Essence of Bard

[MrStabby]

In a game I DM I have had a session a long time ago where I just winged it. Made up some stuff, some background and so on about a bunch of powerful vampires. It was safe, the PCs knew these guys were out of their league. Over the years of the campaign they have been fleshed out slightly as background antagonists not really related to the main plot.

Maybe unsurprisingly now the PCs have a few more levels under their belt they think it would be a right jolly laugh to go and smash up some vampires.

As i have described these to the players some are vampires with class levels (well not exactly - more with additional abilities themes around a class) - so there is the predatory/hunter vampire playing off ranger abilities, a sage/artificier vampire using extreme longevity to research and forge perfect creations and so on.

As the title suggests, I need to work on the "bard" vampire. Now the downside is that this is a pretty damn big dungeon and packed full of some more than averagely complex creatures. Add onto this that the baseline vampire chassis that underpins the concept is not trivial to keep track of and I am left in a position where I want "bard" but without all of the bard levels.

Which brings me to the question of "what is the essence of bard?". What abilities can I add that screams Bard to the players? Bardic spells are an obvious feature but a pain to keep track of (and what are the most obviously "bardic" spells? Another is bardic inspiration - not complex but a pain for bookkeeping if I have to remember which vampire spwan of ghost in the fight has the inspirations. Martial skills can help a bit... but how is this different from another class or how do I show that it is associated with being bardic. The cutting words is closer but another vampire has a similar ability and I would prefer to avoid duplication. I would prefer a couple of spells able to be cast "at will" than a full spell progression.

[PhoenixPhyre]

For me, vicious mockery would work well. Make sure to flavor it as insulting comments that cause actual damage.

Edit: or anything else sonic/mind affecting. Charm, dominate, suggestion, etc

[MrStabby]

Yeah, I suppose i could just up the sonic theme. Anything with a thunder damage effect... A good start anyway.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I use healing word, vicious mockery, bardic inspiration, cutting words, some are bonus actions and reactions. Phantasmal force applied right to a pc could be scary.

[Marvnmartian]

Dissonant whispers is a bard only spell its a good spell to fluff in how ever you want and its a level 1 spell so it is accessible and shows its a bard instantly

[nickl_2000]

I feel the essence of a bard is the mental impacting spells. Viscous mockery, dissonant whispers, suggestion, charm, hypnotic pattern, etc

[Slipperychicken]

Give him the Bless spell. It's the perfect effect for bards, despite somehow not being a bard spell.

[MrStabby]

I use healing word, vicious mockery, bardic inspiration, cutting words, some are bonus actions and reactions. Phantasmal force applied right to a pc could be scary.




Dissonant whispers is a bard only spell its a good spell to fluff in how ever you want and its a level 1 spell so it is accessible and shows its a bard instantly



I feel the essence of a bard is the mental impacting spells. Viscous mockery, dissonant whispers, suggestion, charm, hypnotic pattern, etc

OK, so I am thinking that the legendary actions can be cast dissonant whispers, cast mirror image, cast suggestion and strip out the current vampire actions. Flavour wise that should give a real caster feel to the encounter and play up the illusion/enchantment theme.

In terms of power, I think that this will be a boost to the Vampire. How much is tough to know. I feel that the CR of a vampire is a little overestimated, especially if the PCs know they will be facing one so estimating the actual CR is tough.

Dissonant whispers will typically do less than the Vampire's attack legendary action, the moving away part is a nice touch though. Being able to use this to help avoid attacks of opportunity, break up groups and keep people out of combat with the vampire (especially those who are likely to do radiant damage) to focus down on those in the fight and dodge some very specific spells like spirit guardians adds some extra utility.

Mirror image at will as a legendary action is going to be very powerful. This is probably a defining feature of the encounter. This alone will probably add 2 points of CR to the encounter. It isn't like it can't be circumvented with true sight or similar but if the party doesn't adapt to this then slower damage coupled with vampiric regeneration might make the fight drain a lot more resources than expected.

Suggestion is harder. I am not sure if this is better for the character than the (suggested) phantasmal force. I think phantasmal force adds a little more difference so maybe use this instead?


I would love to add more higher level bard spells (hypnotic pattern, compulsion) but keeping track of them is hard (whilst juggling other parts of the encounter, keeping track of time for estimating when other bad guys will wake up etc) and I think the fight is probably tough enough already. For context there are going to be 3 other vampires here (in other encounters - unless the party takes too long) and a few supporting enemies - A spawn and a couple of ghouls, easily managed by a turn undead or similar resource expenditure I imagine. The theme/challenge is not just to win, but to win with enough resources left to push through fighting more encounters till they can get to the resting place to dispatch the vampires they have defeated. Party is level 12 and is packing a pretty serious amount of magic items.

[RSP]

The main way to get the feel of a Bard across would be RP (maybe have that vamp be the one that does the villian's monologue).

Other than that, just give them Cutting Words as a Reaction (no need to track it as uses on an npc) and Viscious Mockery works - just RP both abilities as insults as suggested in an above post.

Maybe though in an always on Counter Charm (or slightly higher DC on the already present Vampire Charm ability) and you should have a pretty good better than average "Bard vampire."

[MrStabby]

The main way to get the feel of a Bard across would be RP (maybe have that vamp be the one that does the villian's monologue).

Other than that, just give them Cutting Words as a Reaction (no need to track it as uses on an npc) and Viscious Mockery works - just RP both abilities as insults as suggested in an above post.

Maybe though in an always on Counter Charm (or slightly higher DC on the already present Vampire Charm ability) and you should have a pretty good better than average "Bard vampire."

These are all good points, although I don't think I will do this.
Villains monologue - this is a bit of a sidequest. PCs want to smash stuff up and indulge in a bit of mindless violence. This is a bit of a break in the main story path. No real exposition to be made here.

Cutting words is good - my only reason for rejecting this is that I have another character with a very similar effect in the name dungeon.

[DarkKnightJin]

If they're supposed to be a Bard, they could be the one that does yhe monologuing. Even of, or perhaps especially if, there is nothing relevant to be learned.

They are juts telling the PCs things they think need to be saod, either to simply confuse, or perhaps trying to get them to turn on eachother.
Bards aren't just the.musical guys, or the buffers. They're battlefield controllers, and I think hacing a Vampire with their already powerful Charms working that particular Bardic magic could be both great fluff, and make them more 'dangerous' to the party than they might think. Perhaps give this one a bit less HP to counter it but give them a simple trick to help them get to their resting place to regen if the need arises.

[PeteNutButter]

Vampire Bard? Make him like the Joker.

[Re]Introduce him early in the dungeon. Have him walk on the ceiling, strumming his lute while singing a jolly tune, mocking the PCs. Maybe engage a bit of banter and then mist form away if a fight breaks out. The fluff will be more important than the mechanics.

I like my evil bards as sadistic comedians. The pale skin really drives the joker image.