[indent]“I think it is time to feed my friend.”
-An obsidian bard speaking of his blade[/indent]
The bards that lurk in the bardic quarters of the city are but pale reflections of what once walked the lands. Early in the Green Age, many bards had learned to focus their song and art through the Way by using obsidian to harmonize their mental strength and music. They learned to look into the blackest depths of the obsidian and to find an emptiness which they could use to draw forth more and more from their inner reserves. To many of the masters of the Will and Way however, this ability was considered a trivial use of ones inner strength.
This attitude changed, however, once Rajaat shared his discovery of sorcery with the races. As a few bards began training in the sorcerous path of the preserver, they started finding this same skill they had used to draw forth from their inner reserves could be used to heighten their ability to drain from their surroundings. Though prolonged use of this ability seemed to fuel a hunger in the bards, that they had to feed with more and more energy which just seemed to drain away. As time wore on the bards learned to focus this hunger into songs of great power.
During the time of the Preserver Jihad, obsidian bards were on both sides of the conflict. As trained assassins used by both the defiler warlords and the preservers. The specially made obsidian knives, known as the “bard’s friend’, and their wielders became feared by all. Just a simple wound from one of these blades, when wielded by an obsidian bard, could drain the very life essence from the victim. After the Jihad the obsidian bards often found use under the auspices of the Champions in the Cleansing Wars, but for the most part they faded away into legend. The bards of today use poisons and other tricks to emulate the bards of legend, but as the knowledge of obsidian and the skill for focusing seems lost they are quite different from their predecessors.
In the current age, the obsidian bards are mere legends. Though there are on occasion rumors of strange bards coming into the bardic quarters that seem to have come from far to the north, or if the rumors can be believed, from over the silt sea itself.
Hit Dice: d6.
REQUIREMENTS:
To qualify to become an obsidian bard, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.
[indent]Alignment: Any non-lawful
Base Attack Bonus: +3
Skills: Concentration 4 ranks, 2 Knowledge (any) 4 ranks, Perform (any) 8 ranks
Spells: Ability to cast 1st level arcane spells, including at least one each of the divination, enchantment, and illusion schools.
Psionics: Must have a power point reserve of at least 1 power point.[/indent]
CLASS SKILLS:
The obsidian bard’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Heal (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Literacy (n/a), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (n/a), Spellcraft (Int), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), Use Psionic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
I like what I see. Just one question though: is the power progression of the arcane and manifester classes overpowered? It seems like a lot, even though they only have a few granted abilities. Then again, the cerebralmancer does something similar. Just curious. I really like the other abilities that are granted.
Actually I went over the progression several times.... it is a 15 level class that only offers 11 levels arcane and 7 of manifesting.
for arcane casters this means you are going to lose a bare minimum of 2 full levels worth of spells (and that is if you went a pure wizard all the way to get the requirements.... which requires a wizard level 13 due to skill requirements, note this method would have no manifester levels).... not to mention with the requirements (as the best combination for the class is wizard 2/rogue 3/psion 1 to get full abilities.) that means by level 20 you will only have a caster level of 12 which means they could only cast level 6 spells (same as a bard from normal D&D bards, in fact they get 6th level spells 3 levels after a normal bard would.)
and on the psionics they only get half progression literally... which means the standard combination (again wizard 2/rogue 3/psion 1) would only be an 8th level manifester at 20th level.
the advantages this class has vs a cerebramancer are nice, (better bab, ref save, HD, and special abilities every 4 levels.) but with the massive loss of manifesting power and the significant loss of casting power it balances out well. Not to mention the fact that with the requirements of the PrC are significant enough to make multiclassing almost required to even attempt the PrC. (which has always fit for bards)
Here is average member of the class stat wise for 20th level: (to give you an idea how well they scale)
Wizard 2/rogue 3/psion 1/obsidian bard 14
BAB +13/+8/+3 (lower than a straight bard)
Fort +6 Ref +12 Will +14 (almost identical to bard save 2 higher on will)
Arcane caster level 12 (capable of casting 6th level spells though at a significantly lower caster level than a D&D bard of same level.)
Manifester level 8 (do I even need to say how non usefull this is on a 20th level character.... main advantage is that you could get the psychic reformation power by this level)
Special abilities:
scribe scroll, summon familiar, psionic discipline, trapfinding, sneak attack +2d6, evasion, trapsense +1, bardic knowledge(only as a level 14 bard), bardic music (only as a level 14 bard), and 4 obsidian secrets of their choice.
Feats:
standard 7 + 1 psionic
Over all well balanced against the core classes, though there are places it has more power but others were it is seriously below normal power. Overall they balance out rather nicely.
Makes a wonderful jack of all trades character, with a distinctively Athasian feel.
I have more to say but this will be the first - there is no power point reserve in 3.5 psionics. Just an FYI seker!
Ummmm that is rather odd considering that it is listed on page 17 of the Expanded Psionic Handbook.... and several PrC in that book (namely illithid slayer, pyrokineticist, and war mind) as well as two PrC from the Complete Psionic book (namely ebon saint and zerth cenobite) all have that same type of requirement. In fact that is where I got the wording for the requirement.
I incorporated the very slight psionic requirement and low levels of advancement on psionics on purpose. As bards were always "dabblers" and jack of all trades and going much more than a half advancement would make them stronger than psychic warriors, which I really wanted to avoid. Plus I was going with the idea from a fluff standpoint of them being someone that the Masters of the Way would discount as dabblers and would therefor be considered unimportant.
The idea of them working with obsidian came from a number of sources.... first the fact that obsidian was used extensively on the psionics side during the Green Age made it an obvious choice for a field of study. Second, the notes of the "special" way obsidian was treated and considered on how one would "feed the blade" as it was reffered to in several of the novels, plus its possible links to the Black gives a couple more interesting twists for why it would be used by a psionic bard class.
On the arcane magic side, I wanted it to be something along the lines of a normal bard on actual spellcasting ability (and plus the 11 caster levels for 15 class levels ratio came right from the unearthed arcana version of a PrC bard.) vs giving them full spellcasting. And I wanted them to be linking their magic in closer to music and art like normal bards do.... hence a few of the obsidian secrets are magic related. Not to mention the fact that obsidian has no many uses in magic, that putting low powered versions of them in the this bard PrC, might explain a reason people were looking further into it. Improving on the "dabblers" abilities.
On the "hunger" of obsidian blades and a possible link to the Black.... think of this, in the current ages that would make obsidian bards an interesting hook to have "voices whispering to them from the heart of the obsidian, promising them secrets and possibly power". Just an interesting campaign hook for people. As the most likely places for obsidian bards in the time before the death of Borys, would be Ur Draxa, and the Last Sea area.... that could possibly mean there would be "spies" within the dragons own city from the servants of Rajaat.... possibly unwitting ones.
Overall I am curious what people think of the fluff as well as the mechanics.
And I am really curious what people think of the obsidian secrets: power wise, fluff wise, possible other options for them, or if you just plain think they do not fit.
I like it that today's bards, cool as they are, are only the shadows of an ancient profession like that. Races on Athas have always been different, some classes too, but with that PrC's fluff, we can see that even the classes changed from an Age to the other.
About the abilities:
- The mastercrafted piece of obsidian need to be given a value, or if it can be the same for all the abilities that relies on such, with a Craft DC and a value.
- Obsidian Body Fuel and Obsidian Life-Drain: I'm not sure about you're pricing, they seem quite too low for the power they give to the item, even if usable only to the bard (or other obsidian bards). Items that use life-energy instead of charge in fact give unlimited use, which should get a greater increase in price, or be only usable by the bard, and not added to an item at all.
- Perhaps a minimum level needed, just like the bardic music abilities, could be added to separate the various obsidian secrets from one another in terms of power.
Other than that, you have an impressive choice of abilities.
Great PrC and fluff Seker!
I like it that today's bards, cool as they are, are only the shadows of an ancient profession like that. Races on Athas have always been different, some classes too, but with that PrC's fluff, we can see that even the classes changed from an Age to the other.
yeah that is why I went this way.... well that and the way that everything was described as majorly different society wise in the Green Age.... the current bards are more like specialized rogues, with assassin tendancies, than anything else to be honest. And I was trying to figure out how that would have come about.
About the abilities:
- The mastercrafted piece of obsidian need to be given a value, or if it can be the same for all the abilities that relies on such, with a Craft DC and a value.
took care of that.... good idea
- Obsidian Body Fuel and Obsidian Life-Drain: I'm not sure about you're pricing, they seem quite too low for the power they give to the item, even if usable only to the bard (or other obsidian bards). Items that use life-energy instead of charge in fact give unlimited use, which should get a greater increase in price, or be only usable by the bard, and not added to an item at all.
any suggestions? to be honest this makes charged items unlimmited.... but dangerous to their wielders. (like Nok's cane) So I was not seeing it as requiring more money than a standard charged it for that reason. Basically you do not have to put the actual life energy into the wand/rod/staff/item to power the abilities.... it drains it as it goes.
- Perhaps a minimum level needed, just like the bardic music abilities, could be added to separate the various obsidian secrets from one another in terms of power.
Other than that, you have an impressive choice of abilities.
I was considering that, but on the other abilities I was more intersted in allowing them to be taken by lower level bards IF they were willing to pay the price. I was planning to put a feat that grants an extra obsidian secret out as well.... just have not gotten around to it. (Have been too busy building up an alternate method of handling the defilers/preservers that still fits into the existing rules but makes them significantly different. Will be posting it in just a little bit.)