VI. Diseño Metodológico
6.2. Diseño del muestreo
The epics of the Scarred Lands are, in some way, a source of power for its bardic practitioners. Certainly, they are not the source for bardic magic any more than the runes in a wizard’s book or the blood in a sorcerer’s veins are. Rather, they are the vehicles by which the bard taps into his magic.
As a result there are bards who have focused on the epics, learning to tap into history itself and harvest the stories of the past for their power. Lovingly, they scour the precise notes, chords and histories of these epics, squeezing as much as they can learn from the compositions. They dedicate themselves to redis- covering ancient epics, as well as crafting new ones.
In so doing, they learn to tap into new uses for the epics and discover bits of mastery, which are unique to the mag- ics somehow invested in these masterpieces by generations of bards using them as a vehicle for their own arcane lore. The keeper of epics does not belong to any for- malized organization or college, but most bardic brotherhoods and companies have at least one a m o n g
t h e m with the kind of fascina- tion with the epics required to master this extensive body of lore. Use in Other Cam-
paigns: The Keeper of Epics is
easily added to most fantasy cam- paigns. All that is necessary is that there be a tradition of heroic epics on which bards can draw as the medium of their power. If there is no such tradition, the GM could replace it with a tradi- tion of drama or song, for example, depending on the nature of his campaign.
Hit Die: d6
R
EQUI REMENTSTo qualify to become a keeper of epics (Koe), a char- acter must fulfill all the following criteria:
Alignment: Keepers of Epics are wanderers, much
like bards, and their lifestyles are incompatible with lawful alignment.
Feat: Memory of the Ages (see Appendix I). Skill: Perform (stringed instruments) 8 ranks. Spellcasting: Must be able to spontaneously cast
2nd level arcane spells.
Special: The character must be able to use
bardic music.
C
LASSS
KILLSThe keeper of epic’s class skills are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Instrument) (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Lis- ten (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language, Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Use
Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int
modifier.
C
LASSF
EATURESAll of the f o l l o w i n g are class fea- tures of the keeper of ep- ics prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A
keeper of epics gains no new proficiencies in weapons or armor. Armor of any type inter- feres with the keeper of epics’ arcane gestures, which can cause his spells to fail (if those spells have somatic components).
Spells per Day: Keepers of epics
continue to advance in spellcasting ability. When a keeper of epics ad- vances in level, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in the bard class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have re-
T
ABLEA2– 7:K
EEPEROFE
PICS(K
OE)
Class Class Class Class
Class BaseBaseBaseBaseBase FortFortFortFortFort RefRefRefRefRef WillWillWillWillWill SpecialSpecialSpecialSpecialSpecial Spells per DaySpells per DaySpells per DaySpells per DaySpells per Day Level
Level Level Level
Level AttackAttackAttackAttackAttack SaveSaveSaveSaveSave SaveSaveSaveSaveSave SaveSaveSaveSaveSave Bonus
BonusBonus BonusBonus
1st +0 +0 +2 +2 Epic mastery +1 caster level 2nd +1 +0 +3 +3 Epic mastery +1 caster level 3rd +2 +1 +3 +3 Epic mastery +1 caster level 4th +3 +1 +4 +4 Epic mastery +1 caster level 5th +3 +1 +4 +4 Epic mastery +1 caster level 6th +4 +2 +5 +5 Epic mastery +1 caster level 7th +5 +2 +5 +5 Epic mastery +1 caster level 8th +6 +2 +6 +6 Epic mastery +1 caster level 9th +6 +3 +6 +6 Epic mastery +1 caster level 10th +7 +3 +7 +7 Epic mastery +1 caster level
ceived. This essentially means that he adds the level of High Chorister to her bard levels, then determines spell per day and caster level accordingly. Levels in keeper of epics does stack with bard levels for determining how many times per day he may use bardic music.
Epic Mastery (Ex): Each time the character gains
a level in keeper of epics, he gains access to greater mastery of one epic. Refer to Chapter 4 for more infor- mation and history on these epics. This grants a number of benefits:
• The keeper of epics adds one spell to his Spells Known list. This spell must be a spell of a level he can cast, and must come from the list of spells that is connected to his mastered epic.
• When quoting an epic and casting a bard spell associated with that epic, the keeper of epic’s effective caster level is increased by +1.
• When performing an epic and using one of the bardic music functions associated with that epic, the bardic music benefits are actually improved, as follows:
Inspire Courage: The bard who uses epic mastery to inspire courage increases the bonus he grants by +1 for either
the save bonuses, or attack and damage rolls. This choice must be made for each epic he knows; thus, a bard may use one epic to grant a higher bonus on saves, and another to grant a higher bonus on attack and damage rolls.
Countersong: The bard who uses epic mastery to
perform countersong gains a +2 competence bonus to his Perform check for that purpose. Additionally, the bard may keep up the countersong for 15 rounds.
Fascinate: The bard who uses epic mastery to per-
form fascinate may keep creatures fascinated for up to 2 rounds per level of the bard (including keeper of epic levels). Additionally, creatures so affected receive a –6 to their Spot and Listen checks.
Inspire Competence: The bard who uses epic mastery
to perform inspire competence grants a +4 bonus to skills, but only to those skills that are commonly associated with that epic (as detailed in the bardic epic descrip- tions, Chapter 4).
Suggestion: The bard who uses epic mastery to give
a creature a suggestion gains a +2 to the Will save DC of that effect.
Inspire Greatness: The bard who uses epic mastery
to inspire greatness improves the Hit Dice and compe- tence bonus gained to attack by 1 each.
Song of Freedom: The bard who uses epic mastery to
perform song of freedom need only perform for 5 rounds, rather than a minute, in order to do so.
Inspire Heroics: The bard who uses epic mastery to inspire heroics increases the bonus he grants by +2 for
either the save bonuses or the AC bonus. This choice must be made for each epic he knows; thus, a bard may use one epic to grant a higher bonus on saves, and another to grant a higher bonus on AC.