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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next (Bardic) College of Songs that Gladden the Heart [P.E.A.C.H.]



DracoDei
2019-05-05, 06:22 PM
I realize this is pretty short on fluff, but I mostly just wanted to see what people thought of the balance of the abilities (especially the higher level ones).

With the exception of Combat Inspiration this College is much like Champion for Fighters or Thief for Rogue, in that it is mostly about making you better at things your base class can already do.

There will be a quiz list of questions I am especially interested in hearing feedback on at the end of this post.


College of Songs that Gladden the Heart
Some bards prefer to focus entirely on The Song that moves the hearts of men*, rather than becoming masters of esoteric lore or combat. Still, combat is where their heartening melodies are often most needed, so they do learn a few things. This means that, initially, they lie somewhere between the Colleges of Lore and Valor in their skills. Later on the divergences become more apparent.
*And women, and elves, and halflings, and... you get the idea. :smallwink:

Bonus Proficiencies
When you join the College of Songs that Gladden the Heart you gain proficiency in Performance if you do not have it already. If you are already proficient in that gain proficiency in one of the following skills: Insight, Medicine, Persuasion. If you are also already proficient with all of those they you may pick one of: Deception, Intimidate, or Perception.

You also gain proficiency in medium armor and either shields or one martial weapon.

Combat Inspiration (Yes, this is exactly the same as for College of Valor.)
Also at 3rd level, you learn to inspire others in battle. A creature that has a Bardic Inspiration die from you can roll that die and add the number rolled to a weapon damage roll it just made. Alternatively, when an attack roll is made against the creature, it can use its reaction to roll the Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to its AC against that attack, after seeing the roll but before knowing whether it hits or misses.

A Song that Resounds in the Heart(In some less serious campaigns this might also be referred to as "Earworm of Inspiration".)
The feelings your songs bring out are not so fleeting as those of your peers from other colleges.
Starting at 6th level, Bardic Inspiration dice you grant may be retained for up to 1 hour instead of 10 minutes.

Unflagging Inspiration
You can inspire for the long haul, rather than only a single moment of greatness.
At 14th level, for a single use of Bardic Inspiration can give two or three bardic inspiration dice to a character who has none, overriding the general rule that a character can only have one bardic inspiration die at a time. However no more than one of these dice may be spent on any given roll and if you grant two dice, they are d6s, while if you grant three, they are d4s.



The biggest questions I have:

Should I extend A Song that Resounds in the Heart to 8 hours, but say that you don't recover any dice that haven't been spent when you take a short rest? Alternatively, should I grant improvements to Song of Rest if this is underpowered? Give the player a choice between the two improvements (one of which is to an ability they just got)?
Regarding Unflagging Inspiration

Should the smaller die sizes for be moved up, down, or left the same (and/or increment somehow at 15th level when your normal die-size increases)? If up, should I include an option for 4 x d4?
Should I increase the versatility by having you giving out the same d10 or d12 as you normally would, but whenever they choose to spend this larger die, they may first "break" it into their choice of a set of smaller dice (which they they only roll one of)??
If a small power up is needed, I could say that, rather than only being able to spend one die per roll, you may choose to roll additional dice, one at a time after seeing the number on the previous Bardic Inspiration die. When you stop (including if you run out of further dice to roll), you use the highest number on any of those dice. Is a power-up needed and, if so, is this a good way to go about it? Should I rather make it so you replace the old roll(s), rather than taking the highest? Limit this to one re-roll (2 dice total rolled)?

Are the bonus proficiencies balanced with what college of Valor gives you?

snafuy
2019-05-18, 10:27 PM
I like the goal, but I don't know PEACH and I haven't seen a Valor Bard in play, so I can't judge the power level in comparison.

Those 3rd level cascading skill options are more words than necessary. Give them Performance, or any other skill if they already have that.

If you're worried about Inspiration dice expiring unused, then go all out: When you give an Inspiration die to another creature, they may use it once within the next 8 hours. The die is lost if either you or the creature takes a short or long rest.

That's all I've got.

DracoDei
2019-05-19, 07:03 PM
I like the goal, but I don't know PEACH

P.E.A.C.H. is very important, but very easy to remember.

It simply stands for:
Please
Examine
And
Critique
Honestly

Basically it means that the author wants review and promises not to take it badly if someone says it is bad in a certain way (or even in general) since they want to improve, and they can't do that if they don't know when they are doing badly AND when they are doing well.


and I haven't seen a Valor Bard in play, so I can't judge the power level in comparison.

Okay.


Those 3rd level cascading skill options are more words than necessary. Give them Performance, or any other skill if they already have that.

I like to give direction to the feel of my work, even if it requires more words.

You think I should move it to an "Advance rules" spoiler, and do as you say for the "default rules"?


If you're worried about Inspiration dice expiring unused, then go all out: When you give an Inspiration die to another creature, they may use it once within the next 8 hours. The die is lost if either you or the creature takes a short or long rest.
Hmm... I don't like the feel of something the character may not even observe (someone else resting) effecting the refreshing of a not-explicitly-magical ability, but since it IS quasi-magical, I suppose I could do that.


That's all I've got.
More than anyone else has done!