Minstrels: Bards in Dragonlance

Leliana, bard of Dragon Age

As I explained in the previous, Monks in Dragonlance post, I have a need to differentiate the "priests" from different gods. I guess it comes from AD&D 2nd Edition, where priests had access to only a relevant subset of the whole cleric spell list, instead of everything.

In this post, I'll talk about the bard.

Bards in D&D

As described in the official description, Bards are masters of word-based and music-based magic. They have access to their own spell list, mixing a bit of arcane spells list (e.g. charm person) and divine magic (e.g. healing word). Their spellcasting mechanics are the same as the sorcerers.

Bards in Dragonlance

As sorcerers, vanilla D&D5 bards use ambient magic, which is a big no-no in Age of Despair's era of Dragonlance, so they can't be used as such. And yet, we have at least one god, Branchala, also called the Bard King, who is clearly all about bards of the fifth edition, so I guess we have something to work with.

Let's call the following bard variant Minstrel, to avoid confusion with the D&D5 vanilla bard. The Minstrel has the following modifications, overthe vanilla bard class:

• The Minstrel spells are divine in nature, given by their god
• The Minstrel has a medaillion of faith 
• The Minstrel has, in addition to their known spells, has access to the spells given in the domains/vocations of their god.

From there, one can specialize their Minstrel using one of the many bard archetypes described in the various D&D5e sourcebooks.

A little digression: What about Leliana?

I've always liked the Dragon Age's Bard. Masters and mistresses of intrigue, assassination, sabotage, and espionage, like the hardened Leliana, of the Dragon Age universe, the bard who became spy for the Divine, and later, the Inquisitor's spymaster (and possibly, the next Divine).

So, yeah...

While they are quite different from the vanilla bard, they are still bards, in a way (if only for the song-based powers).

So, yeah, as far as I am concerned, Dragon Age Bards are viable D&D5e bards.

Branchala

All priests of Branchala should be Minstrels, unless exception. They should also have access to any bard archetype, unlike the other god's Minstrels.

'nuf said.

Sirrion

In the Holy Order of the Stars sourcebook, there's a prestige class called the Firebrand of Sirrion. And to be fair, I believe bards are very good priests for Sirrion. Actually, priests of Sirrion should all be Minstrels.

Hiddukel

As for Takhisis (see below), and for the same reasons, the Minstrel is well adapted to follow Hiddukel's teachings, using their talent for manipulation and intrigue to subjugate and corrupt.

Takhisis

What happens if you mix:

• the Dragon Age Bard above, and
  
• the Dark Pilgrim prestige class from D&D3.5's Holy Order of the Stars, and
  
• the College of Whispers from Xanathar's Guide to Everything?
  

The perfect Minstrel character for Takhisis (who already has the clerics, and monks, so yeah, she's everywhere) to infiltrate places of power, and soft-control over them.

Zeboim

There is a prestige class called the Seawolf of Zeboim, in the D&D3.5 edition Holy Order of the Stars sourcebook. While it seems more like a barbarian, it does give off a Viking's vibe... and among the norse culture, the Skald was never far.

As one of the three gods of nature (with Chislev and Habbakuk), I give Zeboim's priesthood access to the druid and ranger class. But the Skald cannot be overlooked, so a  priest of Zeboim can be based on the Minstrel class, too.

Conclusion

Here are the Minstrels, the bards of Krynn, in my campaign.

Like the monk, they greatly enhance the variety of priests in my campaign, provided you select the right archetypes.

Next post will be about the rangers of Dragonlance...