Just looking for some clarification on this one, a second opinion.
So College of Eloquence at level 3 gets Unsettling Words, which reads as:
Unsettling Words
3rd-level College of Eloquence feature
You can spin words laced with magic that unsettle a creature and cause it to doubt itself. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration and choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. Roll the Bardic Inspiration die. The creature must subtract the number rolled from the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn.
At level 6, they get Unfailing Inspiration:
Unfailing Inspiration
6th-level College of Eloquence feature
Your inspiring words are so persuasive that others feel driven to succeed. When a creature adds one of your Bardic Inspiration dice to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and the roll fails, the creature can keep the Bardic Inspiration die.
Basically what i'm wondering here is that if I give an enemy a Bardic Inspiration die, they roll and fail their check/save, do they have to keep it and it keeps working until they eventually succeed?
Unfailing Inspiration is pretty specific about how to apply it: when a creature adds one of you Bardic Inspiration dice to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and the roll fails,the creature can keep the Bardic Inspiration die. Unsettling Words subtracts. As well, Unsettling Words specifies a time frame: subtract the number from the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn. Remembering that spells, abilities etc. only do what they say they do, it is safe to say that Unsettling Words does not work with Unfailing Inspiration because it subtracts instead of adds and does not obey the time limit
I believe Unfailing Inspiration is intended to prevent your allies from wasting Bardic Inspiration, not to saddle your enemy with an ongoing debuff. The way you are wondering if it might work would be a powerful boost to an ability that is already pretty sweet.
Another reason Unsettling Words cannot benefit from Unfailling Inspiration is because it's not the creature that's adding a Bardic Inspiration dice to its saving throw, but the bard. The creature cannot keep something it never add.
As the others have said, they are completely difference uses of the die. When you use unsettling words, the creature gets a debuf to their next save it makes before the end of your next turn. The die is spent no matter what. As a full spellcaster most of the time players just use Unsettling Words then cast a save spell as an action on their turn. The die is spent, pass or fail, and whether the dice made a difference.
Just looking for some clarification on this one, a second opinion.
So College of Eloquence at level 3 gets Unsettling Words, which reads as:
Unsettling Words
3rd-level College of Eloquence feature
You can spin words laced with magic that unsettle a creature and cause it to doubt itself. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration and choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. Roll the Bardic Inspiration die. The creature must subtract the number rolled from the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn.
At level 6, they get Unfailing Inspiration:
Unfailing Inspiration
6th-level College of Eloquence feature
Your inspiring words are so persuasive that others feel driven to succeed. When a creature adds one of your Bardic Inspiration dice to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and the roll fails, the creature can keep the Bardic Inspiration die.
Basically what i'm wondering here is that if I give an enemy a Bardic Inspiration die, they roll and fail their check/save, do they have to keep it and it keeps working until they eventually succeed?
Unfailing Inspiration is pretty specific about how to apply it: when a creature adds one of you Bardic Inspiration dice to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and the roll fails, the creature can keep the Bardic Inspiration die. Unsettling Words subtracts. As well, Unsettling Words specifies a time frame: subtract the number from the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn. Remembering that spells, abilities etc. only do what they say they do, it is safe to say that Unsettling Words does not work with Unfailing Inspiration because it subtracts instead of adds and does not obey the time limit
I believe Unfailing Inspiration is intended to prevent your allies from wasting Bardic Inspiration, not to saddle your enemy with an ongoing debuff. The way you are wondering if it might work would be a powerful boost to an ability that is already pretty sweet.
Another reason Unsettling Words cannot benefit from Unfailling Inspiration is because it's not the creature that's adding a Bardic Inspiration dice to its saving throw, but the bard. The creature cannot keep something it never add.
As the others have said, they are completely difference uses of the die. When you use unsettling words, the creature gets a debuf to their next save it makes before the end of your next turn. The die is spent no matter what. As a full spellcaster most of the time players just use Unsettling Words then cast a save spell as an action on their turn. The die is spent, pass or fail, and whether the dice made a difference.
Also, unsettling words says ‘can’. It’s up to the enemy, and I really doubt they’d want to keep a debuff.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep