Bard

In ages past, every court and inn had its minstrel, skald, or jongleur to entertain the crowds.  Players, poets, musicians, and performing illusionists were all popular forms of entertainment, and they still are today.  Bards prefer to master many of these talents for the enjoyment of their audience, though most choose a specialty such as song, recital, or mesmerism on which to center their act.  Since bards do a great deal of traveling, they are said to be the world’s best loremasters… and rumor-mongers.  Bards learn a little bit of everything by the very nature of their profession, from thievery to fencing to magical spells.

       
Most bards aspire to someday become as good as the Bard, a playwright by profession who lived about two-hundred years ago.  Lord Marcus Stratford, Earl of Avon, a small county in the Southshire of Pensula, is regarded by scholars as the Master, even among playwrights who don’t write in the Pensulan language.  Elves who knew Master Stratford personally still call him a genius of the written word, a true complement indeed coming from elves.

       
Bards typically come from the ranks of soldier/thieves and nobles.

Hit Die: d8
 

Requirements

To qualify to become a bard, the following requirements must be met:

• Base Attack Bonus: +4.

• Skills: Knowledge (any one) 4 ranks, Perform 8 ranks, Sleight of Hand 4 ranks.

• Feats: Combat Expertise.

Class Skills

The bard's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Research (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use FX Device (Cha).

Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are features of the bard class:

Starting Feats: Bards have Simple Weapons Proficiency, Light Armor Proficiency, Medium Armor Proficiency, and Shield Proficiency.

While bards are able to wear light armor and carry shields without suffering any disruption to their spellcasting, medium and heavy armors and tower shields can still cause bards to suffer from spell failure.  However, even when using this sort of equipment, bards may ignore the first 20% chance of spell failure that these items would normally impose.

Arcane Spells: The bard prepares and casts spells using the rules detailed in Chapter Six.  The bard casts arcane spells in the same manner as a magician, and his key ability score for spellcasting is Intelligence.

Bardic Music: As the standard bard ability of the same name, except that the minimum number of Perform ranks needed to use each ability is increased by 5 (8 ranks for countersong, fascinate, or inspire courage, 11 ranks for inspire competence, and so on).  The bard gains 3 extra daily uses of bardic music at 1^st level.  The saving throw DC for the bard’s suggestion ability is now (10 + ¾ the bard’s level + Cha mod).  (The bard's base attack bonus progression is also ¾ of his class level, so that can be used to help figure the DC.)

Bardic Knowledge: As the standard bard ability of the same name.

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