My initial question arises from the action economy line. It states "1 full round". Is that meant to be a "full round action", or a "1 round action". Does the Bard start the performance and on the end of her turn it begins or does it not begin until the beginning of her next turn?
It's far from obvious, but I'd say full round action in this case. While there exists 2 masterpieces that specify "1 full round action" there's also 6 that specifies "1 round" instead. But you don't mention "full" unless you're talking about the full round action.
Further more, if a character that is affected by this Masterpiece is attacked by four creatures and they all do more than the character's HD that character gets an attack of opportunity on all four or is it meant to be once per round? This seems extremely powerful if it is the former. I know it states "whenever a foe deals..." it just boggles my feeble mind is all.
The character would get 4 attacks. It's a very strong masterpiece but in return you can't buff them with whatever else song you had (like Inspired Rage/Inspire Courage), you can't use Lingering Performance with it, and its not subject to the action economy reduction that normal Bardic Performance is.
The wording also contradicts itself.
"When you complete the performance" implies the performance ends, yet it gives you a usage cost of "2 bardic performance rounds per round".
Bad choice of words but it's an ongoing effect.
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Annoyingly, I think the lack of a hyphen is very important in this (and several other) masterpieces.
When the rules refer to a “full round”, they usually mean a span of time from a particular initiative count in one round to the same initiative count in the next round. Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative count that they began on.
The masterpiece would not take effect until the start of the bard's next turn.
The wording also contradicts itself.
"When you complete the performance" implies the performance ends, yet it gives you a usage cost of "2 bardic performance rounds per round".
That's actually another piece of evidence for the above interpretation. You "complete the performance" at the start of your next round and then you have to spend 2 bardic performance rounds each round you wish to maintain it. This is from the general rules on bardic performance.
Use: This line specifies how many bardic performance rounds the bard must use to activate the masterpiece. In some cases, the bard can extend the duration of the masterpiece by expending additional rounds of bardic performance, just as if it were any other use of bardic performance.
Since it doesn't come into effect for one round, and you have to spend two rounds of performance to maintain it, it's not completely broken. But it is (in my opinion) pretty overpowered. A 10th level barbarian takes 10 points of damage. Attack anyone within reach! Repeat as many times as you take 10 points of damage each round!
This attack of opportunity is resolved prior to the enemy’s attack, but the triggering attack is still resolved even if the enemy is killed or incapacitated.
Should probably have been written the other way (The triggering attack is resolved first, then the AoO, even if the trigger killed the ally.)
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Since it doesn't come into effect for one round, and you have to spend two rounds of performance to maintain it, it's not completely broken. But it is (in my opinion) pretty overpowered. A 10th level barbarian takes 10 points of damage. Attack anyone within reach! Repeat as many times as you take 10 points of damage each round!
It says "or whenever a foe deals hit point damage equal to or greater than its (the foe) Hit Dice".
It doesn't matter what are the Barbarian HD, what matters is what damages the enemy barbarian deal.And that means that it will generate a free AoO with almost all successful attacks, as the goal of every attack is to deal more hit points of damage than are the HD the creature has.
On the other hand, the trigger is the actual damage dealt (not the damage rolled by the enemy, but how many hit point the ally lose), so triggering the effect is costly. The masterpiece utility depends on the number of hit points your allies have and the damage they dealt.
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Since it doesn't come into effect for one round, and you have to spend two rounds of performance to maintain it, it's not completely broken. But it is (in my opinion) pretty overpowered. A 10th level barbarian takes 10 points of damage. Attack anyone within reach! Repeat as many times as you take 10 points of damage each round!It says "or whenever a foe deals hit point damage equal to or greater than its (the foe) Hit Dice".
It doesn't matter what are the Barbarian HD, what matters is what damages the enemy barbarian deal.
This is the wording problem referred to in AegisRom's second post. Here's the full sentence:
When you complete the performance, all allies within 30 feet gain an attack of opportunity when reduced to negative hit points, or whenever a foe deals hit point damage equal to or greater than its Hit Dice, for the duration of the performance.
It is not clear what the antecedent of its is in this sentence. It certainly could refer to the foe, but it could also refer to the ally.
It is far, far quicker and easier to adjudicate this feat if you read it as referring to the ally's hit dice, and requires giving out less metagame information.
A) I took 10 HP of damage, so I get to make an attack of opportunity.
B) I took 10 HP of damage. GM, does the creature that hit me have more than 10 hit dice? (GM looks it up) Oh, it does? Then I get to make an opportunity. And I also now know that creature is pretty beefy.