Athasian Bard

[GrassyGnoll]

So this Sunday me and a few froods are starting a Dark Sun campaign. I'm using the http://homepage.mac.com/neilclennan/...asianbard.html Athasian bard variant. Has anyone here ever played one before? I like my stealth classes with sneak attack, but the class looks solid. I think I'll work the poison angle quite a bit.

[Vilehelm]

You're looking at the Athasian bard taken from Athas.org, who have the "official" rights to develop rules for the defunct Dark Sun setting. I'm DMing a Dark Sun campaign using mostly those rules and we have an Athasian Bard in the party. As far as I can see it's solid, but I drip-feed him poisons (not literally) so I am pretty much in control of his power.

In any case, you should check out Athasian Emporium for more feats and information for a poisoner, including extensive rules for Craft(Poisonmaking).

All in all I think it is a good class, very fluffy on Athas, and with loads of roleplaying hooks and opportunities. From a DM point of view it is certainly a more colorful and interesting figure to build adventures around than the bard's player's other character, a Brute/Barbarian.

[GrassyGnoll]

You're looking at the Athasian bard taken from Athas.org, who have the "official" rights to develop rules for the defunct Dark Sun setting. I'm DMing a Dark Sun campaign using mostly those rules and we have an Athasian Bard in the party. As far as I can see it's solid, but I drip-feed him poisons (not literally) so I am pretty much in control of his power.

In any case, you should check out Athasian Emporium for more feats and information for a poisoner, including extensive rules for Craft(Poisonmaking).

All in all I think it is a good class, very fluffy on Athas, and with loads of roleplaying hooks and opportunities. From a DM point of view it is certainly a more colorful and interesting figure to build adventures around than the bard's player's other character, a Brute/Barbarian.

Thanks for the link. Funny you should mention fluff. Since my background is basically an obsequious courtier assassin I was brainstorming about less overt weapons.

One of my favorite ideas involves a killer string/note/chord that casts a substantially damaging ranged touch attack. Anyone have some suggestions for mechanics for something like that? I was thinking a skill check coupled with a use of bardic music. Something hard enough to give him an excuse to go adventuring to master his musical style.

I also liked the idea of hiding a dagger in a fiddle/lute neck or having some MacGyver like penchant for causing "accidents". The former seems a little vanilla, but the former would certainly be an exercise in imagination. I'd probably have to turn him around into an obsessive compulsive kind of character then.

[GrassyGnoll]

I nearly forgot poisons. I haven't read up on their fluff, which ones are relatively painless? I plan for this character to be polite to a fault.