Troubadour Preview

Two weeks ago we looked at the Warden and Master tiers for the Archer, a combat Discipline. Last week we looked at the Nethermancer, a magician. This time we look at one of the support Disciplines, the Troubadour.

Those of you who are familiar with previous versions of the Discipline will see quite a few changes, with several new talents as part of their repertoire. Morgan talked about some of the thinking behind the new design over on his blog. I want to point out a couple changes made to some of the talents, and a bit more detail on the new ones.

Bardic Voice is now a straight-up bonus to Interaction tests (along with talents that affect GMC Attitudes like Emotion Song), rather than a kind of magical persuasion or leadership ability. Other abilities already allow those things, this makes them more effective.

Witty Repartee is, effectively, Riposte for social attacks. Like the inspirational talent, it can act as a defense (like Resist Taunt), but on a high enough result can deflect the social attack back on the original user.

Cutting Words uses a Troubadour’s social-fu to inflict actual damage to their target.

Disarming Smile (a Warden option), prevents hostilities, imposes penalties on those who break its enforced peace, and provides a bonus to Graceful Exit.

Finally, Song of Deflection and Song of Battle round out the Discipline talents. The former has been expanded to allow the Troubadour to protect his allies (instead of just himself). The latter is a bonus to the Fifth Circle talent Inspire Others that not only enhances that talent’s tests, but also allows the Troubadour to extend the duration by spending strain, provided they keep singing.

I like how this one ended up. Here’s the full progression.

Warden Talent Options: Acrobatic Defense, Anticipate Blow, Book Memory, Cold Purify, Disarming Smile, Eidetic Memory, Second Weapon, Steel Thought, Thought Link, True Sight

Ninth Circle

• Unnatural Charm: The adept can mystically enhance their appeal. The adept takes 1 Blood Magic damage and adds +3 to their Charisma Value. This bonus is permanent, and the Blood Magic cannot be healed.
• Karma: The adept may spend a Karma Point on Recovery tests.
• Discipline Talent: Bardic Voice

Tenth Circle

• Defense: The adept adds +2 to their Mystic Defense.
• Mystic Armor: The adept adds +1 to their Mystic Armor.
• Discipline Talent: Rally

Eleventh Circle

• Defense: The adept adds +1 to their Physical Defense.
• Karma: The adept may spend a Karma Point once per turn on any test made while adjacent to an ally.
• Discipline Talent: Undermine

Twelfth Circle

• Defense: The adept adds +4 to their Social Defense.
• Initiative: The adept adds +2 to their base Initiative Step.
• Discipline Talent: Witty Repartee

Master Talent Options: Confront Horror, Critical Hit, Lion Spirit, Memory Probe, Perfect Focus, Safe Thought, Second Chance, Soul Aegis

Thirteenth Circle

• Encore: The adept may take 1 Strain to use any Charisma-based ability twice in a round, stacking its effects. If the ability is a Standard action, it costs 2 Strain. This Strain cost is in addition to the normal cost of the ability.
• Defense: The adept adds +3 to their Mystic Defense.
• Karma: The adept increases their Karma Step +1 to a d8.
• Recovery: The adept gains an additional Recovery test per day.
• Discipline Talent: Cutting Words

Fourteenth Circle

• Defense: The adept adds +5 to their Social Defense.
• Mystic Armor: The adept adds +2 to their Mystic Armor.
• Discipline Talent: Song of Deflection.

Fifteenth Circle

• Defense: The adept adds +2 to their Physical Defense.
• Initiative: The adept adds +3 to their base Initiative Step.
• Discipline Talent: Song of Battle