Quintessential Bard?
- Thread starter der_kluge
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DungeonKeeperUK
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Here we go Clugey baby, blurb from RPGNow
Within this tome you will find:
A more complete description of how music abilities work and what it takes to learn them
Over 70(!) new musical abilities that a bard can learn and use
Over a dozen new feats
Six Prestige Classes, including five brand-new ones
Mystic Compositions - a new class of magic item (think "Scrolls" for Bards)
Enough "other stuff" to make sure that this sourcbook is completely self-contained - if you have the three Core Rulebooks (the PH, DMG, and MM), you need nothing else to make total use of everything in this work!
And I can also say its a bit of a cracker..
Within this tome you will find:
A more complete description of how music abilities work and what it takes to learn them
Over 70(!) new musical abilities that a bard can learn and use
Over a dozen new feats
Six Prestige Classes, including five brand-new ones
Mystic Compositions - a new class of magic item (think "Scrolls" for Bards)
Enough "other stuff" to make sure that this sourcbook is completely self-contained - if you have the three Core Rulebooks (the PH, DMG, and MM), you need nothing else to make total use of everything in this work!
And I can also say its a bit of a cracker..
Last edited:
The Sigil
Mr. 3000 (Words per post)
What is it?
I would prefer to let others tell you whether the product is good or bad (since I am the author) but I can at least tell you what I tried to put into it. The blurb at RPGNow isn't very specific, but it gives you some idea.
I was REALLY disappointed a couple of recent products purporting to deal with Bards and thought, "I can do better..." so I have tried to do so.
If you are looking to get more info on specifics, post here and I'll see what I can do to answer your questions.
Suffice to say that it mostly started with an idea for a prestige class (the sound mage or sonomancer) and two questions: (1.) Why are bard abilities so limited in scope and (2.) Exactly how far away can a bard be heard, anyway?
I tried to broaden the scope of bardic abilities and I hope I succeeded. I also hope I did a better job of codifying with "hard and fast" rules how the abilities work in a way that looks a little more like spells.
Having gotten a set of ideas that I wanted bards to be able to do and having developed a relatively easy framework of rules to do it in (that remains consistent with the PH), the book almost wrote itself after that.
Again, if you have more specific questions, drop me a line here. If you want comments on the quality of the work, ask someone else... of course I will tell you I did a good job, but my motivations are somewhat in question since I *AM* hoping to sell copies of the thing.
--Spencer "The Sigil" Cooley
I would prefer to let others tell you whether the product is good or bad (since I am the author) but I can at least tell you what I tried to put into it. The blurb at RPGNow isn't very specific, but it gives you some idea.
I was REALLY disappointed a couple of recent products purporting to deal with Bards and thought, "I can do better..." so I have tried to do so.
If you are looking to get more info on specifics, post here and I'll see what I can do to answer your questions.
Suffice to say that it mostly started with an idea for a prestige class (the sound mage or sonomancer) and two questions: (1.) Why are bard abilities so limited in scope and (2.) Exactly how far away can a bard be heard, anyway?
I tried to broaden the scope of bardic abilities and I hope I succeeded. I also hope I did a better job of codifying with "hard and fast" rules how the abilities work in a way that looks a little more like spells.
Having gotten a set of ideas that I wanted bards to be able to do and having developed a relatively easy framework of rules to do it in (that remains consistent with the PH), the book almost wrote itself after that.
Again, if you have more specific questions, drop me a line here. If you want comments on the quality of the work, ask someone else... of course I will tell you I did a good job, but my motivations are somewhat in question since I *AM* hoping to sell copies of the thing.
--Spencer "The Sigil" Cooley
Sigil,
Glad to see you on the boards. I've only had the EMM for a couple of days but I am greatly impressed.
To anyone who wants to add some serious variety and spice to your bards, this is a great resource. Well written, the rules seem to be very solid, and the whole concept of Mystic Music is pretty cool. Between the EMM and the variant Bard in Monte Cook's BOEMII and the bard ROCKS!
What other ideas are you considering, Sigil?
Glad to see you on the boards. I've only had the EMM for a couple of days but I am greatly impressed.
To anyone who wants to add some serious variety and spice to your bards, this is a great resource. Well written, the rules seem to be very solid, and the whole concept of Mystic Music is pretty cool. Between the EMM and the variant Bard in Monte Cook's BOEMII and the bard ROCKS!
What other ideas are you considering, Sigil?
Cool, we get more and more authors everyday!
For me, one of th eneat ideas was that many of bardic abilities were just that - abilities instead of spells.
As I said, I haven't read it in depth, but I'm considering actually playing a bard for the first time - if I can convince the DM (and assuming my current character dies).
For me, one of th eneat ideas was that many of bardic abilities were just that - abilities instead of spells.
As I said, I haven't read it in depth, but I'm considering actually playing a bard for the first time - if I can convince the DM (and assuming my current character dies).
The Sigil
Mr. 3000 (Words per post)
enrious said:
That was something I tried to adhere to. One of the things I felt was good about spells and bad about abilities as presented in the PH/SRD was that spells were very well-defined as to "how big", "how far" and "how much." Bardic abilities were not. I tried to add those qualities to the music abilities without losing sight of the fact that these are not spells and should not "act" like spells - they should just be very well-defined like spells.
I'm glad to hear the positive feedback, too... once you've read it in depth, please make comments and review on the main body of the EN World page. I will be looking for criticisms, too - I need to know where the book's weak points are so I can be aware of what to watch in any future publications.
Speaking of which, at the moment I don't have any definite plans for my "next product" but have done a lot of brainstorming on the subject of the various energy types - most notably positive/negative but also fire, cold, acid, sonic, electric, and force. In some ways, I explored sonic energy a bit in EMM but I would certainly explore the various energy types in FAR more depth... but don't look for a firm release schedule or anything... this is still in the "brainstorming stage" at best. I would be interested to know how it would be received.
I think we have plenty of spells and weapons and armor and magic items... I would prefer to examine some of the less-developed aspects of the d20 system with the Enchiridion Series. Bards was the most glaring one IMO... perhaps energy WILL Be next...
We'll see and I'll keep you informed.--The Sigil
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