D&D 5E Sage Advice: Spellcasting

[Tormyr]

What if Bards could make musical magic by singing?

I would think they already can, but would need one of the instruments under tool proficiency to be their voice.

http://www.tabletitans.com/tales/post/retirement-fund

 

[Staffan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1EbSoiNh_Q

There are only a handful of one-hand-playable musical instruments: finger cymbals, harmonica, panpipes (and that's a stretch), kazoo. What if Bards could make musical magic by singing?

They can - they do not require an instrument to cast spells. However, an instrument can serve as a spellcasting focus, allowing them to bypass the need for (most) material components.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Heck, remember that not all bards are musicians at all. Oratory and other forms of performance--in which case, the bard would just need components or an arcane focus like a wizard's--are perfectly acceptable.

 

[Riley37]

Are there any PC-playable races with more than two hands? Can a tiefling hold an arcane focus in their tail and do somatic components with that focus-holding tail?

Could a Bard use a musical instrument as an arcane focus, without actually playing it, just by gesturing with it?

If you can allocate one of your three musical tool proficiencies to Voice, and then use your voice as a zero-handed arcane focus, then that seems quite handy, where by "handy" i mean "hands free for weapons, shields, torch, etc.".

Hm. Could a shield be playable as a drum... if the person who made the shield, put in a bit of extra effort to make it drummable, and still effective as a blow-stopping shield? (Any SCA observations?)

"No one can accurately say whether those who massed on the banks of the Menai Straits did so as an organised foe or whether they answered a call to arms to stand and defend the island. In typical Celt fashion, we can assume that they spent a lot of time boasting across the water to the Romans - banging the flat of their swords on their shields, shouting abuse and sounding off their war trumpets." - from "The Roman Invasion of Anglesey" by John Griffiths

"At dances, men simply sing, drum, and beat spears against their shields; only women actually dance." - from "Sengseng Religion and Expressive Culture"

 

[Reynard]

It is always amazing to me how much effort people argue in favor of easing up the requirements on spell casters when one of the biggest complaints in every edition of the game has always been how spellcasters are overpowered...

 

[Paraxis]

A bard needs a physical musical instrument as an arcane focus to ignore the non costly material components of spells. All they have to do is have it in hand just like any other caster with any other spellcasting focus. Singing isn't an instrument because it isn't a tool to be proficient in, to sing a song it would be a Charisma(performance) check. Any spellcaster can just use a component pouch instead of a focus.

So carry a horn or something else easy to hold in one hand, and as a backup a component pouch. The pouch also gives you a handy place to store those costly material components.

 

[Prism]

A bard needs a physical musical instrument as an arcane focus to ignore the non costly material components of spells. All they have to do is have it in hand just like any other caster with any other spellcasting focus.

Really? I mean, I know you are right but that's so mechanical.

 

[Baumi]

The bard has one of the best Focuses.

Mine has attached some drum/bell-like instruments on his Shield (don't know the english words for it) so he only needs to shake his Shield rhythmically to cast his spell(songs). Another option would have been a singing sword (with holes in it to make loud swooshing noises) which he would have needed to swing in a particular pattern.

It's also great if you have nothing on you (when you have been robed or got imprisoned). All you need is two sticks or stones to make a beat and esheew most Material Components.

The only downside is that you still need a hand free and a spell component pouch if you want to cast silently.

 

[Paraxis]

Really? I mean, I know you are right but that's so mechanical.

Mechanical can be wonderful when the chips are down and you need to cast a spell.

99% of the time might as well go with the fun fluff of playing a musical instrument when you cast a spell.

But the other 1% of the time when silence is needed or you don't have both hands free to use the bagpipes, all you have to do mechanically speaking is be holding the instrument.

Most players I know would use the instrument anyway because causing problems like hitting a drum when stealth is important makes life interesting, but I know a few who would much rather just have harmonica in hand and not play a note on it.

 

[Staffan]

Mechanical can be wonderful when the chips are down and you need to cast a spell.

99% of the time might as well go with the fun fluff of playing a musical instrument when you cast a spell.

But the other 1% of the time when silence is needed or you don't have both hands free to use the bagpipes, all you have to do mechanically speaking is be holding the instrument.

Most players I know would use the instrument anyway because causing problems like hitting a drum when stealth is important makes life interesting, but I know a few who would much rather just have harmonica in hand and not play a note on it.

You still need to perform the verbal components of the spell though, making stealth casting rather difficult to begin with. Come to think of it, I would allow music to bypass the need for speaking when casting (for bards only, of course). It wouldn't help in an area of silence, but if you were somehow gagged and still were able to play the lute, that'd be all right. The music would be clearly recognizable as magical, just like the verbal components of spells are.