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Flourish

About these subclasses

The Flourish Bard uses smooth, rhythmic movements, fancy footwork, acrobatics, and a bit of showmanship to gain the upper hand while dancing across the battlefield and in the courts.
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Inspired by Nick N (Stealth Wyrm) and sagaisgood in the October 19, 2026 Bard & Raven Homebrew Challenge.
Touchstones: Star Lord and Baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy; Sam Rockwell in Argylle and Mr. Right.
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This is a second draft. The wording needs to be improved and made more succinct (foundation and specialization are way too long) and I have no idea about balance. I also considered making this a Rogue or even a Brawler subclass, but neither seemed to fit as well as the Bard, particularly once I latched onto the idea of building on Rally Dice.
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Changelog
v2:
* Changed “Flare” so that any additional Flourish Dice are lost instead allowing them to be used on subsequent spotlights. (Previous version’s second paragraph read “If you gain multiple Flourish Die before your next spotlight, you can choose which action to build on/which die to spend and as long as you spend one Flourish Die, you retain any remaining ones for use in future spotlights.”)
* Changed second bullet point in “Endless Moves” to read “focus you” instead of “attack you” so that it can be used in non-combat situations.
* Added “Move with the Rhythm” specialization feature. (Is this a _little_ OP? As long as they have Stress to burn, a Flourish Bard can keep an adversary at Close range, or force the GM to spend an entire spotlight to reach the Bard.) (Also I definitely had a better name for this feature–specifically a better word than “Move”–but I lost it and now I can’t remember it.)

Designed for class

Bard image
Core class
Bard

Flourish

Spellcast Trait: Presence

Gain the upper hand in any situation by using smooth movements, fancy footwork, acrobatics, and a bit of showmanship.

Foundation

Struttin': You can use Presence instead of Agility for movement-related action and reaction rolls.

Flare: The style kind, not the bright kind. When one of your Rally Dice is used, you gain a matching Flourish Die with the same value rolled on the Rally Die. If your next spotlight builds on or complements the action for which the Rally Die was used, spend the Flourish Die to add the value to any action, reaction, or damage roll you make during the spotlight. Otherwise, you lose the Flourish Die.

If you gain multiple Flourish Dice before your next spotlight, you can choose which action to build on and which die value to use (in any combination), but the remaining Flourish Dice are lost.

Specialization

Endless Moves: You no longer lose unspent Flourish Dice after your next spotlight. Additionally, you can spend a Flourish Die to:

  • Increase you or an ally's Evasion against one attack by a value equal to the Flourish Die.

  • After an ally is targeted by an adversary, force that adversary to move toward and focus you instead.

At the end of each session, clear all unspent Flourish Dice.

Move with the Rhythm: When a creature within Close range moves, you may mark a Stress to simultaneously match or do the opposite of their movement, up to Close range.

Mastery

Let's Keep This Party Going: Once per session, you can turn all spent Flourish Dice back into Rally Dice and redistribute them to yourself and your allies.

Printable cards

Foundation / Specialization / Mastery
Bard

Flourish

Foundation

SPELLCAST TRAIT: Presence

Struttin': You can use Presence instead of Agility for movement-related action and reaction rolls.

Flare: The style kind, not the bright kind. When one of your Rally Dice is used, you gain a matching Flourish Die with the same value rolled on the Rally Die. If your next spotlight builds on or complements the action for which the Rally Die was used, spend the Flourish Die to add the value to any action, reaction, or damage roll you make during the spotlight. Otherwise, you lose the Flourish Die.

If you gain multiple Flourish Dice before your next spotlight, you can choose which action to build on and which die value to use (in any combination), but the remaining Flourish Dice are lost.

Daggerheart Compatible. Daggerheart.comDaggerheart Compatible Logo
Card Backing
Bard

Flourish

Specialization

Endless Moves: You no longer lose unspent Flourish Dice after your next spotlight. Additionally, you can spend a Flourish Die to:

  • Increase you or an ally's Evasion against one attack by a value equal to the Flourish Die.

  • After an ally is targeted by an adversary, force that adversary to move toward and focus you instead.

At the end of each session, clear all unspent Flourish Dice.

Move with the Rhythm: When a creature within Close range moves, you may mark a Stress to simultaneously match or do the opposite of their movement, up to Close range.

Daggerheart Compatible. Daggerheart.comDaggerheart Compatible Logo
Card Backing
Bard

Flourish

Mastery

Let's Keep This Party Going: Once per session, you can turn all spent Flourish Dice back into Rally Dice and redistribute them to yourself and your allies.

Daggerheart Compatible. Daggerheart.comDaggerheart Compatible Logo
Card Backing

Discussion

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