Under the Sleight of Hand skill on page 105 the text offers the following use for Slight of Hand:
You can also use Sleight of Hand to entertain an audience as though you were using the Perform skill. In such a case, your “act” encompasses elements of legerdemain, juggling, and the like.
My question is why isn't this listed under the Perform skill and why isn't it a valid Bardic Performance type, especially considering that there are so few visual performance skills that Oratory(!?!) is required to be a visual performance so that there are more than three options for creating a Distraction?
It seems reasonable to me that Juggling/Legerdemain should be part of a bard's repertoire. I would also imagine that this mundane "magic" would include Houdini like escapes. I would suggest that the versatile performance substitutions for the skill be Sleight of Hand and Escape Artist.
Balabaskar's enchanted coin-plucking and juggling routines struck a chord of supernatural fear into the hearts of his foes...
How about no.
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All hail the Jongleurs!!! One of my favorite Bard kits from 2e! Legerdemain would be an excellent Bardic Performance.
As for striking fear into the hearts of his foes... if the Bard is juggling daggers and has been consitantly sinking them into you it might just be intimidating. Or flasks of alchemists fire, or beads of force, neclace of fireballs...
--Vrock Band: Minstrel edition!
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Balabaskar's enchanted coin-plucking and juggling routines struck a chord of supernatural fear into the hearts of his foes...
How about no.
Hmm, how about -
Balabaskar's ability to pull daggers from thin air and whirl them about his hands and arms with disarming ease struck a chord of supernatural fear into the hearts of his foes...
I could see it.
Balabaskar's enchanted coin-plucking and juggling routines struck a chord of supernatural fear into the hearts of his foes...
How about no.
Considering Frightening Tune requires audible components, I don't think you have to worry about explaining coins tricks inspiring fear. However, I agree that making weapons appear and disappear, backed up by the magic of a supernatural ability, could inspire some fear...
I could see that as a "dazzling display" sort of thing, but even that is thematically different from a bardsong I feel. The concept of "invoking the world's latent magic with supernaturally skillful performances and then affecting your enemy's minds with that magic" is just hard for me to reconcile with magician's tricks.
Really, I'm not a fan of the whole "visual performance' thing anyway, so I suppose YMMV.
Honestly, if someone was nochalantly juggling beads from a necklace of fireballs, I probably would be a little intimidated.
Balabaskar's enchanted coin-plucking and juggling routines struck a chord of supernatural fear into the hearts of his foes...
How about no.
Bard: "A fighter, a barbarian and a ranger wark into a bar and..."
Enemy: "HOLD ME I'M SCARED."Bard: "O Romeo, now you've croaked, so it's time for me to kick off, too!"
Party: "You know, for some reason, that that makes me more vicious and fearless!"
Rogue: "After having seen that dwarf bard riverdance, I can usually pick locks a lot more accurately"
So how about doing the whole goose/gander thing? We can find ridiculous combinations for everything.
Perform (Legerdemain): Consider it in. Versatile performance is tied to sleight of hand and disable device.
I'd even argue that it is different from sleight of hand and thus a viable performance category because those stage magicians are as much about their shows and how they present things as they are about deceiving people.
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Bard: "BEHOLD! MY REMOVABLE THUMB!"
Orcs: "AAAAHHHHH! ME AM NOT ABLE TO CHOP HIM TO BITS! HIM JUST PUT BITS BACK ON! RUNNN!"
Seriously I've always wanted to play a Jongleur/Legedermain specialist bard. Peform (Legedermain) with Sleight of Hand and Disable Device makes for good fun in a group with no rogue handy. To add to the effect I'd focus on thrown weapons: Perform (Legedermain) to juggle axes, and then throw an axe at my enemies. What fun!
I could see that as a "dazzling display" sort of thing, but even that is thematically different from a bardsong I feel. The concept of "invoking the world's latent magic with supernaturally skillful performances and then affecting your enemy's minds with that magic" is just hard for me to reconcile with magician's tricks.
(delurking)
Did you just say that magic is irreconcilable with magicians? Would it be too snarky to ask what kind of god-awful abominations of stagecraft were inflicted on you before you decided this?...I guess I'm okay with the idea. I'm not musically-inclined myself, but my father and sister are, and I've seen enough examples of "singer's tricks" and "guitarist's tricks", i.e. technical details of performance, that I don't see the difference.
"Magic" was used in the fantastical sense, while "magician" was used in the real-world sense (i.e. a quick-fingered illusionist).
They have nothing to do with eachother.
Personally, I think it's fine. Scary dancing and healing rhymes are goofy as hell, but not when you explore the mechanics of Bardic Performance. The way she chooses to tap her inner will doesn't really matter- Interpretive dance is just as powerful as reciting hamlet. The bard pulls deep into her own core to bring forth a will to shape the world, and she does it by channeling the energy through her creative outlet. So whether it's juggling knives or plucking the strings of a lute, it's still MAGIC. It's just bizarre somatic and verbal components.
Besides, Elan said it best.
Perform (Legerdemain): Consider it in. Versatile performance is tied to sleight of hand and disable device.
I'd even argue that it is different from sleight of hand and thus a viable performance category because those stage magicians are as much about their shows and how they present things as they are about deceiving people.
I thought about disable device. I was worried that it would be too powerful at that point. I can also see arguments for Sleight of Hand and Bluff. I ultimately suggested Sleight of Hand and Escape Artist as I imagined daring escapes as part of this type of act - the magician who can always seem to get out of manacles.
Personally, I think it's fine. Scary dancing and healing rhymes are goofy as hell, but not when you explore the mechanics of Bardic Performance. The way she chooses to tap her inner will doesn't really matter- Interpretive dance is just as powerful as reciting hamlet. The bard pulls deep into her own core to bring forth a will to shape the world, and she does it by channeling the energy through her creative outlet. So whether it's juggling knives or plucking the strings of a lute, it's still MAGIC. It's just bizarre somatic and verbal components.
Besides, Elan said it best.
"Sniff... I love you guys."
"See? In this hand, I have a rose. In *this* hand, I have nothing. But now I go simsalabim samba saladu saladim, and suddenly in this hand I have nothing, but in *this* hand, it's the material component for the spell I've been casting when I said those words and made those funny gestures you thought were meant to distract you from my legerdemain."