User:Cedric/Bard

Bard

Ultimate support character for players who don't really want to fight or lead.

Ordinate/Subordinate traits: CHR/PTY

Tier Path: Instigator/Storyteller -> Rogue -> Bard -> Magister -> Master of the Weave

Two main variants: adventurer (nomadic- Journey mode) and lawmaker (rooted in some city or province - Combat mode). The latter variant should work with the Leader class to create interesting cities and provinces throughout the realm.

Skills:

• Head: Bardic Inspiration (PCs) Bedazzle (NPCs) or Lawmaking. Allows you to force re-rolls on enemy rolls you don't like (they "fumble" from their lack of confidence realitive to your own) -- including those against your fellow players. Can set laws in their home base (Magister variant). Inspiration allows you to give another player a bonus round. In order for this to happen, bard should make a verbal complement or observation that helps the player be inspired. This should get more sophisticated as they level. In this way, they help the DM build the lore of what's happening. If the DM says "it hits" to the player the bard is helping, the bard embellish the event with good lore to fill out the event with detail in favor of the player. This goes both ways however. Ideally, it would go something like this. DM makes first role to determine overall outcome. Bard rolls to see if they can counter the event and makes a statement about the reality. If successful, the DM makes another counter role to further give refinement to the event, until each feels resolved. Dice used are +1, 0, and -1 to determine how it goes.
• Hands: Aid (PC)/Vicious Mockery (NPCs, aka "Mana strikes") or Critical Awareness. In the lawmaker variant, gets hints from DM about where interesting "stuff" is (a resident has hidden a giant gemstone in the city, the DM tells him "You sense something 'interesting' is happening on the block here. Something 'suspicious' or 'chaotic'. [low-level bard] But you're not sure. | [high-level bard] It's that metalsmith, Coney, who keeps company with the ruffians at the Black Goose tavern every night."). OR sets up to 4 laws to be refined and tested by everyone else who passes through to see the effect (Magister variant). "Mana strike" allows you to throw insults (rather than weapons) at other NPCs to tag them. On a successful tag, the target has disadvantage (when negative) or advantage (when positive) rolls and you gain XP. The target must know the language and words must be unique. On a save, the target must retort back. Aid allows bards to hand arrows to any fighters with ranged weapons, for example or come to the aid in some other form.
• Heart: Confident Aura or Awareness of Gestalt: Buffs allies with free AC protection (M) or HIT bonuses reducing allies opponent's AC (F). (if equal (and like-aligned) or below your level OR if above your level transforms into mana boost). In the case of the lawmaker variant, what you see can automatically known by your Leader (as long as they aren't lower LEVEL or poisoned/'sick'?). DC bonus to all non-dominant (CHR) DC checks, if bedazzle consistently performs over the average.
• Health: Ally Advantage or Money bags. Can give other players tips on what to do and get half of the XP gained when they use it (what if the party gets the tip?). They get an advantage from the Bard, and the Bard gets XP even if the player to whom they gave advice is unsuccessful (because the bard learns, if their leader doesn't dominate over them (depending on their INT/CHR score)). Consider that if the Bard gets the XP, then the player loses out on it, but the player gets the advantage from the bard's support.Advantage on rolls in kingdoms with mutually-aligned gods. Automatic pension from your city (LVL(gp)/month * LAWS you've kept) (Magister variant) if a Leader class is working with you over the city/province. If no such leader exists, then a bounty is set (~population * 1gp) for some leader to claim. Such advantage increases the more Magisters reside in your city under the same Leader. Advantage when you help your friends at the table.

XP gained by: Mana strikes and HP saved from buffs (1HP saved = (ft_distance_to_NPC/500)XP). Good or clever quips to NPCs take a little of their power and transfers to the player. The more people who hear the insult, the more XP (they can also donate? some XP to confer a compliment). Lore value (milestones)? The sum of the number of LVLs you've helped other player's get, so that if you help a level 5 player get to level 7, and two other starting players get to level 5, then you're a level 12 bard (if your CHR is 20, or half that if it's 10: score=CHR/20*sum). the LVL_SUM(the sum of all people's LVL)*(100 to 900, depending on the support by the gods/wotc to control extent or ratio of daring vs. understanding) of people that respect you (perhaps by impressing them with great stories - has a positive trust value) -- THAT IS: helping your own player's gets XP and LVL (so that if you have helped three players get 3 levels of XP, then your LVL might be 9), setting laws to create order out of chaos (for those who abide: 1XP/person per day * #_of_laws_abided). Visiting places of legend (legend cards of Magic) confers XP.
Mana goes to: hardiness (+CON) or sophistry. Hardiness creates the buff effect that gives AC to allies.
Dice Mechanics: Dice support defensive postures (“confident aura” ability). Get LVLd6 die divided by the # of members of your party of AC protection, (!!!modified by the power equation; i.e. your CHR score), rolled as many times as you want until battle begins (giving some different dynamic tension to the gameplay), but this highest roll drops by half each time you goof around and drop character at the gaming table (you have to stay charismatic and lead by example, afterall) or with each hit (lose one die for each hit, no matter the amount). Since each dice is a minimum of 1, you gain an advantage over the top possibility/2, giving special creedance to the adage: “There is strength in numbers”. Dice must stay on the table, if you go into battle offensively. Other dice can be used to “Bedazzle” and force re-rolls of other characters, but must accept the result (actually up to (CHR/2)-5 bedazzles if you have equal # of time-slots or come up with a novel remark that you haven't used before). Use this for bedazzle effect instead (or as) CHR DC checks?; iow, the DC check is the dice roll and bards get to use it without the DM telling them to do so.
Lore: Bards began as historians, keeping the memory of the culture. The modus operandi is proper behavior and keeping people (and sometimes everything else) in line. Their aim is towards a perfected culture(?), but they also tend to have affinity for helping other adventurer-heroes achieve stardom.
Group Affiliations: Free round of drinks if they tell a story that the barkeep likes. Very little, hence the Battle of the Bards.
PC-PC conflict: player councils. One PC is arguing the law is unfair/inadequate, the bard/party has to defend their position. Majority rules. DM gets no vote, but can argue.
Moral Code: People should live by virtue.
Demi-god Modifiers: Aids bedazzle effects and strengthens the integrity of the confident aura.

Battle of the Bards: Your CHR score is determined by your BARD_RANK. If your score is higher than another's, Xyou don't have to battleX, but if yours is lower than anothers, you might battle them for rank. However, as this is a genteel thing, not a sword fight, you may capitulate to the better storyteller and accept your lower CHR score, rather than force a good bard into a the battle of the bards. Also, if their HP is less than 50%. It is customary that if the challenger loses, to offer a parting gift from your (or your party's) inventory. (However, see "exchange pleasantries" below...)

ADD: Attempts to get past guards may be considered a battle when multiple rounds are required, rather than a simple DC check. In which case, if the DM can't come up with appropriate countent, s/he can simply roll for the opponent and state that the "NPC checks you with INT/CON/STR", etc. The stat in question is proportional to the value. When stressed, like in such a "battle", any non-zero stat may come to aid, just less likely.

The confident aura is level and proximity-specific — the bard has to be able to manage the “field” so to speak, extending from them to their party (or other) members within range. The issue is how much chaos lies in the field. If you are in a city, your auric connection ends as soon as they leave. So, this aura extend only less than or equal to their LVL size. A 10 level bard can give confident protection to 10 people. A 100 level bard might give it to a whole 100 mile region, perhaps more.

Lords and Ladies rule. This stalwart class can claim territory and responsibility for a region and be the sole ruler for it, even DM it. They get defensive abilities, like confident aura, and offensive abilities, like insult. They get to name cities and settlements. ?They can make Laws and hire people (like players) to enforce them for various rewards ("no dragonkind in our city"*). A good song can restore mana to a forelorn warrior and gain them renown. Developing a flag for their realm gains them XP and confers +CHR (must be meaningful (non-arbitrary) and better than its predecessor). As long as the flag flies over their city, they can tax some percentage of income in their realm and get money (can be based on how much players spend). The greater the CHR, the more the citizens comply. The more population, the more income and XP.

If one rolls while in a stressed condition, one only gets to roll a portion of the regular dice. Half is a good guess.

XXXA Lord might create a law that forbids being out after dark and collect money if players break the rules in a regional game.XXX

RANK is determimed by doing the battle of the bards. sorting all CHR-based players by LVL. If you are the same level as another, both are the lower number rank. DM can estimate this, if AL GM and WotC isn’t tracking it for the realm. Between to DM, take

There is always some chance a higher-level CHR player might break your aura. This is where then, you want to concentrate your attention, on what is what, and who is who, and Just WTF?

Since bards get their benefits more-or-less for free, they must be able to tell a story about their exploits and adventurers if the time comes, like when two bards are posing as higher than the other. Let the storyteller who rolls the best story of the realms get the higher CHR. This is called the Battle of the Bards.

XP based on quality of law: how well can you organize a village? You get 1XP per person per day that abides (NPC or PC).

Quiet protection from AC dice, but if you’re surprised you have to take whatever the first roll gives you since the battle has begun. If you prepare in advance, you can roll as many times as you want (once per round) and keep the highest score. HOWEVER, if you drop character or goof around at the gaming table and the DM or other players notice, you have to reset the dice. This high value can be kept as long as you like, even the whole gaming session — if you remain in character. The number of dice can be modified by a god you declare.

One of the ways that bedazzle works is like this: if an NPC roll against another player (since (single-class) bards don't fight; I mean, they can but they don't get XP from it) seems too damaging (or just above average), you can force a re-roll from the DM, by saying “no (s)he doesn’t” (or some such Jedi-like response after the DM tells you the damage) and the players takes the next roll (this uses up the bard's offensive turn -- one action slot). In other words, they can use their move at any time around the table. This can be a critical and defining ability/skill to change the course of an intense moment. It works by the complexity of Time in each race. If you check for the opponent`s weapon or STR+size beforehand, you can approximate the amount of possible damage to avoid. XXXor: If your LVL is above 50(or any if they’re in good standing with their gods?), you can also force re-rolls of DC checks. This basically gives advantqge on DC checks. Use it well.

Bedazzle can also work by using other non-magical (unless multi-classed with a wizard/MU) mechanism like distraction (witty remarks, throwing a stone while target is unaware to distract), manastrikes?... The DM decides the level of advantage over the NPC, by pitting the target's PERceptivity against the bard's CHR, along with LEVEL difference (see arcana). (PER/20)*(LVL)*GOD_modfier? vs. (CHR/20)*LVL... so a LVL100NPC with PER 10, and a LVL50 bard with CHR 15. Then roll a d20. The amount of XP is this vs difference * the roll of the dice * 1000.??? The goal is to get more XP the more RISK the bard takes in taunting

Bedazzle can be used on one character (NPC(?)) each round with some chance of failing, relating to your charisma, at which point you “lose face”. To lose face, means you lose half of your HP and become vulnerable to a critical hit (panicked): if an NPC hits the top roll on a given set of dice (18 on 3d6s, etc), you go to 0HP. Alternatively, upon losing face, you can try a mana strike and if the table agrees that it effectively demolished the ego of yoru opponent, you return back to normal HP and no longer in a state of panic.

As for the chance of failing a bedazzle attack, it is 50% of the time with average CHR score. (OR should it be if the next roll by the DM is higher, then the attention of the NPC is on UYOU.... what of their own bedazzle dice roll?) If your score is 20, you can’t fail unless a godroll overrides it. So, your failure rate is, generally, 1-CHR/20%.

Now, here is a very cool bard luck-skill that they, and only they, get: as their scores from bedazzle re-rolls deviate from the mean, they get any positive deviation as a +DC modifier. If, in some strange twist of fate, a bard's deviation is negative (the re-rolls were mostly worse than the original), then the bard should probably refrain from engaging in any difficulties outside their domain (domains, if multiclassed) of expertise. The smart bard will try to understand how s/he is out of alignment with the gods (or in some cases the DM is giving bad luck to your dice -- track it down).

Another very cool trait is that bards get to tag others with insults or flattery that affect them, positively or negatively, in gameplay. If the bard level is higher than the target's, the player must save on a DC check with a modifier equal to the difference between the levels of the players. If the bard is level 18 and the target is level 5, that would be a +13 modifier for the bard (subtracted from the player's DC roll), however, a limit of 5 (or 10?) is placed....???

This class gets to know their home city and territory the best and can earn XP by giving accurate information regarding the region, where to find shops, etc. ??? Earns money automatically: 100sp/wk per 1000 population they keep managed (lawfully aligned).???

Confers renown by sacrificing some of their XP (~1000XP) and their mana for two rounds. Can re-name existing, named cities, if their LVL is greater than the LVL of the city or leader/magistrate which named it the first time.

XXX???: If they were a badge or star showng their dominion over the territory, they can decline CON battles, however, if a user insists, they can be put in the holding….??

For their AC protection roll, there is some chance that rolling in the realm of question might trigger a witness event, whereby you lose surprise — just form rolling the dice. This is the universe getting a chance to interact on behalf of your adversaires. To avoid this, you must be prepared and roll ahead of time. If YOU get surprised, you lose 1/2 the AC rolled for the encounter.

???Idea for pedgogical use: Each PC that is magistrate must identiy and declare 4 laws that they ENFORCE, much like CON battles. These must pass by the Leader of the town(?). If the Leader and the Bard to not agree, you have a power struggle. There are four main paths a player can take: war (active confrontation), subversion (stealthy confrontation), flee (maybe start your own village, eh?), or capitulate. OR If two bardic class are found to occupy the same room, they must exchange greetings or pleasantries(*see DM footnote). These don't can take the form of a choice insult wrapped in a compliment if they choose. (What happens, for example, when they set a rule: No killing and a murder-hobo starts terrorizing the city? OR “No teasing” (no Mana strikes). “Must call all magistrates 'Sir' (or 'Ma'am') whilst in the city.”.

As long as there is a leader above them (LVL), they receive advantage rolls on all rolls within like-aligned kingdom unless an opponent or trap has equal alignment, then defaults to standard rules. If they ever stray from their god’s domain, they are on their own like everyone else. They must be aligned on all 4 axiis to get the advantage within their own god’s domain, likewise stay in good standing with their own leader.

XXXRewrite: this is written law-bound, but the power of the influence through charisma should be emphasized. Perhaps also their rank must always be below the Leader of their territory. This class excels in high-pressure situations, but performs poorly in low-pressure ones (don’t ask them what fork to take in the road if they’ve never been there, they’ll spend beaucoup round hmming and oahhing about it). ##partially completed re-write

Passive vs Active diversion

An active diversion is either an intimidation (much like a jedi mind trick) or persuasion and involves direct (i.e. bi-direction) interaction with the NPC. A passive diversion is one that uses stealth or trickery and is done without the NPCs awareness (the bard hopes)

Bard's do DC rolls for their dice, when they want to succeed at some diversion, they do a DC roll based on PER + CHR against the NPC`s PER+INT. Do 2d20s and add them together with the PER+CHR scores. Diversions that fail bring the attention of the NPC onto the bard.

“Perception of subtle human gestures” doesn’t work on elves or aryan races who remain unreadable (unless they themselves are elves/aryan). Citing a law in a territory towards another halves any damage the accused may make against party, until resolved with the leader of the territory. Leaders may reward such behaviors with special privileges, like income (through magic deposits to their purse, perhaps).

They can post notices and offer rewards so that itinerant warriors passing by can see that there’s a call for help in their village or region. When there's not enough interest in the village, they can join parties of adventurers or write songs about their efforts, perhaps hold court and have a performance for wandering adventurers. Again, attracting population gains them XP.

They get the land (with a house in the city) for their efforts and money via income tax from enacted laws. No skills or spells, but as they level, they receive property (perhaps will put up some warriors for the night) and get authority in which they can order villagers, detain any other NPCs or other misbehaving (e.g. chaotic) members for as long as they want. They get an automatic salary based on how many people live there and of what caliber, so it's an enticing class if you want to get money.

Easy passage through cities who your aligned with. Must define axiis of alignment, good (Black/White/) vs evil (White/Black), chaos (Red) vs. lawful (Blue), industry (Orange) vs. nature (Green), Magic (Purple) vs. Tech (Yellow).

They get mana from any detained NPC and misbehaving PCs (4000 (a factor of SPEED) mana per day) until their time before a ruling Leader class (Court) or execution. Upon execution, they gain the normal XP of the character, but said execution must be public to stay in positive alignment, otherwise they turn evil. An interaction with a ruling Leader PC makes this an interesting game dynamic: Does the leader approve of an execution? How will they work out any disagreements? etc.

Magistrates can call for the execution for any detainees, describing their crimes and getting support. This is(?) the only class which can kill PCs (and NPCs). A silent vote must be made to the DM (with the magistrate player) and majority rules. If a tie, a leader class should be consulted for a final decision (leader cannot rely on a role of the dice to dismiss personal responsibility). XP of character is split between the leader class and magistrate. In the case of a vote, XP is given to the DMs purse in the form of equivalent cp.

Since magistrates shouldn't get involved with gaining XP by killing, they get advantage rolls on all conflicts with opposite alignments. If they take the advantage, they receive 1/2 of the XP if they kill the target. That simply makes their life easier. They have to find better laws to make better citizens of all types, if they want XP, since it is based on population. If a Magistrate wins a Mana strike that another player started (like a rogue), they get access to their opponent's HP (through a silent tag "hoodlum" or "possible criminal") and become their wards, and they the warden, until the warden is killed or the loser offers a gift of contrition.

They also get advantage rolls on... (destroying items of opposite alignment (castles of strahd?), what?)

Just as fighters pair with wizards, lords & countesses should pair with leaders. Then, adventurers go out and find the various fascinations around the lands, come back and contribute to the city. One focuses on taming the wilderness, the other on developing the city. These magistrates can collect income tax upon each resident who lives there and add to the city coffers to keep services working. Must be lawful, otherwise can be stripped of XP, +CHR, and/or possessions acquired. Besides collecting whatever %age tax on general income of the population, they receive some automatic salary (10% of city income per year?). This makes the class more interesting as they don't have to go hunting for treasure out in the territory.

Such class must report to (and obey) any higher-level magistrate characters within their own kingdom, or make their own in some way (perhaps adding their own symbol to the flag). This substitutes for guilds within other classes. CHR to start, STR to lead,

In this manner they are also rewarded coinage which can be used to buy items out of the equipment lists. So they are incentivised to create better territories, measured by how many people who loyal to you. This is related to number of residents (the number of XP is roughly equal to 10x the number of people that want to and actually live there. 1 million people? ==> player possesses 10 million XP) and player CHR (natural ability + flag). They'll have to figure out how to build good cities (apothecary, post system, bank, inns, pubs, blacksmiths, general stores, etc.) and build maps for them. XP goes down if people move out for better territories.

They can name cities, but leaders also have this ability, so something has to resolve the conflict. They gain fab, by accounting the adventurers who have passed through their city. Statues might get erected in their honor (perhaps from the DM). They can also confer tentative titles to others for deeds well done: "Rael, Healer of the Just".

Since this classes main ability is CHR, fab is important. Do you look fab? CHR can go up or down depending on fab.

This is the class that is much like SimCity mayor; however, it is limited and designed to work with a Leader class who gets final say. Perhaps they will build an Epic city that will be the favored supplier for all D&D campaigns.

For their gods, they can build shrines and win favor. They might get gifts from the gods for their city, for example, or special insight through their telepathy ability. There are special campaigns to develop this class, so they learn about agricultural needs, road-building, protecting their cities, etc. For example, Magistrates that are of the same alignment are able to tell each other things across the domain where others must keep their mouth shut. If they are of differing alignment, what they get instead is suspicion.

For each iteration of their flag, XP or CHR can be proffered to the creators. It must be a tangible, legitimate improvement.

Your level for the lawmaker variant is based on your population of your region or affiliates (how many people respect you) size and can go up or down: 1. +25 people 2. +50 people (75 total) 3. +75 ppl (150) 4. +100 ppl (250) 5. +125 ppl (375), + sword 6. +150 ppl (525) 7. +175 (700) 8. +200 (900) 9. +225 (1250) 10. +250 (1500) 11. etc. land. ——

• Credit for idea from Matthew Colville, Campaign 101

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DM notes:

• Statements of Truth made by bards should be viewed with suspicion. Their minds are a mixture of intelligence and confusion. This is why CHR should always be a subordinate stat unless you are primarily a bard. CHR must be above INT score to qualify for this class (perhaps above all others (besides PER/INIT?). If WIS was above CHR, for example, the bard would shut up.
• For righteous insult ability, if the label has already been "tagged" on the NPC, then only new semantics by the bard can add to the injury, otherwise no XP is given.
• It is possible for tags to be applied to NPCs without the NPC knowing the language through the power of sounds or "power of the word". This is called a curse. Only the Abyssal language and the language of giants (celestial) will work. In extremely rare cases (like a dragon being tortured and the gods helping protect it) might a dragon utter a sound (that curses a person?).
• Footnote for bard-bard interactions. When two bards are in the same room, they must have an interaction. You see, they're like two (minor warning: explicit language follows) testicles in the same nutsack. They have to dialog to re-inforce that they are not the same. Sometimes, this little arcane fact often leads to conflict, which is why they tend to create absurd levels of loyalty to avoid it or live in different towns. It's not unlike two fighter-heroes, but it becomes more explicit with this class, whereas in this example the fighters can mostly ignore each others to deal with the problem of "who's on top?". When two bards of the same city/province don't have a friendly relation to each other, the leader above has either lost control over the city or subversion has happened to split them, magical or otherwise (gossip, for example).
• Bard's Critial Awareness in a town still adhere's to the bard even if they leave their lawmaking duties and become an adventurer. The amount is determined by the strength of their tenure in the town and whether they still retain a strong heart connection with someone there (if unknown it can be based on how much time away from the locale).
• Buffs do not work like cleric's divine protection: the bard's do not get to choose. It affects the whole group equally. Bards simply have to be more selective in who they hang out with.
• Chances of sabotage go up with higher tax rates, while popularity (CHR bonus?) goes up when taxes are low.
• Crime goes up if they leave their home city, proportional to time away.
• Figure 10% of all shop revenue in the city. This rate can be set by the Leader class of the city.
• Figure 500 silvers per shop/day
• Special Equipment: Badge/Star which prevent CON battles within own territories.??
• Special Quality: Can confer Renown and name cities.
• The AC dice can be modified by their declared god: god_LVL*trust%. So a level 100 god, giving them 10% trust = 10 more dice. If their trust is negative, you should subtract the number of dice from their own pile (letting them know only if they’re aware that they’ve fallen out of favor with their god).
• People attracted to this class can make good DMs. Look for creative thinking and imagination.
• Bedazzle assume the player does not know the top roll of the NPC. Don’t tell them what dice you’re rolling. They might have to take a chance unless they get some divination of how much total power their opponent has (in their dice).
• Consider 1 black die and 1 white die, for rolling evil vs. good on any NPC encountered. If they roll wrong (because the DM knows the alignment), then it is the player who much shift theirs.
• Strahd would be able to break through a bard’s confident aura easily — as soon as the bard tries to roll for it.
• For the storytelling bit, you can have the audience participate as commoners, as if in a tavern. "Aye, but did the DM fudge the dice a bit there, lad?"
• Meditation for this class: There is always a groove that can dissipate any negative encounter and turn it into a positive one. This I'll leave for the reader to contemplate. Consider cops wielding guitars rather than guns.
• The enlightened DM will note that the XP mechanic for this class creates players that learn to tell stories rather than hunt down NPCs. Also teaches the balance between laws and freedom and how to craft laws which people can follow.
• The god modifier adding #GODd6 dice can make a party very powerful if you have a powerful bard, you must give them a lesson of what happens when they kill important beings that were balancing the universe.
• The mana goes to +CON allows the confident aura to have more integrity, much as demi-gods
• IF the player tries to hang back to avoid any hits that would destroy the bubble of AC protection to his/her group, they can only weapons or other trickery the NPCs can't see, like traps, or ranged weapons on NPCs with poor eyesight are fine.
• The irony of this class is that it can level quickly (if your CHR score is high) without any work, but the power of the LVL is meaningless and all appearances: exactly what you'd expect from a CHR-based class.
• Sloppy bards that drop their buff dice off the table lose that die for the rest of the encounter.
• There could be a special Bard magic that works liek this: when they use the bedazzle effect, track the difference between the re-roll and the original. Statistics says the values will revolve around 0 net difference, but a good bard might actually influence things so that there is a slight positive value in their favor (+4, -3, +8, +7, -7 is a +9 advantage). This value should be tracked and stored for very special advantages on DC checks: if positive, they add this bonus to their DC check roll. If negative, they simply don't feel like doing whatever deed requires the check, outside their realm of expertise (div 2 modifier). The DM can simply tell the player what the difference is between rolls and the player can track the cumulative sum.
• The bedazzle effect doesn’t work on the undead. Strahd, however, is a rare exception. On full moon cycles, he is immune, but on new moon cycles he is susceptible (maybe up to 3x before he notices something’s up). It also will probably not work on cephlopods or illthids. I believe the effect requires a mind that can "ruminate".
• STUB: The idea of a bard's XP being tied to cp.... 1ct diamond ~= 10 ep = 100gp
• The power of the confident aura works because the bard has an invisible connection to the universe that keeps him/her in balance with the rest of the universe (this is partly what gives them their CHR). If they ignore signals from the universe that maintain this balance, their dice may fall off the table.
• Advantage in like-aligned kingdoms occurs by the number of the last digit of their 10 or above CHR score. 11 == 10%, 12=20%, and 20= 100% of the time. The demi-gods modify this up or down, such that CHR of 13 might be given an extra 20% by a demi-god. This amounts are determined by trust cards.
• money to bard can be given at each play: LVLx10gp each session.
• If multiclassed with Explorer, can't be the target of a critical strike, unless sick/wounded.
• Lore value works slightly differently than regular XP accumulation. For example, going on a killing spree might give you XP as a fighter (barbarian, really), but has very little lore value, unless 1) you're evil, 2) you've gone into some tangled wood of evil and chopped some goblins up or something.
• Bedazzle does not work on demons, which bards may find out the hard way. It works on dragons, but not always giants. Smart giants (like Hekaton) will see through it immediately. Also bards of higher level will see through it, unless it's a novel type of re-roll, using charm vs intimidation, for example. In other words, it acts like the Jedi Mind Trick.
• In order for a bard to get the alternative LEVEL-gain mechanic by helping other players, they must play along-side the players (or be downgraded accordingly). So, helping 100 players gain 1 LVL will not likely amount to a level 100 bard.
• Bards must travel or be in city to collect accumulated pension. LVL(gp)/month -- this is for enacting/enforcing laws.
• The battle of wits mentioned, where a bard might be trying to get access to something in the opponent that would normally require 100% trust will require several rounds with an equal LVL character, but in theory should always get victorious unless the other NPC is also a bard. The dynamic would work something like this... Perhaps 3 levels of entrance into the consciousness of the opponent: TRUST (>=10%), FAVOR (>50%), INTIMACY (100%). That's already a likely(?) minimum of 3 rounds(?). But in any case, each stat may come to their aid. Add up all stats and this is the total, then each stat individually is compared against this total to get a percentage chance that the stat counters the player. This gives some non-arbitrary dynamic to the interaction, and in theory works for any "battle" scenario, but does require some calculations to occur.

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• "Confident Aura": gal author met on hitch-hiking trip through America, c1999.