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<blockquote data-quote="Kobold Stew" data-source="post: 6854243" data-attributes="member: 23484">The rules for the bard's implements are especially weak. The devs were told this throughout play testing, and in the end it wasn't seen as something important enough to address (I think on the assumption that most tables won't care). Since it's a personal hobby horse of mine, I'll weigh in...Yes, the rule is badly written:1. Holding an instrument with one hand is what's required for a bard to cast spells, not actually playing it. (Cue people who point to people playing guitars with one hand; obviously that's not the point.) Lame verisimilitude. 2. Bards get proficiencies in three instruments, but there's no correlation between that proficiency and using an instrument for spell components. Lame internal logic. 3. The list of instruments in the PHB is different from the list of magic instruments for which proficiency might be required in the DMG. Lame proofreading.To whatever degree this sort of thing bugs you, each table needs to find a solution for all of these things. And, I agree, most won't make a big deal about it. But you still need workarounds, such as the one Saelorn mentions from 3.x. However, I don't buy this argument:It's actually a bad idea in a non-magical world. given the premises of the game (with fireballs&nbsp; flying overhead), if playing a fife will allow me to actually work magic every six seconds, then darn-tootin' I'd be working on my arpeggios.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kobold Stew, post: 6854243, member: 23484"] The rules for the bard's implements are especially weak. The devs were told this throughout play testing, and in the end it wasn't seen as something important enough to address (I think on the assumption that most tables won't care). Since it's a personal hobby horse of mine, I'll weigh in... Yes, the rule is badly written: 1. Holding an instrument with one hand is what's required for a bard to cast spells, not actually playing it. (Cue people who point to people playing guitars with one hand; obviously that's not the point.) Lame verisimilitude. 2. Bards get proficiencies in three instruments, but there's no correlation between that proficiency and using an instrument for spell components. Lame internal logic. 3. The list of instruments in the PHB is different from the list of magic instruments for which proficiency might be required in the DMG. Lame proofreading. To whatever degree this sort of thing bugs you, each table needs to find a solution for all of these things. And, I agree, most won't make a big deal about it. But you still need workarounds, such as the one Saelorn mentions from 3.x. However, I don't buy this argument: It's actually a bad idea in a non-magical world. given the premises of the game (with fireballs flying overhead), if playing a fife will allow me to actually work magic every six seconds, then darn-tootin' I'd be working on my arpeggios. [/QUOTE]

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