3.5 The Conductor Bard (Now with more songs!)

[Veklim]

Aye, but it makes a very pretty corpse don't you think?

On a more serious note, the addition of Cha mod to bardic music uses is a big help for the first few levels. My partner (and frequent bard player) loves this class, she's waiting for me to kill off one of here characters so she can try it out!

[NeoSeraphi]

I appreciate these comments, but please, if anyone else has any other praise, just PM it to me. I don't want anyone getting infractions over my old homebrew.

[NeoSeraphi]

As per the suggestions of a PEACHer, I have removed the language-dependent descriptor from the Bardic Music ability, as well as cleaned up some of the other mistakes I noticed while I was back here.

Edit: Also added the Song of Destruction ACF, and removed the [mind-affecting] descriptor from Deafening Song and Disgusting Song.

[Deepbluediver]

You really like your spell-less fixes don't you? First this, and then the ranger.
Although I admit that the lack of spells solves the ASF chance issue succinctly.

But back to the important stuff.
I totally understand the desire to cram things into the early levels, but do you really need 6 (yes, SIX!) abilties right at first level? It seems like you could easily space some of that out a bit for a smoother progression, especially Inspire Battle and Defense, since you made them seperate buffs anyhow.
Plus, without spells, the bard is definitely spending more time in combat, meaning he shouldn't lack for stuff to do. Unless you want them to be a buff-only class, in which case I question the point of the armor and weapon proficiencies at all.

Also, this is less important, but would it really upset things if you left in the option for a dancing bard? I would understand that you could say that for a singing/instrument bard you have to hear them, and for a dancing bard you have to see them, which in itself if more tricky, but if a player wanted to spend a few points to make themselves resistant to a zone of silence where's the harm?

Dancing blades is an interesting solution to the music-in-combat; I admit the fluff of floating, independently-acting weapons seems odd for first level, where most players barely even register a blip on the magical detecto-meter, but I guess it works. Mechanicaly...at low levels I would worry about how it compares to other action-economy issues. It's not more powerful than the things the high-tier classes can do...at high levels. But it's always been my experience that at lower levels the classes tend to be closer together in power and versatility anyway. Although with medium BAB and limited weapon and armor proficencies, the bard won't exactly be the champion of the battle field, so I guess it's ok. (boy, this is turning into one long string of "on the other hand...", isn't it?)
Totally countermanding my previous point, maybe we should just require all bards to sing, and if they can also play an instrument and/or dance, then it adds a bonus to perform check, bardic music, etc.

I kind of worry about the lag-time for some of the bardic music abilities, especially once they last a full minute. It seems like a bard could nova his daily uses by burning one a round, buffing the party up to ridiculous levels, then rushing the BBEG, trying to defeat him him/her/it within 30 seconds. If there's something in your write up to prevent this, I apologize, the forum seems to be throwing a hissy-fit at my computer right now, and won't let me go back to double check your original post.

Healing song seems a little confusing; I realize we want to avoid the Iron Heart Surge problem of just removing "conditions" (though personally I find it hilaroius) but surely there was another word we could pick since it doesn't actually...y'know...heal?

I think most of the rest of it looks pretty good. I like the Harmony ability in particular, though this is one of those things that I might worry about. It's still not more powerful than a wizard, but if you are buffing the party, debuffing the enemy, and attacking all at once, you might make some of the other melee'ers feel a little redundant. I can picture it now, the huge, hulking barbarian is standing there thinking "day-um, I'm gettin' outclassed by th' girl with th' flute...."

[NeoSeraphi]

You really like your spell-less fixes don't you? First this, and then the ranger.

Actually, my Paladin of the Wild/Disorder was the first piece of homebrew I ever made, and that was a spell-less paladin fix. Then came the bard. Then came all of my other works, then the ranger.

But back to the important stuff.
I totally understand the desire to cram things into the early levels, but do you really need 6 (yes, SIX!) abilties right at first level? It seems like you could easily space some of that out a bit for a smoother progression, especially Inspire Battle and Defense, since you made them seperate buffs anyhow.
Plus, without spells, the bard is definitely spending more time in combat, meaning he shouldn't lack for stuff to do. Unless you want them to be a buff-only class, in which case I question the point of the armor and weapon proficiencies at all.

I'm confused. You say "The bard needs more to do in combat" but then you say "Don't give him two different options from level 1". You're contradicting yourself here.

Bardic Music itself isn't truly a class feature, so that drops the number of features the bard gets down to 5 at 1st level. Dancing Blade is necessary to balance bards who choose to play instruments with bards who choose to sing, and bardic knowledge is the iconic ability of the class.

So really, there are simply three abilities at level 1. The other 3 are integral to the class, almost like part of its chassis. The three abilities at level 1 are fascinate (the only out-of-combat thing a bard can do at this level now, whereas the PHB bard was charming at level 2), Inspire Battle and Inspire Defense.

So the bard has exactly two different abilities he can use each battle, and unless he has at least 12 Charisma, he won't even be able to use them both during the same day without a feat.

I question the logic of your argument here. A sorcerer has the ability to cast 9 different spells per day at level 1 (assuming at least 13 Charisma, and I do assume that pretty strongly), so what's the big deal with giving a bard two different buff options at level 1, when he can only use them 1+Cha per day anyway?

Also, this is less important, but would it really upset things if you left in the option for a dancing bard? I would understand that you could say that for a singing/instrument bard you have to hear them, and for a dancing bard you have to see them, which in itself if more tricky, but if a player wanted to spend a few points to make themselves resistant to a zone of silence where's the harm?

Music is one thing. The entire idea of a bard is a person who gains mystical power through music. I accept this as fact and move on. But a bard who is able to dance, and, though he creates no sound, influence those around him? This of course completely ignores facing (which I oppose strongly) and just sacks realism into a corner (which is the problem with spellcasters to begin with).

I refuse to incorporate a visual-only theme for my bard. It is, quite frankly, too unbelievable.

Dancing blades is an interesting solution to the music-in-combat; I admit the fluff of floating, independently-acting weapons seems odd for first level, where most players barely even register a blip on the magical detecto-meter, but I guess it works. Mechanicaly...at low levels I would worry about how it compares to other action-economy issues. It's not more powerful than the things the high-tier classes can do...at high levels. But it's always been my experience that at lower levels the classes tend to be closer together in power and versatility anyway. Although with medium BAB and limited weapon and armor proficencies, the bard won't exactly be the champion of the battle field, so I guess it's ok. (boy, this is turning into one long string of "on the other hand...", isn't it?)
Totally countermanding my previous point, maybe we should just require all bards to sing, and if they can also play an instrument and/or dance, then it adds a bonus to perform check, bardic music, etc.

You can compare the effect of Dancing Blade to a character who is able to concentrate on a spell and attack in the same round. With that comparison, it does, in fact, seem like a vastly powerful ability. However, bards have been able to do this since Core, as long as they chose to sing or dance rather than play a lute. The purpose of this class feature is merely to open the door to bards who want to actually play instruments, and why shouldn't it? I even had to gimp their fighting style by removing the Strength bonus to damage, which leaves a singing bard still strictly better than an instrumental bard even with Dancing Blade (because it's floating, you can't justify adding Strength to that, and while I thought about adding Cha to damage instead, I realized that just made the ability way too powerful).

I kind of worry about the lag-time for some of the bardic music abilities, especially once they last a full minute. It seems like a bard could nova his daily uses by burning one a round, buffing the party up to insane levels, then rushing the BBEG, trying to defeat him him/her/it within 30 seconds. If there's something in your write up to prevent this, I apologize, the forum seems to be throwing a hissy-fit at my computer right now, and won't let me go back to double check your original post.

Realize that the bard is a spellcaster, and I am actively removing around three to four hundred of his "class features" and replacing them with a set of songs. A set of songs that do not have a "Cast as a standard action, then have a duration of 1 round per level or 1 minute per level or 10 minutes per level, while I move on to something else". No, they have "Maintain this spell, and you do not get to stack it unless you spend more actions and even then, you drop the buff down to 1 minute".

Starting at 5th level, a wizard can completely ignore the attack rolls of creatures without ranged weapons or flight (fly) with a single standard action that lasts for 50 rounds. While the wizard enjoys this protection, he is able to continuously use his other powerful spells from aloft, with no need to worry about defending himself or maintaining concentration on his flight.

Perhaps the stacking mechanic and lag-time seems unfair to you compared to a mundane character, but I am comparing it to what the bard is losing: scaling durations that result from a single standard action.

Healing song seems a little confusing; I realize we want to avoid the Iron Heart Surge problem of just removing "conditions" (though personally I find it hilaroius) but surely there was another word we could pick since it doesn't actually...y'know...heal?

You don't think that removing the blindness, confused, deafened, dazzled, dazed, and etc etc, conditions counts as healing?

The original name of the ability is "Song of Freedom", which I actually made into a song that made sense. Healing Song makes much more sense to me than Song of Freedom, but very well. If you can come up with a better name than "Healing Song", I'd be glad to put it in.

I think most of the rest of it looks pretty good. I like the Harmony ability in particular, though this is one of those things that I might worry about. It's still not more powerful than a wizard, but if you are buffing the party, debuffing the enemy, and attacking all at once, you might make some of the other melee'ers feel a little redundant. I can picture it now, the huge, hulking barbarian is standing there thinking "day-um, I'm gettin' outclassed by th' girl with th' flute...."

Melee characters will always have problems standing up to magical characters. That's what homebrew is for. This class is much less powerful and versatile than the standard PHB bard, but it is, in my opinion, an option for people who think that bards should be magical without being just weaker sorcerers.

In the end, the only way a bard can offensively attack someone is by walking into melee or wielding a bow. At that point, he will need these buffs and debuffs, since he still only has d6 hit dice and light armor.

I'm glad that you like the class, though.

[Veklim]

I've now used this class in a campaign and shall be doing so for some time since it's on an npc foil of mine who's wormed his way spectacularly into the group. The class is functional, adaptable and fun to mess about with, it functions VERY well as the party face, deals nicely with low-mid end battlefield control and has enough tricks in his mixed bag to stay interesting and give you options. It's definitely not OP, even in comparison to an unoptimised barbarian, because most of the stuff the class does aids the group just as much, if not often a lot more than it aids the bard himself.

With regards to renaming Healing Song, how about something like Rhapsody of Restoration?

[NeoSeraphi]

With regards to renaming Healing Song, how about something like Rhapsody of Restoration?

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, I think you'll run into the same problem with the name here. "It doesn't remove negative levels, so why do you call it 'Restoration'?"

[Deepbluediver]

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, I think you'll run into the same problem with the name here. "It doesn't remove negative levels, so why do you call it 'Restoration'?"

Yeah, I think we may want something that hasn't already been snatched up by WotC to name a spell or ability. There are lots of fun words that start with "re": rejuvinate, remedy, revivify, refresh, etc.

But since what we're doing here is supposed to be removing harmful status effects, I prefer terms that imply something different. Maybe Song of Cleansing or Song of Purification.

...

...or Song of Iron Heart Su-(no! stop that! bad DBD, bad!)

[NeoSeraphi]

Yeah, I think we may want something that hasn't already been snatched up by WotC to name a spell or ability. There are lots of fun words that start with "re": rejuvinate, remedy, revivify, refresh, etc.

But since what we're doing here is supposed to be removing harmful status effects, I prefer terms that imply something different. Maybe Song of Cleansing or Song of Purification.

...

...or Song of Iron Heart Su-(no! stop that! bad DBD, bad!)

Hahaha. Song of Cleansing it is.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Alternate Class Feature: Song of Destruction
Level: 7
Replaces: A bard with the Song of Destruction ACF does not gain the benefits of the Gentle Song class feature.
Benefits: A bard with the Song of Destruction class feature is able strum his chords and use the power of his magical ministrations to create the illusion of devastating power. By consuming one daily use of his bardic music class feature and making a Perform check, the bard is able to cast shadow evocation, as the spell, as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his bard level. Unlike most of his bardic music, the Song of Destruction is not a mind-affecting ability. The DC for the Will save to disbelieve the Song of Destruction is equal to the bard's Perform check, though if the spell he mimics also allows a saving throw, the DC for that spell is equal to 10+the spell level+the bard's Charisma modifier (13+Cha for fireball, for instance).

What no scaling? I admit, its really cool at that level. But at a certain point it stops being useful. But then agian if you don't want him to become a half-hearted killer Gnome, I understand.

[NeoSeraphi]

What no scaling? I admit, its really cool at that level. But at a certain point it stops being useful. But then agian if you don't want him to become a half-hearted killer Gnome, I understand.

The PHB bard receives neither greater shadow evocation nor shades as spells, and the prestige bard imposes a -2 penalty to caster level on evocation spells the spellcaster who takes it casts.

Bards are not meant to be using flashy blasty spells, clearly. Even if they're faking it.

Besides, Gentle Song doesn't scale, so why should the ACF that replaces it?