When does Lingering Performance work? Also, does Warleader's Rage work while unconscious?

[Hiruma Kai]

So the following situation occurred in real PFS play.

It was at the end of the adventure (going on 6 hours in a 5 hour slot and a magic card tournament was starting shortly and we needed to get out ASAP), so we were a bit rushed with the final extended boss fight, and didn't really have time to look up explicit rules wording.

The party consisted of a 7th level fighter, 5th level inquisitor, 5th level cleric, 4th level barbarian, 4th level bloodrager, and 4th level skald.

The skald had the Lingering Performance feat as well as the Warleader's Rage feat. The barbarian and bloodrager had the Amplified Rage feat.

During the last fight, there was a magical silence effect over a certain section of the map (just something that past line X, it was magically silent on the map, in the direction the enemies came from).

Anyway, we discovered this when the fighter stepped into the area to get into position to attack an enemy. At the time, we assumed that lingering song applies in situations when the person under the effect can no longer hear the skald, but didn't have time to double check the wording.

However, re-reading the feat after the adventure, I'm not so sure anymore.

Lingering Performance:

The bonuses and penalties from your bardic performance continue for 2 rounds after you cease performing. Any other requirement, such as range or specific conditions, must still be met for the effect to continue. If you begin a new bardic performance during this time, the effects of the previous performance immediately cease.

One way to read the feat is that it only matters in the case where the skald has ceased performance (for unconsciousness or the like) or as part of spell (like Saving Finale). It does not work for those under the effect who then simply perceive the performance as stopping. The requirement that you be able to hear the bard isn't waived for those 2 turns. Or does waiving the requirement to perform mean that since there is no performance to hear, you don't need to hear it? Would it have made a difference if it had been the Bard who entered the silence effect, which would effectively end the performance?

To continue, in that same fight the skald later became unconscious after dropping below 0 hit points. This seems like a clearer application of the feat. But, if the requirement that you be able to hear the skald isn't waived, do you need to make some kind of ad hoc DC 25 or higher perception check (plus 1 per 10' distance) to hear the unconscious non-moving skald to continue to benefit? Or do you use the original DC to hear when the skald was singing (like -10)? Or does it not matter since there is no performance to be heard?

As a side note, to be extra sure of being heard, the skald usually casts message on everyone in the party every 20 minutes or so, to avoid the need to make perception checks to hear while within about 140'. Its like singing a baby to sleep - but much, much angrier. At the time of unconscious, we didn't bother making the perception checks and just assumed it worked. If someone had been 140' away and benefiting, would they have needed to make some kind of perception check at +14 DC?

Lastly, the Barbarian and Bloodrager were benefiting from Amplified Rage (and I think if we had understood the rules correctly for lingering song, simply transitioned to their own rages as they each had 11 rounds left for the boss fight). When the skald went unconscious, we also assumed Warleader's Rage continued to work (it wasn't much of an issue since we were only fighting one enemy at a time and were generally adjacent anyways). It looks like it doesn't matter if the character with the Warleader's feat is unconscious or not, simply that they can be seen and are within 30'. Is that correct?

On the bright side, the skald was brought back to consciousness by the cleric next round, so it would have only changed things for 1 round, during which the barbarian and bloodrager were adjacent anyways.

Warleader's Rage:

Feats and abilities that allow an ally to rage or enhance a rage if adjacent to you (such as Amplified Rage and Sympathetic Rage) persist as long as your ally is within 30 feet of you and can see you. The conditions to activate the rage effect remain unchanged. For example, an ally with Sympathetic Rage must be adjacent to you to enter his own rage, but once his rage begins, he can continue raging as long as he can see you and you are within 30 feet.

It'd be helpful having a better idea of the limits of these feats for the next time we're in a similar situation and are short of time.

Thanks ahead of time for any clarifications.

[Grigorii]

Hey! Good questions. I understand Lingering Performance as basically a supernatural echo effect centered on the performer. So in the case of silence, moving into the area would end the effect of the skald's song for the fighter. If the skald moved into silence, it would end the effect for everyone. If the skald just falls unconscious, he stops performing, but the effect lingers for 2 rounds.

Warleader's rage should still work. You would just need to be more careful that the Barbarian and Bloodrager did not accidentally end their rages.

I might ask for an easy perception check at more than 100 ft or so. Base DC of -10 for battle should be pretty easy, 0 if he's trying to be quiet about it +1/ 10ft.