Bard


MusesBard Feats



You are a master of artistry, a scholar of hidden secrets, and a captivating persuader. Using powerful performances, you influence minds and elevate souls to new levels of heroics. You might use your powers to become a charismatic leader, or perhaps you might instead be a counselor, manipulator, scholar, scoundrel, or virtuoso. While your versatility leads some to consider you a beguiling ne’erdo- well and a jack-of-all-trades, it’s dangerous to dismiss you as a master of none.



Roleplaying the Bard

During Combat Encounters...

You use magical performances to alter the odds in favor of your allies. You confidently alternate between attacks, healing, and helpful spells as needed.

During Social Encounters...

You persuade, prevaricate, and threaten with ease.

While Exploring...

You’re a font of knowledge, folktales, legends, and lore that provide a deeper context and helpful reconnaissance for the group’s adventure. Your spells and performances inspire your allies to greater discovery and success.

In Downtime...

You can earn money and prestige with your performances, gaining a name for yourself and acquiring patrons. Eventually, tales of your talents and triumphs might attract other bards to study your techniques in a bardic college.



Key Ability: CHARISMA

At 1st level, your class gives you an ability boost to Charisma.

Hit Points: 8 plus your Constitution modifier

You increase your maximum number of HP by this number at 1st level and every level thereafter.

Initial Proficiencies

At 1st level, you gain the listed proficiency ranks in the following statistics. You are untrained in anything not listed unless you gain a better proficiency rank in some other way.

Perception

Expert in Perception

Saving Throws

Trained in Fortitude & Reflex

Expert in Will

Skills

Trained in Occultism, Performance, and a number of additional skills equal to 4 plus your Intelligence modifier

Attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks, simple weapons, the longsword, rapier, sap, shortbow, shortsword, and whip

Defenses

Trained in unarmored defense & light armor

Spells

Trained in occult spell attacks and occult spell DCs

Starting Gear

Price 7 gp; Bulk 4 Bulk, 4 light; Money Left Over 7 gp, 4 sp, 8 cp
Armor studded leather armor
Weapons 20 sling bullets, dagger, rapier, sling
Gear backpack, a bedroll, 10 pieces of chalk, flint and steel, 50 feet of rope, 2 weeks’ rations, soap, 5 torches, a waterskin, and a musical instrument (handheld)




Class Features

You gain these features as a Bard. Abilities gained at higher levels list the levels at which you gain them next to the features' names.

Your Level
Class Feature

1

Initial proficiencies, occult spellcasting, spell repertoire, composition spells, muse

2

Bard feat, skill feat

3

2nd-level spells, general feat, lightning reflexes, signature spells, skill increase

4

Bard feat, devastating attacks (two dice), skill feat

5

3rd-level spells, ability boosts, ancestry feat, skill increase

6

Bard feat, skill feat

7

4th-level spells, expert spellcaster, general feat, skill increase

8

Bard feat, saving throw potency +1, skill feat

9

5th-level spells, ancestry feat, great fortitude, resolve, skill increase

10

Ability boosts, bard feat, skill feat

11

6th-level spells, bard weapon expertise, general feat, skill increase, vigilant senses

12

Bard feat, devastating attacks (three dice), skill feat

13

7th-level spells, ancestry feat, light armor expertise, skill increase, weapon specialization

14

Bard feat, saving throw potency +2, skill feat

15

8th-level spells, ability boosts, general feat, master spellcaster, skill increase

16

Bard feat, skill feat

17

9th-level spells, ancestry feat, greater resolve, skill increase

18

Bard feat, skill feat

19

Devastating attacks (four dice), general feat, legendary spellcaster, magnum opus, skill increase

20

Ability boosts, bard feat, saving throw potency +3, skill feat


Composition Spells

You can infuse your performances with magic to create unique effects called compositions. Compositions are a special type of spell that often require you to use the Performance skill when casting them. Composition spells are a type of focus spell. It costs 1 Focus Point to cast a focus spell, and you start with a focus pool of 1 Focus Point. You refill your focus pool during your daily preparations, and you can regain 1 Focus Point by spending 10 minutes using the Refocus activity to perform, write a new composition, or otherwise engage your muse.

Focus spells are automatically heightened to half your level rounded up, much like cantrips. Focus spells don't require spell slots, and you can't cast them using spell slots. Taking feats can give you more focus spells and increase the size of your focus pool, though your focus pool can never hold more than 3 Focus Points. The full rules for focus spells are found here.

You learn the counter performance composition spell, protecting against auditory and visual effects.


Composition Cantrips

Composition cantrips are special composition spells that don't cost Focus Points, so you can use them as often as you like. Composition cantrips are in addition to the cantrips you choose from the occult list. Generally, only feats can give you more composition cantrips. Unlike other cantrips, you can't swap out composition cantrips gained from bard feats at a later level, unless you swap out the specific feat via retraining.

You learn the inspire courage composition cantrip, which boosts your allies' attacks, damage, and defense against fear.


Initial Proficiencies

At 1st level, you gain a number of proficiencies that represent your basic training. These proficiencies are noted at the start of this class.


Muses

As a bard, you select one muse at 1st level. This muse leads you to great things, and might be a physical creature, a deity, a philosophy, or a captivating mystery.

Muses can be found here.


Occult Spellcasting

You draw upon magic from esoteric knowledge. You can cast occult spells using the Cast a Spell activity, and you can supply material, somatic, and verbal components when casting spells (see Casting Spells). Because you're a bard, you can usually play an instrument for spells requiring somatic or material components, as long as it takes at least one of your hands to do so. If you use an instrument, you don't need a material component pouch or another hand free. You can usually also play an instrument for spells requiring verbal components, instead of speaking.

Each day, you can cast up to two 1st-level spells. You must know spells to cast them, and you learn them via the spell repertoire class feature. The number of spells you can cast each day is called your spell slots.

As you increase in level as a bard, your number of spells per day increases, as does the highest level of spells you can cast, as shown on Bard Spells per Day table.

Some of your spells require you to attempt a spell attack roll to see how effective they are, or have your enemies roll against your spell DC (typically by attempting a saving throw). Since your key ability is Charisma, your spell attack rolls and spell DCs use your Charisma modifier. Details on calculating these statistics are found under Spell Attack Rolls.


Bard Spells per Day

Your Level
Cantrips
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th

1

5

2

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

2

5

3

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

3

5

3

2

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

4

5

3

3

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

5

5

3

3

2

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

6

5

3

3

3

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

7

5

3

3

3

2

--

--

--

--

--

--

8

5

3

3

3

3

--

--

--

--

--

--

9

5

3

3

3

3

2

--

--

--

--

--

10

5

3

3

3

3

3

--

--

--

--

--

11

5

3

3

3

3

3

2

--

--

--

--

12

5

3

3

3

3

3

3

--

--

--

--

13

5

3

3

3

3

3

3

2

--

--

--

14

5

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

--

--

--

15

5

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

2

--

--

16

5

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

--

--

17

5

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

2

--

18

5

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

--

19

5

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

1*

20

5

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

1*

*The magnum opus class feature gives you a 10th-level spell slot that works a bit differently than other spell slots.


Heightening Spells

When you get spell slots of 2nd level and higher, you can fill those slots with stronger versions of lower-level spells. This increases the spell's level to match the spell slot. You must have a spell in your spell repertoire at the level you want to cast in order to heighten it to that level. Many spells have specific improvements when they are heightened to certain levels. The signature spells class feature lets you heighten certain spells freely.


Cantrips

Some of your spells are cantrips. A cantrip is a special type of spell that doesn't use spell slots. You can cast a cantrip at will, any number of times per day. A cantrip is automatically heightened to half your level rounded up, which equals the highest-level of bard spell slot you have. For example, as a 1st-level bard, your cantrips are 1st-level spells, and as a 5th-level bard, your cantrips are 3rd-level spells.


Spell Repertoire

The collection of spells you can cast is called your spell repertoire. At 1st level, you learn two 1st-level occult spells of your choice and five occult cantrips of your choice. You choose these from the common spells from the occult list or from other occult spells to which you have access. You can cast any spell in your spell repertoire by using a spell slot of an appropriate spell level.

You add to this spell repertoire as you increase in level. Each time you get a spell slot, you add a spell to your spell repertoire of the same level. At 2nd level, you select another 1st-level spell; at 3rd level, you select two 2nd-level spells, and so on. When you add spells, you might add a higher-level version of a spell you already have, so you can cast a heightened version of that spell.

Though you gain them at the same rate, your spell slots and the spells in your spell repertoire are separate. If a feat or other ability adds a spell to your spell repertoire, it wouldn't give you another spell slot, and vice versa.


Swapping Spells in Your Repertoire

As you gain new spells in your repertoire, you might want to replace some of the spells you previously learned. Each time you gain a level and learn new spells, you can swap out one of your old spells for a different spell of the same level. This spell can be a cantrip. You can also swap out spells by retraining during downtime.


Bard Feats (Level 2)

At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a bard class feat.


Skill Feats (Level 2)

At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill feat (skill feats have the skill trait). You must be trained or better in the corresponding skill to select a skill feat.


General Feats (Level 3)

At 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter, you gain a general feat.


Lightning Reflexes Level 3)

Your reflexes are lightning fast. Your proficiency rank in Reflex saves increases to expert.


Signature Spells (Level 3)

Experience allows you to cast some spells more flexibly. For each spell level you have access to, choose one spell of that level to be a signature spell. You don’t need to learn heightened versions of signature spells separately; instead, you can heighten these spells freely. If you’ve learned a signature spell at a higher level than its minimum, you can also cast all its lower-level versions without learning those separately. If you swap out a signature spell, you can choose a replacement signature spell of the same spell level at which you learned the previous spell. You can also retrain specifically to change a signature spell to a different spell of that level without swapping any spells; this takes as much time as retraining a spell normally does.


Skill Increases (Level 3)

At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill increase. You can use this increase either to increase your proficiency rank to trained in one skill you’re untrained in, or to increase your proficiency rank in one skill in which you’re already trained to expert.

At 7th level, you can use skill increases to increase your proficiency rank to master in a skill in which you’re already an expert, and at 15th level, you can use them to increase your proficiency rank to legendary in a skill in which you’re already a master.


Devastating Attacks (Level 4)

At 4th level, your weapon and unarmed Strikes deal two damage dice instead of one. This increases to three at 12th level and to four at 19th level.


Ability Boosts (Level 5)

At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, you boost four different ability scores. You can use these ability boosts to increase your ability scores above 18. Boosting an ability score increases it by 1 if it’s already 18 or above, or by 2 if it starts out below 18.


Ancestry Feats (Level 5)

In addition to the ancestry feat you started with, you gain an ancestry feat at 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter.


Expert Spellcaster (Level 7)

Your proficiency ranks for occult spell attack rolls and spell DCs increase to expert.


Saving Throw Potency (Level 8)

At 8th level, you gain a +1 potency bonus to saves, increasing to +2 at level 14 and +3 at level 20.


Great Fortitude (Level 9)

Your physique is incredibly hardy. Your proficiency rank for Fortitude saves increases to expert.


Resolve (Level 9)

You’ve steeled your mind with resolve. Your proficiency rank for Will saves increases to master. When you roll a success at a Will save, you get a critical success instead.


Bard Weapon Expertise (Level 11)

You have become thoroughly adept with bardic weapons. You gain expert proficiency in simple weapons and unarmed attacks, plus the longsword, rapier, sap, shortbow, shortsword, and whip. When you critically succeed at an attack roll using one of these weapons or an unarmed attack while one of your compositions is active, you apply the critical specialization effect for that weapon or unarmed attack.


Vigilant Senses (Level 11)

Through your adventures, you’ve developed keen awareness and attention to detail. Your proficiency rank for Perception increases to master.


Light Armor Expertise (Level 13)

You’ve learned how to dodge while wearing light or no armor. Your proficiency ranks for light armor and unarmored defense increase to expert.


Weapon Specialization (Level 13)

You’ve learned how to inflict greater injuries with the weapons you know best. You deal 2 additional damage with weapons and unarmed attacks in which you are an expert. This damage increases to 3 damage if you’re a master, and 4 damage if you’re legendary.


Master Spellcaster (Level 15)

You’ve mastered the occult. Your proficiency ranks for occult spell attack rolls and spell DCs increase to master.


Greater Resolve (Level 17)

Your unbelievable training grants you mental resiliency. Your proficiency rank for Will saves increases to legendary. When you roll a success on a Will save, you get a critical success. When you roll a critical failure on a Will save, you get a failure instead. When you roll a failure on a Will save against a damaging effect, you take half damage.


Legendary Spellcaster (Level 19)

Your command of occult magic is the stuff of legends. Your proficiency ranks for occult spell attack rolls and spell DCs increase to legendary.


Magnum Opus (Level 19)

You have tuned your spellcasting to the highest caliber. Add two common 10th-level occult spells to your repertoire. You gain a single 10th-level spell slot you can use to cast one of those two spells using bard spellcasting. You don’t gain more 10th-level spells as you level up, unlike other spell slots, and you can’t use 10th-level slots with abilities that give you more spell slots or that let you cast spells without expending spell slots.

No comments:

Post a Comment