The Vagabond
2015-08-17, 08:44 PM
As above, I want to be able to re-fluff most magic systems to have a more bardic feel to them, how would you do it? I'm not talking just "Music" bardic, I'm talking story bardic too, play bardic. Plays, Musicals, TV, Music, Dance, everything related to art, that kind of bardic. How many different alternate magic systems are there, and how can one re-fluff them to feel more like bardic materials.
Alright, here's what I have for the few alternative magic systems I know about:
Psionics- Nightmares. Somewhat of a variant of Pact Magic's Fluff, Psionics is more tied to the mind, and one's attempt to comprehend just what lies inside, manifesting itself as art in physical form. Re-Fluff Psionics into Dreams.
Akashic/Incarnum: When things happen, they do not die- Their memories continue to live on in those who tell the stories they left behind. And you? You collect those stories, and call upon them, giving them shape to them, and letting the stories unfold again in such a way to further your own.
Pact Magic: There are stories told beyond the stars, and beyond one's home. And you have learned to bring that which people do not know into your hands, and use it to build your story.
Words of Power: The power of phrasing. Of how one says stuff, given shape.
hiryuu
2015-08-17, 09:48 PM
Hey, my experiences with anything that D&D would call "bards" are basically butt-kicking drum artists and flute players who also tell way more stories than actually play music. Anywho, I have some notes for a d20 Modern thing I was working on? It's going to just be cut-and-paste, so mind the formatting a little.
New Feats
The following are new feats.
Magical Background (Musician)
You can speak the stories and sing the songs of the past, filling the world and altering the background magic.
Prerequisite: Perform (any) 4 ranks.
Benefit: You gain access to a use of the Perform skill you didn't have previously. You gain a single performance trick and can use it so long as you pay the mana cost when activating it. You can also purchase performance tricks.
Multiharmonic
You can keep up multiple layers of music with your voice.
Prerequisite: Magical Background (Musician)
Benefit: You can upkeep more than one musical trick at a time. You can maintain a number of tricks equal to your Wisdom modifier. If you want to start a new trick while maintaining your maximum limit, you have to shut one off.
Teaching Old Skills New Tricks
This section changes the use of a few skills. See below.
Craft (writing)
You can use this skill to write plays, poems, movie scripts, stories, and songs. These are tools that affect a Perform check. A work of writing starts out at -10. This is the penalty it applies to all readings and uses, since a really bad work can have the opposite intended effect. The base check to write something like this is DC 10, and you can increase the quality of the work by 1 for every 5 points you beat the DC. That is, a check result of 23 creates a work that has a -8 penalty attached to it. For every additional month you work on the project and succeed at a DC 20, you increase the quality by 1, to a maximum of +5. You can speed this up by working 1 week at a time against a DC of 30. A failed check means lost time.
Instill Emotion
If you know the Instill Emotion trick, you can embed it in your work. Anyone reading the work to themselves must make a Will save (DC as normal) or feel the emotion for an hour after reading the work. You can also set up a trigger in the work to direct the emotion, granting someone a fear or an obsession with something; triggers only function for up to a week afterwards. After all, the reader who gets obsessed with sharks gets over their fear pretty quick. You take a mana penalty equal to the activation cost for each such work you create.
Perform
Perform is a subset of skills, much like Knowledge or Craft. Use the perform skill list below. Audiences can affect the end result of the check. A hostile audience applies a -5 penalty, an unfriendly audience a -3 penalty, an indifferent audience grants a +0 bonus, a friendly audience grants a +1 bonus, and a helpful audience grants a +2 bonus. Hostile audiences give out a worse penalty because they're likely to leave, throw vegetables, and actively try to foul up the performance by asking questions or shouting. Helpful audiences often just sit there and watch or listen, though they may try to answer favorite questions or volunteer to assist you in tricks or actions.
We Challenge You to a Rock-Off
Performing rock-offs, band battles, and actor's disputes is a bit more complicated than just making single opposed checks. You've got to whittle away your opponent's cool, make him blow his top, and march off stage in a fit of anger, or otherwise make him look like a fool. This is done by a series of opposed checks.
Serving
Participants roll initiative like normal, and then each makes a Perform check. It must be the same kind of performance, or else one that segues into the other as a classical form of duet (such as a Sing check and a Strings check to put lyrics to your opponent's improvised playing). This is the Performance Standard; you do not need to overcome your opponent's standard, only your own. If you can't follow up a strong opening, you deserve to fail. Your current mana total becomes your Cool, as does your opponent's. Mark yours down; your actual mana isn't going to get hurt, but your feelings might. Whoever had the strongest opening gets a +2 bonus on subsequent Perform checks in the ensuing competition.
Focus
While in the Rock-Off, you have a focus target. Usually, this is your opponent. However, you can move your focus up to 60 feet in a round. Other effects and abilities might make your focus point into a cone or burst, or even add more Cool.
Moves
You make a Perform check in an attempt to beat your own Performance Standard. If you do, you lay into your opponent and reduce his Cool by 1d6 points + your Charisma modifier. If you deal an amount of Cool equal to your opponent's Charisma score, he must make a Will save (DC 15) or be reduced to 0 Cool and give up, allowing you to be borne away on cheering shoulders. You can make "critical" hits; if you roll a natural 20, check to see if you still overcome your Performance Standard.
Bad Crowd
You can also gain a bonus by winning over the crowd instead of your opponent. For each helpful member of the nearby crowd, you deal extra Cool vibes to your opponent. Increase your attack by 1 die type for each friendly member of the crowd (use the weapon chart). Yes, this means you can potentially win by winning over a bunch of audience members and then smacking your opponent with so much awesome he is overwhelmed. You do this by targeting an audience member with your focus and making a Perform check like a Diplomacy check; the check just takes one round. Audience members with earphones or far off in the distance or not paying attention inflict a penalty to this check.
Battle of the Bands
You can do this in groups; you each have a Focus point and can do Cool just like in a duel. There's just more of you the enemy has to take down. You can also bring band members back in by winning over five audience members to helpful to cheer the lost member back on stage with half his cool; the audience members drop to indifferent immediately afterwards. You can also flank.
You can restore an ally's cool just as if you were dealing Cool damage.
Hearts & Minds
You can also initiate a rock-off challenge in response to an opponent that hasn't started combat yet. You set a Performance Standard like normal and make a series of checks against your opponent's Cool like normal, but if you fail two Performance Standard checks in a row, the opponent's attitude immediately drops to hostile. If you succeed, his attitude shifts to friendly.
Perform (Act)
Having 5 or more ranks in Perform (Act) grants a +2 bonus on Bluff checks.
Putting on a Play
A play is pretty simple. A bunch of actors, prop masters, painters, a playwright, an audience, an orchestra or band, and a building all get together and distract people for an hour or more. In game terms, everyone involved from the band to the actors can do one of two things. They can make a Perform check individually and average the result, or they can average their Perform bonuses in their related fields and make a check based on that. The only one who doesn't get to do this is the playwright and the director. Instead, the director makes a Profession check to aid another on the Perform, and the playwright writes the script. The script applies to the final check (a mess of good actors and a good orchestra can turn a ****ty script around or foul up a good script if they're bad).
Soliloquy
A soliloquy can be performed alone or as a part of a play. These are poetic monologues and are typically the use of Perform (Act) used on the street to earn followers or money. They are written down, and can offer a bonus or hand out a penalty just like anything else. Making one up on the spot imposes a -10 penalty on the Perform check.
Perform (Comedy)
Having 5 or more ranks in Perform (Comedy) grants a +2 bonus on saving throws against fear effects.
Routine
A routine is a series of jokes that lead into one another; they are practiced, carefully prepared for delivery, and often retain their charm even after multiple hearings. Routines are written down beforehand, and can benefit from a good script.
Improv
Improvising comedy can get a little hectic. You get things thrown at you, and you've got to come right back with amusing quips, maddening acts, and parody responses without inciting the wrath of the guy with the gun.
Perform (Dance)
Having 5 or more ranks in Perform (Dance) grants a +2 bonus to Escape Artist checks.
Contortion
Any idiot with a bendy body can fold themselves into a weird shape. It takes a special kind of weirdo to fold themselves into a basket, fill it with apples, and have themselves carried onto stage. Contortion is a form of body art with an emphasis on the art. It's not enough to stick your legs behind your head, you've got to know how to move to achieve a desired and artful expression of the body.
Seduction
You can also use Perform (Dance) instead of Bluff when attempting to seduce a target. You know the right way to move your hips suggestively, present yourself in a suave and perfect manner, and so on.
Perform (Keyboards)
Having 5 or more ranks in Perform (Keyboards) grants a +2 bonus on Sleight of Hand checks.
Recital
A recital is a use of of pre-written material practiced and played, typically for a large audience. It benefits from a well-written piece of music and often takes quite a while to perform and set up. This type of music generally covers everything from harpsichords to pianos.
Chopsticks & Remix
Chopsticks is the name of a simple, two-finger waltz played on the piano, but it also slang for any simple piece of music played under duress or improvised as part of a performance. A remix is a series of improvised changes to a piano or other keyboard piece
Perform (Oratory)
Having 5 or more ranks in Perform (Oratory) grants a +2 bonus on Gather Information checks.
Dramatic Reading
Storytelling
Perform (Percussion)
Having 5 or more ranks in Perform (Percussion) grants a +2 bonus on Constitution checks made to resist fatigue for extended activity.
Drums
Trash Music
Perform (Strings)
Having 5 or more ranks in Perform (Strings) grants a +2 bonus on Concentration checks.
Guitar Solo
Perform (Wind)
Having 5 or more ranks in Perform (Wind) grants a +2 bonus on Constitution checks made to hold your breath.
Whistling
Perform (Sing)
Having 5 or more ranks in Perform (Sing) grants a +2 bonus on Sense Motive checks.
Chanting
Serenade
Performance Tricks
Musicians learn performance tricks, be they stories, songs, sonnets, or stanzas. Tricks are tied to specific performance types, and these are listed in the name of the trick. The save DC, if any, is equal to 10 + 1/2 your ranks in the skill + your Charisma modifier. Learning a new trick requires a level in the Musician advanced class or the expenditure of 2 skill points, with a maximum number of tricks equal to one-half your level (plus any bonus tricks from the Musician advanced class).
Countersong (Any; see below)
Mana Cost: See below
Activation Time: 1 immediate action
You can attempt to counter any musical effect that's about to go off. You must be using the same type of Perform skill to counter it, and you spend the same amount of mana as the ability's user. You make opposed checks. Success means you prevent the ability from going off.
Dance of Desire (Dance)
Mana Cost: 30, 10 per round to maintain
Activation Time: 1 full round
You begin to dance, and you draw the attention of everyone within 80 feet, who must make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your ranks in Perform (Dance) + your Charisma modifier) or be unable to move. Those who see you want you, or want to be you, so strongly that they begin to fight for the right to be so. Those who do not have anyone else nearby begin to cut themselves into shreds out of envy or desire, effectively killing everyone and everything in an orgy of blood and sheer need for you to simply exist. Anyone who wanders in while you maintain the dance also makes the save and starts in.
Afterwards, you are exhausted for two days and cannot recover the mana used in the meantime.
Fascinate (Dance)
Mana Cost: 2
Activation Time: 1 full round
You move your body in a way that captures attention, holding audiences rapt. You target someone with this performance and they must succeed at a Will save or be fascinated. They continue to be so until you stop or are snapped out of it by the normal stuff that snaps you out of a fascination effect.
Howl of Battle (Strings)
Mana Cost: 30; 10 per round to maintain
Activation Time: 1 full round
You begin with a low and heavy chord that rends open the doorway between stable reality and Otherside, sending out a thunderous call that speaks of battle and carnage. This results in ten sincrafted soldiers being sent to this world, weapons ready. As you continue playing, more beasts of the underworld appear, with five imps appearing the second round, followed by two lesser demons the third round, and finally, a demon noble on the final round. Once the demon noble appears, you can stop playing, as these called beings will stick around long enough to be bargained with (or, if you called on the soldiers to fight, until the fights over, at which point the demon noble can be bargained with normally). Such demons will usually want compensation for their services.
The Immortal Beloved (Act, Oratory)
Mana Cost: 7
Activation Time: 1 minute
You begin the soliloquy slowly, approaching a crescendo as you read the end, and the target of your poetic affections, who must be of a gender attracted to you, regards you as a trusted friend and ally, shifting their attitude directly to Helpful, as long as the target fails a save. It lasts until you leave the creature's side and sight for more than a minute and then drops back to its normal state.
Instill Emotion (Any)
Mana Cost: 5
Activation Time: Varies (see below)
You tell a story, sing a song, perform an act, or otherwise let fly with an amusing quip that strikes into your target's heart. You can affect a single target with a Perform check (DC 20, +2 for every target), and you instill the emotion in the target if the save is failed. When you take this trick, you specify the emotion you can instill. You may take this trick multiple times. Each time you take this trick, you pick a new emotion. To instill long-term emotions (for example, you can't exactly tell a story in the middle of combat), you make the check and set a trigger action that makes the emotion bubble to the surface, reminding your allies or enemies of the story or song. Triggers can remain for up to a day per +2 you add to the DC. Once triggered, they last so long as you make a check to remind them of the action, or a number of rounds equal to 5 + your Charisma modifier if you don't.
Activating this skill using anything other than Act, Oratory, or Dance takes 1 standard action. Any other use takes an hour and you must set up the conditions that trigger the emotion.
Despair: You fill the target or targets with supernatural sorrow. They suffer a -2 morale penalty on attacks, saving throws, skill checks, ability checks, and weapon damage. Despair can end the effects of Hope, instead.
Fear: You instill a fear into the target of a particular item or place. The victim or victims become shaken on a successful save or frightened on a failed save, and you can direct the object of their fright when you activate Fear. Fear ends the effects of Rage.
Friendship: Affected creatures switch to the next more amiable attitude category. Creatures in combat continue to fight normally. Friendship cancels the effects of Hatred.
Hatred: The target shifts its attitude toward the next most hostile attitude. Hatred cancels the effects of Friendship.
Hope: You imbue a feeling of elation into your targets. They gain a +2 morale bonus on saving throws, attack and damage rolls, ability checks, and skill checks. Hope can also cancel the effects of Despair, instead.
Rage: An unknowable anger wells up inside your target. He or she gains a +2 bonus to Strength and Constitution scores, a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, and a -2 penalty to AC. Rage cancels and ends the effects of Fear.
Follow Me (Wind)
Mana Cost: 30; 10 per round to maintain
Activation Time: 1 full round action
Once you begin the old jazz song, every creature with 40 feet of you must make a Will save or become subject to commands you put into your music. Obviously self-destructive orders are carried out. but each act that goes against a specific target's nature grants a new save. Once a subject saves, it's no longer affected by your piping. This power works on anything that moves, including animate objects and so on. In fact, anything free-standing becomes an appropriate sized animated object for the duration of your playing.
Knife Song (Sing)
Mana Cost: 2, 1 per round to maintain
Activation Time: 1 move action
You make a Perform check, and you turn a hand razor into a vicious weapon. You gain a +1 bonus to either attacks or damage with one for every 5 points by which you beat a DC 5 Perform check to start up this power (max +5).
Luck Medley (Sing)
Mana Cost: 0 (but see below), 5 per round to maintain
Activation Time: 1 swift action
You sing, striking the world with your voice, and everything becomes clearer. You make a Perform check (DC 20 + 2 for each target you wish to affect) and spend an action point to activate this power, and on the round you activate it and every round you maintain it, the targets each gain a bonus action point that disappears at the beginning of your turn.
Luck Rending (Any)
Mana Cost: 7, 4 per round to maintain
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Either you need good luck, or you need to make the bad guy lose his luck. That’s what this power is all about. So long as you keep concentrating, you’re privy to any sort of luck your target has, and can make him re-roll any one roll per round you don’t like. This basically means the GM lets you see the roll your target is making, from a saving throw, skill check, or attack roll, and force him to re-roll any one of those rolls made during a round. As if to add insult to injury, you gain a special use of action points that allows you to spend one of your own to subtract the result from the rolls of your target.
Power Ballad (Sing and Strings)
Mana Cost: 2, 1 per round to maintain
Activation Time: 1 standard action
You begin playing a song of strength and power, of speed and muscle. You grant the targets a morale bonus to their Strength and Dexterity scores. You split up the bonus as you see fit after you make the check.
Perform Check Result Ability Bonus
15 +2
20 +4
25 +6
30 +8
35 +10
Lifeswap (Oratory)
Mana Cost: 30
Activation Time: 1 minute
You swap the lives of two targets with Intelligence scores of 3 or higher, who must make a Will save (DC 19 + your Charisma modifier) to be unaffected. Swapped lives are completely swapped, with identification and all. The targets need not be the same species or gender; these are also swapped. Only the memories of the targets remain intact. The swap stays effective until some preset condition is met (usually a lesson one or both parties is meant to learn) or until you will the effect to end.
You expend 1 action point activating this power. After activating this power, you are exhausted for two days and cannot recover the mana spent to activate this power until the swap effect ends.
Shattersong (Sing)
Mana Cost: 5
Activation Time: 1 standard action
You let out a high note that destroys brittle objects in a 5-foot radius, a single non-relic object, or damages crystalline creatures. This power deals 1d6 damage per level (max 10d6) to the object targeted or destroys crystal, glass, and ceramic non-relic objects in the area of effect. Objects weighing more than one pound per level are unaffected.
Dirge of Conquering Fire (Sing)
Mana Cost: 30; 10 per round to maintain
Activation Time: 1 full round action
On the round after you begin singing, the sky turns red and flying animals leave behind the earth. From out of the sky begins to fall great and fiery stones, like those that once wiped the earth clean of life at the end of the Age of Kings. You can, as a standard action, target a 20-foot radius area, which experiences a rain of destruction. Anything within that radius suffers 15d6 damage, half from fire, half from bludgeoning with a Reflex save for half. You can do this once each round.
Song of Hope (Keyboard, Percussion, Strings, Wind, and Sing)
Mana Cost: 2, 1 per round to maintain
Prerequisite: 5 ranks in one of the above Perform skills, Instill Emotion (Hope)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
You begin playing a refrain that tugs at the heart of the universe, making everything become clearer and in focus for your allies. You make a Perform check with a DC of 15 +2 for every target you wish to affect. Upon a success, your allies gain a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls. For every 5 points by which you beat the DC, you grant an additional +1 bonus, to a maximum of +5.
Storyteller's Curse (Oratory)
Mana Cost: 10
Activation Time: 10 minutes
You tell a story to your target, who must state its purpose and meaning (a Wisdom check with a DC equal to 10 + 1/5 your result), or be cursed. This is just like the flaw Cursed, but you must state a condition by which the curse will be lifted that the person could conceivably perform. Using this trick to make effective slaves or delivery boys will result in the curse striking yourself.
That Hideous Piping (Wind)
Mana Cost: 2, 1 per round to maintain
Prerequisite: 5 ranks in Perform (Wind), Instill Emotion (Despair)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
There is the song of a hideous flute that plays in the center of the universe, surrounded by madness, an interminable sea of flesh and horror the catches on an unknown and terrifying dream. You funnel this through your playing, and you make a Perform check (DC of 15 +2 for every target you wish to affect), and your victims suffer a -1 morale penalty on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear. For every 5 points by which you beat the DC, you grant an additional -1 penalty, to a maximum of -5. Occultists listening to the song make a madness save every round or gain 1 point of temporary madness.
Thrum of Destruction (Percussion)
Mana Cost: 30, 10 per round to maintain
Activation Time: 1 standard action
You pound with your hands or drumsticks, sending out shockwaves that rip and tear at the fabric of the physical world. Your feet sunder the earth, your hands cleave the sky, and your eyes shimmer with energy that you cannot control, up to 80 feet away from you. Every building standing on the open ground takes 100 points of damage each round you maintain the trick. Caverns and sewers collapse, dealing 8d6 (Reflex DC half) damage to everyone inside them, lightning bolts crash down from the sky in the area, striking any living targets (except you) for 5d6 damage each round (Fortitude save for half), cliffs collapse, dealing 8d6 damage to anything in the way (Reflex DC 15 half) and pins living things beneath rubble (1d6 nonlethal damage per minute), drains lakes and rivers with great fissures, creating pits of open mud and sucking anyone standing on it down (Reflex DC 15 negates), and makes a big, nasty mess of the whole area of effect.
Afterwards, you are exhausted for two days and cannot recover the mana used in the meantime.
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