Bards as Aragorn-type noblility?

[JPL]

A few months back, somebody had a fascinating post about how in his campaign, bards are noble warriors of ancient lineage, gifted with the ability to inspire others, knowledge of forgotten lore, etc. I really liked the idea, and now I can't find the post.

I'm thinking that some slight tweaking to the bardic music and the spell list might be in order (to refocus from music / sonic effects towards leadership / legacy).

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[JPL]

Little bump here.

Might want to use some of the alternate "divine bard" abilities from Unearthed Arcana, too, to get that "divine right of kings" vibe --- although hereditary arcane magic makes sense, too, especially if the spell list is rejiggered to emphasize leadership / command / control effects.

 

[Voadam]

Use oratory instead of instruments as the performance means and you have the classic leader speach before battle giving mechanical morale bonuses.

This is basically how I have the "Scholar King" of the Dover in my Oathbound Wildwood game.

 

[Voadam]

Spells are not all known so just ignore the summon instrument type ones in favor of other more appropriate ones on the list (Aragorn can heal right?).

 

[JPL]

Good points. I thought about swapping in some marshal-type effects for the uses of bardic music that seem inappropriate (i.e., countersong).

 

[Mark Hope]

That was me. Thanks .

I don't recall that I said more in my post than has been summarised here, though. The class has been renamed the Thaneblooded. The idea is that they bear the lost blood of the Thanes, rulers from a long-sundered kingdom (the game is about barbarian tribes who are the scattered remnants of a once-great realm - kind of a cross between Tolkien's Dundedain from Numenor and Howard's post-Atlantis Hyborean tribes).

I use the savage bard class from Unearthed Arcana and all references to music, poetry etc are removed from the class and replaced by the power of the voice (oratory is a good basic description). It ties in well with the concept of the Voice from Dune and works well with The Voice feat from Arcana Evolved.

A divine bard variant would work pretty well also. For the standard bard class, I use Monte Cook's bard from Eldritch Might, but have renamed it the spellsinger. If you want, I can send you a pdf of my version of the class - drop me an email through my profile.

 

[mmadsen]

I don't recall that I said more in my post than has been summarised here, though.

Voila:

I don't use a specific race to reflect the "Dunadan" idea - I use the PHB Bard class and limit it to humans from one specific culture.

For bards who are spellsingers, loremasters, and travelling troubadour-types, I use Monte Cook's variant bard from Eldritch Magic (the one with spellnotes, spellchords etc). The PHB Bard is instead used for a bloodline of high men and ancient chieftains who have magic running in their veins and can uplift their fellows to heights of greatness by inspiration. They don't sing, they use oratory, conviction and their innate nobility (think of Aragorn's speech at the Black Gates in the RotK movie, or of the cooler Crispin's Day speech from Henry V). Their spells are magic that is in their very blood and their lore abilities come from having been raised in the ancient traditions of a land now lost, whose influence is nevertheless still felt in many parts of the world.

The class is more of a cultural artifact limited to members of a single race but it captures the feel of this kind of individual better than having a race with all sorts of powers tacked on, neccesitating unwelcome level adjustments and the like (although I agree that a modified aasimar might work well if that's the approach you took). You can rule that all members of the Dunedain have at least one level in the PHB bard class, or state that those who don't have failed to embrace their heritage, for example, and are falling into the ways of lesser men.​

 

[Mark Hope]

Voila:

I don't use a specific race to reflect the "Dunadan" idea - I use the PHB Bard class and limit it to humans from one specific culture.

For bards who are spellsingers, loremasters, and travelling troubadour-types, I use Monte Cook's variant bard from Eldritch Magic (the one with spellnotes, spellchords etc). The PHB Bard is instead used for a bloodline of high men and ancient chieftains who have magic running in their veins and can uplift their fellows to heights of greatness by inspiration. They don't sing, they use oratory, conviction and their innate nobility (think of Aragorn's speech at the Black Gates in the RotK movie, or of the cooler Crispin's Day speech from Henry V). Their spells are magic that is in their very blood and their lore abilities come from having been raised in the ancient traditions of a land now lost, whose influence is nevertheless still felt in many parts of the world.

The class is more of a cultural artifact limited to members of a single race but it captures the feel of this kind of individual better than having a race with all sorts of powers tacked on, neccesitating unwelcome level adjustments and the like (although I agree that a modified aasimar might work well if that's the approach you took). You can rule that all members of the Dunedain have at least one level in the PHB bard class, or state that those who don't have failed to embrace their heritage, for example, and are falling into the ways of lesser men.​

Oh, OK - I did say some other stuff . Cool - that quote gives a better idea of the cultural identity of the class, rather than the mechanics that I used. Cheers for hunting it down!

 

[Klaus]

War Chanter (Complete Warrior) might be a good PrClass to follow up the Bard-as-leaders-of-old archetype. Less singing and more inspiring-legions-to-go-to-hell-and-back.

 

[JPL]

That was me. Thanks .

I don't recall that I said more in my post than has been summarised here, though. The class has been renamed the Thaneblooded. The idea is that they bear the lost blood of the Thanes, rulers from a long-sundered kingdom (the game is about barbarian tribes who are the scattered remnants of a once-great realm - kind of a cross between Tolkien's Dundedain from Numenor and Howard's post-Atlantis Hyborean tribes).

I use the savage bard class from Unearthed Arcana and all references to music, poetry etc are removed from the class and replaced by the power of the voice (oratory is a good basic description). It ties in well with the concept of the Voice from Dune and works well with The Voice feat from Arcana Evolved.

A divine bard variant would work pretty well also. For the standard bard class, I use Monte Cook's bard from Eldritch Might, but have renamed it the spellsinger. If you want, I can send you a pdf of my version of the class - drop me an email through my profile.

Done. Thanks.