I'm looking for a RAW interpretation of this situation. Suppose a bard has 4 ranks of Perform(Woodwind). Unfortunately, he doesn't have time to draw his flute, so he decides to try to inspire courage by singing. The bard as 0 ranks in Perform(Sing).
On the one hand, he has at least 3 ranks in a perform skill, and all the rules say "if a bard does not have the required number of ranks in at least one Perform skill, he does not gain the bardic music ability until he acquires the needed ranks." However, he doesn't have at least 3 ranks in the perform skill he is trying to use.
I think the rules are unclear on this issue, and I'm not even sure what common sense dictates. Just because I can play a flute doesn't mean I can sing. However, jack-of-all-trades is the nature of a bard, so maybe for Bardic Music purposes being able to use one perform skill is a good enough basis to for inspiring courage through music generally.
Thoughts?
Going strictly by the rules, the bard is using song or poetics for inspire courage no matter what perform skill he has ranks in. It's stupid I know, but that's the rule.
