D&D General Unseen servant drums

[Benjamin Olson]

In my view an unseen servant created by a bardic ritual is literally born of the weavings of arcane magic and song, so obviously they can keep a beat, just as one summoned by a wizard is probably intrinsically at home with handling books. But D&D these days seems to want to avoid that level of flavor.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

For funsies, I would ask you for a Performance check with disadvantage because your drums can't keep a beat.

Sounds like this is the opposite of fun.

Shouldn't a magical creature keep a perfect beat? Might sound a bit "mechanical" because it is too perfect.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Hell I’d let ya teach it. Cast the spell with a slot and I let a caster choose a tool proficiency, and give advantage by taking the help action with utility and leisure tasks that fit that proficiency.

Of course I think RAW a performer has advantage if they make a performance with a magical instrument that they are proficient with?

I haven’t play a musician in 5e for some time so I haven’t checked if that rule applies to instruments or not.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'd let you use an Unseen Servant in this way even if there weren't "rules" in place to allow it. In fact, the Servant wouldn't even be just barely passable, but actually a fairly good drummer at the beginning. And as the Bard leveled, the Servant would level up their drumming skill too.

These are the kinds of narrative and story ideas from players that I believe DMs should be encouraging all the time... even if the book doesn't give "mechanics" or "rules" for them. Otherwise, what's the point of playing a roleplaying game?

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Sounds like this is the opposite of fun.

Shouldn't a magical creature keep a perfect beat? Might sound a bit "mechanical" because it is too perfect.

I can't think of any reason why a magical creature would keep a perfect beat simply by virtue of it being a magical creature. I don't understand why it would sound "mechanical" either. Why would a magical creature sound mechanical?

 

[Deset Gled]

Shouldn't a magical creature keep a perfect beat? Might sound a bit "mechanical" because it is too perfect.

Because the servant can only "perform simple tasks that a human servant could do", and keeping steady tempo (much less a perfect one) is actually a very specific and trained skill. Many musicians struggle with it after years of playing. If the spell was perfect it would actually be better than some of the bards.

I don't understand why it would sound "mechanical" either. Why would a magical creature sound mechanical?

Because a musical beat has a natural rhythm to it based on the time signature. Depending on what you're playing, there could be an accent every fourth beat, or maybe every third beat. Or maybe even patterns of 4-3 or 3-3-2. And music sometimes has natural points where it speeds up or slows down slightly. But regardless of what the beat is, it can sound weird and mechanical to the ear when you expect variation and it's not there.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

@wickedcool
The answer to your question is yes.

The rest of this chatter is nothing but opinion and style, and a fair bit of Internet grumbling.

As a Dungeon Master I personally would facilitate your request because I want you to have fun. For fun I might describe the drumming as flat and out of sync. I would then giggle and look at your face to try and discern whether you found it funny too. If you didn't then I wouldn't persist. I would just go along with it and have fun.

 

[CleverNickName]