know that is the case for next time, so in PEACHing, I also get to learn. I'm going off on a tangent aren't I? Another warning: I tend to ramble...and write what I'm thinking...


When one answers the question "What is a bard?", one must first begin by answering with the word "humble". We do not mean this in terms of ego or overall personality, for the job of the bard is the spreading of stories and the embellishment of truths. No, we mean this in scope of capability and the direction of mission.

Who is we? Alright...so you're saying that humble is supposed to imply a humble capability...meaning the class is not as versitile? A humble direction of mission? Humble is such a hard word to use for this, because of it's other implications. I know you're trying to veer the definition to mean something other than its common use, but it's really easy to fixate on the word anyway. Heck, I'm doing it right now...it makes me want to find a synonym but wracking my brain I'm not sure there is a good one, which may be why you used it in the first place...


A bard is as close to the salt of the earth that one touched by the winds of magic can come. They do not shake the heavens with unbound arcane power, nor do they bring mighty devils to heel to answer their whims. Their magic is a magic of the people, of the heart and of the soul. Their bewitched words and songs uplift the common man and make him something mighty. Or they lay low the tin-pot dictator, turning a pompous warrior into a mewling child. They breathe truth into phantasmal illusions and breed lies into the perception of the world's truths.

This actually gives the point you are trying to make very well...so much so I'm inclined to say that the first paragraph really just distracts from what you want to say - which is this paragraph on. I also think the first sentance is quite a bit better of an introduction to the class. :smallsmile:


A bard is something quite small and petty without comrades that he may call friends. Something more than a common scoundrel but something much less than a shaper of fates, a bard only finds their true worth and their true measure when tossing in their lot with the majesty of fellow heroes. With people he can rely on and who can rely on him, the bard now finds himself in the center of a magnificent tapestry of myth that only he is qualified to spin into a legend.

On the other hand, I feel this is a little contradictory to the ending of the last paragraph. Alright. In many ways the Bard is nothing without his/her stories, and alone isn't as successful that when they are with a group, but that doesn't mean that alone they are inconsequential. A bard could entertain kings! Convince a town of a rumor! Manipulate impressions! Your main point here is that whatever a bard is alone, it is better in a group. But calling them small and petty I'd not agree with as much. I may be off my mark on your intentions with all of this fluff analysis, but I'd rather see you defend your fluff to explain it better to me than for me to stay silent.


And thus comes the true essence and reason to exist for a bard. They are the storytellers of the world, the rough around the edges and charismatic rogues who can be found in every tavern bringing a smile to every face. They strive to find and be part of a narrative that would never be forgotten by the hearts of mankind; an immortal legacy that they can be proud of spreading to every corner of the world.

I like this. It works well with what I'm saying in my mind, and what I thought you were ultimately getting at. Well put. However, as a note - isn't it usual for a write up on a class to be referred to as "her" instead of "him"? Even your picture is of a "her" for the class. Just curious for your choice in such things.


Role: A bard's purpose on the field of battle is to support their sworn allies while hampering the tactics of their foes. The bard emboldens with inspiration and courage while sowing fear and incompetence in the same breath. They use their innate magics to shape the course of events to be in their favor, through trickery and guile, both in heated combat and in social intrigue.

Helps freinds while hampering foes. Sounds about right.

As for HP, Skills and Alignment, no complaints.



Class Features
All of the following are class features of the bard.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies

A bard is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the longsword, rapier, sap, shortsword, shortbow, and whip. Bards are also proficient with light armor and shields (except tower shields).

Alright, lets get into the guts of the class!

Weapons and armor are fine. I'd use "as well as" instead of "plus".


Bardic Knack

Though the bard's talent comes from the same wellspring as all magic does, they do not forge this talent into the same shape and form of spells like their wizard or cleric cousins.

This sentence is awkward. It might be the "shape and form" and then "wizard or cleric" as well as the repeated "talent", but it strikes me as an overly complex sentence.


A bard begins play with two Bardic Knacks (listed below) known and gains an additional Bardic Knack known at every odd level after the first.

Awkward wording in bold.


The bard initially has access to only Piano Bardic Knacks, but can learn higher tier knacks as they increase in level (as denoted on the table above). A bard may exchange one Bardic Knack known for another that they are capable of learning whenever they would learn a new Bardic Knack.

I'm glad I checked out the knacks a bit before I went any farther...I immediately thought of piano as the instrument, not the musical term...what if you wrote the knack label as how it would appear on sheet music? I don't know if that's a copy and pastable font...but doing p, mp, mf, and f might aleviate that initial confusion. You can have both name and symbol in the actual knacks section. You've likely already considered this...but I've mentioned it anyway.


A Bardic Knack is a Supernatural ability that, unless noted otherwise, requires a standard action to activate. A bard can use any Bardic Knack an unlimited amount of times per day, but can only use one Bardic Knack every 1d4 rounds.

Alright, so this is what you were alluding to in the "bards use magic, but not in the same way that other classes do" thing. These aren't exactly spells (instead - super natural abilities), but they use magic. I like the unlimited times a day, but delay between use. Just to clarify, however. If I have 2 knacks at level one, if I wanted to use both of them, I'd activate 1, wait 1d4 rounds and then use the other? Or can I use both, and wait 1d4 per knack as a seperate entity in each. I'm assuming its the first but I like to be clear.


The DC to resist any Bardic Knack is 10 + 1/2 the bard's level + the bard's Charisma modifier.

Standardized. I like.

Alright, so every 4 levels, you get to know a more powerful knack, similar to spell levels, and every 2 levels you get an additional knack known. Once you choose a knack, you can't re-choose all of them until you gain additional ones. Nicely done. I'll look over the specific knacks in more detail when I get down there.


Bardic Knowledge (Ex)

At 1st level, a bard adds half their class level (minimum 1) to all Knowledge skill checks and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.

No complaints here!

And I'm going to post this to make this a multiparter to keep it in managable chunks...

Part 2 inclimate!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

WOMBAT'S REVIEW OF:

Bard


PART 2 -
Class Features - Bardic Performance through Jack of All Trades



Bardic Performance (Su)

Starting at 1st level, the art that a bard creates goes beyond the realm of mundane entertainment into the world of the metaphysical, moving the heart and soul of reality itself. A bard can use their Bardic Performance for a number of rounds per day equal to 6+their Charisma modifier. For every level that they possess after the first in this class increases the amount of rounds by 3.

Saying "starting at first level" seems a bit redundant to me. :smalltongue:

Define "the art that a bard creates".

So if it increases by 3 each level...that's 63 rounds (plus CHA) by level 20...per day. Not per bardic performance? Can these rounds be implemented at different times? For example, say I have 11 rounds (6 for 1st level, 5 for a 20 Cha). Can I use 2 rounds this combat, 5 rounds another combat, and the last 4 at a pub? Or do I have to use them all at once? Also, the first sentence says that the art a bard creates goes beyond the realm of mundane entertainment, but you go on to say that that is only during a certain amount of rounds. That seems to be a small contradiction.


Beginning a Bardic Performance requires a standard action, but maintaining it from round to round is a free action. A Bardic Performance must have an audible component, a visual component or both.

And what would these components be? For audible, is it solely a musical instrument, or could story telling be part of it? For visual, would it be tumbling, dancing, hand puppets, drawing? Its just not clear exactly what constitutes one or the other.


A Bardic Performance cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the bard is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. A bard cannot have more than one Bardic Performance in effect at one time. The range of a Bardic Performance extends in a 40 foot radius from the bard. This range increases an additional 10 feet for every three levels they possess past the first, to a maximum of 100 feet at 19th level.

You might want to put in what it would be every level to help people keep track (similar to how a rogue might with it's sneak attack). You have your knacks up there on the table...maybe you could fit in range of performance as well?


Each Bardic Performance has audible components, visual components, or both.

Didn't you just say this sort of last paragraph? :smallconfused:


If a Bardic Performance has audible components, the targets must be able to hear the bard for the performance to have any effect, and such performances are language dependent. A deaf bard has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with an audible component. If they fails this check, the attempt still counts against their daily limit. Deaf creatures are immune to Bardic Performances with audible components.

Poor Deaf bards. Why would you choose this profession! Whhhhhy!? (But I like that that is in there.) Ditto on the Blind in visual.


When starting a Bardic Performance, the bard must choose either a Ballad Bardic Component (a positive buff for their allies) or a Dirge Bardic Component (a negative effect on their enemies). Changing a Bardic Component requires the bard to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard action.

So...a couple of things -

Do Ballad or Dirge have anything to do with Audible or Visual? Because there doesn't appear to be a connection, but they are both called "Components". The name components to me is the things something is made up of. The Ballad and Dirge seem to be effects that are made from the Performance. What about calling it Charms or Wiles? Oooo, I kind of like that - Bardic Wiles. :smallbiggrin:


A bard begins play knowing three such Bardic Components (listed below), one of which must be a Ballad and one which must be a Dirge. The bard learns an additional Bardic Component at every even level, to a maximum of twelve Bardic Components at 20th level.

After the initial one of each, can I just choose all one or the other, or do I have to continue going back and forth? Can I re-choose at any point?


The DC to resist a Bardic Component is 10 + half the bard's level + the bard's Charisma modifier.

Are these all Will saves?



Personal Muse (Su)

At 1st level, when a bard learns the secrets of their Bardic Performance, they form a deep connection to their very concept of their art. A piece of their mind and soul splinters off and takes a life of its own, only manifesting itself when the bard practices their craft. Possessed of a keen intellect and a personality that reflects its master’s own, the Personal Muse is a compatriot in the dangerous and lonely world the bard roams. The bard's Personal Muse manifests itself in a form that is meaningful to the bard's personality and inner self; no two bards have the same Personal Muse.

This is cool. Though if you were trying to make this class attribute with being with a group, I'm not sure "lonely world" fits as well. But its a nice description none-the-less. I love the fact that the Muse never is the same. Wonderful. It's a bardic patronus!


A Personal Muse is essentially an empty spirit that normally cannot interact with any plane that it occupies or is adjacent to in any meaningful way. It has a number of hit points equal to one quarter of the bard's and receives the bard's Charisma modifier as a Deflection bonus to its Armor Class. The muse is completely mute, communicating with the bard telepathically. It comprehends any languages that the bard does and has an Intelligence score equal to that of the bard.

If it can't interact with any plane, how can one hit it? Isn't it incorporeal? Instead of being mute, I like to think of it as making the same audible sounds the performance might, but that's just me. On one other note, does the Muse have a move speed?


At first level and every three levels thereafter, the bard selects one trait from the list below for its Personal Muse to possess. Once this selection is made it cannot be changed. Unless specified otherwise, a Personal Muse Trait is a Supernatural ability.

I think I'll hold off comments on placements of things for after first review. I want to get the whole picture before I start thinking about it. Just remind me because I might forget. However, I'm starting to think that there should be a seperate table mapping out all these first level abilities. Just for sake of ease. I'm dumb, they're right there....

I do however like that we have the option to pick traits as we level.


A Personal Muse only exists when a bard is in the midst of a Bardic Performance. It appears in a square adjacent to the bard and remains on the Material Plane as long as the Bardic Performance lasts and for a number of rounds equal to the bard's Charisma modifier.

Alright, so if I die, my Muse goes away, makes sense. Or if I'm sickened or any of those other effects listed above....Oh wait, it sticks around after for a few rounds after that based on my charisma modifier?! Lingering effects indeed. That's strange. I like it, but I've never seen something work like that. I guess it's kind of like the bonuses that stick around after the inspire courage in the original bard...


If a Personal Muse is slain, the bard is automatically made aware of this fact regardless of distance and is nauseated for one round. The bard can not re-manifest the Personal Muse for 24 hours if this occurs.

The question is, if a Muse is slain, can it come back next Bardic Performance? Does it look different? Other questions that are really only flavour. Lets see what this Muse can do!

Personal Muse Traits


Amplifier - The Personal Muse emanates any current Bardic Performance out to a radius of 5 feet as if it were the bard. This radius increases by one foot for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 10 feet.

Ah, I see my idea from before is one of the traits. Got it. Nice.



Defend the Artist - The Personal Muse grants the bard a +1 Deflection bonus as long as it is adjacent to them. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6. The Personal Muse loses its Deflection bonus when it uses this ability.

Nice. I could even wait awhile to get this, and it's still leveling up in how strong it is without having to select it.


Sacrifice for their Art - The Personal Muse can sacrifice itself to allow the bard to roll twice on a check or save of their choice and take the higher of the two results. This does not require an action and does not make the bard nauseated for one round as normal. The bard may expend a number of rounds of their Bardic Performance equal to one quarter their level to re-manifest the muse if it uses this ability (the bard need not wait the normal 24 hours).

Hm. Interesting. Re-rolls are always nice.


Tap for Inspiration - The bard, as a full-round action, can expend a number of rounds of their Bardic Inspiration to give an equal amount to their Personal Muse. The muse can not use these rounds, but keeps them regardless of the amount of time that has passed. As long as the Personal Muse is adjacent to the bard, the bard can use the rounds held by their muse in place of their own to fuel a Bardic Performance. A Personal Muse can never receive more than a number of rounds equal to one quarter the bard's level in one 24 hour period and can have no more than half the bard's level in rounds at any one time.

So it's kind of like roll-over rounds to use at a later time if you don't use them all. Very nice.


Touch of Inspiration - The Personal Muse can lift and manipulate objects that weigh no more than a number of pounds equal to half the bard's level. The muse can not wield weapons, use spell trigger items or similar tasks with this ability. Additionally, the Personal Muse gains a melee touch attack that deals 1d6 points of Force damage. The muse uses the bard's base attack bonus and receives a +1 bonus to this attack for every five levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +5. The Personal Muse loses its Deflection bonus when using this trait.

Basically a prestidigitation like thing, but with a 1d6 force damage ability on top of it. Pretty cool, and I like that once its given the ability to interact with objects, it's also given the ability to attack them. Well done.


Understudy - The bard, when using a Bardic Knack, may treat their Personal Muse as themselves in regards to range or as the target of a Bardic Knack that normally only affects the bard. The muse uses the bard's base attack bonus when appropriate.

Does the muse then appear to look like the bard, and get treated as Mirror Image? That might be neat.


Witch-light - The Personal Muse provides one of the following out to a range of 10 feet per four levels possessed by the bard (to a maximum of 60 feet):
The Personal Muse provides a heat-less light equivalent to that of a torch. This light is only visible to the bard and a number of creatures that they designate equal to their Charisma modifier.
The Personal Muse creates magical darkness, as the darkness spell, for a number of creatures that the bard designates equal to their Charisma modifier.

Portable darkness or light. Neat! Fun for the whole party.
--

After this review is all said and done, I might want to come back to look at this class ability to see if I can give any ideas for more traits. Whats nice is these traits won't effect any other bard, because their muses are not a facet of you.


Over all, this is my favorite ability for the bard so far. Very interesting. Very versitile. Hey look a segue!


Versatile Performance (Ex.)

At 2nd level, a bard can choose one type of Perform skill. When making a skill check that is associated with the selected Perform skill (as listed below), the bard chooses whether to use the bonus they receive to the original skill or to the Perform skill. They may make this decision even after knowing the result of the check. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the bard can select an additional type of Perform to substitute.

The types of Perform and their associated skills are: Act (Bluff, Disguise), Comedy (Bluff, Intimidate), Dance (Acrobatics, Fly), Keyboard Instruments (Diplomacy, Intimidate), Oratory (Diplomacy, Sense Motive), Percussion (Handle Animal, Intimidate), Sing (Bluff, Sense Motive), String (Bluff, Diplomacy), and Wind (Diplomacy, Handle Animal).

This is cool...are the the visual or audible performs from earlier? And define what Perform: Wind would be for me? What's nice about this is that I have to have perform in multiple areas with separate ranks to make full use of this. This basically makes you able to spend your ranks on double the things.


Well-Versed (Ex.)

At 2nd level, the bard becomes resistant to the Bardic Performance of others, and to sonic effects in general. The bard gains a +4 bonus on saving throws made against bardic performance, sonic, and language-dependent effects. If the bard succeeds on the check, they may make a Bluff check in order to appear as if they were affected by the effect.

Makes sense. Though- what are language-dependent effects? Verbal components?


Encore (Ex.)

At 3rd level, the bard's performance is not easily quelled or suppressed, raising back up to the rafters in the beat of heart.

"Raising back up to the rafters in the beat of heart"? What does that mean?


If a Bardic Performance that the bard was maintaining (no more than one round prior) is ended for any reason, they may re-start it as an immediate action. A Bardic Performance re-started in this manner does not need to be maintained and persists for a number of rounds equal to the bard's Charisma modifier.

The bard can use this class feature once per day and one additional time per day at 12th level.

I know this is useful, I just don't know how at the moment...can I get some examples?


Raise the Tempo (Ex.)

The bard slowly masters their art as time goes by and this shows itself in the increased speed at which they can call upon their supernatural aspects of their craft.

At 4th level, a bard can start a Bardic Performance as a move action instead of as a standard action.

At 9th level, a bard further decreases the action needed from a move action to a swift action.

At 14th level, the bard is swift as lightning with their performance and can star it as a free action instead of a swift action.

Oh damn, that's sweet. Very nice progression.


Loremaster (Ex.)

At 5th level, the bard becomes a master of lore and can take 10 on any Knowledge skill check that they have ranks in. A bard can choose not to take 10 and can instead roll normally. In addition, once per day, the bard can take 20 on any Knowledge skill check as a standard action. They can use this ability one additional time per day for every six levels they possess beyond 5th, to a maximum of three times per day at 17th level.

Looks good to me! Though that means the difference between sometimes not knowing things and always knowing things. Taking 10 always takes away part of that fun of chance! :smallbiggrin: When I saw Loremaster, I thought it might give you an insight bonus or something in certain areas or situations...while this makes sense, how do you feel about adding that in as well?


Power Chord (Ex.)

Starting at 7th level, the bard learns how to expand the capabilities of their performances, bringing forth more wondrous effects to the world around them.

The bard selects two Bardic Components instead of one when starting a Bardic Performance and can add an additional Bardic Component for every four levels they possess past 7th, to a maximum of 6 Bardic Components at 19th level.

Well named for what it does! Haha, I love it. Holy crap, I need to read these components...that's a lot on top of each other.


Lingering Performance (Su)

So skilled has the bard becoming in the weaving of eldritch combinations of the poet's soul and the mage's mind, that these creations are more stubborn at relinquishing their hold on the physical realm.

Starting at 8th level, when a bard ends a Bardic Performance, the effects of that specific Bardic Performance continue for one round. This increases by an additional round for every five levels after 8th, to a maximum of 3 rounds at 18th level. If the Bard starts a new Bardic Performance, the effects of the previous performance end immediately.

So this lasts similarly to how the Muse lasts after the end of a Performance. Does this also happen when it is interupted? If so, can I do encore after having been sickened for one round because my Performance is still going?


Jack of All Trades (Ex.)

At 10th level, the bard can use any skill, even if the skill normally requires them to be trained. At 16th level, the bard considers all skills to be class skills. At 19th level, the bard can take 10 on any skill check, even if it is not normally allowed.

This looks nice. The skill monkey at its finest.

I'll look at the Capstone in Part 3!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

WOMBAT'S REVIEW OF:

Bard


PART 3 -
Class Features - Final Performance, Details - Bardic Knacks and Bardic Components


Final Performance

The story of the bard's life is so potent, so woven with the magic and mystery and intrigue, so spread amongst the hearts of everyone they've touched, that something as simple as death does not come calling for the bard while they still have one last performance to give.

If the bard would die for any reason, they continue to function as normal as long as they have a Bardic Performance active and for a number of rounds equal to their Charisma modifier

This is basically akin to a Bardic "Rage". I like this idea. They don't recieve bonuses (save what the Bardic Performance gives them), but they basically don't die until they get to the end of their rounds of use? How many times can this be used a day? So long as the Bard has Bardic Performance rounds? If so, then I could only be killed after a potentially 63 rounds (+cha modifier), plus the extra time from Lingering Performance, that's another 3 rounds.

Also, per bardic performance, "it ends immediately if the bard is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round." So this ability cancels out the Killed feature, but what if some of these other effects occur? Does the bard just die?


(these rounds need not be consecutive. For example, if a bard has one Bardic Performance end and cannot begin a new one for one round, they can use one of their remaining rounds and save the remaining for after the new Bardic Performance).

Isn't this basically Encore?


While in the midst of a Final Performance, a bard still accrues hit point damage, ability damage, ability drain, negative levels, etc. as normal, but treat themselves as if they were at full health with no negative effects.

If the bard is not completely healed and cured of any fatal negative effects when their Final Performance ends, then they die as normal.

So for the essence of the ability, the Bard is considered to be in a state of his normal self for the duration of the ability? Does this start at negative 10, when a player would actually die? Or when? It's just a little unclear to me how a bard can keep from dieing in this ability if they are considered at full hit points and ability damage during its effect. What if a bard died from a insta-death spell? What would they need to accomplish to bring them back to life?

I think the ability is great, you just need to be more clear with how one would accomplish avoiding death a little more. Right now it seems like, if something killed me, I activate this and have as many rounds to live as I have bardic performance. Then at the end of bardic performance, if I took no damage after it activated (like I ran and hid or something, and the attacker focused on the rest of the party or some such) then I'd come back to life because there would be no ability or damage to deal with. And if so, where would my HP and such be at if such a thing would occur and I came out of it. I'd say a better wording would be "treated as if they still had HP, and the damage is accumulated as normal". This way, if someone brought me below -10, then I'd have to get that healed before my Performance ended, or if I incurred...say...24 damage while Performing, I'd be at -34, and have to have that healed to above 0 to fix it. Same with ability damage.

Alright! On to Knacks and Components!



Bardic Knacks


Piano


Deceitful Bauble - The bard creates an object of their choosing that weighs no more than one pound. Any creature, other than the bard or any creature the bard designates when using this knack, must make a Will save or believe the object to be worth one hundred gold pieces for every two levels the bard possesses. A successful Appraise check (against the same DC as the Will save) reveals the object's true, worthless nature. The object breaks apart into worthless dirt one hour after its been created.

Can a bard use this bauble as the object it is? For example, a piece of chalk: I make it into reality, and person recognizes it as chalk, but a rare chalk made out of the finest material for royal artisans and the like. Great! 100 gold (or whatever). Does the chalk function like chalk? Can I use the chalk to mark things (which will go away in one hour)? I could potentially then use this as a vanishing message, or various other things unintended...but I'm being creative! Further, what if I made the bauble look like the kings crown jewel? Would the person I'm trying to decieve get a circumstance bonus because that jewel would be known to be worth more than a few hundred gold, OR would the knack prevent me from forming such an object?


Haunting Noise - The bard creates a sound of their choosing that originates ten feet from the bard for every level they possess. Any creature, other than the bard or any creature the bard designates when using this knack, who hears this sound must make a Will save to discern that it is fake. If they fail this save, they must immediately make another at the same DC or feel compelled to go investigate it for a number of rounds equal to half the bard's Charisma modifier.

Nice, I see what you did here. :smallsmile:


Minor Illusion - The bard creates an illusionary figment as if they had cast the Silent Image spell.

And here. I also note that those that have to make saves you designate in the actual knack, which is good. I'm curious, would it serve you better to put the spell details you are referencing in this description to save from digging in more things? Maybe quote the SRD?


Summon Instrument - The bard conjures any musical instrument of their choosing into their waiting hands. An instrument created in this manner is of Masterwork quality and gives the bard a +1 bonus to the DCs of any Bardic Component that is part of a Bardic Performance in which they use the summoned instrument. The instrument crumbles into dust if it ever leaves the bard's person.

What if this is a Grand Piano, Pipe Organ or various other large instruments?



Mezzo-Forte


Allegro - The bard increases their base movement speed by 10 feet. This lasts for a number of hours equal to the bard's Charisma modifier. If the bard uses this knack during a Bardic Performance, they are instead treated as if under the effects of a Haste spell. In that case, this knack ends when the Bardic Performance ends.

I really like this, and the suggestion of dynamic with these knacks Bardic Perfomance is excellent.


Cacophonous Arrival - The bard is treated as if under the effects of the Invisibility spell for one minute per level they possess. When the bard becomes visible (either voluntarily or from the time limit elapsing) they unleash a burst of blinding light and thundering sound. All enemies within ten feet of the bard must make a Will save or be rendered blind and deaf for one round. The bard may choose to not cause this effect of the knack by cutting the duration of their Invisibility down to one round per level they possess.

Reminds me of a magic trick. I could see this used during a perfomance to pretend to teleport.


Improved Illusion - The bard creates an illusionary figment as if they had cast the Minor Image spell.

Same as my comments for "Minor Illusion".



Forte


Cunning Illusion - The bard creates an illusionary figment as if they had cast the Major Image spell.

Same comment as the other two illusions.


Enchanting Trickery - The bard selects one creature within sixty feet that is currently suffering under a negative magical effect (such as an enchantment, transmutation or curse) and makes a ranged touch attack against another creature within sixty feet. The first creature is cured of the effect and the second creature must make a Will save or have the removed effect affect them. If the creature successfully makes the save, the first creature is simply cured.

Oh, I love this one. Very cool. Oh look! Another segue!


Play it Cool - The bard coats themselves in an invisible aura which causes any creature(s), other than the bard or any other creature the bard designates when using this knack, who looks upon them to make a Will save. If the creature(s) fails this save, they treat any actions that the bard does as completely innocuous and not even worth remembering (as long as they are not hostile actions directed at the creature(s), which breaks the effect). This aura lasts for one minute per level the bard possesses.

This is strangely worded. Does that mean they observe the actions, but don't think them as suspicious? I'm a little confused.


Spare me some Sight - The bard touches an adjacent creature with an intelligence score when using this knack. The bard then sees and hears everything that the creature perceives as if they were there themselves. This lasts for one hour and as long as the creature is within one mile for every level the bard possesses. Unwillingly creatures can resist this knack by making a successful Will save.

I could see plenty of uses for this. Unwilling, or unfriendly?


Stunning Voice - The bard gains a thirty foot cone breath weapon that deals 1d6 Sonic damage for every four levels the bard possesses (A Reflex save reduces this damage by half). Any creature caught in this cone must also make a Reflex save or be stunned for 1d6 rounds. This lasts for one hour and the bard can use the breath weapon once every 1d4 rounds.

Yey! Bardic Breath Weapon! Aren't Bardic Knacks in general only allowed to be used once ever 1d4 rounds?



Fortissimo


Master Illusion - The bard creates an illusionary figment as if they had cast the Permanent Image spell.

Once more, with feeling.

Now you See Me - The bard is treated as if under the effects of a Greater Invisibility spell for a number of rounds equal to their bard level. While the bard remains invisible, they generate one random illusionary duplicate randomly within sixty feet of the bard's present location. The bard can perfectly control the actions of this duplicate as long as they have line of sight to it.

Combination of illusion and invisibility, cool. What happens if it goes out of line of sight?


Phantom Chorus - The bard summons an ethereal instrument that hovers within sixty feet of themselves. This instrument can independently begin, continue or end a Bardic Performance as the bard wishes and only expends one round of Bardic Performance for every two rounds it performs. This instrument remains for one minute per level the bard possesses.

Interesting...could you explain to me the implications of this?


Shadow Boxing - The bard crafts shadows into stunning facsimiles of living creatures, as if they had used the Greater Shadow Conjuration spell.

I'm not familiar with this spell, nor do I have any books handy (nor the cababilities to look it up on this computer). What does this spell entail?


Voice Thief - The bard unleashes a burst of utter silence out to a thirty foot radius from themselves. All creatures caught in this burst, other than the bard and any creatures they designate when using this knack, must make a Will save. If they are successful, they are simply silenced for one minute for every level the bard possesses. If the creature(s) fails the save, they are unable to make any sound for one hour for every level the bard possesses. The bard is able to perfectly mimic the voices and sounds capable of being made by any creature that is afflicted as such as long as the duration persists.

I like the title and the knack itself. Very nice.


I feel like there could ba a few more knacks, and was disappointed there wasn't a tasha's hideous laughter or grease equivalent, but over all I liked the list. :smallsmile:




Bardic Components


Ballad Components


Battle Brothers – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain a +1 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6. This stacks with any other morale bonuses granted by Ballad components.

A familiar and expected component. Nice. Though, up to +6 would make this go to level 24, wouldn't it? Oh wait no, this counts as your first...hmmm, so if I get this at, say, level 8. It would already be a +2. I like that it amplifies even when I haven't chosen it yet. Though this also makes me wary, since a lot of these have this feature. I guess its justifiable, its just something that you don't see too often.


Shield of Words - Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain a +1 morale bonus to their Armor Class. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6.

Well named.


By the skin of your teeth – Allies who are in range of the Spellsong gain a +1 morale bonus on saving throws. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6.

You're having fun with these names. I love the references to songs and such.


The Flesh is Weak, the Soul is Willing – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain Fast Healing 1. This rate increases by 1 for every five levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of Fast Healing 5.

This is handy for party members. Everyone is going to be around the bard in raid!


March On – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain a +10 foot morale bonus to all their movement speeds. This bonus increases by +10 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +60 feet.

:smalleek: This is really strong. I'm not sure if I like this one. What if it were 5 feet up to 30?


Mastery is at the tips of your fingers – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance gain a +1 morale bonus on skill checks. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6.

Any skill check? A specific skill check?


They might be Giants – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance grow larger by one size category. They increase one more size category for every seven levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of three. This component does not stack with other sources that increase a creature's size category (such as the Enlarge Person spell).

While the image is frightening and awesome, I'm not sure I like how powerful it is, even with the level amp. Especially since I can take this at 1st level...


Second Chances are beautiful – Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance who fail a Saving throw may attempt the check again one round later against the same DC. They can do this once per the duration of the Bardic Performance and one additional time for every seven levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of three.

I like this one a lot, however. :smallwink:


Cutting Tempo - Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance deal an extra 1 point of Sonic damage on any melee or ranged attacks for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 6 extra damage.

I like this as well. Nice.


Hungry like the Wolf - Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance receive a +1 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls when flanking an opponent. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6. This stacks with any other morale bonuses granted by Ballad components.

Nice that this stacks. Name in reference to wolf fighting habits? It reminds me more of raptors. :smallbiggrin:


From the Right From the Left - Allies who are in range of the Bardic Performance receive a +1 morale bonus to their Armor Class against Attacks of Opportunity. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of +6. This stacks with any other morale bonuses granted by Ballad components.

This name makes me think more of the flanking one. An alternative name perhaps could be "On Guard". I like this too.


Most of these work well, but some seem a little strong compared to the rest, as I've mentioned.

Dirge Components


Your Swords to Plowshares – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or take a -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls. This penalty increases by -1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of -6.

I forsee a lot of opposites to the ballad components, I'll skip over the ones that I agree with and don't have questions for.


Quake in your boots – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Music must make a Will save or be Shaken. The enemy is afflicted by a state of fear one step higher for every seven levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of three steps. An enemy who succeeds on the save against this component cannot be affected by this component from the same bard for 24 hours.
Hmm, so shaken, paniced, and something else?


Let me Whisper in your ear – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or be treated as if under the effects of a Suggestion spell for one round. The duration of this component increases by 1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 6 rounds. An enemy who succeeds on the save against this component cannot be affected by this component from the same bard for 24 hours.

What if you make it so the save gets harder by one every four levels?


Fill your eyes with Double Vision – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or see two of each of the bard allies. The enemy has a 50% chance to miss on their next attack or targeted effect, but this causes the duplicate to vanish. This component creates an additional duplicate (and changes the miss chance accordingly) for every seven levels the bard possesses, to a maxim of 3 duplicates. An enemy who succeeds on the save against this component cannot be affected by this component from the same bard for 24 hours.

This is nice. It's like a mass duplicate image thing. I love it. What about other things like mounts and such?


Here comes the Boom – As a standard action, the bard can make a ranged touch attack against all enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance. Those who are hit take 1d4 points of Sonic damage and take an additional 1d4 points of damage for every five levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 5d4. Creatures that are affected by this component may make a Reflex save to take half damage.

Kind of like the knack, but a little weaker. A little redundant...but it leaves the bard with options if they want one or the other, or even both!


Sweet Dreams are Made of This – Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Music must make a Will save or fall asleep for 1 round. The duration of this component increases by 1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of 6 rounds. An enemy who succeeds on the save against this component cannot be affected by this component from the same bard for 24 hours.

Are made of this is bad english, but you might hae intended that...


The Road is Long - Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or have all their movement modes reduced by 10 feet (minimum 5 feet). This reduction increases by 10 feet for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of sixty feet.

Hm. I'd say the same as the movement in the ballad one. Or you could do an entangle like component instead?


Shallow Cut - Enemies who are in range of the Bardic Performance must make a Will save or take a -1 penalty on Critical Hit confirmation rolls. This penalty increases by -1 for every four levels the bard possesses, to a maximum of -6.

Interesting. I'm not sure on this one, but I like it.

[Tanuki Tales]

Woof!

Now this is a PEACH!



Initial Thoughts: My favorite class to be the DM character! How could I resist (eventually) getting to this! Lets see if this makes the Bard more player suited! Part of the reason I feel the original class is great for a DM, but not as great for a player is that its a complimentary character. A buffer. And while most characters will in some way assist the others in the party, support roles aren't as fun if that is all you do. Not to mention the fact that its easier on the DM when the DM playes the Bard, because the Bard's knowledge is appropriate - the DM knows it already, and can use this knowledge to help the party, or not know it convieniently.


The bard always was a class I wish had gotten more built in love from DnD's designers. But you needed all those splat books to even make the bard approach its time to shine in PC hands. Pathfinder did a better job, in my opinion, but there's always room to improve.


So what I hope to see: give the bard time to shine on thier own, so that players find it attractive.

Like to know if your hopes were met. :smallwink:


Another note: I don't know pathfinder that well...I've never played it, and every time I try and read the online posts of it, I get really distracted...so bear with me if I ask you to clarify something, or I get it wrong based on the system changes from 3.5 to PF. Just might be a longer PEACHing process, and I apologize. The good news is the clarifications will help me know that is the case for next time, so in PEACHing, I also get to learn. I'm going off on a tangent aren't I? Another warning: I tend to ramble...and write what I'm thinking...

Don't worry about it. The Pathfinder brew community is much smaller than the 3.5, so it's expected. And it's always great to learn!




Who is we? Alright...so you're saying that humble is supposed to imply a humble capability...meaning the class is not as versitile? A humble direction of mission? Humble is such a hard word to use for this, because of it's other implications. I know you're trying to veer the definition to mean something other than its common use, but it's really easy to fixate on the word anyway. Heck, I'm doing it right now...it makes me want to find a synonym but wracking my brain I'm not sure there is a good one, which may be why you used it in the first place...

I used "we" in the communal sense to denote the common mindset of the in-game verse. And I meant humble when taken in comparison to the Tier 1 and 2 casters. But like I mentioned, not really in love with the fluff I banged out.



This actually gives the point you are trying to make very well...so much so I'm inclined to say that the first paragraph really just distracts from what you want to say - which is this paragraph on. I also think the first sentance is quite a bit better of an introduction to the class. :smallsmile:

Yeah, the fluff needs a rework.




On the other hand, I feel this is a little contradictory to the ending of the last paragraph. Alright. In many ways the Bard is nothing without his/her stories, and alone isn't as successful that when they are with a group, but that doesn't mean that alone they are inconsequential. A bard could entertain kings! Convince a town of a rumor! Manipulate impressions! Your main point here is that whatever a bard is alone, it is better in a group. But calling them small and petty I'd not agree with as much. I may be off my mark on your intentions with all of this fluff analysis, but I'd rather see you defend your fluff to explain it better to me than for me to stay silent.

See above.




I like this. It works well with what I'm saying in my mind, and what I thought you were ultimately getting at. Well put. However, as a note - isn't it usual for a write up on a class to be referred to as "her" instead of "him"? Even your picture is of a "her" for the class. Just curious for your choice in such things.

I prefer using gender neutral pronouns when writing my classes. It just annoys me for some reason when the game writers just choose a gender for the class; I feel like it could lead to preconceived notions.




Weapons and armor are fine. I'd use "as well as" instead of "plus".

If memory serves, that's straight copy/paste from Pathfinder's Bard.




This sentence is awkward. It might be the "shape and form" and then "wizard or cleric" as well as the repeated "talent", but it strikes me as an overly complex sentence.

I'll see what I can do.




Awkward wording in bold.

See above.




I'm glad I checked out the knacks a bit before I went any farther...I immediately thought of piano as the instrument, not the musical term...what if you wrote the knack label as how it would appear on sheet music? I don't know if that's a copy and pastable font...but doing p, mp, mf, and f might aleviate that initial confusion. You can have both name and symbol in the actual knacks section. You've likely already considered this...but I've mentioned it anyway.

I hadn't, but that's a good suggestion; I'll look into it.




Alright, so this is what you were alluding to in the "bards use magic, but not in the same way that other classes do" thing. These aren't exactly spells (instead - super natural abilities), but they use magic. I like the unlimited times a day, but delay between use. Just to clarify, however. If I have 2 knacks at level one, if I wanted to use both of them, I'd activate 1, wait 1d4 rounds and then use the other? Or can I use both, and wait 1d4 per knack as a seperate entity in each. I'm assuming its the first but I like to be clear.

I hadn't actually thought about that distinction; what's your balance analysis between the two?



Saying "starting at first level" seems a bit redundant to me. :smalltongue:

Yes, but folks like it there. I've got plenty complaints other wise.


Define "the art that a bard creates".

I was just using purple prose to describe them performing. :smalltongue:


So if it increases by 3 each level...that's 63 rounds (plus CHA) by level 20...per day. Not per bardic performance? Can these rounds be implemented at different times? For example, say I have 11 rounds (6 for 1st level, 5 for a 20 Cha). Can I use 2 rounds this combat, 5 rounds another combat, and the last 4 at a pub? Or do I have to use them all at once? Also, the first sentence says that the art a bard creates goes beyond the realm of mundane entertainment, but you go on to say that that is only during a certain amount of rounds. That seems to be a small contradiction.

Eh, blame Pathfinder for that one. I see this confusion come up sometimes with folks who are unfamiliar with the system. You spend the rounds as you see fit through out the day, so yes, you could spend 2 rounds, then 5 and then 4 at the pub.




And what would these components be? For audible, is it solely a musical instrument, or could story telling be part of it? For visual, would it be tumbling, dancing, hand puppets, drawing? Its just not clear exactly what constitutes one or the other.

Again, Pathfinder. I assume that anything that makes a noise (singing, story telling, playing an instrument, beat boxing, etc.) would be audible and anything that is movement (war fan dancing, pantomiming, slap stick comedy, etc.) would be visual.




You might want to put in what it would be every level to help people keep track (similar to how a rogue might with it's sneak attack). You have your knacks up there on the table...maybe you could fit in range of performance as well?

I can look into doing that, yes. Hopefully it won't clutter up the table.




Didn't you just say this sort of last paragraph? :smallconfused:

Lifted straight from Pathfinder. They love their redundancies. :smallsigh:




Poor Deaf bards. Why would you choose this profession! Whhhhhy!? (But I like that that is in there.) Ditto on the Blind in visual.

Blindness/Deafness spell and similar effects is why I assume Pathfinder included that. That and if you wanted to play a disabled Bard.




So...a couple of things -

Do Ballad or Dirge have anything to do with Audible or Visual? Because there doesn't appear to be a connection, but they are both called "Components". The name components to me is the things something is made up of. The Ballad and Dirge seem to be effects that are made from the Performance. What about calling it Charms or Wiles? Oooo, I kind of like that - Bardic Wiles. :smallbiggrin:

In retrospect, yeah, there is a slight confusion on naming terms. I'll see what I can clean it up to be.




After the initial one of each, can I just choose all one or the other, or do I have to continue going back and forth? Can I re-choose at any point?

Yup, after the initial two you can choose at will and re-choose at your leisure. I just included that rule provision so that beginning Bards have some options other than "Buff the Meatshield".




Are these all Will saves?

Yeah. I should probably include that.





This is cool. Though if you were trying to make this class attribute with being with a group, I'm not sure "lonely world" fits as well. But its a nice description none-the-less. I love the fact that the Muse never is the same. Wonderful. It's a bardic patronus!

Thanks. :smallsmile:




If it can't interact with any plane, how can one hit it? Isn't it incorporeal? Instead of being mute, I like to think of it as making the same audible sounds the performance might, but that's just me. On one other note, does the Muse have a move speed?

It can't interact really, but things can interact with it. I'll see if I can clear that all up better.




I think I'll hold off comments on placements of things for after first review. I want to get the whole picture before I start thinking about it. Just remind me because I might forget. However, I'm starting to think that there should be a seperate table mapping out all these first level abilities. Just for sake of ease. I'm dumb, they're right there....

I do however like that we have the option to pick traits as we level.

Versatility in option choice is the hallmark of Tier 3 and up classes.





The question is, if a Muse is slain, can it come back next Bardic Performance? Does it look different? Other questions that are really only flavour. Lets see what this Muse can do!

Erm, the text says it can't come back till 24 hours later. ^^;





Nice. I could even wait awhile to get this, and it's still leveling up in how strong it is without having to select it.

The only abilities ever worth taking are those that scale. :smallbiggrin:




So it's kind of like roll-over rounds to use at a later time if you don't use them all. Very nice.

Thanks. This one is my favorite out of all the traits and was the original concept I had planned for the muse.




Basically a prestidigitation like thing, but with a 1d6 force damage ability on top of it. Pretty cool, and I like that once its given the ability to interact with objects, it's also given the ability to attack them. Well done.

You're thinking of Ghost Hand and Thanks. :smallsmile:




Does the muse then appear to look like the bard, and get treated as Mirror Image? That might be neat.

Hm...there's an idea.



After this review is all said and done, I might want to come back to look at this class ability to see if I can give any ideas for more traits. Whats nice is these traits won't effect any other bard, because their muses are not a facet of you.

Please do!



Over all, this is my favorite ability for the bard so far. Very interesting. Very versitile. Hey look a segue![/quotes]

Thanks. I'm also pleased with how it ended up turning out; much better than the original Spellsong Companion class feature.



[quote]This is cool...are the the visual or audible performs from earlier? And define what Perform: Wind would be for me? What's nice about this is that I have to have perform in multiple areas with separate ranks to make full use of this. This basically makes you able to spend your ranks on double the things.

Perform: Wind is Wind instruments (trumpets, flutes, tubas, etc.)




Makes sense. Though- what are language-dependent effects? Verbal components?

That's generally defined in specific spells and such.




"Raising back up to the rafters in the beat of heart"? What does that mean?

Just purple prose. :smallredface:




I know this is useful, I just don't know how at the moment...can I get some examples?

It's useful for chaining Performances or from recovering from sudden, one turn duration debilitation that prevents the bard from continuing their Performance.




Oh damn, that's sweet. Very nice progression.

The Barbarian got free action Rage, so why can't the Bard get something nice? :smalltongue:




Looks good to me! Though that means the difference between sometimes not knowing things and always knowing things. Taking 10 always takes away part of that fun of chance! :smallbiggrin: When I saw Loremaster, I thought it might give you an insight bonus or something in certain areas or situations...while this makes sense, how do you feel about adding that in as well?

Well, it's straight lifted from Pathfinder, but that's an idea to ponder.




So this lasts similarly to how the Muse lasts after the end of a Performance. Does this also happen when it is interupted? If so, can I do encore after having been sickened for one round because my Performance is still going?

Yes, you can combo Lingering Performance and Encore.




This is basically akin to a Bardic "Rage". I like this idea. They don't recieve bonuses (save what the Bardic Performance gives them), but they basically don't die until they get to the end of their rounds of use? How many times can this be used a day? So long as the Bard has Bardic Performance rounds? If so, then I could only be killed after a potentially 63 rounds (+cha modifier), plus the extra time from Lingering Performance, that's another 3 rounds.

They can use it as often as they wish as long as they still have rounds left. And I think it's more like the Frenzied Berserker's Deathless Frenzy class feature from Complete Warrior. :smalltongue:


Also, per bardic performance, "it ends immediately if the bard is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round." So this ability cancels out the Killed feature, but what if some of these other effects occur? Does the bard just die?

I'll see if I can clarify that.




Isn't this basically Encore?

No. What it means is that you don't spending your "number of rounds equal to their Charisma modifier " until there isn't a Performance active. I'll try to clear up the language.




-Snip-

I'll clear up the language and such.

Also, death in Pathfinder is at -Constitution Score, not -10.





Can a bard use this bauble as the object it is? For example, a piece of chalk: I make it into reality, and person recognizes it as chalk, but a rare chalk made out of the finest material for royal artisans and the like. Great! 100 gold (or whatever). Does the chalk function like chalk? Can I use the chalk to mark things (which will go away in one hour)? I could potentially then use this as a vanishing message, or various other things unintended...but I'm being creative! Further, what if I made the bauble look like the kings crown jewel? Would the person I'm trying to decieve get a circumstance bonus because that jewel would be known to be worth more than a few hundred gold, OR would the knack prevent me from forming such an object?

Yes, the bauble functions as the object. I'll put in clarifying rules text to expand and explain that. And yes, the person would most likely get a circumstance bonus. I'll add that in as well.




Nice, I see what you did here. :smallsmile:

Hm?




And here. I also note that those that have to make saves you designate in the actual knack, which is good. I'm curious, would it serve you better to put the spell details you are referencing in this description to save from digging in more things? Maybe quote the SRD?

Well, this was a bare bones run so that it'd be playable in time for my game and isn't a Project G work. But if I have the time I can do that.




What if this is a Grand Piano, Pipe Organ or various other large instruments?

I'll need to check the Summon Instrument spell to be sure, but I have no problem with allowing that (especially since it could be used offensively in a Looney Tunes manner. :smallbiggrin:).





I really like this, and the suggestion of dynamic with these knacks Bardic Perfomance is excellent.[/quotes]

Thanks. :smallsmile:


[quote]Oh, I love this one. Very cool. Oh look! Another segue!

Thanks. I came up with it because it felt thematic and lets the Bard keep its position as Off-Healer to the party Cleric.




This is strangely worded. Does that mean they observe the actions, but don't think them as suspicious? I'm a little confused.

Bingo. I'll clear up the wording if I can.




I could see plenty of uses for this. Unwilling, or unfriendly?

Huh?




Yey! Bardic Breath Weapon! Aren't Bardic Knacks in general only allowed to be used once ever 1d4 rounds?

The knack grants you the Breath Weapon and is then separate from the knack subsystem. So using the Breath Weapon does not count as using a knack.




Combination of illusion and invisibility, cool. What happens if it goes out of line of sight?

The illusion will keep doing its last directed action. I'll add that in.




Interesting...could you explain to me the implications of this?

Well, the bard can use this knack to basically have most, if not all, of their Performances running at once. And since it acts independently of the Bard, if the Bard is unable to continue their own Performance for whatever reason, this keeps on trucking. You can easily combo it with Final Performance for example.




I'm not familiar with this spell, nor do I have any books handy (nor the cababilities to look it up on this computer). What does this spell entail?


You use material from the Plane of Shadow to shape quasi-real illusions of one or more creatures, objects, or forces. Shadow conjuration can mimic any sorcerer or wizard conjuration (summoning) or conjuration (creation) spell of 3rd level or lower. Shadow conjurations are only one-fifth (20%) as strong as the real things, though creatures who believe the shadow conjurations to be real are affected by them at full strength. Any creature that interacts with the spell can make a Will save to recognize its true nature.

Spells that deal damage have normal effects unless the affected creature succeeds on a Will save. Each disbelieving creature takes only one-fifth (20%) damage from the attack. If the disbelieved attack has a special effect other than damage, that effect is only 20% likely to occur. Regardless of the result of the save to disbelieve, an affected creature is also allowed any save that the spell being simulated allows, but the save DC is set according to shadow conjuration's level (4th) rather than the spell's normal level. In addition, any effect created by shadow conjuration allows Spell Resistance, even if the spell it is simulating does not. Shadow objects or substances have normal effects except against those who disbelieve them. Against disbelievers, they are 20% likely to work.

A shadow creature has one-fifth the hit points of a normal creature of its kind (regardless of whether it's recognized as shadowy). It deals normal damage and has all normal abilities and weaknesses. Against a creature that recognizes it as a shadow creature, however, the shadow creature's damage is one-fifth (20%) normal, and all special abilities that do not deal lethal damage are only 20% likely to work. (Roll for each use and each affected character separately.) Furthermore, the shadow creature's AC bonuses are just one-fifth as large. A creature that succeeds on its save sees the shadow conjurations as transparent images superimposed on vague, shadowy forms. Objects automatically succeed on their Will saves against this spell.


This spell functions like shadow conjuration, except that it duplicates any sorcerer or wizard conjuration (summoning) or conjuration (creation) spell of 6th level or lower. The illusory conjurations created deal three-fifths (60%) damage to nonbelievers, and non-damaging effects are 60% likely to work against nonbelievers.




I like the title and the knack itself. Very nice.

Thanks. This was the original Forte Knack that I came up with. :smallsmile:



I feel like there could ba a few more knacks, and was disappointed there wasn't a tasha's hideous laughter or grease equivalent, but over all I liked the list. :smallsmile:

It's just the bare bones to let the class be playable. I'm completely up for suggestions on adding new knacks.



Though this also makes me wary, since a lot of these have this feature. I guess its justifiable, its just something that you don't see too often.

Which is honestly bad game design. Scaling, equally viable options are always what you should aim for.




You're having fun with these names. I love the references to songs and such.

I am. :smallbiggrin:

I try to either pull them from song lyrics, band names, catchphrases/idioms, etc.




:smalleek: This is really strong. I'm not sure if I like this one. What if it were 5 feet up to 30?

It's just a movement speed boost though. Mechanically, there's no benefit to having a high speed. :smallconfused:




Any skill check? A specific skill check?

Any.




While the image is frightening and awesome, I'm not sure I like how powerful it is, even with the level amp. Especially since I can take this at 1st level...

It makes the party Fighter Gargantuan size category if he/she started out at Medium. The one part from the siege of Azure City comes to mind with V from OoTS when I made this.




I like this one a lot, however. :smallwink:

Oh?





Nice that this stacks. Name in reference to wolf fighting habits? It reminds me more of raptors. :smallbiggrin:

Yup. And another song name. :smallbiggrin:




This name makes me think more of the flanking one. An alternative name perhaps could be "On Guard". I like this too.

Song lyric from 30 Seconds to Mars. I was picturing having enemy soldiers flooding in from both sides as you're fighting when I came up with this one.



Most of these work well, but some seem a little strong compared to the rest, as I've mentioned.

Which ones are weak though?



I forsee a lot of opposites to the ballad components, I'll skip over the ones that I agree with and don't have questions for.

But of course.



Hmm, so shaken, paniced, and something else?

It goes from Shaken to Frightened to Panicked.




What if you make it so the save gets harder by one every four levels?

Is that necessary though?




This is nice. It's like a mass duplicate image thing. I love it. What about other things like mounts and such?

Mounts, pets, cohorts, etc. yes.




Kind of like the knack, but a little weaker. A little redundant...but it leaves the bard with options if they want one or the other, or even both!

Ah yup.




Are made of this is bad english, but you might hae intended that...

It's a song by Eurythmics.




Hm. I'd say the same as the movement in the ballad one. Or you could do an entangle like component instead?

There's a thought.




Interesting. I'm not sure on this one, but I like it.

I think I pulled that one from 3.5's Marshal class (which gave me ideas for ballads).



Aaaand that's it! Sorry for the late reply, last week was my birthday week and things got busy.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Woof!

Now this is a PEACH!


:smallsmile: Glad I could be of some help. I take it from many of your responses that it was of some help for clarification, and possibly some new ideas. I'm glad to see it.




Like to know if your hopes were met. :smallwink:

My hopes were indeed met. Well done.


Don't worry about it. The Pathfinder brew community is much smaller than the 3.5, so it's expected. And it's always great to learn!

I have learned some. Hopefully I will continue to!


I used "we" in the communal sense to denote the common mindset of the in-game verse. And I meant humble when taken in comparison to the Tier 1 and 2 casters. But like I mentioned, not really in love with the fluff I banged out.

Alright, just wanted to point things out to help. If you're still reworking it, then I'll try looking it over again when you do rewrite it.


I prefer using gender neutral pronouns when writing my classes. It just annoys me for some reason when the game writers just choose a gender for the class; I feel like it could lead to preconceived notions.

If memory serves me correct, every book I've ever seen lists the class as female for descriptions sake. In anycase, gender nuetral is not equal to referring to the class as "he".



If memory serves, that's straight copy/paste from Pathfinder's Bard.

I my experience, copy and pasting something directly without change occasionally leads to problems. I see you refer to copying and pasting something directly throughout the review. In this case its a gramatical thing, and not so big a thing, but I recommend making the things you copy and paste flow more with your writing, because those things stood out to me. And since this is your class, you can change things that are worded properly/repetetive/or whatever. Not knocking Pathfinder or your class...I'd just be a bad reviewer not to point that out.


I hadn't actually thought about that distinction; what's your balance analysis between the two?

The former - An organized and simple way of using knacks. However, in a battle, if use a knack, and then have to wait 2 - 4 rounds (unless I get lucky) to use another one, I'm missing out on one of my key abilities for a good portion of the battle. BUT that might be a good thing...

The later - you have two sets of management times that you have to monitor seperately. However it would allow me to combine two knacks (use two functions simultaneously), be more versatile, and above all, at later levels I'd be able to use more knacks at the same time...however, at level 20, 11 knacks, which means 11d4 rolls to monitor and so on. Which just seems a little messy. If you go this route, I recommend only allowing for two at most, and even then thats not easy to keep track of.

And then reviewing the orginal text, I see that activating one of these is a standard action (unless otherwise specified). This might make the second one better, but not best. An easier solution to 1d4 might be something like - once per encounter, or performance or some such. That's all the thoughts I have on the matter, I think. Nothing conclusive, but information none the less.


I was just using purple prose to describe them performing. :smalltongue:

Again, Pathfinder. I assume that anything that makes a noise (singing, story telling, playing an instrument, beat boxing, etc.) would be audible and anything that is movement (war fan dancing, pantomiming, slap stick comedy, etc.) would be visual.

Alright, I see this now with your examples, but you might mention a few of these in the class to demonstrate it (especially if pathfinder is known for it's redundancies). :smalltongue:



I can look into doing that, yes. Hopefully it won't clutter up the table.

We shall see I guess. :smallwink:


Lifted straight from Pathfinder. They love their redundancies. :smallsigh:

Just because its in there doesn't mean YOU need to have it in there. :smallbiggrin:


Yup, after the initial two you can choose at will and re-choose at your leisure. I just included that rule provision so that beginning Bards have some options other than "Buff the Meatshield".

Gotta love your value for versatility. I'm not sure if I just missed it somewhere, but make sure you include the details that you can rechoose.





Erm, the text says it can't come back till 24 hours later. ^^;

Facepalm. D'oh. :smallbiggrin: Ignore that.


The only abilities ever worth taking are those that scale. :smallbiggrin:

Amen. Though I've seen some abilities that scale that are...complicated. I like the simplicity you took with yours. I actually might like to start a conversation with you about scaling off this class, because I'm reviewing something at the moment elsewhere that I'm...at a loss for how to review it. Getting off topic...PM me. :smallbiggrin:


Please do!

Let's see what I can come up with. None are coming to mind presently.


Perform: Wind is Wind instruments (trumpets, flutes, tubas, etc.)

Oh that makes sense...To avoid confusion for someone else, you could do Perform: Wind Instr.


Just purple prose. :smallredface:

Yes, I gathered, but it doesn't make sense to me. It's an awkward wording that I'm not really sure what it says. I feel perhaps there's a word missing or something by reading it.


It's useful for chaining Performances or from recovering from sudden, one turn duration debilitation that prevents the bard from continuing their Performance.

Gotcha.


Also, death in Pathfinder is at -Constitution Score, not -10.

Good to know! So if I had a CON of 13, it would be at -13 I'd die? Or is it the modifier I'm taking into account?








Yes, the bauble functions as the object. I'll put in clarifying rules text to expand and explain that. And yes, the person would most likely get a circumstance bonus. I'll add that in as well.

Oh, this ability will be fun. :smallbiggrin:



Hm?

The similarity between "haunting noise" and "ghost sound".


Well, this was a bare bones run so that it'd be playable in time for my game and isn't a Project G work. But if I have the time I can do that.

It's all good, just a suggestion for people like me that can't look at reference material as easily as others.


I'll need to check the Summon Instrument spell to be sure, but I have no problem with allowing that (especially since it could be used offensively in a Looney Tunes manner. :smallbiggrin:).

I've actually looked it up in the past, and in the summon instrument, it needs to be a handheld instrument. So things like pianos wouldn't work. I'm actually working on a homebrewed spell called - Summon Greater Instrument that would allow for a larger instrument, so long as it can be supported where it is summoned (similar to how you can't summon a dolphin on land, you wouldn't be able to summon a piano on the side of a mountain, or above a foe). Still, if you are for the looney tunes feature, I'm all for you doing it. :smallbiggrin:


Huh?

Not sure what I meant here. I think I got distracted. Best just to disregard.


Well, the bard can use this knack to basically have most, if not all, of their Performances running at once. And since it acts independently of the Bard, if the Bard is unable to continue their own Performance for whatever reason, this keeps on trucking. You can easily combo it with Final Performance for example.

OH! :smalleek: Oh my. I like this. Might want to suggest those implications in the desciption (like - this can stack with other abilities)

Thanks for the quoted spell as well. :smallsmile:


I am. :smallbiggrin:

I try to either pull them from song lyrics, band names, catchphrases/idioms, etc.

Which I approve of, indeed. Makes the Bard so much more fun.


It's just a movement speed boost though. Mechanically, there's no benefit to having a high speed. :smallconfused:

I just see a +60 movement speed as something easily abused when it comes to an encounter when its for everyone in the party. I guess you're right, but it just doesn't seem to go with the others in terms of everything else is +1, and this is +2 movement squares.


It makes the party Fighter Gargantuan size category if he/she started out at Medium. The one part from the siege of Azure City comes to mind with V from OoTS when I made this.

I guess what bothers me the most is that this is a Mass of the spell enlarge person. It's not just the party fighter, its everyone in the area who is allied with you, with no limit. Even if it's a small party, that's pretty nuts, though if I had 30 people stacked with me, that's a whole lot of people. Is there a limitation in there somewhere that I'm missing? Or is it just within hearing distance at the moment.


Which ones are weak though?

Hmmm, the only one that comes to mind is the +1 to any skill. Compared to some of the others it seems a little low, but the "any" makes me feel more comfortable about it.


It goes from Shaken to Frightened to Panicked.

Thaaat's it. Forgot about frightend, I'm scared to say. :smalltongue:


Is that necessary though?

Looking over the save details back in the description, no. No it isn't.


Mounts, pets, cohorts, etc. yes.

:smallcool: Shiny.





Aaaand that's it! Sorry for the late reply, last week was my birthday week and things got busy.

Real life trumps all! Happy birthday! Do you need me to review your Green Singer? Could you give me a bit more description on what it exactly is? A Bard flavoured for Nature? Like Johnny Appleseed?

[Tanuki Tales]

Alright, did some changes to this class, check the changelog for specifics.


@Wombat: Two things off the top of my head that I wanted to answer (not in the mood right this second to go through our quote tower to continue that. Might do it later):

1. Yes, Death would be at -13 HP if you had a Constitution Score of 13.
2. They Might Be Giants is in range of the performance. So, at the maximum distance, as soon as they move 60 feet from the bard, they shrink back down.


And yes, I'd enjoy a critique of the Greensinger. As I think I mentioned in the comments section, its supposed to be a kind of Fochlucan Lyrist Archetype.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Alright, did some changes to this class, check the changelog for specifics.


@Wombat: Two things off the top of my head that I wanted to answer (not in the mood right this second to go through our quote tower to continue that. Might do it later):

1. Yes, Death would be at -13 HP if you had a Constitution Score of 13.
2. They Might Be Giants is in range of the performance. So, at the maximum distance, as soon as they move 60 feet from the bard, they shrink back down.


And yes, I'd enjoy a critique of the Greensinger. As I think I mentioned in the comments section, its supposed to be a kind of Fochlucan Lyrist Archetype.

All changes so far look glorious. I think its turned out into a splendid class (not that it wasn't before I got here. :smalltongue:)

The greensinger might take a bit, as I have other things to review as well that I need to get to (at this count, three, and a world map to draw). Not to mention my own projects. Hopefully I can knock out some of those things quick enough, and then get back to this. :smallwink: Do you need the Greensinger sooner rather than later?