#Especially the way his name is spelled and how the font has a cool distorted look to it

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #36: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re building one of the most prolific classical composers (and more importantly the really cool mask he comes with) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! This is our last bard for a while, I swear. The masterful maestro has been translated into a master of sonic damage, and as a lore bard he’s just as skilled outside of combat as well.

As always, a spreadsheet for this build can be found here, or you can read the level-by-level breakdown under the cut!

Background and Race

As with the other bards we’ve build recently, Amadeus is a Guild Artisan, giving him proficiency in Insight and Persuasion. He’s a Human as well, but as a child prodigy he’s closer to a Variant Human, giving him +1 in Charisma and Intelligence, and proficiency in Performance. Mozart’s golden ear gives him a variant of the Observant feat, adding 1 to his Intelligence, giving a +5 bonus to your passive Perception and Investigation scores, and instead of lip reading you can recreate musical pieces from memory.

Stats

Amadeus isn’t the easiest person to get along with, but he does have a force of personality, giving him high Charisma. His Wisdom is next, he’s great at noticing details-about music, at least. Next is Intelligence; he first composed at age 5, that’s pretty smart. After that is Dexterity- he can play as well as he composes. Penultimate is Constitution: he died young and either from disease or poison, neither of which speak well for his heartiness. It’s too painful to dump that though, so instead we’re dumping Strength: once again, we don’t need it, and he definitely isn’t that strong anyway.

Class Levels

1. Mozart’s magic comes from music, so once again this is a 100% bard build. At first level, you can cast Spells using charisma as your ability and use Bardic Inspiration to help others with skill checks, saving throws, and attacks. You start with a number of d6 equal to your charisma modifier that come back on long rests, but you’ll get more and better dice later. 

You start off with proficiencies in three skills of your choice, here they’re History and Arcana for more sources to draw music from and Perception to round out the observant skillset we’re making. 

At first level, bards get two cantrips and four level one spells. For cantrips, grab Dancing Lights for a light show and Thunderclap for some noise. For spells, grab Thunderwave and Dissonant Whispers for sound-based attacks, Unearthly Chorus for some free drinks. Failing that, you can also use a spell from Acquisitions Incorporated called Distort Value, which doubles or halves the apparent value of a 1′ cube sized object for 8 hours, either for half priced drinks or more booze money. Anyone examining the object can figure out you’re conning them with an Investigation check against your spell save. Casting this at a higher level increases the maximum size of the object by 1 foot on each side for each level above 1st.

2. At second level, you become a Jack of All Trades, adding half of your proficiency bonus to any checks that don’t already use it. You also learn a Song of Rest, adding 1d6 to any healing your party does during short rests. 

You also learn Charm Person, because the best parties tend to have bouncers, but that’s no reason you shouldn’t get in.

3. At third level you officially become a lore bard, and gain three more proficiencies of your choice. Grab Investigation to finish up your observational skills and Nature and Religion for more varied sources of inspiration for your songs. You also gain Cutting Words, letting you spend inspiration to subtract from an enemy’s attack, check, or damage rolls. As a final treat, you get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus for both. For this, pick Insight and Perception.

For your spell, you’ve learned how to create destructive interference with your songs, creating areas of Silence. Thunder spells can be pretty indiscriminate, so if there’s something you don’t want to smash in a fight, this spell might be useful.

4. At fourth level, you get your first ASI, which we’re using to become an Elemental Adept, specializing in Thunder damage. Now your spells ignore thunder resistance, and any ones rolled for thunder damage count as twos. Thunder is a pretty solid element already, and if you ever run into one of the two creatures that are immune to thunder damage, it’s possible your DM just doesn’t like you.

Also, you get Mage Hand for when you get tired of conducting and Shatter for when you want to go from piano to fortississimo. (That means soft to very very loud.)

5. Your Inspiration dice become d8s, and you become a Font of Inspiration. Now you regain inspiration dice on short rests.

You also learn how to Bestow Curses, dumping any mildly inconvenient effect you want on someone for as long as you can maintain concentration or a minute, whichever ends first.

6. At sixth level, your music becomes loud enough it might drown out other creatures attempts to charm the party; it becomes a Countercharm, if you will. You also learn Additional Magical Secrets, which is a bit oddly named since you haven’t learned any regular magical secrets yet. Regardless, they’re two spells from any spell list, and they count as bard spells for you.

For your regular spell this level, grab Daylight for dramatic lighting. For your secrets, grab Thunderstep for quick escapes and Counterspell to prevent others from doing the same.

7. Seventh level bards get fourth level spells, and you get Charm Monster, because who doesn’t love being pals with a dragon?

8. Use this level’s ASI to boost your Charisma for more inspiration and stronger spells. You also learn Hallucinatory Terrain to make your pastoral symphony a bit more literal.

9. Your Song of Rest is enhanced to a d8, and you would learn a 5th level spell here, but none of them are inspiring, so instead you learn Enhance Ability to make your songs bring out the best in others.

10. At your halfway point, your Inspiration jumps to d10s, you get another round of Expertise(boosting Investigation and Performance), and another round of Magical Secrets. This time we’re taking your Symphony for Winds literally and running with it, grabbing Control Winds and Maelstrom for some changes in weather.

11. At eleventh level, you get your first 6th level spell, Otto’s Irresistible Dance.

12. With your next ASI, you’ve maxed out your Charisma, if you were using the standard array.

13. Your Song of Rest becomes a d10, and you’ve learned a chord that can solidify the air around enemies, creating a Forcecage.

14. Your last lore feature, Peerless Skill, lets you inspire yourself on ability checks. We’re also continuing our storm theme a little bit in your next bout of Magical Secrets, picking up the spell Whirlwind. The other spell you’re grabbing is Divine Word, which can deafen, blind, stun, or even kill creatures outright if their HP is low enough. It also forces any celestial, elemental, fey, or fiend back to their own plane. Extraplanar beings tend to be a bit of a buzzkill.

15. Your Inspiration maxes out at a d12, and you learn Power Word Stun for more be-healthy-or-get-statused effects.

16. Your next ASI is going towards your Dexterity, because you don’t need to worry about your health if you just don’t get hit.

17. Your Song of Rest is also a d12 at this level, and you learn a ninth level spell! Psychic Scream is the closest thing we have to a sound-based spell at this level, so lets go with that.

18. Your final round of Magical Secrets nets you a Destructive Wave, which the developers were even so kind as to let you flavor it with holy power, and Storm of Vengeance, a destructive spell that slowly builds upon itself, gaining new effects each round. The symphony of dnd spells.

19. Your final ASI is again going towards Dexterity for slightly more longevity.

20. Your capstone level grants you Superior Inspiration, giving you one use of bardic inspiration when you start initiative without one.

Pros: Thunder is a pretty solid damage type to specialize in, with very few enemies having meaningful defenses against it. Also, because you’re a lore bard, you have a lot of utility outside of combat thanks to all your proficiencies, especially when it comes to talking your way out of situations.

Cons: You’re going to need to be good at talking your way out of problems when one of your spells inevitably blows up the building you’re fighting in. Thunder spells are explicitly loud and destructive, so you won’t do well if stealth is a priority. Also, you really need to keep an eye on your hp, because you do not have a lot to spare.

Up next: the master of all three metas