Bard

Bards don’t usually have to simply be wandering minstrels or entertainment in taverns. In fact, the Emblem of Ea bard is not often found in that role. Experts with skill ranks in perform easily fill the role of the typical musical performer while true master musicians sometimes emerge from the ranks of the Master class, which represents the elite among crafters and professions. Bards are those who have taken their capabilities and used them more for the sake of adventuring, learning and the uncovering of ancient and arcane lore. Some bards do this while others use their skills and music to advance as diplomats, ambassadors and chroniclers who use their intimate knowledge of magic and lore keeping to the benefit of larger organization. The magic of music making that a Bard wields may have a number of different origins. Some believe that it is a remaining resonance of the celestial chorus that began when the world was made; The Eidolon Hymn. Some bards spend their entire lives following the legend of the Eidolon Hymn and seeking to decipher its mysteries.

Selentia of the Myrrish Kingdoms is well known as a land of a thousand princes and princesses and their elegant tastes, love of lore keeping and music and refined beliefs have produced a number of diplomats and lorekeepers. The ten cities of the Republic of Gustav encourage learning and the sharing of knowledge as well as arts, craft and music making. In other areas, Bards most often appear in lands rich with a sense of history or recent troubles and happenings of historical importance. Many large cities, such as Alexandria City, often produce them. Among the barbarian cultures and less refined lands where history, knowledge and lore is passed down via verbal traditions, bards also may emerge. Here they function as war chanters and battle skalds as well as being responsible for passing on the tales and traditions of their tribes from one generation to the next.

Options

As a strong support class and a type of jack of all trades, Bards have a number of feats and abilities that they can benefit from in the Emblem of Ea. We have included a number of bardic instruments that yield additional effects to their music making and there are some prestige classes that could be deemed appropriate for them.

Prestige Classes

Seeker of the Song and War Chanter are just some of the different roles a Bard may be inclined towards.

The Eidolon Hymn

The music of creation resonates through the world and it is by this music that bards are able to work their wonders of arcane magic and simulate some aspects of divine magic. Some Bards spend their entire lives in pursuit of the Eidolon Hymn, seeking out the courts of the ancients where the divine power of the gods gathered and desiring to interpret the various stanzas of the celestial song. Efforts are made to create great choirs that sing the song and perform it before congregations of the mighty churches across the land. For the adventuring bard, this manifests itself by means of Hymn Feats. A Bard can select a Hymn Feat whenever he can normally gain a feat or he can gain on as a bonus feat in place of the normal new bardic music that they may gain.