Bard Subclass: College of Thanes

[LibraryOgre]

Thanes are war-leaders; individuals of power and persuasion who inspire the best in their warriors, and strike fear into the heart of their foes.

Thanes are war-leaders; individuals of power and persuasion who inspire the best in their warriors, and strike fear into the heart of their foes.

3rd - War Cry - As an action, a Thane may issue a War Cry, emboldening their allies to the fight. Each use of War Cry gives all allies within 30’ of the Thane, who can hear their voice, a bardic inspiration die to be used. The die is one size smaller than the bard’s Bardic Inspiration die (so, d6 becomes d4), but while the ally holds it, they add +1 to saving throws v. the frightened condition. These Inspiration dice last until used, or 10 minutes have passed.
Each use of this power consumes one use of the Thane’s Bardic Inspiration ability. Thanes may still choose to use Bardic Inspiration in the usual fashion.

3rd - Warrior-Bard - The Thane gains proficiency in Intimidation. If they already have that proficiency, they may choose another from among the Barbarian skills. They additionally gain proficiency in medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.

6th - Extra Attack - Starting at 6th level, the Thane can attack twice, instead of once, whenever they take the Attack action on their turn.

14th - Battle Chant - At 14th level, a Thane may begin a Battle Chant as an action, which they may maintain from round to round as a bonus action or reaction; Thane’s choice, round to round. Subjects of the chant must be within 30’ of the Thane, and be able to hear them. Each round of the Battle Chant, the Thane may add one of the following effects to the chant, which continue until the chant is not maintained, or the subjects can no longer see or hear the Thane.
-One half the Thane’s proficiency bonus added to allies’ weapon attacks
-One half the Thane’s proficiency bonus added to allies’ weapon damage
-One half the Thane’s proficiency bonus added to allies’ saving throws
-The Thane’s proficiency bonus in Temporary HP to allies once (this will only be added to any ally once per chant; leaving then re-entering the area of effect will not provide them anew).
-Enemies of the Thane must make a Wisdom saving throw or become Frightened of the Thane while in the area of effect. This save is made once per round while within the area of effect, but successfully saving against it renders the creature immune to the effect until they next complete a long rest.
If an ally chooses to join in the chant, then they add +1 to the bonuses above, and, if the Thane is making the opponents Frightened, the opponents are also Frightened of the ally. Joining the chant requires spending a bonus action or reaction; if the ally does not join the chant on a given round, the additional bonuses end after the turn they did not maintain it (so, if during a round, the ally chooses not to maintain the chant, they will not have the additional saving throw bonus between their turns, nor the additional attack or damage bonuses, nor the bonus Temporary HP, nor will enemies be Frightened of them. Rejoining the chant next turn will resume those bonuses).
A Thane may only use the Battle Chant once per long rest.


3rd - Battle Chant: As an action, the Thane may begin a Battle Chant, which grants all allies within 30 feet a bardic inspiration die. However, dice granted through Battle Chant have some limitations. They are reduced by two die sizes (minimum d4), and only last while the chant is maintained. If the Thane stops chanting, due to casting a spell, losing concentration, or being incapacitated, paralyzed, petrified, or unconscious, then the die lasts only to the end of the Thane’s next turn. The Thane may maintain concentration for up to a number of minutes equal to their proficiency bonus.
Each use of Battle Chant consumes one of the Thane’s uses of Bardic Inspiration. Thanes may still choose to use Bardic Inspiration in the usual fashion.
The Thane gains proficiency in Intimidation. If they already have that proficiencies, they may choose from among the Barbarian skills. They additionally gain proficiency in medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.

6th - Extra Attack: Starting at 6th level, the Thane can attack twice, instead of once, whenever they take the Attack action on their turn.

14th - War Cry - At 14th level, a Thane can unleash a War Cry that causes others to quake and flee. The Thane learns the Thunderwave spell, or, if they already know Thunderwave, another 1st level spell from the bard list. As a bonus action, the Thane can cast Thunderwave, causing 4d8 thunder damage. In addition to the effects of that spell, those caught within the War Cry’s area of effect must make a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened and deafened for 1 round.
After the Thane unleashed their War Cry, they may not do it again until they have completed a short or long rest.

[MrStabby]

All Hail MacBeth, Thane of Cawdor!

Thoughts:

Battle Chant - shouldn't this require allies be able to hear it and therefore be stopped by spells like silence/deafness etc? This seems to naturally be a bit like bless... only each ally only gets to use it once, it can target more allies than bless and it probably does less. The concentration requirement will probably mean this won't see much play at higher levels as the bard will typically have a lot of good things to concentrate on.

Extra Attack - OK. We know generally how this works.

War Cry - So once per short rest you can cast a thunderwave using a bonus action instead of an action... no "without somatic components", no "without expending a spell slot". And "frightened and deafened for one round" - till end of their next turn? Till end of your next turn? Honestly, this doesn't seem exciting as a level 14 feature. One round of frightened per short rest might be useful and I guess it can hit multiple enemies...

I just can't help but think that this looks a bit lss fun than both swords and valor bard. Battle chant is unique but unless that grabs you hard there isn't that much else exciting in the college. I might do something like war cry teaches you thunderwave and also lets you force that fear/deafness save an anyone you deal thunder damage to from a levelled spell. Whilst this does open up the ability to working with spells like destructive wave or elemental weapon its a) kind of thematic still and b) requires the bard to be expending magical secrets on spells that are probably a little suboptimal. Something to help give you something to look forward to for 14 levels.

[LibraryOgre]

Battle Chant - shouldn't this require allies be able to hear it and therefore be stopped by spells like silence/deafness etc? This seems to naturally be a bit like bless... only each ally only gets to use it once, it can target more allies than bless and it probably does less. The concentration requirement will probably mean this won't see much play at higher levels as the bard will typically have a lot of good things to concentrate on.

Good points. I was worried about balancing it against Bardic Inspiration, but need to move it in another direction.



War Cry - So once per short rest you can cast a thunderwave using a bonus action instead of an action... no "without somatic components", no "without expending a spell slot". And "frightened and deafened for one round" - till end of their next turn? Till end of your next turn? Honestly, this doesn't seem exciting as a level 14 feature. One round of frightened per short rest might be useful and I guess it can hit multiple enemies...


Also good points. I'll fiddle with this more today.

[LibraryOgre]

Significantly reworked; kept the names and the general idea at each level, but switched the names.

3rd - War Cry now gives everyone who can hear the Thane a diminished-size Bardic Inspiration die.

10th - Battle Chant now provides a steadily increasing list of bonuses, with the Thane having to maintain it round to round. Allies may join in the chant as they like, gaining a slightly improved bonus for doing so, at the cost of a bonus action or reaction.

[MrStabby]

I am still a little worried about the battle chant. A few questions:

1) Is there supposed to be a duration or a time limit? Or can you get up, have breakfast, start singing and then 4 hours later have your first encounte and walk into it with all bonuses?

2) Is there any guidance on who you can bring as a backing singer? Can you summon a flock of parrots to "sing" along with you? Even if you can't, something like conjure animals still seems like it could be really powerful with this effect.

[LibraryOgre]

I am still a little worried about the battle chant. A few questions:

1) Is there supposed to be a duration or a time limit? Or can you get up, have breakfast, start singing and then 4 hours later have your first encounte and walk into it with all bonuses?

2) Is there any guidance on who you can bring as a backing singer? Can you summon a flock of parrots to "sing" along with you? Even if you can't, something like conjure animals still seems like it could be really powerful with this effect.

1) An explicit time limit does seem like a good idea.

2) The backing singers do not matter for the power of the chant, except for the backup singers; the additional bonus only applies to the singer themselves, do not extend the duration, and do not extend the area of effect. If they stop chanting, they lose the additional bonus, and people feared by the Thane are not feared by them.

This, like all wide-scale bonus spells, gets pretty powerful with large groups. It could get powerful with Conjure Animals... it could also get powerful with 100 gold and 8 fighters.