Bard...ranger? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Bard...ranger? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Big Nate
06-02-06, 04:51 PM i am making a 2nd level bard, "ruben calair" for an upcoming game i need help with.

he has a backround for being a traveling bard who was not very successful. once when he was low on cash he decided to help a local town search for a missing boy. he had grown up in the woods and knew how to handle himself. well it turned out that the boy had actually been kidnapped and he found the kidnappers camp while he was sleeping. he captured the man, who turned out to be a known criminal, and rescued the boy.

he was rewarded by the town and given the bounty for the criminal. he told the story(embelished) to the towns people and they loved it and proclaimed him a hero. he then realized that this what would work for him. he created an alternate persona for himself. a tough masked bounty hunter/mercenary and called himself "magison the hunter".

from that point forward he would disguise himself in dark clothes and wear a leather mask and hunt down criminals and such for money. the when in town he would secretly dress himself up as a bard and tell grand stories of magison the hunter and all of his great deeds(again embelished) which would earn him fame as a bard and at the same time give magison a great reputation causeing the criminals to fear him allow him to demand more money. and again he tells stories about this great hunter which earns him fame for knowing stories about magison.

anyway. i was originally have him be a bard1/ranger1 with a long term goal of bard 16/ranger 4. but i would really like to go all bard. i could take the tracking feat but survival is cross-class for bards and i kind of feel like that would be a waste..

what do you guys think?
Big Nate
06-04-06, 11:03 AM come on guys?

nobody has any comments or anything? i only gave a short version of the story but i expected at least a " that sucks" or a "thats cool" or maybe some advice...

nobody has any comments?
WhrenKehrsyn
06-04-06, 02:28 PM Interesting, you have the costumed adventurer/secret identity type, like Zorro. If youre looking for advice on the backround consider embellishing it a little more. What was his profession in the town befre he bagan doing this? What inspired him to get up and go find the little boy?

An interesting RP aspect will be how will you keep your pt from knowing you are Magison the Hunter?

Also its a weekend, and this forum is much slower on weekends than it is on weekdays, give it some time. Also Ive learned that if people dont post they just dont have anything to add, and that means youve done a good job on your own I think.
Reversefigure4
06-04-06, 08:31 PM anyway. i was originally have him be a bard1/ranger1 with a long term goal of bard 16/ranger 4. but i would really like to go all bard. i could take the tracking feat but survival is cross-class for bards and i kind of feel like that would be a waste..

There's a few ways to get around this.

1. Only put ranks in Survival when taking Ranger levels (eg, take 3 Bard levels, putting your skills, wherever, then take a ranger level and dump all 6+ skill points into Survival).
2. Simply play a Bard with Track and cross-class Survival. Bards get good skill points anyway, so it's not like using 2 per level is going to hurt THAT badly.
3. Talk to your DM, give him your character background, and ask him to 'exchange' one or two bard class skills in for Survival as a class skill (eg, your bard 'loses' Gather Information and Sleight of Hand as class skills, and gains Survival). We do this a lot in my game - it doesn't break the game as long as you only do it for 1 or 2 skills, and it leads away from the cliche characters.

Of the three, I like option 3 best. Ranger levels (particularly if you don't want them) aren't really needed for your character concept. Outside of his tracking and martial skills (which you sort of get as a Bard anyway), I don't really see any of the Ranger 'love of the wild' aspect coming through in the character, which leads me more to think he's a Bard who can track. Also helps to keep your 'secret' identity - everyone knows Bards can't track, so the Hunter couldn't possibly be the Bard!
club2bash
06-04-06, 09:27 PM There is a Ranger variant that you could use. Its at
www.d20srd.org/ (http://)
If the link doesn't work search d20 hypertext on google and take the top selection. It's under variants, go to classes
then take option three
3. Talk to your DM, give him your character background, and ask him to 'exchange' one or two bard class skills in for Survival as a class skill (eg, your bard 'loses' Gather Information and Sleight of Hand as class skills, and gains Survival).
echange some skills for perform. easy only one class to. More Base attack :ayyyy!:
Big Nate
06-05-06, 12:39 AM thanks a lot for the suggestions. i may try to work out the class skill thing with my DM. i will have to see what he says.
Gonf
06-05-06, 02:00 AM Other possible source, the feat cosmopolitain, choose one skill, this skill is now class, something like that. If he's a human you could take both at first level.

Anyway, this is a cool concept, great job!
Big Nate
06-05-06, 11:47 PM that is actually a feat i was looking for originally. but that is a bit feat cumbersome to take 2 feats to avoid 1 level of ranger. my DM is going to let us start with one minor magical item that fits our story so we can up with this:

Mask of the Hunter

This dark grey leather mask grants the wearer enhanced senses and the instincts of a predetor. when the mask is worn the wearer is granted the ability to track as per the track feat with a +5 bonus on the check and a +2 circumstance bonus to spot, listen and search. if the wearer already has the track feat then he gains a +10 bonus to suvival checks for tracking purposes. as a side effect the mask causes the wearer to become more predetory in nature causing his alignment to shift temporarily to neutral freeing him of the moral implications of the hunt.

i will have to work it into my concept but i dont reall mind it that much.
club2bash
06-05-06, 11:56 PM ooooooohh... Me likey :ayyyy!: how much does it cost and how do you make it?
FIREBLAST3DRAGONMASTER
06-06-06, 03:20 PM Little strong for a new campaign. Maybe a quest to search for because it was stolen?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Big Nate 06-02-06, 04:51 PM	i am making a 2nd level bard, "ruben calair" for an upcoming game i need help with. he has a backround for being a traveling bard who was not very successful. once when he was low on cash he decided to help a local town search for a missing boy. he had grown up in the woods and knew how to handle himself. well it turned out that the boy had actually been kidnapped and he found the kidnappers camp while he was sleeping. he captured the man, who turned out to be a known criminal, and rescued the boy. he was rewarded by the town and given the bounty for the criminal. he told the story(embelished) to the towns people and they loved it and proclaimed him a hero. he then realized that this what would work for him. he created an alternate persona for himself. a tough masked bounty hunter/mercenary and called himself "magison the hunter". from that point forward he would disguise himself in dark clothes and wear a leather mask and hunt down criminals and such for money. the when in town he would secretly dress himself up as a bard and tell grand stories of magison the hunter and all of his great deeds(again embelished) which would earn him fame as a bard and at the same time give magison a great reputation causeing the criminals to fear him allow him to demand more money. and again he tells stories about this great hunter which earns him fame for knowing stories about magison. anyway. i was originally have him be a bard1/ranger1 with a long term goal of bard 16/ranger 4. but i would really like to go all bard. i could take the tracking feat but survival is cross-class for bards and i kind of feel like that would be a waste.. what do you guys think?
Big Nate 06-04-06, 11:03 AM	come on guys? nobody has any comments or anything? i only gave a short version of the story but i expected at least a " that sucks" or a "thats cool" or maybe some advice... nobody has any comments?
WhrenKehrsyn 06-04-06, 02:28 PM	Interesting, you have the costumed adventurer/secret identity type, like Zorro. If youre looking for advice on the backround consider embellishing it a little more. What was his profession in the town befre he bagan doing this? What inspired him to get up and go find the little boy? An interesting RP aspect will be how will you keep your pt from knowing you are Magison the Hunter? Also its a weekend, and this forum is much slower on weekends than it is on weekdays, give it some time. Also Ive learned that if people dont post they just dont have anything to add, and that means youve done a good job on your own I think.
Reversefigure4 06-04-06, 08:31 PM	anyway. i was originally have him be a bard1/ranger1 with a long term goal of bard 16/ranger 4. but i would really like to go all bard. i could take the tracking feat but survival is cross-class for bards and i kind of feel like that would be a waste.. There's a few ways to get around this. 1. Only put ranks in Survival when taking Ranger levels (eg, take 3 Bard levels, putting your skills, wherever, then take a ranger level and dump all 6+ skill points into Survival). 2. Simply play a Bard with Track and cross-class Survival. Bards get good skill points anyway, so it's not like using 2 per level is going to hurt THAT badly. 3. Talk to your DM, give him your character background, and ask him to 'exchange' one or two bard class skills in for Survival as a class skill (eg, your bard 'loses' Gather Information and Sleight of Hand as class skills, and gains Survival). We do this a lot in my game - it doesn't break the game as long as you only do it for 1 or 2 skills, and it leads away from the cliche characters. Of the three, I like option 3 best. Ranger levels (particularly if you don't want them) aren't really needed for your character concept. Outside of his tracking and martial skills (which you sort of get as a Bard anyway), I don't really see any of the Ranger 'love of the wild' aspect coming through in the character, which leads me more to think he's a Bard who can track. Also helps to keep your 'secret' identity - everyone knows Bards can't track, so the Hunter couldn't possibly be the Bard!
club2bash 06-04-06, 09:27 PM	There is a Ranger variant that you could use. Its at www.d20srd.org/ (http://) If the link doesn't work search d20 hypertext on google and take the top selection. It's under variants, go to classes then take option three 3. Talk to your DM, give him your character background, and ask him to 'exchange' one or two bard class skills in for Survival as a class skill (eg, your bard 'loses' Gather Information and Sleight of Hand as class skills, and gains Survival). echange some skills for perform. easy only one class to. More Base attack :ayyyy!:
Big Nate 06-05-06, 12:39 AM	thanks a lot for the suggestions. i may try to work out the class skill thing with my DM. i will have to see what he says.
Gonf 06-05-06, 02:00 AM	Other possible source, the feat cosmopolitain, choose one skill, this skill is now class, something like that. If he's a human you could take both at first level. Anyway, this is a cool concept, great job!
Big Nate 06-05-06, 11:47 PM	that is actually a feat i was looking for originally. but that is a bit feat cumbersome to take 2 feats to avoid 1 level of ranger. my DM is going to let us start with one minor magical item that fits our story so we can up with this: Mask of the Hunter This dark grey leather mask grants the wearer enhanced senses and the instincts of a predetor. when the mask is worn the wearer is granted the ability to track as per the track feat with a +5 bonus on the check and a +2 circumstance bonus to spot, listen and search. if the wearer already has the track feat then he gains a +10 bonus to suvival checks for tracking purposes. as a side effect the mask causes the wearer to become more predetory in nature causing his alignment to shift temporarily to neutral freeing him of the moral implications of the hunt. i will have to work it into my concept but i dont reall mind it that much.
club2bash 06-05-06, 11:56 PM	ooooooohh... Me likey :ayyyy!: how much does it cost and how do you make it?
FIREBLAST3DRAGONMASTER 06-06-06, 03:20 PM	Little strong for a new campaign. Maybe a quest to search for because it was stolen?