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Jallorn
2010-12-11, 07:36 PM
Bard

Bards are the tellers of tales, be it through storytelling or music, and the keepers of history. More than that, a Bard is not just the village storyteller who knows all the tales of the town, a Bard is a seeker of glory, telling tales of great heroes, and, inevitably, living them. A Bard is driven by a yearning for adventure, glory, and above all else, more stories to tell. Good Bards set out simply to be lucky enough to personally chronicle a great tale, while evil Bards seek fame through such chronicling, and are apt to play up their own part in the tale.

d6*
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+2|Favored Tales, Aura of Inspiration

2nd|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+3|Class Ability

3rd|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+3|Class Ability

4th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+4|Class Ability

5th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+4|Class Ability

6th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+5|Class Ability

7th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+5|Class Ability

8th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+6|Class Ability

9th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+6|Class Ability

10th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+7|Class Ability

11th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+7|Class Ability

12th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+8|Class Ability

13th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+8|Class Ability

14th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+9|Class Ability

15th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+9|Class Ability

16th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+10|Class Ability

17th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+10|Class Ability

18th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+11|Class Ability

19th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+11|Class Ability

20th|
+*|
+*|
+*|
+12|Class Ability[/table]
Class Skills (5+Intx4 at first level, 6+Int at all other levels)*
Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (n/a), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha).

Favored Stories: There are just so many kinds of stories out there, that even the greatest Bards don't know them all. True Bards choose for themselves a particular kind of story to tell, and this leads them, inevitably, into that lifestyle. At first level, the Bard chooses one of the following story focuses. He gains a bonus to any knowledge checks related to that topic equal to half his class level, as well as additional class features. He also gains 4 ranks in any Perform skill.

Tales of Magic and Mystery: Bards fascinated by the mystical powers of Wizards and Sorcerers eventually attain a small portion of this power themselves. Though they really seek the adventure and stories of such powerful beings, it is a clear bonus that in the process of understanding magic's intricacies, they acquire some ability to use it.

Bards who choose Tales of Magic and Mystery gain a poor BAB, poor Fort save, a Poor Ref save, and no increase to HD or skill points. They also gain arcane spellcasting drawn from the wizard/sorcerer spell list, and cast like a sorcerer. (see next post for casting progression)

Tales of Divine Heroism:Those who choose the Tales of Divine Heroism are fascinated by stories of good gods and their followers. Cultivating these tales inevitably breeds a powerful degree of faith in the Bard, enough that he gains a degree of divine magic. Whether this magic is in fact a gift from the gods or not is a topic of much debate. Such Bards tend towards good alignment, but don't have to be.

Bards who choose Tales of Divine Heroism gain d8 HD, and an average BAB, they gain poor Fort and Ref saves, and no additional skill points. They also gain Divine spellcasting drawn from the cleric spell list, but casting like a sorcerer (see next post for casting progression). The spells available are restricted as if the cleric worshiped a good aligned god. They also gain the ability to turn undead as a cleric half their class level.

Tales of Divine Treachery: Some Bards are fascinated by those divine beings who often don't seem to care about mortal lives. These kinds of Bards range from those enthralled by the power mongering, to those who seek to understand the incomprehensible. Whatever the case, though the former is more common, they all pick up a few occult secrets.

Bards who choose Tales of Divine Treachery gain d8 HD, and an average BAB, they gain poor Fort and Ref saves, and no additional skill points. They also gain Divine spellcasting drawn from the cleric spell list, but casting like a sorcerer (see next post for casting progression). The spells available are restricted as if the cleric worshiped a evil aligned god. They also gain the ability to rebuke undead as a cleric half their class level.

Tales of Might and Blade:

Tales of Stealth and Cunning:

Tales of the Natural World: Some rare Bards find themselves enthralled with the tales of man versus nature, and even, civilization versus nature. These Bards are most common among druid societies and wild people, being, as they are, close to nature. Like all Bards, Bards of the Natural World gain a level of knowledge unparalleled by the common man.

Bards who choose Tales of the Natural World gain a d8 hit die, an average BAB, a good Fort save, and a poor Ref save. They also gain divine spellcasting. These spells are drawn from the druid spell list, but cast like a sorcerer. (see next post for casting progression)

Tales of Fiendish Conniving:

More to come soon.

Jallorn
2010-12-11, 07:37 PM
Tales of Magic and Mystery, Tales of Divine Heroism, Tales of Divine Treachery, Tales of the Natural World Spellcasting progression
Spells per day
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th

1st|2|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|3|0|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|3|1|-|-|-|-|-

4th|3|2|0|-|-|-|-

5th|3|3|1|-|-|-|-

6th|3|3|2|-|-|-|-

7th|3|3|3|0|-|-|-

8th|3|3|3|1|-|-|-

9th|3|3|3|2|-|-|-

10th|3|3|3|3|0|-|-

11th|3|3|3|3|1|-|-

12th|3|3|3|3|2|-|-

13th|3|3|3|3|3|0|-

14th|4|3|3|3|3|1|-

15th|4|4|3|3|3|2|-

16th|4|4|4|3|3|3|0

17th|4|4|4|4|3|3|1

18th|4|4|4|4|4|3|2

19th|4|4|4|4|4|4|3

20th|4|4|4|4|4|4|4[/table]

Spells known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th

1st|4|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|5|2|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|6|3|-|-|-|-|-

4th|6|3|2|-|-|-|-

5th|6|4|3|-|-|-|-

6th|6|4|3|-|-|-|-

7th|6|4|4|2|-|-|-

8th|6|4|4|3|-|-|-

9th|6|4|4|3|-|-|-

10th|6|4|4|4|2|-|-

11th|6|4|4|4|3|-|-

12th|6|4|4|4|3|-|-

13th|6|4|4|4|4|2|-

14th|6|4|4|4|4|3|-

15th|6|4|4|4|4|3|-

16th|6|5|4|4|4|4|2

17th|6|5|5|4|4|4|3

18th|6|5|5|5|4|4|3

19th|6|5|5|5|5|4|4

20th|6|5|5|5|5|5|4[/table]

Jallorn
2010-12-11, 07:40 PM
So it's far from done, but the general idea here is to make the Bard more useful and more of a Jack-of-All trades kinda guy. In the future I intend to come up with a scaling ability unique to each story focus, but for now I'm more concerned working out the spellcasting (and maneuvers/invocations) each one gets.

So right now, my current focus is balancing the choices and giving them appropriate levels of magic. I don't want them to be better than a full class, but they will be useful. I also intend to make other class features, much like the bard's original class features, but ones that don't require horrible usage of action economy.

Pyromancer999
2010-12-12, 10:23 AM
First off, this appears to be really nice. Secondly, I've been thinking of a class sort of like this (albeit not as a bard fix). So, I'd like to suggest something for class abilities. You already have the Bard gaining special abilities from his favored choice in tales, but going further on, you could have them gain special abilities from:


Genres (although you already sort of have that)
Archetypes(look it up if you don't know)
Specific Characters(which I would recommend using at least some characters from real-life mythology)


Hope this helps. :smallsmile:

true_shinken
2010-12-12, 01:41 PM
This seems so different from the bard, that I'd call it any other name.

Pyromancer999
2010-12-12, 04:03 PM
This seems so different from the bard, that I'd call it any other name.

Possible names:


The Story Teller
The Tale Embodied

Jallorn
2010-12-13, 10:22 AM
This seems so different from the bard, that I'd call it any other name.

Well like I said, I'm going to add some of the original Bard abilities too.