sirroman
03-07-2009, 09:06
UPDATED! VERSION 1.0!
Hey! Here's my take on the Bard class, right away I want to point out who came up with the "raw source" of my ideas: firstly, it was commonhumans, with the first Bard Fan Class I can search in the database, then there's... commonhumans! that pointed out the relation between Bards and Druids.
OKay, Is a druid an extreme killing class? This definition is taken dicrectly from dictionary.com when you search Druid:
Druid
Dru"id\, n. [L. Druides; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. draoi, druidh, magician, Druid, W. derwydd Druid.]
1. One of an order of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons.
Note: The Druids superintended the affairs of religion and morality, and exercised judicial functions. They practiced divination and magic, and sacrificed human victims as a part of their worship. They consisted of three classes; the bards, the vates or prophets, and the Druids proper, or priests. Their most sacred rites were performed in the depths of oak forests or of caves.
Uhhh, I hope that makes the bards look a little bit more BAD@$$ to everyone. Point made for number 3.
Also, I quote this, from Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary:
Bard [from Latin bardus from Gaulish and old Brythonic probably bardos cf Welsh bardd] Exalted one, initiate, teacher; one of the three holy orders of Druidism -- Druids, Bards, and Ovates. The Bards had the duty of keeping alive among the people the knowledge or intuition that there is a path that leads to wisdom and initiation. They carried this out largely by telling stories: a Mabinogi, according to Sir John Rhys, was a story belonging to the equipment of the Bards. These stories were told in such a way that their symbolic meaning might be apparent to those with intuition, but hidden from the mass. In telling the stories they used verse form a good deal, so that now in every country but Wales bard has come to mean poet. In Wales, however, it retains some relic of its original meaning: a Bard is a member of the Gorsedd, and may or may not be a poet; no poet is a Bard unless the Gorsedd has admitted him to its ranks. The Bard's robe was of blue; that of the Druid was white; the Ovate's green.
Ok, then I will take from where he stopped. His bard class was a cunning ranged class, actually, seemed to be closer to the classic D&D Bard class, with his charms and class-buffing abilities and I want to take it a little further, make it more savage, more wild, make a Bard that is more a druid than a ladies man. Actually, IMO commonhumans' Bard isn't "green", it's "blue": charm, manipulation and cunning, all that is "blue".
What about making a true "green" bard, guys? ;D You can foresee that I'm going to step a little off of everything you had read here, but by sure that I do this to make it more... interesting and original, ok? ^^
[ADDED] Since we already have Druids in Diablo’s Folklore, I’m eager to mix the legend of the Bards with the Ovates, filling the rest of the “holy orders of Druidism” (Wikipedia: “The earliest Latin writers used vates to denote "prophets" and soothsayers in general”), so, a Bard is also a Ovate, but only those prophets that try to spread the Druidic learning are called “Bards”.
To me, the Bard isn't a storyteller that travels the land to make his name out of his abilities to tell tales and songs. The bard I want to see on D3 is a Nature's prophet, his songs aren't his, but are the Land's tales, his voice is the wild whisper and it isn't his cunning and curiosity that makes him travel along a party, it's his Calling.
This Bard doesn't tell Tales and create songs, this Bard is the Nature's instrument, for she wants to be heard...
She NEEDS to be heard.
THE DRUIDIC BARD
The Druidic Bard (placeholder name) comes from the same culture of the Druid. Years of study and worship of the Nature led to a complex discipline: the wise are born to lead the people and the strong are born to protect the people, they all are chosen by the high scholars, guardians of the ancient teachings. But from time to time some are born with the ability to recitate the long teachings from the cradle and even see the future, the scholars argued between themselves if those younglings were born with a Ancient Spirit onto themselves, if the teachings were imprinted into their souls from the inside of the womb by the gods, if they just could see beyond the others, or even if they were Human!
All that didn't matter, those toddlers were grown-up by then, and they always felt the urge to roam the continent, to sail far away from their people. They were called the Bards.
The scholars may be the guardians of the nature's learning inside the tribe, even their teacher! But the Bards are the teachers of the whole world, the carriers of that same knowledge, it doesn't matter if the Bard tells you a poem, a tale of a forgotten warrior's honor, or even a vision, take sure that all are weaved together by the Nature's Will.
As a traveler he is fit to surviving alone in the wild: the same Calling that gives his brothers the ability to change into powerful animals is in his blood as well and he always seem to know exactly the right way to turn or the right herb to look for.
THE MUSIC SYSTEM
[Added: 04/07/09]
The Bard is usually pictured starting (and finishing) a battle singing and to mirror that we can’t forget this artistic magic. So, most of the Bard’s skills are expressed in the form of music, which is a single way of calling each form of magic that comes from the Bard: a Poem, a high Screech, a musical instrument’s play, a whisper, a brief verse, etc. (I’m not a musician, ok? ^^)
You must already know that the Druidic Bard’s music comes less from his work with words, and more from the inspiration of the gods, a great part of his music are part of his visions from the past, present and future, some other part are strong words from lost languages, while the rest come from his actual experience and good-wording play. Mechanically “Music” is the genre while the species are “Chant” and “Verses”.
“Chant” are the “basic humming”, the “core” of the Druidic Bard’s music, his intonation. Ranges from a simple rhythm with a Harp (more into skills) to a far-reaching and low sound that seems to come from nowhere while the Bard concentrates his Ancient Knowledge. Mechanically they function like the Paladin auras, but they cost mana during the time they take effect. Usually, getting hit isn't enough to disrupt them, for this magic doesn’t falter with any minor mistake of the Druidic Bards part: we can always say that the “Song” really comes from his very soul, and vocalizing is just an unstoppable urge.
“Verses” are variations of the Chant, comprehend the more “straight-forward” of his Music magic, like a part of a poem, a powerful word from the Draconic language capable of combusting matter or a single phrase that haunts his enemies. Mechanically they act like Wizard’s spells or a Barbarian’s Warcry, you cast, pay the mana cost and they take effect instantaneously or during a set time.
Verses can be cast anytime, even (specially I would say) while the Druidic Bard is Chanting. So the Druidic Bard effectively have hundreds of songs up his sleeves, mixing elements of ancient magic the way that better fit his needs.
SKILL TREES
[Edited: 04/07/09]
Obs. on Skills: If I'm right, Blizzard aren't using three separate "skill trees", but only one tree with all the skills. To make it easier to “get” the class idea, I wrote a few “pseudo-skill trees”, explaining the range of the Druidic Bard’s powers. Take note that an easier way of designing them would be “Chant skills”, “Verse skills” and “Non-Music skills”.
EDIT: The previous skill trees were only Nature’s Voice, Nature’s Body and Hunting Training.
1# Nature's Voice
These are the Druidic Bard’s Music that influences enemies and enhance friendly units without tapping his shape-shifting powers. Boasting or hindering their moral, causing damage or distracting them. They can be Chant, Verse or simply passive skills.
2# Nature's Body
The Druidic Bard’s have some shape-shifting powers and this tree resolves around the Music Spells that tap this gift. Unlike the Druid (D2 LoD), the Druidic Bard’s can change only parts of his body, while with some higher level of mastery he can change slightly the friendly units close enough, but for a smaller time and higher cost, of course.
Those skills may come in the form of Chant, Verse and passives. But usually resolve around the first, so usually the changed body part endures as long he is reciting whatever ancient spell that blur the line between his human self and his true nature of a Wild's Spirit. Mixing Chant and Verse he can create intricate songs that shape-shift different body parts at the same time.
3# Human’s Cunning
Here fall the “weapon-wielding" skills and the “less prophetic" druidic powers. They are all-purpose skills that can come in the form of a special attack technique or a healing power. Usually aren’t neither Chant nor Verse spells, just plain active and passive skills, but we can’t rule this out yet (what about if a HUGE idea comes by?).
SKILL LIST
[Edited: 08/07/09]
Now, the skills! I won’t quote Technomancer anymore (My take on a Bard class ( http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731051)), but I will use his skills if I see that they are interesting enough (and they usually are ^^). I wish to add more and more skills and leave the tough work of choosing what to remove by the Blizzard guys, right, Blizzard guys? ^^
If I use a skill created by Technomancer, I'll make sure to maintain the same name or type the original name by the end of the description.
I won’t place the skills on Tiers, it could vary a lot depending of the Balancing. Yeah, I can "figure" the tiers, but... do you really want me to put the skills on tiers? xD
1# Nature's Voice [15 skills]
Soothing the Beast: Active. Chant. Has a chance of randomly causing any foes within range to stop hostile activities for a time, entranced by the Bards singing.
Charming the Beast: Passive. Enhances Soothing the Beast. Hurts the enemies’ will to fight by aiming for their emotions. Decreases Attack Rating and Damage of every foe on screen.
Tear the Blind Active. Verse. Use your voice to narrow the barrier between this world, and all others. Creates a mist of otherworldly energy that renders every enemy on screen blind, in their confusion they attack any creature at reach.
True Name: Active. Verse. The Druidic Bard attune with the Spirit World and aim for the soul of that who defies him, trying to pierce the knowledge that even his foe doesn’t know consciously: his True Name. With that the Druidic Bard may exercise control over his foe, for a time. Has a casting time of 2 seconds. Has a chance of forcing the enemy to fight for the Druidic Bard for X seconds. Once this time ends and depending of the difference of power between the Enemy and the Druidic Bard, the Enemy will either seek out to kill the Druidic Bard, ignoring all other targets, or flee. [Name of Power, True Name]
Bargain with Fools: Passive. With time the Druidic Bard doesn’t need to exert himself to uncover the True Name of an enemy, he learns how to bargain the True Name of all the foes around him, with each other. Letting their closeness and mutual envy betray them. Enhances True Name. True Name targets all the enemies in a radius of X around the target. [Sop Story]
Haunting Melody: Active. Chant. Increases the connection between this world and the Ether, increasing the effectiveness of allies' spells and decreasing mana costs for skills.
Death Warning: Active. Verse. Foresee the imminent death of your enemies, calling their name and stating this grim knowledge. During X seconds has a chance of randomly stunning any applicable targets within range. [Angelic Voice]
Dragon's Tongue: Active. Verse. Whispering a long forgotten language you make matter easily combustible. Causes fire damage to a enemy, have a chance to make it start to burn that has its own chance to spread.
Dragon’s Anthem: Active. Chant. “A fast, harsh song that has a chance per x seconds of setting any targets within range on fire, causing fire damage for xx seconds. If a target is on fire and gets re-effected, the fire duration is added onto the end of the current fire. Creatures on fire have a chance of igniting those nearby.” [Furious Bolero]
Inflame the Worthy: Active. Verse. The ancient race of the Dragons didn't use defensive spells, for their might was uncontested. When facing aggression they resorted in their fire immunity and turned the very air around them into flames. With sufficient mastery over their Lost Language and his own grip over the Spiritual realm, the Druidic Bard may sheath his and his allies bodies with flames, while protecting their flesh and equipment from its destructive force. Last for X seconds. Causes Y damage to any enemy that is within melee range and/or attacks to the target. In addition to that, the target melee and ranged attacks cause fire damage of Z.
Linguistics: Passive. Enhance Dragon’s Tongue, Dragon’s Anthem and Inflame the Worthy. Increase the fire damage and adds a chance to stun victims while on fire. [Allegro]
Hymn of Light: Active. Chant. A powerful song from before time. Only affects undead and demons within range, but deals constant damage, slows them, and lowers damage and defenses.
Silence: Active. Verse. Silences any target within area of effect.
Resonate: Active. Verse. Causes an intense sound vibration in an cone area starting at character that stuns targets and causes damage. This spell stays in affect while the mouse button is down and can be re-aimed anywhere.
Enhanced Resonance: Passive. Increases the width of the cone and the damage caused by Resonate.
2# Nature's Body [16 skills]
Snakes' Build: Active. Chant. Bones become more flexible and muscles react to a mere thought. Increases all attack/cast speeds and enhance armor.
Spider's Senses: Passive. Your senses sharpen and become more used to faster actions. Enhances Snake's Build. Increase the armor bonus and gives a bonus to Attack Rating.
Bull's Build: Active. Chant. Bones harden and muscles swell. Increases the damage and adds to the max health.
Wolverine's Mind: Passive. The wolverine's ferocity makes your attacks tenacious. Enhances Bull's Build. Gives a chance of shrugging part of the damage (damage reduction? can't remember the name) received and your attacks are uninterruptible.
Horse's Build: Active. Chant. Decreases loss of stamina, increases speed, health regeneration and grants poison resistance.
Salamander's Blood: Passive. Enhances Horse's Build. Increases health regeneration and gives resistance to all elements.
Moonlight Ode: [Ui]Active. Verse.[/i] Active Build skills now affect allied units for [X] or until your Chant ends.
[B]Rhino's Horn: Active. Verse. Melee attack. Grow a Rhino's Horn and charge on a straight line, attacking and running past all enemies, increase critical strike and Attack Rating.
Grasshoppers Legs: Active. Verse. Grow grasshopper's legs and jump, attacking and stunning the target.
Octopus' Arm: Active. Verse. Your arms bones vanish and your arms become tentacle-like. Increase your reach for X.
Sabertooth's Hunger: Active. Verse.Melee attack. Grow Sabertooth's fangs and make a bite attack that has life steal.
Bite like a Bulldog: Passive. Enhances Sabertooth’s Hunger and Release the Shackles. To Sabertooth’s Hunger: Increases damage, causes bleeding and when your attack is critical in addition to causing more damage, grabs your enemy and shake his body, causing damage on every enemy around you and leaving the target stunned for X seconds. To Release the Shackles: adds bleeding to attacks and leaves enemies stunned after a critical.
Cockatrice’s Visage: Active. Verse. While directly facing an enemy, speaks the truth that, for your eyes, Living and Inanimate matter are just the same. Turn the enemy into stone for X seconds.
Poisonous Humor: Active. Verse. You exude poison from your fangs and skin. Adds Poison damage on melee and ranged attacks.
Silk Breath: Active. Verse. The Druidic Bard spits a web, with a chance of trapping any targets on spot for X seconds, or decrease their speed. The Web is combustible.
Release the Shackles: Active. Verse. The most terrifying of all Druidic Bard’s Shapeshifting powers, with it he becomes a living weapon, as if he weren’t already. After a small prayer his changing begin as he howls with pain: fangs, thorns and bones grow piercing through every inch of his skin. After his change is over he lets the beasts urges control him, just until no enemy keeps standing… Not so long. The Druidic Bard causes area damage with each melee attack and reflects damage done to him. Last for X seconds. Costs mana and health. Long cool-down.
Notes on Nature’s Body: Since they are Chants, you cannot have more than one “Build” active, unless there’s more than one bard one group and at least one have Moonlight Ode active. Grasshopper’s legs: I think that wings would be too much obvious, right?
I know that Release the Shackles seems like a “whirlwind stance”, but take note that Fury and Zeal were effectively the same, double swing (and frenzy) was their little cousin and Dragon Talon… their sister. xD
3# Human Cunning [13 Skills]
Magic Harp: Active. Although the Bard's Music comes from within, there are powerful instruments that helps his abilities, with a quick prayer, the Bard can turn a Bow into a magic Harp that enhances temporarily all Music skills. Increase Range and effectiveness of Music during X seconds or until you attack with the bow or swap weapon.
Hands of a Healer: Active. The Bard knows that when the body faulters, not even the strongest minds can follow through. With his knowledge of Herbs and Human anatomy he can Heal X hit points from a target in a close radius.
Long-Winded: Passive. Increases the duration of all Verses and gives a chance that every Chant will maintain its effect for X seconds after the end of the casting.
Inspiration: Passive. Decreases the Mana cost of all Songs.
Fortissimmo: Passive. Increases the range of all Songs.
Evasion: Passive. Increases the effect of Dex on defenses.
Agile Striking: Passive. Adds a damage bonus for Dex to Melee attacks using 1-handed weapons and increases the pre-existing Dex bonus for Missile attacks. Effect increases with Rank.
Catch Missile: Passive. Has a chance of plucking or knocking missile right out of the air, rendering them harmless. Doesn’t work while casting Magic Harp.
Missile Mastery: Passive. Increases damage, accuracy, and speed of all missile attacks.
Dervish: Active. Melee attack. Spins very quickly, attacking a single target several times quickly, the number depends on Rank.
Spiteful Aiming: Passive. On critical strikes, has a chance of blinding target.
[B]Hunting Training: Passive. Advanced knowledge of creatures' anatomies increases the chance of Critical Hits. [Anatomy]
Item Lore: Passive. Has an increasing chance of Identifying items.
Notes on Human’s Cunning: no, this bard isn’t a double wielder. "Magic Harp": my own take of "how to make a 'song-only' Bard without adding a Banjo weapon?". I didn’t use Technomancer’s Virtuosity, it would be overpower, too much of his skills are songs, don’t you agree?
Hope you all like the new, cleaner topic.
See ya later!
Hey! Here's my take on the Bard class, right away I want to point out who came up with the "raw source" of my ideas: firstly, it was commonhumans, with the first Bard Fan Class I can search in the database, then there's... commonhumans! that pointed out the relation between Bards and Druids.
OKay, Is a druid an extreme killing class? This definition is taken dicrectly from dictionary.com when you search Druid:
Druid
Dru"id\, n. [L. Druides; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. draoi, druidh, magician, Druid, W. derwydd Druid.]
1. One of an order of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons.
Note: The Druids superintended the affairs of religion and morality, and exercised judicial functions. They practiced divination and magic, and sacrificed human victims as a part of their worship. They consisted of three classes; the bards, the vates or prophets, and the Druids proper, or priests. Their most sacred rites were performed in the depths of oak forests or of caves.
Uhhh, I hope that makes the bards look a little bit more BAD@$$ to everyone. Point made for number 3.
Also, I quote this, from Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary:
Bard [from Latin bardus from Gaulish and old Brythonic probably bardos cf Welsh bardd] Exalted one, initiate, teacher; one of the three holy orders of Druidism -- Druids, Bards, and Ovates. The Bards had the duty of keeping alive among the people the knowledge or intuition that there is a path that leads to wisdom and initiation. They carried this out largely by telling stories: a Mabinogi, according to Sir John Rhys, was a story belonging to the equipment of the Bards. These stories were told in such a way that their symbolic meaning might be apparent to those with intuition, but hidden from the mass. In telling the stories they used verse form a good deal, so that now in every country but Wales bard has come to mean poet. In Wales, however, it retains some relic of its original meaning: a Bard is a member of the Gorsedd, and may or may not be a poet; no poet is a Bard unless the Gorsedd has admitted him to its ranks. The Bard's robe was of blue; that of the Druid was white; the Ovate's green.
Ok, then I will take from where he stopped. His bard class was a cunning ranged class, actually, seemed to be closer to the classic D&D Bard class, with his charms and class-buffing abilities and I want to take it a little further, make it more savage, more wild, make a Bard that is more a druid than a ladies man. Actually, IMO commonhumans' Bard isn't "green", it's "blue": charm, manipulation and cunning, all that is "blue".
What about making a true "green" bard, guys? ;D You can foresee that I'm going to step a little off of everything you had read here, but by sure that I do this to make it more... interesting and original, ok? ^^
[ADDED] Since we already have Druids in Diablo’s Folklore, I’m eager to mix the legend of the Bards with the Ovates, filling the rest of the “holy orders of Druidism” (Wikipedia: “The earliest Latin writers used vates to denote "prophets" and soothsayers in general”), so, a Bard is also a Ovate, but only those prophets that try to spread the Druidic learning are called “Bards”.
To me, the Bard isn't a storyteller that travels the land to make his name out of his abilities to tell tales and songs. The bard I want to see on D3 is a Nature's prophet, his songs aren't his, but are the Land's tales, his voice is the wild whisper and it isn't his cunning and curiosity that makes him travel along a party, it's his Calling.
This Bard doesn't tell Tales and create songs, this Bard is the Nature's instrument, for she wants to be heard...
She NEEDS to be heard.
THE DRUIDIC BARD
The Druidic Bard (placeholder name) comes from the same culture of the Druid. Years of study and worship of the Nature led to a complex discipline: the wise are born to lead the people and the strong are born to protect the people, they all are chosen by the high scholars, guardians of the ancient teachings. But from time to time some are born with the ability to recitate the long teachings from the cradle and even see the future, the scholars argued between themselves if those younglings were born with a Ancient Spirit onto themselves, if the teachings were imprinted into their souls from the inside of the womb by the gods, if they just could see beyond the others, or even if they were Human!
All that didn't matter, those toddlers were grown-up by then, and they always felt the urge to roam the continent, to sail far away from their people. They were called the Bards.
The scholars may be the guardians of the nature's learning inside the tribe, even their teacher! But the Bards are the teachers of the whole world, the carriers of that same knowledge, it doesn't matter if the Bard tells you a poem, a tale of a forgotten warrior's honor, or even a vision, take sure that all are weaved together by the Nature's Will.
As a traveler he is fit to surviving alone in the wild: the same Calling that gives his brothers the ability to change into powerful animals is in his blood as well and he always seem to know exactly the right way to turn or the right herb to look for.
THE MUSIC SYSTEM
[Added: 04/07/09]
The Bard is usually pictured starting (and finishing) a battle singing and to mirror that we can’t forget this artistic magic. So, most of the Bard’s skills are expressed in the form of music, which is a single way of calling each form of magic that comes from the Bard: a Poem, a high Screech, a musical instrument’s play, a whisper, a brief verse, etc. (I’m not a musician, ok? ^^)
You must already know that the Druidic Bard’s music comes less from his work with words, and more from the inspiration of the gods, a great part of his music are part of his visions from the past, present and future, some other part are strong words from lost languages, while the rest come from his actual experience and good-wording play. Mechanically “Music” is the genre while the species are “Chant” and “Verses”.
“Chant” are the “basic humming”, the “core” of the Druidic Bard’s music, his intonation. Ranges from a simple rhythm with a Harp (more into skills) to a far-reaching and low sound that seems to come from nowhere while the Bard concentrates his Ancient Knowledge. Mechanically they function like the Paladin auras, but they cost mana during the time they take effect. Usually, getting hit isn't enough to disrupt them, for this magic doesn’t falter with any minor mistake of the Druidic Bards part: we can always say that the “Song” really comes from his very soul, and vocalizing is just an unstoppable urge.
“Verses” are variations of the Chant, comprehend the more “straight-forward” of his Music magic, like a part of a poem, a powerful word from the Draconic language capable of combusting matter or a single phrase that haunts his enemies. Mechanically they act like Wizard’s spells or a Barbarian’s Warcry, you cast, pay the mana cost and they take effect instantaneously or during a set time.
Verses can be cast anytime, even (specially I would say) while the Druidic Bard is Chanting. So the Druidic Bard effectively have hundreds of songs up his sleeves, mixing elements of ancient magic the way that better fit his needs.
SKILL TREES
[Edited: 04/07/09]
Obs. on Skills: If I'm right, Blizzard aren't using three separate "skill trees", but only one tree with all the skills. To make it easier to “get” the class idea, I wrote a few “pseudo-skill trees”, explaining the range of the Druidic Bard’s powers. Take note that an easier way of designing them would be “Chant skills”, “Verse skills” and “Non-Music skills”.
EDIT: The previous skill trees were only Nature’s Voice, Nature’s Body and Hunting Training.
1# Nature's Voice
These are the Druidic Bard’s Music that influences enemies and enhance friendly units without tapping his shape-shifting powers. Boasting or hindering their moral, causing damage or distracting them. They can be Chant, Verse or simply passive skills.
2# Nature's Body
The Druidic Bard’s have some shape-shifting powers and this tree resolves around the Music Spells that tap this gift. Unlike the Druid (D2 LoD), the Druidic Bard’s can change only parts of his body, while with some higher level of mastery he can change slightly the friendly units close enough, but for a smaller time and higher cost, of course.
Those skills may come in the form of Chant, Verse and passives. But usually resolve around the first, so usually the changed body part endures as long he is reciting whatever ancient spell that blur the line between his human self and his true nature of a Wild's Spirit. Mixing Chant and Verse he can create intricate songs that shape-shift different body parts at the same time.
3# Human’s Cunning
Here fall the “weapon-wielding" skills and the “less prophetic" druidic powers. They are all-purpose skills that can come in the form of a special attack technique or a healing power. Usually aren’t neither Chant nor Verse spells, just plain active and passive skills, but we can’t rule this out yet (what about if a HUGE idea comes by?).
SKILL LIST
[Edited: 08/07/09]
Now, the skills! I won’t quote Technomancer anymore (My take on a Bard class ( http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731051)), but I will use his skills if I see that they are interesting enough (and they usually are ^^). I wish to add more and more skills and leave the tough work of choosing what to remove by the Blizzard guys, right, Blizzard guys? ^^
If I use a skill created by Technomancer, I'll make sure to maintain the same name or type the original name by the end of the description.
I won’t place the skills on Tiers, it could vary a lot depending of the Balancing. Yeah, I can "figure" the tiers, but... do you really want me to put the skills on tiers? xD
1# Nature's Voice [15 skills]
Soothing the Beast: Active. Chant. Has a chance of randomly causing any foes within range to stop hostile activities for a time, entranced by the Bards singing.
Charming the Beast: Passive. Enhances Soothing the Beast. Hurts the enemies’ will to fight by aiming for their emotions. Decreases Attack Rating and Damage of every foe on screen.
Tear the Blind Active. Verse. Use your voice to narrow the barrier between this world, and all others. Creates a mist of otherworldly energy that renders every enemy on screen blind, in their confusion they attack any creature at reach.
True Name: Active. Verse. The Druidic Bard attune with the Spirit World and aim for the soul of that who defies him, trying to pierce the knowledge that even his foe doesn’t know consciously: his True Name. With that the Druidic Bard may exercise control over his foe, for a time. Has a casting time of 2 seconds. Has a chance of forcing the enemy to fight for the Druidic Bard for X seconds. Once this time ends and depending of the difference of power between the Enemy and the Druidic Bard, the Enemy will either seek out to kill the Druidic Bard, ignoring all other targets, or flee. [Name of Power, True Name]
Bargain with Fools: Passive. With time the Druidic Bard doesn’t need to exert himself to uncover the True Name of an enemy, he learns how to bargain the True Name of all the foes around him, with each other. Letting their closeness and mutual envy betray them. Enhances True Name. True Name targets all the enemies in a radius of X around the target. [Sop Story]
Haunting Melody: Active. Chant. Increases the connection between this world and the Ether, increasing the effectiveness of allies' spells and decreasing mana costs for skills.
Death Warning: Active. Verse. Foresee the imminent death of your enemies, calling their name and stating this grim knowledge. During X seconds has a chance of randomly stunning any applicable targets within range. [Angelic Voice]
Dragon's Tongue: Active. Verse. Whispering a long forgotten language you make matter easily combustible. Causes fire damage to a enemy, have a chance to make it start to burn that has its own chance to spread.
Dragon’s Anthem: Active. Chant. “A fast, harsh song that has a chance per x seconds of setting any targets within range on fire, causing fire damage for xx seconds. If a target is on fire and gets re-effected, the fire duration is added onto the end of the current fire. Creatures on fire have a chance of igniting those nearby.” [Furious Bolero]
Inflame the Worthy: Active. Verse. The ancient race of the Dragons didn't use defensive spells, for their might was uncontested. When facing aggression they resorted in their fire immunity and turned the very air around them into flames. With sufficient mastery over their Lost Language and his own grip over the Spiritual realm, the Druidic Bard may sheath his and his allies bodies with flames, while protecting their flesh and equipment from its destructive force. Last for X seconds. Causes Y damage to any enemy that is within melee range and/or attacks to the target. In addition to that, the target melee and ranged attacks cause fire damage of Z.
Linguistics: Passive. Enhance Dragon’s Tongue, Dragon’s Anthem and Inflame the Worthy. Increase the fire damage and adds a chance to stun victims while on fire. [Allegro]
Hymn of Light: Active. Chant. A powerful song from before time. Only affects undead and demons within range, but deals constant damage, slows them, and lowers damage and defenses.
Silence: Active. Verse. Silences any target within area of effect.
Resonate: Active. Verse. Causes an intense sound vibration in an cone area starting at character that stuns targets and causes damage. This spell stays in affect while the mouse button is down and can be re-aimed anywhere.
Enhanced Resonance: Passive. Increases the width of the cone and the damage caused by Resonate.
2# Nature's Body [16 skills]
Snakes' Build: Active. Chant. Bones become more flexible and muscles react to a mere thought. Increases all attack/cast speeds and enhance armor.
Spider's Senses: Passive. Your senses sharpen and become more used to faster actions. Enhances Snake's Build. Increase the armor bonus and gives a bonus to Attack Rating.
Bull's Build: Active. Chant. Bones harden and muscles swell. Increases the damage and adds to the max health.
Wolverine's Mind: Passive. The wolverine's ferocity makes your attacks tenacious. Enhances Bull's Build. Gives a chance of shrugging part of the damage (damage reduction? can't remember the name) received and your attacks are uninterruptible.
Horse's Build: Active. Chant. Decreases loss of stamina, increases speed, health regeneration and grants poison resistance.
Salamander's Blood: Passive. Enhances Horse's Build. Increases health regeneration and gives resistance to all elements.
Moonlight Ode: [Ui]Active. Verse.[/i] Active Build skills now affect allied units for [X] or until your Chant ends.
[B]Rhino's Horn: Active. Verse. Melee attack. Grow a Rhino's Horn and charge on a straight line, attacking and running past all enemies, increase critical strike and Attack Rating.
Grasshoppers Legs: Active. Verse. Grow grasshopper's legs and jump, attacking and stunning the target.
Octopus' Arm: Active. Verse. Your arms bones vanish and your arms become tentacle-like. Increase your reach for X.
Sabertooth's Hunger: Active. Verse.Melee attack. Grow Sabertooth's fangs and make a bite attack that has life steal.
Bite like a Bulldog: Passive. Enhances Sabertooth’s Hunger and Release the Shackles. To Sabertooth’s Hunger: Increases damage, causes bleeding and when your attack is critical in addition to causing more damage, grabs your enemy and shake his body, causing damage on every enemy around you and leaving the target stunned for X seconds. To Release the Shackles: adds bleeding to attacks and leaves enemies stunned after a critical.
Cockatrice’s Visage: Active. Verse. While directly facing an enemy, speaks the truth that, for your eyes, Living and Inanimate matter are just the same. Turn the enemy into stone for X seconds.
Poisonous Humor: Active. Verse. You exude poison from your fangs and skin. Adds Poison damage on melee and ranged attacks.
Silk Breath: Active. Verse. The Druidic Bard spits a web, with a chance of trapping any targets on spot for X seconds, or decrease their speed. The Web is combustible.
Release the Shackles: Active. Verse. The most terrifying of all Druidic Bard’s Shapeshifting powers, with it he becomes a living weapon, as if he weren’t already. After a small prayer his changing begin as he howls with pain: fangs, thorns and bones grow piercing through every inch of his skin. After his change is over he lets the beasts urges control him, just until no enemy keeps standing… Not so long. The Druidic Bard causes area damage with each melee attack and reflects damage done to him. Last for X seconds. Costs mana and health. Long cool-down.
Notes on Nature’s Body: Since they are Chants, you cannot have more than one “Build” active, unless there’s more than one bard one group and at least one have Moonlight Ode active. Grasshopper’s legs: I think that wings would be too much obvious, right?
I know that Release the Shackles seems like a “whirlwind stance”, but take note that Fury and Zeal were effectively the same, double swing (and frenzy) was their little cousin and Dragon Talon… their sister. xD
3# Human Cunning [13 Skills]
Magic Harp: Active. Although the Bard's Music comes from within, there are powerful instruments that helps his abilities, with a quick prayer, the Bard can turn a Bow into a magic Harp that enhances temporarily all Music skills. Increase Range and effectiveness of Music during X seconds or until you attack with the bow or swap weapon.
Hands of a Healer: Active. The Bard knows that when the body faulters, not even the strongest minds can follow through. With his knowledge of Herbs and Human anatomy he can Heal X hit points from a target in a close radius.
Long-Winded: Passive. Increases the duration of all Verses and gives a chance that every Chant will maintain its effect for X seconds after the end of the casting.
Inspiration: Passive. Decreases the Mana cost of all Songs.
Fortissimmo: Passive. Increases the range of all Songs.
Evasion: Passive. Increases the effect of Dex on defenses.
Agile Striking: Passive. Adds a damage bonus for Dex to Melee attacks using 1-handed weapons and increases the pre-existing Dex bonus for Missile attacks. Effect increases with Rank.
Catch Missile: Passive. Has a chance of plucking or knocking missile right out of the air, rendering them harmless. Doesn’t work while casting Magic Harp.
Missile Mastery: Passive. Increases damage, accuracy, and speed of all missile attacks.
Dervish: Active. Melee attack. Spins very quickly, attacking a single target several times quickly, the number depends on Rank.
Spiteful Aiming: Passive. On critical strikes, has a chance of blinding target.
[B]Hunting Training: Passive. Advanced knowledge of creatures' anatomies increases the chance of Critical Hits. [Anatomy]
Item Lore: Passive. Has an increasing chance of Identifying items.
Notes on Human’s Cunning: no, this bard isn’t a double wielder. "Magic Harp": my own take of "how to make a 'song-only' Bard without adding a Banjo weapon?". I didn’t use Technomancer’s Virtuosity, it would be overpower, too much of his skills are songs, don’t you agree?
Hope you all like the new, cleaner topic.
See ya later!