[4e] Dark Sun Bards?

[SandDemon]

So question here about the Dark Sun campaign setting....

Arcane magic is bad in Dark Sun - defiling, preserving, outlawed by sorceror-kings, etc. Bards have the source of arcane....yet things like the Athasian Minstrel Theme talk about most of them being bards. Wouldn't they be basically murdered in the streets for their use of arcane power? Am I missing something here? What if my bard wants to use Rituals that have key skill: arcana?

How should I handle this?

[Leon]

Be sneaky about it - that is what a Athasian bard is like, a sneaky, shadowy source of illicit goods and dealings.

[cupkeyk]

You should put 4e in your Thread title.

Defiling is an optional (and slightly trivial) rule for the arcane power source. many of the bard's powers aren't overtly arcane, especially the ones with the weapon keyword. You can say that a bard using weapon keyword powers can do so freely but if they use an implement keyword power, they may have to bluff it to pass by unnoticed, which cannot be done if they choose to defile.

Just my two cents, I am not a DM.

[SandDemon]

I can understand that they defile, but since it's basically death for those that use arcane power....wouldn't bards be extremely rare? It'd be like playing a wizard/sorcerer and the sorcerer-kings aren't cool with that. Should I just say it's psionic to avoid all this headache?

[cupkeyk]

If anything, I would change the power source to Shadow. The assassin is lonely in that power source category, and it fits the theme better than psionic.

[Shatteredtower]

I can understand that they defile, but since it's basically death for those that use arcane power....wouldn't bards be extremely rare? It'd be like playing a wizard/sorcerer and the sorcerer-kings aren't cool with that.

Bards are generally indistinguishable from any other musicians until they do something to give themselves away.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I can understand that they defile, but since it's basically death for those that use arcane power....wouldn't bards be extremely rare? It'd be like playing a wizard/sorcerer and the sorcerer-kings aren't cool with that. Should I just say it's psionic to avoid all this headache?

That's actually what a lot of preserving mages do in the setting. Since they don't defile, there's no surrounding plant death to give them away, so they can fib to bystanders that they're not really doing magic, that it's just psionic powers or something. And since a lot of bard powers do psychic damage, it's not that far from the mark.

Or you could just be a templar. Then you can practice magic with little fear of reprisal. That's what I'm doing with my Dark Sun bard here.

[nightwyrm]

Because classes are an out of game conceit. People "in-game" do not know that bard = arcane leader class. Unless the bard defiles, he's just some dude who can sing and entertain really well. It's like how you don't have to be in the samurai class to be a samurai.

[Leolo]

Sure, but this would be true for wizards, too.

All that is needed is that people know: "There are bards who defile!" not that a specific bard does it.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

But that's ONLY if they defile. If they don't they can lie about the source of their power, and bards tend to be good at bluffing even if they aren't trained in it.

[Leolo]

Well, no they can't.

Because (as said above) the source of power is an out of character information.

The common folk only sees:

Guy who does something by playing his mandoline until all the plants die - defiler!

He is not a defiler because he uses the arcane power source, but because he is someone who creates effects by playing his mandoline.

And like the wizard who comes into a town where some long time ago another wizard had defiled all plant life the bard who comes into a town where some long time ago another musician had defiled all plant life.

[Shatteredtower]

And like the wizard who comes into a town where some long time ago another wizard had defiled all plant life the bard who comes into a town where some long time ago another musician had defiled all plant life.

Except that the common people know that music doesn't generally kill plant life, otherwise it would be banned completely. They can't tell a bard from any other musician, just as there's little way to tell a wizard from anyone else until a spell is cast. Even then, any spellcaster can learn a musical instrument.