TwoSix
Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
Maybe not a 1-to-1 correspondence, but building a class around each spell school, with their own unique class powers and spell casting methods would be an interesting project.
D&D 5E Bard exists, now make YOUR Bard. (+)
TwoSix
Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
I would do:
Abjuration- Paladin. Warder, protector, and banisher of extraplanar evils. Baseline would be more caster-y, with the "armored knight" concept being a subclass.
Conjuration - Warlock. Lots of the creepy warlock spells are in this school, and they make the most sense as the "summoner" class.
Divination - Ranger. Inquisitors, hunters, and trackers. Perfect fit.
Enchantment - Cleric. Domain spells can broaden their capabilities, and clerical enchantment magic is what allows them to lead their flock.
Evocation - Sorcerer. Raw elements and blowing stuff up fits the sorcerer image.
Illusion - Bard. Fey trickery, and enhances their roguish tendencies.
Necromancy - Druid. Life and death, manipulation of vital energies. Different circles have different views of the undead, some being better at destroying them, others at creating them.
Transmutation - Artificer. The perfect school for magic tinkering and magic item creation.
Then either junk the Wizard, or make them a generalist who can learn any school as their major class power.
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
Necromancy for the cleric makes a lot of sense. Wizards are the blasty fire and lightning class, though. If they get one base, it should be evocation. Maybe give transmutation to warlocks or just back to druids and give warlocks conjuration. Druids have always been more shapechangy(alteration). Animals, trees, etc. than summoners. Warlocks make pacts and summing would be right up their alley.
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
I like the wizard as a "pick your school" type of class. The wizard image is the class able to raise the dead, enchant people, throw fire, summon demons, etc. If they can pick any single school, they are still the class that does that, even if no individual wizard can do it all.
GrimCo
Adventurer
I would like a non caster bard focused on social and combat, more in theme with classic swashbucklers who are at home both in court and in seedy taverns.
Lets call it College of sword & word
Standard fighting stuff from Sword bard, but similar flourishes just for social interactions. Quick wit - bardic dice to figure out if someone is BSing them. Silver tongue - bardic dice to persuade, deceive or intimidate. Poison word - bardic dice to slander someones reputation or disseminate false information and gossip.
Fame: You grow in fame (or infamy) throught the realm. More famous you get, more invitations to balls, banquets and social gatherings you get. Like every 4-5 levels, your fame grows, so you might start in your home town, then in county, kingdom and then international superstar.
Friend high and low - bard is known throughout all social stratas, so he can gather information, gossips and rumors about anyone and everyone, also he can call on minor favors from NPCs from all walks of life. He always has that : I know a guy! ace in his sleeve
Magical secrets would become dirty secrets- you know enough filth about mighty and powerful that you can gain significant favors from them, but within the reason. FE:Need detachment of guards to help you clean up goblin nest? Good thing Guard captain has secret mistress and it would be a shame if his wife found out.
Lets call it College of sword & word
Standard fighting stuff from Sword bard, but similar flourishes just for social interactions. Quick wit - bardic dice to figure out if someone is BSing them. Silver tongue - bardic dice to persuade, deceive or intimidate. Poison word - bardic dice to slander someones reputation or disseminate false information and gossip.
Fame: You grow in fame (or infamy) throught the realm. More famous you get, more invitations to balls, banquets and social gatherings you get. Like every 4-5 levels, your fame grows, so you might start in your home town, then in county, kingdom and then international superstar.
Friend high and low - bard is known throughout all social stratas, so he can gather information, gossips and rumors about anyone and everyone, also he can call on minor favors from NPCs from all walks of life. He always has that : I know a guy! ace in his sleeve
Magical secrets would become dirty secrets- you know enough filth about mighty and powerful that you can gain significant favors from them, but within the reason. FE:Need detachment of guards to help you clean up goblin nest? Good thing Guard captain has secret mistress and it would be a shame if his wife found out.
It's a cool idea but the D&D schools weren't made to split into it's classes that way.
I always imagine a D&D heartbreaker that split schools another way like in colors or winds and let classes chose which 1-3 colors or winds of magic they had.
In this system, classes like bards, alchemists, and artificers would be the few generalists with less power because they don't cast magic but use songs, items, and potions respectively.
Like if you did
Red- Elemental magic
Blue- Arcane magic
Green- Nature magic
White- Holy Magic
Black- Unholy Magic
A bard could do play a Dirge to do 1st level Black Magic or a Hymn for a 1st level White Magic.
I like the 5e Bard as-is, so my changes would be pretty minor: Magical Secrets earlier and more often, more Colleges in core, etc.
For my own work, the Bard is the class that has the best non-spell buffing abilities as well as the best capacity for blending different sources of power. (All classes are martial and have magical options, but Bard combines them better and has built-in multiclassing.) They're less musical than the traditional D&D Bard, but they draw power from the sung/spoken/written word, teamwork and collaboration, and from shared values and goals.
For my own work, the Bard is the class that has the best non-spell buffing abilities as well as the best capacity for blending different sources of power. (All classes are martial and have magical options, but Bard combines them better and has built-in multiclassing.) They're less musical than the traditional D&D Bard, but they draw power from the sung/spoken/written word, teamwork and collaboration, and from shared values and goals.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
What role do you see them covering? there's a big drop in power going from full caster to half, how are they making that up?
Again, they are playing next to the existing Bard, they can't be a large nerf. This is some ribbon changes, and a nerf. What is the primary thing they do, mechanically?
Clint_L
Hero
I like the 5e bard. But I would also like to see a version that looks kind of more like the warlock, with just a few spells that they can enhance through their performances, and then a bunch of bard-specific powers to choose from, letting each player really design their own version of the class.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
We don't need more classes. So let's talk subclasses.
An artificer subclass that crafts music. This almost works out of the box.
A barbarian subclass that's essentially a skald in flavor.
A bard subclass (yes) focused on druidic magic (yesss!)
A cleric subclass that focuses on words of power.
A druid subclass with a roguish bent - more skills and charm magic.
A fighter subclass that takes another go at warlord. My words are my power.
A monk subclass that maybe plays music as they fight that enhances their party.
A paladin subclass that smites with sonic power. I'd try to work in some Creed references to the abilities.
A ranger subclass that befriends a lucky songbird or some other innocuous animal.
A rogue subclass with a Charisma base and some spellcasting (charm-based/cha-based arcane trickster)
A sorcerer subclass whose magic is awoken with song. They blast with sonic energy.
A warlock subclass that plays a shiny fiddle made of gold. Darkness and heat.
A wizard subclass that uses truenames and utterances to force others to do their bidding.
My secret sick twisted wish is for every class to be a subclass of every other class.
Similar Threads
