B(ardic)BBEG

[Trickquestion]

So, any of you given your players an antagonist with some variance of the Bard class? In my times as a player, I've fought evil wizards, fanatical clerics and black knights, but never an evil aligned bard. Since the name of the game is the current campaign I'm running is subverted standards, I've decided to stat out the main villain as a bard. This has worked well so far, seeing as he is both the secret leader of a vast criminal network, and is publicly renowned as a great adventuring hero, but seeing as the party has yet to engage him in combat, I'm not sure how that will unfold.

Anyone here played Bard PCs that are some variety of evil? The only thing I've heard of that comes close is Nale's pseudo-bard multiclass and that one womanizing scumbag who could become a party member in the first Baldur's Gate.

[Mr Beer]

No, but China Mieville's novel King Rat uses the Pied Piper as a bardic BBEG, with awesome results. It's a great book and if you want an evil high level bard, this guy fits the bill nicely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Rat_(1998_novel)

[SixWingedAsura]

A campaign I'm running actually has a bardic noble as a BBEG. Charismatic personality, coupled with money out his ears and an intelligence network that spans pretty much the globe makes him a threat. He's also a remorseless monster who is responsible for just about every atrocity being commited in the world. Think Hazama from BlazBlue if he actually wasn't much of a fighter and would flee, leaving behind minions every time the party finally caught up with him.

[Doorhandle]

There was an evil campaign journal that had an evil bard BBEG, who had managed to ally with a dracolich of all things.

Also the joker bard build right here.
Matter of fact, any manner of twisted harlequin would work well as an evil bard.

[SilverLeaf167]

Depending on the players, he could be a more subtle sort of villain. Whenever the players go to town, he's always there, coincidentally performing in the royal court or drinking at the bar. Even when he's not, he's just disguised or hiding. For whatever reason, he's stalking the party, and always aware of the mission they got from the king or the shady guy at the tavern. Then, he uses that information, together with his illusions and charms, to his advantage. The players might get suspicious about his recurring appearances, but if you do it well it should take quite a while for them to catch on to his villainy; and even after that, they can't exactly just assault such a friend of society.

Of course, this works best if there's a specific city where it would make at least some sense for him to be located.

EDIT: I somehow managed to miss that you were asking for actual play experience Sorry for that.

[Amaril]

Relevant.

Spoiler

Show

[Killer Angel]

So, any of you given your players an antagonist with some variance of the Bard class?

Nope, but sooner or later, I'll certainly play the joker bard.

Relevant.

Also this.

[Socratov]

Not only the joker bard is a thing, but how about a bard/exemplar?

I mean, not only is he evil and uses he his fans to do evil, but the people he uses normal people, who actually lov ehim and don't hink he is evil, just doing the neccessary.

Good luck, heroes on your quest to vanquish the man who is admittantly evil, but loved by a whole country. Are you trying to make a martyr for the history books?

[geeky_monkey]

There was an evil campaign journal that had an evil bard BBEG, who had managed to ally with a dracolich of all things.

That sounds like Kaveman26's "City State of the Enigmatic Overgnome" campaign recap. A very good read and has a fantastic Bard BBEG:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245994

[Killer Angel]

That sounds like Kaveman26's "City State of the Enigmatic Overgnome" campaign recap. A very good read and has a fantastic Bard BBEG:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245994

That's... a more entertaining reading that many novels. And it escaped me!

I love this place.

[DigoDragon]

I once had the players pitted against a red dragon bard. Through a series of weird events involving a church, a robot vampire, and the dragon's adopted mother, the pcs ended up really liking her and almost joined her cause.

[Socratov]

That sounds like Kaveman26's "City State of the Enigmatic Overgnome" campaign recap. A very good read and has a fantastic Bard BBEG:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245994

that was awesome reading, thank you for sharing this with me (us)

[Souhiro]

Well, I GMed a campaign with a Lvl-21 Bard as the Big Bad Evil Guy. He ruled an evil band, and managed to conquer a kingdom.

When the heroes managed to kill his Dragon, and get into his lair, instantly I said "This guy isn't for fighting, he's a BARD! He just sings "Pity me, pity me, pity me... don't kill me so I can backstab when you aren't looking at meeee".

[Kaveman26]

I think the most fun to be had from a bard as a villian, especially as a BBEG is that you can shatter a lot of cliches. He can be despotic and wicked without it being overt. He/She can be all charm and sunshine at the outside and then privately dangle all mimes above a pit of fiendish scorpions from the comfort of his own palace.

I saw references to the Joker and Twisted Harlequins above...those are good tracks to take. I also think you can go the following routes too...

The 1,000 yard stare Minstrel. This former adventurer saw the darker parts of Hell and The Abyss and watched his comrades torn apart amidst the darkness and oblivion. His only goal from that moment forward? Share his experiences and dilute his pain. Everywhere he wanders the mirth and happiness dissapear. The anguish of his song and the sorrow of his shattered mind bring misery and depression to whole villages and cities.

The Rock Star: This earth gensai always felt outcast for not fully embracing his elemental heritage...when he discovered a ring of elemental command earth he augmented his natural persuasiveness and desire for respect into subjagating and dominating all denizens of the Earth Plane. Now his minions rise up from the ground and out of the walls spreading his Napolean complex wherever he desires.

The Prodigal Student: Deep in the recesses of a jungle a nymph finds a flute of unknown origin and finds the most intoxicating melody issues forth from it. Little does she know that continued use of the flute acts as a conduit straight to Asmodeous in Hell and that he is slowing corrupting and adapting her physical form.

[Doorhandle]

That sounds like Kaveman26's "City State of the Enigmatic Overgnome" campaign recap. A very good read and has a fantastic Bard BBEG:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245994

Indeed it was!


Also worth noting is this pathfinder artifact. It sound like the kind of thing an evil bard would use.

[Socratov]

Indeed it was!


Also worth noting is this pathfinder artifact. It sound like the kind of thing an evil bard would use.

a maniak for sure, but any bard worth his salt would not use it on account of not having people to do your bidding. Destruction is fine, control is better.

[CombatOwl]

So, any of you given your players an antagonist with some variance of the Bard class?

Yes. Quite often, actually. Bards make better enemies than heroes, since inevitably the BBEG has minions and bards are amazing at buffing/debuffing if built right.

In my times as a player, I've fought evil wizards, fanatical clerics and black knights, but never an evil aligned bard.

I ran a lich-bard against a party once. Kind of amusing. Nothing in the rules says that bards can't be liches, and they get a LOT more out of it than most any other class. It gets especially funny in Pathfinder with Dirge Bards...

Since the name of the game is the current campaign I'm running is subverted standards, I've decided to stat out the main villain as a bard. This has worked well so far, seeing as he is both the secret leader of a vast criminal network, and is publicly renowned as a great adventuring hero, but seeing as the party has yet to engage him in combat, I'm not sure how that will unfold.

If 3.5e, use the snowflake wardance cheese. If Pathfinder, pick one of the clever archetypes. Ideally, you'll give him leadership and a cohort--the cohort should either be a smash cleric or a two-weapon fighter.

Anyone here played Bard PCs that are some variety of evil? The only thing I've heard of that comes close is Nale's pseudo-bard multiclass and that one womanizing scumbag who could become a party member in the first Baldur's Gate.

Ever played A Bard's Tale? There you go, evil bard.

[Vortalism]

You so inspired me to take this on.

Imagine this: Charismatic statesman that's actually in it for ultimate power and nothing else, he appears to be a very caring and delicate individual but has a secret agenda: power. So he's setting out to eventually take over all of the republic (it's in a very roman-esque republic system) and name himself emperor eventually, but making it look like it was the Republic's fault for being stagnant, degenerate and generally bigots. He gets support of the Orc nations and other more bestial races for an underground alliance.

Powers wise he's a bard that uses primarily his voice, so I was thinking of having him be an illusionist type that can also put up a swordfight with a finesse build, whilst having access to ancient dragon lore and adding in a variant of Thu'ums (since I love Skyrim so much).

Coming to think of it, he's Palpatine with the powers of Ulfric Stormcloak! How do I build this though?(I don't mean to hijack your thread, just generally curious)

[Couronne]

I once set up a bard who became a popular singer and leveraged that to get herself elected to the council who ran the main country.

Whilst this was going on in the background the PCs were investigating a string of cannibalistic sacrifices.

The bard called an audience with the PCs and asked them to retrieve several ancient texts from various places which she might be able to use to piece together knowledge about the sacrifices and what was behind them. What the PCs didn't know was that the bard was the one behind the sacrifices.

Whilst the PCs were doing that, the bard was using her persuasion skills and general popularity to consolidate her power base within the council. Then once the PCs had retrieved the texts she used them to develop a series of hypnotic rituals (she sent the PCs on a wild goose chase which ended with the PCs killing off one of the bard's rivals in her worship coven). The bard then started to use the rituals to take control of powerful people and turned the country into a seemingly benevolent empire dictatorship. She tightened up the laws and instituted more guardsmen, generally making the streets safer, but then upped the sacrifices from the new 'criminals'.

When the PCs found out what the bard was doing and confronted her, she started a massive smear campaign against them and everyone believed her because she had imporved the lives of law-abiding citiens and was so popular and loved. Practically the whole empire turned on the PCs (bar a few people who knew them well enough and a few others that had seen what she was actually up to) and the PCs ended up running a series of stealthy raids to retrieve the texts and prove themselves innocent.

It all ended with a massive showdown in the imperial palace right at the moment when the bard had managed, through her sacrificial rituals, to infuse herself with the power of her god. The PCs killed the bardic god-demon that she had become (and the rest of her coven) and then busted open her slaughter chambers in the palace for everyone to see.

[Mikeavelli]

Bards? How about the Heroes, villains, and all major NPC's revolve around music as a theme for the entire campaign?

- The Sandman (Rogue/Assassin/Bard) and a cult led by Saint Anger (Cleric/Bard) and the Unforgiven (Blackguard/Bard), masterminded by the Master of Puppets (Bard/Seeker of the Song), attempt to summon the Thing Which Should not Be into our world by performing 'The call of Ktulu' - an ancient symphony retrieved from a ruined city that time forget. It's not specifically made known what will happen if they succeed, but there's a pretty good reason why that ancient city is ruined.

- When the Dwarves dug too greedily and too deep, and mined out a vein of Death Metal, they woke the dark thing beneath the mountain. Facing Annihilation, the greatest Dwarven Bard, Urist McJaeger, "The Rolling Stone" - challenged the fiend to a Rockoff. Even though the contest was blatantly rigged, McJaeger chose to sing the Dwarven Ancestral Anthem.

This was ten years ago, he's still singing. The PC's need McJaeger for something or other and have to deal with the Demon problem the old fashioned way.

- J'onn Len'non (Illithid Bard) has a dream for a more peaceful world. No Heaven above us, no hell below. No Countries, nothing to kill or die for, just people living life in peace. He might be a dreamer, but he's not the only one, someday you'll join us.

- "We wrote you a song to apologize about the whole wrecking your country thing. Took the lyrics from an ancient book of Necronomic spells. Here it goes, you might recognize the words, though they haven't been spoken aloud in over ten thousand years.

[CombatOwl]

You so inspired me to take this on.

Imagine this: Charismatic statesman that's actually in it for ultimate power and nothing else, he appears to be a very caring and delicate individual but has a secret agenda: power. So he's setting out to eventually take over all of the republic (it's in a very roman-esque republic system) and name himself emperor eventually, but making it look like it was the Republic's fault for being stagnant, degenerate and generally bigots. He gets support of the Orc nations and other more bestial races for an underground alliance.

Powers wise he's a bard that uses primarily his voice, so I was thinking of having him be an illusionist type that can also put up a swordfight with a finesse build, whilst having access to ancient dragon lore and adding in a variant of Thu'ums (since I love Skyrim so much).

Coming to think of it, he's Palpatine with the powers of Ulfric Stormcloak! How do I build this though?(I don't mean to hijack your thread, just generally curious)

Pathfinder or 3.5?