Quintessential Bard II, The

There is magic in poetry, the way a few words can move the heart. There is also magic in stories and the way they can make people reach towards impossible goals. Music has its own brand of magic, the way that it can mix only eight paltry notes and create new things incessantly, talking to the heart and the mind without the need of passing through words. Such is the magic of the bard, a singer of songs and teller of tales, a jack of all trades who finds his knowledge and power not in the dusty halls of a library or the obscure heritage of a strange bloodline, but in the whim of inspiration and the freedom of the roads.

More than any other character, the bard has a chance to do almost all that other characters can. He can cast spells, he is a passable combatant and he is capable of learning many trades, including various performance arts. The diversity with which he approaches life makes him capable of tackling almost any situation, perhaps not as expertly as someone with better preparation in a given field, but with sufficient expertise to come out on top. Perhaps the most important thing about the bard is that he will seldom be unprepared, rounding up any party by providing support both in combat and in magic, plus becoming the ideal negotiators and party spokespersons, not only for their adeptness at mind-bending magic, but more importantly because of their natural charisma and knowledge of how to deal with others.

The Collector’s Series II takes an advanced look in the whole range of class and racial sourcebooks from Mongoose Publishing, all designed to greatly widen a player’s options for his character within the d20 games system. More than simple continuations, the second series of Quintessential books slot seamlessly into any fantasy-based campaign, giving advanced alternatives for characters of one class or race within the game, allowing both players and Games Masters the chance to give mid- and high-level characters new options without overpowering or unbalancing the game as a whole. The Collector’s Series II will not necessarily allow players to make their characters even better, but they will be able to do a lot more than they ever thought possible before.

With the help of this sourcebook, any character choosing the bard class will find many alternatives and options expanding his range of abilities. With career paths, bards can customize their advancement and gain special benefits from their chosen branch of training; legendary classes offer a subset and expansion of their magical prowess that may take them to epic levels and beyond. Multiclassing offers a bard a complement to his abilities, while superior tools offer to enhance his performance. Tricks of the trade expands the range of methods a bard can apply to his special abilities, while power performances help a bard build up the power of their art to achieve greater diversity. Song and poetry are not the only ways that a bard can express his artistic soul; there are other kinds of performance that he can practice, equally valid for channeling the power of his inspiration. Through dance, acting, acrobatics and other performance arts, in addition to new styles of song, the bard can explore fully the infinite recesses of his inspiration and talent.

Bard characters have many paths at their feet, and are unique of all adventurers that they can follow most of them at the same time. Combining their innate talent for magic, his adeptness at learning and his ability to deal with people, bards occupy an exceptional niche in any group as the party’s representative, leader and support, and The Quintessential Bard II: Advanced Tactics provides all the necessary tools for the bard to become a legend at such roles.