Green Ronin Publishing

Hoping Chris or someone else might be able to answer this question.

I'm currently reading "The Stolen Throne" (which reminds me very much of another story I read long ago, but can't remember the title) and have a question about bards. Will bards be assassins or have access to assassin abilities as mentioned in the novel? I really like the concept of the bard being a political agent versed in intrigue but also able to deal death.

probably better to ask that question on the bioware forums as this one seems abit dead atm.

The first set covers three classes: mage, rogue, and warrior. You can certainly use the rogue class to build a bard. We may add a bard class in a later set though.

I get the impression that one goes through classes like one would avance through "careers" in whfrp.

My only real concern is PowerCreep.

Is the DA rpg PC going from Zero to near demigod? Or will the town guard and evil Orc always be a threat to the PC without level scaleing?


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I suspect that there will not ever be "godlike levels of power"--the setting is more akin to Deadlands than Dungeons and Dragons. Large numbers, even of weak-ish enemies, should always be a problem.

It keeps in line with the gritty style that there probably won't be a power creep problem for a while, as long as any new classes introduced aren't forced to compete directly with the existing classes in terms of power or ability. Given that the line is basically going to be a series of boxed sets, power creep only comes through the natural level gaining of the players :)

Personally, if there is power creep, I'd consider it a weird kind of success, because that means that many supplements will have been created by then!

It's best if it's avoided of course, but here's hoping they have to tackle these problems in the future :)

Backing this up, in DA:O, bard is just a rogue specialization. There are three classes: warrior, rogue and mage. Specializations and the choices of skills (things anyone can take, including Herbalism, Traps, Poison Making, Locks, etc.) and Techniques (class-specific boosts) provide substantial differentiation within class. For instance, my sword and shield Champion-specialized human warrior feels very different than the two-handed weapon Berzerker-specialized dwarf warrior NPC in the game.

Bards aren't Assassins because of awesome stealth/combat training... those are actual Assassins.

Bards usually employ as spies and occasionally do assassination work, due to the fact that they are top of the line minstrels who are VERY good at cover stories and fooling people. They use deception and coercion, where an Assassin uses stealth and a knife across the throat.

Just clarifying.

Play DA:O, Leliana and Zevran make it pretty clear how they work.