what kind of police force/secret police force would a bard queen have?

[FabulousFizban]

in a fascistic society built around a cult of personality centered on titular bard queen. she gives performances to adoring crowds, has permanent major illusion images and ads of her and her retinue all over. all must love her, and despair.

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EDIT 2: i play 5e

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Sheriff: {Scrubbed a third time. Do not edit a mod-edited post, especially not to argue/complain about it.}

[Particle_Man]

Enchanter mages. Too make *sure* that everyone loves the queen, without upstaging her charismatically.

[Anymage]

Assuming that you're asking generally (and not D&D specific, where all magical effects must be codified as spells or magic items), she wouldn't need to hire police in the traditional sense. Almost everybody who is in her presence is enraptured by her charm. Crimes against your person are unthinkable and every person in the area will swarm to stop anybody who tries to harm you (although you'll probably want one or two really beefy enthralled bodyguards around all the time just to be extra sure), and even speaking ill of you will cause the offender to be anywhere from ostracized to killed. Mass mind control does a good job obviating the need for a police force when essentially the whole citizenry will fulfill those duties.

[Yanagi]

in a fascistic society built around a cult of personality centered on titular bard queen. she gives performances to adoring crowds, has permanent major illusion images and ads of her and her retinue all over. all must love her, and despair.

Bardic training could be twisted just a little to make great spies and/or secret police. A gift for drawing people out and for telling stories, a bunch of skills that lend themselves to disguise and maintaining a cover, lots of social skills.

There could be agents that do casual surveillance dressed up as peddlers and beggars, deep cover agents that embed and try to assume a position of trust and confidence for their targets, even fictitious rebel organizations that act as bait for dissenters.

Given the specific idea of a performer dictator, though, I'd propose that radicalized fandom would be the bottom rung of any state espionage system. Little old ladies, teenagers looking to throw their weight around...people that want to feel powerful, like they belong, like they matter, would be very vulnerable to coaxing by a figure with multiple kinds of clout like this bard queen.

The question becomes how deep the paranoia is, so how complex the monitoring system. In a fascist state generally there's a constant shoving match in the cadre just beneath the singular leader, so there's multiple agencies trying to control the security state, so there could be more than one internal security force.

[CharonsHelper]

Which game/edition is this? If it's Pathfinder, I could see her having 'backup singers' who have the Court Bard archtype to heckle any of the few naysayers with bardic debuffs and mock them with the Satire ability (basically a bardic debuff).

[Lvl45DM!]

Depends on how evil and how smart she is.

She might have a horde of low-ability thugs, easily mind controlled, to make sure she has direct control over all of them. Vague and distant thralls standing on every street corner, responding to dissenting thoughts and actions. This requires alot of direct effort on her part.

She might go for style over substance, all her force are picked based on their looks, handed power and compelled to wield it in her name, presenting a pretty face to the populace, but stepping out of line gets you a vicious beatdown since they don't have any real skill at handling a population.


She might have a secret elite squad of Enchanters, Bards and Assassins who quietly and efficiently stamp out any real dissent, but dont get involved in the petty stuff, relying on the fear of them to handle issues. If anyone speaks out their own friends and family turn them in. That person then disappears and shows up a week later having very obviously committed suicide, leaving a detailed note about how foolish they were not to see how amazing Galadriel was.

Or all of the above. Army of thralls, brute squad of pretty people and secret police of mind control.

Given the specific idea of a performer dictator, though, I'd propose that radicalized fandom would be the bottom rung of any state espionage system. Little old ladies, teenagers looking to throw their weight around...people that want to feel powerful, like they belong, like they matter, would be very vulnerable to coaxing by a figure with multiple kinds of clout like this bard queen.

I like this idea! The populace is self-monitoring by her biggest fans. Anyone who breaks the rules is mobbed by shrieking teenagers and torn apart in a Dionysian ecstasy

[BWR]

Something like this, I imagine...

[EndlessKng]

I think College of Whispers Bards make a lot of sense, possibly with Rogue levels and the Investigator or Mastermind archetype for multiclassing. That said, you could take some inspiration from Dark Sun 4e and have a group of Warlocks who derive power from a pact with the Queen (probably GOO for the secret police due to mind reading shenanigans, reskinned somehow into worshiping a bard).

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I think a collection of Priests named Judas, lunches of Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Pepper dip, proclamations there be a Green Day, a Deaf royal pet Leopard, Deep Purple robes, Kisses for everyone, some Birds in the Yard, wise Talking Heads, torture by Nine Inch Nails, a Blue Oyster Cult opposing her and some volleyball in the cold are all in order.

After all, this is a bard Queen.

[wilphe]

If she is smart:

A bunch of people who possess the exact opposite skill and power sets to deal with anyone who is immune or warded against her own powers

[NNescio]

I think a collection of Priests named Judas, lunches of Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Pepper dip, proclamations there be a Green Day, a Deaf royal pet Leopard, Deep Purple robes, Kisses for everyone, some Birds in the Yard, wise Talking Heads, torture by Nine Inch Nails, a Blue Oyster Cult opposing her and some volleyball in the cold are all in order.

After all, this is a bard Queen.

This is starting to sound like a JoJo story. In a good way.

[Tvtyrant]

Truthadours. Bards who are experts at True Crime tropes and use magic to make each case into a musical episode so the bad guy sings their guilt and motives as a soliloquy, then they catch him at the end of the episode.

[Bohandas]

mafia-esque goons who violently work over anybody suspected of infringing the queen's copyrignts

...wise Talking Heads...

No no no, psycho killer Talking Heads

[Spore]

If she is smart:

A bunch of people who possess the exact opposite skill and power sets to deal with anyone who is immune or warded against her own powers

This. Why would a bardic regent have different guards? Her vizier could be a sorcerer, her guard captain a commander type doing epic speeches but the basic guards? Honestly, aside from the notion that maybe a bard wants guards to look as unthreatening as possible - there is a certain etiquette of not surrounding your dinner guests with heavily armed guards - she should have normal guards.

Normal her ROYAL guard should honestly be composed of mostly resilient and determined individuals (I'm thinking classes that have decent wisdom/will saves) because with all that enchanting stuff, her probably inviting a few fey or dealing with polymorphed dragons (I mean just because she is female doesnt mean she can't not be responsible for half dragons) or outsiders (wasn't a DC 20 or 25 performance check enough to pull the attention of some divine outsiders?).

Basically her royal guard should be composed of Abjurer Wizards, a few Clerics devoted to a god of arts (areas of concern/domains should be Charm, Music, Knowledge, Liberation and Magic) and Paladins of Freedom.

[Bohandas]

What if her police force were mounted horsemen who idiosyncratically behaved like a rowdy biker gang

[Anymage]

If she is smart:

A bunch of people who possess the exact opposite skill and power sets to deal with anyone who is immune or warded against her own powers

In theory, any leader would want loyal followers who could complement their strengths and help cover their weaknesses.

In practice, given what's been said about the bard queen, the anybody who could even conceivably be a threat to her power would be immediately suspect and at risk of being disappeared. As such, the queen wouldn't keep around anybody whose loyalty she wasn't 110% sure of. This almost always means "magically compelled".

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: Thread locked for review.