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Yep.
Can you elaborate on that. My group maintains that if I'm singing or talking the I can't be casting a spell.
My claim is that Bardic Performances mix all sorts of thinks like dancing and acting as well. If I'm using inspire courage in combat, and want to cast a spell. I just leave a pause in the story or work the spell into the song. Or even just do some sort of break dance in the middle while a cast the spell!
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Rules-wize, maintaining a bardic performance is a free action. Since the bardic performance ability makes no mention of restriction on what the bard can do while maintaining a performance, he's free to cast spells with his standard action (or whathaveyou).
Flavor-wize, this is justified however you like. I'm very much a fan of the bard weaving his spells into his performances, whether it's dramatic gestures as somatic components or poetic license with storytelling as verbal components. (In fact, in my home game the bard can use Perform to conceal the fact he's casting a spell.)
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Yup, the above. Starting the Performance is the singing, or dancing, or whatever that has the magic laced through it.
Then you can maintain it as a free action. You're not playing the song throughout the whole fight. You're just maintaining the magical connection you made.
Example: You use perform:guitar to get the performance rolling. Then you drop the guitar, draw your greatsword, and slice the guitar into pieces. You can still maintain that performance.
Official answer:
Yes, he can cast spells. Yes he can swing a 2-handed sword. And yes, he can do all this while playing the bagpipes.
No, he does not need any concentration checks to do do this (he may want to Cast Defensively if he's in a threatened square, but that's a whole different consideration).
How? Because a bard doesn't actually have to play any instrument to begin or maintain a bardic music performance. Note: a couple bardic abilities, like Countersong and Distraction, actually do require a performance, but for everything else, no performance is actually needed.
Cites:
1. Good one.
2. Better.
3. Even Better.
4. Best.
See? I told you it was official.
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Official answer:
Yes, he can cast spells. Yes he can swing a 2-handed sword. And yes, he can do all this while playing the bagpipes.
No, he does not need any concentration checks to do do this (he may want to Cast Defensively if he's in a threatened square, but that's a whole different consideration).
How? Because a bard doesn't actually have to play any instrument to begin or maintain a bardic music performance. Note: a couple bardic abilities, like Countersong and Distraction, actually do require a performance, but for everything else, no performance is actually needed.
Cites:
1. Good one.
2. Better.
3. Even Better.
4. Best.
See? I told you it was official.
Thanks for the comprehensive answer.