Another Bard Upgrade [Archive] - Wizards Community

Another Bard Upgrade [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DireHawk
01-14-06, 04:21 AM I know a ton of these are getting done, but the bard is kinda weak and I feel this is just the kinda power boost he needs. Most of what I focus on here is improving his bardic music. Here it is:

Bardic Music Per Day: Bards get a number of Bardic Music uses per day equal to 2+ their level in bard.

Bonus Feats: Beginning at level 5, and every 5 levels there after, a bard gains a bonus feat which must be selected from the following list. The bard must still fulfill all prereqs for the feat.

Bard List: Chant of Fortitude (Complete Adventurer), Disguise Spell (Complete Adventurer), Doomspeak (Champions of Ruin) [though the save should be 10+ 1/2 your level+ cha], Dragonsong (Draconomicon), Extra Music (Complete Adventurer), Force of Personality (Complete Adventurer), Green Ear (Complete Adventurer), Haunting Melody (Heroes of Horror), Inspire Spellpower (Races of Stone), Ironskin Chant (Complete Adventurer), Lingering Song (Complete Adventurer), Subsonics, Lyric Spell (Complete Adventurer), Musical Focus (think spell focus, except for Bardic Music DCs), Music of the Outer Spheres (Lords of Madness), Requiem (Libris Mortis), Skill Focus (Perform), Snowflake Wardance (Frostburn), and Versatile Performer (Complete Adventurer).

Combat Performance: At level 10, a bard has become very adept at melding combat into his inspiring performances. During the rounds that the bard's music is maintained, a bard can make one attack in place of his move action without disrupting the bardic music effect.

At level 16, a bard can make one attack in place of a move action in the same round he begins a bardic music effect.

Finally, I've made a few changes to a bard's normal bardic music. Here they are. The specific changes are in italics.

Inspire Courage (Su)

A bard with 3 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use song or poetics to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear the bard sing. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the bard sing and for 5 rounds thereafter. An affected ally receives a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +2 morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 8th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by 1 (+3 at 8th, +4 at 14th, and +5 at 20th). Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability.

New Inspire Competence (Su)

A bard of 3rd level or higher with 6 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use his music or poetics to help an ally succeed at a task. The ally must be within 60 feet and able to see and hear the bard. The bard must also be able to see the ally.

The ally gets a +2 competence bonus on skill checks with a particular skill as long as he or she continues to hear the bard’s music. Certain uses of this ability are infeasible. The effect lasts as long as the bard concentrates, up to a maximum of 2 minutes. A bard can’t inspire competence in himself. Inspire competence is a mind-affecting ability.

At level 7 the bard's song grants a competence bonus equal to his Cha Mod on skill checks (minimum +2).

New Inspire Greatness (Su)

A bard of 9th level or higher with 12 or more ranks in a Perform skill can inspire greatness in himself or a single willing ally within 30 feet while using his Inspire Courage ability, granting him or her even greater fighting capability. To inspire greatness, a bard must be using Inspire Courage and an ally must hear him sing for a full round. The bard can then activate Inspire Greatness as a swift action, affecting himself or another ally within 30ft. For every three levels a bard attains beyond 9th, he can target one additional ally with a single use of this ability (two at 12th level, three at 15th, four at 18th). For each person affected by inspire greatness, the bard must expend 1 bardic music use. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the bard sing and for 5 rounds thereafter. A creature inspired with greatness gains 2 bonus Hit Dice (d10s), the commensurate number of temporary hit points (apply the target’s Constitution modifier, if any, to these bonus Hit Dice) and a competence bonus on Fortitude saves equal to his Cha mod (minimum of +1)., in addition to the effects of Inspire Courage. The bonus Hit Dice count as regular Hit Dice for determining the effect of spells that are Hit Dice dependant. Inspire greatness is a mind-affecting ability.

New Inspire Heroics (Su)

A bard of 15th level or higher with 18 or more ranks in a Perform skill can inspire tremendous heroism in himself or a single willing ally within 30 feet while using his Inspire Courage ability. To inspire heroics, a bard must be using Inspire Courage and an ally must hear him sing for a full round. The bard can then activate Inspire Heroics as a swift action, affecting himself or another ally within 30ft. For every three bard levels the character attains beyond 15th, he can inspire heroics in one additional creature. For each person affected by inspire heroics, the bard must expend 1 bardic music use. A creature so inspired gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws and a +4 dodge bonus to AC, in addition to the effects of Inspire Courage. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the bard sing and for up to 5 rounds thereafter. Inspire heroics is a mind-affecting ability. Inspire Heroics stacks with Inspire Greatness.

The changes to the music for the most part increase the bonuses a bard grants. The biggest change, however, is in the use of inspire courage. Basically, Inspire Greatness and Inspire Heroics are now just augmentations of inspire courage, rather than separate bard songs. In this way, a higher level bard can grant the bonus from Inspire Courage to his party, and then after one full round he can choose recipients of Inspire Greatness and Heroics as part of that song. Now, its actually useful to have a bard on your side.
Lotus Crane
01-14-06, 05:07 AM Virtuoso Performance: At level 10, a bard has become very adept at performance and creating his bardic music effects. Now, maintaining bardic music abilities only requires a move action each round the music is maintained. Starting a bardic music effect is still a standard action.

At level 16, beginning and maintaining bardic music requires only a move-action. A bard cannot cast spells that require verbal components if he is beginning or maintaining a bardic music effect.
You do realize that RAW, most bardic music abilities are already maintained as a free action, right? The only core songs that require concentration are fascinate and song of freedom.
BlaineTog
01-14-06, 07:23 AM I know a ton of these are getting done, but the bard is kinda weak and I feel this is just the kinda power boost he needs.You'll find that a boatload of people disagree with you on this point, including myself. The bard is balanced.
Shadowfax7
01-14-06, 09:09 AM You do realize that RAW, most bardic music abilities are already maintained as a free action, right? The only core songs that require concentration are fascinate and song of freedom.
And Inspire Competence . . . but I think the OP is adding the Virtuoso ability mainly for use with Fascinate.

DireHawk, the Virtuoso ability shouldn't be able to be used if Activating a Magic Item by Spell Completion or Command Word, as well as if casting a spell.

Also, add drinking a potion to that list as normally it's a standard action, but now that you made maintaining, and later starting, a Bardic Music ability a move action it doesn't seem appropriate to be able to sing/play an instrument, etc. and drink a potion at the same time.
DireHawk
01-14-06, 08:00 PM You do realize that RAW, most bardic music abilities are already maintained as a free action, right? The only core songs that require concentration are fascinate and song of freedom.

Really? I always assumed it was a standard action for a bard to maintain any bardic music. If that's true, I'm just going to take out that ability completely, because it was mainly to be used with Inspire Courage and the more combat useful bard songs.

You'll find that a boatload of people disagree with you on this point, including myself. The bard is balanced.

I'm glad you feel that way. Unfortunately, I don't. Sure, I find bards to be lots of fun to play, but I've never seen a bard become an equal in power to a wizard, a rogue, a cleric, or a fighter. Bards just can't stand on their own, in my opinion. Of course, bards should be more successful in a group dynamic, since they are mostly support characters. However, as they are, even in a group the bard takes a back seat in terms of power. I think a bard should at the very least get one thing that sets him apart from others, and that's his bardic music. But as it is, Bardic music seems subpar. Of course, I can probably argue 'til I'm blue in the face, but you'll just disagree. Which is fine, you're entitled to your opinion. However, I've expressed mine, and this is not a thread about whether or not the bard is underpowered, its to critique whether my homebrew bard is balanced. So if you have nothing of value as far as constructive criticism is concerned, I would apprecitate you not post here.

Finally, I've changed a few things around. Inspire Courage was broken because the Cha mod, though probably balanced for low level bards, is far too easily abusable by higher level ones. So I've changed it to simply add +2 to start with the normal progression to a +5 at level 20, which I find to be a nice, round number.

I've changed Virtuoso Performance to Combat Performance. If Inspire Courage doesn't require a standard action to maintain, as you said before, then I'll simply throw it out. But if it does, then this version prevents abuse by limiting the kinds of actions you can take to move actions or attack actions.

I've also changed it so that bards get a number of Bardic Music uses of 2+ their bard level per day. This way, bards can use their music more than once at lower levels, and at higher levels bards still don't have so much music they won't know what to do with them.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DireHawk 01-14-06, 04:21 AM	I know a ton of these are getting done, but the bard is kinda weak and I feel this is just the kinda power boost he needs. Most of what I focus on here is improving his bardic music. Here it is: Bardic Music Per Day: Bards get a number of Bardic Music uses per day equal to 2+ their level in bard. Bonus Feats: Beginning at level 5, and every 5 levels there after, a bard gains a bonus feat which must be selected from the following list. The bard must still fulfill all prereqs for the feat. Bard List: Chant of Fortitude (Complete Adventurer), Disguise Spell (Complete Adventurer), Doomspeak (Champions of Ruin) [though the save should be 10+ 1/2 your level+ cha], Dragonsong (Draconomicon), Extra Music (Complete Adventurer), Force of Personality (Complete Adventurer), Green Ear (Complete Adventurer), Haunting Melody (Heroes of Horror), Inspire Spellpower (Races of Stone), Ironskin Chant (Complete Adventurer), Lingering Song (Complete Adventurer), Subsonics, Lyric Spell (Complete Adventurer), Musical Focus (think spell focus, except for Bardic Music DCs), Music of the Outer Spheres (Lords of Madness), Requiem (Libris Mortis), Skill Focus (Perform), Snowflake Wardance (Frostburn), and Versatile Performer (Complete Adventurer). Combat Performance: At level 10, a bard has become very adept at melding combat into his inspiring performances. During the rounds that the bard's music is maintained, a bard can make one attack in place of his move action without disrupting the bardic music effect. At level 16, a bard can make one attack in place of a move action in the same round he begins a bardic music effect. Finally, I've made a few changes to a bard's normal bardic music. Here they are. The specific changes are in italics. Inspire Courage (Su) A bard with 3 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use song or poetics to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear the bard sing. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the bard sing and for 5 rounds thereafter. An affected ally receives a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +2 morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 8th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by 1 (+3 at 8th, +4 at 14th, and +5 at 20th). Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability. New Inspire Competence (Su) A bard of 3rd level or higher with 6 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use his music or poetics to help an ally succeed at a task. The ally must be within 60 feet and able to see and hear the bard. The bard must also be able to see the ally. The ally gets a +2 competence bonus on skill checks with a particular skill as long as he or she continues to hear the bard’s music. Certain uses of this ability are infeasible. The effect lasts as long as the bard concentrates, up to a maximum of 2 minutes. A bard can’t inspire competence in himself. Inspire competence is a mind-affecting ability. At level 7 the bard's song grants a competence bonus equal to his Cha Mod on skill checks (minimum +2). New Inspire Greatness (Su) A bard of 9th level or higher with 12 or more ranks in a Perform skill can inspire greatness in himself or a single willing ally within 30 feet while using his Inspire Courage ability, granting him or her even greater fighting capability. To inspire greatness, a bard must be using Inspire Courage and an ally must hear him sing for a full round. The bard can then activate Inspire Greatness as a swift action, affecting himself or another ally within 30ft. For every three levels a bard attains beyond 9th, he can target one additional ally with a single use of this ability (two at 12th level, three at 15th, four at 18th). For each person affected by inspire greatness, the bard must expend 1 bardic music use. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the bard sing and for 5 rounds thereafter. A creature inspired with greatness gains 2 bonus Hit Dice (d10s), the commensurate number of temporary hit points (apply the target’s Constitution modifier, if any, to these bonus Hit Dice) and a competence bonus on Fortitude saves equal to his Cha mod (minimum of +1)., in addition to the effects of Inspire Courage. The bonus Hit Dice count as regular Hit Dice for determining the effect of spells that are Hit Dice dependant. Inspire greatness is a mind-affecting ability. New Inspire Heroics (Su) A bard of 15th level or higher with 18 or more ranks in a Perform skill can inspire tremendous heroism in himself or a single willing ally within 30 feet while using his Inspire Courage ability. To inspire heroics, a bard must be using Inspire Courage and an ally must hear him sing for a full round. The bard can then activate Inspire Heroics as a swift action, affecting himself or another ally within 30ft. For every three bard levels the character attains beyond 15th, he can inspire heroics in one additional creature. For each person affected by inspire heroics, the bard must expend 1 bardic music use. A creature so inspired gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws and a +4 dodge bonus to AC, in addition to the effects of Inspire Courage. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the bard sing and for up to 5 rounds thereafter. Inspire heroics is a mind-affecting ability. Inspire Heroics stacks with Inspire Greatness. The changes to the music for the most part increase the bonuses a bard grants. The biggest change, however, is in the use of inspire courage. Basically, Inspire Greatness and Inspire Heroics are now just augmentations of inspire courage, rather than separate bard songs. In this way, a higher level bard can grant the bonus from Inspire Courage to his party, and then after one full round he can choose recipients of Inspire Greatness and Heroics as part of that song. Now, its actually useful to have a bard on your side.
Lotus Crane 01-14-06, 05:07 AM	Virtuoso Performance: At level 10, a bard has become very adept at performance and creating his bardic music effects. Now, maintaining bardic music abilities only requires a move action each round the music is maintained. Starting a bardic music effect is still a standard action. At level 16, beginning and maintaining bardic music requires only a move-action. A bard cannot cast spells that require verbal components if he is beginning or maintaining a bardic music effect. You do realize that RAW, most bardic music abilities are already maintained as a free action, right? The only core songs that require concentration are fascinate and song of freedom.
BlaineTog 01-14-06, 07:23 AM	I know a ton of these are getting done, but the bard is kinda weak and I feel this is just the kinda power boost he needs.You'll find that a boatload of people disagree with you on this point, including myself. The bard is balanced.
Shadowfax7 01-14-06, 09:09 AM	You do realize that RAW, most bardic music abilities are already maintained as a free action, right? The only core songs that require concentration are fascinate and song of freedom. And Inspire Competence . . . but I think the OP is adding the Virtuoso ability mainly for use with Fascinate. DireHawk, the Virtuoso ability shouldn't be able to be used if Activating a Magic Item by Spell Completion or Command Word, as well as if casting a spell. Also, add drinking a potion to that list as normally it's a standard action, but now that you made maintaining, and later starting, a Bardic Music ability a move action it doesn't seem appropriate to be able to sing/play an instrument, etc. and drink a potion at the same time.
DireHawk 01-14-06, 08:00 PM	You do realize that RAW, most bardic music abilities are already maintained as a free action, right? The only core songs that require concentration are fascinate and song of freedom. Really? I always assumed it was a standard action for a bard to maintain any bardic music. If that's true, I'm just going to take out that ability completely, because it was mainly to be used with Inspire Courage and the more combat useful bard songs. You'll find that a boatload of people disagree with you on this point, including myself. The bard is balanced. I'm glad you feel that way. Unfortunately, I don't. Sure, I find bards to be lots of fun to play, but I've never seen a bard become an equal in power to a wizard, a rogue, a cleric, or a fighter. Bards just can't stand on their own, in my opinion. Of course, bards should be more successful in a group dynamic, since they are mostly support characters. However, as they are, even in a group the bard takes a back seat in terms of power. I think a bard should at the very least get one thing that sets him apart from others, and that's his bardic music. But as it is, Bardic music seems subpar. Of course, I can probably argue 'til I'm blue in the face, but you'll just disagree. Which is fine, you're entitled to your opinion. However, I've expressed mine, and this is not a thread about whether or not the bard is underpowered, its to critique whether my homebrew bard is balanced. So if you have nothing of value as far as constructive criticism is concerned, I would apprecitate you not post here. Finally, I've changed a few things around. Inspire Courage was broken because the Cha mod, though probably balanced for low level bards, is far too easily abusable by higher level ones. So I've changed it to simply add +2 to start with the normal progression to a +5 at level 20, which I find to be a nice, round number. I've changed Virtuoso Performance to Combat Performance. If Inspire Courage doesn't require a standard action to maintain, as you said before, then I'll simply throw it out. But if it does, then this version prevents abuse by limiting the kinds of actions you can take to move actions or attack actions. I've also changed it so that bards get a number of Bardic Music uses of 2+ their bard level per day. This way, bards can use their music more than once at lower levels, and at higher levels bards still don't have so much music they won't know what to do with them.