A question for all the skalds out there: how long does it take to cast your kenning spells?
My Strange Aeons PC has just hit Lv 5, and I haven't yet found a satisfying answer as to whether the casting time for a kenning spell is "one full-round action" (à la bard/sorcerer metamagic) or "one round" (à la summons, enlarge, etc). In typical fashion for this awesome but under-supported class, the class ability writeup hovers somewhere in between ...
At 5th level, a skald is learned in the magic of other spellcasters, and can use his own magic to duplicate those classes’ spells. Once per day, a skald can cast any spell on the bard, cleric, or sorcerer/wizard spell list as if it were one of his skald spells known, expending a skald spell slot of the same spell level to cast the desired spell. Casting a spell with spell kenning always has a minimum casting time of 1 full round, regardless of the casting time of the spell.
SO: If it's a full-round action for my skald to cast a spell I don't know from the bard/wizard/cleric lists, I can (in the spirit of bard metamagicking, and as long as I'm not staggered/disabled) use a standard and also sacrifice my move action to cast Ghostbane Dirge, and at the end of my turn my allies can immediately begin whaling on the incorporeal monster. If it's a one round casting time, I have to fend off disruptive attacks until the spell completes on my next turn.
Thoughts?
Given the imprecise wording of the class ability, I will say in advance that I'm more inclined towards RAI arguments and/or the experience of people who've played skalds and used this mechanic ...
I believe you are wrong about when the full-round action goes off; it's always just before your next turn. For spells in particular:
A spell that takes 1 round to cast is a full-round action. It comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the round after you began casting the spell. You then act normally after the spell is completed.
it's one round casting, the only casting I'm aware of that a full action but not one round is metamagic with spontaneous casters.
it's one round casting, the only casting I'm aware of that a full action but not one round is metamagic with spontaneous casters.
This is a fair interpretation. It's a sloppy bit of writing by Paizo to include that phrase "full round" in such a key and unique class feature when they've otherwise been very careful to implement two distinct casting labels: "one round" and "full-round action."
Most of the feedback I could find from the skald playtest assumed that kenning worked like bard metamagicked spells (one full-round action to cast). Making all kenning spells one round to cast renders most in-combat spells pretty useless. Now, that may be a fair aim for the kenning ability – spontaneous-casting skalds are tapping into unknown magic, and they shouldn't be able to make such mental leaps quickly or while under duress. I just wish the ability had been written more clearly.
Simplifying the text to "spell kenning always has a minimum casting time of one round" would have solved this ambiguity. Maybe they'll fix it in the upcoming, hotly anticipated ULTIMATE SKALD hardcover?
[breaks into sarcastic death metal solo]