Arrrh. Post monster went "MUNCH!", my post went "POOF!" and I went crying in the bedroom... until I remembered I copied it beforehand. Yey me!
Does the Perform skill really need that many sub-categories?
In the "real life" it probably does, but I question the necessity of developing every perform skill singly in the context of a fantasy RPG.
- Developing multiple perform skills is cost-heavy for neglectable in-game advantages.
Perform is a fun skill that along Profession and Craft, help to flesh-out a character. With the notable exception of the bard, those skills have a relatively low impact on the game itself. Actually, that is not quite true as they can earn the character some money (or saving the character money) and can be used in many role-play situations. Lets just say that these skills have a low impact on the character efficiency in most combats, modules and adventure paths.
Unlike the Profession and Craft skills however, most of the Perform sub-skills are synergistic between each other. While most "professionals" can easily make a living out of 1 Profession skill, most "performers" are assumed to master more than 1 Perform skills. At the very least, we expect the tavern minstrel to sing AND play. It'd be nice if he could entertain a bit (Perform-comedy) and put in good words the last adventures of Pip-the-stable-boy (Perform-oratory) as well.
The fact is, when we see a show, we may be more or less impressed with the voice of the singer or the talent of one particular musician, but we tend to judge the quality of the performance on the sum of its component.
Under the present system, it is understood that the public judge the quality of a performance on the best component of a show. This leads to specialization rather than versatility, which seems to me as a modern concept (at least in show-business) that does not fit well with the medieval/fantasy paradigm. Even the bard does not escape this, as his bardic music ability presses him to max out a single skill rather than spread his points across the Perform skills.
This leads to...
- The medieval minstrel/troubadour/public entertainer was a multi-instrumentalist, versatile and many-talented artist.
They probably all had their specialty, but if they were to be represented under the 3.5/pathfinder rules, they would have many ranks in most, if not all, sub-perform skills.
True, not many characters go after the medieval minstrel concept, but as it is, not many characters have more than 1 Perform skills, and fewer still have more than three.
To that I have a few suggestions:
1) Get rid of the sub-skills altogether.
2) Consolidate the skills into 3 or 4 categories.
3) Give synergistic bonuses within the Perform skill
4) Leave it as is and give the bard (who's the most likely to go after the minstrel concept) the ability to develop many skills simultaneously with the expenditure of 1 skill point (maybe 1 per level, or 1 per Int bonus, or 1 new category with every new rank...)
'findel
... ah, no! It didn't got eaten after all.
That or it got regurgitated. 'guess its not that good of a thread...
I've houseruled broader Perform skills:
Perform (acting)
Perform (dance)
Perform (music)
For music, you get a new instrument with each rank, at one effective rank below the last one. So a guy with Cha 12 and 3 cross-class ranks in Perform (music) (to keep things simple) might have lute +4, pianoforte +3, and drums +2, for example. Likewise with dance; a Cha 16 guy with 3 cross-class ranks might have ballroom dancing +6, ballet +5, and country line dancing +4, for example.
Perform (acting) encompasses the old perform (comedy), perform (oratory), etc., and also the Disguise skill.
This idea suits me personally quite well, because we're dealing with a rules set in which jumping, tumbling, and balance are all somehow represented by the same single skill.
The way i have seen bards play, they usally choose 1 or 2 things. Am i based on Preform or knowledge? If your trying to do both then ya this seems abit costly on skill points.
A House rule i would consider would be to say You get 1 skill point bonus per Cha bonus, BUT this must be spent on preform skills.
Tha bard does need some help still.