Why is thundering drums capped at 5d8 given that the earliest a bard can learn it is level 7? specifying that damage as d8/ level seems a little odd at this point. Only real use I can see is as a candidate for intensify spell, but that seems awfully
specific.
"Awfully specific" is needed with players like us ;) ...and Intesify Spell is a very usefull meta-magic that I'm guessing many players often take.