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About this mod
Adds a homebrewed subclass to the Bard of my own design. The College of Players Bard has some extra tricks giving them an edge in infiltration. This is a very frontloaded subclass with an edge in out-of-combat utility.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
College of Players
Adds a homebrewed subclass to the Bard of my own design. The College of Players Bard has some extra tricks giving them an edge in infiltration. This is a very frontloaded subclass, but will be out performed in damage output by the College of Swords Bard and perhaps the College of Valor Bard as it lacks the Extra Attack Feature. The College of Players Bard has the edge in out-of-combat utility. How it compares to the College of Lore will depend on your opinion on Cutting Words and their extra dose of Magical Secrets.
Theme
Think magic wielding play actor who puts their talents to use in a more mercenary fashion as a spy or assassin.
Abilities
Level 3
Deception Proficiency
Performance Proficiency
Shield Proficiency
Mage Hand Cantrip
Mage Hand Legerdemain
Disguise Self Spell
Detect Thoughts Spell
Knock Spell
Cunning Action: Hide
Sudden Strike Ability
Level 5
Gaseous Form Spell
Level 9
Seeming Spell
Sudden Strike
Use your Bardic Inspiration to make a sneak attack akin to the Rogue Class. The extra damage is equal to twice your Bardic Inspiration die. For example, at level 5, you would add 2d8 damage to your weapon's damage roll. All of the same conditions for a rogue to make a sneak attack apply.
Notes
The spells you receive at Levels 3, 5, & 9 are in addition to whatever you choose for your Bard spells, not forced choices.
Thoughts on Balance
I'm only going to go over its comparison to other Bard Subclasses, because trying to balance it to all of the other caster classes in the game would be futile, and likely a bit silly. As stated earlier, this class has quite the power spike at level 3, as many other subclasses do. You will have one less skill proficiency than the College of Lore, and you'll miss out on their combat debuff. You will put out more non-magical damage than the College of Lore, but then it evens out when they get Magical Secrets and can start flinging fireballs like a Wizard. You won't be as tanky as either the College of Valor or College of Swords Bard, as you don't get Medium Armor or the Sword Bard's Defensive Flourish, though you do get Shield Proficiency. You will clearly outpace the College of Valor Bard individually in damage (that is to say, not taking into account their ability to buff team mates' strikes), if you position correctly. The College of Swords can do slightly more damage per turn with their extra attacks at Level 5, but will require two uses of Bardic Inspiration per turn as opposed to your one. College of Valor will do better at supporting team-mates with their Combat Inspiration. You will have more known spells than any of the other Colleges, but all of the spells the College of Players gives you for free are noncombat and utility in nature.
Honestly, I feel like this subclass feels distinct enough from the other three to make it worth considering. While it does give you a bunch of toys to play with to give you ultimate flexibility to overcome obstacles outside of combat, it will leave you leaning heavily on the rest of your party in combat.
I have absolutely no idea how this class will perform if multi-classed. It was not designed for it, though like I said, it is heavily front loaded so I suppose you could make it work. If you are convinced you need to try it anyways, I do not recommend trying it with the Rogue. Their variations of sneak attack do not stack.
Known Issues
-The icon art for the subclass is some generic thing that seems to be the placeholder for any new subclass you mod in. I have absolutely no idea how to change it at present. I'm also not an artist, even if I could change it, I'd probably just borrow another Bard Subclass' icon.
Disclaimer
I had near no idea what I was doing when I started coding this. You could go mad sifting through this game's erratic code, jumping through multiple files across multiple folders to modify a single ability. If there are guides on how to do this kind of thing already, they're unknown to me. I tested the subclass up to level 9, and everything appears functional, but there's always the possibility that I overlooked something. If I did, let me know in the comments.
This was made for a personal playthrough, because I wanted a more rogue-like bard, and I feel like it fills that role quite well. I'm willing to make updates to fix bugs, but I'm not open to making changes for reasons of balance or to just add/remove features for theme or other matters of opinion.
Credits
Larian Studios - They receive all of my adoration.
BG3 Modder's Multitool
LSLib
Adds a homebrewed subclass to the Bard of my own design. The College of Players Bard has some extra tricks giving them an edge in infiltration. This is a very frontloaded subclass, but will be out performed in damage output by the College of Swords Bard and perhaps the College of Valor Bard as it lacks the Extra Attack Feature. The College of Players Bard has the edge in out-of-combat utility. How it compares to the College of Lore will depend on your opinion on Cutting Words and their extra dose of Magical Secrets.
Theme
Think magic wielding play actor who puts their talents to use in a more mercenary fashion as a spy or assassin.
Abilities
Level 3
Deception Proficiency
Performance Proficiency
Shield Proficiency
Mage Hand Cantrip
Mage Hand Legerdemain
Disguise Self Spell
Detect Thoughts Spell
Knock Spell
Cunning Action: Hide
Sudden Strike Ability
Level 5
Gaseous Form Spell
Level 9
Seeming Spell
Sudden Strike
Use your Bardic Inspiration to make a sneak attack akin to the Rogue Class. The extra damage is equal to twice your Bardic Inspiration die. For example, at level 5, you would add 2d8 damage to your weapon's damage roll. All of the same conditions for a rogue to make a sneak attack apply.
Notes
The spells you receive at Levels 3, 5, & 9 are in addition to whatever you choose for your Bard spells, not forced choices.
Thoughts on Balance
I'm only going to go over its comparison to other Bard Subclasses, because trying to balance it to all of the other caster classes in the game would be futile, and likely a bit silly. As stated earlier, this class has quite the power spike at level 3, as many other subclasses do. You will have one less skill proficiency than the College of Lore, and you'll miss out on their combat debuff. You will put out more non-magical damage than the College of Lore, but then it evens out when they get Magical Secrets and can start flinging fireballs like a Wizard. You won't be as tanky as either the College of Valor or College of Swords Bard, as you don't get Medium Armor or the Sword Bard's Defensive Flourish, though you do get Shield Proficiency. You will clearly outpace the College of Valor Bard individually in damage (that is to say, not taking into account their ability to buff team mates' strikes), if you position correctly. The College of Swords can do slightly more damage per turn with their extra attacks at Level 5, but will require two uses of Bardic Inspiration per turn as opposed to your one. College of Valor will do better at supporting team-mates with their Combat Inspiration. You will have more known spells than any of the other Colleges, but all of the spells the College of Players gives you for free are noncombat and utility in nature.
Honestly, I feel like this subclass feels distinct enough from the other three to make it worth considering. While it does give you a bunch of toys to play with to give you ultimate flexibility to overcome obstacles outside of combat, it will leave you leaning heavily on the rest of your party in combat.
I have absolutely no idea how this class will perform if multi-classed. It was not designed for it, though like I said, it is heavily front loaded so I suppose you could make it work. If you are convinced you need to try it anyways, I do not recommend trying it with the Rogue. Their variations of sneak attack do not stack.
Known Issues
-The icon art for the subclass is some generic thing that seems to be the placeholder for any new subclass you mod in. I have absolutely no idea how to change it at present. I'm also not an artist, even if I could change it, I'd probably just borrow another Bard Subclass' icon.
Disclaimer
I had near no idea what I was doing when I started coding this. You could go mad sifting through this game's erratic code, jumping through multiple files across multiple folders to modify a single ability. If there are guides on how to do this kind of thing already, they're unknown to me. I tested the subclass up to level 9, and everything appears functional, but there's always the possibility that I overlooked something. If I did, let me know in the comments.
This was made for a personal playthrough, because I wanted a more rogue-like bard, and I feel like it fills that role quite well. I'm willing to make updates to fix bugs, but I'm not open to making changes for reasons of balance or to just add/remove features for theme or other matters of opinion.
Credits
Larian Studios - They receive all of my adoration.
BG3 Modder's Multitool
LSLib