Monday 9 January 2023

Alternate Bard Songs





































Having a bit of a revision as the player is using these at moment and I thought about what naughty aligned bards might sing. So the first list is commonly acceptable bard songs and the second is the weirder stuff.

Doing some other bits on my character gen in my next draft. I might file off more dnd like things about my homebrew given recent corporate abuses and open game licence. They could have done a nice licensing detail to use their logo and get company support with sales and profit sharing but no they made a gross grab that has thousands of former fan creators feeling unsafe. Even I who never used an open game licence can feel the cringe so I figure I may as well mutate to something more parallel like palladium and runequest. I'm also thinking of all the video games for decades I've played that were sorta dnd-like too.

Broadening the weapon skills was good in lots of ways but also made some issues with some classes. I may end up capping some non-fighting classes on 2-h weapons except staff & missile weapons. Currently tweaking cleric spells and wizard spells and will then revise the whole basic book to an a4 size.

Basic Bard Abilities
•Each slot spent on Music lore or Poetry Performance gains the benefit of two slots instead of the standard benefits
•Use one song per level per day. Most songs last one round per level. It requires the use of at least one dedicated hand for gestures or using an instrument and your voice like casting a spell. You can make a half move and a song action, but you can't sprint maximum Mov and sing 
•Song Bonus is how powerful your song effects are starting at +1 then at 5th +2, 10th +3, 15th +4, 20th +5. Your song bonus is also a circular area around the bard the songs affect
•Start with one song and gain an extra one each extra point of song bonus gained    
•Every level produces a famous work of art or a popular song or epic poem and receives 3d6gp x your new Level from appearance fees and royalties
•There are several bardic magical skills that can enhance their powers including increasing effective bard level for songs, extra uses, extra duration, extra song bonus, using song as a bonus action allowing them to cast a spell or melee attack

Common Bard Songs
1 Battle song + Song Bonus to ally attack rolls* 
2 Courage song
Song Bonus to ally morale and save vs fear*
3 Beast song + Song Bonus to animal reaction rolls to calm them
4 Love songSong Bonus to reactions, seduction & carousing rolls versus one target
5 Heroic songSong Bonus to ally hp as phantom extra HP during the performance
6 Fortitude song + Song Bonus to ally saving throws
Craft songSong Bonus to ally craft or labour-based skill rolls
8 Endurance song Song Bonus to hours per day group can march or labour without exhaustion 
Healing song +1hp healed per round to allies in range up to song bonus per person per day 
10 Enthralling song bards Lv in HD of creatures in range that require a Will save or be fixated on bards performance possibly dancing and joining in. Loud noises, violence or visible danger will end the effect
11 Lampoon Song bards Lv in HD of creatures in range that require a Will save or be fixated on bards performance talking about it for the Song Bonus in days. Good for spreading gossip, slander or taunts 
12 Counter Song neutralizes magic songs and sounds of creatures like sirens or banshees or magical song attacks from enemies with lower level or HD than the bard

Rare Bard Songs
1 Lament song + Song Bonus as minus vs enemy morale and saves vs fear* with screaming and weeping and wailing
2 Dolorous Song Song Bonus as minus to enemy attack rolls* used for marching into battle
3 Blood Song Song Bonus as a minus on enemy HP in the area during the performance
4 Ribald Song Song Bonus as a minus to Will saves to resist temptations of drunkenness, vice and revelry. Used to tip a tasteful gathering into a roaring and gorging party
8 Spell Song detects magic objects or spells over area for a duration useful for detecting architectural scale magic, wards or identifying magical treasure as long as objects are visible
9 Executioners Song Song Bonus as damage bonus on one weapon in a range that hums in sympathy with the singer
10 Spirit Song spirits with less HD or Lv than the caster become visible while song performed, is very sober 
11 Bone Song animates a medium humanoid or animal skeleton per bard level while performing. Perform simple actions like dance, labour, or stand around the bard as a shield or attack as a squad adjacent to each other. If destroyed cannot be reanimated
12 Corpse Song + song bonus as a number of zombies you can animate from a medium humanoid or animal corpse while performing. Perform simple actions like dance, labour, or stand around the bard as a shield or attack as a squad adjacent to each other. If destroyed too damaged to reanimate. Considered tasteless by most people

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