Sound Striker Weird Words + Three Reasons to Live interaction?

[supervillan]

I will shortly be GM'ing for a friend of mine who runs a Sound Striker/Duettist bard. No problem there :)

The PC is equipped with a magic item called Three Reasons to Live. One of the things that this item does is boost Bardic Performances by 6 levels "if a bard uses the horn to start a bardic performance". Super strong.

Now, using a horn to start a bardic performance means that the performance is using Perform (Wind Instruments). All good for regular bardic stuff like Inspire Courage.

Here's the Rules question: can you use Three Reasons to Live to do the Sound Striker's Wordstrike and Weird Words performances?

Wordstrike says "direct a burst of sonically charged words" to do damage.

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."

So, although there's a "fluff" sentence in the archetype description saying that it "music and words as a weapon", I do not think that a PC can use these abilities with Three Reasons to Live, which is a shofar (horn). You can't speak words through a shofar.

I have seen another GM rule differently on the Paizo forums, and this will be for PFS, so I ask the question here. (The magic item isn't normally PFS legal but it does appear on a chronicle sheet that grants access).

[willuwontu]

Quote:

If a bard uses the horn to start a bardic performance, all effects of that performance are calculated as if the bard were 6 levels higher.

Quote:

A sound striker gains the following type of bardic performance

They're bardic performances, I don't see why it wouldn't work. As for the words thing, maybe they blow the horn before they begin speaking to empower their words with its magic. Who knows, it's a magic item in a fantasy world. The mechanics of how the two interact is clear though, they would gain the benefit of three reasons to live.

If you want a PFS ruling though, you should ask in the PFS forums.

[Diego Rossi]

1)

Quote:

Now, using a horn to start a bardic performance means that the performance is using Perform (Wind Instruments). All good for regular bardic stuff like Inspire Courage.

The bard is starting a bardic performance, but most of them don't require any use of the Perform skill. He simply needs to say that he uses the horn. The only effect is that the Bardic performance that he starts with the horn will have audible components and it will require people to hear it to affect them.

2)

Quote:

Bardic Performance: A sound striker gains the following type of bardic performance. Neither performance can be performed more quickly than a standard action.

Wordstrike (Su): At 3rd level, the sound striker bard can spend 1 round of bardic performance as a standard action to direct a burst of sonically charged words at a creature or object. This performance deals 1d4 points of damage plus the bard’s level to an object, or half this damage to a living creature. This performance replaces inspire competence.

It is a Bardic performance, it is affected.

While it says "a burst of sonically charged words" the action is "the sound striker bard can spend 1 round of bardic performance as a standard action".

RAW it appears that the bard can start the performance by blowing the horn and then speaking the words.

3)

Quote:

Weird Words (Su): 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.

Weird words instead require the bard to speak when he starts the performance. Blowing a horn is not speaking, so he can't use the horn.

Inconsistent? Yes, but that is the RAW as I see it.