Tea Ceremony from "Geisha" Bard Archetype

[LordKralle]

Hello everyone, first post here and English is not my first language, so sorry in advance for any mistakes!
Some friends and I are having a discussion on "How exactly does this ability work?".

The ability states:
"By spending 10 minutes preparing an elaborate tea ceremony, a geisha may affect her allies with inspire courage, inspire competence, inspire greatness, or inspire heroics. The ceremony’s effects last 10 minutes. The geisha must spend 4 rounds of bardic performance for each creature to be affected."

Questions:

1) Does it mean that as you gain each of the bardic performances by leveling up, you also gain the "tea version" of that bardic performance, or that you immediately have the "tea version" of each named bardic performance at level 1, and then you gain the normal version at the appropriate level?
(I stand for the first version, but as it's not specified, doubts arose.)

2) The 10 minutes of the effects start at the end of the previous 10 minutes needed to do the ceremony and drinking the tea?

3) What does the last phrase stand for?
That you spend 4 rounds for EACH creature taking part in the ceremony (number limited only by how many Bardic Performance rounds you still have) OR that you spend 4 rounds for activating this ability "in general" and that it affects the normal amount of people as for the normal Bardic Performance of that Bard level?

Thanks in advance for any clarification!

[Belafon]

Answering in a different order than asked:

2) 10 minutes to perform the ceremony (during which no effects are granted) then the effects last for the next 10 minutes immediately following the end of the ceremony.

3) 4 rounds for each creature. If you want to inspire courage in 3 allies, it will cost 12 rounds of bardic performance.

Finally:
1) This has never been officially answered. Most people assume and play as if you can only grant bonuses with the tea ceremony that you can otherwise grant with bardic performance. No inspiring heroics at level 1. However it is possible that the other reading is correct and you can inspire heroics at level 1. Tea Ceremony is its own ability and doesn't replace or alter any other class feature. So it could mean you get all the options immediately. But if that's the case, then why should you get increasing bonuses as your bard level goes up? If an Inspire Competence Tea Ceremony can provide a +2 bonus at level 1 (instead of the normal level 3) why should a level 7 Inspire Competence Tea Ceremony grant +3? If you're tying the bonus to your bard level, the ability to use it at all should be tied to your bard level. So — up to the GM.

It's worth noting that the 10 minute ritual/10 minute duration makes the ability only useful when you are sure there will be enough downtime before a fight, and the fight will happen almost immediately after you are done with the Tea Ceremony. Probably a prearranged duel or combat. In which case the other side might hire their own geisha. . .

This is also the reason why the "all options at level 1" interpretation isn't completely irrational.

Spoiler:

For the typical adventuring party, I think the Inspire Competence option is the most useful. You are far less likely to run into some bad guys who say "hey let's have a fight in 15 minutes" than a tall cliff where one of your allies says "boy, sure would be nice if we all got better at climbing for a while." Or a key figure you need to Diplomacize who has set a fixed meeting time for you, a tricky knowledge puzzle in a dungeon, and so on.

[LordKralle]

Thanks! That was really helpful! <3

[Melkiador]

Tea Ceremony is supposed to be pretty niche anyway. You traded some proficiencies that didn't fit the flavor, and this is the compensation along with scribe scroll. It's not a bad trade, but it plays more like a caster with almost no front line ability, which is something that some people already do with their bards.

10 minute party-wide inspire greatness is pretty nice for exploration. Makes a lot of traps and ambushes more survivable.