Bard Variant Ideas

[TracerBullet42]

I was just thinking over character ideas (slow day at work today) and I've decided I really like the bard class...

The only thing I don't like about it is the bardic music. I can understand the entertainer idea...but the guy wading into battle strumming his guitar just doesn't work for me.

Has anyone seen any bard variants that have removed the bardic music ability? Or what would you replace it with if you were to create a variant of your own?

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

One might try to adapt the Marshall's "Auras" (MiniHB).

Also, your average bard probably doesn't wade into combat while strumming his luth or playing the pipes (unless you have a "El Kabong" type of Bard ). Most bards probably sing or recite epic tales or poetry while fighting. Not all performances have to be musical. He could be spouting dirty limericks about his opponent's mother, or simply insulting his opponents to the best of his ability.

Removing the Bard's musical ability... I would have no idea what to replace it with. Maybe reduced sneak attack damage? A few feats? Better spell progression?

AR

 

[Crothian]

Monte Cook's Bard is a great version that might be useful

 

[takyris]

Yeah, the bard becomes a rockin' class once you change the flavor. It can be singing an inspirational combat song, or rallying people like a Shakespearian king as they charge into battle. Or, as I said in the ninja thread, it could be a series of ancient chi-gathering meditational chants. Mechanically, all that matters is that it be something that other people can hear.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Yeah, the bard becomes a rockin' class once you change the flavor. It can be singing an inspirational combat song, or rallying people like a Shakespearian king as they charge into battle. Or, as I said in the ninja thread, it could be a series of ancient chi-gathering meditational chants. Mechanically, all that matters is that it be something that other people can hear.

Back in 3.0, my bard had 'stage combat' and 'brash insults' as performance types. My goal was to be out there, spouting an endless stream of stupid insults while looking completely awesome and untouchable during the middle of combat as my bard song. "Wow! Look at him go! These guys can't be so bad."

 

[takyris]

Thoughtbubble, that's awesome. You've just given me some horrible ideas for using a Chris-Tucker-type character as a bard.

"That all you got, spikey? Your momma hit me harder than that last night. and that was just 'cause I was freakin' her so dang good! Y'all be using the greatswords to make up for your tiny little manhoods, right? I ran into this halfling back in town who said, 'That warlord is too small even for me!' She also said that you had a little trouble with... well, lemme just say that maybe you oughta go with the flail instead of the greatsword."

Perform:Trash Talk

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Thoughtbubble, that's awesome. You've just given me some horrible ideas for using a Chris-Tucker-type character as a bard.

"That all you got, spikey? Your momma hit me harder than that last night. and that was just 'cause I was freakin' her so dang good! Y'all be using the greatswords to make up for your tiny little manhoods, right? I ran into this halfling back in town who said, 'That warlord is too small even for me!' She also said that you had a little trouble with... well, lemme just say that maybe you oughta go with the flail instead of the greatsword."

Perform:Trash Talk

Just make sure you get expertise. You're going to need as much "I'm not getting hit" as you can possibly get.

 

[Kalendraf]

Monte Cook's Bard is a great version that might be useful

Monte's version is fun, but seems a tad overpowered at higher levels, especially if you concentrate on boosting charisma (+6 cloak of charisma, for example pushing Charisma into the upper 20's). With a high charisma bonus, they get so many notes, chords and melodies which are interchangeable that it becomes abusive. With the original 3e rules, they could use Swiftsong (similar to haste) to be able to fire off up to 3 sonic darts a turn (1d6/3 levels, ranged touch attack). For example, a 15th level M.C. bard could fire off 3 x 5d6 darts of pinpoint sonic damage per round without save. It overcomes all the DR types except sonic resistance, which is a pretty underused resistance by creatures in the MM. Touch attacks at this level tend to require simply not rolling a 1 in order to hit. Plus, they get to do all of this while staying back out of harm's reach. Since the sonic dart is just a spell note, they can do this seemingly forever, spending chords or melodies to get more and more uses as necessary. This is on par with a wizard who can fire 3 full volleys of 5 magic missiles per round (5d6 ~ 5 x 2-5) dishing out a whopping 15d6 damage total each round, but also getting to wear armor. Do you think that's balanced?

I haven't seen the updates for 3.5, so maybe some of the abuses were addressed in an update. I'd just recommend keeping a close eye on those abilities. The problem was not specifically with Sonic Dart, Swiftsong or the extra uses for a high charisma, but in combination, they seemed to become abusive. When the bard is the leading damage dealer over the fighters and wizards, there's just cause for investigation.

 

[takyris]

That's an excellent point. While roleplaying-wise, it's completely appropriate to mouth off like that and then get smacked into the middle of next week, the powergamer in me would like to survive the average combat...

 

[Kalendraf]

I totally forgot... Monte's bard also can get a feat (Intensify Song?) which is a free action that lets them double their damage by making...get this...a perform check. IIRC, to double the damage of a note like Sonic Dart, it requires a mere DC 25 perform check. By time a bard is into double digit levels, it's pretty easy to make a perform check like that. For a 15th level bard, they can easily have 18 ranks, plus another 6 or 7 from high charisma (assuming a cloak of charisma or similar).

Take all that damage I mentioned earlier, and double it. So in 1 round, the M.C. bard could easily be dishing out something like 30d6 of damage to a single foe, or spread it out to deal 10d6 across 3 different opponents. There's no downside (aka risk) in using this feat. Monte Cook actually suggested on his message boards that the bard should probably only be able use that feat 1 time per round (now known as a swift action, I guess). That helps, but I still think this bard varient has a few balance issues.