Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Bard Colleges!

Mantle of Inspiration is downright unnerving, and not in a good way. More of a stalker-ish vibe, or should I say stalk-ee?

 

[ChapolimX]

I'd broaden them to Passion and Creation, because there are relatively few domains this edition compared to third that making their spheres bigger could be good.

So Passion would include Gods of Love, Lust, Rage, Hate, Pleasure, Pain, ect...

Creation would include Gods of the Forge, Weaving, Carving, ect...

I like that!

 

[Wrathamon]

I love all the new collages for bard that I wanted to make them more central to my campaign. The last two bard UA's have inspired me. I use to not like Bards thematically. These are making me see a role for them.

I've changed the name Bard to Sorcerer in my game and made the focus wands, rods and staves. They go to a Collage of Sorcery and are taught a well rounded education. See Harry Potter-ish.

Wizards have the master apprentice system. Wizards are more elusive and only hand pick their apprentices to join them in their tower for secret lore exchanges. See Dragon Slayer-ish

Current Sorcerer ... I renamed Adept for now untill I come up with a better name (thaumaturgist, magus, witch, inhuman). They're basically mutants with super-powers that come from their blood. See Shanara

This is all just fluff ... but I love the mechanics and story of the bard, but not the poet/musician part.

thanks to others for the crunch reviews

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

These two colleges don't quite feel right. The themes are good. A fey powered bard with frightening supernatural charm and an intrigue focused bard with secret manipulation powers. Both are dark and interesting.

But the powers themselves are strangely complex and specific. And both subclasses have low level combat abilities that barely match their theme.

Also, the College of Whispers doesn't seem to have a consistent source of where the supernatural powers come from. At one point it's poison damage. Then magical coercion. Then literally stealing someone's shadow. I don't see any cohesiveness to the story here.

It's a good start, but these ones need work.

 

[mellored]

Glamour


Mantle of Inspiration: Good THP at low level but scales poorly. Extra movement can be useful now and then to pull your wizard away from an enemy.
Entralling Performance: Get a few people on your side for a little while, out of combat.

Mantle Of Majesty: Command is a great spell even at high levels. Note that bonus action spell restriction applies, so command + cantrip or command +dodge. Also you can't cast it on the first turn you use it since it takes a bonus action to activate, though activating isn't a spell so you can active + crown of maddness, then command the target as your bonus action on your next turns. Works with Enthralling Performance out of combat.

Unbreakable Majesty: Short rest sanctuary would be good by itself, but this is even stronger. Can be used with the normal sanctuary loopholes like pre-casting spiritual guardian or call lighting. I'm assuming sanctuary doesn't take a slot.


Whispers

Venomous Blades: Using the die to help a fighter hit will do about as much damage, and you lack weapon and armor skills to be in melee. Though it's possible you might land an OA or something.
Venomous Words: If you have 10 minutes alone with someone, then you've probably already won, and getting them to run away for an hour won't add much. Though it's possible you'll come across a lone guard or something.

Mantle of Whispers: A improved disguise self that requires you to kill your target, which isn't too restrictive in most D&D games. Note that you can keep changing into that person indefinitely.

Shadow Lore: A nice long duration out of combat dominate. Can be used to take an enemy out of combat as well.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I really like the Glamour bard, and really, really dislike the Whisper bard.

I was really hoping for a spy/infiltrator/gatherer of secrets, and got a backhanded poisoner? kay...

 

[Aldarc]

These two colleges don't quite feel right. The themes are good. A fey powered bard with frightening supernatural charm and an intrigue focused bard with secret manipulation powers. Both are dark and interesting.

But the powers themselves are strangely complex and specific. And both subclasses have low level combat abilities that barely match their theme.

Also, the College of Whispers doesn't seem to have a consistent source of where the supernatural powers come from. At one point it's poison damage. Then magical coercion. Then literally stealing someone's shadow. I don't see any cohesiveness to the story here.

It's a good start, but these ones need work.

Yep, this is fairly close to my assessment as well. They feel both overly complicated and half-assed.

 

[Istbor]

Well, give them feed back when the time comes and they can make adjustments if enough share your views.

I liked them myself. I really like the idea of the College of Whispers. I would probably change the damage scale on Venomous Blades though. Seems a bit meh. You know?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

The scaling on Venomous Blades and Mantle of Inspiration are identical. Maybe they should both have the scaling of:
Initial: 1d10
5th: 2d10
10th: 3d10
15th: 4d10

 

[maceochaid]

I'm curious, I think that poison is one of those perennial themes of Fantasy rogues/bards, but it is almost always clumsily handled in DnD.

I personally don't like the "magical" poison of Venomous Blades, and wish that it could instead be some mechanic that represents skill in making poisons with a poisoners kit. That said, I know how tricky it is to create a rule like this and keep it balanced.

What are some ways that DnD (edit: or other similar RPG's) has handled this concept in a way that has worked, both keeping the feel of a "skilled poisoner" and balanced mechanically.

 

[Cyphertest]

Anyone else picking up a Dark Sun bard vibe from the College of Whispers?