I was reading the Pathfinder thread in GD, and the forked thread about Perform skills, and I had an idea: maybe we could make Perform skills like language skills. With some modifications, of course, but the basic idea is that you don't really need any measure of proficiency in a perform skill beyond "novice/proficient/talented/maestro/virtuoso".
This is basically what I did for
languages and
Decipher Script - instead of spending one rank to become fluent in the language you're speaking/reading, you have multiple levels of proficiency, and can make Int checks vs. a scaling DC to understand something that's above your level (for instance, I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I understand enough that I can usually puzzle out something written in Spanish).
This is just a half-formed idea ATM, but the concept is that you can gain levels of proficiency in different Perform skills (you can only spend 1 rank/skill/level, or maybe 1/3 or 4 levels, to prevent someone from becoming a maestro by L5). Bardic music works as normal, but the higher-level abilities require greater proficiency instead of more ranks. You could also add rules for greater proficiency levels when playing an instrument (adapting the rules from Song and Silence, where each instrument grants a different bonus; you could have the bonus scale by proficiency level. Same with bardic music.)
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