I've played this class for the past year and in general, I really like the changes. Our game had already homebrewed the Tales/Spirits to be BA instead of full actions so that is right in line with how it was already being played, but the change to making the BA SFD immediate is a BAD CHANGE and severely reduces the utility of this core feature. Making it immediate instead of the Tale being "retained" until rest makes this more of a Wild Magic class than the more tactical and flavor this feature had previously.
Who wants to pull a "healing" sprit at the start of combat when maybe no one is wounded? It would be better if that spirit was "retained" just like it was when it was a Tale for use later. Or Renegade, maybe no one can benefit from a 30' reaction teleport now but maybe it is life saving two rounds later? Please reconsider and make these retained and not immediate. You will make the class so less exciting to play if you remove agency of this feature.
I was discussing the issues with this class with some friends several months ago and the fix we came up with that we thought would have the biggest impact was just making it so you only expend your Bardic Inspiration die when you actually use a Tale, rather than when you obtain one. That way, if you never end up in a situation where the Tale you've received is actually useful, you can still use your Bardic Inspiration die for something else. I think if they do change it back to no longer being an immediate effect, it needs a change like this to make it worthwhile.
I'd never play this. My first thought was, this could make a cool shaman type character. Then I looked more closely at the spirits from beyond table. No. Random buffs or curses? That's a hard pass. I see what they are trying to do, but as far as I am concerned this is unplayable. I wouldn't want one in my party and I certainly would not want to play one. I'm not waiting till level 14 in order to gamble with my party's fun, and I don't want people in my party gambling with my fun at all.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
My first thought was, this could make a cool shaman type character.
It is funny that you state that as that is exactly how I played it - but we added some modifications. We removed the ability to use bardic inspiration entirely (absent the tales), removed the skill buffs, but added in Portent and a Fear immunity from Grim Hollow. Also removed Mockery and used a ranged based Chill Touch instead. I did a lot of summons (of ancestors) to make it more thematic.
I also stole liberally from Star Trek and all my tales were in the form of, "Whitetail, when the fire came" and "Nash, his arm extended."
The fixes they made to the Spirits Bard in UA are terrible. I'm glad they clarified the use of Spiritual Focus to apply to all damage dealing and healing bard spells. That was RAI as our table quickly agreed. The change in the Spirit Tales table is awful. I like the suggestion above (@wagnarrokkr) that you could opt not to expend a bardic inspiration die if the Tale was never used. Finally, the change in the Spirit Session is awful. Being able to shop on the daily from the Necromancy and Divination spells lists is a great thematic and utility option. Reducing that to gaining an augmented Spirit Guardians spell is disappointing and amounts to just changing the class into a combat-focused wannabe. Improvements in this archetype need to focus on fixing what was good about the original 2014 features.
I've played this class for the past year and in general, I really like the changes. Our game had already homebrewed the Tales/Spirits to be BA instead of full actions so that is right in line with how it was already being played, but the change to making the BA SFD immediate is a BAD CHANGE and severely reduces the utility of this core feature. Making it immediate instead of the Tale being "retained" until rest makes this more of a Wild Magic class than the more tactical and flavor this feature had previously.
Who wants to pull a "healing" sprit at the start of combat when maybe no one is wounded? It would be better if that spirit was "retained" just like it was when it was a Tale for use later. Or Renegade, maybe no one can benefit from a 30' reaction teleport now but maybe it is life saving two rounds later? Please reconsider and make these retained and not immediate. You will make the class so less exciting to play if you remove agency of this feature.
I was discussing the issues with this class with some friends several months ago and the fix we came up with that we thought would have the biggest impact was just making it so you only expend your Bardic Inspiration die when you actually use a Tale, rather than when you obtain one. That way, if you never end up in a situation where the Tale you've received is actually useful, you can still use your Bardic Inspiration die for something else. I think if they do change it back to no longer being an immediate effect, it needs a change like this to make it worthwhile.
pronouns: he/she/they
I'd never play this. My first thought was, this could make a cool shaman type character. Then I looked more closely at the spirits from beyond table. No. Random buffs or curses? That's a hard pass. I see what they are trying to do, but as far as I am concerned this is unplayable. I wouldn't want one in my party and I certainly would not want to play one. I'm not waiting till level 14 in order to gamble with my party's fun, and I don't want people in my party gambling with my fun at all.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
It is funny that you state that as that is exactly how I played it - but we added some modifications. We removed the ability to use bardic inspiration entirely (absent the tales), removed the skill buffs, but added in Portent and a Fear immunity from Grim Hollow. Also removed Mockery and used a ranged based Chill Touch instead. I did a lot of summons (of ancestors) to make it more thematic.
I also stole liberally from Star Trek and all my tales were in the form of, "Whitetail, when the fire came" and "Nash, his arm extended."
Exactly. That is not a problem with the current, 2014 version of this class but I would never play this class as is for 2024.
The fixes they made to the Spirits Bard in UA are terrible. I'm glad they clarified the use of Spiritual Focus to apply to all damage dealing and healing bard spells. That was RAI as our table quickly agreed. The change in the Spirit Tales table is awful. I like the suggestion above (@wagnarrokkr) that you could opt not to expend a bardic inspiration die if the Tale was never used. Finally, the change in the Spirit Session is awful. Being able to shop on the daily from the Necromancy and Divination spells lists is a great thematic and utility option. Reducing that to gaining an augmented Spirit Guardians spell is disappointing and amounts to just changing the class into a combat-focused wannabe. Improvements in this archetype need to focus on fixing what was good about the original 2014 features.