D&D 5E The College of Psalms, for Holy Bards

[cbwjm]

Some of the new bard subclasses allow them to be expended to deal damage, having a subclass that expends them to heal wouldn't be over powering. Especially if it was just for an amount equal to the die roll with no additions. Leave it as just the die roll and it probably ends up with close to similar healing from the dice of the celestial warlock and that healer druid.

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[bedir than]

Some of the new bard subclasses allow them to be expended to deal damage, having a subclass that expends them to heal wouldn't be over powering. Especially if it was just for an amount equal to the die roll with no additions. Leave it as just the die roll and it probably ends up with close to similar healing from the dice of the celestial warlock and that healer druid.

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Maybe allowing Song of Rest dice to *also* be used in healing buffs?

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[abirdcall]

Because the rules currently state that Bardic Inspiration applies to "one ability check, attack role or saving throw." By using it to buff a spell rather than replace a spell this shift isn't more potent than a Life Cleric.

Song of Rest only works during a short rest.

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We're then left with this Bard being significantly weaker than Lore who can use their dice as a reaction.

If I was a Bard with this ability I would rarely use my dice on it. The Dice are much stronger for adding to d20 rolls.

 

[bedir than]

We're then left with this Bard being significantly weaker than Lore who can use their dice as a reaction.

If I was a Bard with this ability I would rarely use my dice on it. The Dice are much stronger for adding to d20 rolls.

Just spit-balling here, but what about releasing Song of Rest dice from short rests?

 

[abirdcall]

Just spit-balling here, but what about releasing Song of Rest dice from short rests?

This is challenging the Life Cleric more than allowing bonus action inspiration to heal. The latter uses up a major Bard ability. The former just gives them extra healing for nothing.

The heal is still not as good as extra dice to a d20 roll most of the time. If we wanted to scale it back a bit then we can restrict it to characters who have at least 1hp to differentiate it from healing spells.

 

[bedir than]

I guess I'm saying to allow the Song of Rest dice to boost healing spells. So there wouldn't be a change to the Inspiration Dice.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I was gonna suggest that as a possibility, too: Give them turn undead and their choice of a cleric domain's channel divinity.

Alternatively, pick a paladin oath and gain its channel divinities.

Or, hand-pick 4 or 5 of the most bardiest, most psalmiest options and let the player pick from those.

Or invent a new Channel Divinity ability that best expresses the class concept he's going for.

 

[Herosmith14]

All right, I've revised this, I'll explain some of these changes at the end of the post:

Bard: College of Psalms
Bards of the College of Psalms devote themselves to the religious practices. They augment their power with radiant energy and that of the divine. Those who follow this path study the practices of Clerics and Paladins in an effort to understand and emulate their power. Whether for good or evil, bards of this college use powers beyond that of the arcane, that of the divine.
Bonus Proficiency
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the Religion and Insight skills.

Divine Inspiration
When you choose this college at 3rd level, you have learned how to use your innate well of power to aid your healing. Whenever you cast a healing spell, you may use one use of your Bardic Inspiration. Roll the die, add the number rolled to the hit points healed.

Channel Divinity
By 6th level, whatever source from which you have been granted divine magic has allowed you power similar to that of other holy warriors. You gain one use of the Channel Divinity feature, which recharges at dawn. Choose one cleric domain or paladin oath, and choose two of their Channel Divinity options. You may choose Turn Undead no matter what domain or oath you choose.

Should you choose Turn Undead and/or Arcane Abjuration, they count as Destroy Undead and Arcane Banishment respectively, and scale the same as with the Cleric class.

Holy Seraphin
By 14th level, you have been granted divine power, allowing you to temporarily assume the form of a lesser angel. You may use an action to activate this ability, which lasts for one minute, until you are incapacitated, or you use a bonus action to end it. While in this form you gain the following benefits.
You gain feathered, angelic wings, which grant you a flying speed of 40ft.
You shed bright light in a 10ft radius centered on you, and dim light 10ft beyond that.
Whenever you use a healing ability or cast a healing spell, use maximum number you can roll.
As a bonus action, you may touch a dying creature and stabilize them automatically.
Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.



Explanations:
Divine Inspiration-I saw people suggesting using Song of Rest or just a straight healing Bardic Inspiration. The reason I didn't do those is that I was modeling this ability somewhat of Valor's Combat Inspiration, which uses Inspiration to modify AC and damage, it didn't make sense in my mind to have it be that this doesn't modify something. Even Cutting Words modifies an opposing attack roll.

Channel Divinity-I saw the comments that it was a little to broad, so I scaled it down a little, taking the suggestions to have the bard choose a Domain/Oath. I still wanted to leave Turn Undead accessible, so I didn't restrict it to domains. I do realize that some domains only have one Channel Divinity option, which would force them to take Turn Undead, but I wasn't exactly sure what I could do to balance that.

Holy Seraphin-I can't believe that I studied Bards to make this subclass balanced and missed that they get Magical Secrets at 14th level already! After a bit of thought, I took some inspiration from the paladin capstones (this is less powerful, at least I hope). I think that besides keeping away from MS, this makes a more interesting capstone than Domain/Oath/Circle spells. I think this establishes Psalmist as a support class pretty firmly.

 

[abirdcall]

Explanations:
Divine Inspiration-I saw people suggesting using Song of Rest or just a straight healing Bardic Inspiration. The reason I didn't do those is that I was modeling this ability somewhat of Valor's Combat Inspiration, which uses Inspiration to modify AC and damage, it didn't make sense in my mind to have it be that this doesn't modify something. Even Cutting Words modifies an opposing attack roll.

Valor Bard gets Medium Armour and Shields. Even then, they are still on the weak side because their Bardic Inspiration ability is worse than the standard one so they will rarely use it.

Cutting Words is very good.

Your Bardic Inspiration will not be used because it is much weaker than the standard Bardic Inspiration uses. This makes it a weak subclass.

 

[ro]

You've got great ideas! I think this is a really cool subclass. Here are my thoughts.

All right, I've revised this, I'll explain some of these changes at the end of the post:

Bard: College of Psalms
Bards of the College of Psalms devote themselves to the religious practices. They augment their power with radiant energy and that of the divine. Those who follow this path study the practices of Clerics and Paladins in an effort to understand and emulate their power. Whether for good or evil, bards of this college use powers beyond that of the arcane, that of the divine.
Bonus Proficiency
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the Religion and Insight skills.

I feel like two simple skill proficiencies are a bit weak, but I like the two you chose. Maybe add in a Cleric cantrip? And maybe use Charisma for the skills?

At 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the Religion and Insight skills, and you can use Charisma as the ability modifier for Religion and Insight checks. Also, you learn a Cleric cantrip of your choice, which counts as a Bard cantrip for you.​

Divine Inspiration
When you choose this college at 3rd level, you have learned how to use your innate well of power to aid your healing. Whenever you cast a healing spell, you may use one use of your Bardic Inspiration. Roll the die, add the number rolled to the hit points healed.

This is definitely weaker than the Life Cleric even while it is similar.

You could easily make it too powerful, but what about this idea:

Divine Inspiration
When you choose this college at 3rd level, you have learned how to use your innate well of power to bring life to those around you. When an ally within 60 feet of you takes damage or makes a death saving throw, you may use your reaction to spend one use of your Bardic Inspiration. Roll one inspiration die. Your ally gains hit points equal to the number rolled.​

Channel Divinity
By 6th level, whatever source from which you have been granted divine magic has allowed you power similar to that of other holy warriors. You gain one use of the Channel Divinity feature, which recharges at dawn. Choose one cleric domain or paladin oath, and choose two of their Channel Divinity options. You may choose Turn Undead no matter what domain or oath you choose.

Should you choose Turn Undead and/or Arcane Abjuration, they count as Destroy Undead and Arcane Banishment respectively, and scale the same as with the Cleric class.

I like your Channel Divinity idea. Why limit it to once per day rather than multiple times per short rest like Clerics have? At least expand it to once per short rest.

Holy Seraphin
By 14th level, you have been granted divine power, allowing you to temporarily assume the form of a lesser angel. You may use an action to activate this ability, which lasts for one minute, until you are incapacitated, or you use a bonus action to end it. While in this form you gain the following benefits.
You gain feathered, angelic wings, which grant you a flying speed of 40ft.
You shed bright light in a 10ft radius centered on you, and dim light 10ft beyond that.
Whenever you use a healing ability or cast a healing spell, use maximum number you can roll.
As a bonus action, you may touch a dying creature and stabilize them automatically.
Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Cool ability.