Identity
Valor Bards keep the names. The Halcyion regimental cantors, the Norskan skald-warriors, the Aurelion battlefield-laureates, the Frontier company-singer who keeps the unit's roster as a sung list — all are Valor Bards. They fight alongside the people whose deeds they record. Their channeling carries the weight of being witnessed by someone who can sing about it later, and that weight is the most reliable second wind a strike team can carry.
Features
- L3 Bonus Proficiencies
You gain proficiency with medium armor, with shields, and with martial weapons (including the martial firearms category).
- L3 Combat Inspiration
Your Bardic Inspiration may be used for combat ends. A creature holding a Bardic Inspiration die from you may, in addition to the normal uses, choose to: • Roll the die and add it to a weapon damage roll the creature makes on a hit. The die is rolled when the damage is rolled. • Roll the die as a reaction when struck by an attack; the die's result is added to the creature's AC against that attack only (decided after the attack roll, before the GM declares hit or miss). If the attack misses as a result, the Bardic Inspiration use is expended.
- L7 Extra Attack
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can make two weapon attacks instead of one.
- L11 Inspiration Strike
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you may, as part of the same attack, expend one Bardic Inspiration use of your own and roll your Bardic Inspiration die; the damage roll deals an additional die-roll's worth of damage of the weapon's damage type. The Inspiration use is expended whether or not the damage is enough to drop the target. Additionally, when you grant a Bardic Inspiration die to an ally within 30 ft as a bonus action, that ally may use their reaction to immediately make a single weapon attack (this consumes their reaction; the attack does not consume a Bardic Inspiration die — the die remains with them for normal Combat Inspiration use).
- L15 Battle Magic
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you may replace one of the attacks with the casting of a Bard channel that has a casting time of 1 action and a single-target attack or save. If the channel has a casting time longer than 1 action, this feature does not apply. You may use this feature a number of times per long rest equal to your CHA modifier (minimum 1); additional uses recover on long rest. Additionally, when you cast a leveled Bard channel using a slot of 3rd level or higher, you may make one weapon attack as a bonus action on the same turn.
- L18 Heroic Anthem Capstone
Once per long rest, as an action, you begin a Heroic Anthem — a sustained performance of war-poetry, hymn, or anthem (you choose the form to suit the unit and the moment). The Anthem lasts up to 1 minute and ends if you are incapacitated, silenced, or end it as a free action. While the Anthem is sustained, you and each ally within 60 ft who can hear you gains the following benefits: • 5 + your CHA modifier temporary HP each round (regained at the start of each ally's turn; do not stack across turns). • +1 to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws. • Immunity to the Frightened and Charmed conditions. • A Bardic Inspiration die (current Bard level's die size) at the start of each of the ally's turns if they have none; this Inspiration die may only be used while the Anthem is sustained and is lost when the Anthem ends. Sustaining the Anthem from round to round requires a bonus action each round (you may still take actions, reactions, and movement normally on those rounds). You can use this feature once per long rest; you regain a use also after a Tier IV+ heroic moment as adjudicated by the GM (a battle won against long odds; a decisive sacrifice averted; the rescue of a major NPC). Such regains are narrative, not bookkeeping.