Bard
Untold wonders and secrets exist for those skillful enough to discover them. Through cleverness, talent, and magic, these cunning few unravel the wiles of the world, becoming adept in the arts of persuasion, manipulation, and inspiration. Typically masters of one or many forms of artistry, bards possess an uncanny ability to know more than they should and use what they learn to keep themselves and their allies ever one step ahead of danger. Bards are quick-witted and captivating, and their skills might lead them down many paths, be they gamblers or jacks-of-all-trades, scholars or performers, leaders or scoundrels, or even all of the above. For bards, every day brings its own opportunities, adventures, and challenges, and only by bucking the odds, knowing the most, and being the best might they claim the treasures of each.
Bards capably confuse and confound their foes while inspiring their allies to ever-greater daring. While accomplished with both weapons and magic, the true strength of bard’s lies outside melee, where they can support their companions and undermine their foes without fear of interruptions to their performances.
Armor: Due to the difficulty heavy armors can imposing on singing and playing most instruments; Bards can only wear up to Light Armor.
Weapon Proficiencies: Bards are skilled with the following weapons: Short Weapon, Medium Weapon, Bow, Thrown, and gain the Florentine Power for free. Furthermore, they can use instrument based/shaped weapons of the previously mentioned sizes.
Energys: Bards utilize Energy to fuel their techniques and are limited to a max of ???
Additional Note:
The first 2 Knowledge (Area) skills the characters purchases are considered Basic Class skills, and do not require an instructor. These can not be Rare Knowledge (Area)’s.
Class Features
Hidden Lore: As a master of the road, the character has learned much about the world; in every town they travel to, they pick up a little more. This allows the character to summon up some small bit of information from a Knowledge (Area) without need of having that skill, and the information that can be garnered is equivalent to rank 4 in that Knowledge (Area). This skill can be used once each reset.
Perform: This gives the character the ability to affect more targets by giving an extended performance. For reasons dealing with combat safety, in combat this skill can be a 30 counted action, so as not to damage actual instruments. While performing the character must maintain concentration and interruption or stopping before the time is reached will prevent the skill from having affect and will waste the energy for the skill. When this skill is used the player must announce it before the skill to be affected, IE Perform Song of Healing. At the end of the performance the character will announce, in a tone no louder than the noise generated by the performance, “All Allies Voice <Effect>”, paying the Energy cost only once but still affecting many targets. If this skill is used with Dirges, then the attack becomes delivered as “<Target> Voice <Effect>”, this will only affect a single target but greatly improves the range at which it can be used. This skill can be used 3 times each reset, and an additional time for each 5 character levels (5th, 10th, 15, etc.). Using this skill in conjunction with a performance art outside of combat; instrument, singing, prose, etc; will waive the times per day usage.
| Bard: Basic Skills | |||||
| Skill | Cost | Prerequisite | Techniques | SP Cost | Use Cost |
| Precision +2 | 20 | Mobility | 3 | 1 Energy | |
| Precision +4 | 20 | Precision +2 | Silence Strike | 3 | 1 Energy |
| Precision +6 | 20 | Precision +4 | Song of Healing | 3 | 1 Energy |
| Charm Strike | 4 | 2 Energy | |||
| Spell Pool I | 5 | Roll | 4 | 2 Energy | |
| Spell Pool II | 10 | Song of Purity | 4 | 2 Energy | |
| Dirge of Command | 5 | 3 Energy | |||
| Escape | 5 | 3 Energy | |||
| Sleep Strike | 5 | 3 Energy | |||
| Knowledge (Common) | 3 | 1st Choice | Dodge | 6 | 4 Energy |
| Knowledge (Common) | 3 | 2nd Choice | Song of Resistance | 6 | 4 Energy |
| Bard: Advanced Skill | |||||
| Skill | Cost | Prerequisite | Techniques | Prerequisite | |
| Encore | 4 | Song of Guidance | 1 Energy | ||
| Stash | 3 | Dirge of Harm | 2 Energy | ||
| Dirge of Wipe Mind | 3 | Song of Inspiration | 3 Energy | ||
| Song of Mental Focus | 3 | Dirge of Slow | 4 Energy | ||
| Allegro! | 6 | War Cry | 4 Energy | ||
| Strike a Chord | 8 | ||||
Spell Pool: Sometimes the right song or verse can transport you to a place in a magical way. Sometimes you ain't got the time for that and instead elect to just push unshaped mana. Doing this is faster and less stressful than what is done by formal spellcasters. One point of spell pool generates 1 point of healing or elemental damage, to a limit of 15 points at a time. This is cast as "I summon X <healing | damage type>" and packet delivered. Every rank of Spell Pool (I, II, III, IV) adds 25 points of usable pool. Spell Pool can be refreshed with five minutes of uninterrupted time, or immediately refreshed via the 9th level spell Evocation. In the unique case of Bards, they have access to both healing and damage pools and can cast form their pool either way as they see fit.
Allegro! (Mastery)
This skill allows the character to give a quick performance that affects nearby allies by speeding them up. With a call of 'Hasten Magic Burst' the Bard allows all their allies withing melee distance to cast their next spell via Magic Delivery
Song of Guidance (Utility)
This skill allows the character to give a quick performance that affects up to 3 targets, within melee weapon range, excluding the performer. The targets will gain 1 Temporary Common Knowledge Point; or grant the target +1 Bonus on their next Contested Roll. This effect lasts for the next Hour or Module, or until used.
Song of Healing (Utility)
This skill allows the character to give a quick performance that affects nearby targets with "I summon 5 Healing Burst".
Song of Inspiration(Utility)
This skill allows the character to give a quick performance that affects nearby targets, with "Inspiration Burst".
Song of Resistance (Defensive)
This skill allows the character to give a quick performance that affects nearby allies, excluding the performer, with "Barrier Burst". This effect last for an Encounter or up to 5 minutes.
Song of Mental Focus (Utility)
This skill allows the character to give a quick performance that affects up to 3 targets, within melee weapon range, excluding the performer. This allows the character to reduce a targets next counted action, which must be used within the next 5 minutes. The time for the counted action is reduced by 50%, additionally the target gains the benefits of the Improved Concentration power during the action. This cannot be stacked with itself or other Temporary Reduction effects.
Song of Purity (Defensive)
This skill allows the character to give a quick performance that affects nearby allies, excluding the performer with "Purify Burst".
Encore: This skill is used at the end of a use of Perform, the character can continue the performance so long as they maintain concentration. Each 60 count the Song/Dirge will repeat and the character can announce the effect again. This will allow the performance to continue for as long as the character maintains Concentration up to a maximum of 15 minutes.
Stash: This skill allows the character to hide an object, which may contain other items, for up to 3 hours. The object to be hidden can be no larger than 1 cu.ft. in total area. When this skill is used the character must place a “Stash” tag on the item and write the time the skill was used on the back of the tag. While similar to Secret Box this item can be found though not easily. To notice that there is a stash a character must have at least rank 10 in the Track skill, and even then, must make a Contested Roll that is considered to have 10 levels of counter tracking.
Dirge of Mind Wipe: This skill allows the character to remove part of a targets recent memory, acting as a Forget (1 Hour). This skill takes 5 minutes of performance, and if the target is conscious they can choose to ignore the effect.
Dirge of Demoralize: This skill allows the character to strike a chord of dissonance against their foe. This attack is delivered as “<Target> Voice Weakness” against a target in line of sight and will cause the target to take the Weakness effect.
Dirge of Command: This skill allows the character to strike a chord of dissonance against their foe. This attack is delivered as “<Target> Voice Command” against a target in line of sight and will cause the target to be affected by Command.
Strike a Chord: Music soothes the savage beast and does not stop there. With a short performance you cause certain target types to drift into an entranced state, this allows your party of up to 10 players to move past the encounter without engaging. This skill only works when dealing with creatures that are not Immune to Mental Effects.
Dirge of Harm: This skill allows the character to strike a chord of dissonance against their foe. This attack is delivered as “<Target> Voice 10 Body” against a target in line of sight and will cause the target to take 10 points of Body damage to living creatures.
Dirge of Slow: This skill allows the character to strike a chord of dissonance against their foe. This attack is delivered as “<Target> Voice Slow” against a target in melee weapon range and will cause the target to be affected by Slow.
War Cry: as per the War Cry effect