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Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Sant-Kavi of the Maha Bhagwan
माहाभगवान का संत-कवि
As water to sea creatures
Moon nectar to chakora birds
Companionable dark to the stars –
My love is to my lord.
As if a day when no sun came up
And no color came to the earth –
That’s how it is in my heart when he goes away.
Vidyāpati says, cherish such love
And keep it young, fortunate one.
-- Vidyāpati, a sant-kavi
People experience an almost infinite variety of responses to divinity. There are a rare few, however, who embrace divinity with a totality that eclipses everything else in their lives. Their ecstatic devotion to their deity pours out of their bodies, hearts, and minds in the form of song, music, poetry, and dance. They just can’t keep it in! These people often become sant-kavis, itinerant poets and musicians whose devotion to their god pervades their music and their lives.
Sant-kavis are able to channel this devotion into inspiring songs, poems, and dances that enrapture those around them. They are able to give their friends and followers a glimpse of their special relationship with their deity; a relationship that often seems more like two lovers than like a master and servant or parent and child. Their intense faith gives them powers that few others possess.
A sant-kavi’s songs are what make her faith so magical and her abilities so potent. Through music, a san-kavi can invite outsiders to share in a relationship of devotion that is deeper and more passionate than mundane words can express. Her songs are an extension of this relationship; a musical manifestation of her overpowering faith. Without the music, there is no way to communicate the devotion she experiences. And without the devotion, there would be no music.
Becoming a Sant-Kavi
Most sant-kavis begin their adventuring careers as bards before multiclassing to cleric, favored soul or similar divine spellcasting classes. The sant-kavi prestige class emphasizes the bardic aspects of the character much more heavily, rewarding those who progress farther as bards than as divine casters.
Some sant-kavis choose to fulfill their arcane spellcasting requirement with levels in wizard or sorcerer, using one level dips to fulfill their bardic music and divine spellcasting requirements. This route is particularly attractive for sant-kavis with a more studious bent (in which case, they may find the cloistered cleric variant attractive as well) or a direct genetic connection to a source of arcane power.
Hit Dice: d6
Requirements:
Skills: Perform (any) 8 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranksClass Skills:
Spellcasting: Ability to cast 2nd level arcane spells
Spellcasting: Ability to cast 1st level divine spells
Special: Bardic music
Alignment: Any good, must be the same as her chosen deity
The sant-kavi’s class skills are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha)Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Spellcasting
1|+0|+0|+2|+2|Bardic music, inspire bhakti|+1 level of bardic spellcasting class
2|+1|+0|+3|+3|Music domain|+1 level of bardic spellcasting class/[br]+1 level of divine spellcasting class
3|+2|+1|+3|+3|Beloved of the lord (1/week, energy resistance)|+1 level of bardic spellcasting class/[br]+1 level of divine spellcasting class
4|+3|+1|+4|+4|Inspire virataa|+1 level of bardic spellcasting class/[br]+1 level of divine spellcasting class
5|+3|+1|+4|+4||+1 level of bardic spellcasting class/[br]+1 level of divine spellcasting class
6|+4|+2|+5|+5|Beloved of the lord (2/week, damage reduction)|+1 level of bardic spellcasting class/[br]+1 level of divine spellcasting class
7|+5|+2|+5|+5||+1 level of bardic spellcasting class[br]+1 level of divine spellcasting class
8|+6|+2|+6|+6|Inspire shurataa|+1 level of bardic spellcasting class/[br]+1 level of divine spellcasting class
9|+6|+3|+6|+6|Beloved of the lord (3/week, ability damage)|+1 level of bardic spellcasting class/[br]+1 level of divine spellcasting class
10|+7|+3|+7|+7|Inspire satya bhakti|+1 level of bardic spellcasting class/[br]+1 level of divine spellcasting class[/table]
Class Features
Armor and Weapon Proficiencies: A sant-kavi gains no additional proficiencies with armor or weapons.
Bardic Music: Sant-kavi levels stack with bard levels for the purpose of determining the sant-kavi’s daily uses of her bardic music abilities and the value of the bonus granted by her inspire courage ability (if any).
Spellcasting: When a new sant-kavi level is gained, the character gains new spells per day and spells known as if she had also gained a level in the bard class. Additionally, beginning at second level and continuing at every subsequent level, she gains new spells per day as if she had gained a level in any one divine spellcasting class she belonged to previously. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class before she became a sant-kavi, she must decide to which class she adds each level of sant-kavi the purpose of determining spells per day.
Inspire Bhakti (भक्ति): A sant-kavi’s devotion to her deity is truly inspiring. Beginning at 1st level, a sant-kavi can spend a use of her bardic music ability to spread some of this devotion to those around her.
Initiating this ability is a standard action, during with the sant-kavi makes a perform check. All creatures who can hear the sant-kavi and whose Intelligence scores are greater than 3 make a Will save equal to the sant-kavi’s perform check. Creatures whose alignment is 2 or more steps away from the sant-kavi’s on a single alignment axis (evil-good or chaotic-lawful) or at least 1 step away from the sant-kavi’s on both alignment axes gain a +4 circumstance bonus on this save. Creatures who are active enemies or rivals of the sant-kavi gain a +8 circumstance bonus on this save. Those who fail their save move one step closer to “helpful” in their attitude regarding the sant-kavi (see the rules for the Diplomacy skill), consider the sant-kavi’s deity as their own, and cannot attack or otherwise attempt to hinder or harm the sant-kavi for the duration of the effect. However, if the sant-kavi deals damage (normal or ability) to a creature under the effect of her inspire bhakti ability, the effect immediately ends for that creature.
Creatures who voluntarily fail their saves against this ability gain its benefits but are not forced to take the sant-kavi’s deity as their own, though they may choose to do so. Their attitude with regard to the sant-kavi is also not automatically improved. They are considered under the effect of this ability, despite the lack of changes their attitude or their religious views. However, if they attack the sant-kavi or attempt to affect the sant-kavi with a damaging or otherwise harmful spell or ability, they must immediately make a save against the sant-kavi’s inspire bhakti ability using the original save DC.
This effect lasts as long as the sant-kavi continues to perform and for a number of minutes thereafter equal to her class level plus her bard level.
Originally Posted by DM Note
Beloved of the Lord: The sant-kavi’s intense devotion has earned her the favor and protection of her deity. Once per week, when she would be brought to 0 or fewer hit points by energy damage of any type, she may, as an immediate action, gain energy resistance equal to twice her class level + her Charisma modifier against that type of energy. This energy resistance applies only to the effect that brought her to 0 or fewer hit points. The damage of the effect is re-calculated taking into account the sant-kavi’s energy resistance.
For example, Mira Bai, a 4th-level sant-kavi with a Charisma score of 21, is included in the radius of a CL 6 fireball spell. She takes 23 points of damage, which would bring her to -5 hit points. Mira Bai activates her beloved of the lord class ability as an immediate action and gains fire resistance 13 (twice her class level [8] plus her Charisma modifier [5]). This resistance reduces the fire damage she took to 10, leaving her with 8 hit points.
Beginning at 6th level, the sant-kavi can also use this ability when brought to 0 or fewer hit points by standard hit point damage. In this case, she gains damage reduction equal to twice her class level + her Charisma modifier and the damage she took is re-calculated.
Beginning at 9th level, she can use this ability to negate ability damage that would reduce one of her ability scores to 0. She negates ability damage equal to her class level + her Charisma modifier when she uses this ability. She can only use this ability to negate ability damage that directly reduces one of her ability scores to 0. For example, if the sant-kavi is affected by a poison and the secondary damage reduces her Strength score to 0, she can only use this ability to negate the poison’s secondary damage.
Finally, she gains one additional weekly use of this ability at 6th and 9th levels.
Inspire Virataa (वीरता): Beginning at 4th level, any creature the sant-kavi considers an ally who is under the effects of her inspire bhakti ability gains greater benefits from her other bardic music abilities. The bonus to attack and damage rolls they gain from the sant-kavi’s inspire courage ability increases by an amount equal to half the sant-kavi’s Charisma modifier.
Inspire Shurataa (शूरता): Beginning at 8th level, three times per day, the sant-kavi may spend a use of her bardic music ability to grant a measure of her divine blessing to her allies. When she uses this ability, all creatures the sant-kavi considers allies and who are under the effects of her inspire bhakti ability gain the use of the domain power for one of her domains. The sant-kavi does not count as an ally for the purpose of this ability and cannot grant herself additional facility with domain powers.
The sant-kavi can initiate this ability as a standard action. Each ally gains the use of the domain power until the end of the sant-kavi’s inspire bhakti ability or, in the case of domain powers with limited uses per day, until she exhausts her daily uses. An ally’s ability to use the domain power follows all the normal rules for its use. Each ally affected is considered to have an effective cleric level equal to half his character level for the purposes of the domain powers.
Inspire Satya Bhakti (सत्य भक्ति): At 10th level, a sant-kavi’s devotion reaches its peak. The sant-kavi may choose make the duration of her inspire bhakti ability permanent for any creature under its effect. Doing so requires no extra actions or effort on the part of the sant-kavi. During any given inspire bhakti use, the sant-kavi may choose to make the duration permanent for all creatures affected by the ability, may also choose to exclude any number of creatures from this permanency effect, or may choose not to make the duration permanent, as she desires. However, the sant-kavi may only affect a number of creatures per day equal to her Charisma modifier with this ability. Any spell or effect that removes the effect of the Bestow Curse spell ends this effect as well.
This permanency does not affect the durations of any other abilities whose duration is specifically keyed off the sant-kavi’s inspire bhakti ability, such as inspire shurataa. These abilities remain limited to the original inspire bhakti duration.
Music Domain
Granted Power: You add Perform to your list of class skills. You also gain the ability to use Ghost Sound as a spell-like ability 3 times/day.
Music Domain Spells
- Hypnotism
- Sound Burst
- Sculpt Sound
- Charm Monster
- Song of Discord
- Sympathetic Vibration
- Shout, Greater
- Irresistible Dance
- Wail of the Banshee
Last edited by Mephibosheth; 2013-04-15 at 08:48 AM.
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2011-11-11, 01:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Just a brief note:
I've seen a few bard/cleric prestige classes but I've never really been impressed by their mechanics or their flavor. This class builds on the legends that surround the saint-poets who wrote the bhajans and poems of the bhakti movement famous in South Asia, particularly sant-kavis like Meerabai and Kabir from medieval north India.
I'm very interested to hear what you think about this class' balance. Most dual spell progression PrC's have few if any class features while this one has some fairly powerful ones. I'm open to any suggestions you think will improve this class.
Another quick note: The image I used can be found here. The poem snippet can be found in In Praise of Krishna: Songs from the Bengali, translated by Edward C. Dimock, Jr. and Denise Levertov, p. 17.
A final note: While this is inspired by a real-world historical and religious movement, the class itself does not advance any particular real-world religious view. I know this is close to the board's prohibition of religious discussion, so let's focus on the game aspects, not the inspiring material.
I hope you like the class!
MephiboshethLast edited by Mephibosheth; 2011-11-11 at 10:40 PM.
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2011-11-11, 01:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Inspire Virataa is WAY too strong when combined with Dragonfire Inspiration; that would be adding a number of d6s in damage equal to your Charisma modifier to ALL allies damage rolls.
Also, you might want to Beloved of the Lord a bit more frequent; as it is, their next attack will kill these guys. May I suggest having it be per day?
Inspire Shurataa can get crazy with stuff like the Destiny Domain, where all your allies can grant you rerolls, or Endurance (who wants a +1/2 their Cleric level (which usually is replaced by ECL by abilities like this) as an Enhancement bonus to Constitution for one minute), or Strength (+ECL to Strength for a round? I'm game.), or any of the domains that grant healing.
I mean, I like it, but Heretic of the Faith makes this a little... excessive, what with granting everyone Death Touch or the like.
I mean, I like it, but it pays to know what a given feature is capable of.
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2011-11-11, 01:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
You know, a wizard could benefit from this class greatly by entering this class as a divine bard. In fact, that would be a devastating combination.
What does this mean? "Gain its benefits, but are not affected"? What benefit do they gain?
Beloved of the Lord is a very nice ability for an emergency ability. The once per week limitation hurts, but at the same time it only works if your hit points or ability score would drop to 0, and as a cleric or a favored soul (with access to the best healing spells in the game) this shouldn't be happening too often. Even if it only brings you to 1 HP, that's more than enough for you to drop a heal and move on. I like it.
Inspire Virataa- Ah, now I understand. The inspire bhakti ability does not grant benefits itself, but the rest of your class features require you to do it. Makes sense.
Inspire Shurataa- You should add something that says "Each ally affected is considered to have an effective cleric level equal to his character level for the purposes of the domain powers." It's relevant due to things like the Strength Domain power or the Death Domain power.
Inspire Satya Bhakti- Now this is good. Drop a use, all allies voluntarily fail, move on. It's an interesting ability, but it's kind of...weak, for a capstone. Leaves me wanting more. Some kind of third, all-powerful ability for people under the effect of inspire bhakti.
As for whether it's balanced with the theurgeness, well, a bard loses skill points, caster level, and most of its songs. A cleric loses turning levels (hah!), and effective cleric levels for calculating his Domain powers. (A solid hit, but one that's generally expected as clerics always prestige). It's alright, but certainly too powerful for a divine bard/wizard. (A wizard who loses TWO caster levels, for the bard dip to qualify)
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2011-11-11, 02:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
The Cleric doesn't lose Domain power progression; they count as an ally for the purpose of Bardic Music effects, as well...
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Thanks very much for the comments!
Originally Posted by Amechra
Originally Posted by Amechra
Originally Posted by Amechra
Hmm. Heretic of the faith raises interesting concerns. I don't have that book and had never heard of that feat before. I can think of a lot of flavor-related reasons why a sant-kavi wouldn't take it, but no mechanical ones. I'll have to think about how to address this.
Originally Posted by NeoSeraphi
Originally Posted by NeoSeraphi
Originally Posted by NeoSeraphiThe Scroungers Campaign Setting
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2011-11-11, 02:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
No, what you should do is have the table progress +1 bardic casting/+1 divine casting to prevent wizard benefit entirely. There are precedents for this (iirc most bard PrCs specify "bardic casting" instead of arcane casting in the table)
Done and done, though I made it half their character level rather than their full character level to keep it from being too much. Thanks for catching that!
I guess I thought about this ability more for its out-of-combat utility rather than it's in-combat utility. I imagine a sant-kavi using this ability to construct networks of friendly acquaintances, spread their religious beliefs, or build political power. It's not too powerful in combat, but could definitely be useful over the course of a campaign. That said, I'm open to suggestions for how to make it more useful in combat as well.
Most power-gamers would argue otherwise, but I believe that people who play bards play them for the fluff. For the musical ability, the skill-monkey role, and the fluff of being a wandering minstrel.
This class, unlike most bard PrCs, takes all of that away while offering little in return, just the ability to spread your devotion among your group. (In that sense, it's more like a cleric who dipped bard than a religious bard)
I don't really have any suggestions for how to improve this (as I've never read the poem and I don't really know the fluff behind all of this), but it's something I hope you'll think about.
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2011-11-11, 02:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Haha. Good call. Done and done.
You're probably right about the capstone. I'll definitely keep thinking about what to add in to make it a bit more capstone-y. I also took your comments about the class abandoning a lot of bardic features as an excuse to bump the skill points back up to 6 per level. I was looking for a reason to do that. I hope you don't mind.
I also added a new fluff paragraph to tie the class more strongly to music. I know it comes from a pretty specific (and somewhat esoteric) source material, so I hope this helps a bit.
Incidentally, I agree with you about building bards for the flavor, rather than the crunch.
Thanks a lot for your very helpful comments. I'll definitely keep thinking about the capstone...
MephiboshethLast edited by Mephibosheth; 2011-11-11 at 02:53 PM.
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Limiting the Domain granted abilities to half-ECL would make them less abusable; after all, a 1/2 their ECL to Strength or 1/4 their ECL to Constitution isn't too strong.
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Barbarians also gain +10 Con, AND there is a ton of neat stuff that can be added to rage (can this trigger Mad Foam Rager? I think not!)
Besides, Barbarian's bonus stacks with everything, and they gain that bonus for AT LEAST 8 rounds, compared to 1 round for this.
Sorry for the off-topic; however, I would love to see this progressing Apostle of Peace.
THAT would be tasty.
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Ah, the 1 round limitation. True. But remember, the original version was intended to be up to +20 (before prestige classes). +20 Strength for 1 round? Yes please. Not as good as a barbarian's Mighty Rage, but then...a barbarian can't also have the Transformation Domain and shapechange at the same time.
Sorry for the off-topic; however, I would love to see this progressing Apostle of Peace.
THAT would be tasty.
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Imma just pop in and say I love this with a passion. I quite enjoy myself some Hinduism, and the flavor here is great. The abilities are fun (I've never really been a Bard player, but from what I can tell this is pretty good), and it's just generally enjoyable.
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Originally Posted by Domriso
Originally Posted by Amechra
Edit: One other thing I forgot to add. RE the capstone, what about a non-permanent Suggestion effect for all whose deity is changed or are otherwise affected by the sant-kavi's inspire bhakti ability (perhaps with the ability to exclude a certain number of creatures). A better capstone?Last edited by Mephibosheth; 2011-11-14 at 11:00 AM.
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
I truly enjoy this class, and I don't have anything to add that hasn't already been said. Mind if I write this into my worldbuilding project's Homebrew Whitelist?
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
I'm not saying go Apostle of Peace because it's strong; I'm going Apostle of Peace for the FLAVOR, baby!
Plus, the best of the 4, Ur Priest, isn't a valid choice.
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Originally Posted by Wyntonian
Originally Posted by AmechraThe Scroungers Campaign Setting
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
I read this several times, thinking I was misunderstanding it, but I think I have it correctly. You enter combat. You take a standard action to activate bardic music. Foes must save at +8 vs. your Perform check or else they worship your deity, are now unfriendly to you instead of hostile, and cannot attack, hinder, or harm you for the remainder of the combat. Meanwhile, you face no restrictions in your actions against them. So, for example, you can attack, hinder, or harm them and they cannot retaliate. Or (more likely) you can simply buff and support your allies, and no foe who failed the save, has any chance of harming you.
So, it's basically like super duper sanctuary on speed. Huh. Not sure what I think of that.Subclasses for 5E: magus of blades, shadowcraft assassin, spellthief, void disciple
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Re: Sant-Kavi: A Bard/Cleric PrC [3.5, PrC]
Yeah. Pretty much. I'm going to add a clause that ends the effect if you attack someone under its influence, but basically, you're right. It's like a more powerful Sanctuary. I think I'm ok with it. The bonus on saves is pretty steep in combat situations and Sanctuary-like effects are useful, but only to a certain extent. Plus, it only affects creatures with Intelligence scores greater than or equal to 3, so there are any number of monsters that are immune to the ability.
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