Is a paladin immune to a court bard's Satire performance?

[GM Derek]

Is the court bard performance Satire ability a fear-inducing effect? I've got a paladin PC who is claiming that he is immune to a court bard's satire effect, due to his blanket immunity to fear. My belief is it is NOT a fear effect, and thus the paladin is NOT immune to it.

Here's the PRD on the Satire ability:

PRD wrote:

Satire (Su): A court bard can use performance to undermine the confidence of enemies who hear it, causing them to take a –1 penalty on attack and damage rolls (minimum 1) and a –1 penalty on saves against fear and charm effects as long as the bard continues performing. This penalty increases by –1 at 5th level and every six levels thereafter. Satire is a language-dependent, mind-affecting ability that uses audible components. This performance replaces inspire courage.

Note that nowhere does it say it is a fear effect.

Other fear inducing abilities generally list that point clearly (e.g. "XX is a language dependent, mind-affecting fear effect."). For instance, the bardic Dirge of Doom ability:

PRD wrote:

Dirge of Doom (Su): [...snip...] Dirge of doom is a mind-affecting fear effect, and it relies on audible and visual components.

Also in question, to support this claim of immunity, is whether Satire, by replacing Inspire Courage, is the opposite of Inspire Courage.

And just the basic smell test: A paladin is immune to a lack of confidence? A paladin is immune to satire? Will we take it all the way and make paladins immune to biting sarcasm? Really?

[Odraude]

You are correct. It is not a fear affect. Although he wouldn't really care about the -1 to fear effect saves since he's immune. But everything else would affect him as per the normal.

[darkwarriorkarg]

Do paladins even UNDERSTAND sarcasm? :-)

(Make a sense motive roll. Success indicates that your paladin is aware he's being made fun of...)

Short answer: : Not a fear effect. Why, he even gets the penalties vs fear and charm, but depending on his level, they have no effect.

[Kazaan]

The ability that an archetype ability replaces has no bearing on how the new ability functions. Sometimes, there will be a certain amount of correlation, but it's not a hard mechanic. Immunity to poison doesn't automatically mean that you're immune to an archetype ability that replaces Poison Use, for example. It doesn't say that Satire is a fear effect. It doesn't even say it's a morale effect. The only things listed are language-dependent, mind-affecting, and audible components. So you have to declare a language you're satirizing in and only targets that understand that language will be affected, they can't have immunity to mind-affecting effects (ie. mindless), and they must be able to hear (ie. not deaf). Blanked fear immunity doesn't qualify for any of those. He should replace his pillow with a dictionary so, maybe, he'll learn through osmosis.

[Claxon]

If the Paladin is aware of the bard in advance, he will probably find some ear plugs or some other way to block the effect. You have to be able to hear it, and understand it. If they don't share a common language, or if he has rendered himself unable to hear, or is deaf the bard's ability would have no effect.

The simplest solution would be to take a thunderstone and throw it at his own feet and purposely fail the save (which I believe is legal). They cost 30 gp.

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

Odraude wrote:

You are correct. It is not a fear affect. Although he wouldn't really care about the -1 to fear effect saves since he's immune. But everything else would affect him as per the normal.

At 8th level he won't care about the penalties to charm saves either.