DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the art and neither did I come up with the layout of the post myself (that would be credited to the esteemed McF4rtson who won the Big Class Competition with their Sea Witch Class). I'm just a game designer who likes to practice his craft.
Chieftain Samuro is the lead singer for the "Tauren Chieftains" and is the front man for the Bard class. Bard was an April Fool's Joke class in World of Warcraft as well as a very popular support class from numerous RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons. As such, this class is based on both versions. The Hero Power allows you to Freeze a character (or shock it if it's already Frozen). The other Hero Power above is the upgraded Hero Power in case of Justicar, Justicar's Ring, or Baku.
The Basic cards of the class to introduce you to the 2 main themes of the class: Songs and cards not from your deck.
The Classic set expounds on the themes (more cards that give you cards from outside the game, as well as Tuners, cards that interact with Songs) and introduces the Bard keyword Wish.
The rest of the Legendaries below shows how the themes of the Bard would interact with the themes of the last 4 sets.
Wish is real simple. It's a triggered ability that happens whenever you play a card that did not start in your deck, even if it's the Coin that you get in your starting hand as the second player.
Showcase Cards
Here are 6 Legendaries that help show how the Bard plays in each set.
Description:
Helgus is THE Bard when you're looking for one in the World of Warcraft. In the WoW quest "The Enemy's Legacy," you will have to find his 3 sagas. As such, the sagas are attainable through his Battlecry. Each Saga is supposed to feel like a 3-mana spell as well as also be a Song, in synergy with the other Bard cards. Tokens:
Description:
The Lost Tome helps take advantage of Bard's draw and rewards you with a continuous engine for your Wish minions. It used to say "cast 5 spells that draw cards," but in the interest of brevity, it was simplified to simply "draw 10 cards." Tokens:
Description:
Here's another card that helps out the Wish synergies of bard, as well as get your triggers out of Tuners. Samuro has gone full metal with this, which you can also see in his "Scream" hero power. Tokens:
Entrance Quote: "I have arrived!"
Flavor Text: "The party can get started now!
Flavor Text: All the while, the Tome was just behind the couch.
Entrance Quote: "Crawl in your skin. Your wounds won't heal.""
Flavor Text: If you like staring into utter darkness as your soul eats itself up, then his EP is the one for you!
Description:
Making Facemelter, I realized, "WOW, it's extremely difficult to balance weapons," but I think I got it. One of the underlying themes of Bards is that they are Jacks of all Trades. I tried to show that all in one by having something that feels like a Shaman or Warrior weapon but with a Rogue or Priest effect. The Facemelter is also the weapon made for the April Fool's Joke.
Description:
At first glance, the Battlecry doesn't seem like much, but what it does is it basically turns every card in your deck into a card that didn't start in your deck, which means every card can now trigger Wish. I wanted it to also be able to stand on its own, so it also has a Wish ability that synergizes real well with the Hero Power.
Description:
I did some digging and the Blackwald is also reffered to as a Witchwood and it is home to various banshees, so I thought hhis would be a nice little easter egg. And yes, you saw it right. Bard has both odd and even synergistic cards, to help underline the theme "Jack of all Trades." This card in particular is one of those Tuners.
Flavor Text: I mean, it doesn't do it literally, but it does come pretty close.
Flavor Text: This one is still looking for his Sally.
Flavor Text: If you don't die, at least your eardrums will.
Basic Set
Tokens
Commons
Rares
Epics
Legendary
Tokens
Commons
Cutting Words: A memorable ability from Dungeons and Dragons that allowed Bards to weaken blows by distracting foes. Functions like Vicious Mockery and this card sort of mirrors what Potion of Heroism is to Hand of Protection. Flavour: Yo mama's so fat that Rexxar summoned her instead of Huffer!
Sung Word: Stun: Power Word may be a Priest thing in Hearthstone, but in D&D, Bard's get most of the Power Word spells, including "Power Word: Stun." This spell goes especially well with the Bard Hero Power, allowing you to rack up damage with the spell after setting up Freezes. Flavour: BOOP
Tuneful Dragon: The Jack of all Trades theme especially resonates in Bard's ability to commune with all creature types, and they are especially friendly with Dragons in this set. Though expensive, it comes with a nice amount of Health as well as a healing ability that might be helpful late game. Flavour: "Have you ever heard the ole' ditty that had a magic dragon... Steve?"
Rares
Dragon Charmer: This card might be fun to play around with. If you need a Dragon, simply play a Song, and if you need a Wish minion, a Dragon last turn would help bring it along. Doesn't have a lot of Attack, but it does have a ton of utility. Flavour: They say you can tell what kind of a dragon a whelp will be by their droppings.
Lesser Quartz Spellstone: All hail Quest Bard! I know how much players love drawing cards, and because of how much the Bard may have to juggle, they're going to need it. As such, Being able to Draw 5 cards, or even 4, for 6 mana is huge. Flavour: The quartz is quite special. It's not very valuable, but they say that it contains temporal power.
Unidentified Hymn: I saw this card as a chance to showcase how amazing Bards are at support. They can buff, debuff, inspire, and provide for the party in the form of daily earnings. What's also special about this is that 1 out of the 4 Hymns help upgrade the Spellstone and 2 out of the 4 triggers Wish. Flavour: Let's see what song we'll be singing today!
Epics
Swimming in Riches: Bards, especially the Bard that half of the class is based on, studies a lot of Lore. As such, you would see them casting spells from other classes. This card in particular casts a Priest spell, triggering Wish as well as being in matching with the ongoing Dragon theme the Bard has in this set. Flavour: Some would advice against playing so loud that ears would bleed and spells could no longer leave the tongue, but if it works, then it works.
Bardic Inspiration: This is a very classic D&D ability that allows Bards to inspire other characters by singing songs or reciting verses. In turn, the character then gets a bonus in the form of an additional die to roll. Here, the Bard instead inspire their minions to fight off enemies. Flavour: Stay alive!
Legendaries
Facemelter: Showcase card
Muir, Valorous Flutist: Muir is slightly based on Bloodmage Thalnos, this cheep creature that buffs your spells and gives long term value. She really just came about after trying to figure out how to be Tempo which would compete against the top decks at the time, so I decided on a nice fusion between a Sorcerer's Apprentice and Kobold Geomancer but one that died easily. Also as an Easter Egg, the Valor Bard is the other subclass available in the base set of the 5th Edition of D&D (The other being Lore Bard). Flavour: Much greater than Frederick.
Tokens
Commons
Cocky Maestro: I needed a nice little one drop for Bard to play with as well as a minion that drew cards. Good late game, helpful early game, and helps place the Maestro Bard front and centre as the bards of the Witchwood. Flavour: She'll be fine. Even with a spirit in her, she wouldn't tell the difference!
Musical Imp: I thought that this would be the best set to introduce Demons into Bard's repertoire as Jacks of all Trades. It's a nice addition for either a Demon deck or the Even-Bard Song deck. Flavour: It doesn't really sing. More like screeches.
The Earth Swallows You!: Random 6 damage but it could be better than Fireball in some cases. Bard needed more RNG to help it fit into Hearthstone and it this is also good in a Song deck. Flavour: So, you thought it was just the woods that were alive? Nope!
Rares
Angelic Drake: One more Dragon to help out the Dragon deck from K&C. Fits in nicely with Odd-Bard Wish and might be a pain to deal with, but is not that much of a problem as long as it's dealt with quickly. Flavour: "This drake is on fiyah!!!"
Demonic Playground: Another Secret for Bard, and this time it's Demon support. it doesn't really fit in any other deck, and I thought this would be a neat way to play with the hand buff mechanic. Flavour: Aw, look at those cute little red babies, coming to play, they just wanna... Agh! My eye!
Devil's Dance: 4 Rushed Attack and Health for 4 mana is pretty decent, but What's nice here is I wanted to give something to either the Demon deck or the Even-Bard Song deck. Flavour: I'm not a very good dancer, but that does not look like a dance.
Epics
Batton of Wonders: At first glance, one would think that the most common bards in the Witchwood would be Whisper Bards, but unlike the Innistrad of Magic the Gathering, the Witchwood does not take itself too seriously. So instead of hiding from the horrors I figured the Bards would want to conduct, or control, them instead. At a pretty high cost, this wand allows you to replay your songs. Flavour: Bibidee bobidy boo yah!
Tweed Twin: Speaking Speaking of not taking itself too seriously, I was delighted to see some Alice inspired cards but was disappointed to see how few there were. So, I wanted to make one while also giving Odd-Bard Wish their own version of Saronite Chain Gang. Flavour: "I'm not Dumb. I'm Dee, and he's Dumb"
Legendaries
Bach Skellington: Showcase card
Smythe of the Blackwald: Showcase card
Tokens
This is the first step into making my custom Hearthstone Expansion "Tales of Vox Machina." If you see anything overpowered or if there are too many underpowered cards, please let me know. Thank you very much!
Interesting concept. Unfortunately, I do have quite a few things I dislike, yet several things I do.
A) Your Hero Power uses a keyword. While I am not one to complain when it comes to complex keywords since I've made some really weird Hero Powers myself, I really dislike keywords in Hero Powers. That might just be me, but if it were up to me, I'd rework it.
B) I don't quite exactly know what difference the "song" spells make, not sure if I missed your explanation but I don't see it. In any case, some of them are a bit unbalanced, such as the 4 mana draw 2, or the 2 mana heal 4.
C) You have a few 5-line cards. That won't do, limit them to 4 lines.
Those were a couple of the overall things I found when first looking it over, I didn't look too closely at every individual card. On the other hand, it does seem you have a general cohesive direction of where you're taking the class... I see card draw, I see some minion buffs. If your class has draw power, make sure to provide it with a combo-based win condition.
Interesting concept. Unfortunately, I do have quite a few things I dislike, yet several things I do.
A) Your Hero Power uses a keyword. While I am not one to complain when it comes to complex keywords since I've made some really weird Hero Powers myself, I really dislike keywords in Hero Powers. That might just be me, but if it were up to me, I'd rework it.
B) I don't quite exactly know what difference the "song" spells make, not sure if I missed your explanation but I don't see it. In any case, some of them are a bit unbalanced, such as the 4 mana draw 2, or the 2 mana heal 4.
C) You have a few 5-line cards. That won't do, limit them to 4 lines.
Those were a couple of the overall things I found when first looking it over, I didn't look too closely at every individual card. On the other hand, it does seem you have a general cohesive direction of where you're taking the class... I see card draw, I see some minion buffs. If your class has draw power, make sure to provide it with a combo-based win condition.
First of all, thank you so much for you comments, especially someone as esteemed in community as you!
I understand why you don't quite like the Hero Power, but perhaps I'm going to keep it that way, at least for now. It helps contextualize the kind of "freeze" bard does.
However, for B and C I do see the problem for both. I did try to have songs be a little weaker than normal spells because the Song synergies are supposed to be stronger, but I haven't been able to showcase it a whole lot. I also hear you on the long text and I will fix the cards long text first straightaway. Thank you very much!
The first expansion I finished is Kobolds & Catacombs, simply because I am a big fan of D&D and am really excited to try my hand at marrying D&D and Hearthstone. Please do let me know what you think!
Commons
Cutting Words: A memorable ability from Dungeons and Dragons that allowed Bards to weaken blows by distracting foes. Functions like Vicious Mockery and this card sort of mirrors what Potion of Heroism is to Hand of Protection. Flavour: Yo mama's so fat that Rexxar summoned her instead of Huffer!
Sung Word: Stun: Power Word may be a Priest thing in Hearthstone, but in D&D, Bard's get most of the Power Word spells, including "Power Word: Stun." This spell goes especially well with the Bard Hero Power, allowing you to rack up damage with the spell after setting up Freezes. Flavour: BOOP
Tuneful Dragon: The Jack of all Trades theme especially resonates in Bard's ability to commune with all creature types, and they are especially friendly with Dragons in this set. Though expensive, it comes with a nice amount of Health as well as a healing ability that might be helpful late game. Flavour: "Have you ever heard the ole' ditty that had a magic dragon... Steve?"
Rares
Dragon Charmer: This card might be fun to play around with. If you need a Dragon, simply play a Song, and if you need a Wish minion, a Dragon last turn would help bring it along. Doesn't have a lot of Attack, but it does have a ton of utility. Flavour: They say you can tell what kind of a dragon a whelp will be by their droppings.
Lesser Quartz Spellstone: All hail Quest Bard! I know how much players love drawing cards, and because of how much the Bard may have to juggle, they're going to need it. As such, Being able to Draw 5 cards, or even 4, for 6 mana is huge. Flavour: The quartz is quite special. It's not very valuable, but they say that it contains temporal power.
Unidentified Hymn: I saw this card as a chance to showcase how amazing Bards are at support. They can buff, debuff, inspire, and provide for the party in the form of daily earnings. What's also special about this is that 1 out of the 4 Hymns help upgrade the Spellstone and 2 out of the 4 triggers Wish. Flavour: Let's see what song we'll be singing today!
Epics
Swimming in Riches: Bards, especially the Bard that half of the class is based on, studies a lot of Lore. As such, you would see them casting spells from other classes. This card in particular casts a Priest spell, triggering Wish as well as being in matching with the ongoing Dragon theme the Bard has in this set. Flavour: Some would advice against playing so loud that ears would bleed and spells could no longer leave the tongue, but if it works, then it works.
Bardic Inspiration: This is a very classic D&D ability that allows Bards to inspire other characters by singing songs or reciting verses. In turn, the character then gets a bonus in the form of an additional die to roll. Here, the Bard instead inspire their minions to fight off enemies. Flavour: Stay alive!
Legendaries
Facemelter: Showcase card
Muir, Valorous Flutist: Muir is slightly based on Bloodmage Thalnos, this cheep creature that buffs your spells and gives long term value. She really just came about after trying to figure out how to be Tempo which would compete against the top decks at the time, so I decided on a nice fusion between a Sorcerer's Apprentice and Kobold Geomancer but one that died easily. Also as an Easter Egg, the Valor Bard is the other subclass available in the base set of the 5th Edition of D&D (The other being Lore Bard). Flavour: Much greater than Frederick.
Next up, the Witchwood! I played with some more ideas here, trying to see which decks I could make work.
Commons
Cocky Maestro: I needed a nice little one drop for Bard to play with as well as a minion that drew cards. Good late game, helpful early game, and helps place the Maestro Bard front and centre as the bards of the Witchwood. Flavour: She'll be fine. Even with a spirit in her, she wouldn't tell the difference!
Musical Imp: I thought that this would be the best set to introduce Demons into Bard's repertoire as Jacks of all Trades. It's a nice addition for either a Demon deck or the Even-Bard Song deck. Flavour: It doesn't really sing. More like screeches.
The Earth Swallows You!: Random 6 damage but it could be better than Fireball in some cases. Bard needed more RNG to help it fit into Hearthstone and it this is also good in a Song deck. Flavour: So, you thought it was just the woods that were alive? Nope!
Rares
Angelic Drake: One more Dragon to help out the Dragon deck from K&C. Fits in nicely with Odd-Bard Wish and might be a pain to deal with, but is not that much of a problem as long as it's dealt with quickly. Flavour: "This drake is on fiyah!!!"
Demonic Playground: Another Secret for Bard, and this time it's Demon support. it doesn't really fit in any other deck, and I thought this would be a neat way to play with the hand buff mechanic. Flavour: Aw, look at those cute little red babies, coming to play, they just wanna... Agh! My eye!
Devil's Dance: 4 Rushed Attack and Health for 4 mana is pretty decent, but What's nice here is I wanted to give something to either the Demon deck or the Even-Bard Song deck. Flavour: I'm not a very good dancer, but that does not look like a dance.
Epics
Batton of Wonders: At first glance, one would think that the most common bards in the Witchwood would be Whisper Bards, but unlike the Innistrad of Magic the Gathering, the Witchwood does not take itself too seriously. So instead of hiding from the horrors I figured the Bards would want to conduct, or control, them instead. At a pretty high cost, this wand allows you to replay your songs. Flavour: Bibidee bobidy boo yah!
Tweed Twin: Speaking Speaking of not taking itself too seriously, I was delighted to see some Alice inspired cards but was disappointed to see how few there were. So, I wanted to make one while also giving Odd-Bard Wish their own version of Saronite Chain Gang. Flavour: "I'm not Dumb. I'm Dee, and he's Dumb"
Thank you so much for your comments! Will work on those right away!
For Angelic Drake, you make a really good point. I think I'll raise its stats up to 2/3. It doesn't seem so unplayable, comparing it to Lone Champion. If it isn't that playable after that, that's still fine with me.Some bad cards must be made in a set anyway.
Wow, your'e right on Tweed Twin. You think butting it down to 3/5 should do it? I don't really want to change cost usually, since I consider having high cost, low cost, and for the set, odd and even cost.
For Facemelter, I think I want to keep the Windfury for the sake of showcasing Bard's ability to use Windfury. But making the effect symmetric is a really good way to nerf it just a bit.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the art and neither did I come up with the layout of the post myself (that would be credited to the esteemed McF4rtson who won the Big Class Competition with their Sea Witch Class). I'm just a game designer who likes to practice his craft.
Wish is real simple. It's a triggered ability that happens whenever you play a card that did not start in your deck, even if it's the Coin that you get in your starting hand as the second player.
Showcase Cards
Here are 6 Legendaries that help show how the Bard plays in each set.
Description:
Helgus is THE Bard when you're looking for one in the World of Warcraft. In the WoW quest "The Enemy's Legacy," you will have to find his 3 sagas. As such, the sagas are attainable through his Battlecry. Each Saga is supposed to feel like a 3-mana spell as well as also be a Song, in synergy with the other Bard cards.
Tokens:
Description:
The Lost Tome helps take advantage of Bard's draw and rewards you with a continuous engine for your Wish minions. It used to say "cast 5 spells that draw cards," but in the interest of brevity, it was simplified to simply "draw 10 cards."
Tokens:
Description:
Tokens:
Entrance Quote: "I have arrived!"
Flavor Text: "The party can get started now!
Entrance Quote: "Crawl in your skin. Your wounds won't heal.""
Flavor Text: If you like staring into utter darkness as your soul eats itself up, then his EP is the one for you!
Description:
Making Facemelter, I realized, "WOW, it's extremely difficult to balance weapons," but I think I got it. One of the underlying themes of Bards is that they are Jacks of all Trades. I tried to show that all in one by having something that feels like a Shaman or Warrior weapon but with a Rogue or Priest effect. The Facemelter is also the weapon made for the April Fool's Joke.
Description:
At first glance, the Battlecry doesn't seem like much, but what it does is it basically turns every card in your deck into a card that didn't start in your deck, which means every card can now trigger Wish. I wanted it to also be able to stand on its own, so it also has a Wish ability that synergizes real well with the Hero Power.
Description:
I did some digging and the Blackwald is also reffered to as a Witchwood and it is home to various banshees, so I thought hhis would be a nice little easter egg. And yes, you saw it right. Bard has both odd and even synergistic cards, to help underline the theme "Jack of all Trades." This card in particular is one of those Tuners.
This is the first step into making my custom Hearthstone Expansion "Tales of Vox Machina." If you see anything overpowered or if there are too many underpowered cards, please let me know. Thank you very much!
Check out my custom Bard class!
Interesting concept. Unfortunately, I do have quite a few things I dislike, yet several things I do.
A) Your Hero Power uses a keyword. While I am not one to complain when it comes to complex keywords since I've made some really weird Hero Powers myself, I really dislike keywords in Hero Powers. That might just be me, but if it were up to me, I'd rework it.
B) I don't quite exactly know what difference the "song" spells make, not sure if I missed your explanation but I don't see it. In any case, some of them are a bit unbalanced, such as the 4 mana draw 2, or the 2 mana heal 4.
C) You have a few 5-line cards. That won't do, limit them to 4 lines.
Those were a couple of the overall things I found when first looking it over, I didn't look too closely at every individual card. On the other hand, it does seem you have a general cohesive direction of where you're taking the class... I see card draw, I see some minion buffs. If your class has draw power, make sure to provide it with a combo-based win condition.
Check out my custom Bard class!
The first expansion I finished is Kobolds & Catacombs, simply because I am a big fan of D&D and am really excited to try my hand at marrying D&D and Hearthstone. Please do let me know what you think!
Check out my custom Bard class!
Next up, the Witchwood! I played with some more ideas here, trying to see which decks I could make work.
Check out my custom Bard class!
Thank you so much for your comments! Will work on those right away!
For Angelic Drake, you make a really good point. I think I'll raise its stats up to 2/3. It doesn't seem so unplayable, comparing it to Lone Champion. If it isn't that playable after that, that's still fine with me.Some bad cards must be made in a set anyway.
Wow, your'e right on Tweed Twin. You think butting it down to 3/5 should do it? I don't really want to change cost usually, since I consider having high cost, low cost, and for the set, odd and even cost.
For Facemelter, I think I want to keep the Windfury for the sake of showcasing Bard's ability to use Windfury. But making the effect symmetric is a really good way to nerf it just a bit.
Thank you again very much!
Check out my custom Bard class!