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Need help on bardic spell selction and feats
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<blockquote data-quote="Lord Pendragon" data-source="post: 2506716" data-attributes="member: 707"><p><em>Alter Self</em> is a good swiss army knife spell. It can grant:</p><p></p><p>1. A disguise bonus when attempting to disguise oneself as another creature of the same race, or other humanoid race.</p><p>2. Exotic movement types such as a Climb speed, Swim speed and, if there are Avariel or other winged humanoids in your campaign world, a Fly speed.</p><p>3. Combat bonuses, such as +5 natural armor (troglodyte), and skill bonuses (goblin, gnome, several others.)</p><p></p><p>Overall it's a very, very good spell for a bard, or bard/assassin, to have.<em>Silence</em> negates all Bardic Music and all bardic spellcasting (bard spells cannot be cast using Silent Spell.) A bard should stay far, far away from <em>Silence</em> if he wants to use those abilities. However, since <em>Silence</em> can be cast on an object or other willing person, it can be used beneficially, even by a bard. Use it to <em>silence</em> the party while infiltrating a location by casting it on a stone, then cover up or toss away the stone when you need to cast/sing. Or cast it on a companion that is sure to be far enough away not to catch you in the effect, and have him attack the enemy spellcaster, etc. etc.The sound has no "source." Nor does it have any power to make a listener believe it does. Others simply hear the sound, and react accordingly. If they interact with the sound (which as I rule it, means have a reason to question/pay close attention to the sound) they get a Will save to recognize the sound as false, with the DC based on your spellcasting ability.</p><p></p><p>So in the case of your example, I'd first determine if the listener had a reason to doubt the sound. If he's in a ballroom where the sound of footsteps walking away from him would be normal, he'll take it for granted and not get a save. If he's a guard on top of a quiet wall and hears footsteps walking away from him, he's going to be suspicious, and will get a will save. If he succeeds, he'll recognize that someone has created false sounds. If he fails, he'll believe he's hearing footsteps walking away from him, and act accordingly (which may or may not help you.)It all comes down to your Perform (magic show) check. If you do really well, people will be amazed and awed. If not, they'll recall that anyone with a couple thousand gold can buy a <em>Hat of Disguise</em>, and boo you off the stage. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" />People <em>always</em> suspect the bard, IME. They're roguish strangers who often depart quickly. If I'm a constable who's investigating a murder, the first thing I <em>do</em> is prevent the bard from leaving. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> You'd need a good Bluff check to pull this off in my game.There are a metric ton of good 3rd-level bard spells, though as a low-level bard, you won't be able to cast many of them per day in any case.This depends entirely on the DM. I allow all sorts of things to be known through Knowledge skills, though rarely actual monster stats. Depends on the question the player has, and the skill check he comes up with. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> You'll really have to ask your DM about this one. Only he can say what the skill can net you, and how useful it will be in the campaign.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord Pendragon, post: 2506716, member: 707"] [i]Alter Self[/i] is a good swiss army knife spell. It can grant: 1. A disguise bonus when attempting to disguise oneself as another creature of the same race, or other humanoid race. 2. Exotic movement types such as a Climb speed, Swim speed and, if there are Avariel or other winged humanoids in your campaign world, a Fly speed. 3. Combat bonuses, such as +5 natural armor (troglodyte), and skill bonuses (goblin, gnome, several others.) Overall it's a very, very good spell for a bard, or bard/assassin, to have.[i]Silence[/i] negates all Bardic Music and all bardic spellcasting (bard spells cannot be cast using Silent Spell.) A bard should stay far, far away from [i]Silence[/i] if he wants to use those abilities. However, since [i]Silence[/i] can be cast on an object or other willing person, it can be used beneficially, even by a bard. Use it to [i]silence[/i] the party while infiltrating a location by casting it on a stone, then cover up or toss away the stone when you need to cast/sing. Or cast it on a companion that is sure to be far enough away not to catch you in the effect, and have him attack the enemy spellcaster, etc. etc.The sound has no "source." Nor does it have any power to make a listener believe it does. Others simply hear the sound, and react accordingly. If they interact with the sound (which as I rule it, means have a reason to question/pay close attention to the sound) they get a Will save to recognize the sound as false, with the DC based on your spellcasting ability. So in the case of your example, I'd first determine if the listener had a reason to doubt the sound. If he's in a ballroom where the sound of footsteps walking away from him would be normal, he'll take it for granted and not get a save. If he's a guard on top of a quiet wall and hears footsteps walking away from him, he's going to be suspicious, and will get a will save. If he succeeds, he'll recognize that someone has created false sounds. If he fails, he'll believe he's hearing footsteps walking away from him, and act accordingly (which may or may not help you.)It all comes down to your Perform (magic show) check. If you do really well, people will be amazed and awed. If not, they'll recall that anyone with a couple thousand gold can buy a [i]Hat of Disguise[/i], and boo you off the stage. :pPeople [i]always[/i] suspect the bard, IME. They're roguish strangers who often depart quickly. If I'm a constable who's investigating a murder, the first thing I [i]do[/i] is prevent the bard from leaving. :p You'd need a good Bluff check to pull this off in my game.There are a metric ton of good 3rd-level bard spells, though as a low-level bard, you won't be able to cast many of them per day in any case.This depends entirely on the DM. I allow all sorts of things to be known through Knowledge skills, though rarely actual monster stats. Depends on the question the player has, and the skill check he comes up with. ;) You'll really have to ask your DM about this one. Only he can say what the skill can net you, and how useful it will be in the campaign. [/QUOTE]
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