Bards are performers. They range from entertainers that imbue their performances with magic to charismatic adventurers that perform daring feats. Minstrels, arcane performers, explorers, swashbucklers, and lore masters can all be made using this class.

 

 

 

Magical Performance

You use artistic performance to connect with magical energies. This means that when you want to cast magic, you can use either of your two main types of performance from the Performance skill to cast a spell. Only brief performances are needed to cast a single spell. If you wish, longer performances can be used to cast multiple spells.

One important aspect of magical performance is that your skill at casting magic is not a reflection of your artistic skill. Each type of magic is a separate ability that needs to be studied. This means that the dice rolls for casting magic are based on the text of each magic ability and not on the Performance skill. For this purpose, magic is any ability with the word “Magic” in its name. You will be choosing which ones you know from the Bardic Abilities section below.

Because magical performance is the act of using performance to channel magical energy, that magic infuses the performance in some obvious way. You get to decide what this is like. One important consequence of this is that, unlike other forms of magic, magical performance can’t be used subtly or hidden with a skill.

Magic cast using a magical performance can affect anyone, regardless of whether or not they can perceive the performance. In addition, like other forms of magic, most ongoing spells last for one scene. Partial successes may shorten this duration and outstanding successes may increase it.

 

 

Bardic Abilities

Standard bard characters get any four abilities from the following list.

 

Ability Summaries

Daring Talents

• Derring-do: You are prepared to take risky actions.
• Swashbuckling: When you succeed at doing something risky, the results are legendary.
• Flamboyant: You do risky things with so much style that it influences others.
• Trick Archery: You are a skilled archer who is practiced at doing improbable things.
• Dirty Fighting: You are an expert at using dishonorable fighting techniques to give yourself an advantage during combat.
• Magical Weapon: You have a one-of-a-kind, magical weapon that grants you two special advantages.

Support Magic

• Healing Magic: You can create magical healing effects that alleviate harm and improve ongoing conditions.
• Affliction Magic: You can create magical effects that interfere with people’s physical, mental, and emotional balance and well-being.
• Enhancement Magic: You can create magical effects that enhance or diminish the traits of people and objects, as well as the properties of active magic.

Social Magic

• Attention Magic: You can create magical effects that influence focus and attention.
• Communication Magic: You can create magical effects that facilitate or block communication.
• Emotion Magic: You can use magic to affect emotions.
• Mind Magic: You can use magic to affect your mind and the minds of others.

Utility Magic

• Transportation Magic: You can create magical effects that assist or hinder movement and travel.
• Illusion Magic: You can use magic to create illusions that trick people’s senses.
• Analytic Magic: You can use your magic to sense, understand, suppress, and dispel magic.

Magical Talents

• Arcane Performance: You can use your magical performance to cast a specific type of arcane magic.
• Disguised Casting: Unlike other bards, you have a way to hide the signs of spell casting in other aspects of your performance.
• Attunement: You have a special connection to one type of magic that is expressed as an immunity and two specific magical effects that you can do without risk of failure.

Mental Abilities

• Inspired Artistry: You are an exceptionally skilled and expressive artist that can use your art to connect with people and communicate deep things.
• Charismatic: You have a talent for social interaction and are prepared to use any Social Skill.
• Exceptional Linguist: You have achieved exceptional skill with language.
• Lore Master: You have a deep knowledge of many subjects and can sometimes provide extra detail that few others know.
• Knowledgeable: You are extremely knowledgeable and are prepared to use any Knowledge Skill to answer questions.
• Alert: You are prepared to notice subtle things about the people and places around you.

Flexible Enhancements

• Specialty: You are so good at doing one specific thing that you are always prepared to do it.
• Skill Expert: You are an expert in one skill and rarely fail.
• Physical Intuition: You have an intuitive, physical understanding of a mental skill that makes it possible for you to do it as if it was a physical skill.
• Special Technique: You know a special technique that makes it easier for you to do a physical skill as if it was a mental one.
• Balanced Expertise: You are especially good at one body and one mind skill and are prepared to do either of them.
• Beginner’s Luck: You are unusually successful when you try new things.
• Skillful: You know more skills than most people.
• Extra Species Trait: You have manifested an additional species trait.

 

 

Ability Descriptions

Daring Talents

Derring-do: You are prepared to take risky actions. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you attempt a daring maneuver with the Acrobatics, Athletics, Climbing, Flying, Mobility, Riding, or Swimming skills. A daring maneuver is an action that is reckless, bold, or risky. Attempting a daring maneuver is a significant risk, and, as a result, the consequences of failure are more severe. You may take this ability twice if you desire.

 

Swashbuckling: When you succeed at doing something risky, the results are legendary. You are an expert at using bold and daring maneuvers. Any time you get a full success (two successes) when doing a daring action, the results are larger-than-life. This means that the outcome is more dramatic than it would otherwise be, granting you an additional benefit. In essence, this ability turns a full success into an outstanding success (three successes). A daring action is any action that is reckless, bold, or risky. Attempting a daring action is a significant risk, and, as a result, the consequences of failure are more severe.

 

Flamboyant: You do risky things with so much style that it influences others. When you successfully pull off a daring action (two or three successes), you impress onlookers. This means that you count as prepared when you use the Communicating with Animals, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Performance skills with someone who observed your daring maneuver. Note that this ability only applies when the social roll takes place in the same scene as the daring action. A daring action is any action that is reckless, bold, or risky. Attempting a daring action is a significant risk, and, as a result, the consequences of failure are more severe.

 

Trick Archery: You are a skilled archer who is practiced at doing improbable things. Three times a day, you may reroll a Ranged Combat roll for a challenging archery task, like splitting an arrow in two, firing accurately while doing acrobatic stunts, and shooting projectiles out of the air. This reroll must happen before the results have been revealed and you must take the new result, even if it is lower.

 

Dirty Fighting: You are an expert at using dishonorable fighting techniques to give yourself an advantage during combat. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you use the Acrobatics, Athletics, Manual Dexterity, Melee Combat, Ranged Combat, Stealth, or Unarmed Fighting skills for a sneaky, dishonorable, or unfair combat action. For example, you can attack with a hidden weapon, knee a foe in the groin, sneak up on an opponent, pull a combatant’s pants down, knock over nearby objects, and throw dust in someone’s eyes. You may take this ability twice if you desire.

 

Magical Weapon: You have a one-of-a-kind, magical weapon that grants you two special advantages.

Choose what this weapon is. Your options include ordinary weapons, like swords, unusual weapons, like tridents, and prototypes, like magic-powered firearms.

Your weapon is made of a special, magic-infused material that can’t be damaged by ordinary means (either physical or magical). It comes with any applicable ammunition, parts, or maintenance tools. You are trained in using your weapon, even if you are not trained in the Martial Skill that would normally apply to it.

Choose two advantages for your weapon off the following list.

• Less Physically Taxing: This weapon has a special design that makes it less physically taxing to use. Your character can use this weapon by rolling mind.
• Cuts/Breaks Stone: This weapon is made of a special material that is so hard and/or sharp that it can cut/break hard substances like ordinary stone and metal.
• Tool: Your weapon can be use as a tool for up to three skills. For example, a bullwhip can be used as a tool for Acrobatics, Athletics, and Climbing.
• Skill Bonus: Your weapon has been designed in a way that is helpful for a single non-combat skill. Three times a day, you may use this weapon to be prepared when using that skill. Examples include a ceremonial sword that helps with Diplomacy, a creepy weapon that assists with Intimidation, a hidden weapon that is easier to draw with Slight of Hand, and a utility knife that is useful for Survival.
• Ethereal: This weapon is infused with magic which allows it, or any projectiles that it fires, to interact with incorporeal things as if they were solid. An incorporeal thing is a being or object that lacks physical substance, but that is present in some way. For example, ghosts, shadow beings, illusions, and half-present magical landscapes are all incorporeal.
• Returning: Your weapon has been enchanted so that it always returns to you. Once drawn, the returning magic is activated and any time this weapon leaves your hand (or whatever appendage you drew the weapon with), it returns after a brief pause. Sheathing or stowing this weapon deactivates the returning magic.
• Comes When Called: Your weapon has been magically bonded to you so that it comes to your hand any time you speak or sign a magic word.
• Nonlethal: Your weapon has been enchanted for nonlethal combat. A command word or gesture is used to activate and deactivate this magic. When activated, the magic prevents this weapon from causing harm to yourself or others. This means that this weapon can only be used for nonlethal fighting (combat actions intended to gain an advantage over an opponent without physically harming them), and that it won’t cause harm even on failed actions.
• Create your own: Work with your game manager to create a unique advantage for your weapon.

 

 

Support Magic

Healing Magic: You can create magical healing effects that alleviate harm and improve ongoing conditions. For example, you can mend wounds, cure poisons, dispel mind- and emotion-altering magic, reduce the intensity of symptoms, decrease pain, bring people to optimal medication levels, and heal those diseases that can be cured with magic. Healing Magic can also be used in rituals to remove curses and other long-term, harmful magic from people. This magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Affliction Magic: You can create magical effects that interfere with people’s physical, mental, and emotional balance and well-being. Affliction Magic can be used to cause direct harm with wounds and to cause magical conditions, like sleepiness, fatigue, discomfort, sensory overload, pain, hunger, hiccups, nausea, itchiness, irritability, dizziness, and disorientation. When made extreme, any of these magical conditions will interfere with a person’s ability to function. Most curses are Affliction Magic that has been performed as a ritual to create long-term effects. Affliction Magic can also be used to detect and protect from the Affliction Magic of others. This magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Enhancement Magic: You can create magical effects that enhance or diminish the traits of people and objects, as well as the properties of active magic. Enhancement Magic can enhance or diminish non-magical traits, like size, speed, strength, dexterity, and endurance. This includes affecting the traits of specific body parts, like making someone’s hair longer, claws shorter, or senses keener. It also includes affecting mental traits, like memory, charisma, and awareness.

When a magical enhancement or diminishment significantly improves a character’s capacity to use a skill or non-magical ability, they get the die for being prepared. When it significantly interferes with their capacity to use a skill or non-magical ability, they take a one die penalty.

Enhancement Magic can also enhance or diminish the properties of currently active magic, but won’t affect dormant magic, like an inactive magic item, or someone’s ability to cast magic. For example, if a character is actively using their Boots of Flight to fly, Enhancement Magic can make them fly faster or slower, but it can’t do anything to the magic in the boots if it isn’t in use. The one exception is that Enhancement Magic can be used detect and remove others’ Enhancement Magic, regardless of whether it is active. This magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

Respectful Portrayal Note: Please be careful to avoid ableist stereotypes when affecting a character’s physical or mental traits, especially when reducing mental traits.

 

 

Social Magic

Attention Magic: You can create magical effects that influence focus and attention. Attention Magic can be used to directly help or interfere with someone’s ability to focus. It can also direct attention toward something. For example, it can create a momentary distraction by suddenly drawing everyone’s focus to a specific person or object, make an ongoing distraction more compelling, shape a conversation by making a specific topic more interesting, cause a performance to entrance its audience, and make an object seem so fascinating that people can’t look away. In addition, Attention Magic can be used to prevent people from noticing something, such as a person or object. It can also detect and undo others’ Attention Magic. This magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Communication Magic: You can create magical effects that facilitate or block communication. Communication Magic allows you to talk to animals, plants, ghosts, and the spirits of objects (keep in mind that most plants and objects have limited awareness). Examples of other effects that you can do are voice amplification, telepathy, magical translation, and lie detection. You can also do things like send messages, visit someone’s dreams, and prevent communication from being understood. In addition, this magic can also be used to detect, block, or listen in on other’s communications. Communication Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Emotion Magic: You can use magic to affect emotions. One way this is used is to induce specific emotions. For example, you could calm frightened animals, provoke anger, foster confusion, intimidate a dangerous person, increase compassion, enhance the emotional impact of an artistic performance, or cause a stranger to feel a strong feeling of friendship toward you. Emotion magic can also be used to do things like detect others’ emotions, determine what someone fears, figure out what someone hopes for, assist emotional healing, communicate emotions, intensify emotions, decrease the intensity of emotions, encourage someone to be honest about their feelings, and make it hard for someone to share what they are feeling. This magic can also be used to sense and defend against the Emotion Magic of others.

The targets of this magic still have free will and choose how they react to their emotions. In addition, nonconsensual manipulation of the emotions of sapient beings is illegal. However there may be exceptions for self-defense; these vary based on the setting. Emotion Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Mind Magic: You can use magic to affect your mind and the minds of others. Examples of things that you can do are communicating mind to mind (telepathy), transferring a large amount of information directly into someone’s brain, reading a person’s thoughts, retrieving a buried memory, temporarily altering a person’s memory, putting a suggestion into someone’s mind, improving someone’s ability to do a mind-based skill by helping them focus, protecting others from mental manipulation, sensing when someone else is using Mind Magic, and reversing the effects of harmful Mind Magic.

Magical effects that limit free will are possible, but they are especially difficult to do. As a result, they are short-lived, often only lasting a single round. Examples of these effects are magically preventing someone from taking an action, giving someone a compulsion to do a specific task, and freezing someone in place.

Nonconsensual manipulation of the minds of sapient beings is illegal. However there may be exceptions for self-defense; these vary based on the setting. Mind Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

 

Utility Magic

Transportation Magic: You can create magical effects that assist or hinder movement and travel. Examples of things that you can do are way finding, speeding travel, summoning mounts, conjuring temporary magical vehicles, levitating objects, making someone fly, teleporting, preventing harm from hazardous terrain, and enhancing someone’s ability to swim, climb, fly, or ride. This magic can also be used to detect, track, or hinder the transportation of others. Transportation Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Illusion Magic: You can use magic to create illusions that trick people’s senses. Illusions can affect vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and other senses, like echolocation. The more senses you want to affect, the more difficult the magic is. It is also more difficult to affect any sense that you do not have. The harder the magic is, the larger the consequences of failed rolls will be.

Illusions can make people perceive things that aren’t there, disguise something as something else, or prevent people from perceiving things that are there. For example, you could create the sound of a dangerous monster in the distance, hide a door behind an illusory wall, animate an illusory scene, make something old appear new, disguise a trap as an everyday object, impersonate someone, make someone invisible, or cause a loud event to seem silent. This magic can also be used to detect, alter, or stop other’s illusions. Illusion Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

Because illusions aren’t real, illusory objects can’t directly affect anything that is real. For example, an illusory wall cannot stop a person from walking through it, an illusory chair cannot hold a person up, an illusory lamp can’t illuminate an area, an illusory sword can’t cause wounds, and an illusory sound can’t travel beyond the edge of the area affected by the illusion. In addition, magically disguising a person or object doesn’t change how that person or object interacts with real objects. For example, a person disguised as someone taller can’t reach as far as the taller person could, a puppy made to look like an adult guard dog still acts like a puppy, and an invisible person that steps in a puddle still causes ripples. This means that the more interaction a person has with an illusion, the more opportunity they will have to figure out that it is an illusion. Note that knowing something is an illusion doesn’t make the illusion go away.

 

Analytic Magic: You can use your magic to sense, understand, suppress, and dispel magic. Examples of things that you can do are perceive the magic around you, detect a particular type of magic, locate a specific magical object, figure out what a spell or magic item does, determine how long a magical effect will last, and analyze the properties of ongoing magic. You can also dispel short-term magical effects (such as spells) and temporarily suppress long-term magical effects. For example, you can counter a spell as it is being cast, end an ongoing spell, temporarily suppress the magical properties of an item, pause the effects of permanent magic, and create a zone that provides a short-term shelter from a large-scale magical effect. Note that magic can have non-magical effects (such as damage done to people and objects) and those effects continue even after the magic is dispelled. Analytic Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

 

Magical Talents

Arcane Performance: You can use your magical performance to cast a specific type of arcane magic. Choose one of the following types of magic: fire, water, air, earth, weather, animal, plant, shapeshifting, sensing, force, object, and summoning. For details on what these types of magic do, go to the mage Arcane Abilities List. You can use your magical performance to cast this type of magic and you are trained in it.

 

Disguised Casting: Unlike other bards, you have a way to hide the signs of spell casting in other aspects of your performance. Each time that you want to use your magical performance to cast magic without others being aware of it, roll the Performance skill. If you get a full success (two successes), then you have successfully hidden the fact that you used your performance to cast magic. If you get a partial success (one success), then someone noticed, or suspects, what you did.

 

Attunement: You have a special connection to one type of magic that is expressed as an immunity and two specific magical effects that you can do without risk of failure. Choose a type of magic that you can cast. You are attuned to this type of magic. Go to the Attunement List and choose one immunity and two minor magical effects from the section for your attuned magic.

The minor magical effects can be used without risk of failure, which means that no roll is needed to use them. However, if you incorporate a minor magical effect into a more complicated action, you will need to roll to accomplish that action.

In addition, some minor magical effects have a specified duration while others don’t. If no duration is specified, then the effect wears off at a story appropriate time, usually at the end of a scene. When the effect does wear off, non-magical outcomes, like healing and harm, remain. You may take this ability multiple times, but you must choose a different type of magic to be attuned to each time.

 

 

Mental Abilities

Inspired Artistry: You are an exceptionally skilled and expressive artist that can use your art to connect with people and communicate deep things. You are always prepared to use the Performance skill to express emotion, entertain, and communicate experiences. Please keep in mind that, while the results of a success will be generally favorable, art is open to interpretation and each person will have a unique reaction.

 

Charismatic: You have a talent for social interaction and are prepared to use any Social Skill. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you use the Communicating with Animals, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Performance skills. You may take this ability twice if you desire.

 

Exceptional Linguist: You have achieved exceptional skill with language. You are fluent in all of the major languages of your home region plus those of a region, group, or time period of your choice. When communicating in a language you aren’t fluent in, roll the Culture skill as usual, but treat partial successes (one success) as if they were full successes (two successes). In addition, when you have time and access to resources, such as dictionaries and other language books, you can accurately translate any non-magical language without needing a dice roll.

Before taking this ability, please check with your game manager to find out if different languages will be part of your game and what the language options are.

 

Lore Master: You have a deep knowledge of many subjects and can sometimes provide extra detail that few others know. Any time you get a full success (two successes) on an Arcana, Culture, Nature, or Technology roll, the information you gain is more detailed than it would otherwise be. This information is helpful enough to grant you an additional benefit. In essence, this ability turns a full success into an outstanding success.

 

Knowledgeable: You are extremely knowledgeable and are prepared to use any Knowledge Skill to answer questions. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you use the Arcana, Culture, Nature, or Technology skills. You may take this ability twice if you desire.

 

Alert: You are prepared to use Perception Skills to notice subtle things about the people and places around you. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you use the Insight, Perception, or Survival skills. You may take this ability twice if you desire.

 

 

Flexible Enhancements

Specialty: You are so good at doing one specific thing that you are always prepared to do it. Choose an area of focus for a skill or ability that you already have. This is your specialty. You are particularly good at this specialty and are always considered prepared when using it. This specialty needs to be significantly more specific than the skill or ability it is based on. For example, a character with the Acrobatics skill could have a specialty in leaping, or a character with the Transportation Magic ability could have a specialty in casting flying spells.

 

Skill Expert: You are an expert in one skill and rarely fail. Choose a skill. Three times per day, you may turn a failed dice roll (zero successes) for this skill into a partial success (one success). This ability must be used before the consequences of failure are revealed.

 

Physical Intuition: You have an intuitive, physical understanding of a mental skill that makes it possible for you to do it as if it was a physical skill. Choose one mind based skill or ability. You can now use this skill or ability by rolling body.

 

Special Technique: You know a special technique that makes it easier for you to do a physical skill as if it was a mental one. Choose one body based skill or ability. You can now use this skill or ability by rolling mind.

 

Balanced Expertise: You are especially good at one body and one mind skill and are prepared to do either of them. Choose one mind skill and one body skill. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you use either of these two skills. You may take this ability twice if you desire, choosing either the same or different skills.

 

Beginner’s Luck: You are unusually successful when you try new things. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when using a skill that you are not trained in.

 

Skillful: You know more skills than most people. Choose two additional skills off the Skills List. You are trained in these skills. There is no limit on how many times you may choose this ability.

 

Extra Species Trait: You have manifested an additional species trait. Choose an additional species trait off the Species Trait List. There is no limit on how many times you may choose this ability.