Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

The hardcoding that screws with basically everything else related to spellbook customization probably doesn't cover adding new spell levels (... up to 9, at least; not sure how you'd fare trying to open up higher levels than that). In that case, it would be a straightforward enough matter of amending the bard progression 2DAs to include progression for levels 7-9.

I actually thought of a way to implement the class but it would be a flip of a coin. Rather than a bard seeking to gain access to greater spells, how about a sorcerer seeking to gain access to bardic magic?

Make it a medium BaB class with the same skill requirements but restricted to Sorcerers only. The reason for medium BaB is because the class requires character level 10 due to the required skills and, ideally, you would want those to be all bard for better song strength in the original version. Since the requirement would now be Sorcerer, a low BaB class, this evens out BaB progression. Edit: You could also add a restriction that requires the PC to be non-lawful just like a normal bard.

Otherwise, the PrC progresses exactly the same with the same abilities and saves. The PrC levels would stack with bard levels in the same manner for songs but Bard levels would not be required. Though going Bard 4/Sorcerer 6 (or 3/7) would be the easiest way to meet the PrC requirements as it gives access to all the favored skills you need and Sorcerer caster level could be augmented with practiced spellcaster.

Now for the bard spells. I'm assuming it would be possible to make new spells like the shadow spells that give access to multiple shadow variants of other arcane spells. However, these Sublime Chord spells would give a list of all bard only spells available to be cast at that spell level.

As an example, a Sublime casts "Magical Melody," a level one spell, then a menu pops where the player can select Amplify, Cure Light Wounds, and all the other spells at spell level 1 that a bard can cast but a sorcerer can't. Also, the sorcerer must have at least 1 level of Sublime Chord. If they don't, the spell fizzles. Same goes for a wizard.

This does open up a problem as these Sublime Chord spells would allow for a lot more spells known. I see two solutions for this. The easiest would be to make them like the Shadow spells and move them to a higher spell level. Example, Magical Melody 1 can only be selected at Spell Level 3.

The more complicated option would be that a menu pops up after Magical Melody 1 is cast. The player then picks one of the bard spells and gains a feat for that spell. For example, player selects cure light wounds, then "MM1 - Cure Light Wounds" feat gets added. After that, each time the Sublime casts Magical Melody 1, the Cure Light Wounds spell is cast. Sublime Chords can talk to Mystra in the Nexus if they want to swap their Magical Melody spells.

Edit: I just realized I really overthought this. The simplest solution is to copy all the bard spells and add them to the wizard/sorcerer spells list and just makes those always fizzle unless the PC has at least one level in Sublime Chord. I also forgot that Sublime Chords are able to cast their advanced magic like bards in that they're not restricted when using light armor. This could be fixed by giving SCs Bard Weapon and Light Armor proficiencies and a sorcerer version of Armored Caster. Some might see this as a balance breaker, though.

I'm always down to see more cool new PRCs

Note: This is a modification of the PrC so that it can work with the current limitations of NWN2. Instead of bard seeking to gain access to sorcerer spells, it's the other way around.

Sublime Chord

A sublime chord is a sorcerer that seeks to master some of the bardic arts and gain access to their song enchanted spells. While the bards say there is magic within music, the sublime chord knows there can also be music within magic.



Requirements

Alignment restrictions: Any non-lawful

Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 13, Listen 13, Perform 10, Profession (Other - Astrology) 6, Spellcraft 6.

Spellcasting: Able to cast arcane spells of 3rd level.

Special: Must be a Sorcerer

Class Features
Hit die: 6
Proficiencies: Bard Weapons, Light Armor
Skill points: 4 + Int modifier
Class skills: Concentration, Craft (all), Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Linguistics, Lore (all), Perform, Profession (all), Search, Spellcraft, Spot.
Base attack bonus progression: Medium
Saving throws
high: Will
low: Fortitude, Reflex

Spellcasting

A sublime chord is the only spellcaster that can cast bard spells available in the Wizard/Sorcerer spell list. These spells will always fizzle if cast by one that has not come to understand the sublime magics. The sublime chord training also allows her to not incur an arcane spell failure chance if she now chooses to wear light armor.

A sublime chord's caster level is determined by adding her sublime chord level to her level in another arcane spellcasting class. If she had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a sublime chord, she must choose to which class to add her sublime chord levels for the purpose of determining her sublime chord spellcaster level. A sublime chord continues to prepare and cast spells just as a sorcerer does, including the ability to replace a known sublime chord spell with a new spell at every even-numbered class level.

Class Abilities

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Features Gained
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Armored Caster (Sorcerer), Bardic Lore, Bardic Music
2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Song of Arcane Power
3	+2	+1	+1	+3	-
4	+3	+1	+1	+4	-
5	+3	+1	+1	+4	-
6	+4	+2	+2	+5	Song of Timelessness
7	+5	+2	+2	+5	-
8	+6	+2	+2	+6	-
9	+6	+3	+3	+6	-
10	+7	+3	+3	+7	Song of Cosmic Fire

Bardic Knowledge
A sublime chord collects odd bits of lore and knowledge like a bard. She can add her sublime chord class levels to her bard class levels (if she has any) for bardic knowledge checks, so her bardic knowledge checks have a bonus equal to her sublime chord level + her bard level + her Int modifier.

Bardic Music
A sublime chord gains access to bardic music that encompasses songs & poetics of strange and wondrous power. These effects function just as the bardic music effects described in the Player's Handbook. Each use of a sublime chord song expends one daily use of the character's bardic music ability. A sublime chord adds one-half her class level (rounded down) to her bard level (or 1 is she has no bardic training) to determine her number of daily uses of bardic music.

Song of Arcane Power (Su)
A sublime chord of 2nd level or higher with 12 or more ranks in a Perform skill learns how to use her bardic music to assist her spellcasting. As a move action, she can prepare to cast a spell by giving voice to the song of power. The next spell she casts gains a bonus to its caster level based on the result of the sublime chord's Perform check:

Perform Check Result	Caster Level Increase
9 or lower	+0
10 to 19	+1
20 to 29	+2
30 or higher	+4

The spell to be enhanced by the song of arcane power must be cast by the end of the sublime chord's next turn, or else the song fades with no effect (other than consuming a bardic music use).

Song of Timelessness (Su)
A sublime chord of 6th level or higher with 16 or more ranks in a Perform skill knows the song of timelessness. As a standard action, she can envelop a single creature within 60 feet in a field of timelessness, provided she has line of effect to the target. The subject is entitled to a Will save (DC 10 + sublime chord level + Cha modifier) to negate the effect. If the subject fails its save, it is frozen in a shimmering aura of timelessness and can take no actions. However, no force can affect it, weapons cannot reach it, spells that target it automatically fail, and if the ground it is standing on is somehow taken away, it would not even begin to fall. A sublime chord can keep her target frozen in time for as long as she maintains the power by continuing to perform, up to a maximum of 1 minute per level. When she stops performing, the subject immediately returns to normal. As far as the creature is concerned, no time seems to have passed.

Song of Cosmic Fire (Su)
A 10th-level sublime chord with 20 or more ranks in a Perform skill learns the song of cosmic fire. Using this ability costs a sublime chord two of her daily uses of bardic music. The song of cosmic fire creates a 20-foot-radius spread of fire anywhere within 100 feet of the sublime chord (provided she has line of effect to the fire's point of origin). Creatures in the area take damage equal to the sublime Chord's Perform check result. All affected creatures are entitled to a Reflex save (DC 10 + sublime chord level + Cha modifier) for half damage.

Doesn't make it any better, sorry. We have no way of hiding illegal spells from other arcanists in this setup, and it's bad enough that we've got a few dozen deity-locked spells in the divine spellbook: the whole bardic spellbook is out of the question. Meanwhile, NWScript has no functioning API that could allow us to teach the sorcerer any bard-only spells, so we can't circumvent the problem by force-teaching spells through a custom UI or something.

There's just no way you can redesign this PRC to be reasonably buildable within NWN2 without the use of a bunch of tech that's still too early in its development cycle to be available to us. The closest you might be able to get is a Mystic Theurge sort of deal, but even with a complete statblock, I can't promise it would actually be made.

I wasn't thinking of hiding it, but rather the spell always fails unless the PC has at least 1 SC level. I'm guessing that's not possible either, though.

It is possible, and I assumed you were already aware of the various cleric/FS spells that work that way. Like I said, though, it's bad enough that we have a few isolated spells already: Adding a whole spellbook's worth of spells working like that... just no.