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?

 

[Salamandyr]

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

only in the sense that in Dark Sun, bards are spies and assassins. But the actual abilities don't feel very Dark Sun to me.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

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.

I think it takes at least a round to apply poison to a weapon, and it starts to suspend belief applying poison the mundane way as part of an action like attacking.

And if it has to do with special equipment, like you get special weapons with a poison reservoir, then there's the question of how come everyone doesn't get one.

 

[SkidAce]

I think it takes at least a round to apply poison to a weapon, and it starts to suspend belief applying poison the mundane way as part of an action like attacking.

And if it has to do with special equipment, like you get special weapons with a poison reservoir, then there's the question of how come everyone doesn't get one.

Because its a death sentence if you are caught with one of those items?

Of course that is a setting reason, and may not apply to other campaigns.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Funny for all the people that complain that interaction isn't supported enough, they make 2 bard colleges full of out of combat intrigue and they get a lot of complaints that they aren't combat focused enough. Cruel are the ways.....

 

[I'm A Banana]

Man, I've got a player who is going fall in love with the glamour bard. I dig the vibe of the whispers bard, too. Yeah, +1 like on both of these.

Also, with a religious wizard subclass and the zealot barbarian, I'm left asking what, no choirboy college?

 

[MerricB]

I'm quite positive about both of these colleges, although the College of Glamour has a bunch of rules issues that need to be sorted. (The Unbreakable Majesty power, due to how sanctuary works, probably doesn't function as intended).

The basic bard colleges in the PHB do a good job of giving us standard options - and I like both of those - so stranger, more niche colleges are fine by me!

Cheers!

 

[pemerton]

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.

The 4e Executioner Assassin had poison manufacture as it "daily" powers, and had other class abilities that enabled it to deliver the poisons even on a missed attack roll.

Whether that counts as "working" I'll leave for others to judge - the general view is that this 4e class is a bit underpowered, but I don't think I've heard that the poisoning abilities are part of this.

 

[Waterbizkit]

Thematically I like both of these. Mechanically I much prefer the College of Glamour. Regardless, I don't mind how niche some of these abilities seem to be on paper, remember that they're layered on top of the "core" Bard which is a versatile class to begin with. Bards of these colleges are still getting a lot of skill and spell versatility and of course inspiration, so they're not likely to be sitting there twiddling their thumbs just because their college abilities may not apply.

Anyway, I'd like the see the College of Whispers get a little work, especially the Venomous Blades ability... I just don't like it. Otherwise I like what I see.

 

[Parmandur]

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

I hadn't, bit now that you point it out that makes a lot of sense.

 

[Parmandur]

Man, I've got a player who is going fall in love with the glamour bard. I dig the vibe of the whispers bard, too. Yeah, +1 like on both of these.

Also, with a religious wizard subclass and the zealot barbarian, I'm left asking what, no choirboy college?

College of Divinity is something I would have expected, but as someone who went to bat for the Zealot: Lore Bard taking Cleric spells, with the Acolyte background, hard to see what could be added to that mechanically, given the smaller size of Bard subclasses.