So I've been looking through Ultimate Magic, and I had a few questions about some of the Bard options, starting with the Masterpieces:
-Does At the Heart of It All require line-of-effect to the target of the masterpiece, as with any other targeted ability?
-If a PC activates The Dance of Twenty-Three Steps while he is maintaining, say, Inspire Courage, does that cause his Inspire Courage to end, because "A bard cannot have more than one bardic performance in effect at one time?"
-Under The Dumbshow of Garroc, there is an entry that says "Action: 1 full round." Does this mean that activating Dumbshow requires a full-round action, or does it require an entire round of activation, much like 1 round spells like Enlarge Person require? If the latter, what happens if a PC is damaged while activating the masterpiece? Does he have a make a concentration check or lose the masterpiece, as with spellcasting? I think this question applies to more masterpieces than just The Dumbshow, like Minuet of the Midnight Ivy.
-If a PC summons an outsider with Legato Piece on the Infernal Bargain, is the PC required to pay the outsider, as per the spell Planar Ally, or does winning the opposed Charisma check as written in Legato Piece supercede that requirement?
-The rules for masterpieces state that "Unwilling creatures may attempt a Will save against the effect of a masterpiece; the save DC for masterpieces is equal to 10 + 1/2 the bard’s level + the bard’s Charisma bonus." Does this mean that the called outsider from Legato Piece on the Infernal Bargain receives a Will save to avoid the effects of the masterpiece?
-The Requiem of the Fallen Priest-King has the phrases "you gain the ability to accelerate time once, which must be used in the next hour," as well as "You must use this extra action within 10 minutes of performing the masterpiece; otherwise the benefit is lost." I'm really unsure as to how this works.
-Requiem also says "This ability does not stack with other effects that increase your speed (such as haste)..." I'm not sure what this means, since the effects of Haste and Requiem don't overlap at all.
-I'm a bit confused on how Toccata and Fugue of the Danse Macabre works. It has an entry for "Action: 1 minute," and an entry for "Use: 1 bardic performance round per round of the performance, +1 round per ally affected, +1 round per dedicated refrain." So, since the performance takes one minute, as per the Action: entry, does that mean that it always costs ten bardic performance rounds, +1 per ally affected?
I also have a few rules questions about some of the Archetypes:
Am I getting this right, that the Geisha's Tea Ceremony ability works like this:
-Geisha spends ten minutes preparing a tea ceremony. Do the affected allies have to participate in it in order to receive its effects?
-For ten minutes, the affected allies receive the benefit of one of her bardic performances. Does the duration begin immediately, or can the Geisha or the affected allies choose to receive the effects later, when they become relevant?
Also:
-The archetype says that the Geisha spends "4 rounds of bardic performance for each creature to be affected." Is this right, or is this an error? Does this entry mean that it requires 24 rounds of bardic performance to give a six-member party Inspire Courage for ten minutes, something that an 18-Charisma, 9th-level Geisha would have to spend all of her daily rounds of bardic performance on?
-Does the benefit of Geisha Knowledge stack with itself, as it is unnamed? If a Geisha chooses Oratory for Versatile Performance, does she "virtually" receive the benefit of Geisha Knowledge twice when making Diplomacy checks, once for the bonus to Diplomacy, and again for the bonus to Perform(Oratory)?
One more:
-How does Sound Striker's ability Weird Words work with damage reduction? Damage Reduction states that "Spells, spell-like abilities, and energy attacks (even nonmagical fire) ignore damage reduction." As Weird Words is a Supernatural ability, it does not ignore damage reduction. So, do the Weird Words bypass DR/magic, or any DR at all beyond the given choice of bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing?
Thank you guys for helping me with these rules questions!
-Matt
*bump*
I'm a bit confused on how Toccata and Fugue of the Danse Macabre works. It has an entry for "Action: 1 minute," and an entry for "Use: 1 bardic performance round per round of the performance, +1 round per ally affected, +1 round per dedicated refrain." So, since the performance takes one minute, as per the Action: entry, does that mean that it always costs ten bardic performance rounds, +1 per ally affected?
The effect only happens at the end of the action. You spend 1 minute winding up, then the effect happens. After that, for each round you keep it going you spend 1 BPR, plus 1 BPR per ally you include. If you choose to dedicate a refrain to someone, you add another BPR for that.
So if I want Bard and Wizard to be affected, I spend 1 minute banging on my keyboard. When that minute is up, Bard and Wizard are hidden. I want three rounds for us to sneak by the skeleton, then drop the performance. So it costs 6 rounds of Bardic Performance. (1 to maintain, +1 for an extra ally, total 2 BPR for 3 rounds)
Lets say I want Bard, Wizard, and Barbarian to be affected. I figure there's a good chance the Barbarian will punch the skeleton anyway, so I dedicate a refrain to Bard (first) and Wizard (second). I keyboard for 1 minute. Then, everyone is hidden. Round 1 I dedicate a refrain to the bard, total cost 4 BPR (1 maintain, +2 allies, +1 refrain). Round 2 I dedicate a refrain to the Wizard, total cost for that round is 5 BPR (1 maintain, +2 allies, +2 refrains). Round 3, beating Bard on init, Barbarian punches the skeleton, breaking the effect for anyone who doesn't have a dedicated refrain. Total cost for that round is 4 (1 maintain, +1 ally, +2 refrains).
This may not be correct, as I don't have my book handy (and the PRD isn't updated) YMMV.
-Does the benefit of Geisha Knowledge stack with itself, as it is unnamed? If a Geisha chooses Oratory for Versatile Performance, does she "virtually" receive the benefit of Geisha Knowledge twice when making Diplomacy checks, once for the bonus to Diplomacy, and again for the bonus to Perform(Oratory)?
The Versatile Performance bonus is in place of its associated skill's bonus, so you would only get one.
Am I getting this right, that the Geisha's Tea Ceremony ability works like this:
-Geisha spends ten minutes preparing a tea ceremony. Do the affected allies have to participate in it in order to receive its effects?
-For ten minutes, the affected allies receive the benefit of one of her bardic performances. Does the duration begin immediately, or can the Geisha or the affected allies choose to receive the effects later, when they become relevant?Also:
-The archetype says that the Geisha spends "4 rounds of bardic performance for each creature to be affected." Is this right, or is this an error? Does this entry mean that it requires 24 rounds of bardic performance to give a six-member party Inspire Courage for ten minutes, something that an 18-Charisma, 9th-level Geisha would have to spend all of her daily rounds of bardic performance on?
By RAW, the allies don't need to participate, since it doesn't say "preparing a tea ceremony for her allies" or anything. As a GM, I'd require them to participate, at least to the extent of sitting and drinking the tea. There's nothing saying that it wouldn't begin immediately, so it does.
Also, there's no way to know whether the cost is an error, unless a dev chimes in, but the assumption is that it's right. So it does take 24 rounds of performance to buff 6 people for 10 minutes. Which is a good deal action- and efficiency-wise, but makes the timing much more of a pain.
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Time for a bard question of my own. How many rounds of bardic music does it take to maintain two squares using The House of the Imaginary Walls for one round (assuming both have previously been created)?
*bump*, now that the book is actually out.
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According to the PRD...
"Spells, spell-like abilities, and energy attacks (even nonmagical fire) ignore damage reduction."
Since the description of the ability does not state that it is sonic damage it doesn't count as energy damage and the ability is not spell like so I think it is subjected to DR. On the plus side you can select bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage for each word to overcome DR.
I have another question along with this...
The description says "a sound striker can start a performance as a standard action, lashing out with 1 potent sound per bard level (maximum 10), each sound affecting one target within 30 feet"
Does this mean that the "Weird Words" can be started as a standard action but maintained as a Non-standard action, (i.e. free, move, or concentration)?