Results 1 to 9 of 9
Thread: Static nature of Bardic music
-
2014-10-13, 05:00 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
Static nature of Bardic music
After a player complaint, I decided to re-read the rules for bardic music. It seems they were right: Other than Countersong (perhaps the most situational one), none of them require a roll on the part of the Bard. He just 'does' it, for a static effect, no matter how good he really is. Of course to unlock them he still needs to max out ranks in a skill he will likely never roll. Is there something I am misreading, or is this how it is intended to work? Maybe a variant rule somewhere I could look at?
-
2014-10-13, 05:19 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Location
- NO LONGER IN CHINA!
Re: Static nature of Bardic music
How is this a problem?
-
2014-10-13, 06:06 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2012
Re: Static nature of Bardic music
No one rolls for their buffs, so why should bards?
-
2014-10-13, 06:18 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2011
Re: Static nature of Bardic music
Why should they, and how would that not be abusable?
Also, some performances do require a performance roll: countersong and fascinate are two examples from Core.
-
2014-10-13, 07:11 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2013
Re: Static nature of Bardic music
There's at least one PrC which ties its abilities to Perform checks. Seeker of the Song?
-
2014-10-13, 09:16 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Wandering in Harrekh
- Gender
Re: Static nature of Bardic music
It is a minor problem, in that it's a stealth skill tax. If a Bard didn't have to put that rank in Perform in order to get all the Bardic Musics, that's 21 more skill points for a skillmonkey to put anywhere else. You might as well make Perform a class feature and change the Skill Points to 5+Int per level. (But odd numbers are evil, so that's crazy talk).
On the other hand, it's kind of tricky to make a scaling benefit that's both useful and doesn't encourage players to optimize a single skill check. (Iajutsu Focus, for example, is one that gets the optimization treatment regularly when it's used).
-
2014-10-13, 03:14 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2012
Re: Static nature of Bardic music
With Melodic Casting, you can substitute Concentration for Perform, making the stealth tax work for you.
My D&D 5th ed. Druid Handbook
-
2014-10-13, 05:47 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
- Location
- Midwest, not Middle East
- Gender
Re: Static nature of Bardic music
Fascinate's DC is set by your perform check, which makes it pretty hard to resist. There are other feats and PrCs that use perform. And you could always use it to make money, which is kind of a waste of time but an option nonetheless.
-
2014-10-13, 07:49 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Location
- SLC
- Gender
Re: Static nature of Bardic music
Song of Arcane Power works this way too.