First, I owe everyone apologies for vanishing without a word. I've come back to try to apologize for doing so, and to let you know that I have no idea when I'll be able to meaningfully return.
That's as far s anyone needs to read. If you're curious, you are free to keep going, though.
Why did I vanish? My wife had started an evaluation of her knees, scheduled to run for about 2 months. First appointment was on a Monday. Late that same Thursday we were told the evaluation was over and they were going to schedule her for a full knee replacement in her worse leg. We found out that next Monday that surgery was that Thursday, a week after we were told she would be having surgery.
I took some sick leave to help her through the surgery and earliest recovery stages. I've been working half days, taking sick leave for the rest, for the past couple of weeks, trying to keep her from doing too much with the live-in grand kids and doing her exercises, with only partial luck.
She's doing her exercises while I type, and the grand kids are down for their naps. Today is going to be the last day I PLAN to do the half-day thing. Thing is, even having been home so much more than normal, I've been going non-stop. We were two weeks past her surgery before I even got into the office where my computer sits, and we're over three weeks past it now and I've had to steal the time to let people know what's going on.
I don't know how long it will be before I can reasonably expect the leisure time to properly contribute to these games again. I am sorry for vanishing, but I have to focus on my wife's actual needs before I play.
Game Specific:
Well, I guess that counts for my vote to continue or not. Makes me doubly sorry, honestly.
Looking at his companions, Josef shrugs, points at the group, then pretends he is tip-toeing and points in the directions of the pair, with an obvious question in his expression.
"Do you want your wife boxing our ears? Get back and let us up front again." Josef makes the comment with a grin, but pushes past the Baron as they start moving forward.
Josef eyes the Baron, wondering what his choice might be about, before shrugging and moving forward. "Not here to let you get hit like that." he mutters as he moves forward and takes an experimental swing.
Moving out by himself, he does use a mite more caution than normal as he goes, though.
The generic post to share before attempting to recovery post:
So, I got the flu. Not really over it, yet, but past the worst of it.
I went to get tested to verify it was flu, and the care providers went down the "better safe than sorry hole" a might to far, in my opinion.
Standard questions, designed to check for other, deeper concerns/problems, right? "Do you have any tightness in your chest?" "I've been coughing for about three days at this point, yes, I have a tightness in my chest!" So, they stopped everything about verifying the flu in order to check for a heart attack. Thing is, my fever had just started to break, and I was not only DRENCHED in sweat, but I was still actively sweating that hard. They couldn't get a good EKG read because the contact stickers wouldn't. Stick, I mean.
They called an ambulance and transferred me to an ER, to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack. The ER team was focused on EXACTLY one thing, for obvious reasons. First thing they did different? They took that super medical tape and taped the sensors down. EKG told them almost immediately that there was no heart attack going on. I was still in that ER for nearly 15 hours . . ..
IV fluids. Roughly 2.4 liters of fluid pushed into my system. Breathing treatment. Seems when I arrived in the ER, my O2 saturation was around 82. They started to admit me in order to watch my O2 saturation levels, but after I sat in their ER for that long without any further dips, they accepted it might not still be required and discharged me instead of continuing to wait for a room. Having an asthmatic wife means we have a nebulizer at home, and that helped sell the release, too. Still spending more time asleep than awake, for now.
Missed a couple of Santa gigs the family had lined up. Went to a photoshoot with a family yesterday. I was there for about 10 minutes, just needing to sit and smile, but I stumbled into the house when I got home, completely exhausted. I'm supposed to go get caught in a neighbor's house tonight. Very worried about going. Just as worried about denying their kids.
The young man sigh as he simply drops the bow and draws his sword so quickly that it seems to simply appear in his hand. "Darian. Really? Don't pet these. Bad dog. Play dead." He grunts as he tries to make light of the situation while also attempting to resolve it as directly as possible.
This last weekend, both of the youngest generation (one is 2 the other just had her first birthday) got sick. So did their mom. Monday so did their dad. Somewhere in there, grandma got sick, too. Now I'm sick. At least the youngest seems to be over it.
If you need to bot me to keep things moving, please do.
I'm sorry, but I'm not even managing to focus to play spades on my phone right now, and that's amazingly brainless.
Josef nods back before starting to pantomime an "after you." He stops part of the way into the bow, though, raising a finger and waggling it back and forth as he moves forward, grinning the while.
Taking the time, Josef climbs the steps and verifies there's no one waiting on top of the tower before returning to the room where the others are waiting.
"Okay, so, we go that way, then. Coming through!" Josef pushes his way to the front and starts exploring down the other path.
"Yes, Daddy. Leaving something on the floor for you, here, in case." He taps the troll at his feet with his blade, before flicking the troll blood off of it as he goes to move forward, depending, again, on that silly little ioun stone.
He calls back down the stairs. "Stops at the tower. NARROW stairs going up."
Josef laughs. "I don't want to think about how long the bath afterwards would take!" He's too busy at the moment to give a pretend shudder, but you can picture it hearing him.
Meanwhile, he looks to the beast before him and goes to work.
Josef shakes his head. "Darian? You owe these guys money, or what?"
He moves up next to Lisl. "You don't need to be here. I'm going to need you to patch me up, again, I'm sure. But I can keep it off of everyone else. Get back out of range. PLEASE."
And that handles the reamining actions for the round.
Was at the hospital from about 0730 till about 1615. Home. reasonably awake, and medicated. The entire area over the hernia and belly button is under s bandage I'm not supposed to touch until Saturday, so all I know is I have some ugly looking injuries from where the laparoscopic entry points were on my left side. Not as limited in my movements this morning as I thought I would be, which is good. Abdominal muscles are a little tight, though. Don't think I can blame them. I figured they would be a LOT more mad than they seem to be.
The graphic chosen shows weapons in the trolls' hands. The description is silent on the point. I'll just whack-a-mole this round for simplicity, but if they are holding weapons, i will probably want to attempt to disarm one of them should we face more than one at a time. Based on the assumption that they wouldn't use weapons that do less damage than their claws will . . ..
Hey. I have surgery in the morning. Pretty minor, but it IS surgery. Outpatient, with a normal "don't work" period of 2 days, and a "no exertion" period of like 6 weeks.
I should be giving all my games another pass this evening, but I make no promises for the next day or two.
What is it? An umbilical hernia repair. Surgeon says I have multiple hernias right there together. All I know for sure is the general practitioner who referred em to the surgeon had it right when he said it looks like I'm going to give birth to a Titleist.
Josef looks at Johanna like she has three heads for a second. "Want? No. Absolutely not. NOBODY should want to do that. Will?" He sighs, looking at Lisl and shrugs. "Yeah. I know Lisl will pick me back up afterwards."
Josef gives the Baron and Baroness a chance to get into position, waits for everybody else to indicate they are ready, then Josef steps out into the indicated space. Slipping into Total Defense, he calls out "Hey! Your mother was a campfire and the best parts of you were served as a roast!"
"Right!" The young man drops his bow, since the Baron seems intent on doing this up close and personal, starting to turn to his left as the Baron rolls past him on that side. He hesitates for a split second before turning to his right, pulling his blade as he duplicates the Baron's charge.
I added Isabel, even though she's invisible, but it looks like Josef is about to suck chlorine, if I guess the purpose of the green circle right . . ..
He wlll try to line up just in front of Darian, though not directly. I would put me on the map, but I'm not sure which side the boss wants to come in from . . ..
Okay, so . . .. None of us have Item crafting feats. Doesn't bother me, but, I'm trying to figure out how I get the blade enchanted if the most powerful figures in the area can't do it.
Do I have to send it off and wait? If so, I guess that can wait until "adventuring season" is over, ya know? The mechanical difference is really pretty small, so, no true harm in waiting, I just want to do it in a way organic for our story.
The young man nods. "Fair enough. Hopefully it won't be that much longer before the three of us are coordinating patrols and openly cooperating for the common defense." He shakes his head and can't keep from snickering a little. "Even if they are kobolds."
------------
Josef will take the elven statuette to Lily.
Heading for Lily's normal place of business (the inn?), Josef looks about for her. "Lily? Where's she gotten to?" Eventually finding her, he pulls the cloth-wrapped piece out of a bag, and smiles at her. "We found something that you've been looking for, and the Baron thinks we ought to share it with you." He unwraps the piece and sets in on a nearby surface. "That the kind of thing you were looking for?"
Josef's a young enough man he will enjoy as much or as little as he can get as a reward. I'm good with the camera fading out.
In an uncharacteristic movement, Josef pats and rubs the sheath his blade is in. "Sometimes fun leads to that sort of reminder. They are more common than you might think. Especially those keeping us aware of consequences, I guess." His eyes unfocus, seeing something not present while he talks.
Once Darian makes the request that Josef might train his children, the young man looks the elder in the eyes and shakes his head, sighing, before he responds. "I don't know if I am more honored that you ask, or that asking means you expect me to be here long enough to do so. I will be happy to help them learn the basics of combat, and to teach them more if it seems to be their path. You'll need to ensure we have a well-equipped training facility by then, though. Our men currently train in the street next to the barracks, or off the road outside of town. Some have to spend each session performing traffic control so that the others can train. But, you didn't want me to turn this into business." He seems to relax as he takes the topic away from training your children, though.
Josef responds to the touch by putting his blade's point under Darian's right collarbone, just a tap, before rolling his wrist to make the blade go in a great circle over Darian's blade, without touching it, and rolling around into his hip.
Now 162 vs a norm of 158. Still right there.
Then he steps back into a salute.
"You touched me once. Once. We need to work on that. Did you feel how the hilt moved in our hand when I disarmed you? We should talk about that, too."
And the dice are statistically normal. I've rolled 13 D20s in the fight so far, with a total value of 135. "Perfectly" on stats would be 137. 2 20's make up for a lot of lower rolls, apparently.
"You really never had a chance, so why did you try?" The taunting continues, though the malice is far less evident, but this time his blade flashes out, first at your lead leg, then the ribs on your off-side as you instinctively step back from the first strike.
Sparring dueling sword to the leg:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13
Sparring dueling sword to the opposite ribs:1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (5) + 10 - 5 = 10
Josef steps back and let's the Baron have a quick moment to reset before stepping up and saluting, again.
Init:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Feeling guilty about continuing to beat down the Baron, Josef decides to alter his tactics, making the decision before the Baron even sees him move. His sword drops down, tapping the Baron's blade but not starting the circular motion of a disarm. "You know how easily I can take that. Yield before I actually hurt you." There's no sign of humor or even empathy in his voice, the tone carrying a menace you don't frequently hear from your Marshall.
Intimidate (Demoralize) w/o Ioun Stone DC 16 (10+Hit Dice+Wis Modifier):1d20 + 12 - 1 ⇒ (20) + 12 - 1 = 31Shaken for 4 rounds. (1 for DC, +1 for every 5 additional)
Shaken:
A shaken character takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than frightened or panicked.
Once he demonstrates his aggression, Josef settles back to receive an attack.
AC 19
Wow. 2 20's out of 5 D20 rolls in this fight so far.
"Without magic? Just a moment, then." Josef removes his cloak, his amulet, and catches the ioun stone that's always flying around his head, setting them aside before he takes a position for the match, and returns the Baron's salute.
Init:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
His blade whips out almost too fast for the eye to follow, going not for the point of a touch, but to disarm the Baron instead.
Disarm CMB w/ free damage on success!:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23 I checked, your CMD is listed as 18, so . . ..
A quick flick of the wrist, and slight bend to the elbow, and the baron's sword falls to the ground as Josef's blade also smacks his hand.
slashing (Disarming Strike):1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Then he brings the blade around for another shot, bringing it under the arm which was pulled up by the disarm maneuver and touching the baron's ribs, to match the strike on his hand.
"Nothing pressing enough that we can't spar. As for my form, I've had some specialized training, but you know that. Want em to start easy, or go hard out of the gate?"
"Are you having any problems with bandits or such? I know you are patrolling the area, and we trust you to take care of your own, but we consider you part of our community, so we want to make that as easy as possible. Where would you like to have our patrols stop so that we aren't both patrolling the same space? Working together let's us cover more ground, and help keep more of our peoples safe."
Hey, he has to at least TRY to fulfill his duties now and again!
"That's why we have the patrols, Johanna, and why I think that elven fortress is something we need to use. Never enough men available to protect everyone, but we do what we can."
Full Name
Curral
Gender
AC 22; HP 65; init +3; Perception + 10
Size
M
Age
46 years
Alignment
NG
Deity
Desna
Languages
Common, Celestial
Strength
16
Dexterity
16
Constitution
14
Intelligence
10
Wisdom
10
Charisma
17
About Curral
AC 22; HP 65; Init. +3; Perception +10
NG Medium Outsider(Native)
Level 7 Bard
Deity Desna
intiative +3 senses darkvision 60ft.
perception +10
5'11''/1601bs ; Golden skin with gold-flecked eyes
==DEFENSE==
+1 Chain Shirt & +1 Shield
AC 22 Touch AC 14 Flat-Footed AC 17
HP 65
Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +6
==OFFENSE==
Spd 30ft
Melee +1 Longsword +9/hit (1d8+4/19-20/x2)
Ranged Comp. Short Bow +9/hit (1d6+4/20/x3)
==STATISTICS==
Str 16 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 10
Wis 10 Cha 17
BAB +5 CMB +8 CMD 21
==FEATS & TRAITS==
Maestro of the Society:
You may use bardic performance 3 additional rounds per day.
Fortunate:
Once per day when you use a spell or magic item with a randomized effect (such as confusion, mirror image, prismatic spray, or a bag of tricks), before you roll to determine the result, you may choose to roll twice and pick either result.
Point-Blank Shot:
You get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at ranges of up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot:
You can shoot or throw ranged weapons at an opponent engaged in melee without taking the standard –4 penalty on your attack roll.
Rapid Shot:
When making a full-attack action with a ranged weapon, you can fire one additional time this round at your highest bonus. All of your attack rolls take a –2 penalty when using Rapid Shot.
Arcane Strike:
As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.
==BARD ABILITIES==
Bardic Knowledge:
A bard adds half his class level (minimum 1) to all Knowledge skill checks and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.
Bardic Performances:
A bard is trained to use the Perform skill to create magical effects on those around him, including himself if desired. He can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + his Charisma modifier. At each level after 1st a bard can use bardic performance for 2 additional rounds per day. Each round, the bard can produce any one of the types of bardic performance that he has mastered, as indicated by his level.
Starting a bardic performance is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. Changing a bardic performance from one effect to another requires the bard to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard action. A bardic performance cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the bard is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. A bard cannot have more than one bardic performance in effect at one time.
At 7th level, a bard can start a bardic performance as a move action instead of a standard action. At 13th level, a bard can start a bardic performance as a swift action.
Each bardic performance has audible components, visual components, or both.
If a bardic performance has audible components, the targets must be able to hear the bard for the performance to have any effect, and many such performances are language dependent (as noted in the description). A deaf bard has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with an audible component. If he fails this check, the attempt still counts against his daily limit. Deaf creatures are immune to bardic performances with audible components.
If a bardic performance has a visual component, the targets must have line of sight to the bard for the performance to have any effect. A blind bard has a 50% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with a visual component. If he fails this check, the attempt still counts against his daily limit. Blind creatures are immune to bardic performances with visual components.
List of Bardic Performances:
Distraction (Su): At 1st level, a bard can use his performance to counter magic effects that depend on sight. Each round of the Distraction, he makes a Perform (act, comedy, dance, or oratory) skill check. Any creature within 30 feet of the bard (including the bard himself) that is affected by an illusion (pattern) or illusion (figment) magical attack may use the bard’s Perform check result in place of its saving throw if, after the saving throw is rolled, the Perform check result proves to be higher. If a creature within range of the Distraction is already under the effect of a non-instantaneous illusion (pattern) or illusion (figment) magical attack, it gains another saving throw against the effect each round it sees the Distraction, but it must use the bard’s Perform check result for the save. Distraction does not work on effects that don’t allow saves. Distraction relies on visual components.
Fascinate (Su): At 1st level, a bard can use his performance to cause one or more creatures to become fascinated with him. Each creature to be fascinated must be within 90 feet, able to see and hear the bard, and capable of paying attention to him. The bard must also be able to see the creatures affected. The Distraction of a nearby combat or other dangers prevents the ability from working. For every three levels a bard has attained beyond 1st, he can target one additional creature with this ability.
Each creature within range receives a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the bard’s level + the bard’s Cha modifier) to negate the effect. If a creature’s saving throw succeeds, the bard cannot attempt to fascinate that creature again for 24 hours. If its saving throw fails, the creature sits quietly and observes the performance for as long as the bard continues to maintain it. While fascinated, a target takes a –4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks. Any potential threat to the target allows the target to make a new saving throw against the effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a weapon at the target, automatically breaks the effect.
Fascinate is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting ability. Fascinate relies on audible and visual components in order to function.
Inspire Courage (Su): A 1st level bard can use his performance to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to perceive the bard’s performance. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 5th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +4 at 17th level. Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability. inspire courage can use audible or visual components. The bard must choose which component to use when starting his performance.
Suggestion (Sp): A bard of 6th level or higher can use his performance to make a suggestion (as per the spell) to a creature that he has already fascinated (see above). Using this ability does not disrupt the fascinate effect, but it does require a standard action to activate (in addition to the free action to continue the fascinate effect). A bard can use this ability more than once against an individual creature during an individual performance.
A Will saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 bard’s level + bard’s Cha modifier) negates the effect. This ability affects only a single creature (but see mass suggestion, below). Suggestion is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting, language-dependent ability and relies on audible components.
Dirge of Doom (Su): A bard of 8th level or higher can use his performance to foster a sense of growing dread in his enemies, causing them to take become shaken. To be affected, an enemy must be within 30 feet and able to see and hear the bard’s performance. The effect persists for as long as the enemy is within 30 feet and the bard continues the performance. The performance cannot cause a creature to become frightened or panicked, even if the targets are already shaken from another effect. Dirge of doom is a mind-affecting fear effect, and it relies on audible and visual components.
Inspire Greatness (Su): A bard of 9th level or higher can use his performance to inspire greatness in himself or a single willing ally within 30 feet, granting extra fighting capability. For every three levels a bard attains beyond 9th, he can target one additional ally while using this performance (up to a maximum of four at 18th level). To inspire greatness, all of the targets must be able to see and hear the bard. A creature inspired with greatness gains 2 bonus Hit Dice (d10s), the commensurate number of temporary hit points (apply the target’s Constitution modifier, if any, to these bonus Hit Dice), a +2 competence bonus on attack rolls, and a +1 competence bonus on Fortitude saves. The bonus Hit Dice count as regular Hit Dice for determining the effect of spells that are Hit Dice dependent. Inspire greatness is a mind-affecting ability and it relies on audible and visual components.
Soothing Performance (Su): A bard of 12th level or higher can use his performance to create an effect equivalent to the mass cure serious wounds, using the bard’s level as the caster level. In addition, this performance removes the fatigued, sickened, and shaken condition from all those affected. Using this ability requires 4 continuous performance, and the targets must be able to see and hear the bard throughout the performance. Soothing performance relies on audible and visual components.
Frightening Tune (Sp): A bard of 14th level or higher can use his performance to cause fear in his enemies. To be affected, an enemy must be able to hear the bard perform and be within 30 feet. Each enemy within range receives a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the bard’s level + the bard’s Cha modifier) to negate the effect. If the save succeeds, the creature is immune to this ability for 24 hours. If the save fails, the target becomes frightened and flees for as long as the target can hear the bard’s performance. Frightening tune relies on audible components.
Inspire Heroics (Su): A bard of 15th level or higher can inspire tremendous heroism in himself or a single ally within 30 feet. For every three bard levels the character attains beyond 15th, he can inspire heroics in one additional creature. To inspire heroics, all of the targets must be able to see and hear the bard. Inspired creatures gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws and a +4 dodge bonus to AC. The effect lasts for as long as the targets are able to witness the performance. Inspire heroics is a mind-affecting ability that relies on audible and visual components.
Mass Suggestion (Sp): This ability functions just like suggestion, but allows a bard of 18th level or higher to make a suggestion simultaneously to any number of creatures that he has already fascinated. Mass suggestion is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting, language dependent ability that relies on audible components.
Deadly Performance (Su): A bard of 20th level or higher can use his performance to cause one enemy to die from joy or sorrow. To be affected, the target must be able to see and hear the bard perform for 1 full round and be within 30 feet. The target receives a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the bard’s level + the bard’s Cha modifier) to negate the effect. If a creature’s saving throw succeeds, the target is staggered for 1d4 rounds, and the bard cannot use deadly performance on that creature again for 24 hours. If a creature’s saving throw fails, it dies. Deadly performance is a mind-effecting death effect that relies on audible and visual component
Flame Dancer:
A flame dancer gains the following bardic performances.
Fire Dancer (Su): At 1st level, a fire dancer learns to protect himself and others from the pain of fire, and discovers how to control the flame while enduring its heat. Each round of the fire dance, he rolls a Perform (dance or sing) check. Any ally within 30 feet of the bard that has caught on fire or is affected by a fire effect or extreme heat can use the bard’s Perform check result in place of its saving throw against that fire. Any ally within 30 feet of the bard who is suffering from heatstroke can ignore the fatigue from heat exposure so long as the bard maintains this performance. Fire dance relies on audible or visual components.
This ability replaces countersong.
Song of the Fiery Gaze (Su): At 3rd level, a fire dancer can allow allies to see through flames without any distortion. Any ally within 30 feet of the bard who can hear the performance can see through fire, fog, and smoke without penalty as long as the light is sufficient to allow him to see normally, as with the base effect of the gaze of flames oracle revelation. Song of the fiery gaze relies on audible components.
This ability replaces inspire competence.
Fire Break (Su): At 6th level, a fire dancer’s performance can bend flames away from others. Any ally within 30 feet of the bard who can hear or see the bardic performance gains resist fire 20 as long as the performance is maintained. At 11th level, this resistance increases to 30. Fire break relies on audible or visual components.
This ability replaces suggestion.
Fan the Flames (Su): At 8th level, a fire dancer adds burning hands, flaming sphere, and fireball to his list of bard spells known (as 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells, respectively).
This ability replaces dirge of doom.
Versatile Performance, Sing & Wind:
At 2nd level, a bard can choose one type of Perform skill. He can use his bonus in that skill in place of his bonus in associated skills. When substituting in this way, the bard uses his total Perform skill bonus, including class skill bonus, in place of its associated skill’s bonus, whether or not he has ranks in that skill or if it is a class skill. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the bard can select an additional type of Perform to substitute.
The types of Perform and their associated skills are: Act (Bluff, Disguise), Comedy (Bluff, Intimidate), Dance (Acrobatics, Fly), Keyboard Instruments (Diplomacy, Intimidate), Oratory (Diplomacy, Sense Motive), Percussion (Handle Animal, Intimidate), Sing (Bluff, Sense Motive), String (Bluff, Diplomacy), and Wind (Diplomacy, Handle Animal).
Well-Versed:
At 2nd level, the bard becomes resistant to the bardic performance of others, and to sonic effects in general. The bard gains a +4 bonus on saving throws made against bardic performance, sonic, and language-dependent effects.
Lore Master:
At 5th level, the bard becomes a master of lore and can take 10 on any Knowledge skill check that he has ranks in. A bard can choose not to take 10 and can instead roll normally. In addition, once per day, the bard can take 20 on any Knowledge skill check as a standard action. He can use this ability one additional time per day for every six levels he possesses beyond 5th, to a maximum of three times per day at 17th level.
Spells:
A bard casts arcane spells drawn from the bard spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. Every bard spell has a verbal component (singing, reciting, or music). To learn or cast a spell, a bard must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class (DC) for a saving throw against a bard’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the bard’s Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a bard can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: bard. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score.
The bard’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A bard begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the bard’s choice. At each new bard level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Bard Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a bard knows is not affected by his Charisma score (See Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).
Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third bard level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a bard can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the bard “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level bard spell the bard can cast. A bard may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.
A bard need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.
