System Two - Performance checks for caster and user
This version allows for Bardic feats during item creation. It's most obvious flaw is the inability to adjust the item cost and power usage based on the relative benefit that using the Bardic feat provides.
You can use Bard feats during item creation. However, the result of the Bard feat increase merely sets the maximum achievable increase for that item (and this might increase the cost of the item, see below). Once created, the following rules apply:
1) If the item is used by someone who does not have the particular Bard feat in question, treat the item as a normal (non-increased) item of its type.
2) If the item is used by someone who does have the particular Bard feat in question, that person can use the feat to make a perform check during item usage to increase the effect of the item. However, the enhancement can not be greater than the enhancement set during the items creation, and the user must still choose the desired result before making the perform check. Choice of a desired result that is greater than the maximum increase achievable by that item is still effective on a successful perform check, however any increase in excess of the maximum achievable increase for that item is lost.
Example: Julliard the 6th level Alt. Bard has the Intensify Song (Crescendo) feat, and the Create Wands feat. Julliard decides to create a Wand of Sonic Darts (a useful spellnote he knows) and wishes to increase the damage potential of the darts by 50% using Intensify Song (Crescendo). He rolls his perform check during the item creation process, and gets a 22, enough to increase spellnote damage by 50 percent, which was the desired result. He sets the caster level at 1 (the minimum allowable level to cast Sonic Dart), multiplies this by the spell level (which is 1, since Sonic Dart is a spellnote, and all spellnotes are considered 1st level, though see below on this), and multiples this by 750gp to obtain a 750gp base price. He therefore takes one day to craft the wand, expends (.04 x 750 = 30) 30 experience points, and (.5 x 750 = 375) 375 gold pieces to create the wand, which starts with 50 charges.
Julliard gives the wand to his friend Oberlin the 5th level Alt. Bard. Oberlin also has the Intensify Song (Crescendo) feat. Oberlin expends a charge from the wand on a nearby opponent, and attempts to apply his Intensify Song (Crescendo) feat to the wands effect, singing the spell trigger word. His desired result is a 50% increase in damage. He gets a 26 on his perform check, which is sufficient to obtain the desired effect, and the sonic dart goes off. Oberlin makes his ranged touch attack, and the Sonic Dart inflicts 1d6 + 50% damage to his target.
Happy with the result, but wanting to do even more damage with his wand, Oberlin tries the same thing the next round. He decides to try to achieve a +100% increase in the damage of the Sonic Dart (not knowing that Julliard had set the maximum achievable increase to only +50%). He gets a 24 on his perform check, which is unfortunately not enough to increase the damage by that much, and the dart will only do 1d6 points of damage if it hits. However, even if he had succeeded at his perform check, the dart would still have only done 1d6 +50% damage, not +100 %, since the maximum achievable increase set into the wand by Julliard was +50%. Oberlin should have just stuck to trying to increase the damage by +50%, since his perform check of 24 would have been sufficient for a 50% increase, and would have also been the best result the wand could achieve.
That's how I propose this house rule work. However, I am also thinking of adding in an increased cost for using the Bard feats during item creation. If I do add in a cost, I would probably increase the effective spell level of the spellsong by 1. This would make the base cost go up, and therefore both the gold piece and experience point cost. In the above example, if this additional cost were added, the Sonic Dart Wand formula would look like this:
Caster level at 1 (the minimum allowable level to cast Sonic Dart), multiplied by the effective spell level (which is now 2, instead of 1) and multiples this by 750gp to obtain a 1,500gp base price. It now takes two days to craft the wand, costs (.04 x 1,500 = 60) 60 experience points, and (.5 x 1,500 = 750) 750 gold pieces to create the wand.
What do people think of this house rule? Should I increase the cost? If yes, should I use the increased effective caster level method I propose? Is increasing it by 1 appropriate, or should it be more or less? Should it be increased on a variable basis, based on the relative benefit that the Bardic Feat provides?Should I instead increase the actual caster level (instead of effective caster level), which results in a higher minimum allowable level to cast the spell as well (and significantly increases the cost again)? Or should I just increase the minimum caster level, and not the spell level (which would have essentially the same effect as the method I proposed above)?
