All aspects of the Psionic Bard are as the Athasian bard; they have access to all thief skills, with 20 points per level to improve them, they may influence reactions, inspire, and countersong as an Athasian bard, and "learn a little bit of everything." Their NWPs are Rogue, Warrior, General and Psionic. The sole difference is a lack of facility with poisons, and the advancement of psionic powers. Bards are not true psionicists, but expand their abilities slightly as time goes on.
At 1st level, a Bard is a wild talent, as with all other Athasian characters, with the same number of powers and PSPs as any other Athasian character. At levels 2, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, and 19, the Bard learns one devotion for which they meet the prerequisites, from any discipline. Certain disciplines are more difficult for bards to explore, due to the ubiquity of certain sciences as prerequisites; these remain closed to the Bard unless their wild talent provides the necessary powers. As they do not properly study psionics, they have no primary discipline, and so no restrictions on numbers of powers from a discipline based on that. Most Bards lack the ability to engage in psionic combat (since they do not have access to Mindlink, save through wild talents, and that forms the backbone of the discipline), but most will acquire a psionic defense as soon as they are able.
At each level beyond the first, Bards gain PSPs. However, they only gain 1d6 plus their ability modifier for Wisdom (per the Inherent Potential Table on page 38 of the Dark Sun book; Wisdoms of 15 or less result in only a 1d6 roll of PSPs).
This version works well for both S&P and CompPsi psionics, whichever you prefer; the only difference would be in psionic combat, where Psionic Bards would be counted as other wild talents, able to learn up to 3 defense and 3 attack modes as proficiencies.
Why a psionic bard kit? Because the standard bard in Athas is an assassin, to the point where one questions why anyone would accept bards that have been sent to them... if bards show up, someone is going to die. This version allows there to be a LOT of different bards, and they're less "scary assassins" and more the dabbler that other bards are.
Interesting post. It is worth playtesting at least.
ReplyDeleteHowever to answer your question, not all Bards are assassins. Most bards are classless with musical nonweapon proficiencies. At least, that's how I've always assumed they were. This version isn't bad though.