Help me with my 1st ed. Bard conversion (Please)

[posternutbag]

It seems that almost every Char Ops board has tried to create something like the original 1 ed Bard. WotC even tried with the Fochlucan Lyrist. But most of these have failed (IMO) because the writers and creators tried to circumvent the most onerous and frustrating aspects of creating a 1 ed bard (although the Fochlucan Lyrist had its own, completely different set of onerous requirements). So, here is my attempt to create a PRC the emphasizes those onerous requirements. I would appreciate any insight:

Ceolan Harper
HD: D8

Requirements:
BAB: +6
Skills: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Knowledge(Nature) 5 ranks, Perform (Strings) 5 ranks, Survival 5 ranks
Feats: Weapon Specialization
Alignment: NG, N, CN
Spells: Able to cast 1st level divine spells
Special: Sneak Attack +3d6, Speak Druidic

Class Skills: Acrobatics, Appraise, Bluff, Climb, Diplomacy, Disguise, Escape Artist, Handle Animaal, Heal, Knowledge (all), Linguistics, Perception, Perform, Ride, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spellcraft, Stealth, Survival, Swim.

10 Level PRC:
BAB: Full
Saves Fort Worst, Reflex Best, Will Best.
Spells Per Day +1 level of existing divine class at each level
Special: Bardic Knowledge

As I see it, pretty much every CH build will look the same, Rogue5/Fighter4/Druid1. Weapon Specialization forces at least 4 levels of Fighter, and Speak Druidic forces one level of Druid (this point can be debated endlessly, but in my campaign, the CH is essentially a Druid PrC, so no one who learned Druid another way would be eligible, but I admit this is campaign dependent). You could get +3d6 SA from a PrC (Arcane Trickster), but that would seem to be more trouble than its worth and Arcane Trickster is arguably more powerful than a Ceolan Harper, anyway.

Also, if anyone has a better name, I'm very open to suggestions.

[daemonslye]

Very cool.

Depending on your interest in following "canon", you could restrict the race to human or half-elven.

Additionally, I wonder if something of the flavor regarding "colleges" could be kept. e.g. skill at languages, knowledge skills, inspiration, countersong, fascination, lore master...

Hey! That sounds like... a bard!

Seriously though - I think more flavor of "colleges" and the sense of hierarchy between them, as well as something a bit more "performance" oriented may work. Perhaps some combat oriented healing (not channel energy per se, but something performance oriented). Thinking of a battle skald and advisor to kings.

In terms of naming, that's tough. Maybe something taken from famous bards of olde or the language: "Myrddin", or "Taliesin". Or "Edain". Or "Sídhe".

So, I'd fill it out a bit more and add a capstone along with some cool college flavor with graduating "seats" (and i don''t mean feats) as the character moves higher in the chain. The top level is then surprisingly more humble and beholden to the lower orders, responsible for their graduation.

Not sure about the full BAB, doesn't seem to connect to the original and does not match with the spell casting progression.

Have fun with it. The Bards of Old were awesome if you could make it there.

~D

[Mairkurion {tm}]

Who designed the original bard? Gygax or somebody else?

[Thanael]

I posted the pdf of an old 3E conversion of the so called Old Lore Bard in this post. It's a bit whacky in 3E terms but perhaps it's useful as a baseline for a PF conversion. At least it conatins lots fo great flavour about the bardic colleges iirc.