Low-Magic Campaign Experiment

[the Jester]

After some gaming and discussion, I have decided that bards in the Y272 Campaign need a boost.

My solution is going to be more and new bonus feats that expand and increase the potency of their songs.

I'm open to suggestions- so far these are a few of the ideas I have:

Improved Bardic Music- increases numerical bonuses gained from bardic music by +1
Song of Praise- gives a bonus to Diplomacy
Song of Summoning- a lot like summon swarm
Stormsong- a lot like the old-skool spell weather summoning
Extra Music- gives an extra 2 or 3 uses per day of bardic music (some of the songs may cost more than one bard song use)
High Note- like shatter on crystal or glass
Low Note- like shatter on a single metal object

Anyone got more ideas? -Thanks!

 

[the Jester]

Improved Bardic Music- increases numerical bonuses gained from bardic music by +1
Song of Praise- gives a bonus to Diplomacy
Song of Summoning- a lot like summon swarm
Stormsong- a lot like the old-skool spell weather summoning
Extra Music- gives an extra 2 or 3 uses per day of bardic music (some of the songs may cost more than one bard song use)
High Note- like shatter on crystal or glass
Low Note- like shatter on a single metal object

All right, starting more formal development here... I'd love any feedback anyone chooses to give, especially a certain hippy jedi player o' mine..

IMPROVED BARDIC MUSIC (Bardic)
Your bardic music is particularly potent.
Prerequisites: Bardic music ability, Perform (6 ranks)
Benefit: Any numeric bonuses you gain from bardic music increase by +1.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Its effects stack. If you have this feat, you may train yourself in it at no extra cost in time or xp.

SONG OF PRAISE (Bardic)
Your music can make others well-disposed towards you.
Prerequisites: Bardic music ability, Diplomacy (1 rank), Perform (4 ranks)
Benefit: If you spend one minute performing and spend one use of your bardic music, you gain a bonus on Diplomacy checks equal to your bard level. If you instead spend two of your daily uses of bardic music, you may use Song of Praise as a full-round action. This is an exceptional, sonic, mind-affecting, language-dependant charm effect.

SONG OF SUMMONING (Bardic)
You can summon swarms of small animals to your aid.
Prerequisites: Cha 13+, Bardic music ability, Perform (7 ranks)
Benefit: You can expend one use of your bardic music to summon a swarm of bats, rats or spiders, which attack all creatures in its area. The swarm appears in a location of your choosing within 50' of you and moves as you direct (though you cannot command it to perform any other actions) so long as you spend a standard action each round to control its movement. If you stop spending a standard action each round, the swarm acts as if it were a normal (non-summoned) swarm for 1d4 rounds and then disperses. You may summon the swarm into an area occupied by other creatures. This is a supernatural sonic effect.

STORMSONG (Bardic)
Your music can summon sudden bursts of violent weather.
Prerequisites: Cha 17+, Bardic music ability, Perform (16 ranks)
Benefit: By spending a full round action and 3 of your daily bardic music uses, you may summon sudden terrible weather. The wind suddenly picks up, increasing in severity by three categories (to a minimum of Severe; see DMG pg. 95). Except in extremely arid conditions, a powerful storm of precipitation bursts from the sky (see DMG pg. 94). In extraordinarily dry conditions a dust or sandstorm flies into being. In all cases, the summoned storm lasts for 1 minute per bard level. This is a supernatural sonic effect.

EXTRA MUSIC (Bardic)
You can use your bardic music more often than normal.
Prerequisites: Bardic music ability, Perform (1 rank)
Benefit: You gain an extra 2 uses of your bardic music ability per day.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Its effects stack. If you have this feat, you may train yourself in it at no extra cost in time or xp.

HIGH NOTE (Bardic)
You can strike a note so high that you shatter crstalline objects.
Prerequisites: Cha 13+, Bardic music ability, True Tone, Perform (7 ranks)
Benefit: You may spend a standard action and one use of your bardic music ability for the day to destroy all ceramic, crystal, glass or porcelain objects within 15' of you. Objects weighing more than 1 lb/bard level you possess are unaffected, but if you spend 2 uses of your bardic music ability for the day, you can affect objects weighing up to 2 lbs/bard level you possess. Any crystalline creature in the area of effect suffers a number of points of sonic damage equal to your Perform check. Attended or magical objects, or crystalline creatures, receive a Fort save (DC 15 + cha bonus) to survive (for objects) or to halve the damage. This is an exceptional sonic effect.

LOW NOTE (Bardic)
You can strike a note so low that you cause a single metal object to be destroyed.
Prerequisites: Cha 15+, Bardic music ability, Powerful Voice, True Tone, Perform (12 ranks)
Benefit: You may spend a standard action and two uses of your bardic music ability for the day to damage a creature made of metal or to destroy a single metal object of up to 5 lbs/bard level you possess, causing it to vibrate itself into tiny pieces. You may choose to spend three uses of your bardic music for the day in order to affect a single metal object weighing up to 10 lbs/bard level you possess, or five uses of your bardic music for the day to affect a single metal object weighing up to 25 lbs/bard level you possess. Attended or magical objects receive a Fort save (DC 18 + cha bonus) to avoid destruction. If you target a metal creature, it suffers 1d6 points of damage per rank of Perform you have and receives a Fort save (DC 18 + cha bonus) for half damage. This is an exceptional sonic effect.


How are we doing?

 

[hippiejedi2]

I have some ideas.

Song of Sun and Moon: instills an understanding of thought between all living creatures within the songs radius.

Bolero of Fire: protectiion from fire.

Requiem of Loved Ones: creates a temporary breach between the worlds of life and death for good-byes and last requests.

Irresistable Diddy of Happy Feet: those who are in the vicinity of the song must dance.

Over the Hills and Far Away: imparts a keen insight as to the surrounding area.

Song of Secrets: those who hear the song feel an impulse to share a secret with someone who, they believe does not know.

Song of Desperation: no idea what it'll do, but sounds cool

Song of Detante: When violence breaks out, the singer sings their song creating a momentary detante. As a full round action the singer sings, at the beginning of their next turn the detante begins. The detante lasts a minute, giving the the singer a last chance at diplomacy.

Song of Seduction: creates a charm/dominate/enthrall like deal

Melody of Invertigo: Afflicts the subject with nausia and loss of balance

Coda of the Lightning Storm: A lightning storm flickers most violently before it ceases. When the song is played, all alies below x hp get y. Where x is not many, either a number dependant on the bard's lvl or a function of relative hp, and y is something super-sweet.

Cara's Montage: a song that speeds up training.

The Ballad of Whitewater: not sure what it'll do yet

Sadness and Sorrow: A song that overwhelms all within earshot of the sadest memories of their life and creating a bond with all those who hear the song.

Lay of Luck/Good Fortune: A song that provides luck bonuses to the recipient.

Voice of the Evanescent- The singer vanishes from sight of the target though their voice eerily confirms their existense.

Aria of Everlasting Beauty: not sure what it does yet, but sounds cool

Aria of the Evening Star: not sure what it does yet, but sounds cool

Adventurer's Anthem: not sure what it does yet, but sounds cool

 

[Brain]

Cara's Montage: a song that speeds up training.

Haha, awesome! It's time for a montage!

 

[Nyaricus]

hello all,

Jester, i would be very much interested in you posting the full document as you have it right now. it sounds like you have a pretty fair system going; the only thing i am curious is to see what the increased Ability Scrore and feat aquisition will do to the game balance, esp. at higher levels.

I am personally DMing and the proud creator-in-action of a low-magic Tolkien/real-world inspired campaign setting, and I suppose i should start up a post of my own, decribing some of the specifics of my campaign. Oh well, we shall see what the futrue brings when we get there, eh.

 

[the Jester]

All right, I'll attach it as a Word doc.

It's pending my redo of bards, however- I'm waiting for feedback on the feats I'm working on...

 

[the Jester]

Bump for more work on the bard songs.

 

[Gahnomen]

Having the Improved Bardic Music feat stack sounds like it could get pretty abusive pretty quickly.. Maybe put an upper limit on how many times it can be taken, like 3 or so?

 

[the Jester]

Having the Improved Bardic Music feat stack sounds like it could get pretty abusive pretty quickly.. Maybe put an upper limit on how many times it can be taken, like 3 or so?

Good point... perhaps a chain of feats rather than one that can be taken multiple times? That way I can make the requirements a bit harder to achieve at each additional level.

Or I could require a bard using it to expend an extra use of bard song for the day? Or even one extra use per extra "plus" gained?

 

[Felnar]

what is a Wyrd? ("1d4 Wyrd" from your attached document)