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Revlid
2016-07-25, 06:36 PM
College of Emblems

Whenever a great victory is won, there are always those ready to tell tales of valour. Whenever a terrible war is lost, there are always those ready to sing songs of woe. Rarer by far are those with the wit to truly learn from such battles, and the will to wield the knowledge anew.

Those of the College of the Emblems play from the music sheet of war, their blade a conductor's baton, the clash of spears and shields their orchestra. Where other bards make their name with some great epic or symphony, these tacticians work for a historic victory, a battle plan that will be taught through the ages.

There is the art of poetry, the art of song, of dance... and there is the art of war.

http://i.imgur.com/SoBzdkI.png?1

Bonus Proficiencies
When you join the College of Emblems at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with History, cartographer's tools and all gaming sets.

Tactician's Genius
Also at 3rd level, you learn three maneuvers from the Battle Master Archetype (Player's Handbook, pp. 73-74). You cannot use maneuvers learned through this College. Instead, any character with one of your Bardic Inspiration dice may expend that die to use one of the maneuvers you know. They roll your Bardic Inspiration die in place of the usual superiority die. As an exception to these rules, you can expend Bardic Inspiration dice to use the Rally, Commanding Strike and Maneuvering Attack maneuvers.

Some of your maneuvers require your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as followers:

Maneuver save DC = 8 + user's proficiency bonus + their Strength or Dexterity modifier (their choice)

You learn an additional maneuver at 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, and 17th level. Whenever you learn a new maneuver, you may also swap a maneuver you know for another you could learn.

Commander's Stratagems
Starting at 6th level, you can use your action to take a measured assessment of the battlefield and grant a creature within 60 feet who can understand you a Martial Inspiration die. This die functions in the same way as a Bardic Inspiration die, but lasts only one minute and can only be expended to activate one of your maneuvers. A creature cannot have both a Bardic Inspiration die and a Martial Inspiration die. There is no limit to the number of times you can use this feature, and you may use it to grant yourself Martial Inspiration.

General's Flair
At 14th level, you may use your reaction to grant a Bardic Inspiration die. You can grant this die at any point, including after a die is rolled but before the DM applies it.

Revlid
2016-07-26, 04:27 AM
Edits made after it was pointed out I'd mixed up the Battle Master progression.

JeenLeen
2016-07-26, 02:19 PM
To avoid potential attempts at abuse, I recommend adding this phrase to the end of Commander's Strategum: ", but a given character can only have one Martial Inspiration die from you at a time". Otherwise, I can see a player wanting to spend a few rounds 'assessing' before entering a room you know has hostiles to give someone a few dice.
I assume it is okay that a character can have both a Bardic Inspiration and a Martial Inspiration die (2 dice in their pool) to use on abilities. That sounds reasonable.

I find that your can't use your own maneuvers to be a little weak, but that's the heart of this archetype and it might be overpowered otherwise.

As such a strong support character, you'd need to make sure your allies understand the maneuver rules. That in itself might limit how useful the class is, especially if your party has a lot of casters and/or the players forget or don't remember to use your granted abilities. (In other words, this class needs the right group to function well.)

Revlid
2016-07-26, 03:03 PM
To avoid potential attempts at abuse, I recommend adding this phrase to the end of Commander's Strategum: ", but a given character can only have one Martial Inspiration die from you at a time". Otherwise, I can see a player wanting to spend a few rounds 'assessing' before entering a room you know has hostiles to give someone a few dice.
I assume it is okay that a character can have both a Bardic Inspiration and a Martial Inspiration die (2 dice in their pool) to use on abilities. That sounds reasonable.No, the intent is that "functions in the same way as a Bardic Inspiration die" covers "you can only have one of either of these", but you're absolutely right I should make it more clear.


I find that your can't use your own maneuvers to be a little weak, but that's the heart of this archetype and it might be overpowered otherwise.I could see the Rally, Commanding Strike or Maneuvering Attack being available for the Bard themselves to use, perhaps only with a Martial Inspiration die. Do you think that would work?


As such a strong support character, you'd need to make sure your allies understand the maneuver rules. That in itself might limit how useful the class is, especially if your party has a lot of casters and/or the players forget or don't remember to use your granted abilities. (In other words, this class needs the right group to function well.)
Yes, that's certainly true.

JeenLeen
2016-07-27, 03:13 PM
I could see the Rally, Commanding Strike or Maneuvering Attack being available for the Bard themselves to use, perhaps only with a Martial Inspiration die. Do you think that would work?


That sounds good both thematically and as a boost to usefulness. I was thinking it's be especially convoluted for the Bard to grant an ally an ability that grants an ally an ability. Valid, but convoluted.

Revlid
2016-07-29, 07:04 AM
That sounds good both thematically and as a boost to usefulness. I was thinking it's be especially convoluted for the Bard to grant an ally an ability that grants an ally an ability. Valid, but convoluted.

Added. In particular, Rally works well with a Bard.