Class Idea: Bards

[Grey]

The idea is to have a new rogue subclass, intended to have its own distinct playstyle. It primarily uses melee fighting, but can also charm creatures and use various tricks to help overcome its enemies. Class description:

Bards are masters of song and verse, and often earn their keep as wandering minstrels, playing tunes or reciting stories for money. Adventuring bards are trained in combat, and know various tricks (dirty or otherwise) to help keep them alive. Bards always keep on them an assortment of instruments, and all have powerful singing voices, and their mastery of the art of music can change the very world around them. Many animals and even people can become friendly to bards who sing songs to soothe their hearts, and bards of legend are oft known for the odd companions which followed them on their adventures. The greatest bards have been said to gain mastery of some magical abilities. But bards are jacks of all trades, and masters of none, and are known to rely on more than a little luck to survive the dangers of the world.
Their most important stats are: Cunning, Strength
Stat modifiers: +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +4 Cunning, +1 Magic, +10 Luck

The talent trees:

Technique / Combat Training (1.2)
Cunning / Survival (1.2)
Cunning / Dirty Fighting (1.2)
Technique / Field Control (1.0, locked)
Technique / Combat Techniques (1.0, locked)
Cunning / Battlesongs (1.2)
Cunning / Rhythmic Fighting (1.2)
Cunning / Musical Instruments (1.2)
Cunning / Trickery (1.2)
Cunning / Bardic Magic (1.2, locked, start level 10)


Battlesongs

These are songs sung whilst fighting. They require stamina to sustain, but take no time to begin singing and do not trigger a cooldown when stopped, so one can switch between songs seemlessly. Songs cannot be sung whilst silenced. Battlesongs may have an effect on the singer, his allies and his enemies. Songs can calm the hearts of enemies, and may even convert them to be fully allied with the singer. The chance to calm an enemy depends on the singer's talent skill, cunning and the enemy's saving throw. Calming happens in three stages:
1. Creature temporarily stops targetting the singer
2. Creature joins the singer's faction
3. Creature becomes an ally, able to receive orders
You can only have a maximum number of allies equal to the talent level of the active song. Stopping a song will remove all charmed allies from your party, though they will still belong to your faction.
Only one song may be active at any time.

1. Song of the Wild

The singer and all allies in range 10 gain +(50 - 200)% life and stamina regeneration whilst the song is active. In addition various natural creatures may be tamed by the song:
talent level 1: rodents, insects, ritches
talent level 2: snakes, wolves, aquatics
talent level 3: bears, spiders
talent level 4: sandworms, hatchlings
talent level 5: dragons

2. Song of Souls

The singer and all allies in range 10 gain +(8 - 30) physical/spell/mental saving throws and +(20 - 100) life whilst the song is active. In addition various sentient creatures may be tamed by the song:
talent level 1: rogues
talent level 2: minotaurs, giants
talent level 3: orcs
talent level 4: elves, ziguranth
talent level 5: nagas, orcs of pride

3. Song of Death

All enemies in range 10 suffer penalties to attack and a chance to become afraid whilst the song is active. In addition various undead may be tamed by the song:
talent level 1: skeletons
talent level 2: ghouls
talent level 3: ghosts, mummies
talent level 4: wights, vampires
talent level 5: liches, bone giants

4. Song of Chaos

The singer and all allies in range 10 gain +(10 - 50) critical damage modifier whilst the song is active. Other chaotic effects may appear around the singer (paradox-esque effects). In addition various other-worldly creatures may be tamed by the song:
talent level 1: xorns
talent level 2: minor demons, aquatic demons
talent level 3: elementals
talent level 4: horrors
talent level 5: major demons


Rhythmic Fighting

Bards can fight to certain rhythms - each strike of his blade or block of his armour following a musical pattern. These rhythms can compliment the natural fighting of them and their allies to increased effect. Like battlesongs they require stamina to sustain, but take no time to begin and do not trigger a cooldown when stopped, so one can switch between rhythms seemlessly. The natural sounds of battle cannot be silenced.
Only one form of rhythmic fighting can be active at any time, and it cannot be performed in heavy armour.

(these are still early ideas - other suggestions welcome)

1. Legato

A quiet, graceful style that concentrates on defense and avoiding enemy attacks. The bard and all allies gain +(20-50)% defence and +(5-20)% critical defence whilst the rhythm is active.

2. Etude

An exact and precise rhythm that concentrates on technique and accuracy. The bard and all allies gain +(10-30)% attack and +(5-20)% critical chance whilst the rhythm is active.

3. Forte

A loud and sonorous rhythm that brings forth deafening clashes. The bard and all allies gain +(8-24) APR and +(4-15)% all damage whilst the rhythm is in effect.

4. Allegro

A rhythm of intense tempo, forcing all actions to speed up. The bard and all allies gain +(4-12)% attack speed whilst the rhythm is in effect.


Musical Instruments

Bards carry many instruments about their person which they can use to produce various effects on the world, for good or for ill.

1. Pipes of Following

10 stamina, 15 cooldown, scales with cunning
Encourage up to (2-8) creatures of the same faction in the vicinity to follow where you walk and target the same enemies as you for the next (4-10) turns.

2. Battle Horn

30 stamina, 40 cooldown, scales with cunning
Summon up to (1-5) friendly creatures to your location. Creatures will normally be of a type local to the area, but must be ones the bard would normally be capable of taming with battlesongs. Their power will increase with talent level and cunning. Creatures will be of the bard's faction, but not full allies, though they may be fully converted by the appropriate battlesong.

3. Dischordant Strike

20 stamina, 25 cooldown, scales with cunning
Pull out a random musical instrument and strike the enemy with it, causing physical damage and a random status effect. Possible instruments:
lute - 25% chance - medium damage - dazes
oboe - 25% chance - low damage - silences
cymbals - 25% chance - low damage - stuns
bongos - 24% chance - medium damage - confuses
harpsichord - 1% chance - very high damage - stuns, dazes, confuses, pins
Damage increases with strength, chance of status with cunning.

4. Woeful Harp

15 stamina, 20 cooldown, scales with cunning
Play a mournful tune on your harp, slowing all enemies in radius 10 by (5-15%) for (4-10) turns. Some enemies may be moved to tears, blinding them to the actions of battle.


Trickery

These tricks rely on luck and skill to upset the foe.

1. Coin Throw

5 stamina, 0 cooldown, 1 gold, scales with dexterity
Throw a gold coin at an enemy, dealing 0 to (10-100) damage. Thrown coins normally have 0 APR, but on a critical hit they ignore all armour. The damage increases with dexterity, and the critical chance with cunning.

2. Disarm

15 stamina, 10 cooldown, scales with dexterity
Cause an enemy to lose control of his weapon for (3-7) turns.

3. Fleetfoot

30 stamina, 20 cooldown, instant activate, scales with dexterity
Gain +(5-20)% movement speed and +(4-25) defence for (3-6) turns.

4. Steal

30 stamina, 50 cooldown, scales with cunning and dexterity
Steal a random item from an enemy of less than (2-20) weight. You will have 0 defense whilst attempting to steal and hits against you are more likely to be critical. Increased talent level and cunning improve the chance of success and the quality of the theft.
At talent level 3 you have a chance to steal the weapon that the enemy is wielding.
At talent level 5 you have a chance to steal any item the enemy wears, even the armour from its back.


Bardic Magic

Bards learn all sorts of things on their travels, and the very best can even pick up some elements of the Art. Bards do not need a mana pool to cast their spells, as they draw their powers from the random winds of mana that flow across the world.

1. Healing Touch

20 cooldown
Touch yourself or an ally to heal (40-250) life. At level 5 it will also remove 1 negative status effect.

2. Phase Self

15 cooldown
Move yourself instantly up to (3-7) squares away. For (3-6) turns afterwards you will have +(5-15) APR. At talent level 4 you can roughly control where you move to.

3. Sense

20 cooldown
Sense creatures around you up to (7-12) squares away. A level 4 it detects items, and at level 5 it detects traps.

4. Spellfate

40 cooldown
Cast a random magic spell. The spell will be cast with an additional (10-60) spellpower and (1-12) spell critical chance (both based on cunning and talent level).
Spells can be of any school, but only activated spells can be cast, and those requiring a target will hit the closest enemy.


I've also contemplated a "Jack of all Trades" tree, but can't think of any particularly good talents for it.

Unlock for the class would be through a quest triggered by finding a Thaloren bard who is in love with a human nobleman's daughter - you must help him either convince the father to allow the relationship, or free the daughter so they can run away together. (Or instead help the father for a material reward but no unlock...)

Bards could also be escort quests, granting skills from the trickery tree.

Thoughts?

[edge2054]

I like it. A well done bard class is something that's generally lacking in games in general.

Maybe it could be a hybrid though? Wilder/Rogue? (Would require some modification though).

[yufra]

This sounds really cool, particularly the charming. Are you thinking about having the charming be a mental resist check every turn? What do you think of as the source of the charming? If it is magical (either arcane or natural) then maybe there should be a penalty to the resist checks depending on how many charmed foes you are already have. I would also like to see people be able to revert before you stop the song, say mental resists checks while charmed to go down the charm ladder of effects. I think that would strike a nice balance.

[Grey]

I was thinking physical or mental save - certainly not arcane. If bards ignore the spell tree then they can be purely natural and side with anti-magic.

From the first and second tier it would be possible to revert, especially from the first, and they will definitely revert if harmed by the player (whether deliberately or not).

I'm not sure about them being Wilders, Edge. In gameplay terms they're like a rogue/summoner hybrid, but I don't think their abilities should be tied in with Equilibrium. Plus along D&D lines (which is how I always picture bards) they normally have a bit of magic thrown in on the side.

[edge2054]

I was thinking physical or mental save - certainly not arcane. If bards ignore the spell tree then they can be purely natural and side with anti-magic.

From the first and second tier it would be possible to revert, especially from the first, and they will definitely revert if harmed by the player (whether deliberately or not).

I'm not sure about them being Wilders, Edge. In gameplay terms they're like a rogue/summoner hybrid, but I don't think their abilities should be tied in with Equilibrium. Plus along D&D lines (which is how I always picture bards) they normally have a bit of magic thrown in on the side.

Aye, I know D and D bards are generally magical or have a sorcerer bent. But D & D bards and generally every bard based off them has kinda sucked. Was thinking maybe a different route would be good.

(I had played around with the idea of a Skald that was more of a warrior bard with some wilder abilities mixed in, maybe both class ideas are viable).

[TheRani]

I think it'd be cool if there was a Disguise talent that bards could use to pretend for X amount of turns to belong to a selected enemy's faction. For that amount of turns, any intelligent enemies belonging to that faction would be neutral to the bard.

I think their non-spell abilities should be stamina-based, but the spell tree should give the bard a mana bar when they take it.


A wilder rogue using equilibrium would probably be a better idea for a different class, unless you're trying to go for a 1st edition D&D-style bard who casts only druid spells.

[Postman]

The game already have so many classes it's hardly possible to play them all to the end. How about rebalance/update some existing classes instead? Other approach instead of a new class creation would be to make some new techniques as all-class or antimagic-only quests.

[Grey]

Why not both? I've posted plenty of stuff on rebalancing and tweaking existing classes. I want to express new ideas too! :P

I've not played with anti-magic myself, but I agree that it could use some more lovin'.

[edge2054]

The game already have so many classes it's hardly possible to play them all to the end. How about rebalance/update some existing classes instead? Other approach instead of a new class creation would be to make some new techniques as all-class or antimagic-only quests.

Existing classes are constantly being rebalanced and updated. The two things aren't mutually exclusive.

Plus ideas are ideas. They come when the come and if someone has a good idea there's no reason not to post it. If it sits around on the boards forever at least it was expressed and can be dug up should someone feel like implementing it.