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Returning 35 results for 'bad bards diffusing career run'.
Monsters
Acquisitions Incorporated
and earnest debate, he demonstrates an equal flair for planning and forethought, mad combat moves (involving leaping off high places whenever possible), and dark vengeance.
Viari's career as an
adventurer was nearly cut short during a battle of which the bards still sing. Unleashing a devastating attack with the aptly named Apocalypse Dagger, the rogue destroyed a giant single-handedly — and lost
Urchin
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
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Backgrounds
Player’s Handbook (2014)
recuperate. You’ve survived despite all odds, and did so through cunning, strength, speed, or some combination of each.
You begin your adventuring career with enough money to live modestly but
I eat like a pig and have bad manners.
6
I think anyone who’s nice to me is hiding evil intent.
7
I don’t like to bathe.
8
I bluntly say what other people are hinting at
Bard
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
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Classes
Basic Rules (2014)
of song, speech, and the magic they contain. Bards say that the multiverse was spoken into existence, that the words of the gods gave it shape, and that echoes of these primordial Words of Creation
still resound throughout the cosmos. The music of bards is an attempt to snatch and harness those echoes, subtly woven into their spells and powers. The greatest strength of bards is their sheer
Classes
Xanathar's Guide to Everything
Bards of the College of Swords are called blades, and they entertain through daring feats of weapon prowess. Blades perform stunts such as sword swallowing, knife throwing and juggling, and mock
have often run into trouble that makes maintaining their secret activities impossible. A blade caught stealing or engaging in vigilante justice is too great a liability for most troupes. With their
Classes
Xanathar's Guide to Everything
Bards of the College of Swords are called blades, and they entertain through daring feats of weapon prowess. Blades perform stunts such as sword swallowing, knife throwing and juggling, and mock
have often run into trouble that makes maintaining their secret activities impossible. A blade caught stealing or engaging in vigilante justice is too great a liability for most troupes. With their
Pirate
Legacy
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Backgrounds
Player’s Handbook (2014)
board—boatswain, captain, navigator, cook, or some other position? Who were the captain and first mate? Did you leave your ship on good terms with your fellows, or on the run?
You spent your youth
you may roll for a random trinket on the Trinkets table in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook), a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp
Feature: Bad Reputation
No matter where
Sailor
Legacy
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Backgrounds
Player’s Handbook (2014)
board—boatswain, captain, navigator, cook, or some other position? Who were the captain and first mate? Did you leave your ship on good terms with your fellows, or on the run?
Skill
more than one deserving soul to a briny grave. Fear and bloodshed are no strangers to you, and you’ve garnered a somewhat unsavory reputation in many a port town.
Variant Feature: Bad
Backgrounds
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus
.
You begin your adventuring career with enough money to live modestly but securely for at least ten days. How did you come by that money? What allowed you to break free of your desperate
a pig and have bad manners.
6
I think anyone who’s nice to me is hiding evil intent.
7
I don’t like to bathe.
8
I bluntly say what other people are hinting at or hiding
Rogue
Legacy
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Classes
Basic Rules (2014)
treasure. Creating a Rogue As you create your rogue character, consider the character’s relationship to the law. Do you have a criminal past—or present? Are you on the run from the law or from
was the trigger that led you away from your previous life? Did a great con or heist gone terribly wrong cause you to reevaluate your career? Maybe you were lucky and a successful robbery gave you the
Criminal / Spy
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
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Backgrounds
Basic Rules (2014)
.
4
I have a “tell” that reveals when I’m lying.
5
I turn tail and run when things look bad.
6
An innocent person is in prison for a crime that I committed. I’m okay with that.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
Learning from Experience True bards are not common in the world. Not every minstrel singing in a tavern or jester cavorting in a royal court is a bard. Discovering the magic hidden in music requires
hard study and some measure of natural talent that most troubadours and jongleurs lack. It can be hard to spot the difference between these performers and true bards, though. A bard’s life is spent
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
Learning from Experience True bards are not common in the world. Not every minstrel singing in a tavern or jester cavorting in a royal court is a bard. Discovering the magic hidden in music requires
hard study and some measure of natural talent that most troubadours and jongleurs lack. It can be hard to spot the difference between these performers and true bards, though. A bard’s life is spent
Backgrounds
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus
tail and run when things look bad.
6
An innocent person is in prison for a crime that I committed. I’m okay with that.
No career criminal in Baldur’s Gate operates without being aware of the Guild. Some studiously keep a low profile, carrying just the occasional smuggled load in with legitimate merchandise, or
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
to begin your career as a mere attendant, you can aspire to become a skilled mage or alchemist, a laboratory supervisor, or even a flamethrower-wielding scorchbringer tasked with defending Izzet
suspension.
7
Great ideas are fine, but great results are what counts.
8
If you can guess what I’m about to do, that means I’ve run out of imagination.
Ideals
d6
Backgrounds
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus
fellows, or on the run?
Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Perception
Tool Proficiencies: Navigator’s tools, vehicles (water)
Equipment: A belaying pin (club), 50 feet of silk rope, a lucky
. Fear and bloodshed are no strangers to you, and you’ve garnered a somewhat unsavory reputation in many a port town.
Variant Feature: Bad Reputation
If your character has a sailor
Backgrounds
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
organization, but who serve as its hands, head, and heart.
As a prelude to your adventuring career (and in preparation for it), you served as an agent of a particular faction in Faerûn. You might have
knowledge, rather than brute force. Harper agents are often proficient in Investigation, enabling them to be adept at snooping and spying. They often seek aid from other Harpers, sympathetic bards and
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
between relying on their bonuses and abilities and paying attention to the game and immersing themselves in its world. Remember that dice don’t run your game — you do. Dice are like rules. They’re
bad die roll foiling the character’s plans. By the same token, a bad plan or unfortunate circumstances can transform the easiest task into an impossibility, or at least impose disadvantage.
Aarakocra
Legacy
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Species
Elemental Evil Player's Companion
lies on the slopes of the Star Mounts’ southernmost mountains. At the headwaters of the Unicorn Run, the Last Aerie is home to several dozen aarakocra. Recently, aarakocra elders detected
changes in the prevailing winds that they regarded as a bad omen.
Unlike the aarakocra of other worlds on the Material Plane, the aarakocra of the Realms rarely travel to the Elemental Plane of Air
Backgrounds
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
If there’s a plan, I’ll forget it. If I don’t forget it, I’ll ignore it.
4
I have a “tell” that reveals when I’m lying.
5
I turn tail and run when
things look bad.
6
An innocent person is in prison for a crime that I committed. I’m okay with that.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
Embarrassment Almost every bard has suffered at least one bad experience in front of an audience, and chances are you’re no exception. No one becomes famous right away, after all; perhaps you had a
few small difficulties early in your career, or maybe it took you a while to restore your reputation after one agonizing night when the fates conspired to bring about your theatrical ruin. The ways
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
Halflings of the Five Nations Quick and charming, many halflings put their natural talents to use as bards, barristers, merchants, and politicians throughout Khorvaire. Of course, these same talents
prove equally useful for burglars, grifters, and other criminals. Of particular note is the halfling-run criminal enterprise of the Boromar Clan, the most powerful crime syndicate in Breland. The
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
Umizu Residents of the city-state of Umizu enjoy their fair share of luck, but good fortune comes at a cost: a season of bad luck that arrives with the yearly monsoon. During this time, locals pray
-simmering tension. Daimyo Hogishi Takemi does his best to rein in crime, but the city’s lackluster bureaucracy is run by complacent samurai administrators and riddled with corruption. Crime syndicates
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
agents include sophisticated bards, zealous paladins, talented mages, and grizzled warriors. They are chosen primarily for their loyalty and are experts in observation, stealth, innuendo, and combat
’ Alliance fights the things that the shopkeeper in his bed has never even heard of. We remove threats before the town mayor even knows about it. We make bad things go away. That’s what we’re good at.”
Rameel Jos
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron
Halflings of the Five Nations Halflings can be found in every city in Khorvaire. Quick and charming, halflings are often found as merchants, politicians, barristers, and bards. Of course, these same
, who occasionally pulls you into their problems. Or you could even be the reluctant heir of a powerful Boromar leader; you’ve gone on the run rather than taking your place in this criminal empire, but someday your past may catch up with you.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk
provisions from Neverwinter to Phandalin. They’re a half-day’s march from Phandalin when they run into trouble with goblin raiders from the Cragmaw band. Read the following text to get the adventure
started. (If you’re using another adventure hook, skip to the second paragraph and adjust the details as necessary, ignoring the information about driving the cart.) You began your adventuring career in
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
Creating a Rogue As you create your rogue character, consider the character’s relationship to the law. Do you have a criminal past — or present? Are you on the run from the law or from an angry
you away from your previous life? Did a great con or heist gone terribly wrong cause you to reevaluate your career? Maybe you were lucky and a successful robbery gave you the coin you needed to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
because they have not received deliveries of mead from the town of Good Mead, and the taverns have run dry. As if things weren’t bad enough, the town’s harbor has frozen over, and the town’s speaker
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
on board — boatswain, captain, navigator, cook, or some other position? Who were the captain and first mate? Did you leave your ship on good terms with your fellows, or on the run? Skill Proficiencies
briny grave. Fear and bloodshed are no strangers to you, and you’ve garnered a somewhat unsavory reputation in many a port town. If you decide that your sailing career involved piracy, you can choose
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries
cloudy blue eyes. They run a flower stall in the market. Friendly and a bit wistful, Astra chats with anyone who stops at their stall, as happy to hear the recent news as to make a sale. Astra was a
. “Gossip nourishes me like a spring rain, but I hate to hear or pass on bad news.” Ideal. “People are like flowers: Some grow best when left alone, others must be carefully cultivated—and some need to be
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
townsfolk. Chaotic neutral (CN) creatures follow their whims, holding their personal freedom above all else. Many rogues and bards are chaotic neutral. Lawful evil (LE) creatures methodically take what
, Artemis is not an ideal adventurer. He began his career as a villain, and only cooperates with heroes when he must — and when it’s in his own best interests. In most games, evil adventurers cause
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
sideways, sometimes innocents get unwillingly caught in the action. The common artisan who hired the party to find her missing partner might find herself and her hired inquisitives on the run when
in both Persuasion and Intimidation prove helpful in this role. Bards, paladins, and sorcerers have both the requisite talents and the ability to supplement their interrogations with magic
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
vengeance. Viari’s career as an adventurer was nearly cut short during a battle of which the bards still sing. Unleashing a devastating attack with the aptly named Apocalypse Dagger, the rogue destroyed a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Giants of the Star Forge
. After Diasma shares what she knows, she issues the party a challenge in exchange for further help from the monastery. Run the “Fireside Contests” section below. Roleplaying Diasma Diasma is a serene but
giants might just be the impetus Diasma needs to leave the monastery and continue her adventuring career. Diasma’s Challenge Diasma questions whether the characters have what it takes to compete with
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
Creating a Rogue As you create your rogue character, consider the character’s relationship to the law. Do you have a criminal past — or present? Are you on the run from the law or from an angry
led you away from your previous life? Did a great con or heist gone terribly wrong cause you to reevaluate your career? Maybe you were lucky and a successful robbery gave you the coin you needed to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron
a lively debate on the current state of the Race of Eight Winds. Detention is run by a halfling who calls herself Brandy. She claims to be a excoriate, driven from House Ghallanda after refusing to
large meeting rooms, and a small concert hall. Rumors say that this is an outpost of the secret Circle of Song, a society of bards and entertainers spread across Khorvaire; others swear that House