Saturday, January 14, 2012

That's Why The Lady is a Bard

I didn't paint this.
My offspring is gearing up for a new campaign. She has decided to retire Rosima the elf sorceress and wants to play an elven bard, based on this Reaper mini. "Her name is Palemoon and she's a moon elf with straight black hair. What can bards do?"
This is great, actually, because I haven't done a bard role for DungeonTeller. What's essential about bards?
  1. They use song as a medium for magic.
  2. They are lore masters.
  3. They are persuasive speakers.
In my ruleset, your race and role are inseparable, so "elf bard" is distinct from "human bard". Here's some flavor text to start with:

Elf bards are priestesses of the elven moon goddess Kaguya. Their songs can heal, give hope to those in need, and drive away evil. Moonlight being a vehicle of dreams, these bards can create phantoms from song and shadow to beguile or confuse. They often accompany themselves on lutes with silver strings. On completion of a bard's first important quest, the moon goddess grants her a rabbit companion that serves as a guide and sentinel. 


Stats:
Battle 1
Magic 3
Make 1 (+4 bonus dice when making or fixing musical instruments)
Notice 5 (+1 bonus die when in presence of rabbit companion)
Resist 3
Shoot 3
Sneak 2
Stunt 2
Talk 5 (+1 when playing lute)


They have some of the powers of other elf roles: cloak and starlight.
They also grab some wizard and paladin powers, with the difference that they roll their Talk dice rather than their Magic or Resist dice to cast them:
counterspell
drive away undead
hand of healing
inspire
phantom
will o' the wisp

They also possess the rogue power voice trick.

Let's make up a new power for them on the spot:


Beguile
Your words can hold an audience spellbound. Costs 2 Luck. Bard starting power.
Roll your Talk dice. One or more successes means that your enemies lose their next turn, listening raptly to your song. If your friends make a Battle or Shoot roll against a beguiled enemy, it will not lose its next turn. Each enemy may roll its Resist dice to take away any successes you made. This power is best used before a fight begins. If you use this power after you or your friends have made Battle or Shoot rolls against your enemies, each enemy will get a bonus Resist die against your beguile for the rest of the action scene.



Anyone catch Colbert's "half-orc bard" reference on The Report the other night?

2 comments:

  1. Whoever painted that is a genius. I wish I could paint that well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed. The artist's name is Derek Schubert. You can see more of his work at the Reaper site.

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