**Skald Domain** characters move hearts with **story, song, and command**. They keep the memory of heroes, rally weary friends, and shame foes with a well-aimed verse. A Skald might be a hall poet with a kenning for every occasion, a drummer who keeps the oars in rhythm, or a young leader whose voice carries over the noise of battle. ::: wrap tip **Describe your performance!** A Skald card says what the words *do*, not what they are. *Mocking Verse* might be a rhyme, a rude gesture, or a sea-shanty with a new last line. Drums, pipes, chant, or plain speech all work. ::: ## Tier 1 Base Card: Skald Initiate **Skald Aspect:** Choose **Poise** (stage presence, timing, a dancer's grace) or **Tact** (wit, wordplay, reading the room). This Aspect powers your Skald Features. ### Core Feature: Inspiring Verse **Action Load:** 1 Speak, sing, or play. Choose up to **two allies** who can hear you: each either reduces **1 Stress** or gains **Advantage** on their next roll this scene. An ally can benefit from *Inspiring Verse* only once per scene. Choose **two** Domain Feature Cards from Tier 1. ### Requirements to Advance to Tier 2 (complete 3): - Perform for a crowd that didn't want to listen - Rally an ally who was about to give up - Learn an old story or song from someone who remembers it - Make a foe lose heart without striking it - Compose a verse about the party's deeds and perform it - Any one **Shared Milestone** (see [Domains](/rules/domains/)) ## Tier 1 Feature Cards ### Battle Chant (Team Action – Active) **Action Load:** 1 Start a rhythm. Until the start of your next turn, allies within 30 feet who can hear you gain **Advantage** on their **first** attack roll. ### Mocking Verse (Combat – Active) **Action Load:** 1 One enemy within 60 feet who can hear you rolls **Willpower** Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll. On a failure it marks **1 Stress** and has **Disadvantage** on its next attack. On a success it only glares. ### Lore-Keeper (Exploration – Passive) **Action Load:** — (Passive) You know old tales of places, people, and legends. Once per scene, ask the GM one question about a place, family, monster, or relic in front of you; the GM answers truthfully with what the old stories say (which may be half-wrong). You roll recall checks about history and legends with **Advantage**. ### Captivate (Roleplay – Active) **Action Load:** 1 (outside combat: once per scene) Hold a crowd's attention. Roll your Skald Aspect; everyone who wants to resist rolls **Willpower** Resistance against it. Those who fail watch only you for as long as you keep performing (up to a few minutes) and have **Disadvantage** to notice anything else—perfect cover for a friend's sneaking. ### ⚡ Steady Voice (Team Action – Reactive) **Action Load:** 1 When an ally who can hear you fails a roll against fear, morale, or becoming **Frightened**, they may reroll it with **Advantage**. ### Kenning (Roleplay – Passive) **Action Load:** — (Passive) Give a creature or place a **kenning** (a poetic name such as *Ring-Breaker* or *the Grey Wolf's Hall*). People who hear it remember it. You gain **Advantage** on social rolls with anyone who has accepted the kenning you gave them. ## Tier 2 Base Card: Skald Adept ### Core Feature: Saga After a fight, a journey, or a great deed, you may spend a Quick Rest telling the tale. Each ally who took part gains one **Saga token** (one at a time). A Saga token can be spent before any roll to gain **Advantage**; unspent tokens fade at the end of the next session. Choose **two** Domain Feature Cards from Tier 2. ### Requirements to Advance to Tier 3 (complete 4): - Win a contest of verse, wit, or song - Lead frightened people to safety by voice alone - Earn a patron, hall, or ship that welcomes your songs - Perform at a great feast or gathering - Hear others sing a song you made - Any one **Shared Milestone** ## Tier 2 Feature Cards ### Command (Team Action – Active) **Action Load:** 1 Shout an order to one ally who can hear you. They may immediately **move up to their speed** or make **one attack**, paying for it with their own Action Load (if they can afford it). ### Song of Rest (Team Action – Passive) **Action Load:** — (Passive) During a Quick Rest or Full Rest where you play or tell stories, each ally recovers **1 extra Stress**. ### Fame (Roleplay – Passive) **Action Load:** — (Passive) People have heard your songs. In any settlement where your name might travel, the GM rolls 1d4: on a 3–4 someone recognizes you and offers a meal, a bed, or a fair hearing. You may use your Skald Aspect instead of the usual Aspect when persuading someone who knows your work. ### Thunderous Voice (Combat – Active) **Action Load:** 2 Bellow a word of power. Creatures in a **15-foot cone** roll **Fortitude** Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll. On a failure they take **1d8 Thunder** damage and are pushed **10 feet**; on a success, half damage and no push. ### Wayfarer's Song (Exploration – Passive) **Action Load:** — (Passive) While you lead the singing on the road, the party takes **no Stress** from long marches, boredom, or bad weather, and rolls against travel Exhaustion with **Advantage**. ### ⚡ Stinging Aside (Combat – Reactive) **Action Load:** 1 When a creature within your reach **moves away from you**, you may make a melee or ranged weapon attack against it (normal attack roll). On a hit, it also marks **1 Stress**. ## Tier 3 Base Card: Skald Expert ### Core Feature: Voice of Heroes *Inspiring Verse* can affect **all allies** who hear you, and once per scene it costs **0 Action Load**. Choose **three** Domain Feature Cards from Tier 3. ### Requirements to Advance to Tier 4 (complete 4): - Turn a battle or a council with a single speech - Compose a great saga about a hero (it may be you) - End a feud through song, story, or judgment - Train a student who performs in your style - Perform before a ruler and keep their favor - Any one **Shared Milestone** ## Tier 3 Feature Cards ### War Cry (Combat – Active) **Action Load:** 2 Every enemy within 30 feet who can hear you rolls **Willpower** Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll. Each one that fails marks **1 Stress** and is **Frightened** of you until the end of its next turn. ### Rallying Song (Team Action – Active) **Action Load:** 2 (once per Quick Rest) Allies within 30 feet who can hear you each recover **1 HP**. An ally at 0 HP who has not yet chosen a death option is **stabilized** and wakes at 1 HP. ### Truthsinger (Roleplay – Active) **Action Load:** 1 (outside combat: once per scene) Sing a question to one listener. They roll **Willpower** Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll. On a failure they must answer truthfully or stay silent (and everyone notices the silence). ### Echoes of Old (Exploration – Active) **Action Load:** — (out of combat; takes 10 minutes) Sing to a place. The GM tells you **one true memory** of it: an important event, who built it, or what was buried there. Once per place. ### Courage (Team Action – Passive) **Action Load:** — (Passive) Allies within 30 feet of you who can hear you roll against becoming **Frightened** or **Distracted** with **Advantage**, and they may end either condition at the start of their turn by marking 1 Stress. ## Tier 4 Base Card: Skald Master ### Core Feature: Living Legend Your songs are sung across the land. Once per session, declare that a story you have told about the party **comes true in a small way** (a gate guard has heard of you, a rumored ford exists, a rival hesitates). The GM makes it fit. Choose **three** Domain Feature Cards from Tier 4. ## Tier 4 Feature Cards ### Song of Ages (Team Action – Active) **Action Load:** 3 (once per scene) Until the start of your next turn, every ally who can hear you gains **Advantage** on **all** of their rolls. ### Shatter Spirit (Combat – Active) **Action Load:** 3 Speak a verse of doom to one enemy within 60 feet. It rolls **Willpower** Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll with **Disadvantage** if it is already Frightened or Distracted. On a failure it **loses its will to fight**: it flees, surrenders, or stops attacking for the rest of the scene unless it is attacked. On a success it marks **2 Stress** and is **Distracted**. Bosses and the mindless roll with **Advantage**. ### King's Ear (Roleplay – Passive) **Action Load:** — (Passive) Rulers and chiefs make time to hear you. Once per adventure, you may request an audience with a ruler and receive it within a day. When you advise them, your social rolls with them gain **Advantage**. ### Remembered (Exploration – Passive) **Action Load:** — (Passive) Wherever you go, someone knows your songs. Once per session, the GM introduces a friendly NPC who recognizes you and helps with **one** of: shelter, directions, a local secret, or a hiding place. ### ⚡ Last Verse (Team Action – Reactive) **Action Load:** 2 (once per scene) When an ally within 30 feet who can hear you drops to **0 HP**, your song pulls them back: they stay at **1 HP** and skip the death options. You mark **1 Stress**.