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I'm liking this book a lot, most of all the dirge of doom feats.
The foreboding tone of your dirge is especially effective
at unsettling your enemies.
Prerequisite: Ability to perform dirge of doom.
Benefit: The range of your dirge of doom ability is
extended to 60 feet. Additionally, if a creature is shaken
from another effect, the effect of your dirge of doom is
changed to frightened for that specific creature. This
benefit cannot cause a creature to become panicked, even
if a target is already frightened from another effect.
Normal: The range of dirge of doom is 30 feet. A
creature that is already shaken cannot become frightened
by dirge of doom.
The haunting sound of sepulchral intonations chills the
most stalwart adversary to its very core.
Prerequisites: Improved Dirge of Doom†, ability to
perform dirge of doom.
Benefit: The effect of your dirge of doom lingers with
a target for 2 rounds after the creature leaves the dirge’s
area of effect. If you use your dirge on a creature that is
shaken, it becomes frightened. If you use it on a creature
that is frightened, it becomes panicked.
Normal: Fear effects on a creature end immediately
once it leaves the area of dirge of doom. A fear effect
cannot be made more extreme by dirge of doom and
can be changed only to the frightened condition by the
Improved Dirge of Doom feat.
Stopping at shaken was always a dirge's biggest problem. Meaning it was a lot less useful than inspire courage unless there was a follow-up fear effect. I'm not sure if the same performances stack but if they do this can make a troupe of bards quite frightening, no pun intended. A party of heroes panicking at the sight of 3 performing bards is quite a hilarious mental image.
Intimidating performance also plays nice with this. Allowing a single performer to make every enemy within 30ft frightened (it's 4 feats, though).
Your performance strikes fear in the hearts of foes.
Prerequisites: Ability to start a performance (or raging
song) as a move action, bardic performance or raging
song† class feature.
Benefit: When you start a performance (or a raging
song) as a move or swift action, you can use a standard
action to demoralize a foe (Core Rulebook 99), attempting a
Perform check appropriate to your performance in place
of the Intimidate check. Your performance must be one
with an audible component.
If you can start a performance as a swift action and you
have the Dazzling Display feat, you can gain the benefit
of Dazzling Display by succeeding at a Perform check in
place of an Intimidate check.
Assuming a quicken rod. Round 1: quickened haste, start inspire courage, dazzling display as a standard action. Round 2: virtuoso performance for dirge of doom. Seems quite good. It is perhaps not worth the feats and probably still worse than quickened haste -> courage -> good hope. But it is at least an alternative.