Skald

Spells

A skald casts arcane spells drawn from the bard spell list (see pages 224–226 of the Core Rulebook). He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. Every skald spell has a verbal component—these verbal components can take the form of song, recitation, or even nonverbal music like percussion. To learn or cast a spell, a skald must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell’s level. The saving throw DC against a skald’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the skald’s Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a skald can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table 1–10. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score (see Table 1–3 on page 17 of the Core Rulebook). The skald’s selection of spells is limited. A skald begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the skald’s choice. At each new skald level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table 1–11. Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a skald knows isn’t affected by his Charisma score; the numbers on Table 1–11 are fixed.

At 5th level and every 3 levels thereafter, a skald can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the skald loses the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least 1 level lower than the highest-level skald spell the skald can cast. A skald may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level. A skald need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.