So I'm working on creating a bard who in his past was "the Bard King" until a curse was placed on the second string of his lute so he couldn't play it properly.
As part of his backstory, I want him to have gained his wealth by sort of tricking people into giving him their money(hence leading to him being cursed) through the use of magic. After a bit of research, I think combining Compulsion with Fast Friends would get the desired effect, but I'm not sure if that would work or not. If not, then is there a race I can use that has a high charisma skill? Or another spell that could work better for what I want?
Also, I want a Halfling Cleric to be the one to place the curse on his lute, since he used lies tricks to gain his wealth rather then actual skill and hard work. I haven't fully worked out what the curse does, though any time he tries to cast a spell with it, it has a random chance of either back firing, missing, or even just failing. The player will probably have to make a saving throw and have a deduction/hinderance score to factor in, but that's for me to figure out later. Just wanna know if a cleric can place a curse like that on an object.
I really just want to figure this stuff out first before I get too far into making him. I've only got his background started, so it's still pretty early for me to buff things out. Also, I don't have a DM and am just pre-making a character for just in case. Thanks so much in advance!
Unless something is built directly into your race/class, it's a dangerous move to build mechanical consequences into your backstory. What you're allowed to do is entirely based on your DM, and you won't know what they will be comfortable with until you've at least talked to them.
Aside from that, D&D has no hard restrictions. A DM can freely declare whatever they would like about the world, including allowing NPC clerics to bestow curses arbitrarily.
Your safest bet might be to build a homebrew subclass or Cursed Magic Item, and link to it directly when you start looking for games. That will give prospective DMs a familiar format to make their decision easier. (What your describing could use the Wild Magic Sorcerer as a template, if you wanted to go the subclass route.)
Side Note: If the curse is placed on the lute itself, then why wouldn't your character switch to a different lute?
For "High Charisma" races, using Tasha's Custom Lineages is the only way I know to start with a +3 racial bonus.
For the Bardic Magic, the College of Eloquence gives you the Silver Tongue feature at 3rd level.
1st level characters simply aren't that powerful, so tying a 4th level spell into your backstory would be a bit of a reach.
I'd personally be hesitant to allow you to claim access to being at least a level 7 character (needed to cast Compulsion) in the past. Most humanoids are between 1-4, which means that you'd have at least some reputation at a point for being well known. Even if they do.... Fast Friends is from Aquisitions Inc, so I'd talk to the DM if they're using that book. That might not be a spell available either. Especially if the curse is on the lute - nothing stops you from getting a new instrument, or using any of the other instruments bards come with knowing how to use.
Your group might not be happy with trying to add such unreliability to your magic. As a healer, you're literally in charge of keeping them alive. The DM might not want the extra work either. If you really want to curse yourself, have you considered something like Geas? Much easier to keep track of from a DM perspective, and less getting in the way of play. Anyways, a level 10 cleric has the ability to pray to their god and have any miracle granted. Cursing a second string of a lute is the LEAST of ways a god can curse you via Divine Intervention.
Honestly, a good con artist really just needs the Friends cantrip along with a Disguise Self spell. All doable from a level 1 character. Trick a person, get the gold, let the disguise fade, no one will be able to ID you.
For "High Charisma" races, using Tasha's Custom Lineages is the only way I know to start with a +3 racial bonus.
Changelings, from Eberron, can also get +3 racial as well. Note that Custom Lineage can only get +3 CHA if you take the Actor feat. Which, upon reflection, is probably a really good thing. There's plenty of other options, especially tieflings, aasimar and half-elves, if you just want +2 CHA.
For "High Charisma" races, using Tasha's Custom Lineages is the only way I know to start with a +3 racial bonus.
Changelings, from Eberron, can also get +3 racial as well. Note that Custom Lineage can only get +3 CHA if you take the Actor feat. Which, upon reflection, is probably a really good thing. There's plenty of other options, especially tieflings, aasimar and half-elves, if you just want +2 CHA.
Ability Score Increase
Your Charisma score increases by 2. In addition, one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Changeling is stuck with +2, due to the "other" requirement.
Re: Custom Lineages
Anything that bumps charisma also works. Assuming we exclude race prerequisite feats, that includes: Actor, Fey Touched, Resilient, Shadow Touched, Skill Expert, Telekinetic, and Telepathic
So I'm working on creating a bard who in his past was "the Bard King" until a curse was placed on the second string of his lute so he couldn't play it properly.
As part of his backstory, I want him to have gained his wealth by sort of tricking people into giving him their money(hence leading to him being cursed) through the use of magic. After a bit of research, I think combining Compulsion with Fast Friends would get the desired effect, but I'm not sure if that would work or not. If not, then is there a race I can use that has a high charisma skill? Or another spell that could work better for what I want?
Also, I want a Halfling Cleric to be the one to place the curse on his lute, since he used lies tricks to gain his wealth rather then actual skill and hard work. I haven't fully worked out what the curse does, though any time he tries to cast a spell with it, it has a random chance of either back firing, missing, or even just failing. The player will probably have to make a saving throw and have a deduction/hinderance score to factor in, but that's for me to figure out later. Just wanna know if a cleric can place a curse like that on an object.
I really just want to figure this stuff out first before I get too far into making him. I've only got his background started, so it's still pretty early for me to buff things out. Also, I don't have a DM and am just pre-making a character for just in case. Thanks so much in advance!
Have part of the curse be that he was weakened - he might have been the equivalent of a level 10+ character before, but due to being cursed he's effectively level 1 when you start playing him. Throw in some selective amnesia and you can basically explain everything away as "he was really, really powerful before and now he's not". Everything else you're plenty far on considering it's a concept you don't even have a DM to run it by yet - powerful backstory NPCs and homebrew curse mechanics are fine to bring up, but if you don't want to get too far into making him I'd say you've reached that point already.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I wouldn’t get too deep into a backstory until you have a DM. I know I wouldn’t be too keen on a back story like this. It’s way too much for a level 1 character. This isn’t a back story as much as the story of what happened during a campaign. Maybe you have a character who has aspirations to be a “bard king” but that’s something you work up to, not something you already were.
Side Note: If the curse is placed on the lute itself, then why wouldn't your character switch to a different lute?
This is a fairly good point, though I do have an idea for explaining it utilizing another cure that I know already exists in the game
As far as what you said about homebrew cursed items, I may just make up a curse and look into how curses similar to it to make it function better as an in-game thing.
A lot of people are telling me not to get too far into making his backstory because I don't have a DM, but I think I'm just going to have fun making characters for a while and letting my creativity flow so when I do get a DM it will be easy enough to make a simpler character for a lvl 1 campaign. I'm a pretty anxious person, so rping in character out loud is something that's going to take some time building up to, so until then I'm probably going to be the person who has all the things you can need for a DnD campaign and has never played a game before a day in their life ^^'
This is a really good idea. Someone else brought up him just switching out the lute, so I'll have to work out how to explain that. Though I know a curse exists where the next item a cursed player grabs is bound to them forever and they can never get rid of it, so I think I'll try to utilize that somehow. Thanks for the advice ^^
So I'm working on creating a bard who in his past was "the Bard King" until a curse was placed on the second string of his lute so he couldn't play it properly.
As part of his backstory, I want him to have gained his wealth by sort of tricking people into giving him their money(hence leading to him being cursed) through the use of magic. After a bit of research, I think combining Compulsion with Fast Friends would get the desired effect, but I'm not sure if that would work or not. If not, then is there a race I can use that has a high charisma skill? Or another spell that could work better for what I want?
Also, I want a Halfling Cleric to be the one to place the curse on his lute, since he used lies tricks to gain his wealth rather then actual skill and hard work. I haven't fully worked out what the curse does, though any time he tries to cast a spell with it, it has a random chance of either back firing, missing, or even just failing. The player will probably have to make a saving throw and have a deduction/hinderance score to factor in, but that's for me to figure out later. Just wanna know if a cleric can place a curse like that on an object.
I really just want to figure this stuff out first before I get too far into making him. I've only got his background started, so it's still pretty early for me to buff things out. Also, I don't have a DM and am just pre-making a character for just in case. Thanks so much in advance!
Unless something is built directly into your race/class, it's a dangerous move to build mechanical consequences into your backstory. What you're allowed to do is entirely based on your DM, and you won't know what they will be comfortable with until you've at least talked to them.
Aside from that, D&D has no hard restrictions. A DM can freely declare whatever they would like about the world, including allowing NPC clerics to bestow curses arbitrarily.
Your safest bet might be to build a homebrew subclass or Cursed Magic Item, and link to it directly when you start looking for games. That will give prospective DMs a familiar format to make their decision easier. (What your describing could use the Wild Magic Sorcerer as a template, if you wanted to go the subclass route.)
Side Note: If the curse is placed on the lute itself, then why wouldn't your character switch to a different lute?
For "High Charisma" races, using Tasha's Custom Lineages is the only way I know to start with a +3 racial bonus.
For the Bardic Magic, the College of Eloquence gives you the Silver Tongue feature at 3rd level.
1st level characters simply aren't that powerful, so tying a 4th level spell into your backstory would be a bit of a reach.
I'd personally be hesitant to allow you to claim access to being at least a level 7 character (needed to cast Compulsion) in the past. Most humanoids are between 1-4, which means that you'd have at least some reputation at a point for being well known. Even if they do.... Fast Friends is from Aquisitions Inc, so I'd talk to the DM if they're using that book. That might not be a spell available either. Especially if the curse is on the lute - nothing stops you from getting a new instrument, or using any of the other instruments bards come with knowing how to use.
Your group might not be happy with trying to add such unreliability to your magic. As a healer, you're literally in charge of keeping them alive. The DM might not want the extra work either. If you really want to curse yourself, have you considered something like Geas? Much easier to keep track of from a DM perspective, and less getting in the way of play. Anyways, a level 10 cleric has the ability to pray to their god and have any miracle granted. Cursing a second string of a lute is the LEAST of ways a god can curse you via Divine Intervention.
Honestly, a good con artist really just needs the Friends cantrip along with a Disguise Self spell. All doable from a level 1 character. Trick a person, get the gold, let the disguise fade, no one will be able to ID you.
Changelings, from Eberron, can also get +3 racial as well. Note that Custom Lineage can only get +3 CHA if you take the Actor feat. Which, upon reflection, is probably a really good thing. There's plenty of other options, especially tieflings, aasimar and half-elves, if you just want +2 CHA.
Changeling is stuck with +2, due to the "other" requirement.
Re: Custom Lineages
Anything that bumps charisma also works. Assuming we exclude race prerequisite feats, that includes: Actor, Fey Touched, Resilient, Shadow Touched, Skill Expert, Telekinetic, and Telepathic
Have part of the curse be that he was weakened - he might have been the equivalent of a level 10+ character before, but due to being cursed he's effectively level 1 when you start playing him. Throw in some selective amnesia and you can basically explain everything away as "he was really, really powerful before and now he's not". Everything else you're plenty far on considering it's a concept you don't even have a DM to run it by yet - powerful backstory NPCs and homebrew curse mechanics are fine to bring up, but if you don't want to get too far into making him I'd say you've reached that point already.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I wouldn’t get too deep into a backstory until you have a DM. I know I wouldn’t be too keen on a back story like this. It’s way too much for a level 1 character. This isn’t a back story as much as the story of what happened during a campaign. Maybe you have a character who has aspirations to be a “bard king” but that’s something you work up to, not something you already were.
This is a fairly good point, though I do have an idea for explaining it utilizing another cure that I know already exists in the game
As far as what you said about homebrew cursed items, I may just make up a curse and look into how curses similar to it to make it function better as an in-game thing.
A lot of people are telling me not to get too far into making his backstory because I don't have a DM, but I think I'm just going to have fun making characters for a while and letting my creativity flow so when I do get a DM it will be easy enough to make a simpler character for a lvl 1 campaign. I'm a pretty anxious person, so rping in character out loud is something that's going to take some time building up to, so until then I'm probably going to be the person who has all the things you can need for a DnD campaign and has never played a game before a day in their life ^^'
This is a really good idea. Someone else brought up him just switching out the lute, so I'll have to work out how to explain that. Though I know a curse exists where the next item a cursed player grabs is bound to them forever and they can never get rid of it, so I think I'll try to utilize that somehow. Thanks for the advice ^^
Are you allowed to?
Ay, ever heard of homebrew?