I have a narrative that fits this exactly. When a Bard casts a Zone of Truth spell, it is more like a Ritual. The Bard simply begins playing his lute and after several minutes everyone within the sound of the music becomes extremely uncomfortable if they try to deceive someone else. Folks familiar with the effects of the spell recognize the signs they are being deceived, but that doesn't mean they know the truth.
You could narratively describe many Bard spells as Rituals that work like this. Your second example sounds like Song of Rest.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Think of Bards composing their own magical effect songs as being the bardic equivalent of a Wizard researching his own new spell. Your going to have to spend time and money on getting it right and then it’s going to take one of your known spell slots your not going to be able to have your creations as extras.
It's kind of how the Bard worked in 3.5e and Pathfinder. It was... Decent. There are a few prestige classes from 3.5e that are based on Bard that expand the concept. In my opinion they just get worse the more they use it. They're overly complicated for what they do. Essentially most of them worked like Call Lightning: you start it and then you can repeatedly do a special action until it ends.
You can imagine why that's not very exciting.
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Each song would have different effects, like a more intense song might increase strength and damage, and a soothing song would heal wounds.
Describe your spellcasting as songs and you can do all of those and more.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I have a narrative that fits this exactly. When a Bard casts a Zone of Truth spell, it is more like a Ritual. The Bard simply begins playing his lute and after several minutes everyone within the sound of the music becomes extremely uncomfortable if they try to deceive someone else. Folks familiar with the effects of the spell recognize the signs they are being deceived, but that doesn't mean they know the truth.
You could narratively describe many Bard spells as Rituals that work like this. Your second example sounds like Song of Rest.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Think of Bards composing their own magical effect songs as being the bardic equivalent of a Wizard researching his own new spell. Your going to have to spend time and money on getting it right and then it’s going to take one of your known spell slots your not going to be able to have your creations as extras.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
It's kind of how the Bard worked in 3.5e and Pathfinder. It was... Decent. There are a few prestige classes from 3.5e that are based on Bard that expand the concept. In my opinion they just get worse the more they use it. They're overly complicated for what they do. Essentially most of them worked like Call Lightning: you start it and then you can repeatedly do a special action until it ends.
You can imagine why that's not very exciting.