Perform Skill

[reichtfeld]

Dragon 301 and other sources have confused my understanding of the mechanics surrounding the Perform skill something awful. The PHB states that every rank put into Perform adds another method of performance the character knows. That means that it isn't like Knowledge, Profession, or Craft where you select a specific subtype and invest ranks into it. Instead, Perform is cumulative and you use your single rank for any checks with a performance method you know; checks for methods you don't know would be made untrained as I understand it. The most current errata for the PHB does not change how the Perform skill works.

Yet Dragon 301's "Meter and Measure" article and certain PrC requirements treat Perform like Craft, Knowledge, and Profession. They suggest/require that you invest skill ranks into individual Perform methods. In the case of Dragon 301 you have to invest ranks into masterpiece performances, which are individual songs, dances, etc. that confer certain bonuses.

So what exactly is going on with the Perform skill? Are players supposed to invest ranks into individual performance methods? Are the PrCs that list things like Perform (dance) 4 as a requirement just referring to 4 ranks in the Perform skill and having dance as one of your 4 methods, or Perform (dance) as its own exclusive skill like Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (religion)? Are the skill ranks invested into learning masterpiece performances a sole exception to the PHB?

Please help me make sense of this.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Your understanding from the PHB is correct.

Not having read Dragon 301, I don't know the mechanics of masterpiece performances.

But normally, if you have six ranks of Perform, you know Dance, Play Balalaika, Juggling, Knock-Knock Jokes, Rap, and Funny Card Tricks (for example).

-Hyp.

 

[reichtfeld]

That had been my exact interpretation as well, Hypersmurf. And it had always worked fine. Granted, I play instruments and feel the idea of making an untrained check is pretty absurd (instrument proficiencies would make a lot more sense), but it works fine for game balance. To point out one example of the PrCs I'd direct you to the Spelldancer from Magic of Faerun. The class requires 6 ranks of Perform (dance). That's confusing, but it could just mean you need 6 ranks of Perform and dance as one of your methods. That's easy to write off. But alongside Dragon 301's discussion of masterpiece performances I have to wonder.

Basically, masterpiece performances are like magic items that confer bonuses to bardic music performances. Increased ranges, empowered effects, etc. You purchase the original copy of a performance and invest 1 skill rank into learning it per 1,000gp in the base price. So the poem "There Once Was a Man from Nantucket" that has a base price of 2,500 requires 2 ranks in Perform ("There Once Was a Man From Nantucket") in order to get whatever magical benefit it provides to bardic music.

 

[Iron_Chef]

It doesn't make any sense that adding performance styles (ranks) improves all your performance types, does it? I know that's what the PHB says, but it's not realistic and totally against the way every other skill works (Craft, Knowledge, Profession). Shouldn't Perform work like these other skills?

 

[Hypersmurf]

To point out one example of the PrCs I'd direct you to the Spelldancer from Magic of Faerun. The class requires 6 ranks of Perform (dance). That's confusing, but it could just mean you need 6 ranks of Perform and dance as one of your methods. That's easy to write off.

That's correct.

For more evidence, look up Storm Giant or Sprite in the Monster Manual and reverse-engineer their skill point allocations.

You purchase the original copy of a performance and invest 1 skill rank into learning it per 1,000gp in the base price. So the poem "There Once Was a Man from Nantucket" that has a base price of 2,500 requires 2 ranks in Perform ("There Once Was a Man From Nantucket") in order to get whatever magical benefit it provides to bardic music.

3E math says 3 ranks.

Either the author of the article is introducing a new mechanic... or he doesn't understand the Perform skill.

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Shouldn't Perform work like these other skills?

That's not the question.

-Hyp.

 

[reichtfeld]

In this case you don't round up, actually. "For each full 1,000gp" is what the text writes, emphasis mine. And yes, it is a new mechanic. But when comparing it alongside the PrC requirements I began to wonder what was going on.

Iron_Chef: Since Performance is such a relatively minor element of D&D 3e the mechanics are simple and exist almost solely for the bard's sake. And most folks probably agree that a lot of bard mechanics (like bardic music's reliance on Perform, the 1 use/day progression, etc.) are a bit off kilter. I'm sure 3.5 will fix some stuff but I doubt making a very deep, realistic performance mechanic is on the agenda. My own personal opinion is that instruments should have proficiencies according to their class. For instance, I play viola, so I can at least get by with a violin, cello, or string bass. I play guitar, so I can also get by with bass or perhaps lute and mandolin. I play piano, so I can get by with something like a clavichord. So far as performance as a skill there is just so much variety that it's hard to know what to do with it in the context of D&D. Art is pretty expansive.