Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sir Brennen" data-source="post: 3381250" data-attributes="member: 553">IMC, Players may choose between the bard class as presented in the PHB, or use the alternate bard from the Complete Book of Eldritch Might. To distinguish the two, the PHB Bard is referred to as a Skald. Skalds are typically human, dwarven or gnomish, while bards are almost always elven or half-elven, usually with ties to House Kesirek.Also, IMC, most classes are *not* automatically literate. Literacy is granted as a class feature for bards.My other big change to bards is mostly fluff, but to me it helps explain the "magic" of bards better, as well as creating more "heroic" plot hooks for the class:The LitanyKeepers of local knowledge, tellers of inspirational tales, entertainers of troops and sailors, merchants and farmers alike, skalds have existed since Horan created the first tribes of men. While libraries and institutes of learning have replaced them somewhat, they still have a place, especially as literacy and schooling are mostly reserved for the upper classes.The Litany is an epic poem of the true history of the world. Its telling serves to instruct and inspire, entertain and warn. The recitals of wandering skalds are its primary means of delivery to the people. The poem is so massive it would take an individual a lifetime to master; even then, it shifts and grows, as new events unfold across the land.To prevent the record of these events from being colored by those in power, any additions to the Litany must be agreed upon by at least five master skalds, each from differing kingdoms. Kings, mercenaries and adventurers strive to curry favor with trained storytellers to ensure their deeds will be immortalized within the Litany. However, such persons might also attempt to silence skalds who know tales showing them in an unfavorable light.While they know many stories, poems and songs, it is the truth of the Litany that grants skalds their supernatural insight into the history, culture and psyche of their race. Mastery of the Litany not only involves rote memorization, but discovery of these hidden relationships and subtexts within the poem. This mastery allows skalds to remember facts about legendary items, places and people, and proper recital of the poem for an audience lets them create supernatural effects of inspiration or captivation. Also, hidden within the Litany, sometimes coded and split across separate cantos, are more powerful incantations.In times past, disloyal tale spinners have attempted to subvert the Litany for their own gain, causing the power of all storytellers to suffer until the false verses were discovered and an accurate record of the relevant events created. Even omissions have been known to affect the poem, and the uncovering of secret influences on history is a common activity of skalds.The human, dwarven and gnomish cultures each have their own Litany. Other races, of course, have oral and written histories, but none that tap into the same level of universal truth and the power contained there. Attempts have been made to create such poetics for some of these cultures, as well as train new skalds, with mixed results. The history of the Elves, for example, seems too closely tied to the influences of nature for culture influences to manifest in the same way as humanity's.Some skalds of prominent traditions seek to create a compilation of all existing Litanies, to see what new relationships and understandings might be discovered from such an undertaking. Many, though, doubt that such a voluminous poem could ever truly be mastered</blockquote>

Verification