Created 19 Jun 2023, Published 19 Jun 2023, Last modified 10 May 2024 23:48
Bards were the pop-stars of their day. In society they were held in high regard. It was impolite to turn away a Bard from your household, especially if you were a land owner who held a title. To do so could lead to the possibility of a vituperative (put-down) tale or song being written about you. Bards may use any weapon. Bards use arcane songs of power in order to create effects. Bard Songs are further discussed below.
Bards utilise Ancient songs of power given to the people by the gods. These songs have been passed by word of mouth generation after generation. Bard Songs effect the way things feel rather than cause actual metaphysical change. For example a Bard Song could make everyone within ear shot feel happy , sad or brave. Each Bard song will have a fatigue cost and difficulty modifier, the more complex songs have higher fatigue costs and are more difficult to play/sing. To invoke a song the PC must roll under either their singing or instrument playing. Don’t forget the tune in some cases can be as powerful as the words spoken!! The Bard’s number of starting songs are his/her WIS + APP / 10 (round up).
Additional to their songs Bards have 3 Special Abilities. These abilities, unlike songs have no fatigue costs. These abilities are Plea Lodging, Tribute and Create Vitriol. Bards begin with 5% in each of the skills. They gain an additional 5% in all three abilities each time they level. The maximum percentile for these is 200%.
In addition to these the Bard has two class specific passive skills. These are Bard Lore and Bard Reputation. Bards begin with 5% in Bard Lore and 0% in Bard Reputation. All of these skills and abilities will be explained later.
We shall now discuss the three Bard Special Abilities:
Plea Lodging
This is the ability of the Bard to request free lodging in the household of a landowner. This does not mean a town house, farm or small holding, but an estate belonging to a titled person, e.g. a Squire, Lord Etc. If the roll is successful the bard can lodge in the household for the night. Of course the Bard must put on a performance for his guests at least once during his stay, there’s no such thing as a free meal! To determine the success of the roll the Bards Reputation (B.R.) is added to their Plea Lodging skill, the player must roll less than or equal to this total to succeed in his request. For example if a players B.R. is 2 and he has an ability score of 10% the target roll would be 12% or less to succeed. This ability only affects the Bard, members of the Bard’s party do not receive this freebie even if they are with the Bard at the time of the request. This ability is on an individual basis, it is non-cumulative and may be used once per day on a household. For staying more than one day or failures see the section ‘Outstaying One’s Welcome’.
Tribute
This is the ability of the Bard to be rewarded for his services, providing of course the performance went well. This can be used on a target once per day only (see also the section ‘Outstaying One’s Welcome’). The reward payment is up to the Guides discretion, but the reward should befit the performance. For example a high power score success will give greater reward than a low success. Guides are advised not to be overgenerous with the reward. Doing so may demean the value of the ability. Remember the skill allows the Bard to earn enough money to survive and cover travel costs. Only when the Bard makes a big name for himself will he earn lots of money from performances. The target rolls are modified by the B.R. value as is Plea Lodging.
Create Vitriol
A vitriol is a song which is derogatory. A vitriol is a particularly damning thing. Its use should not be taken lightly. A vitriol is written about someone or a place. When the Bard chooses a target for a vitriol the player should be reminded of the possible repercussions of the act. The targets charisma reaction modifier is reduced by -50%. For example Ugg creates a vitriol called ‘The Vitriol Of Simon’ (his targets name). Simon’s charisma is 80%. Ugg successfully rolls the ability, Simons’ charisma reaction modifiers have been reduced to the same as a person who has a charisma value of 30%. Simon’s charisma is still 80%, only he suffers the modifiers as if his charisma is 30%. This modifier is permanent until either the victim dies, magically negates it or the Bard who caused it renounces the vitriol.
The vitriol on a person or place weakens the further the target leaves the place of casting. For a person this weakens the further they travel from where they were targeted. For a town the ‘news’ of a vitriol weakens the further you are away from it. For example Simon’s home town has a vitriol placed upon it also, the ‘charisma’ of the town was originally 20%, however the successful vitriol has reduced the towns appeal to -30%, very repulsive! However in another country the towns vitriol penalty would reduce by +40% giving the town a value of 10%. In another continent the towns image would be unaffected by the vitriol and would be its original value of 20%.
Simon has had enough verbal abuse and decides to up and leave the town where the vitriol was placed upon him. Simon moves to a near-by town from the target town. His charisma penalty is reduced by +5%, giving him a modifier of 35%. He still gets a lot of abuse so he decides to move on. Simon leaves the country, the vitriol penalty is reduced by +40% (disregard the earlier +5%). Simon charisma modifier is that of 70%. He has to leave the continent to totally negate it. The vitriol modifiers are non-cumulative, the vitriol is affected only by location.
| Modifiers For A Place (Vitriol Reductions) | Modifiers For A Person (Vitriol Reductions) |
|---|---|
| Near-by town to target Town -5% Reduction | Reaction in town near-by target area -5% Reduction |
| Different District -10% Reduction | Reaction in different District -10% Reduction |
| Different Kingdom -20% Reduction | Reaction in different Kingdom -20% Reduction |
| Different Country -40% Reduction | Reaction in different Country -40% Reduction |
| Different Continent Vitriol Totally Negated | Reaction in different Continent Vitriol Totally Negated |
If another Bard created a vitriol on Simon the penalty modifiers would still be the same. The penalties are, like the reduction modifiers non-cumulative. To create a vitriol the player must roll the ability and score less than or equal to the characters Create Vitriol ability. If he succeeds the vitriol is a success. The Bard Reputation (B.R.) skill does not modify this roll in any way. The player should create a name for the vitriol, record what / who the target was and what location it was created in, (these should be recorded on the character sheet). This is important as they could affect the Bard later…
To cast a vitriol is not without cost to the Bard. The Bard losses two points of their Bard Reputation score in the process because of the fear this action generates in public. Basically they are scared of falling victim to the Bards wrath and they have become wary of the Bard after his action. The cost however does not end there, the victim of the Bard will more than likely seek revenge on the Bard. The Bard will have almost certainly created an enemy, perhaps to contend with at a later date…
| Skill | Base |
|---|---|
| Acrobatics | 5% |
| Acting | 5% |
| Dancing | 5% |
| Disguise | 5% |
| Etiquette | 10% |
| Instrument Playing | 10 |
| Jesting | 5% |
| Singing | 10 |
| Story Telling | 5% |
| Streetwise | 5% |
| Subterfuge | 5% |
All Bards start out at 5% in this skill. It is increased in the same way as any other secondary skills. The skill itself is specific to the Bard class only. This skill covers the Bards ability to remember old songs, poems and legendary stories that most other people have forgotten. This represents the word of mouth passing of information between Bards. This is a very useful skill for a traveller, as Bards are. For example if you travel to a town that you had never been to before the Bard could use this skill to try and remember information about the place that someone ‘had once told him’. The skill rolls are affected by the normal modifiers. For example information on a town in another country would have a high penalty modifier. Information for a local area town would be a lot easier. Information on a town in another continent might require a critical success for information of any kind, and so on. As always these modifiers are at the guide’s discretion as is the information that is discovered.
Bard Reputation
This skill represents what the public think of the character as a Bard. This also represents the characters reputation in Bard society. Try and think of the figure as the league standing of a team in a sports league table, the higher the better. The greater their B.R. skill the more famous and in demand the Bard is. The more negative the point’s value the less in demand the Bard is. Bard Reputation (B.R.) modifies the abilities Plea Lodging and Tribute (see earlier).
The points in B.R. are only affected in four ways:
B.R. points cannot be gained by practice sessions, they must be gained during actual performances to the public or during private audiences. This is because a Bards’ reputation derives from public opinion, i.e. the fans that the Bard has or hasn’t whatever the case may be. It follows that although a Bard could have excellent skills only using them in a proper way gives recognition.
It thus may take a great deal of time for a Bard to gain a high number of B.R. points.
Like any good guest it is both impolite and unwise to outstay your welcome, the same applies to Bards as well. In S&S this factor affects Bards special abilities. The abilities Plea Lodging and Tribute are affected by this.
Plea Lodging
When a Bard tries to gain lodging for free they roll this ability (plus B.R. modifier). If they succeed in the roll then they have been accepted, under the abilities conditions. The Bard must roll each day to remain in the household for free if they wish to stay there. On the second day the Bard must roll the ability at a -50% penalty.
Again the character should use their B.R. points towards the roll. On the third and any subsequent day the Bard rolls each day at a -50% of the previous days target score. For example if the Bards P.L. skill was 75% and their B.R. points were 5 the Bard would have to roll 80% or less on day 1. On day 2 the target roll would be 40%. On day three the target roll would be 20%, day four 10%, day 5 5% and so on. (For halving odd numbers always round up to the nearest even number).
This skill can be used on a relevant household only twice per year but never twice in the same season. If the Bard is invited to the home or is staying with friends this does not apply. This represents the fact that the longer you lodge with someone as a free guest your host begins to tire of you. If the Bard fails the daily roll then the Bard is asked politely to leave. The Bard should respect the host’s wishes as is etiquette and leave. The Bard my try and stay again in the next season. Obviously the Bard with the higher reputation will be at an advantage. This is because the company of such a distinguished Bard is highly sought after.
Tribute
When you hear the same joke or story over and over again it starts to become boring (unless you like it a lot!). Basically once you’ve seen an act once it no longer becomes surprising and quickly loses its novelty value. For the Bard this means that if he continues to perform continually in the same locations the listeners will tire of the same stories and quickly his earnings will diminish. For each attempt at tribute in the same place or in the same household the tribute score is reduced by 50% on the second attempt. For example Dave has a tribute ability of 60%. On day 2 Dave has to roll 30% or less, day 3 15% or less and so on (Rounding up). If he fails his roll then he won’t receive any more tributes from that person or place. The Bard has basically outstayed his welcome on the generosity of the people. This ability is affected much the same as Plea Lodging.