Any luck making a decent Bard hero for HQ?

[knightkrawler]

Legendary.

[GimmeYerGold]

Another version allowed for the bard to either sing or tell stories at any point - while resting, during combat, etc. -
and these stories did various things: Certain stories and songs would inspire other heroes and give bonuses in combat;
some stories and songs would inspire better sleep and help heal them more during sleep (if playing as a full rpg with sleeping
at night); some stories and songs could help the wizard or elf remember a spell already used.
There would be a large list of stories and song, and each would have its own function, and the bard would know 6 to 9 at the
start of the game, and could learn more later.

The fun of this second option is that the player could be made to actually sing or tell a story (loudly) during the game is order
for it to work. Either the evil wizard player would offer lyrics or a story, or the player would have to come up with those on
his/her own.

This could be really fun--I do want to inject more roleplaying into my heroquest games, I offer my players bonus gold for drawing pictures or retelling a quest from a hero's point of view, backstories, etc. So an original improvised story or song would be something to remember in a quest for sure!

I thought about letting the bard choose one or two Chaos "low level" spell cards, too. Spells like Rust and Sleep could be the result of song magic. Also, what if a bard could do a Pied Piper song and summon a rat, which could be controlled like a fast-moving scout?

[Kaiyanwang]

In this thread (shameless self-promoting)

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1631^

Among the other characters I propose a Bard. Is like the Elf, but the weapon selection is little (perhaps too little, but I am working on fine tuning the Heroes).

There is no music, but he's able to use more or better the magic items (which are reworked spellscrolls in my version of the game) and artifacts. This represents more the "loremaster" aspect of the bard.
Keepeng the "loremaster" theme, In a more "standard" game, I would allow few weapons more (maybe no two-handed) and the ability to keep one-use artifacts rolling a 4+ on a d6 (say) with each subsequent attempt more difficult by 1 (5+, 6+, no more attempts).

If you want a more "casty" Bard, take my Cleric and call him Bard. Or keep the Bard I described above and add Track of my Ranger, but call it "charme monsters" (another iconic Bardy-thing).

Finally, to make a fast and dirty inspiring presence, just rule that the bard is Casty as the Elf, but less "Fighty" - as above, no two handed, Borin or Shields/Helm/Full plate. THEN, you decide that all the other Characters in the same corridor or room are inspired by the Bard's jokes/music/poetic Edda. A n Inspired character rolls a dice more in combat and defense, but removes then one of the dice rolled at his choice. I think I will add this last effect on a magical instrument for the bard, by the way.

So yeah. You have Inspiration, Charme, Loremaster and spell. Take what you like. If you take more than 2, reduce the BP to 5.

[GimmeYerGold]

This is great stuff, Kaiyanwang!

I'm leaning toward a more "casty" bard, like your cleric, since I feel anything else would just be a slightly different elf. I'm trying to make hero classes that can cooperate alongside the others and not feel like duplicates.

I'll throw in some extra bard-like abilities too, since my other heroes get bonus skills outside of their spells.

Think it would be too much to have a 5 BP, 5 MP bard start with 2 sets of spells, and a dagger with a shield? Or just a staff? Trying to mix up the starting weapons too...

[Goblin-King]

You could always create ~3 different bard spell decks with distinct themes. That way the player can choose which kind of bard he want to play.

[GimmeYerGold]

That's a good idea!

Hmm... I wonder if I could also borrow the Spells of Detection/Spells of Protection/Spells of Darkness spell decks from Wizards of Morcar.

[Sotiris]

If you don't want to print cards or just want to play with what you have i suggest you this one.
1. Bp/Mp: 6/4, Att/Def: 2/2 OR 1/3, 1 spell group
2. Bp/Mp: 5/5, Att/Def: 1/2, 2 spell groups
No plate armor, no 2-handed, always needs 1 hand free for her/his instrument and every spell now is a song with mass effect.
- water of healing/heal body: divide 4 points between heroes
- courage/rock skin: all heroes +1 die for 1 turn
- pass through rock/veil of mist/swift wind: for 1 wall / 1 occupied square / +1 red die, for all heroes
- genie: opening door (the same) OR divide attack dice between more monsters
- sleep/fire of wrath/ball of flame: every plus enemy counts as -1 to the break spell dice. example: if you want to sleep 2 monsters they break the spell with 5/6, 3 monsters need 4/5/6 and goes on
- tempest: 1 enemy (the same) OR 2 enemies with 50% chance to succeed

[knightkrawler]

The following spell set themes spring to mind:
Combat, Luck (Bad Luck for monsters), Clairvoyance/Vision, Healing.

A bard choosing the Combat set would be a Skald, a Rascal would choose Luck, and so on.

[GimmeYerGold]

I'm getting some great ideas from you guys--thanks so much!

I had previously thought a bard might fit better between the dwarf and the elf, but now I'm leaning more toward a "loremaster" with 5 mind points who is more between the elf and the wizard.

Starting with 5 body/5 mind, a shield and dagger for 1 attack die, and 3 defend dice, and 2 spell groups will make for a very diverse and interesting character to play

[Teldurn]

I'm actually working on a Bard class for my game. He's also going to have 5 body/5 mind and 6 spells (songs), but without the starting equipment you have. I don't have the full details up yet, as I'm still working on them at the moment, but the project is mentioned. *cough*shamelessplug*cough*