How to Shred!

1d10 Band Name 1 Band Name 2

Rules Overview 1 Black Doom

2 Dying Sons
Setting the Tone 3 Booming Circle
Battle of the Bards is a non-traditional D&D 4 Elegant Death
adventure. The fun of the adventure lies in
roleplaying as an epic band! As it is written, 5 Frozen Tears
deadly combat is replaced with new mechanics for 6 Forgotten River
putting on an epic concert. Weapons are replaced
with instruments. Dungeons are replaced by 7 Living Sphere
dazzling stages! 8 Holy Omen
The more the players embrace their roles as
bandmates, offer colorful descriptions of their 9 Unholy Ghost
performances, and think of creative ways to use 10 Weeping Rose
their characters’ skills and abilities in the context
of a performance, the more fun they will have!
The GM is encouraged to explain to their players New Statistics
that this is a new experience. Their characters Performance Meter
should want to be in a band together, just as a The goal of a band is to fill the Performance Meter
traditional party should want to go out on perilous (PM). The PM represents the audience’s level
adventures together. The GM should also read of satisfaction with the musical performance. If
through this handout and explain the new rules to bands are competing against one another, they are
their players. racing to be the first ones to fill the Performance
This supplement provides the basic mechanics Meter. Each band will track their cumulative
for performances, but also includes optional rules total toward filling the PM separately.
for incorporating spells and class features into First, a performer must roll to “hit,” by
the performances, which may be better-suited for rolling equal to or greater than the Audience’s
experienced players that want to use the full suite Excitement (AE). On a success, they roll their
of their characters’ special abilities. Performance Die + modifiers (as specified by their
instrument) and add the total to the PM!
Establishing the Band! The first band that totals an amount equal
The players start by creating a band name! They or greater to the PM total needed for their
may come up with one themselves, or roll on the performance/encounter wins the battle!
Band Name table. Then each player chooses an
instrument from the available options (see the Performance Energy
table on the Player Handout). Each character In Band Battles, Performance Energy (PE)
is automatically proficient in their chosen functions similarly to hit points in combat. To
instrument. calculate a character’s Performance Energy
If this adventure is being incorporated into score, multiply the character’s Performance Die
an ongoing campaign story, the GM may have maximum value by the charter’s level.
characters learn the instrument prior to the For example, if a level 5 character has a
events of the story by practicing, taking lessons, d8 Performance Die, then that character’s
and so on. For example, the GM could ask the maximum Performance Energy is 40.
player to describe a flashback montage of their During a battle, a performer’s Performance
characters learning the instrument. Optionally, Energy can be reduced by “attacks” from opposing
they may ask the player to subtract 100 gp from musicians. For example, losing a solo battle
their inventory to account for purchasing the against a rival band means taking “damage” to
instrument, and lessons, etc. one’s Performance Energy.
If a character’s Performance Energy is reduced
to 0 (it cannot go lower than 0), they have
“bombed” as a performer. They have disadvantage
Roll to Rock Out! on all rolls made as part of the performance
Based on their chosen instrument (see Table on and may no longer perform Flourishes. If their
Player Guide handout), characters will roll to “rock Performance Energy is restored to a value higher
out,” rolling 1d20 and adding the instrument’s than 0, they no longer suffer disadvantage.
specified ability modifier “to hit.” The goal of the A character may spend their action trying to
check is to “hit” the Audience’s Excitement to regain Performance Energy by Playing to the
fill the Performance Meter, or “hit” an opposing Crowd. To do so, they may attempt one of the
musician’s Stage Presence in order to lower their actions listed below. Alternatively, the GM or
Performance Energy. players may come up with their own creative ways
to enliven the crowd and restore their PE.

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 Restoring Performance Energy Let’s Fight!
• Stage Dive. The character leaps into the In Band Battles, the goal is to defeat the other
crowd! They must succeed on a Strength band as performers, but the party may want
(Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to spill some blood along the way! Each rival
(their choice), with the DC equal to the band also includes enemy stat blocks from the
audience’s AE - 2. On a success, they are Monster’s Manual to reference if needed. If a
carried around the crowd and regain 1d10 character wants to attack a rival band member
Performance Energy x their level. On a failed (not using a Performance Action, but a regular
result of 5 or lower, they are dropped in the attack), they may do so, but with the following
crowd and take 3d6 bludgeoning damage changes:
from being trampled. • Creatures are only allowed to attack with
• Flex the Guns. The character shows off their their instruments as weapons. The attack
physique! They must succeed on a Charisma modifiers, damage modifiers, and damage
(Performance) check with the DC equal to dice remain the same as though they were
the audience’s AE - (the character’s Strength making a Performance check. However, the
modifier). On a success, they restore 1d8 attack instead targets AC and deals damage
Performance Energy x their level. to hit points, as in traditional combat.
• Smash It! The character breaks some of • All damage, including damage from spells,
the stage equipment. They do not need is considered non-lethal. Murder is not
to roll to do so, and automatically regain permitted in the Battle of the Bards! The
1d6 Performance Energy x half their level GM and players may work together to re-
(rounded up). The audience’s AE increases flavor the descriptions of such attacks. For
by 1 for the rest of the encounter. This example, hitting an entire rival band with
increase is cumulative if this action is used a fireball spell might be described as an
multiple times during one performance. explosion erupting just above their heads,
thus disrupting their capacity to perform!
Stage Presence Instead of taking fire damage, the rival band
Stage Presence (SP) functions similarly to takes psychic damage equal to the amount
AC (Armor Class) in traditional combat. SP is normally dealt by the spell. Any creature that
a number associated with both players and is reduced to 0 hit points or fewer is knocked
NPCs that an attacker must beat in order for a out until the end of their next turn. The
Performance Attack (roll to Rock Out) to “damage” knocked out creature then regains 1d6+4
an opposing performer’s Performance Energy. Performance Energy at the start of the start
Base SP is equal to the PCs Charisma Modifier of their subsequent turn.
plus 10, but may be increased by performers’ • If a creature reduces an enemy’s hit points
instruments. to 0 or fewer, as a free action, they may then
immediately roll their Performance Die once
Performance Structure (adding their modifier normally), and deal
• Step One. Each player performer rolls that amount of damage to the Performance
initiative, using Charisma instead of Meter.
Dexterity. • At the end of a round where any combat
• Step Two. Opposing NPC performers are actions were used, the Audience Enthusiasm
interspersed between each player performer. score increases by 2. This effect is
For example, if Hewert rolled an 18 on his cumulative.
initiative, and Findazzle rolled a 17 on his,
then one of the opposing musicians would
act in-between Hewert and Findazzle.
Enemies used the same stat block as a band
(see Adventure Booklet, pgs. 10-11), but
may take different Performance Actions
and Flourishes on their individual turns.
Each individual NPC uses the same value
for Performance Energy as listed in their
band stat block. They suffer the same effects
of having their Performance Energy being
reduced to 0 as player characters.
• Step Three. In initiative order, each
performer may roll to Rock Out by taking a
Performance Action. Play like this continues
until the Performance Meter is filled by one
of the bands!

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