I'm thinking of doing a homebrew for my PnP party, namely an all bard party!
Well, maybe not that extreme. Let me give you some background:
The campaign would follow a band or carnival as they traverse the Inner Sea region. If it's a caravan, it'll be somewhere moderately populated (I'm thinking around Lake Encarthan or maybe the River Kingdoms). This way I can get the feel of the urban vs. wilderness aspect in. Also, if they want to do a caravan, I can use the caravan rules in Jade Regent. If a band, I could base it in a city or a more urbanized area such as Taldor or Cheliax. I'm thinking of leaning towards a more sandbox campaign versus a plot/metaplot campaign irrespective of the type of group they want.
I'd go to about 16th level, but if it petered out around 13-14, I don't think I'd complain too much either.
Now, the reasoning for this is that I have an amazing, AMAZING group of roleplayers, and I think that we would all have untold fun with such a motley group. Both paths yield a ton of great ideas, and I want to foster their 'think on their feet' skill.
That being said, I don't think anyone has such a crush on bards that I do, and I want to not make them feel that they are being forced into this.
This brings to the three options I have thought for this.
1) Everyone plays a variant of Bard, but bard it must be.
2) Everyone plays what they want, but they must have perform (Don't mess with the drummer....Animal may only have one rank in perform, but as a Barbarian, he can really pound away...)
3) Everyone must have more levels in Bard than they do another class(es)
4) an idea I hadn't previously thought of that might be suggested.
I'm also open to other questions or clarifications that I may not have thought in this initial post, so ask away, and thanks!
What if instead of a bard, they were a traveling performance troupe? So there was space for singers/musicians, but also full casters who cast illusions and other spells to aid the performance, rangers/druids who train their animal friends to be part of the show, rogues who do slight of hand tricks and acrobatics/tumbling. Even fighters could put on expeditions in sparing and combat demonstrations (or do so as part of a play/other performance).
First off, your idea sounds amazing!
And if it was my choice I'd go for option 2. You know, good old necromancer can raise an undead gang of groupies or something.
What if instead of a bard, they were a traveling performance troupe?
Right, and that's the sticky point -
"I'm a fighter - I'm the security of the caravan."
"I'm an illusionist - call me sound and lights."
vs.
"I want to be a tough security guy, so I'll be an arcane duelist."
"I want to be a ringleader, so I'll be a demagogue."
BOTH ideas are valid as to how to get the job done, and BOTH ideas can get the job done - I guess it's a matter of flavor to me, and I'm wondering if having one option versus the other would ruin any flavor.
What if instead of a bard, they were a traveling performance troupe?Right, and that's the sticky point -
"I'm a fighter - I'm the security of the caravan."
"I'm an illusionist - call me sound and lights."vs.
"I want to be a tough security guy, so I'll be an arcane duelist."
"I want to be a ringleader, so I'll be a demagogue."BOTH ideas are valid as to how to get the job done, and BOTH ideas can get the job done - I guess it's a matter of flavor to me, and I'm wondering if having one option versus the other would ruin any flavor.
Both could work, the question is how much is gained/lost being restrictive or not restrictive. Having played through the second book of council of thieves with a party that wasn't loaded with high charismal performance artists, there was a lot of interesting opportunities for roleplay and creative thinking where non-performance characters tried to apply their respective skills/abilities to a performance. You wont get that if everyone is a bard.
I'd say talk it over with the group and see. If everyone is on board with being a bard, then go for it, but if not, i think the first option of the two may be a better choice.
sounds pretty cool ...
will the druid with her two squirrels get a bonus to her perform dance?
I think the all classes with perform (maxed) would work well.
Both could work, the question is how much is gained/lost being restrictive or not restrictive. Having played through the second book of council of thieves with a party that wasn't loaded with high charismal performance artists, there was a lot of interesting opportunities for roleplay and creative thinking where non-performance characters tried to apply their respective skills/abilities to a performance. You wont get that if everyone is a bard.
I'd say talk it over with the group and see. If everyone is on board with being a bard, then go for it, but if not, i think the first option of the two may be a better choice.
That's a valid point. As you said, not having a lot of social skills made for some interesting situations. Now what if the party didn't have a lot of fighting/healing/spellcasting at their disposal? Wouldn't that also be pretty interesting?
That being said, I'd like them to be creative within a certain confine. That's the reason I floated the first reason, but I wanted to know if it sounded too limiting.
Both could work, the question is how much is gained/lost being restrictive or not restrictive. Having played through the second book of council of thieves with a party that wasn't loaded with high charismal performance artists, there was a lot of interesting opportunities for roleplay and creative thinking where non-performance characters tried to apply their respective skills/abilities to a performance. You wont get that if everyone is a bard.
I'd say talk it over with the group and see. If everyone is on board with being a bard, then go for it, but if not, i think the first option of the two may be a better choice.
That's a valid point. As you said, not having a lot of social skills made for some interesting situations. Now what if the party didn't have a lot of fighting/healing/spellcasting at their disposal? Wouldn't that also be pretty interesting?
Maybe maybe not, it depends on the structure of the campaign. If the party is ambushed by a pride of lions, then it wont be so much interesting as it is a slaughter. If the challenges however are presented in a way where the players can prepare for them and offer creative solutions with what skills they have, they definately can.
That being said, I'd like them to be creative within a certain confine. That's the reason I floated the first reason, but I wanted to know if it sounded too limiting.
It depends on the group really. For me it probably would be too limiting. But you know your players better then we do. They might embrace such a concept where others might reject it.
Maybe maybe not, it depends on the structure of the campaign. If the party is ambushed by a pride of lions, then it wont be so much interesting as it is a slaughter. If the challenges however are presented in a way where the players can prepare for them and offer creative solutions with what skills they have, they definately can.
Point. I would counter that any situation can be deadly - But your point still stand.
It depends on the group really. For me it probably would be too limiting. But you know your players better then we do. They might embrace such a concept where others might reject it.
Right. I guess I am going to use the "Play whatever you want, with your perform skill maxed" angle. I'll still throw the "How about everyone make bards (Big, car salesman smile here)?" angle, and have that as the plan to actually use.
Oh, I'll try to get them to do all bards, but I won't pigeonhole them.
Encourage the traits that make Perform a class skill (or give it a buff even if its already a class skill). Or just give that to everyone as a campaign background trait for the shared origin.
Though an all bard party is fairly viable given their archtypes tend to be the most unique from each other. (Traps and no songs for luck and rogue abilities in one to a speedy dervish of death to the ultimate speed talker)
If the party works together on their spell selections and archtypes they really can cover most things. ANd you'd probably see a lot more variance in the bardic music being used as Player A is handling INspire Courage so I can do Y song instead.
I'd say start with the 'I'd like to try the all Bard thing' If you get push back, don't force it. Or say 'let's try the bard thing and after 2-4 sessions if it's not working, I'll allow a character 'reroll' to retool into another class/build/whatever'
Encourage the traits that make Perform a class skill (or give it a buff even if its already a class skill). Or just give that to everyone as a campaign background trait for the shared origin.
Though an all bard party is fairly viable given their archtypes tend to be the most unique from each other. (Traps and no songs for luck and rogue abilities in one to a speedy dervish of death to the ultimate speed talker)
If the party works together on their spell selections and archtypes they really can cover most things. ANd you'd probably see a lot more variance in the bardic music being used as Player A is handling INspire Courage so I can do Y song instead.
I'd say start with the 'I'd like to try the all Bard thing' If you get push back, don't force it. Or say 'let's try the bard thing and after 2-4 sessions if it's not working, I'll allow a character 'reroll' to retool into another class/build/whatever'
I like both of the approaches above.