It's funny, sometimes I see problems in my content that just don't exist. I thought flavor was weak in the rough draft this one, but you guys unilaterally disagreed. I'm betting it's because I've been staring at this option off and on for about half a year.
BUT, that's not to say the rough draft didn't have issues. Rough drafts always have issues. That's why there are second drafts.
CHANGELOG:
- You can now summon or dismiss your Precious Instrument similar to a warlock's pact blade.
- Silver Tongue no longer requires you to be holding your Precious Instrument, because it needed a little streamlining.
- Fiendish Tempo doesn't negate resistance or immunity, because that's just a bad mechanic to add when there's already a feat that confers it.
- Infernal Orchestra and the Fiendish Instrumentalist have been buffed, as the ability now summons twice as many instrumentalists, and the instrumentalists have their damage and to-hit slightly increased.
CONCERNS:
- Nothing right now, aside from me still sucking at monster math. I'm beginning to believe that monster math is more of an art than a science, anyway.
WHAT I LEARNED:
- Always bug-check old content for mechanics you thought were a great idea half a year ago, that you've since learned are a terrible idea.
I feel like the precious instrument should be 200 x your bard level. It's exceptionally unlikely that people will ever sell it though so that's a minor quibble.
ReplyDeleteI like it! I'm getting a "Robot Devil" vibe from it but I can also see this being a very serious thing. Gives the DM a lot to work with too, which is always very good.
Would make sense to bump up the value, but I was desperately trying to avoid a level 3 character having anything worth 600 gp.
DeleteThough, the worth is irrelevant and having something worth WAY MORE than you should is part of the point here. I'm leaning towards amending that.
>I'm getting a "Robot Devil" vibe from it but I can also see this being a very serious thing
Similar to the Common Man paladin, I wanted to make this an option that straddled the line between serious and cheesy. I know I did well if an option feels immersive and thematic, but still comes off as a good bit of bonkers fun.
I feel as the damage and abilities are still a fair bit weaker than all the other bards out their. Maybe change it so the instrument has more abilities and the capstone feature is a bit stronger up front, or levels up with you. It would be cool at high levels to have 4 demons burst out from a portal behind you and play a song that summons a firestorm into battle.
ReplyDeleteJust my thoughts
> Maybe change it so the instrument has more abilities
DeleteThe spot the instrument occupies is usually one reserved for proficiencies. For Lore bards, it's the spot that gives you 3 skills. For Valor, you get martial weapons, shields, and medium armor. UA bards vary, especially the Glamour/Whispers options, but I try to keep to core as my point of balance.
In this case, I'm balancing two cantrips against the host of proficiencies. I feel like it's a fair trade, especially considering the instrument itself is a just a very long-written ribbon.
>the capstone feature [could be] a bit stronger up front, or levels up with you
I can see the logic there, but I have the capstone as it is for a couple of reasons:
1) I want the bard to feel like the focus here, still. The proverbial "band of demons joins in," but the bard is still the center of everything. A firestorm, while unarguably cool, would take focus away from the bard.
2) A scaling capstone isn't a terrible idea, but with only 6 levels left in the bard game, there isn't a lot of room for it to grow. By keeping it non-scaling, I also provide more elbow room for multiclassing without missing out.
I'd like to be able to write Infernal and Abyssal too.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens if the person I sell my instrument to dies?
>writing Infernal and Abyssal
DeleteHurrr. Well I sure missed out on that. Yes, the intent is that you can write the languages you learn.
>What happens if the person I sell my instrument to dies?
Good question.
On one hand, I want to say that the instrument is up for grabs, but that would just motivate particularly evil hell-bards to sell the instrument and then murder the purchaser.
I'd leave it up to the DM, but my default ruling would be that ownership would return to the fiend who originally had the instrument.
Perhaps ownership passes through the NPC's will to some benefactor or next of kin whom you have to beg, buy or barter the instrument from. Might make a fun side quest.
Delete:tips hat: Hello
ReplyDeletecouldn't figure out to message you any other way so i chose to do so on the page i just used.
Anyway you would be willing to make runes for rune scribe prestige class from UA?
~thank you
Also wanted to say that i love your work. keep it up :D
Delete>couldn't figure out to message you any other way so i chose to do so on the page i just used
DeleteA lot of people will just send me private messages on reddit. I genuinely have no idea if blogger has something comparable, but this works fine.
>Anyway you would be willing to make runes for rune scribe prestige class from UA?
I've considered it in the past, unsure if I want to or not. Building off of UA content is about the least future-proof thing I could do, so I'm wary of it to begin with. Rune magic would be fun to expand upon, though, and I think the concept has a lot of potential.
I'll think on it some more, though. I've got a couple big projects in the pipes (one that's especially giving me trouble), but I'll keep it in mind for when I have some down time and need a nice light bit of work to keep myself occupied. =)
Thank you Sir/Ma'am
DeleteCould you reopen access to this subclass, I wanted to view it
ReplyDelete