Bard Archetype: Druidic Bard
- Details
- Category: Class Options
- Published on Monday, 15 October 2012 12:17
- Written by Eric C
Bards from an ancient tradition that have studied alongside druids.
Druidic Bards will tell you they are a part of the oldest bardic tradition, learning their arts from ancient colleges alongside their druid brethren. In a pinch, druidic bards can fill some of the minor party roles of a druid or ranger—guiding their companions through the wilderness, and bypassing the threats of beasts and fey.
Class Features Modifications
Class Skills: Remove Sleight of Hand from the druidic bard’s list of class skills and add Survival.
Spellcasting: A druidic bard learns and casts spells as a normal bard, with some minor exceptions. A druidic bard's spells are divine spells, not arcane spells. Like druids and rangers, druidic bards need not designate a specific deity as the source of their spells.
Remove the following spells from the druidic bard’s class spell list: 1st—summon monster I; 2nd—summon monster II; 3rd—summon monster III; 4th—summon monster IV; 5th—summon monster V; 6th—summon monster VI.
Add the following spells to the druidic bard’s class spell list: 0—create water, purify food and drink; 1st—charm animal, summon nature’s ally I; 2nd—animal messenger, summon nature’s ally II; 3rd—hold animal, summon nature’s ally III; 4th—dominate animal, summon nature’s ally IV; 5th—reincarnate, summon nature’s ally V; 6th— commune with nature, summon nature’s ally VI.
Naturalist (Ex): A druidic bard gains a bonus equal to half his bard level on all Handle Animal, Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (nature), and Survival checks.
Woodland Stride (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a druidic bard may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at her normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. Thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion, however, still affect her. This ability replaces well versed.
Hedge Wizard (Ex): At 2nd level, and every four levels thereafter until 18th level, the druidic bard gains a druidic bard-like ability. The abilities that follow replace versatile performance.
Wild Empathy (Ex): At 2nd level, a druidic bard can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person (see Using Skills). The druidic bard rolls 1d20 and adds her druidic bard level and her Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.
To use wild empathy, the druidic bard and the animal must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
A druidic bard can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but she takes a –4 penalty on the check.
Resist Nature's Lure (Ex): Starting at 6th level, a druidic bard gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against the spell-like and supernatural abilities of fey. This bonus also applies to spells and effects that utilize or target plants, such as blight, entangle, spike growth, and warp wood.
Venom Immunity (Ex): At 10th level, a druidic bard gains immunity to all poisons.
A Thousand Faces (Su): At 14th level, a druidic bard gains the ability to change her appearance at will, as if using the alter self spell, but only while in her normal form.
Timeless Body (Ex): After attaining 18th level, a druidic bard no longer takes ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties she may have already incurred, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the druidic bard still dies of old age when her time is up.
Additional Ratings  |
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| Balance: | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.80 (5 Votes) |
| Utility: | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 3.80 (5 Votes) |
| Clarity: | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.40 (5 Votes) |