P99 offline: Bard

Bard

Bards wander the length and breadth of Norrath collecting lore and knowledge and chronicling the deeds of heroes and villains, while perhaps giving rise to new legends based on their own exploits, Bards' guilds pride themselves on their roles as lore masters and historians in their own communities and as agents who often hear urgent news to other communities. The opinions of folk in isolated communities are often based on news that traveling bards have brought from afar — or upon the version of events that a local hard composes at the local tavern, Indeed, bards feel obliged to seek out the meeting places of their fellow men in order to pass on knowledge and information. Not surprisingly, this practice often results in bards entertaining the populace at local taverns, While the bard‘s stories and epic songs inspire the community, the hard is inspired by the local ale, or perhaps by the locals themselves.

The magical songs performed by bards have a long and proud tradition on Norrath. Some claim that these works represent the earliest kind of magic harnessed by mortals in the world, but most who make such claims are themselves bards, Nonetheless, it is an indisputable fact that the majority of bards‘ magical songs have their origin in the distant, hazy past of ages long gone. This is a source of pride to the bards of the world, many of whom are motivated to search for clues about the origins of their magical art.

Attributes: Bards are more than simple spinners of tales; they can he valuable additions to any adventuring party, even to armies. These adventuring minstrels are the jacks of all-trades of Norrath. While not as capable in combat as warriors, as skilled in outdoor survival as rangers, or as adept at thieving as rogues (perhaps), bards are nonetheless capable in all of these areas.

The bard's unique talent, however, his stock‘in—trade, is the ancient legacy of musical magic he wields. While the might of bards' songs is perhaps not as profound as that of more specialized dedicated spellcasters, bards may master a range of mystical songs and chants that have saved many adventuring parties when the resources of other spellcasters are entirely spent or useless. There is almost no magical effect a hard cannot duplicate with the proper song, albeit not always as effectively as another caster's version of the same effect might be.

Bards are also itinerant repositories of knowledge, full of hits of trivia and folklore that contain clues to the last resting place of a great iksar king or the one weakness of a supernatural beast terrorizing a community, and if they don't have the information personally, they often know where to find it.

Questing: Bards rarely settle into a home; their only real home is the road, A bard may be serving his king or guild by couriering important documents or working for a merchant to deliver trade agreements or explore new trade routes, but more often than not she is simply wandering in search of something new and intriguing, something perhaps just over the next rise. Occasionally a hard will pursue quests of personal interest, be that delving into the mysterious origins of their musical magic, discovering the true history behind some epic event or location, or questing for a relic of bardic magic, but they are generally content simply to find out how good the wine is at the next tavern.

Bards are intensely social by nature, For them, the only thing better than traveling is traveling with friends. Adventuring parties who welcome a hard into their midst often find themselves with a companion who helps not only to lift their spirits and compose legends from their exploits, but who also is able to hold her own in a fight and provide a variety of talents should the group be lacking an important skill set.

Religion: The gods honored by bards, as one might expect, tend to reflect the bards' own personalities or alignments. Discordant bards who are fond of trickery (and perhaps even thievery) tend to worship Bristlehane Fizzlethorp, while more serious- minded bards interested in using their talents to tell of epic deeds or to help spread joy and hope and protect the innocent most often revere Erolissi Mart or Mithaniel Marr. Some few bards pay tribute to Veeshan, the Wurm queen, perhaps believing the god‘ dess of the dragons to hold some answer to the origins of bardic magic. The only gods rarely if ever worshipped by bards are the malevolent gods such as Bertoxxulous, CazinThule, and Innoruuk,

Culture and Training: Bards apprentice with a master until early adulthood, The happy’go-lucky exterior a bard usually shows the world belies the countless hours of practice she has spent honing her craft. To be a master musician is accomplishment enough, but to weave the art of magic into song is a greater accomplishment yet and one attained only through long and arduous practice.

After finishing their apprenticeship, bards venture forth into the world in search of adventure and experiences about which they to spin epic tales. Once they are on their own, most bards desire to establish their own reputations apart from those of their instructors, although they may also sometimes return to a master to acquire rare songs at a reasonable rate, or perhaps for advice or just good company. Even those bards who manage to surpass their masters in skill and renown tend to remain on good terms with their mentors.

Table 3—4: Barb Level Progression

Attack Fort Raf Bonu Save Save +0 90 92 +l '0 #3 +2 +l +3 ,3 +1 «4 93 +l +4 +4 +2 +5 +5 +2 #5

1. 6 +2 #6

+6 +3 46 +7 #3 #7 +8 +3 97 +9 +4 +8 +7 +4 +8

• 4 +7

+5 #7

,5

+5

+6

+6

+6

4-7

+7

+7

+8

98

08 +l5

+9 45

+7 +16

1. 7 +l6

+17

Starting proficiencies, bard songs, bardic knowledge Sonic resistance

Duel Wield

Discipline: Resistant Discipline: Fearless Discipline: Daft Dance Riposte Discipline: Puretone

Interaction: People across Norrath love bards, Even trolls have been known to invite bards into their home to play a “perrdy song" before they try to eat them. Bards work well with companions of most other classes, although they often have personality clashes with more severe individuals like paladins and shadow knights. Even in tense situations, bards maintain a certain flamboyance and casual demeanor that can mask their own concern or worry, but can also grate on the sense of pride and purpose others might tend to show under duress. A bard's love of an audience and thirst for trivia often irritates grave individuals such as necromancers, shadow knights, or clerics of dark gods, who care more about spreading terror than about helping people laugh off the hardships of frontier life, A bard's charismatic nature makes her a perfect spokesperson for adventuring parties, and her mix of skills and abilities allows her to pick up the slack when another more specialized party member is injured or exhausted.

Alignment: A bard can be of any alignment, though most tend to be discordant and very few are evil.

Class Rules:

The game rules for playing a bard are listed below,

Abilities: Charisma and Dexterity are the most important abilities for bards, most of their class skills being based on these attributes. However, the skill to play brass instruments is based on Constitution, so a high Constitution score can be important as well, An Intelligence of at least 10 is also advisable, to ensure that bards get at least the minimum allotted skill points per level; there are many skills of great importance for a bard who is to be successful in her career. Strength can sometimes be important for bards, who may need to defend themselves against assaults by enemies who wish to silence their magical songs, or against audiences that really didn't like a particular performance.

Race: Half elves, Humans, Kerran, and Wood Elves can be bards.

Hit Dice: A 1st-level bard starts play with hit points equal to 8 plus his Constitution modifier, Thereafter, he receives ld8 + Con modifier hit points at each bard level,

Skills: The Bard's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Alcohol Tolerance (Con), Appraise (Int), Balance (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (any) (Int), Language (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Pick Lock (Dex), Play Brass Instruments (Con), Play Percussion Instruments (Dex), Play String Instruments (Dex), Play Wind Instruments (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sense Heading (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sneak (Dex), Swim (Str), Trade Skill (lnt or Wis), Tumble (Dex), and Wilderness Lore (Wis), Bards may buy ranks of the exclusive Disable Device (Int) and Safe Fall (Dex) skills as cross-class skills,

At 1st level a bard receives a number of skill points equal to (8 + Int modifier) x 4, She gets an additional 8 + Int modifier skill points at each bard level after lst.

Starting proficiencies: Bards begin play proficient with all simple and martial weapons in the one-hand blunt, one-hand slashing, throwing, and piercing, weapon categories. They also begin play with the Armor proficiency (heavy, light, and medium) and Shield Proficiency feats.

Bard Songs: Bards can use magical songs of the levels shown on Table 3—3, Bards prepare their songs any other dedicated spellcaster (see “Dedicated Spelleasters, above). The bard's list of songs and the rules for using them are detailed in Using Magic LINK TBD and Songs LINK TBD.

Mana: Bards have a mana pool as do any other spellcasters. However, bards can only recover mana through rest and meditation. No other magical means used to replenish mana for other casters, such as the enchanter spell clarity, work on bards. There are tales of artifacts and magic brews that can speed the rate at which bards regain their mana, but few bards are ever fortunate enough to gain possession oi'such items.

This restriction is not as crippling as it might sound, , however, The performance of bards' songs expends iar less 1' | mana than the casting,, oi arcane or divine spells does, , 0

Generally, a hard need spend only I mana per round to perform a song or even, iftwisting (see “Song Twisting" in Chapter 9: Songs), to perform multiple songs, There are a few songs that tax the bard's inana pool more heavily, and these are noted in those songs' descripi ions (see Chapter 9: Songs),

Gaining Songs: A hard begins play with 2 songs of lst level known to him and recorded in his songbook,

Bardic Knowledge: Due to their early education, [liL‘Ir witle travels, and their innate curiosity, bartls have a chance to know relevant information about important people and places, legendary artifacts and magic items, or just about anythim,y else, for that matter, While this check cannot reveal the specific powers ofa itiagic item, for instance, it may give a him as to the item's general function,

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Whenever a hard and her companions are confronted with a mystery or an unknown situation or person, the hard can roll a battlic knowledge check with a bonus equal to hard level + lnt Inokllllt’l' to see whether she knows any details about the situation, place, or person in question, The hard may not take 10 or take 20 on this check, as this sort of knowledge is essentially random, The GM determines the Difficulty Class of the check by referring to Table 3—5,

Table 3-5: Barbic Knowlebge OCs DC Type ofKnawledge

l0 C ommnn, known by most members of the local population,

20 Uncommon but available,known by onlyafew people in the area,

25 Obscure, known by few, hard to come by,

30 Extremely obscure, known by very Few, possibly known only by those who don‘t understand the significance of the knowledge,

Sonic Resistance: At 2nd level a hard gains an inherent honus of sonic resistance (5),

Dual Wield: At 1 lth level a hard qualifies to take the Dual Wield feat (she does not gain Dual Wield automatically, hut may now purchase it normally),

Disciplines: Beginning at let level, a hard begins to gain access to disciplines, special comhat ahilities that allow the hard to display amazing battle prowess, Each discipline is taxing and requires great concentration, making it impossible for a hard to use more than one discipline at any given time,

Additionally, after a hard stops using a discipline she may not resume its use or begin using another discipline until a period of time has passed, allowing her to recharge her body and refocus her thoughts, The amount of time she must wait after using a given discipline is listed in each discipline's description, The hard is free to fight and engage in other strenuous activity during this period hetween discipline uses, but cannot shorten the period even with devoted rest,

Resistant: At let level a hard gains the Resistant discipline, This discipline allows the hard to inure himself to the ravages of acid, cold, disease, electricity, fire, magic poison and sonic at- tacks, The hard may activate the Resistant discipline as a free action, gaining a bonus of resistance (10) to all of the aforemen- tioned attack types (see "Spell Special Effects" in Chapter 8: Using Magic for more information on resistance), This discipline lasts for 1 hour once activated, though the bard may end it early if he wishes, The hard may not activate another discipline for 12 hours after the Resistant disctpline ends,

Fearless: At 24th level a hard gains the Fearless discipline, This discipline allows the hard to ignore the effects ofshakenjrightened, or panicked conditions, as well as anything defined as a fear effect (certain spells or abilities with the [fear] descriptor have effects other than fear that may still affect the hard, but the fear effects ofthespellwill not), Activating thisdiscipline isafree action that may he taken at any time (even when it is not the hard‘s action), This discipline lasts for 1 hour once activated, though the bard may end it early ifshe wishes, The hard may not activate another discipline for 12 hours after the Fearless discipline ends,

Def: Dance: At 27th level the hard gains the Deft Dance disci- pline, This discipline grants the hard two benefits, First, he receives a + 10 dodge bonus to Annor Class, Second, he receives the benefits of both the Dual Wield and Improved Two—Weapun Fighting feats, allowing him to make two extra attacks with a secondary weapon, but he does not suffer any penalties to attack for either secondary attack — both use the hard’s full attack bonus, This discipline lasts for l round per level once activated, and the hard may not activate anotherdiscipline for 12 hours after the Deft Dancediscipline ends,

Purettme: At 30th level the hard gains the Puretone discipline, This discipline allows the hard to attempt to receive instrument bonuses to her magical songs even when she is not actually playing an instrument (see Chapter 9: Songs for more information on instrument bonuses), Thus, while using Puretone, the hard may make the appropriate Play Instruments checks for any songs she is twisting in order to receive instrument honuses for those songs, even if the songs require different instruments, For example, a hard using Puretone who is twisting one hrass instrument and two wind instrument songs makes one Play Wind Instruments check and one Play Brass Instruments check to determine whether she receives the instrument bonuses for all three songs (see “Song Twisting" in Chapter 9: Songs), Further, the Puretone discipline

grants a +5 competence honus on all Play Instruments and Perfomi checks This discipline lasts 1 round per level once activated, and the hard may not activate anotherdiscipline for 24 hours after the Puretone discipline ends,

Riposte: At 29th level the hard qualifies to take the Riposte feat (she does not gain Riposte automatically, hut may now purchase it normally),

Starting Package: Leather armor, short sword, travelcrclothes, entertainer clothes, backpack, hedroll, flint and steel, hullseye lantern, oil (I pint), helt pouch, drum, lute, songbook, 2 days' rations, sewing needle, soap (1 pound), waterskin, 5 gold pieces: