Perform and Bardic Music

[Lord Pendragon]

But that's completely unnecessary if you keep your mind open to the second aspect noted above. As long as the bard does *something* as a trigger, then who really cares if he can carry a tune?

The rules do.

Bardic Music: Once per day per bard level, a bard can use his song or poetics to produce magical effects on those around him (usually including himself, if desired).

Personally, I lean toward a juggling bard. He's gotta toss certain items in certain patterns to weave the appropriate effect. (Gives a nice angle to play off his knife-throwing combat skills, too.)

I restrict it to something vocal, because as was stated above, it needs to be something your allies can appreciate, while at the same time concentrating on fighting. They won't be able to watch your juggling at the same time they're trying to watch their enemies.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

"Eat, Eat, Eat the delicious sandwitch"

*invisions a witch made of sand*

Gertie (Xath), you're my favorite!

 

[Shadowdancer]

Other type get a little more difficult, but not impossible to use:

Dance - maybe this is something more like a martial arts kata than ballet or break dancing. The bard performs the kata and maybe she goes into a trance-like state that allows her consciousness to aid her allies and focus their attention. Or maybe the kata reminds the various members of the bard's party how to work together or coordinate their movements

Or maybe the bard stands behind her comrades, does an erotic dance that draws the attention of the other party, giving the PCs a plus to hit because the enemy is distracted.

I mention this because my female bard did it once. I was inspired by the distracting cheerleaders' routine in "The Replacements."

 

[Xath]

*invisions a witch made of sand*

Gertie (Xath), you're my favorite!

It was for....inspire courage....because what if the party was fighting a Sand Witch...and they were trolls, so they wanted to eat her...? Yes..

- Xath
Master of the Gratuitous T

 

[Xath]

Here's the thing. Under the feat Silent Spell, it stipulates that it cannot be applied to Bardic magic. Assumably, this means that bards use some aspects of performance in their castings. Well, what about the bard with Perform Act or Dance? It's a bit limited. In stead of being forbidden to cast silently, shouldn't the Mime be forbidden to take Still Spell instead?

 

[Belen]

What do you do? Do you ignore these types of Perform or do you allow bards with Perform(Comedy) to do stand-up in battle? Yes, I realize this is Bardic Music, sound is implied in the name. But if that's the case, why have non-musical perform types at all?

I do not like the 3.5 version of Perform. I house ruled it for bards. A bard gains a number of performance styles equal to his charisma modifier. Thus, a bard with a 15 can dance and sing etc.

It was wrong of WOTC to give a bard extra skills points, then take them away by making them spend it on multiple performance styles. So I think my house rule works a lot better.

Dave

 

[The_Universe]

*invisions a witch made of sand*

Gertie (Xath), you're my favorite!

now to be fair, I feel I have to point out that "envision" begins with an "e," not an "i."

So while you may not put T (tea?) in a sandwich, you also envision with only two I's (eyes?). How punny.

 

[Driddle]

The rules do.

Ah. Well, then.

As long as we've got the rules...

 

[Lord Pendragon]

It was wrong of WOTC to give a bard extra skills points, then take them away by making them spend it on multiple performance styles. So I think my house rule works a lot better.

I agree. The idea that the fighter can be proficient with every weapon ever made and get better with it every level despite possibly never having touched it his entire career (BAB), while the bard cannot be proficient in every instrument, is hogwash. Either you go with a proficiency slot system, or the fighter is allowed to be proficient with fighting tools, and the bard is allowed to be proficient with musical tools.

I've House Ruled the 3.0 Perform back in. In a game in which I play a bard, my DM house-ruled the bard to gain 4 "perform ranks" for every rank spent in Perform. So I can be maxed in 4 kinds of Perform, or mix and match the ranks however I like among many types, while still paying for 1 maxed skill. Not as nice as 3.0, but workable.

 

[Belen]

I agree. The idea that the fighter can be proficient with every weapon ever made and get better with it every level despite possibly never having touched it his entire career (BAB), while the bard cannot be proficient in every instrument, is hogwash. Either you go with a proficiency slot system, or the fighter is allowed to be proficient with fighting tools, and the bard is allowed to be proficient with musical tools.

I've House Ruled the 3.0 Perform back in. In a game in which I play a bard, my DM house-ruled the bard to gain 4 "perform ranks" for every rank spent in Perform. So I can be maxed in 4 kinds of Perform, or mix and match the ranks however I like among many types, while still paying for 1 maxed skill. Not as nice as 3.0, but workable.

Well, under my house rule, the ranks in perform work for all styles known. A 16 charisma grants three perform styles known and having perform maxed out means that all three styles are maxed out.