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So, I'm planning on running a all-bard gestalt game for a while now, the issue is, I don't really have any idea what to run- I want to make an adventure, but I'm not entirely sure HOW.
Currently, I have a few ideas for a setting- A small village, in a land far, far away from standard Golarion- It's a quiet village, fairly low magic, except EVERYONE has some sort of bardic magic in their soul- They can sing, they dance, and magic is in all their souls. Basically, imagine everyone's in a Disney movie, musical numbers and all.
The issue is... Beyond that, I don't really know what to do. I don't have any adventure ideas, and would love your guys ideas. I also need ideas for campaign traits- To which, I have no idea what to make. Currently, these are the campaign traits I have:
Bard of the Fantasy- Gain a +2 bonus to any one perform type, and gain a +1 bonus on Bardic Knowledge.
Foolhardy Soul: Morale bonuses last for 1d4 rounds, but take a -1 penalty to sense motive checks.
Outsider- Do not gestalt with Bard. As a bonus, you may now sunder Bard spells, and any bardic music you hear, as with the Spell Sunder rage power. In addition, gain a bonus feat every even level.
Animal Whisperer-
Prerequisite: Must be Female
You can communicate as easily with animals as you can with other men, sometimes even more easily.
You are permanently under the effects of a speak with animal spell and can always attempt verbal communication with any animal. Your close connection to animal-kind provides you with a +2 insight bonus on Handle Animal and Ride checks. If you have 10 or more ranks in either skill, the bonus provided by this feat is +4 for that skill. But, the issue is You occasionally slip into animal speech when excited or angry, and suffer a -2 penalty on Bluff and Diplomacy checks made against other races.
Blooded-
Do not gain Bard spell casting. You gain the benefits of the Maestro bloodline as if you were a sorcerer.
You do not gain BaB, Skill Ranks, or saves of the Bard class.
One word:
DETHKLOK
Have you ever seen those old Hanna-Barbera cartoons (Josie and the Pussycats, Jabberjaw, etc)? They were full of traveling bands of adventurers in the form of traveling bands.
I'm not saying you should be that cheesy, but if everyone is a Bard then that sort traveling band, troupe, circus, etc. could be a fun setting.
But if in your setting, even the NPCs are bards, well you could do some sort of BBEG who's trying to steal/harness their "soul music" for whatever BBEG's like to do. You could check out tv tropes for some more concrete examples
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First off, just to get this out of the way
This is awesome, is it at all possible that I can join? I already have a couple character ideas.
Second. Ask yourself what sort of motivation would a bard raised by other bards, in a town of yet more bards have for adventuring (eg, recording great tales of valor and drama, with themselves in a center roll! Becoming a part of history! That and/or becoming rich and famous is classic enough, perhaps the players adventurer so their talents are heard far and wide)
Third, ask yourself who would oppose such a group, and for what reason. Is the big bad doing his thing on his own, but the heroes see it and want to put a stop to it? Or did the big bad notice the group during their debut against a lesser evil, and decided to take steps to stop them
Is the big bad himself another bard who can see the tropes around a group of 3-6 people with similar abiliteies to his own but opposite alignments are destined to fill an antagonist/protagonist set.
Fourth what power level do you want this game to start and end with?
Fifth: look at the web comic Order Of the Stick, particularially the arcs featuring Elan's father
(Élan is the party bard)
Have you ever seen those old Hanna-Barbera cartoons (Josie and the Pussycats, Jabberjaw, etc)? They were full of traveling bands of adventurers in the form of traveling bands.
I actually haven't watched that, though that isn't quite the idea I had.
I'm not saying you should be that cheesy, but if everyone is a Bard then that sort traveling band, troupe, circus, etc. could be a fun setting.
Not quite the idea I had in mind- I was thinking, you notice the fact that every single character in a Disney film all know how to sing amazingly? That's the concept I have of the setting. As to what the group is, I'm not entirely sure yet.
But if in your setting, even the NPCs are bards, well you could do some sort of BBEG who's trying to steal/harness their "soul music" for whatever BBEG's like to do. You could check out tv tropes for some more concrete examples
That's something of a decent idea, though a bit too odd for my taste. Still, a decent idea.
First off, just to get this out of the way
This is awesome, is it at all possible that I can join? I already have a couple character ideas.
Aye- everyone loves this idea, and I'd love it. It's why I'm making it.
Second. Ask yourself what sort of motivation would a bard raised by other bards, in a town of yet more bards have for adventuring (eg, recording great tales of valor and drama, with themselves in a center roll! Becoming a part of history! That and/or becoming rich and famous is classic enough, perhaps the players adventurer so their talents are heard far and wide)
The primary issue is, they're not, by nature, "Bards" in the strictest sense of the words- None of the NPC's would notice the fact that they are bards, and, if you called them a bard, they would just shrug, and say that it's how things are where they're from. Bardic training isn't as major a part, it's just how most everything IS. People know all about tropes, and stories are ingrained in everyone's mind.
Third, ask yourself who would oppose such a group, and for what reason. Is the big bad doing his thing on his own, but the heroes see it and want to put a stop to it? Or did the big bad notice the group during their debut against a lesser evil, and decided to take steps to stop them
Is the big bad himself another bard who can see the tropes around a group of 3-6 people with similar abiliteies to his own but opposite alignments are destined to fill an antagonist/protagonist set.
Fourth what power level do you want this game to start and end with?
I'm thinking level 5 as a start, and maybe level 10 at the end, using the Fast EXP path.
Fifth: look at the web comic Order Of the Stick, particularially the arcs featuring Elan's father
(Élan is the party bard)
Eh- Not QUITE the idea that I had in mind, but it's actually a pretty good idea.
I love gestalt, especially when there's a theme to it.
Ending 5 levels after the start, the puts some limits on the narrative, but with gestalt and starting a slightly later level it should still be a fine narrative.
You didn't answer whether I could join :P
Eh, to be frank, I'm just not sure what level it'll end at- It'll end at the level it ends at, what level that'll be, I'm not entirely sure.
Themes! Me love themes.
Well, I'm gonna be recruiting for it at some point soon, after I figure out the campaign itself.
The thing I find might get annoying here, is that having even 2 bards in a group becomes redundant. The bard features of the gestalt will likely go to waste most the time. You do not have to be a bard to be a musician - if that's the reasoning for the restriction. The Bard class is not a 'musician' class, it's an inspirational class. If everyone is trying to inspire everyone else, it'll either be a waste, or a hug-fest.. either of which would get old quick. The fact that you're talking about knowledge and skill monkeys as well will make each seem less important in the whole group.
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There are bard archetypes that change what bonuses you grant, or otherwise change how performance is handled
For example, an arcane duelist grants an enchantment bonus to weapons, that explicitly stacks with other enchantment bonuses (anything above +5 grants equivalent effects like flaming)
Arcane healer bards use performance rounds to channel positive energy
Archeologist bard grants luck bonuses
Etc
So just to clarify, by bard gestalt, you mean one of the character's two classes in the gestalt is any of the bard archetypes, and the other is any non-bard class?
Because that sounds wonderfully fun.
Of course it sounds wonderfully fun- That's somewhat the basis of it.
The thing I find might get annoying here, is that having even 2 bards in a group becomes redundant. The bard features of the gestalt will likely go to waste most the time. You do not have to be a bard to be a musician - if that's the reasoning for the restriction. The Bard class is not a 'musician' class, it's an inspirational class. If everyone is trying to inspire everyone else, it'll either be a waste, or a hug-fest.. either of which would get old quick. The fact that you're talking about knowledge and skill monkeys as well will make each seem less important in the whole group.
Yeah- That's the primary reason, the fact that Bard is the standard musician class, and the crunch carries this aspect of the fluff along fairly decently.
The primary reason for the Gestalt is to prevent the characters from being optimized further than I can easily do myself- Bard is probably the easiest one, and I've been DYING to play an all-bard campaign.
My counterbalance to the issue of extreme overlap is to provide a few more options- You'll have a choice between Bard, Skald, 3.5 Bard, and 3.5 prestige classes, such as Seeker of the Song, Virtuoso, Dirgesinger, and Warchanter (Along with other classes that advance bardic music). Furthering this, I'm also going to be somewhat more permissive with third party archetypes, to allow for greater variety in each character. To keep folks from picking the same spells as everyone else, I'm not entirely sure. Currently, I'm thinking that I'll make it so that they are not entirely in control of their spells known, and that I'll change their spells known based on their fluff.
What I was getting at, was that if it's just that you want them to be musical, bard is not necessary - in fact, any character can take the Talented trait and be just as good as a bard playing music. Just trying to ascertain if your goal was the all-bard concept, or the all-bard mechanic.