D&D 5E Harper's Pin

[muppetmuppet]

Given harpers in the stories seem to insanely wear their pins or Harper signs semi openly and often get spotted as a result, I thought it would be a good idea to give them some advantage for doing this, maybe a small piece of magic somewhat similar to how the pins work in 4th edition. Possibly have the magic only start at a given renown level and maybe getting better at higher levels.

What do you think of this idea and any suggestions for small bonuses I might give out? My player is a 2nd level bard with one renown at the moment.

Currently she is very paranoid of the harper pin she has and it is dissembled into hard to recognise pieces in her pack.

 

[Mephista]

Erin M Evans, in the Brimstone Angels series, got rid of Harper pins, and instead replaced them with magical tattoos that only appeared with a spoken command word. This way, only those the Harper wanted to see would get a chance to. Maybe something like that would be something your paranoid bard character might like?

 

[darjr]

Maybe harper pins are tuned to vibrate to a specific ultrasonic tone. The bard could work that tone into her music so that other harpers would be clued in that the music was from a fellow harper.

 

[Redthistle]

Harper Pins: The Forgotten Realms' poorly developed answer to Blue Tooth. All they can transmit is your allegiance, and the "reception" they get may not be ... user-friendly.

Still, I've always liked the Harpers, and Mephista's reminder about Evans' magic-tattoo work-around in the Brimstone Angels series is one of those little ideas that shines with pragmatic brilliance.

muppetmuppet, your player ain't paranoid, she's rational and sensible. Send her to her local Harper tattoo-artist, which, come to think of it, should be added to the careers in the Guild Artisan background.

And darjr (I now dub thee the "artful darjr"), combining your idea about a tonal resonance with the magic-tattoo would be simply delightful.