Troubadour¶
The whole world's a stage, and everyone on it, an actor. No one knows this better than the troubadour. You find energy in the drama of everyday life and know how to draw spectacle forth from even the most mundane of situations. You accent highs and deepen lows in service to whoever might witness your performance.
As a troubadour, you chase drama. The insurmountable dangers of the world might cause many a hero to cower. But you take to that world stage not intending to die, but to find out if you are truly alive.
"History is a tale. Each of us is just a story we tell ourselves. Change the story, and you change the world."
Jackson Bootblack
Basics¶
Starting Characteristics: You start with an Agility of 2 and a Presence of 2, and you can choose one of the following arrays for your other characteristic scores:
- 2, −1, −1
- 1, 1, −1
- 1, 0, 0
Starting Stamina at 1st Level: 18
Stamina Gained at 2nd and Higher Levels: 6
Recoveries: 8
Skills: You gain the Read Person skill (see Skills in Chapter 9: Tests). Then choose two skills from the interpersonal skill group and one skill from the intrigue or lore skill groups. (Quick Build: Brag, Flirt, Read Person, Rumors.)
Troubadour Advancement Table¶
| Level | Features | Abilities | Class Act Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Troubadour Class Act, Drama, Kit, Scene Partner, Routines, Class Act Features, Class Act Triggered Action, Troubadour Abilities | Signature, 3, 5 | - |
| 2nd | Appeal to the Muses, Invocation, Perk, Class Act Ability | Signature, 3, 5 | 5 |
| 3rd | Class Act Feature, 7-Drama Ability | Signature, 3, 5, 7 | 5 |
| 4th | Characteristic Increase, Melodrama, Perk, Skill, Zeitgeist | Signature, 3, 5, 7 | 5 |
| 5th | Class Act Feature, 9-Drama Ability | Signature, 3, 5, 7, 9 | 5 |
| 6th | Perk, Spotlight, Class Act Ability | Signature, 3, 5, 7, 9 | 5, 9 |
| 7th | Characteristic Increase, A Muse's Muse, Equal Billing, Skill | Signature, 5, 7, 9 | 5, 9 |
| 8th | Perk, Class Act Feature, 11-Drama Ability | Signature, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 | 5, 9, 11 |
| 9th | Roar of the Crowd, Class Act Ability | Signature, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 | 5, 9, 11 |
| 10th | Applause, Characteristic Increase, Dramaturgy, Greatest of All Time, Perk, Skill | Signature, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 | 5, 9, 11 |
1st-Level Features¶
As a 1st-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
Troubadour Class Act¶
Troubadour Class Act
Panache, melody, and depiction. Some troubadours have it all, but everyone starts somewhere. Your troubadour class act is your art form, summing up the manner in which the world becomes your stage. As you go about unearthing the drama of everyday life and strife, you choose a troubadour class act from the following options, each of which grants you a skill. (Quick Build: Virtuoso.)
- Auteur: You seek drama from story and recount, using your magic to manipulate the sequence of events unfolding before you. You have the Brag skill.
- Duelist: Drama infuses your every movement done in tandem with another. You perform dances of death, putting trust in your opponent to return your passion in kind. You have the Gymnastics skill.
- Virtuoso: You find drama in music and song, weaving magic between vibrations and filling the audience with your pathos. You have the Music skill and can play an instrument.
Your troubadour class act is your subclass, and your choice of class act determines many of the features you'll gain as you gain new levels.
Drama¶
Drama
During battles, you are fueled by the dynamic ups, downs, and upside downs of the fray, from which you derive a Heroic Resource called drama.
Drama in Combat
At the start of a combat encounter or some other stressful situation tracked in combat rounds (as determined by the Director), you gain drama equal to your Victories. At the start of each of your turns during combat, you gain 1d3 drama.
Additionally, you gain drama when certain events occur during a combat encounter:
- The first time three or more heroes use an ability on the same turn, you gain 2 drama.
- The first time any hero is made winded during the encounter, you gain 2 drama.
- Whenever a creature within your line of effect rolls a natural 19 or 20, you gain 3 drama.
- When you or another hero dies, you gain 10 drama.
When you are dead, you continue to gain drama during combat as long as your body is intact. If you have 30 drama during the encounter in which you died, you can come back to life with 1 Stamina and 0 drama (no action required). If you are still dead after the encounter in which you died, you can't gain drama during future encounters.
You lose any remaining drama at the end of the encounter.
Drama Outside of Combat
Though you can't gain drama outside of combat, you can use your heroic abilities and effects that cost drama without spending it. Whenever you use an ability or effect outside of combat that costs drama, you can't use that same ability or effect outside of combat again until you earn 1 or more Victories or finish a respite.
When you use an ability outside of combat that lets you spend unlimited drama on its effect, such as Artful Flourish, you can use it as if you had spent an amount of drama equal to your Victories.
> The Auteur Troubadour > > Abilities like Guest Star, Missed Cue, and Twist at the End allow the auteur to rewrite bits of what happens in the battle by temporarily removing creatures from an encounter, bringing people back to life, or causing a new ally to appear. These abilities and features are no more powerful than any other, but they're narratively different from shooting rays of fire or swinging a sword. > > This is because, uniquely among all the subclasses in Draw Steel, the auteur knows that the combat encounter playing out at your table is really a story being told sometime later, probably in a tavern. > > When the auteur uses these abilities, they are changing that story. They rewrite stories to make them more dramatic in the telling. What actually happened is a matter of some debate. Even the people who were there don't agree on exactly what took place. How people remember it is what's important! > > This is pretty weird, but also very fun. If it's too weird for you or your table, you could always interpret those abilities as a kind of magic. A school of conjuring that really does change the battlefield, which the auteur merely flavors as rewriting the story.
Kit¶
Kit
You can use and gain the benefits of a kit. See Chapter 6: Kits for more information. (Quick Build: Swashbuckler.)
Scene Partner¶
Scene Partner
Whenever you obtain a success on a test to interact with an NPC using a skill from the interpersonal group, you can form a bond with that NPC. When you enter into a negotiation with a bonded NPC, their patience increases by 1 (to a maximum of 5). Additionally, the first time during a negotiation that you personally make an argument that would increase a bonded NPC's interest by 1, you instead increase their interest by 2 (to a maximum of 5).
You can have a number of bonds active equal to your level. When you form a bond with a new NPC that would exceed the limit, you must choose which of your active bonds to lose.
Routines¶
Routines
You enter every battle with a set of performance abilities at the ready. Performances are magical presentations (such as songs, dances, poems, or gymnastic feats) that your allies can participate in. These abilities have the Performance keyword. At the start of each combat round, as long as you are not dazed, dead, or surprised, you can either choose a new performance or maintain your current performance (no action required). Your performance lasts until you are unable to maintain it or until the end of the encounter.
You start off with the Choreography and Revitalizing Limerick performance abilities. Your choice of class act grants you additional performances.
Choreography
Taps, kicks, steps. It's all "choreography."
Revitalizing Limerick
There once was a man from Capital...
1st-Level Class Act Features¶
1st-Level Class Act Features
Your troubadour class act grants you two features, as shown on the 1st-Level Class Act Features table.
1st-Level Class Act Features Table
| Class Act | Features |
|---|---|
| Auteur | Blocking, Dramatic Monologue |
| Duelist | Acrobatics, Star Power |
| Virtuoso | Power Chord, Virtuoso Performances |
Acrobatics
Blocking
You have the following performance ability, which is usable with your Routines feature.
Blocking
No, no, no, you lose the audience that way. Try it like this...
At the end of each of your turns while this performance is active, you can choose up to a number of targets equal to your Presence score and teleport those targets to unoccupied spaces in the area. A target can't be teleported in a way that would harm them (such as over a cliff), leave them dying, or result in them suffering a condition or other negative effect.
Dramatic Monologue
You have the following ability.
Dramatic Monologue
It doesn't need to make sense. Just say it with emotion.
Choose one of the following effects:
- You orate a rousing tale of victory. One ally within distance gains an edge on the next power roll they make before the start of your next turn.
- You weave a tale of high-stakes heroics. One ally within distance gains 1 surge.
- You insult a foe where they're most vulnerable. One enemy within distance takes a bane on the next power roll they make before the end of their next turn.
Power Chord
Star Power
You have the following ability.
Star Power
Your years of practicing fencing and dancing pay off on the battlefield.
You gain a +2 bonus to speed until the end of your turn. Additionally, the next power roll you make this turn can't have an outcome lower than tier 2.
Virtuoso Performances
You have the following performance abilities, which are usable with your Routines feature.
Thunder Mother
All for thunder motherrr! ♪ Run and hide for coverrr!♪
At the end of each combat round while this performance is active, you can make a power roll against the target that ignores cover. You can't target the same creature twice with this effect.
Ballad of the Beast
Teeth are bare! ♪ Eyes black! ♪ No escaping the beast!♪
Class Act Triggered Action¶
Class Act Triggered Action
Your troubadour class act grants you a triggered action, as shown on the Class Act Triggered Actions table.
Class Act Triggered Action Table
| Class Act | Triggered Action |
|---|---|
| Auteur | Turnabout Is Fair Play |
| Duelist | Riposte |
| Virtuoso | Harmonize |
Harmonize
Give the chorus a little punch.
The target uses an ability that targets only one enemy and costs 3 or fewer of their Heroic Resource.
The target can choose one additional target for the triggering ability. Any damage dealt to the additional target is sonic damage.
Riposte
"I'd have brought treats had I known I'd be fighting a dog."
The target makes a free strike against the creature who made the triggering strike.
Turnabout Is Fair Play
All's fair in love and whatever.
The target makes an ability roll that has an edge, a double edge, a bane, or a double bane.
Troubadour Abilities¶
Troubadour Abilities
Your performance centers around maneuvering through the scene of battle, maintaining its momentum so that the story flows as dramatically as possible.
Signature Ability¶
Signature Ability
Choose one signature ability from the following options. Signature abilities can be used at will. (Quick Build: Witty Banter.)
Artful Flourish
And they said practicing fencing was a waste!
You can shift up to 3 squares.
Cutting Sarcasm
There you are, radiating your usual charisma.
Instigator
I didn't do it! What?
Witty Banter
A lyrical (and physical) jab insults an enemy and inspires an ally.
One ally within 10 squares of you can end one effect on them that is ended by a saving throw or that ends at the end of their turn.
Heroic Abilities
You master a range of heroic abilities, all of which cost drama to empower them.
3-Drama Ability
Choose one heroic ability from the following options, each of which costs 3 drama to use. (Quick Build: Harsh Critic.)
Harsh Critic
Just one bad review will ruin their day.
The first time the target uses an ability before the start of your next turn, any effects from the ability's tier outcomes other than damage are negated for all targets. Ability effects that always happen regardless of the power roll work as usual.
Hypnotic Overtones
You produce an entrancing note that twists the senses in a spectacular fashion.
Quick Rewrite
You write something unexpected into the scene that hinders your enemy.
The area is difficult terrain for enemies.
Upstage
As you bob and weave through the crowd, you can't help but leave the audience wanting more.
You shift up to your speed. You make one power roll that targets each enemy you move adjacent to during this shift.
5-Drama Ability
Choose one heroic ability from the following options, each of which costs 5 drama to use. (Quick Build: Dramatic Reversal.)
Dramatic Reversal
Give the audience a surprise.
Fake Your Death
O happy dagger, this is thy sheath!
You turn invisible and create a magical illusion of your corpse falling in your space. While you are invisible, you gain a +3 bonus to speed and you ignore difficult terrain. The illusion and your invisibility last until the end of your next turn, or until the illusion is interacted with, you take damage, or you use a main action or a maneuver.
Flip the Script
You try a different take on events, justifying the new locations everyone ended up in.
Method Acting
They're so hurt by your performance, you start to believe it yourself.
You can become bleeding (save ends) to deal an extra 5 corruption damage to the target.
2nd-Level Features¶
As a 2nd-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
Appeal to the Muses¶
Appeal to the Muses
You can give a rousing speech, invoke your inspirations, or lift your fellows' spirits, appealing to the muses to heighten a battle's drama. However, irony is eager to hand your fortune to the villain to achieve the same end.
Before you roll to gain drama at the start of your turn, you can make your appeal (no action required). If you do, your roll gains the following additional effects:
- If the roll is a 1, you gain 1 additional drama. The Director gains 1d3 Malice (see Draw Steel: Monsters).
- If the roll is a 2, you gain 1 Heroic Resource, which you can keep or give to an ally within the distance of your active performance. The Director gains 1 Malice.
- If the roll is a 3, you gain 2 of a Heroic Resource, which you can distribute among yourself and any allies within the distance of your active performance.
Invocation¶
Invocation
You have a specific manner that helps define your presence on the battlefield. Choose one of the following features.
Allow Me to Introduce Tonight's Players
Whenever you take the first turn in a combat encounter, you can use a main action to introduce yourself and your allies to your opponents. Each ally can shift up to their speed, and ability rolls made against them have a double bane until the end of the combat round. Additionally, any surprised enemy is no longer surprised.
Formal Introductions
As a respite activity, you can scribe a notice of your arrival (such as a calling card or a formal letter) addressed to an enemy. You can deliver the notice to the target personally if you are in the same general area, send it by courier, or leave it in a covert location for the target to find. You can have only one notice active at a time.
The Director determines when the target receives your notice. When the target receives the notice, they become alarmed and take desperate measures to stop you. The Director gains 1 additional Malice per combat round during encounters involving the target. The heroes start each such encounter with 2 additional hero tokens (Chapter 1: The Basics). These hero tokens disappear at the end of the encounter.
My Reputation Precedes Me
You can invoke your reputation at the start of a social interaction with one or more NPCs who haven't met you before, automatically creating a bond with one of those NPCs from that group as if using your Scene Partner feature (above). This bond counts against the limit on active bonds from your Scene Partner feature. While the bond is active, all heroes present treat their Renown as 2 higher than usual for the purpose of entering into a negotiation with the bonded NPC.
The Director can award the heroes 1 hero token to make you infamous among the group of creatures instead, and preventing you from forming this bond. Until you take action to improve your reputation, all heroes present take a bane on tests made to interact with creatures in the group using skills from the interpersonal skill group. You can still use your Scene Partner feature to find allies within the group.
Perk¶
Perk
You gain one interpersonal, lore, or supernatural perk of your choice. See Chapter 7: Perks.
2nd-Level Class Act Ability¶
2nd-Level Class Act Ability
Your troubadour class act grants your choice of one of two heroic abilities.
2nd-Level Auteur Ability
Choose one of the following abilities.
Guest Star
We offered them a percentage of the gross. So they're working for free!
A guest star appears to help you during the encounter: either a bystander within distance uplifted by your magic, or a mysterious new hero who appears in an unoccupied space within distance. This guest star is controlled by you, has their own turn, and shares your characteristics. Their Stamina maximum is half yours. They have no abilities other than your melee and ranged free strikes. At the end of the encounter, or when the guest star is reduced to 0 Stamina, they retreat or revert to a bystander. The same bystander can't be uplifted this way more than once during an encounter.
Twist at the End
You didn't see that coming, did you?!
A target who is not a leader or solo creature comes back to life with half their Stamina and becomes an ally under the Director's control. The players can work with the Director to determine when the target takes their turn each combat round. At the end of the encounter, the target turns to dust and is blown away.
2nd-Level Duelist Ability
Choose one of the following abilities.
Classic Chandelier Stunt
Audiences love this bit.
Each target can shift up to 5 squares, including vertically, but must end this movement adjacent to the other target and on solid ground. Each target can then make a melee free strike that deals extra damage equal to twice their highest characteristic score.
En Garde!
Wait, it's... Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Thrust! Ha!
The target can make a melee free strike against you. If they do, you can make a melee free strike against the target.
2nd-Level Virtuoso Ability
Choose one of the following abilities.
Encore
Again! Again!
You use an ability that you have observed being used this combat round. The ability must have the Strike keyword, cost 5 or fewer of a Heroic Resource, and cost no Malice. When you make the strike, you use your Presence score for any power rolls, and any damage you deal is sonic damage.
Tough Crowd
Your fans don't seem to like the opening act...
The area is haunted by a swirling horde of phantoms until the end of the encounter. Allies can enter any square of the area without spending movement. At the end of each of your turns, you can make one power roll that targets each enemy in the area.
3rd-Level Features¶
As a 3rd-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
3rd-Level Class Act Feature¶
3rd-Level Class Act Feature
Your troubadour class act grants you a feature, as shown on the 3rd-Level Class Act Features table.
3rd-Level Class Act Features Table
| Class Act | Features |
|---|---|
| Auteur | Missed Cue |
| Duelist | Foil |
| Virtuoso | Second Album |
Foil
At the start of an encounter, choose one creature within your line of effect. You have a double edge on power rolls made against or in competition with that creature. The chosen creature also has a double edge on power rolls made against or in competition with you. If the chosen creature is reduced to 0 Stamina, you can choose a new foil at the start of the next combat round.
Missed Cue
If you aren't surprised at the start of an encounter, you can choose one enemy within your line of effect who is not a leader or solo creature. The Director temporarily removes the chosen creature from the encounter. The chosen creature enters the encounter at the start of the second combat round. You must earn 3 Victories before you can use this feature again.
Second Album
You have the following performance abilities, which are usable with your Routines feature.
Fire Up the Night
Maybe you and I ♪ We can still bring the light!♪
While this performance is active, each target who starts their turn in the area doesn't take a bane on strikes against creatures with concealment. Once during their turn, they can search for hidden creatures as a free maneuver (see Hide and Sneak in Chapter 9: Tests).
Never-Ending Hero
And toniiight we can truly say ♪ They will alllways find a way!♪
7-Drama Ability¶
7-Drama Ability
Choose one heroic ability from the following options, each of which costs 7 drama to use.
Extensive Rewrites
No, this isn't right. That foe was over there!
Infernal Gavotte
A spicy performance lights a fire under your allies' feet.
Each ally in the area can shift up to 2 squares.
Star Solo
Your performance travels and doesn't stop moving until your audience is completely rocked.
You can choose to have this ability deal sonic damage. Additionally, you can use this ability against the same target for the next 2 combat rounds without spending drama.
We Meet at Last
You magically intertwine your fate with another creature—for better or worse.
Until the end of the encounter, both you and the target can target each other with abilities even if you are beyond distance, with the distance of this ability replacing those abilities' distances. The target can't be force moved by an ability used beyond distance this way.
Additionally, once on each of your turns, you can use a free maneuver to communicate a motivating or dispiriting message to the target, either granting them 2 surges or forcing them to take a bane on the next ability roll they make before the start of your next turn.
4th-Level Features¶
As a 4th-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
Characteristic Increase¶
Characteristic Increase
Melodrama¶
Melodrama
You have more ways of getting the most drama out of a situation. Choose two of the following events to add to the events that grant you drama during battle:
- Whenever a creature rolls a natural 2 on a power roll, you gain 2 drama.
- The first time the Director deals damage to a hero using a Villain action or an ability that costs Malice, you gain 2 drama.
- The first time a hero unwillingly falls 5 or more squares, you gain 2 drama.
- The first time a hero deals damage with 3 surges, you gain 2 drama.
- Whenever a hero spends their last Recovery, you gain 2 drama.
Alternatively, you can forgo choosing a new event to choose one event you already have (including an event gained with this feature). Whenever the chosen event grants you drama, you gain 1 additional drama.
Perk¶
Perk
You gain one perk of your choice.
Skill¶
Skill
You gain one skill of your choice. See Skills in Chapter 9: Tests.
Zeitgeist¶
Zeitgeist
You always have your ear to the ground, your finger on the pulse. When you start or finish a respite, choose one of the following effects.
Foreshadowing
You can ask the Director for two clues regarding an upcoming encounter or negotiation. One of the clues can be false.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
By bragging, intimidating, leading, or lying, you attempt to spread one piece of information into the local area. Make a Presence test:
Latest Goss
You can ask the Director for three rumors regarding the area you're in or an area you plan on entering before your next respite. One of the rumors can be false.
5th-Level Features¶
As a 5th-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
5th-Level Class Act Feature¶
5th-Level Class Act Feature
Your troubadour class act grants your choice of one of two features.
Auteur Features
Choose one of the following features.
Fix It in Post
Once on each of your turns, you can use a free maneuver to change one condition affecting a creature within distance of your Dramatic Monologue ability. Choose one of the following conditions on the target: bleeding, frightened, prone, slowed, or taunted. You change that condition to another of those conditions, maintaining the duration and origin of the original condition. A target who is no longer prone can stand up.
Take Two!
You have the following performance ability, which is usable with your Routines feature.
Take Two!
One more, and this time make it interesting.
While this performance is active, each target who starts their turn in the area can reroll the first power roll that turn that obtains a tier 2 outcome. They must use the new roll.
Duelist Features
Choose one of the following features.
Verbal Duel
Once on each of your turns while the target of your Foil feature is adjacent to you, you can use a free maneuver to exchange words with them. Make an opposed Presence test with the target. Whoever gets the higher result can make a free strike, which deals psychic damage instead of its usual damage.
We Can't Be Upstaged!
You have the following performance ability, which is usable with your Routines feature.
We Can't Be Upstaged!
Swordplay so graceful it looks like you all practiced this.
Virtuoso Features
Choose one of the following features.
Bolstering Banter
Once on each of your turns, you can use a free maneuver to exchange words with a target of your current performance, other than yourself. The target can spend a Recovery to gain temporary Stamina equal to their recovery value.
Medley
You can maintain two performances at a time using your Routines feature.
9-Drama Ability¶
9-Drama Ability
Choose one heroic ability from the following options, each of which costs 9 drama to use.
Action Hero
You wield your weapon at blistering speed, leaving everyone around you fighting for their lives.
Unless you score a critical hit, this ability can't reduce a non-minion target below 1 Stamina.
Continuity Error
Your subject is written into two places at once.
The target is split into two separate entities, one of which remains in the target's space while the other appears in an unoccupied space of your choice within distance. If the target is a creature, this creates a new creature under the Director's control. Each entity has half the original target's Stamina, is weakened, and takes 1d6 corruption damage at the start of each of their turns. If either entity is reduced to 0 Stamina, the other entity persists as the original entity and this effect ends. The effect also ends if both entities occupy the same space, causing them to automatically merge and combine their current Stamina.
Love Song
You play a small ditty that plants you inside your target's heart.
The target gains 20 temporary Stamina. Until the end of the encounter, whenever the target takes damage while you're within distance, you can choose to take the damage instead of the target.
Patter Song
Dazzle them with your fancy patter and they forget where they were.
6th-Level Features¶
As a 6th-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
Perk¶
Perk
You gain one interpersonal, lore, or supernatural perk of your choice.
Spotlight¶
Spotlight
You have the following performance ability, which is usable with your Routines feature.
Spotlight
The audience is watching, so you'd better give them a show.
While this performance is active, each target who starts their turn in the area gains 1 of their Heroic Resource. This Heroic Resource disappears at the end of the target's turn if they don't spend it.
6th-Level Class Act Ability¶
6th-Level Class Act Ability
Your troubadour class act grants your choice of one of two heroic abilities.
6th-Level Auteur Abilities
Choose one of the following abilities.
Here's How Your Story Ends
You give away the ending of this battle, and it's not great for them.
You're All My Understudies
It's important for everyone to know each other's lines, just in case...
6th-Level Duelist Abilities
Choose one of the following abilities.
Blood on the Stage
It's love and blood or drama and blood. Either way, there's always blood.
Fight Choreography
You and your partner make a flashy show of derring-do, then get back to your corners.
You and the target each make a melee free strike that targets each enemy within 3 squares of either of you, dividing the enemies between each of you. You choose which enemies your free strike targets and which enemies the target creature's free strike targets. You then slide the target 5 squares, ignoring stability.
6th-Level Virtuoso Abilities
Choose one of the following abilities.
Feedback
Your music pounds the crowd to the beat until their hearts can't stand it anymore.
A prone target ignores this ability.
Legendary Drum Fill
You start a drumroll that roars like thunder with every impact the heroes make.
Each target gains 1 surge, then gains 1 surge at the start of each combat round until the end of the encounter.
7th-Level Features¶
As a 7th-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
Characteristic Increase¶
Characteristic Increase
Each of your characteristic scores increases by 1, to a maximum of 4.
Equal Billing¶
Equal Billing
You can use your Scene Partner feature to form a bond with one willing hero instead of an NPC you interact with using a test. If you bond with another hero, you lose your existing bond with a hero.
Additionally, you and creatures you are bonded with gain a +1 bonus to saving throws. Whenever you or a bonded creature succeeds on a saving throw, you and each creature you are bonded with gains temporary Stamina equal to your level.
A Muse's Muse¶
A Muse's Muse
At the start of each of your turns during combat, you gain 1d3 + 1 drama instead of 1d3.
Skill¶
Skill
You gain one skill of your choice.
8th-Level Features¶
As an 8th-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
Perk¶
Perk
You gain one perk of your choice.
8th-Level Class Act Feature¶
8th-Level Class Act Feature
Your troubadour class act grants you a feature, as shown on the 8th-Level Class Act Features table.
8th-Level Class Act Features Table
| Class Act | Feature |
|---|---|
| Auteur | Deleted Scene |
| Duelist | Masterwork |
| Virtuoso | Crowd Favorites |
Crowd Favorites
You have the following performance abilities, which are usable with your Routines feature.
Moonlight Sonata
Music pours out of your heart, filling the area with the utmost delicacy and without damper.
While this performance is active, each target who is dead can choose to continue taking turns after death. On each of their turns, a target can move and use either a main action or a maneuver, but can't spend Recoveries or use triggered actions. At the end of the encounter, each target who chose to take turns this way turns to dust and blows away.
Radical Fantasia
𝅘𝅥𝅮♪Viras, my Viras, will you hold their hands as they cryyy—aaaiigh?♪
While this performance is active, each target who starts their turn in the area ignores difficult terrain, and any ability they use that imposes forced movement gains a +2 bonus to the forced movement distance until the end of their turn. Additionally, once per combat round, each target can use a triggered action as a free triggered action.
Deleted Scene
Whenever a creature within distance of your Dramatic Monologue ability makes a power roll, you can spend 1 drama as a free triggered action to use Dramatic Monologue, targeting only one creature.
Masterwork
Choose one of your signature abilities and name it after yourself. You always have this ability available, even if it is sourced from a kit you switch out. Whenever you use this ability, you gain an edge and 1 surge that you can use only on this ability.
Additionally, when your named signature ability is the last ability you use in an encounter, you can immediately use the Hear Ye, Hear Ye! effect of your Zeitgeist feature to tell tales of your exploits after the encounter ends.
11-Drama Ability¶
11-Drama Ability
Choose one heroic ability from the following options, each of which costs 11 drama to use.
Dramatic Reveal
A little stage trickery, and where once stood a foe, now stands a friend!
Until the end of the encounter, whenever you reduce a creature to 0 Stamina using an ability, you can use a free triggered action to teleport an ally within distance of that ability into the creature's space in a plume of rose petals. You or the teleported ally can then make a melee free strike.
Power Ballad
A song for the brokenhearted wraps itself around the target and blossoms into a ward of thorns.
Until the end of the encounter, whenever the target takes damage while winded, they can use a free triggered action to deal half the damage they took to the source of the damage.
Saved in the Edit
You shout a word of power that allows you to rewrite reality to your whims.
Until the end of the encounter, whenever you deal rolled damage to a creature or object, or enable a creature to spend a Recovery, you can use a free triggered action to give that creature or object one of the following effects until the start of your next turn. If this ability is triggered by multiple targets taking damage or multiple creatures spending Recoveries simultaneously, each target receives the same effect:
- The target has damage weakness equal to your Presence score against any magic, psionic, or weapon ability.
- The target has damage immunity equal to your Presence score.
- The target has a bonus to stability and a penalty to speed equal to your Presence score.
- The target has a bonus to speed and a penalty to stability equal to your Presence score.
The Show Must Go On
You shine a bright light on the players on the stage and compel them to finish the performance.
9th-Level Features¶
As a 9th-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
Roar of the Crowd¶
Roar of the Crowd
You are empowered by your audience, near and far. You can't be made frightened, and if you are prone, you can stand up as a free maneuver.
Additionally, whenever you spend a Recovery, you can forgo regaining Stamina to invoke the roar of an invisible applauding audience. You and each ally within 3 squares of you gains temporary Stamina equal to 10 + the number of active bonds from your Scene Partner feature + either your Victories or the number of players in your game (whichever is higher).
9th-Level Class Act Ability¶
9th-Level Class Act Ability
Your troubadour class act grants your choice of one of two heroic abilities.
9th-Level Auteur Abilities
Choose one of the following abilities.
Epic
Your story tells a tale of the villain's waning power and how the heroes rose to the occasion to stop them.
Choose one ally within distance. While the target is affected by this ability, each time they use an ability, that ally can make a free strike against them after the ability is resolved.
Rising Tension
You narrate the tension of the scene and put all hope into your protagonist to turn things around.
The target gains 3 of their Heroic Resource, has a double edge on a power roll of their choice made during their next turn, is no longer slowed or weakened if they were before, and can immediately take their turn after yours if they have not taken their turn already this round.
9th-Level Duelist Abilities
Choose one of the following abilities.
Expert Fencer
If you can land the strike, the crowd goes wild.
Renegotiated Contract
No, no. You don't die until the sequel.
Add your current Stamina to your target's current Stamina, then you have half that total Stamina and the target has the remainder. If either of you would gain more Stamina this way than their Stamina maximum, the difference in Stamina between what that creature would gain and their maximum is gained by the other creature. Neither of you can gain more Stamina than your maximum this way. You then make a power roll.
9th-Level Virtuoso Abilities
Choose one of the following abilities.
Jam Session
Your jam session creates new genres that compel everyone to get up and move.
Melt Their Faces
The power of music rips through the reality around the target and blows them away.
Forced movement from this ability ignores stability.
10th-Level Features¶
As a 10th-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
Applause¶
Applause
You have an epic resource called applause. Each time you finish a respite, you gain applause equal to the XP you gain. You can spend applause on your abilities as if it were drama.
Additionally, whenever you or a creature within 3 squares would obtain a failure or a tier 1 outcome on a test, you can spend 1 applause to improve the outcome by 1 tier.
Applause remains until you spend it.
Characteristic Increase¶
Characteristic Increase
Dramaturgy¶
Dramaturgy
You gain 1 additional drama or other Heroic Resource whenever you use your Appeal to the Muses feature. Additionally, your performances no longer have a distance, but can affect any target on the encounter map within your line of effect.
Greatest of All Time¶
Greatest of All Time
Perk¶
Perk
You gain one interpersonal, lore, or supernatural perk of your choice.
Skill¶
Skill
You gain one skill of your choice.