Jacob Vardy
Explorer
A great many societies have a prelude to battle. Boasting poetry, singing, war dances, or internet troll farms. The point being to weaken the enemy's resolve. Nor was it reserved to battle, Celtic bards and hip hop artists have epic rap battles, a short sharp satire could destroy a man in classical Islamicate societies. Most people have probably experienced this, where some cruelty or insult reduces our ability to act, speak, and think.
Also, strife doesn’t seem to come up much in a5e but it does really describe this condition. So i am looking for help in fleshing this out before i unleash it on my players. I'm mostly thinking of it as an ability of NPC enemies.
Taunt.
Boast of your great deeds. Insult or threaten your enemies. Perform a complicated martial manoeuvre. Create a bad smell to spook the enemy’s horses. Roar to scare away a wolf.
As an action taunt a number of creatures up to your proficiency bonus.
Or, as a bonus action taunt one creature.
Or, when taking the Attack action, forgo one attack to taunt the target instead.
The target(s) must make a Charisma saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus.
On a failure the target(s) are rattled.
If the target fails the saving throw by 5 or more this imposes a level of strife.
A creature may be subject to more than one taunt.
A creature that succeeds in a saving throw against a taunt is immune to taunts for this encounter.
Levels of strife last until the creature rests in a haven.
A creature immune to being rattled or stunned is immune to being taunted.
A really good boast or insult takes time to come up with. You can use the taunt feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
Also, strife doesn’t seem to come up much in a5e but it does really describe this condition. So i am looking for help in fleshing this out before i unleash it on my players. I'm mostly thinking of it as an ability of NPC enemies.
Taunt.
Boast of your great deeds. Insult or threaten your enemies. Perform a complicated martial manoeuvre. Create a bad smell to spook the enemy’s horses. Roar to scare away a wolf.
As an action taunt a number of creatures up to your proficiency bonus.
Or, as a bonus action taunt one creature.
Or, when taking the Attack action, forgo one attack to taunt the target instead.
The target(s) must make a Charisma saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus.
On a failure the target(s) are rattled.
If the target fails the saving throw by 5 or more this imposes a level of strife.
A creature may be subject to more than one taunt.
A creature that succeeds in a saving throw against a taunt is immune to taunts for this encounter.
Levels of strife last until the creature rests in a haven.
A creature immune to being rattled or stunned is immune to being taunted.
A really good boast or insult takes time to come up with. You can use the taunt feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
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