It is said that music has a special magic, and the bard proves that saying true. Wandering across the land, gathering lore, telling stories, working magic with his music, and living on the gratitude of his audience: such is the life of a bard. When chance or opportunity draws them into a conflict, bards serve as diplomats, negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies.

A bard's magic comes from the heart. If his heart is good, a bard brings hope and courage to the downtrodden and uses his tricks, music, and magic to thwart the schemes of evildoers. If the nobles of the land are corrupt, the good bard is an enemy of the state, cunningly evading capture and raising the spirits of the oppressed. But music can spring from an evil heart as well. Evil bards eschew blatant violence in favor of manipulation, holding sway over the hearts and minds of others and taking what enraptured audiences "willingly" give.

Adventures: Bards see adventures as opportunities to learn. They practice their many skills and abilities, and they especially relish the opportunity to enter a long-forgotten ancient tomb, to discover ancient works of magic, to decipher old tomes, to travel to strange places, to encounter exotic creatures, and to learn new songs and stories. Bards love to accompany heroes (and villains), joining their entourage to witness their deeds firsthand-a bard who can tell a marvelous story from personal experience earns renown among his fellows. Indeed, after telling so many stories about heroes doing mighty deeds, many bards take these themes to heart and assume the role of hero themselves.

Characteristics: A bard brings forth magic from his soul, not from a book. He can cast only a small number of spells, but he can cast them without selecting or preparing them in advance. His magic emphasizes charms and illusions over the more dramatic evocation spells that wizards and sorcerers often use.

In addition to spells, a bard works magic with his music and poetry. He can encourage allies, hold his audiences rapt, and counter magical effects that rely on speech or sound.

Bards have some of the skills that rogues have, although they are not as focused on skill mastery as rogues are. Bards listen to stories as well as tell them, of course, so they have a vast knowledge of local events and noteworthy items.

Alignment: Bards are wanderers, guided by whim and intuition rather than by tradition or law. The spontaneous talent, magic, and lifestyle of the bard are incompatible with a lawful alignment.

Religion: Bards revere Fharlanghn, god of roads. They sometimes camp near his wayside shrines, hoping to earn some coin from the travelers who stop to leave offerings for the god. Many bards, even those who are not elven, worship Corellon Larethian, god of elves and patron of poetry and music. Good bards are also partial to Pelor, the sun god, believing that he watches over them in their travels. Bards given to chaos and occasional larceny favor Olidammara, god of thieves. Those who have turned to evil ways are known to worship Erythnul, the god of slaughter, though few will admit to it. In any event, bards spend so much time on the road that, while they may be devoted to a deity, they are rarely devoted to any particular temple.

Background: An apprentice bard learns his skills from a single experienced bard, whom he follows and serves until he is ready to strike out on his own. Many bards were once young runaways or orphans, befriended by wandering bards who became their mentors. Since bards occasionally congregate in informal "colleges," the apprentice bard may meet many of the more prominent bards in the area. Still, the bard has no strong allegiance to bards as a whole. In fact, some bards are highly competitive with other bards, jealous of their reputations and defensive of their territory.

Races: Bards are commonly human, elven, or half-elven. Humans take well to the wandering life and adapt easily to new lands and customs. Elves are talented in music and magic, so the career of the bard comes naturally to them. A bard's wandering ways suit many half-elves, who often feel like strangers even when at home. Half-orcs, even those raised among humans, find themselves ill suited to the demands of a bard's career. There are no bardic traditions among dwarves, gnomes, or halflings, though occasional individuals of these races find teachers to train them in the ways of the bard.

Bards are exceedingly rare among the savage humanoids, except among centaurs. Centaur bards sometimes train the children of humans or other humanoids.

Other Classes: A bard works well with companions of other classes. He often serves as the spokesman of the party, using his social skills for the party's benefit. In a party without a wizard or sorcerer, the bard relies on his magic. In a party without a rogue, he uses his skills. A bard is curious about the ways of more focused or dedicated adventurers, often trying to pick up pointers from fighters, sorcerers, and rogues.

GAME RULE INFORMATION

Bards have the following game statistics.

Abilities: Charisma determines how powerful a spell a bard can cast, how many spells the bard can cast per day, and how hard those spells are to resist. To cast a spell, a bard must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell's level. A bard gets bonus spells based on Charisma. The Difficulty Class of a saving throw against a bard's spell is 10 + the spell's level plus the bard's Charisma modifier. Charisma, Dexterity, and Intelligence are important for many of the bard's class skills.

Class Skills

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A bard is proficient with all simple weapons. Additionally, the bard is proficient with one of the following weapons: longbow, composite longbow, longsword, rapier, sap, short composite bow, short sword, shortbow, or whip. Bards are proficient with light armor, medium armor, and shields. Note that armor check penalties for armor heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket, and Tumble. Also, Swim checks suffer a -1 penalty for every 5 pounds of armor or equipment carried. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a bard can cast spells while wearing armor or using a shield but suffers a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do).

Spells: All bard spells have a verbal component (singing, reciting, or music). Bards receive bonus spells for high Charisma, and to cast a spell a bard must have a Charisma score at least equal to 10 + the level of the spell (Cha 10 for 0-level spells, Cha 11 for 1st-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a bard's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the bard's Charisma modifier.

Bardic Music: Once per day per level, a bard can use his song or poetics to produce magical effects on those around him. Depending on the ranks he has in the Perform skill, he can inspire courage in allies, sing a countersong to protect those around him from sound-based magic, fascinate a creature, make a magical suggestion to a fascinated creature, help others perform skills better, or inspire greatness. While these abilities fall under the category of bardic music, they can include reciting poetry, chanting, singing lyrical songs, singing melodies (fa-la-la, etc.), whistling, playing an instrument, or playing an instrument in combination with some spoken performance. As with casting a spell with a verbal component, a deaf bard suffers a 20% chance to fail with bardic music. If he fails, the attempt still counts against his daily limit.

Inspire Courage: A bard with 3 or more ranks in Perform can use song or poetics to inspire courage in his allies, bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must hear the bard sing for a full round. The effect lasts as long as the bard sings and for 5 rounds after the bard stops singing (or 5 rounds after the ally can no longer hear the bard). While singing, the bard can fight but cannot cast spells, activate magic items by spell completion (such as scrolls), or activate magic items by magic word (such as wands). Affected allies receive a +2 morale bonus to saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 morale bonus to attack and weapon damage rolls. Inspire courage is a supernatural, mind-affecting ability.

Countersong: A bard with 3 or more ranks in Perform can use his music or poetics to counter magical effects that depend on sound (but not spells that simply have verbal components). As with inspire courage, a bard may sing, play, or recite a countersong while taking other mundane actions, but not magical actions. Each round of the countersong, he makes a Perform check. Any creature within 30 feet of the bard (including the bard himself) who is affected by a sonic or language-dependent magical attack (such as sound burst or command) may use the bard's Perform check result in place of his saving throw if, after rolling the saving throw, the Perform check result proves to be better. The bard may keep up the countersong for 10 rounds. Countersong is a supernatural ability.

Fascinate: A bard with 3 or more ranks in Perform can use his music or poetics to cause a single creature to become fascinated with him. The creature to be fascinated must be able to see and hear the bard and must be within 90 feet. The bard must also see the creature. The creature must be able to pay attention to the bard. The distraction of a nearby combat or other dangers prevents the ability from working. The bard makes a Perform check, and the target can negate the effect with a Will saving throw equal to or greater than the bard's check result. If the saving throw succeeds, the bard cannot attempt to fascinate that creature again for 24 hours. If the saving throw fails, the creature sits quietly and listens to the song for up to 1 round per level of the bard. While fascinated, the target's Spot and Listen checks suffer a -4 penalty. Any potential threat (such as an ally of the bard moving behind the fascinated creature) allows the fascinated creature a second saving throw against a new Perform check result. Any obvious threat, such as casting a spell, drawing a sword, or aiming, automatically breaks the effect.

While fascinating (or attempting to fascinate) a creature, the bard must concentrate, as if casting or maintaining a spell. Fascinate is a spell-like, mind-affecting charm ability.

Inspire Competence: A bard with 6 or more ranks in Perform can use his music or poetics to help an ally succeed at a task. The ally must be able to see and hear the bard and must be within 30 feet. The bard must also see the creature. Depending on the task that the ally has at hand, the bard may use his bardic music to lift the ally's spirits, to help the ally focus mentally, or in some other way. The ally gets a +2 competence bonus on his skill checks with a particular skill as long as he or she continues to hear the bard's music. The DM may rule that certain uses of this ability are infeasible-chanting to make a rogue move more quietly, for example, is self-defeating. The bard can maintain the effect for 2 minutes (long enough for the ally to take 20). Inspire competence is a supernatural, mind-affecting ability.

Suggestion: A bard with 9 or more ranks in Perform can make a suggestion (as the spell) to a creature that he has already fascinated (see above). The suggestion doesn't count against the bard's daily limit on bardic music performances (one per day per level), but the fascination does. A Will saving throw (DC 13 + the bard's Charisma modifier) negates the effect. Suggestion is a spell-like, mind-affecting charm ability.

Inspire Greatness: A bard with 12 or more ranks in Perform can use song or poetics to inspire greatness in another creature, granting extra fighting capability. For every three levels the bard attains beyond 9th, the bard can inspire greatness in one additional creature. To inspire greatness, the bard must sing and the creature must hear the bard sing for a full round, as with inspire courage. The creature must also be within 30 feet. A creature inspired with greatness gains temporary Hit Dice, attack bonuses, and saving throw bonuses as long as he or she hears the bard continue to sing and for 5 rounds thereafter. (All these bonuses are competence bonuses.) The target gains the following boosts:

Apply the target's Constitution modifier, if any, to each bonus Hit Die. These extra Hit Dice count as regular Hit Dice for determining effects such as the sleep spell. Inspire greatness is a supernatural, mind-affecting enchantment ability.

Bardic Knowledge: A bard picks up a lot of stray knowledge while wandering the land and learning stories from other bards. A bard may make a special bardic knowledge check with a bonus equal to his level + his Intelligence modifier to see whether he knows some relevant information about local notable people, legendary items, or noteworthy places. This check will not reveal the powers of a magic item but may give a hint as to its general function.

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

Mana: Mana is the "life force" of magic. Each spell takes a specific amount to complete its invocation. For a Bard, Mana is determined by his Charisma modifier and level of his experience. Use the table below to find your character's base score, then add your character's level multiplied by their appropriate ability modifier [base + (ability modifier X level)].

For example: Alannon is a 7th level Bard with a Charisma of 16. His Charisma modifier would be +3. Using the table below shows his base Mana at 30. 30 + (3x7) = 51. Alannon would have a Mana level of 51.
Bard levelStarting Mana
1-
23
35
46
514
622
730
840
955
1070
1180
1292
13107
14125
15145
16165

Bards will gain 25 mana points plus their appropriate ability modifier per level there-after.

Starting Spells: All Bards start with Detect Magic and Read Magic and in addition may choose a number of additional spells based on their level.

After initial creation, a Bard who gains a level receives 2 plus their Charisma modifier in new spells. This a Bard with a +3 modifier for Charisma would receive 5 new spells when he advanced in a level to be chosen among any of his available spell levels. A Bard can not choose a spell he is unable to cast.

Bard
level		Spells aquisition per spell level
0123456
13------
243-----
354-----
4653----
5764----