tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4335458134829042888.post7985429525818000101..comments2024-03-01T08:21:07.783-08:00Comments on Walrock Homebrew: Bardic College: College of Dirges [Second Draft]Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4335458134829042888.post-2396330504482315102017-07-08T15:24:57.094-07:002017-07-08T15:24:57.094-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Cerindipityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14938578348295666206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4335458134829042888.post-25307793193764018562017-01-23T08:03:49.119-08:002017-01-23T08:03:49.119-08:00Honestly, I'd love to make just a straight-up ...Honestly, I'd love to make just a straight-up metal bard. Having a greataxe that is also a guitar would be mandatory. walrockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09388801897979935242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4335458134829042888.post-88465513185139846532017-01-23T08:02:25.740-08:002017-01-23T08:02:25.740-08:00>Animate Dead and bard theming
I actually kick...>Animate Dead and bard theming<br /><br />I actually kicked around what to do with Animate Dead a great deal while making this class option. Originally I was going to follow the path you described, and have Animate Dead be core to the Dirges bard, with an ability to "inspire" the undead you raise by giving them tHP through music. <br /><br />While that would be cool and thematic and all that, there were two major issues:<br /><br />1) Necromantic spell access. The bard has a fairly limited scope of necromancy spells, and needs some allowance to fill in the rather large blanks. Even now, I'm expecting the Dirges bard to commit to using their Magical Secrets bard features to grabbing up more necromancy spells like Create Undead, even though they obviously do not have to. <br /><br />2) Thematic conflict. The fluff for the original 3.5 dirgesinger was all about laying the dead to rest, and its abilities had very appropriate theming along those lines (playing sorrowful songs of mourning, et al). Then, at the PrC's 5th and final level, it gave you the ability to animate a single specific corpse, contrary to the rest of the PrC's fluff. It felt odd to me to go from "The dead are sacrosanct" to "well okay I guess we can raise a super-zombie just this once," and I believe the intent was that a bard who didn't want to go full-necromancy simply wouldn't take the final level of the PrC. I tried to capture that choice in this option, without making it feel as if the option would be "missing out" the way intentionally not taking the last level of a PrC would feel. <br /><br />>Sorrowsong & Death's Defiance<br /><br />The Lore bard also has two features that use the BI die, in a similar fashion to this. My goal was to make one ability spammable, the other situational, so that you'd be motivated to keep at least one BI die in reserve to stave off death if someone drops.walrockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09388801897979935242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4335458134829042888.post-64628033033068989672017-01-23T06:16:25.697-08:002017-01-23T06:16:25.697-08:00Yeah, i think this version is more balanced and fa...Yeah, i think this version is more balanced and fair. The abilities make a great parallel with the Lore bard, but still keeping it unique. I can already imagine a Doom/Black Metal or a Throat-Singer bard character. Keep making this "Ravenloft-like" archetypes, they are aces. The Oath of the Midnight Hour is my favorite Paladin Archetypes to date. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13763156221612238835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4335458134829042888.post-8625517463387523392017-01-22T14:15:26.870-08:002017-01-22T14:15:26.870-08:00I've been looking forward to this since you me...I've been looking forward to this since you mentioned you were toying with a 'College of Bones' type of thing last year. I attempted to tweak a similarly themed archetype a few months back for an NPC and ended up with some parallels in mechanics which was interesting to see (though mine were a bit more ham-fisted), I think it's still up in GITP somewhere.<br /><br />One difference I came to was with the level 6 ability - rather than a choice of spells it granted Animate Dead and Create Undead (when an appropriate level was reached) and some benefits to it's use in line with a Necromancer Wizard Archetype. The plan was to tweak them later to be more Bardic in nature rather than a carbon copy of another archetype's feature (most likely making them tougher but less deadly than the Wizards, representing the Bard's passion and care for those it raises).<br /><br />I'd be curious to know if you considered something like that.<br /><br />As for the other abilities:<br /><br />Sorrowsong: While probably balanced in both forms (possibly weaker in 0.2), the Die itself plays a more prominent role now which I think is a huge improvement even if it is a bit wordier.<br /><br />Grim Requiem: While balanced I think it could benefit from focusing the archetype a bit more in 'a' direction. My choice obviously would be towards raising the dead though there could be other routes to take.<br /><br />Death's Defiance: Great ability, potent and flavourful. Though I do wonder about having two abilities centered around spending inspiration dice as two separate features, if it's just another way to spend your inspiration I wonder if perhaps it could be part of the third level ability in a modified or more limited form (opening up the level 14 ability for a 1/long rest ability in the same vein as the new UA Bard archetypes).<br /><br />In any case - I love this archetype as it stands. Great work!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10847907040938273594noreply@blogger.com