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View Full Version : Homebrew Bard College -- The College of Virtue (Troubadours)



desmond1323
2015-09-27, 02:52 PM
I utterly love Bards. While I've not gotten to play one in 5E yet, and, at first glance, was a little disappointed in what they had become, as time goes on my love for them is coming back with a vengeance. Most of my old homebrew stuff was always centered around Bards, and one of my first 'complete' bits is, of course, a new Bardic College.

Back in the 3E days, I got inspired on a replay of Fire Emblem to make a DnD version of the troubadour unit, a mounted healer, built to PrC off of the Bard. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out (https://docs.google.com/document/d/12IsB6T9uxbnP92SUPUUEyaSEcJxutlRAc2suI75HdXA/edit), though I never really got to playtest it and always worried it was a bit too specialized. But that's neither here nor there. I still liked the idea of it, the visual. So here comes 5E, and it's almost stupidly easy to come up with class variants, thanks to the various archetype features.

So I present to your judgement, my first version of the College of Virtue, that of the troubadour.

College of Virtue

The nature of music is inherently magical, unlimited in its potential and miraculous in its capabilities. With the pluck of a string, the pounding of a beat, a musician can wrack emotional upheaval, lifting the downtrodden to dance in joy or breaking the strongest will with a dire tune. A handful unlock this magic in more literal ways, casting spells of all sorts, pushing their allies to truly heroic feats of valor. Of these few, even fewer revel in the nature of music to heal, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. All Bards are capable of utilizing this aspect, but only a few join the ranks of the Troubadour, dedicating their lives and musical talents to healing those in need far and wide. The College of Virtue was organized to assist and train these steed-born saints. Their ranks, by necessity, are filled with the best the common races have to offer, those good-natured souls who wish to heal and help the world.

3rd Level:
+Proficiencies: Troubadours rely on both magical and non-magical means to help those in need, as well as becoming expert riders. As often as they can, they will travel mounted, so as to spread their healing as quickly as possible at a moment's notice. At 3rd level, if a Bard joins the College of Virtue, they gain proficiency with the Herbalist's Kit, as well as the Animal Handling and Medicine Skills. If you have gained these proficiencies from other sources, you may choose another of the same type.

+Healing Tune: Also at 3rd level, you learn how to soothe wounds with your music even in the heat of battle. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you takes damage, you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and healing them for that amount.


Designer Notes: On these two, I'm satisfied with. They are built just like the College of Lore and Valor's features. Although, the Healing Tune took a couple forms. Originally it was, 'any creature Then, after familiarizing myself with the Lore/Valor features, it became, 'a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you is hit by an attack roll' and you could expend the die before they took damage.


6th Level:
Sonorous Spell: At 6th level, your music is laced with enough magical energy to pass your spells to listeners. Provided your target can hear you, you may ignore any spell you can cast's Range and affect them.


Designer Notes: This is perhaps the biggest one I'm unsure of. Sonorous Heal, in 3E, was basically allowing the Troubadour to use Cure spells at range. Any character under the effects of the Troubadour's Bardic Music could be 'touched' through the music, and the Troubadour could heal them. Now there's not a Cure line of spells. So it seemed thematic to allow it generally speaking, for all spells. But is that too much?

I have two alternatives. One, limiting it to Cure spells. Easy enough, might be the best solution. Two, putting a 60 foot range on it. Any spells that have a longer range than that have, well, a longer range than that, and it's still pretty useful for touch spells and the like. (Oh, and regardless, should I negate Self spells? Seems like at the least I might need to add that in there.)


14rd Level:
Sanctified Steed: The gods of Goodness award the Bard with a loyal unicorn steed to further their ability to help and heal those in need. The Bard gains the ability to cast the Find Steed spell, except the only steed he can summon is a unicorn. You can understand each other, regardless of languages known. The unicorn is identical to its entry in all respects, but cannot use Legendary Actions.


Designer Notes: Pretty satisfied. It's vastly differently from both Lore and Valor, but I found Lore and Valor to be oddly different from one another. Plus, this is just one of the things that I want the Troubadour to have. It's such an iconic image.


I admit, I'm always designing more on look and feel than really being knowledgeable about the game. Although I do at least try to make it, A, useful and, B, balanced. Did my research, constantly compared to what the other Colleges can do, did some discussion with another buddy of mine who is here a lot more often than I ever am. Honestly, I'm always more worried about my wording than my content. So, at this point, I think I have something solid, at least in idea if not crunch. So, hoping to get some feedback. Thanks muchly and hope you enjoy! If this goes well, I've got plenty of other things currently in the works, between archetypes, a couple base classes, some spells and feats... Once I started playing the game, damn me but the ideas just keep coming.

AstralFire
2015-09-27, 06:16 PM
Looks pretty good to me. I'd change Healing Tune to affect any beneficial bard spell which can be cast on an ally, maybe.

desmond1323
2015-09-28, 07:37 PM
Thanks for the reply. But do you mean Healing Tune or Sonorous Spell?