Bard



Obsidian has confirmed that the Bard base class will be included in NWN2.

DnD 3.5 Bard
Description: Bards often serve as negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies. They love to accompany heroes (and villains) to witness heroic (or villainous) deeds firsthand, since a bard who can tell a story from personal experience earns renown among his fellows. A bard casts arcane spells without any advance preparation, much like a sorcerer. His magic emphasizes charms and illusions, and the bard can also play an inspiring song that strengthens him and his allies. Bards also share some specialized skills with rogues, and their knowledge of item lore is nearly unmatched.

Alignment Restrictions: Any non-lawful

Hit die: d6

Proficiencies: Armor (Light), Shields (except Tower Shields), Weapons (Simple, Bard)

Skill points: (Int mod * 4 at 1st level) 6 + Int Mod

Class skills: Appraise, Balance, Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Disguise, Escape Artist, Gather Information, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), Listen, Move Silently, Perform, Profession, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Speak Language, Spellcraft, Swim, Tumble and Use Magic Device.

Base Attack Bonus progression: Medium

Primary Saving Throw(s): Reflex, Will

Spellcasting: Arcane (Charisma-based, no spell preparation, spell failure from armor is a factor). Bards begin the game knowing four cantrips. Must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell’s level to cast a spell.

Special Abilities & Feats

 * Level 1 Bardic music, Bardic Knowledge, Countersong, Fascinate, Inspire Courage +1
 * Level 3 Inspire Competence
 * Level 6 Suggestion
 * Level 8 Inspire Courage +2
 * Level 9 Inspire Greatness
 * Level 12 Song of Freedom
 * Level 14 Inspire Courage +3
 * Level 15 Inspire Heroics
 * Level 18 Mass Suggestion
 * Level 20 Inspire Courage +4

Armour restrictions
A bard can cast bard spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a bard wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do). A multiclass bard still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Casting
A bard casts arcane spells, which are 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. The Difficulty Class 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.

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 of your choice. At most new bard levels, 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; the Bard Spells Known are fixed is a fixed number.) 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 two levels 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. As noted above, 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.

Spells
Level 0
 * Cure Minor Wounds
 * Daze
 * Flare
 * Light
 * Resistance

Level 1
 * Amplify
 * Balagarn's Iron Horn
 * Charm Person
 * Cure Light Wounds
 * Expeditious Retreat
 * Grease
 * Identify
 * Lesser Dispel
 * Mage Armor
 * Magic Weapon
 * Protection from Alignment
 * Scare
 * Sleep
 * Summon Creature I

Level 2
 * Blindness/Deafness
 * Bull's Strength
 * Cat's Grace
 * Clarity
 * Cloud of Bewilderment
 * Cure Moderate Wounds
 * Darkness
 * Eagle's Splendor
 * Fox's Cunning
 * Ghostly Visage
 * Hold Person
 * Invisibility
 * Owl's Wisdom
 * See Invisibility
 * Silence
 * Sound Burst
 * Summon Creature II
 * Tasha's Hideous Laughter
 * Ultravision

Level 3
 * Bestow Curse
 * Charm Monster
 * Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
 * Confusion
 * Cure Serious Wounds
 * Dispel Magic
 * Displacement
 * Fear
 * Find Traps
 * Greater Magic Weapon
 * Gust of Wind
 * Haste
 * Invisibility Sphere
 * Keen Edge
 * Magic Circle against Alignment
 * Remove Curse
 * Remove Disease
 * Slow
 * Summon Creature III
 * Wounding Whispers

Level 4
 * Cure Critical Wounds
 * Dismissal
 * Dominate Person
 * Hold Monster
 * Improved Invisibility
 * Legend Lore
 * Neutralize Poison
 * Summon Creature IV
 * War Cry

Level 5
 * Ethereal Visage
 * Greater Dispelling
 * Healing Circle
 * Mind Fog
 * Summon Creature V

Level 6
 * Dirge
 * Energy Buffer
 * Ice Storm
 * Mass Haste
 * Summon Creature VI

Ex-Bards
A bard who becomes lawful in alignment cannot progress in levels as a bard, though he retains all his bard abilities.

Pre-release notes

 * The skills Climb, Jump and Swim have been confirmed as not being implemented in NWN2.
 * Dispel, healing and summoning magics are highly likely to be in NWN2 as they are almost integral to the magic system of DnD.

NWN comparison

 * The Discipline and Parry skills were created by NWN and are not features of DnD 3.5. It is unlikely that they will re-appear in NWN2 as the were not considered particularly successful.
 * Lore was used in NWN as a collective version of Knowledge and other information skills. NWN2 might include it for the same reasons.
 * NWN allowed bards to use tower shields as it made no distinction other than size.

External resources

 * NWNWiki:Bard