#Bard College

[brokenheartedtheologian]

I think (seven?) women have come forward discussing Neil Gaiman’s predatory sexual behavior at this point. He taught at Bard College (after I graduated) so I’m feeling worried for my fellow Bardies. Anyone heard anything?

On the bright side, I’ve mostly seen Gaiman’s fandom on Tumblr respond in a healthy way. They’ve focused on believing and supporting survivors and practical steps for preventing further predation. They’ve been aware that an ecosystem of innocent people make money along with Gaiman, and showed nonjudgmental support of anyone’s choice to boycott or continue enjoying his works. They’ve remarked that if Season 3 of Good Omens ends up canceled, they will make sure Aziraphale and Crowley get their happy ending in hundreds of fanfics.

They have analyzed Neil Gaiman’s past behavior for red flags, without victim blaming anyone who didn’t see them. Some fans initially struggled with believing accusations, but even those paid lip service to the importance of honoring survivors.

The most astonishing thing to me is that I haven’t seen a single woman attacked for “asking for it,” and “leading Neil on.” I didn’t expect his nanny or his tenant to get attacked this way, since most people understand landlords and bosses can lean on people. But I did expect the fans in their early twenties who put up with sexual pressure to maintain connection with their celebrity hero to get unfairly attacked for “poor judgment” or gold digging or something.

I haven’t seen a single attack of that nature. I’ve seen empathy, and love, and a full understanding of how rape from someone you admire, someone you’ve said “yes” to in the past, can feel worse than stranger rape (which after all, is rare).

The way Neil Gaiman’s fandom responded to the news made me feel safe. And every other response to a famous man’s sexual misconduct I’ve read in the past has made me feel unsafe. I am uplifted and feel society has actually learned something from MeToo, actually made progress.

[randimason]

The last round of Neil Gaiman’s lectures at Bard are:

Tuesday, October 12, 7:00 pm EDT | Pulling Back the Curtain: How Fiction Works and Why It Still Matters

Wednesday, October 13, 7:00 pm EDT | To Pay the Pied Piper: The Cost of Stories

Thursday, October 14, 7:00 pm EDT | On Endings, Epilogues, and Afters

Learn more and purchase tickets for the in-person event or the livestreams here: https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/neil-gaiman/

[okeydokeylackey]

when when you're an ex-thalmor-turned-listener who rescued the hot falmer babe from her shitty marriage with ondolemar and and then she becomes the head of the bard college and then you fall in love yeah

Solrina (left) belongs to me, Mabalireth (right) belongs to @berserkerrose

please click on it because tumblr quality hates me

[foundry-fabrications]

Finally, was starting to think I'd never get anything released! Y'all ready to ROCK?!

Now, just to get this out of the way, I was really hoping to have something else done for y'all by now, that thing being the update to Flesh and Bone I mentioned in my last update post. Mechanically, it's done and has been for a while, and I'm VERY pleased with how it's coming along. However, it's proving to be a frustrating challenge to get it formatted with artwork that doesn't look awful. So, I took a much-needed break to work on something else and it's going on the back burner. It'll be out when it's out.

So what's this new thing I bring before you this day? With my main D&D campaign wrapping up, I've been working on a absolute TON of custom stuff for a new character, so that's taken up a lot of my creative energy. Now that we've had our first session and my work is done, I can pretty it up for y'all!

As one may surmise, I'm playing a heavy metal bard, so I put this together based on a combination of an existing college of metal I found on D&Dwiki and Matt Mercer's college of the maestro. The metalheads among you may have also noticed that yes, each feature and solo are named after metal songs, a lot of bangers too. Having run a combat with it, I'm already really happy with it mechanically and since it's my newest character it will be getting LOTS of playtesting. 

Another thing to mention is the little sidebar at the end. For this campaign I'm playing the 2024 playtest version of the new bard so that's what this was originally built for.  However, since most won't be playing it, I reworked it for the existing bard and added a way to "update" it for the new one for those who want it. For future content I would like to do something similar depending on how extensive the changes are, but we'll see how things shake out.

Anyway, I'm really pleased with how it turned out. A little sparse in the art department, but I think the theme I picked does a lot to carry it. Plus, I genuinely couldn't come up with anything that looked better, so hey, I'm not gonna let perfect be the enemy of done.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. So glad to actually be working on stuff again. Stay safe, don't forget to love each other, and I'll see you again soon.

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[akkator]

College of Rime Steppers

On day 9 of Janbrewary, we've got an ice skating bard. Why? because I think it's cute.

It's lightly inspired by the Bladesinger Wizard.

[levelofexhaustion]

As the two-headed ettin charges towards the halfling's party, she quickly orients her hand mirror to reflect the sun's rays, and a scorching burst of rainbow magic leaves the giant smoldering in its tracks. She smiles, and makes sure her makeup isn't out of place before tucking the Prismatic Focus back into her bag, and continuing on her journey.

I recently went through and counted how many subclasses I had made for each class, and realized that prior to this I had only made a single Bard College. I really wanted to hit an artistic niche that I feel has been left out, and colors and light is something that no current Bard College feels like it fully embraces. I hope this does the trick for all of you looking for something similar! The PDF of the images can be found here, and the Homebrewery link that will continue to be updated with any changes is here. Leave your feedback and thoughts below (be kind!) and I hope you all enjoy.

[dungeonmalcontent]

Party like a bard!

It's been a while since I did a subclass for fun and didn't put it up for sale. This got stuck in my head and I wrote it all out in a day. Full document can be seen here on homebrewery.

It all started with the words "bard college" and "party" and that very quickly became "college party" which transformed into the "College of Party(ing)" and I kind of wanted the name of the subclass to be as messy as possible. The whole doc is kind of intentionally messy if you go look at the whole thing.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. This probably won't be seeing updates and refinements (because I have bigger projects going on and this is for free).

[sbbarnes]

Heart First - A Hudson Valley Murder Mystery

Daniel Rosenbaum leads a predictable life. He’s a professor at Lobell, a small liberal arts college in the Hudson Valley, where he spends his days teaching classes and doing research alongside his friends and fellow professors, Colette and Mario. The biggest change Daniel’s routine has seen in years is when car trouble leads him across the Hudson and into an unexpected romantic encounter with local mechanic Tony.

When tragedy strikes in the form of Mario’s murder, Daniel’s orderly life is thrown into chaos. Not only is his friend dead, it seems Mario was keeping secrets that could cause rifts in Lobell’s close-knit community. At first, Daniel’s intensifying relationship with Tony is the only way he can find solace from his grief and confusion. But all too soon, the trail of Mario’s secrets leads Daniel to the same place he’s been seeking comfort: Angel Automotive, the auto repair shop run by Tony’s family.

Before long, Daniel is forced to question everything: his friends, his job, the way he lives his life, and the relationship he’s not even sure he’s in yet. Only one thing is for sure: Daniel is falling heart-first—in love or into mortal danger.

Coming to you at some point before the end of the year! If you're interested in receiving an advance reader's copy in exchange for leaving an honest review on amazon/goodreads/etc., let me know!

[auntphibian]

Guess what my bard just did!!

The answer is the group minotaur. It was really cute, and last week, actually , I've been busy. But I had to draw them, I'm just a suckered for romantic subplot. This will be a really minor subplot since it's more of a combat campaign, but it's a fun little side element all the same.

[thehomelybrewster]

College of Persiflage

"Persiflage is an old and prestigious art among bards, but few gain the mastery of it required to be considered College of Persiflage bards. It requires a mastery of the written word, comedic timing, and audacity that is hard to acquire and devoting yourself to spoofing and parodying the powerful can be a dangerous game to play. It is however a rewarding one, as satire is incredibly popular among the common folk, who see bards of this College as a source of respite and, sometimes, as inspiration for social change."

The first of my batch of subclasses I had originally intended to publish on DMsGuild. Turn enemy fumbles into opportunities for cantrip-based attacks, bolster your allies with your spells, and sharpen your bard's mind with the College of Persiflage!

Sidenote: While the key subclass feature, Heckler's Quip, was obviously designed around vicious mockery, you can also use it well with cantrips like true strike or cantrips you gain through other means, like a racial feature! A kobold with the Draconic Sorcery background feature could for example use fire bolt with this feature!

[padraigshomebrewworkshop]

Bard: College of Wonders (V 0.1)

Hello, this is another subclass idea that I have been playing around with. I have had this thing knocking around in my head for a while, but I am just now able to put this thing down in writing. Also, if you haven't seen my update to my Heraldic ancestry I recommend checking it out and providing feedback if you have any.

General Concept: For this subclass I wanted to create a Bard subclass that really dived into the magical nature of the class. For that reason, this one focuses on not only boosting spells, but also using more magic in general (though without necessarily increasing the amount of powerful spells they can learn). This one is also supposed to have a bit of a stage magician feel, which I find interesting to have in a setting saturated with "real" magic.

3rd Level: You gain proficiency in the Arcana skill. If you already have proficiency in Arcana, your proficiency bonus with the Arcana skill is instead doubled. In addition, you learn two cantrips from any spell list and these cantrips count as Bard spells for you.

3rd Level: You are able to infuse your spells with additional effects. When you cast a spell, you can expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration to add one of the following special effects to your spell. When the you can add an effect depends on what the effect does and you can add only one effect per spell cast:

Dazzling: Choose one creature that was either hit by or who failed a save against this spell. The next time this creature makes an attack roll or ability check, they must roll a die equal to to your Bardic Inspiration and subtract half of the result (minimum of 1) from that roll.

Inspiriting: Choose one creature effected by this spell. Roll the Bardic Inspiration die and that creature gains half the result (minimum of 1) in temporary hit points. In addition, their movement speed is increased by 10 as long as these temporary hit points remain.

Astounding: Choose one creature either hit by a damaging spell you cast or a effected by a healing spell you cast. Roll the Bardic Inspiration die and add the result to the damage dealt to that creature or to the amount that creature heals.

Mystifying: Choose one creature effected by your spell that needs to make a saving throw. Roll the Bardic inspiration die and subtract half of the result (minimum of 0) from that creatures saving throw.

6th Level: A creature that has one of your Bardic Inspiration die can decide to expend it and use one of the effects listed in the 3rd level feature when casting a spell that they know.

6th Level: When using one of your effects on a spell you cast, you can have it jump to another creature that is effected by the spell as a reaction. They must meet the requirements of the effect (ie. hit by or failed the saving throw of the effected spell).

14th Level: After a long rest, you can change one of the spells gained by your Magical Secrets, following the typical requirements of Magical Secrets in addition to it needing to be the same level of the spell being changed.

Feedback and criticism is welcome, especially since I am unsure of how powerful these abilities can be.

[bardarch-y]

Doing a few bard college fetch quests.

Found myself at Stony creek cafe or something?

Why does the air look like that? I don't want to assume a glitch...

Looks like gas of some sort???

[fionacle]

If you were touring Bard yesterday and had this hair and outfit but you were less skinny and you weren’t a terrible collage of stock images and your mom asked about accommodations for gender non-conforming students I want you to know that I was so aesthetically platonically attracted to you and it was nice to have another queer person there and that’s why I was staring at you sorry if it made you uncomfortable you looked so cool

[illustration-station]

A friend is running a one shot and i got way too excited about this character i made up. They're NB, named Jesus Christ, and are haunted by both Satan and God. They give inspiration by screaming and playing heavy metal

[nicoooooooon]

Wipe, Rust-oleum White, Montana Gold Blue Magic, Medite 2, spray paint, dowels and plaster (2011) and M3, Medite, acrylic, aqua resin, enamel and casein (2015) by Sadie Benning

[professionalnooneatall]

https://www.walmart.com/lists/shared/WL/cff5ec5a-491a-46cb-b0bd-1ff541282557

It's the first day of school and I know someone who teaches art production with a focus on the different technologies to produce it from the physical to the digital, and it being public school, of course it's not as well supported as it should be.