Let’s Play D&D With ‘The Witcher’s Jaskier
Toss all of your coins, this week we’re playing D&D with one of the bardiest bards around when Jaskier joins our party.
Season three of The Witcher is almost here. And even if I’m not sure how many of us will come back for a season four, I’m pretty excited to see where the next few episodes go. The Witcher is definitely one of those TV series that’s just as–and maybe more–enjoyable for casual fans. Between the interesting world and likable, often funny characters, it’s an easy show to fall into. And maybe the most likable and funny of those characters is the group’s bard. This week we’re playing D&D with…
Jaskier
Jaskier, and the world of The Witcher in general is similar enough to D&D where many of the characters are very playable and would fit in perfectly well in your average Dungeons and Dragons campaign. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that for a more accurate Witcher game, there is an entire system made just for that. But the schtick is D&D, so that’s what we’re doing.
And luckily Jaskier would fit right in at any D&D tavern.
He’s an obvious bard. In fact, he may be the most bard a bard has ever barded. If you were looking for a dictionary definition of the class, he’d be in the picture next to the entry. I decided on the College of Lore because they strive for “beauty and truth” and “hold audiences spellbound” with their song. And Jaskier’s song was captivating audiences in and out of the TV for at least a few weeks.
via Netflix
In a world surrounded by effectively-immortal monster hunters and sorcerers, he’s the normal guy, so I made him human. And his background as a spy comes from his time working as a spy for Djikstra. Plus, it has a few helpful, practical benefits for gameplay.
The regular Bard skills were all pretty solid and complete, but I added the Actor feat for an extra charisma boost. And while we don’t see Jaskier with too many weapons I almost always give every character a dagger, and then the rapier is the quintessential ‘this bard needs a weapon, any weapon’ pick in my mind.
From there, choosing spells was just a matter of going through and picking the ones I think he has or would use some form of… And then deleted the extras because, of course, I picked too many spells to start with. The Bard spell list is a lot of fun.
I wouldn’t send this version of Jaskier (or any version, for that matter) out into the woods to face beasts alone. But with a team, he’s a perfect hype man who will keep the inspiration up and Geralt annoyed.
How would you make Jaskier for a D&D setting? Are you looking forward to season three of The Witcher? What movie, show, game, book, or comic should I make a sheet from next week? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
