Hi everybody
I have a question for the board. Some Bardic Performances list a range of effect (usually 30 ft), but some of them don't, for example Inspire Courage.
It is said that if the performance has a visual component, you only need have a line of sight to the bard, so that one is clear. But in the case of having an audible component it is a little confusing to adjudicate a range of effect in the middle of a combat or other noisy or chaotic situation.
How do you solve this problem?
Thank you and greetings from Spain
The most straight forward way would be using Perception, have each character make a perception check to see if they gain the bonus. Start with a 0 DC, modify it by distance (+1/10'), if through a door (+5) or through a wall (+10/foot) and then +5 for background noise or +10 for very loud background noise (I'd put battle here as the difference between a plain check and hearing battle is 0 to -10). Some might say that is too high (DC 0), but given that most performances are people on stage in places built to project sound in a direction towards the audience which is being silent to hear the performance, I think DC 0 is fair. There is also the matter of hearing something doesn't necessarily mean understanding what you hear, if a bonus is based on understanding what you hear and being inspired by that, you wouldn't get the bonus if all you hear is bits and pieces of "something" going on, you know someone is singing, but can't make out everything they are singing I guess would be the best example.
That leaves the PCs making DC 10 checks that get higher the further away they are and more obstacles between them in the middle of combat. Toss in a Circumstance bonus/penalty maybe for people who have armor and enforce a penalty equal to the armor check penalty (people are taking a penalty to stealth because of the noise of the armor, that should influence if they can hear over their armor's noise as well it could be reasoned). Basically the guy in studded leather armor might be distracted every once in awhile by the scratching of the studs, while the gal in full plate has a really hard time hearing anything because of the banging and screeching of metal against metal as she moves, not to mention the possibility of helms messing with hearing.
Meh. Bards are weak enough that they don't need to be further gimped.
I would rule that unless there's something specifically interfering with the bardic performance, I'd allow it without any checks.
As is your right to do so as a DM, but there are rules for it in the book and that was what they were asking about.
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As is your right to do so as a DM, but there are rules for it in the book and that was what they were asking about.
Oh, I didn't mean to contradict RAW. I just meant that I would eyeball it (using the party's average Perception check) and decide if they even needed to make a roll at all. If the PCs have a Perception of 10 or so and the DC is going to be about 20, then I wouldn't bother with a roll.
I'm sure there would be people who would want a Perception check (sight/sound) for this, but does it really add anything to the game? It seems like more dice rolling without any real payback.
And remember: you'd need to roll every round because the variables would change. Well, unless everyone kept their place during the encounter. And even then there should be another Perception check, by RAW. I'll bet no one here plays that way, though. Too slow and not enough payback for the complexity it adds. (Sort of like dropping the 2ndEd approach of rolling initiative every round.)