2nd Ed. Gallant kit into 3rd Ed. Prestige?

[Kamui K]

Hey folks. For the whole week now, I've been skimming prestige class lists, and various new 3.0/3.5 books for a prestige class that fits the old 2nd Ed. Bard, Gallant kit.

 

But I still can't find it. The basic idea is so simple, there MUST be a prestige class out for it, but it just alludes me.

You know, the basic Romantic Warrior idea for a bard.

Can anyone help me out?

[spiritual_exorcist]

Why must there be a prestige class? WOuldn't this ideal be served just as effectively by multiclassing as a Warrior/Bard and roleplaying?

[Kamui K]

That's my last resort. But I was hoping for a prestige class that would make the character more specific and emphasize the gallant's special abilities that would give an edge to woo'n the opposite sex, rather than winning over a general crowd with song. Plus going on quests and deeds to win a maiden's heart could be outrageous sometimes, so I was hopeing there was something that would help them survive more to substitute the "Essence of Purity" benefit. (besides buying the obvious general feats).

 

Highlights from the kit:

He travels the lands on the wings of romance and true love, stealing the hearts of the young and lightening the spirits of the elderly.

A Gallant seems to be blessed with a grace and charm not given to others of his race. But they are not driven by blood lust or the desire to slay monsters for the sake of destroying evil. Gallants are romantics at heart. They defend beauty, innocence, and love.

 

And my favorite part:

Even when a Gallant is slain, he does not immediately drop over dead. Rather, he lingers on long enough to recite one final tragic poem for those who will listen.

 

The Gallant itself isn't a powerful kit, so you can easily die in the duty of earning your love's heart. So I was hopeing for something that would help me survive whatever the ladies are going to throw at me.

:P

Unfortunately, my DM would only allow me to choose a prestige class already printed in a D20 book. I can't make up my own specialty class.

 

BTW, I thought this was a popular kit, no? No ones' updated it in 3.0 in any of the D20 books?

[Arvok]

And my favorite part:

Even when a Gallant is slain, he does not immediately drop over dead. Rather, he lingers on long enough to recite one final tragic poem for those who will listen.

 

The Gallant itself isn't a powerful kit, so you can easily die in the duty of earning your love's heart. So I was hopeing for something that would help me survive whatever the ladies are going to throw at me.

:P

Isn't his likelihood of dying part of his romanticism?

[Dragon Snack]

The closest thing I can think of is the Devoted Defender from Sword and Fist (I don't think it was updated). You get a dodge bonus to AC and get other bonus' to use for person you are protecting. Not particularly Bardariffic, but it's from a 3.0 book.

 

It doesn't let you talk when you're dead either, but your DM could give you some artistic leeway...

 

Seems like an easy PrC to whip up, but if it has to be published I guess it's a bit harder. Have you looked at Rogue PrCs?

[Nikmal]

What I would do is to talk to your DM and really come up with a prestige class for it. Tell him your ideas and such and see what he says.. it does seem like you do not want to make it very powerful and such so I am more then sure he will not have any problems helping you and letting you do it :) As a DM myself I would not have any problems helping you as my player.. in fact I would encourage ya :)

 

As far as a published one I am not sure that there is one.. simply because it was not consideed very powerful and more of a roleplaying aspect.. and would not have been included for that very reason sadly enough. Not that they are discouraging role playing as a whole they are not making many classes that would require ALOT of role playing and the Gallent from the sounds of it.. would.

 

Good luck and please.. let us know how it goes as I am curious about the outcome :)

[Kamui K]

Isn't his likelihood of dying part of his romanticism?

lol. Yea. But I was hoping to last past 5th level or after winning a few maiden's hearts before being slain.

It would suck to die so young....

:)

 

Yea, the Devoted Defender came to mind but that's only if the person you're trying to impress is with you. And I'd say only 50% of the time, that's the case. Other times, it's off questing for that special gift...

Also the appearance of the Cavelier PrC fits as well to show off in jousting tourdaments. But Gallants don't get fighting or mounting benefits. It's just mostly for show and to steal the spotlight from the real fighters.

The idea of the Duelist might fit with the various improved AC without wearing armor.

And a few lust type PrC from various books kinda apply as well (without going too far). So the Gallant has to be some kind of mesh between these 4.

 

But I haven't been reading a lot of the 3.0 books till this week. So if all of you advid players couldn't think of a PrC off the top of your heads, then I guess there really isn't one.

 

Which is strange to me. There's like 5+ different types of PrC assasins, various undead slayers, etc. But non for the iconic romantic, hero type.

I've noticed they've made a 3.0 class for the iconic unicorn maidens and swan maidens from 2.0, which I thought to be typical fairy tale stuff, but no gallant?

O-well.

 

Thanks for the help guys. I'll just have to settle with the generic Prestige Bard PrC and role play the rest. I just hope I don't die young. Well, this is gonna confuse the guys a bit. A female player, roleplaying a male gallant. I hope they could accept that.

'

 

Yea, I was hoping for my DM to allow me to make a Gallant class. But he doesn't want to do the extra work in making it, nor do I. He's throwing us into a premade adventure (which he's not telling us players which one). And told us to make 3 characters for backups. Which got us scared. What kind of adventure are we playing to expect us to die so easily? And said to be prepared for any kind of scenerio, which I took as not necessarily hack 'n slash based all the time. If it is, I'm screwed. :P

Well, at least he told us it isn't the World Largest Dungeon one.

[sniffles]

You had me whipping out all my PDFs of the 3e books, Kamui. I couldn't really find anything that sounds like what you're looking for, although I'm not familiar with the Gallant kit.

 

What about a bard/swashbuckler split, and take the Die Hard feat? Or there's the Bladesinger prestige class in Races of Faerun.

[Eric Swiftblade]

Aha! I have one. This is the best I could find: The Heartwarder.

 

Its from the 3e Forgotten Realms: Faiths and Pantheons.

Its a clerical style class, but it mentions cleric/bards are common as well. They get a lot of Charisma-based abilities.

 

Still nothing about getting a last speech though.

[Kamui K]

lol. Sorry for all the work guys.

'

 

Yea, I read the Heartwarder early on but dismissed it thinking it was a cleric only class. But I keep forgetting the changes from 2.0 to 3.0.

I kept assuming that anything in books like that forces me to multiclass into a cleric/druid.

Now that I look at it more closely, non of the requirements are asking for turning abilities, so yea. It's ideal for bards too!

Woo hoo!

We have a winner! Thanks for all the help guys.

I'll just have to roleplay the rest.

 

Though....

extra abilities like Lips of Rapture would be wierd to bestow on the same sex party members. But I guess it could be one of those moral booster kisses on the forehead.

:)

 

BTW, sniffles. You should really check out the 2.0 Bard book. IMO, the 2.0 elf, bard, "warriors & priests of the realms", & "wizards and rogues of the realms" are the best books made for character creation ideas. And after reading the full explanation of the Gallant kit, how could you NOT want to play one.

[ReaperWolf]

Hey folks.  For the whole week now, I've been skimming prestige class lists, and various new 3.0/3.5 books for a prestige class that fits the old 2nd Ed. Bard, Gallant kit.

 

But I still can't find it.  The basic idea is so simple, there MUST be a prestige class out for it, but it just alludes me.

You know, the basic Romantic Warrior idea for a bard. 

Can anyone help me out?

 

Since you obviously already have the book there's really no reason for my reproducing the flavor text so without further ado...

 

The Gallant

 

Romantic poet warriors steeped in the lore of the realm, extolling the virtues of duty, honor, and justice hearkening back to a more civilized era. Most are vagrants, traveling from realm to realm others are court appointed champion scalds, crossing lances in the defense of a lady's honor and by night regaling attendees to feasts and balls with his past glories.

 

Hit Die: d8

 

Requirements: To qualify to become a gallant a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Race: Any save those with a penalty to Cha ability score

BAB: +3

Skills: Knowledge (history) 6 ranks, Knowledge (nobility & royalty) 8 ranks, three Perform skills with 7 ranks, Ride 5 ranks

Feats: Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Martial Weapon Proficiency Lance

 

Class Skills

The gallant's class skills (and the key ability foer each skill) are: Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Knowledge (geography, history, local, nobility and royalty) (Int), Perform (Cha), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language

Skill Points at Each Level: 4+Int Mod.

 

Table X--X: The Gallant

 

 

Level BAB Fort Ref Wil Special

1 +1 +2 +0 +2 Essence of Purity: +1 hp/lvl, Romantic Appeal +1

2 +2 +3 +0 +3 Essence of Purity: Bonus Feat Diehard

3 +3 +3 +1 +3 Romantic Appeal +2

4 +4 +4 +1 +4 Essence of Purity: Save vs. unsavable

5 +5 +4 +1 +4 Code of the Gallant, Romantic Appeal +3

 

Class Features

All the following are class features of the Gallant prestige class.

 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The gallant learns the shield proficiency, otherwise no new weapon or armor proficiencies are learned.

 

Essence of Purity:

+1 hp per level

Bonus Diehard Feat but only when defending the innocent, love and beauty.

Save vs. spells, effects, and abilities where no save is normally possible.

 

Romantic Appeal

When making Bluff and Diplomacy rolls to influence members of the opposite sex the Gallant adds a bonus to the roll. A successful roll shifts the target's reaction one step towards Friendly. A successful roll indicates any rivals for the target's affections have their reactions shifted one step towards hostile. The bonus

begins at +1 at level 1, rising to +2 at level 3 and +3 by level 5.

 

Code of the Gallant

Every round on the gallants turn the character may allocate a +2 bonus to a single attack roll, Dodge bonus to AC, damage roll, or a saving throw. Once allocated it may only be changed on the gallant's following turn, much in the same was as the Dodge feat, and it may not be divided up as two +1 bonuses.

 

There's a brief but decent treatment of chivilrous virtue under the Gallant Kit entry in the AD&D 2e Complete Bard book. I strongly urge all GM's to rigidly enforce the dictums contained therein otherwise the character could degenerate into just another rakish bard whereas the gallant is supposed to be cut from a different cloth.

 

This is merely a thumbnail presented as an unofficial answer to a request for aid/advice posted by a member to this forum. This is in no way a challenge to any copyright holders nor is it an endorsement of their products past, present, or future. This is merely one gamer helping out another without any concern for compensation of any kind, a simple thanks will suffice.

 

As always make sure to check with your GM to see if this is appropriate and balanced for use in his campaign and as always your GM is free to implemtn, alter, or ignore as he/she sees fit.

 

Best to all,

 

>>JCW

 

aka ReaperWolf

[Dragon Snack]

Do they get additional spellcasting levels or is that omitted on purpose?

 

Save vs. unsavable seems pretty sweet, that's the only thing that sticks out to the DM in me.

[Kamui K]

Whoa ReaperWolf!

 

Thanks for the conversion!

That sounds pretty much what they are, right down to their code of conduct. Thanks man! This is gonna be fun.

:)

 

As far as I know Dragon Snack, their spellcasting levels should level up normally as any other bard. The kit didn't state any hinderence on their spellcasting abilities.

[ReaperWolf]

Do they get additional spellcasting levels or is that omitted on purpose?

 

Save vs. unsavable seems pretty sweet, that's the only thing that sticks out to the DM in me.

Hey,

 

No DS, they don't get additional spellcasting levels, that was on purpose. They're robust as is and unlike the FR books I see no need to add spellcasting or magical abilities to each and every PrC I design.

 

As far as the save vs. death goes I kinda honked that one, I admit it. I was just short-handing what was spelled out in the Complete Bard handbook and it was late when I tore off the PrC.

 

The ability you mentioned is a clunky hold-over from the 2e days of AD&D. What the ability allows the Gallant to attempt saves vs. Saving Throw: None spells, abilities, and powers that are likely to cause the Gallant's death.

 

What this means is the Gallant with 58 hp would get a save vs. a power word kill spell even though the spell ordinarily does't allow a save for targets with fewere than 101 hp. The same holds true for the death effect of an unholy word spell cast by someone 10+ levels greater than the Gallant.

 

What this does not mean is the same Gallant who falls 200 feet and takes 70 hp from falling damage can't make a save to avoid death from deceleration trauma. In other words Gallants are allowed to attempt a save against spells, powers, and abilities that ordinarily would not allow saving throws but only when the Gallant is likely to die from the effect of the spell, ability, power, etc.

 

Clearer?

 

>>JCW

 

aka ReaperWolf

[ReaperWolf]

Whoa ReaperWolf!

 

Thanks for the conversion!

That sounds pretty much what they are, right down to their code of conduct. Thanks man! This is gonna be fun.

:)

 

As far as I know Dragon Snack, their spellcasting levels should level up normally as any other bard. The kit didn't state any hinderence on their spellcasting abilities.

You're most welcome, glad I could help.

 

If you really wanna beef-up the PrC by adding +1 Spellcasting Level I strongly urge you to reduce the HD to 1d6 per level but adding Concentration to the list of Class Skills. Optionally Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana) can be added too.

 

Personally, I can do without adding additional Spellcasting Levels to the PrC but it's your game, if you can con your GM into it go ahead...

 

Best to all!

 

>>Joseph C. Wolf

 

aka ReaperWolf