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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AuraSeer" data-source="post: 987098" data-attributes="member: 1331">The idea is that a fighter has used those weapons before. During his training, when he was changing from an unclassed character into a Ftr1, he trained on the basics of every kind of martial weapon-- small blades, big blades, bows, axes, polearms, etc. Anything that is considered a martial weapon works along the same general principles. So even if a blacksmith invents a polearm that has never been seen before, if it's a martial weapon, the fighter understands basically how it's supposed to work.The same reasoning doesn't work for Perform, though, because we're not talking about basic proficiency. At high levels we're talking about total mastery of the instrument, as if a fighter had the entire specialization feat chain (from weapon focus on up). A world-class player of one instrument must also be a world-class player of over a dozen more.If a fighter wants to really master a weapon he's never used before, he needs to spend a bunch of feats and make slow progress. He first gets Weapon Focus for a measly +1 to hit, then he takes Weapon Spec, and moves on up the chain for that weapon. A 3.0 bard doesn't need that kind of incremental progress. If a Brd19 has 0 ranks in drumming, he can spend one skill point and suddenly have 23 ranks. It just didn't make sense, neither in terms of game balance nor real-world logic.</blockquote>