Troubadour

A Troubadour is a multi-talented entertainer and performer, and a well skilled Troubadour may be an actor, poet, mimic and musician. The most powerful ability that a Troubadour can gain is the Bardic Voice, which enables them to influence all but the deaf.

Benefits

In addition, a Troubadour gains 3 abilities at Rank 0, and one further ability per Rank. All abilities are usually performed at the overall Rank of the Troubadour. A Troubadour may however choose to specialise. If, upon gaining a new Rank the Troubadour wishes to forego gaining a new ability, they may pick one of the abilities that they already possess and specialise. That ability then operates at (Troubadour's Rank + 1), maximum 10. A Troubadour may specialise more than once with the same ability, gaining Rank + 2, Rank + 3, etc.
Additional abilities may be gained after achieving Rank 10, by the expenditure of 500 Experience Points, and 2 weeks of training. Individual Base Chances are not provided for the various Troubadour skills, rather there is a generic Base Chance of 3 x appropriate statistic (+5/Rank), modified by the GM to reflect the difficulty of the feat being attempted.

The abilities available to a Troubadour are:

ACROBATICS: mostly involves tumbling across the ground, but also performing manoeuvres after swinging from a trapeze, rope, or bar; jumping from a springboard, or high ledge.
ACTING: Portraying fictitious personalities and devising rationales for assumed identities. Usually involves accentuated and exaggerated actions and emotions.
BARDIC VOICE: (see below). Note: A Troubadour may not specialise in Bardic Voice.
COMEDY: The use of timing, inflection and language to cause merriment or laughter. Also writing both jokes and skits. Comedy may also be combined or included in many other art forms.
DANCE: mostly traditional, often rural dances, performed for an audience, also includes creating new dances.
FIRE EATING: Appearing to swallow and/or produce flame, usually, from the mouth. To do this, a fire eater requires a special liquid, which may be purchased from an Alchemist for a modest fee.
JUGGLING: Throwing and catching objects. A Juggler is able to keep up to 1 (+1 / Rank ) items, of equal weight and size, in the air at the same time. If the items juggled are of a different size and/or weight, each difference counts as another item juggled.
MAKE UP: using props, stage makeup, and items such as wigs, fake beards, and wax noses, a Troubadour can portray a character of a different age, race, sex, or profession to their own.
MIME: Using only the performer's body, and its movements, to convey an idea, describe a scene, tell a tale, or entertain.
MIMICRY: Imitating sounds and voices accurately and believably.
PATTER: Talking interestingly, seemingly non stop, either as advertising for a show or as a misdirecting part of a performance.
PLAY AN INSTRUMENT: This ability may be taken several times with different instruments. A Singer is one who has Play Instrument (Voice). A Troubadour can usually play similar instruments to the ones they have chosen at (Rank/2).
POETRY: Creating and reciting poetry, including lengthy epics running to hundreds of lines.
PRESTIDIGITATION: Manipulation of small articles such as coins, eggs, or pebbles to make them move, disappear and reappear in unusual and entertaining ways. This ability also gives a bonus to the casting of all Minor Magics of 2% (+2 / Rank).
PRODUCTION: Play writing and turning a play into a successful production. Includes set design and sound effects. The higher the Rank, the less likely it is that a major catastrophe will befall the production through something having been forgotten or overlooked.
PUPPETRY: Writing a story to be performed by Puppeteers, and performing a story or play with puppets.
STILT WALKING: Balancing and walking on stilts of up to 50% (+20%/Rank) of the Troubadour's height.
STORYTELLING: Creating and reciting stories for an audience.
SWORD SWALLOWING: Controlling the mouth, tongue and throat such as to be able to allow long, rigid props to pass into the throat.
TIGHTROPE WALKING: Walking, balancing, and turning on a taut raised rope, or narrow beam.
VENTRILOQUISM: The ability to speak without moving the lips and make the voice seem to come from any location up to (Rank/2) feet away.

Bardic Voice

Design Notes

The other intention of this re-write was to increase the distinction between Troubadour & Courtesan skills; to allow specialisation; and to clarify the skill level of the individual abilities. The idea of "specialisation" is introduced with these skills, so as to allow characters to learn fewer sub-skills but still become highly proficient with them.