Attacks & Saving Throws
The bard has a Medium base attack bonus, Poor Fortitude, Medium Reflex, and Medium Will saving throw bonuses. (See Table: Attack & Save Bonuses By Level, on the Classes page.)
Spells
See the Spells page for information about which spells have been modified from their Pathfinder versions.
The bard's spell list in the Worlds of Adventure campaign (not including those spells which may be researched or discovered; see the Spells page for more information) is as follows:
0th level —
dancing lights, daze, detect magic, flare, ghost sound, know direction, light, lullaby, mage hand, mending, open/close, prestidigitation, resistance, summon instrument.
1st level —
alarm, animate rope, cause fear, charm person, comprehend languages, lesser confusion, cure/inflict light wounds, detect secret doors, disguise self, erase, expeditious retreat, feather fall, grease, hypnotism, identify, magic mouth, Nystul's magic aura, obscure object, remove fear, silent image, sleep, summon monster I, Tasha's hideous laughter, undetectable alignment, unseen servant, ventriloquism.
2nd level —
alter self, animal messenger, animal trance, blindness/deafness, blur, calm emotions, cat's grace, cure moderate wounds, darkness, daze monster, delay poison, detect thoughts, enthrall, glitterdust, heroism, hold person, hypnotic pattern, invisibility, locate object, minor image, mirror image, misdirection, pyrotechnics, rage, scare, shatter, silence, sound burst, suggestion, summon monster II, summon swarm, tongues, whispering wind.
3rd level —
blink, charm monster, clairaudience/clairvoyance, confusion, crushing despair, cure serious wounds, daylight, deep slumber, dispel magic, displacement, fear, gaseous form, lesser geas, glibness, good hope, haste, illusory script, invisibility sphere, Leomund's tiny hut, major image, phantom steed, remove curse, scrying, sculpt sound, secret page, see invisibility, sepia snake sigil, slow, speak with animals, summon monster III.
4th level — break enchantment, cure critical wounds, detect scrying, dimension door, dominate person, freedom of movement, hallucinatory terrain, hold monster, greater invisibility, legend lore, Leomund's secure shelter, locate creature, modify memory, neutralize poison, rainbow pattern, repel vermin, shadow conjuration, shout, speak with plants, summon monster IV, zone of silence.
5th level — mass cure light wounds, greater dispel magic, dream, false vision, greater heroism, mind fog, mirage arcana, mislead, nightmare, persistent image, seeming, shadow evocation, shadow walk, song of discord, mass suggestion, summon monster V.
6th level — analyze dweomer, animate objects, mass charm monster, mass cure moderate wounds, eyebite, find the path, geas/quest, heroes' feast, Otto's irresistible dance, permanent image, programmed image, greater scrying, greater shout, summon monster VI, sympathetic vibration, veil.
Cantrips
See the Spells page for information about how level 0 spells work in the Worlds of Adventure campaign.
Class abilities
The saving throw DCs of bardic performance are based on a bard's total level in the rogue class group, rather than only on the bard's class level.
Bardic Knowledge (Ex): Instead of the effect described in the Pathfinder bard's class description, bardic knowledge works like the 3.5 version of the ability.
What Is Bardic Knowledge?
The description of bardic knowledge in the Player's Handbook says that "A bard picks up a lot of stray knowledge while wandering the land and learning stories from other bards." But if a bard is trained in bardery by the Argos Trade Consortium, rather than learning his skills while wandering the world, how can he pick up stray knowledge and so forth...?
In the Worlds of Adventure campaign, bardic knowledge is (for adventurers with the A.T.C.) a trainable skill, of sorts, and it's not simply a matter of collecting "stray knowledge". The Consortium teaches bards about patterns — patterns in societies and civilizations, patterns in the history of races and cultures, the structures common to many domains of knowledge, the "dramatic patterns" that appear with great frequency in stories and myths, the historical and social forces that shape everything from architecture to magical artifacts... These things are taught in broad strokes, with only the thinnest coverage of specifics, and details recounted only for a few notable examples; the lessons do not go into any real depth.
But the bard learns to synthesize these teachings; he may then look at a horn, carved of bone and shod in platinum, with designs upon it that show death and sacrifice, which was found on a world upon which the bard has never stood, and say: "I know the people whose hands wrought this thing, I can tell you of their fate, though I have never heard their name..." It is bards who learn this, and no others, because the bards' magic, of music, of song, and their mastery of enchantment, allow them to understand mortal existence in a deeper way than any others. To this, of course, bards add what they learn in their adventures. A bard can thus draw conclusions about things of which he has little direct knowledge, on the basis of the merest scrap of information. His conclusions are rarely certain; they are connections made, patterns recognized, similar cases recalled... still, they can be very useful indeed.
The more specific, precise, and technical the matter, the less likely it is that a bard will have much to conclude about it. Conversely, a bard can say much of matters of legend and myth, of empires, of great heroes, of powerful magic, of wars, of the behavior of sentient beings, and other things of which stories are told and ballads are sung. The following are some examples of what bardic knowledge may reveal:
add examples
Lore Master (Ex): This class ability is removed.
A bard gains the following ability at 5th level:
Polyglot (Ex): A bard gains a +10 competence bonus on Linguistics checks made to learn a new language.
Bard variants
- Animal speaker
- Arcane duelist
- The arcane bond ability replaces polyglot (see above).
- The bard's level for the purpose of adding abilities to his bonded item is his total level in the rogue class group, rather than his bard level only.
- Archaeologist
- In place of the clever explorer ability, the bard gains the device lore ability (see the Thief class description).
- The archaeologist bard's trap sense bonus also applies to Spot and Listen? checks to perceive the presence and effects of magical traps.
- Detective
- This archetype grants the arcane insight and arcane investigation abilities only. It does not grant the alternate bardic performances, or the eye for detail ability.
- Arcane insight grants the device lore ability (see the Thief class description) instead of trapfinding.
- This archetype's abilities replace the bard's well-versed, polyglot, versatile performance, and jack of all trades abilities.
- Magician
- In place of the magical talent ability, the bard gains the arcane knowledge ability (see the Wizard class description).
- The arcane bond ability replaces polyglot (see above).
- The bard's level for the purpose of adding abilities to his bonded item is his total level in the rogue class group, rather than his bard level only.
- Sandman
- In place of the master of deception ability, the bard gains the device lore ability (see the Thief class description).
- The sandman bard does not gain sneak attack; instead, he gains the thief's sudden strike ability, dealing double damage on a sudden strike; this increases to triple damage at level 15. This ability replaces polyglot (see above).
- The sandman bard's trap sense bonus also applies to Spot and Listen? checks to perceive the presence and effects of magical traps. (See the Spot and Listen? skill descriptions for details.)
- Savage skald
- Songhealer
- The songhealer's enhance healing ability applies only to spell completion items (i.e. scrolls).
- Thundercaller
- The thundercaller's bound to the land ability grants a +2 competence bonus on the listed skills, instead of its listed effect.