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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Bardic College - College of Barbers (healing bard)



quinron
2016-10-21, 02:07 PM
The life of a bard is one of unceasing surprise: one day you may be performing for and advising the king of a country that spans half a continent, and the next you may be run out of the city, forced to wander to the tiniest villages and play for a handful of coppers a day. Students of the College of Barbers embrace this fluidity, knowing that every place, be it the smallest town or the largest city, needs two things: happiness and healing. Barbers are as capable as any other bard in performing to please an audience, but they train specially in the arts of both mundane and magical healing. The bravest of Barbers travel into dangerous places alongside others, administering essential aid to keep their friends and allies alive long enough to propel themselves into legend.

BONUS PROFICIENCIES
When you join the College of Barbers at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor and herbalism kits. You also gain proficiency in the Medicine skill.

HEALING INSPIRATION
Also at 3rd level, your words of inspiration leave others feeling refreshed and renewed. A creature who has a Bardic Inspiration die from you can roll that die as a bonus action, regaining hit points equal to the number rolled.

BATTLEFIELD SURGERY
Starting at 6th level, you excel at tending to the wounded after battle. If you spend an entire short rest tending to yourself and your allies, roll all of your remaining Bardic Inspiration dice and add your Charisma modifier to the total. Until the end of the short rest, you can restore a number of hit points equal to the result of the roll. Each point restores 1 hit point to a creature, or you can spend 5 points to cure a creature of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it.
This ability is used before you recover your uses of Bardic Inspiration at the end of a short rest. This ability doesn't prevent you from using your Song of Rest ability.

MAGICAL MEDIC
Starting at 14th level, when you cast a spell that targets one creature and restores hit points, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration. The creature recovers additional hit points equal to the maximum of your Bardic Inspiration die.

Revlid
2016-10-22, 01:21 PM
HEALING INSPIRATION
Also at 3rd level, your words of inspiration leave others feeling refreshed and renewed. A creature who has a Bardic Inspiration die from you can roll that die as a bonus action, regaining hit points equal to the number rolled.I'm not sure using this feature should cost a bonus action. It's already cost you a bonus action, and even at 20th level it's healing less than a casting of Cure Wounds. Have you considered adding the Bard's spellcasting modifier to the amount healed, even as an upgrade later on?


BATTLEFIELD SURGERY
Starting at 6th level, you excel at tending to the wounded after battle. If you spend an entire short rest tending to yourself and your allies, roll all of your remaining Bardic Inspiration dice and add your Charisma modifier to the total. Until the end of the short rest, you can restore a number of hit points equal to the result of the roll. Each point restores 1 hit point to a creature, or you can spend 5 points to cure a creature of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it.
This ability is used before you recover your uses of Bardic Inspiration at the end of a short rest. This ability doesn't prevent you from using your Song of Rest ability.This is an interesting one, and extremely variable. Assuming you have all your uses of Bardic Inspiration still in play, it ranges from 5 hit points to 60 hit points... I'd consider offering a flat "consume dice for an effect" ratio. I'd recommend converting leftover Bardic Inspiration dice into hit dice for everyone, for synergy with Song of Rest.


MAGICAL MEDIC
Starting at 14th level, when you cast a spell that targets one creature and restores hit points, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration. The creature recovers additional hit points equal to the maximum of your Bardic Inspiration die.
This is fine in isolation, but it ultimately feels like too much of a retread of the first feature. I'd seriously consider folding it into Healing Inspiration, if you don't want to add your spellcasting modifier to the amount healed - so a character with a Bardic Inspiration die can spend it to heal themselves with a roll, and if they spend it while they're being healed by something else, the roll is maximized. Then come up with something else for 14th level.

quinron
2016-10-22, 07:28 PM
Thanks for the feedback; I made the archetype pretty quickly and posted it shortly afterward. I'll be tinkering with things a bit and posting again with the update.

Beneath
2016-10-22, 08:49 PM
Battlefield Surgery doesn't do much that Healing Inspiration didn't already do (neutralizing disease and poison and distributing on a finer level than whole dice, sure, but that's a bit narrow for a whole new ability)

quinron
2016-10-23, 01:57 AM
Quick survey: how would these changes affect your perception of the class and its balance?

1. Healing Inspiration: Instead of rolling it as a bonus action, whenever a creature rolls one of your Bardic Inspiration dice, it automatically regains HP equal to the number rolled.
2. Battlefield Surgery: Your healing pool is equal to your bard level plus your Charisma mod. Bardic Inspiration can be handed out individually to heal.
3. Magical Medic: When you cast a healing spell, expend one Bardic Inspiration to maximize the dice. When another creature casts a healing spell, expend one Bardic Inspiration as a reaction to maximize the dice. This was my original idea; I thought it might be a bit overpowered, but considering the fact that most of the high-powered healing spells heal a fixed amount, I've reconsidered.