Bards and arcane spell failiure

[rtricher]

Is a bard affected by arcane spell failiure seeing as how all he does is sing I can see that if his voice is impaired then obviously he can't cast spells, but just wearing armour shouldn't bother him.

SO either I'm looking for official rules or strong opinions..

I know the book doesn't say that he isn't affected.

 

[the Jester]

He's an arcane caster, so yes, he's affected by arcane spell failure.

 

[Pax]

Any arcane spellcaster who casts a spell requiring a Somatic component, suffers a chance of spell failure if s/he is wearign armor at the time.

Bards, of course, tend to pick spells with Material and/or Verbal components only, so can often cast many of their spells without worrying about Arcane Spell Failure %'s.

However, even bards, when casting spells, do more than SING. Their Somatic components are often simply the physical manipulation of their instruments (specific, complex fingerings on the holes of their flute, or chords on their harp, lute, guitar, etc, and so on ...). However, bulky, restrictive armor can still interfere with such fine, precision movements ... so arcane spell failure chances still apply.

IOW ... as with ANY Arcane spell, if armor is worn, the Arcane Spell Failure % applies to all spells cast which have a Somatic component ... wether the caster is a BArd, a Sorceror, a Wizard, or anything else for that matter.