1: The bard- My wife is playing a Bard in our home game. She has decided to play the fiddle as her instrument. Now, according to the game rules she is able to maintain her spell song ability by using a free action each round. However flavor wise she would be playing a fiddle the entire time. How does she go about playing the fiddle, and stabbing someone with her dirk in the same round? Is all the has to do is pluck a string or two to keep the magic going?
There is a big divide between flavor and mechanics. Game mechanics she can keep playing. Flavor-wise its hard to imagine her continuing to play anything remotely melodic. So, you have two choices. Punish her for taking such a silly instrument, as every good bard knows you only choose perform(sing) so you always have your instrument handy. Or, you allow a colorful roleplaying choice to not gimp a character and say they she some how keeps the music going with a few plucks on the strings.
2: The Monk- weapons like Brass Knuckles are "monk weapons". Wtf is the point of a Monk getting these? BK are still bludgeoning damage, do less then the Monk's unarmed strike, and cost money. I'm just curious why make such weapons Monk Weapons when they are entirely useless, at least in my estimation.
Brass knuckles not so much, adamantine knuckles on the the other hand....
1: The bard- My wife is playing a Bard in our home game. She has decided to play the fiddle as her instrument. Now, according to the game rules she is able to maintain her spell song ability by using a free action each round. However flavor wise she would be playing a fiddle the entire time. How does she go about playing the fiddle, and stabbing someone with her dirk in the same round? Is all the has to do is pluck a string or two to keep the magic going?
2: The Monk- weapons like Brass Knuckles are "monk weapons". Wtf is the point of a Monk getting these? BK are still bludgeoning damage, do less then the Monk's unarmed strike, and cost money. I'm just curious why make such weapons Monk Weapons when they are entirely useless, at least in my estimation.
1) I think the idea is something like this scene from Jose Ferrar's Cyrano De Bergerac(it's at the end). But that's poetry not fiddling. No idea how to rationalise fiddling one handed while fighing & spellcasting. But then again, this is one of the reasons bards aren't my favorite, flavor-wise.
2) Like others said, you can enchant them with interesting effects and make them out of interesting materials. And they're small, easily concealed. But yea, a little 'whatever'.
1: The bard- My wife is playing a Bard in our home game. She has decided to play the fiddle as her instrument. Now, according to the game rules she is able to maintain her spell song ability by using a free action each round. However flavor wise she would be playing a fiddle the entire time. How does she go about playing the fiddle, and stabbing someone with her dirk in the same round? Is all the has to do is pluck a string or two to keep the magic going?
This is why most everyone takes Perform (Oratory). Everybody recognizes it as a problem while simultaneously pretending it doesn't exist.
If you don't want to sing, chant, rhyme, give speeches, or dance in place, you have to focus on instruments playable with one or fewer hands.For instance, when I made a Bard, I took Perform (Wind) and grabbed a harmonica.
On another note, I have a funny-to-me Bard motivator involving a screen grab from Mary Poppins.
1: The bard- My wife is playing a Bard in our home game. She has decided to play the fiddle as her instrument. Now, according to the game rules she is able to maintain her spell song ability by using a free action each round. However flavor wise she would be playing a fiddle the entire time. How does she go about playing the fiddle, and stabbing someone with her dirk in the same round? Is all the has to do is pluck a string or two to keep the magic going?
2: The Monk- weapons like Brass Knuckles are "monk weapons". Wtf is the point of a Monk getting these? BK are still bludgeoning damage, do less then the Monk's unarmed strike, and cost money. I'm just curious why make such weapons Monk Weapons when they are entirely useless, at least in my estimation.
1. I've always considered the "next round" effect to be the lingering notes in the air. She can play the fiddle for a round, leave everyone feeling good, then stab someone.
2. Brass Knuckles used to be awesome, in that they were considered (until just very recently) to be unarmed, and had text stating that monks still dealt their unarmed damage when using them. For some reason, this has been nerfed. They're still useful for bypassing material DR, but it seems that most people would rather deal with the DR than only have 1d3 damage with their monk.
this is why gongs are our friends, halfling bard will hide behind his gong thus cover and use his sling to attack from behind it, all while playing. downside moving the thing through the dungeon, and well I will never succeed a stealth check.
Second if we are talking about the fiddles I imagine (being a no talent violinist and I really do mean I have no talent) I just can't help but imagine adding a blade to my bow, thus while ducking and dodging and playing a tune I could then quickly snap my wrist out and strike someone getting back to playing before the vibration of my strings even stopped.
hope that idea helps, I was also a fan of the metal banjo (see planes scape survival guide webcomic for reference)
and the guitar with a battle axe attached pun tastic
Can you not pluck a fiddle - might not be that easy to do with a sword in hand, but not impossible (Add a buckler to the hand with the fiddle for AC bonus)
2. Brass Knuckles used to be awesome, in that they were considered (until just very recently) to be unarmed, and had text stating that monks still dealt their unarmed damage when using them. For some reason, this has been nerfed. They're still useful for bypassing material DR, but it seems that most people would rather deal with the DR than only have 1d3 damage with their monk.
That's the same reason no one used other Monk weapons in the first place. They are just ridiculous and completely nullify one of the Monk's few draws.
1: The bard- My wife is playing a Bard in our home game. She has decided to play the fiddle as her instrument. Now, according to the game rules she is able to maintain her spell song ability by using a free action each round. However flavor wise she would be playing a fiddle the entire time. How does she go about playing the fiddle, and stabbing someone with her dirk in the same round? Is all the has to do is pluck a string or two to keep the magic going?
Maintaining is a free action, but still takes up both hands. She chose an instrument which occupies both her hands, so no stabby-stabby.
On the PLUS side, she's able to speak, and thus cast spells with verbal-only components, while maintaining the music.
If she wants to stick with the fiddle, she should do something like...
Alternatively, you can read the bardic powers' "Su" and "Sp" listings and use that to justify the above ideas like an animated fiddle, maintained by the Free Action.
2: The Monk- weapons like Brass Knuckles are "monk weapons". Wtf is the point of a Monk getting these? BK are still bludgeoning damage, do less then the Monk's unarmed strike, and cost money. I'm just curious why make such weapons Monk Weapons when they are entirely useless, at least in my estimation.
I'll just reiterate the above, for the sake of my completionist OCD
I'll just reiterate the above, for the sake of my completionist OCD
Special materials to overcome Damage Reduction... like, for example, silver knuckles against werewolves.
Cheaper Enchantment than the amulet
I am pretty sure (a) Monks start counting their hands as special materials and (b) Pathfinder instituted a system where the magical pluses counted as materials to overcome DR.
And no, that's not it. Knuckles were good because you could use Monk unarmed attack damage with them. If that is no longer the case, they are crap.
That's the same reason no one used other Monk weapons in the first place. They are just ridiculous and completely nullify one of the Monk's few draws.
Yep. It's definitely house-rule time for MY campaign! I'm trying to avoid house-rules, especially since I've got a couple of new players... but I can't see my way to nerfing my monk-player like that.