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So at Gamex this weekend I built a new GM baby who happens to be a Duettist / Sound Striker. In playing this character I found a few... things that seem... well... truly awesomsauce in a way that I fear is not correct.
Weird Words says:
At 6th level the bard can start a performance that is always a standard action to speak up to one word per 4 bard levels laden with sonic energy. Each word deals 4d6 points of sonic damage as a ranged touch attack with a range of 30 feet. The bard adds his charisma modifier on damage rolls with weird words. Multiple words that strike the same target stack into a single powerful attack, applying energy resistance and bonuses on damage rolls only once. The bard can target all words at the same or different targets, but he unleashes all words simultaneously. Each word costs 1 round of bardic performance.
Duettist says:
At 4th level, a duettist's familiar learns how to create supernatural effects with its performances, just like its master. The familiar can use any of its master's bardic performances, but only the familiar or the duettist can have a performance active at any given time, not both. If one is performing and the other starts a performance, the previous performance immediately ends. Each round that the familiar performs consumes 2 rounds of the duettist's bardic performance.
Can I and my Familiar do Weird Words in the same round?
If you can both fire Weird Words it sounds like it would be pretty costly to do so since I assume that the cost would be doubled for your familiar.
Did a ruling on whether you can use more than one bardic performance in a round ever come out? I'm not sure if it would apply here, but knowing the intent might give us some idea what's expected (or unexpected) when it comes to bardic performances.
Owner - D20 Hobbies
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Did a ruling on whether you can use more than one bardic performance in a round ever come out?
No ruling has came out.
The language in bardic music could be interpreted to limit you to one performance per round.
At my table you wouldn't be able to Weird Words and then have your familiar Weird Words in the same round.
Is there any language in the new Weird Words that suggests it is instantaneous or otherwise isn't something that deals damage over the course of the round in which it is performed?
It is kind of funny that not long after Weird Words finally got a workable FAQ it seems to be poised to get sent back to Limbo again.
If you're shooting bursts of sonic damage at people there's nothing there which implies to me that it is "continuous" damage which happens gradually. Anyhow, if you hit an enemy with Weird Words and it reduced his hit points below 0 I figure that he'd drop right away, not at the end of the round or even the end of your turn. The familiar could also ready an action to perform after your turn is done, when an enemy takes a certain action, etc.
It might have been better if the 4th level Duettist ability had been worded so that only the Bard or familiar could create a bardic performance effect in a particular round. That's not how it got written though.
It is kind of funny that not long after Weird Words finally got a workable FAQ it seems to be poised to get sent back to Limbo again.
If you're shooting bursts of sonic damage at people there's nothing there which implies to me that it is "continuous" damage which happens gradually. Anyhow, if you hit an enemy with Weird Words and it reduced his hit points below 0 I figure that he'd drop right away, not at the end of the round or even the end of your turn. The familiar could also ready an action to perform after your turn is done, when an enemy takes a certain action, etc.
It might have been better if the 4th level Duettist ability had been worded so that only the Bard or familiar could create a bardic performance effect in a particular round. That's not how it got written though.
Edit for shortness: Seems to work, however probably unintended.
You're twisting this too much. This is an unintended effect from archetypemmixing, a far stretch. More so since the duettist later has an ability to do a performance each. So no, not doing it at level 4 just cause people want to break rules by reading way too much into things.
If you want to read it purely pedantically..well up to you but most sensible gms wont let this fly. Though interesting loophole for sure.
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Did a ruling on whether you can use more than one bardic performance in a round ever come out?No ruling has came out.
The language in bardic music could be interpreted to limit you to one performance per round.
At my table you wouldn't be able to Weird Words and then have your familiar Weird Words in the same round.
Is there any language in the new Weird Words that suggests it is instantaneous or otherwise isn't something that deals damage over the course of the round in which it is performed?
I don't see any wording in Weird Words that would not make it instantaneous.
It is treated, as far as the FAQ appears to go, as a Ray-type effect, so, unlike, say Acid Arrow, it is over and done, and a caster target wouldn't need to make a Concentration check on their next turn to cast a new spell.
At 6th level the bard can start a performance that is always a standard action to speak up to one word per 4 bard levels laden with sonic energy. Each word deals 4d6 points of sonic damage as a ranged touch attack with a range of 30 feet. The bard adds his charisma modifier on damage rolls with weird words. Multiple words that strike the same target stack into a single powerful attack, applying energy resistance and bonuses on damage rolls only once. The bard can target all words at the same or different targets, but he unleashes all words simultaneously. Each word costs 1 round of bardic performance.
So, does that mean you can maintain the Weird Words performance, to speak new words each round, and would they automatically hit the same targets if they hit originally, or do you need a new attack roll for each round?
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Owner - D20 Hobbies
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I don't see any wording in Weird Words that would not make it instantaneous.
I did a horrible job of conveying my point. Let me retry.
Bardic Music in the CRB doesn't have any Instantaneous effects.
It also has language to say you may start one performance a round.
Weird Words is doesn't use the word Instantaneous, but seems to be something that is do and done in one action.
If you start to perform a Weird Words, using just the CRB your Familiar wouldn't be able to also start a performance in the same round as your performance.
For this to work perfectly, Weird Words would need a "this is an instantaneous effect and does not count toward your performances for this round but does use 1 round of performance" or something similar.
Otherwise, you get interesting effects when you use things like the tuning forks to convert Weird Words to a move action and do the standard action in the same round or do this archetype.
It seems a little unclear whether the RAW from the Core Rules mean you can only start one bardic performance per round. Certainly people disagree about it, and I would still like to see a FAQ on it. That said, even if there were explicit rules stating that a Bard can only start one performance per round I'm not sure if that would automatically apply to a Bard's familiar which somehow gained the ability to use bardic performances.
Barring a FAQ to the contrary I think Neume's tactic probably legal. Certainly the Soundstriker/Duettist could use Weird Words in situations where other Soundstrikers couldn't such as in a round when the S/D makes a full attack with a weapon or casts a spell as a standard or full round action.
I still think the real "problem" here is touch attacks since anything which produces a lot of them also tends to create a lot of difficult to avoid damage. Top that off with the ability to ignore SR and it makes for a pretty scary attack. Since the damage is sonic now at least it would be easier to resist than physical damage with Clustered Shots, but the fact it is rather a lot of touch attack damage might be what made Neume feel that something might be wrong.
@kivevon - I doubt that Weird Words is meant to be maintained or at least maintained as a free action. I suspect that when the FAQ said Weird Words is "always a standard action" it was trying to tell us that you have to use a standard action every time you want to use Weird Words. Of course that's just my interpretation, and I've been wrong about Weird Words in the past.
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I just want to point out 2 things.
1. The CRB says a Bard can start any one TYPE of performance. This could be a turn of phrase or it could be limiting. Either way, it doesn't apply in this situation since both the Bard and the Familiar are both using the same type of performance.
2. Weird Words us still limited to not being able to be faster than a standard action. This is a part of the ability that has not changed.
Personally I cannot imagine this is intended (though way awesome if it is). 16d6 at level 8 even at a cost of 6 rounds of performance seems out of whack.
Then again there are other abilities just as powerful like the sleep anyone masterpiece.