| Classes - Bard |
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It is said that music has a special magic, and the bard proves
that saying true. Wandering across the land, gathering lore, telling
stories, working magic with his music and living on the gratitude
of his audience; such is the life of a Bard. When chance or
opportunity draws them into a conflict, bards serve as diplomats,
negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies.
A bard's magic comes from the heart. If the heart is good, a bard
brings hope and courage to the downtrodden and uses his tricks,
music and magic to thwart the schemes of evildoers. If the nobles
of the land are corrupt, the good bard is an enemy of the state,
cunningly evading capture and raising the spirits of the oppressed.
But music can spring from an evil heart as well. Evil bards eschew
blatant violence in favor of manipulation, holding sway over the
hearts and minds of others are taking what enraptured audiences
"willingly" give.
Adventures: Bards see adventures as opportunities to learn.
They practice their many skills and abilities, and they especially
relish the opportunity to enter a long-forgotten ancient tomb, to
discover ancient works of magic, to decipher old tomes, to travel
to strange places, to encounter exotic creatures, and to learn new
songs and stories. Bards love to accompany heroes (and villains),
joining their entourage to witness their deeds firsthand-a bard
who can tell a marvelous story from personal experience earns
renown among his fellows. Indeed, after telling so many stories
about heroes doing mighty deeds, many bards take these themes
to heart and assume the role of hero themselves.
Characteristics: A bard brings forth magic from his soul, not from
a book. He can cast only a small number of spells, but he can cast
them without selecting or preparing them in advanced. His magic
emphasizes charms and illusions over the more dramatic evocation
spells that wizards and sorcerers often use.
Alignment: Bards are wanders, guided by whim and intuition
rather than by tradition or law. The spontaneous talent, magic, and
lifestyle of the bard are incompatible with a lawful alignment.
Background: An apprentice bard learns his skills from a single
experience bard, whom he follows and serves until he is ready to
strike out on his own.
::Game Rule Information::
Bard have the following game statistics:
Abilities: Charisma determines how powerful a spell a bard can cast,
how many spells the bard can cast per day, and how hard those
spells are to resist. Charisma, Dexterity, and Intelligence are
important for many of the bard’s class skills.
Bardic Music: Once per day per level, a bard can use his song
or poetics to produce magical effects on those around him. He
can inspire courage in allies, sing a countersong to protect those
around him from a sound-based magic, fascinate a creature, make a
magical suggestion to a fascinated creature, help others perform
skills better, or inspire greatness.
~ Inspire Courage ~ Gives morale bonuses to other party
members to inspire courage in battle.
~ Counter Song ~ allows a perform check to counter
magical attacks like command and sound blast.
~Fascinate ~ fascinates any creatures hearing his song. Useless if there is a distraction near the bard.
~ Inspire Competence ~ Get +2 on all skill checks while
hearing the music lasting two minutes.
~ Suggestion ~ While fascinated, you can make a suggestion. Example, To have people put hands on a table and steal items while they are fascinated by you.
~ Inspire Greatness ~ Bard must sing and the creature must
hear the bar sing for a full round, as with inspire courage.
A creature inspired with greatness gains temporary Hit
Dice, attack bonuses, and saving throw bonuses as long
as he hears the bar continue to sing and for 5 rounds
thereafter.
Bardic Knowledge: A bard picks up a lot of stray knowledge
while wandering the land and learning stories from other
bards. (People, Places, and Items.)
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