[UA] Avatar: the Musician (Bard problem solved)

[kundalini kat]

So I figured out a thing for my Bard player. What he likes to do is stand back from a fight and have area affects that help allies. He likes to play supporting roles in battle. So we came up with a buffing/support role as an Archetype.

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/ua-seattle/wikis/musician

This is the Obsidian Portal page for my campaign by the way, there's a couple more custom magic schools in the wiki.




The Musician

An archetype about public performers of music etc. etc.

(Taboos, symbolism etc. yet to be written. I think the taboo would be against interrupting songs, dismissing or mocking any form of music or rhythm... suggestions?)

Upon a successful Musician roll, a Musician can influence a group of people within hearing range, by playing an instrument and singing a song. Call them the Audience for the Song. Everyone present is in that particular Audience and is affected, including the Musician. Only humans are affected as an Audience; animals and unnatural creatures are not, even the ones who have a human body, or inhabit one.

Take the ones digit of the successful roll as the 1d10 value in these channels. A roll of 42 would last for 2 minutes or 2 hours, and a ones digit of 0 means a result of 10 minutes or 10 hours.

During combat a song, once commenced, continues the entire battle (until stopped). After all, each round is only 3 seconds; a minute of combat would take 20 rounds. If the Musician is attacked, he must make a Musician roll to continue playing. If the attack is a matched success or 00, the attacker may as well have scratched vinyl, and probably hurt Musician’s instrument or jaw.

If a song is interrupted by an attack during battle, the jarring halt and absence of the Song causes a reversed effect for members of the Audience, for one round following the attacker’s round, including the attacker’s turn. For example, the Musician’s roll of 42 giving a +2 bonus to a Struggle skill becomes a -2 for the next round, including the attacker’s next turn.

For extra fun, the player of the Musician should describe the Song s/he is playing. Especially if s/he’s covering a particular, popular song that fits the moment.

01-50 	For the duration of a Song, the Musician can buff or reduce a skill for 1d10 minutes, by 1d10 points. This only affects skills that an Audience member already has, so it’s most useful for the basic skills that are given during character creation.

51-70 	For the duration of a Song, the Musician can buff or reduce one of the four stats, and all skills under that stat. For example, a Musician rolling 42 could buff the Audience for Body +2, with Athletics +2 and Struggle +2. (The exception is that the Musician cannot increase his own Soul stat or skills with a Song, only others’ Soul. This means you can’t just play up your Avatar: Musician skill.)

71-90 	The buff or reduction lingers in effect for 1d10 hours, for all members of the Audience. This is the one you want to use on your friends before you meet your enemies, or your enemies before they meet your friends.

91+ 	The Musician can spread any skill of any member of the Audience to every other member of the Audience, for the duration of a Song. Take the Musician roll as the amount of skill that the Audience temporarily gains, up to the limit of the Audience member’s relevant stat. The skill chosen by the Musician to spread must be equal to or less than the successful roll. This cannot be an obsession skill, and it won’t replace an obsession skill in another member of the Audience. If the Musician is interrupted by an attack during this song, the effect ends, and the Musician loses his next turn from the shock.

Example: A Musician with a level of 91 plays a crazy Irish drinkin’n’fightin’ song during a bar brawl after a pub crawl. He rolls a 42, and chooses his drinking buddy’s Drunken Boxing 40 melee skill. Everyone in the bar with less than a 40 melee skill gains such a skill – except for the bouncer (whose melee skill is his obsession). The frail bartender with Body 35 only gets his Break A Bottle On Your Head melee skill raised up to 35.