Stopping bardic music

[The Spectrum Rider]

Is a bard's music abilities a supernatural ability? I have the impression that they are, although I'm not sure.

Assuming they are, when a bard is singing to, say, Inspire Courage, what exactly would stop him? A supernatural ability doesn't require concentration. So injuring the bard wouldn't prompt a Concentration check. Grappling? Wrestling?

Would anything short of unconsciousness shut him up?

The Spectrum Rider

 

[yennico]

If the bard enters an area of silence created by the silence spell all effects of bardic music ability are negated.

Just my 2 cents
yennico

 

[Darklone]

Another bards countersong might work too. Too much noise, deafening, soundburst...

 

[Fenes 2]

Even when the bard is unconscious/dead the effect of inspire courage/greatness linger on for 5 rounds. Usually it is not too effective stopping the bard after he has used his abilities in a fight.

 

[BenjaminB]

Does it have to be music w/ insturment? A bard/barbarian fighting skald would be cool- chanting epic poetry to boost his buddies morale...

-B

 

[nytflyr]

Duct Tape?

 

[The Spectrum Rider]

Sorry, I was too vague - in fact, inaccurate - in stating my problem:

Our bard's Countersong ability is totally outclassing my harpies' Captivating Song!

So the harpies, and their minions, think: let's just gang up on the bard and take her down. You'd think that grappling a bard, wrestling her, knocking her down, putting your hand over her mouth - something (short of killing her or knocking her out, which is time-consuming) would stop her. But there seems to be no mechanism for it.

And, of course, my harpies aren't throwing around a lot of Silence spells. They think that's counterproductive.

Any thoughts?

The Spectrum Rider

 

[Darklone]

By the rules, killing the bard would be enough to stop a countersong.

Another idea might be to make the bard use all his bardic music abilities for the day... bad idea, I never ran out of them

Barbarian bards: Rocks. Power Attack, Cleave, Greataxe or Battleaxe/shield, Breastplate... my char was tank and damage monster at once (up to level 7).
But you need really good stats.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Don't be too down on your bard... it is one of his only times that bards can really shine!

Have you ever thought "how can I stop the barbarian raging, he is killing all the foes too quickly?" or "what defence is there against magic missile because the wizard is shooting all my bad guys"?

Let the bard strut his stuff! Let him be a hero! He chose to be a bard, and nerfing one of his key abilities seems a bit unfair!

Cheers

 

[Christian]

I don't think he's trying to 'nerf' the bard's ability. He's just trying to play out a scenario with believable tactics. The harpies' ability has been countered a few times, so naturally they'll try to counter the countersong tactic. One way is by killing the bard, of course, but the idea is that it may be easier to silence him or disrupt his musical ability than to kill him. Not to mention easier on the player.