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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Old Drew Id" data-source="post: 1454037" data-attributes="member: 12175">My bard was Ollie Thistle, a.k.a. "Mouth", a very skilled con-man. He worked for a regional crime syndicate and traveled around in a colorful wagon as a puppeteer. His wagon opened up on the side, doubling as a little puppet theater that he used to perform shows in town squares. He works well in social situations, "stings", "cons", and scams, but not very well in combat. The last time he was in combat, while attempting to sneak into a guarded mansion, he actually yelled out to one of his fighter allies, "Oi! Muscle! I'm casting, you know, that spell that makes you all beef, alright?" (By the way, Mouth speaks with a thick cockney accent when he is not faking another accent. )Basically, Ollie likes the life of a thief, but he doesn't quite "get it." He favors style over stealth, and gets upset when the real guild life doesn't match up to the glamourous and flashy things he has heard about in stories. He looks a bit like Eddie Moran, and doesn't mind insulting people he works with if he thinks they messed up.Sample Picture: <a href="http://www.adhoc.co.uk/images/page_text/5022/moranbig.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.adhoc.co.uk/images/page_text/5022/moranbig.jpg</a>Sample Phrases:"Oi, bloke, don't <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />-up this one. I know you get all sticky-fingered in these upscale flats.""Stick it up yer arse, mate.""Same to you with brass knobs on!""I'd fancy a pint right after this score.""Nice. We were off sabbing the competition while you were sodding about here.""'e likes the sauce, he does.""Aye, it's not safe tonight, savvy? Wait til sparrowfart.""Scarper lads, the bobbies are coming!" "I wouldn't mind giving 'er a good seeing to, if you take my meaning." "What's wrong, lad? You look plum-knackered, you do.""Come on sunshine, shift your arse! We've got to drop this stiff.""Yeh, the gaffer's got 'im by 'is short an' curlies now.""I'll have a shufty at the place before we go in, eh? Make sure everything's sound as a pound""Oi! I almost signed my knickers there when i thought he'd squealed!""Let's snaffle the jewels and scarper before we snuff it."Ollie was a con-man, so his Bluff and Disguise were just insane, and his other social skills were formidable. His Perform skill was just plain scary, but he didn't waste it on something as simple as singing or the lute. No, Ollie threw his Perform skill into puppeteering, oratory, and insults. Sure, he could play a few instruments too, and he could sing if he wanted too, but those were never as much fun for him. Basically, Ollie would pull into a town, stop in the town square, pop open the side of his wagon, and start up a puppet show. Pretty soon all the kids in town are watching, plus most of the adults, and Ollie makes a pretty penny. Probably in the meantime, his teammates are pickpocketing someone or robbing the shop across the street, and using the show as a distraction. Then Ollie disguises himself as somebody else, runs a quick con or two, then heads out of town. Oh yeah, he also smuggles contraband in a few hidden compartments in the wagon. As far as inspiring confidence and weakening the enemy and all that goes, Ollie went for the most direct approach: insults. If the enemy missed, he answered with "Ya bloody lummox, ya can't hit the broad side of a barn with that thing." If the enemy hit, it was "Ya think that hurt? Ya hit like a girl, ya stupid git!" And once his allies were already winning the fight and he got cocky, he would further inspire his comrades with puppet shows *in the middle of combat* like some insane Triumph the Insult Dog. Anyhow, Ollie's biggest feat in the short-lived campaign was defeating an entire mercenary company single-handedly, at least in the way he tells it. Our thieves crew was supposed to hit a well-guarded caravan coming through town. The caravan had already been hit and was weak coming into town, but still too strong for us to take on directly. Plus, they had a dead wizard they were going to get raised, which would make them even harder to beat. And finally, they had a standing contract with a local mercenary group "the Blue Blades" to get reinforcements for their dead guards. So basically, they were already too strong for us in a straight-up fight, and about to get a lot stronger. Enter the bard.Ollie (along with the rest of the team) starts spreading rumors. Rumors about "the Blue Blades" and how they are disloyal, or criminal, or negligent, or whatever. He starts up a bar brawl or two and lands a few of them in jail. He disguises himself as a Blue Blade and commits a few very public crimes in town. And so on. Pretty soon, the reputation of the Blue Blades in this town is mud. Also, he spreads a few discrete rumors of a traveling cleric who owes him a favor. Ollie lets the right people know that he can get someone raised at a fraction of the price that they charge at the local temple. Then Ollie and the gang hire themselves on with a smaller mercenary group in town, the Green Shields, (or something like that).Enter the caravan."We have this wizard to raise...yeah, we have money...a low price alternative, you say? Okay, but no tricks..."In the city graveyard, the caravan leaders meet with Ollie and the party necromancer, who impersonates a cleric. But instead of casting raise dead on the wizard's body, the necromancer casts undead armor, and pretends the spell has misfired and that the now-undead wizard is attacking him. Ollie and the necromancer flee the scene, with the necromancer *wearing* the wizard's body. Presto, no more wizard problem.Next up, the caravan leaders prepare to hire more guards. But what's this? The Blue Blades in this town are scum? Okay, who should we hire? The Green Shield? Okay! Now the whole party leaves town with the caravan, acting as caravan guards. A couple of nights later, a LOT of poison in the food, and a few slit throats, and the caravan is ours. and that is how I play a bard...</blockquote>

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