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Interest in a Spelless, Yet Magical, Bard, Paladin, and Ranger?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7903937" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Of those, IMO Bard would be the easiest - provided you're willing to go way outside the 5e box. This is how I rebuilt them for my 1e-variant game.</p><p></p><p>Take <strong>all</strong> the abilities a Bard could reasonably ever be expected to have, sort them by level where each ability is listed at the lowest level a Bard could expect to get it (ideally you end up with 3-4 of these per level, with probably more at very low level), and put them on a list. Then, each level a Bard gets to pick which abilities of that level or lower she gets - BUT - the number she can pick is always at least one less than the number that come available that level, thus forcing choices. (in 5e all of this would also replace feats, which they would no longer get access to other than ASIs; and most of these abilities would be strictly limited to Bards only)</p><p></p><p>For added fun, I put some of these into prerequisite tracks e.g. to get charm monster you must first have charm person.</p><p></p><p>Some of these abilities are always-on like feats e.g. weapon focus, others work like concentration spells e.g. morale boost or detect magic where the Bard takes x amount of time to get it started then has to keep playing to keep it going (to a continuous maximum of 2 rounds per level* after which an equal-length rest** is required), some work like fire-and-forget spells e.g. charm person, and others work at-will e.g. sonic attack negation where two opposed Bards - if they both have this - can pretty much cancel each other out until-unless one does something other than play/sing.</p><p></p><p>* - this applies no matter whther the Bard is playing fire-and-forget spells, contentration effects, or anything else: 2 rounds per level of continuous playing forces a rest (one could be a bit more generous at 1st level and give 'em 4 rounds, I think). If a Bard dtops playing before the maximum she must rest for as long as she just played.</p><p></p><p>** - rest means not playing or singing; she can still do anything else she likes e.g. jump into melee, run away, or whatever.</p><p></p><p>As these can all be used any time, each needs to be looked at with an eye to restricting what can be done; for example a Bard can only have one person charmed at a time with charm person, otherwise she'd be able to charm the whole town given long enough.</p><p></p><p>The reason this works for Bards but not for Rangers or Paladins is that the other two classes just don't have enough variety in available abilities to build a big enough table (though come to think of it, 5e Rangers might). The only other class this ability-based model works for is Monk.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and it helps if in this system Bards are absolutely NOT allowed to multiclass; if they can, things could get broken in a great big hurry. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7903937, member: 29398"] Of those, IMO Bard would be the easiest - provided you're willing to go way outside the 5e box. This is how I rebuilt them for my 1e-variant game. Take [B]all[/B] the abilities a Bard could reasonably ever be expected to have, sort them by level where each ability is listed at the lowest level a Bard could expect to get it (ideally you end up with 3-4 of these per level, with probably more at very low level), and put them on a list. Then, each level a Bard gets to pick which abilities of that level or lower she gets - BUT - the number she can pick is always at least one less than the number that come available that level, thus forcing choices. (in 5e all of this would also replace feats, which they would no longer get access to other than ASIs; and most of these abilities would be strictly limited to Bards only) For added fun, I put some of these into prerequisite tracks e.g. to get charm monster you must first have charm person. Some of these abilities are always-on like feats e.g. weapon focus, others work like concentration spells e.g. morale boost or detect magic where the Bard takes x amount of time to get it started then has to keep playing to keep it going (to a continuous maximum of 2 rounds per level* after which an equal-length rest** is required), some work like fire-and-forget spells e.g. charm person, and others work at-will e.g. sonic attack negation where two opposed Bards - if they both have this - can pretty much cancel each other out until-unless one does something other than play/sing. * - this applies no matter whther the Bard is playing fire-and-forget spells, contentration effects, or anything else: 2 rounds per level of continuous playing forces a rest (one could be a bit more generous at 1st level and give 'em 4 rounds, I think). If a Bard dtops playing before the maximum she must rest for as long as she just played. ** - rest means not playing or singing; she can still do anything else she likes e.g. jump into melee, run away, or whatever. As these can all be used any time, each needs to be looked at with an eye to restricting what can be done; for example a Bard can only have one person charmed at a time with charm person, otherwise she'd be able to charm the whole town given long enough. The reason this works for Bards but not for Rangers or Paladins is that the other two classes just don't have enough variety in available abilities to build a big enough table (though come to think of it, 5e Rangers might). The only other class this ability-based model works for is Monk. Oh, and it helps if in this system Bards are absolutely NOT allowed to multiclass; if they can, things could get broken in a great big hurry. :) [/QUOTE]
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