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D&D 3.5 Rules Question: Bardic Music
Okay fellow GMs, one of my players just posed a question to me that has me a bit wary of impending munchkinism.
She is playing a bard and really wants to get her hands on a harmonizing weapon, which extends the effects of bardic music feats to 10 rounds after the bard stops singing. She specifically mentioned "stacking" the bardic feats into the sword. (i.e. sing inspire courage for 1 round, then inspire competence, then inspire greatness, so that by the end of the third round, three buffs are going.)
Beyond the implications of having a sword extend these effects, can a single bard put multiple effects in place, simultaneously? Many effects last for a certain number of rounds after the bard stops playing, but I can't find an official answer.
My initial thought is to say no.
I see sustained bardic music effects as similar to getting an awesome song stuck in your head. If it is overlapped by a different awesome song, the first one goes away, because people can't really hold multiple disparate melodies in their heads without it completely changing the nature of the song.
Anyone have advice on this? Would it actually be a game breaker, or is it no different than a wizard stacking buff spells before a fight?
She is playing a bard and really wants to get her hands on a harmonizing weapon, which extends the effects of bardic music feats to 10 rounds after the bard stops singing. She specifically mentioned "stacking" the bardic feats into the sword. (i.e. sing inspire courage for 1 round, then inspire competence, then inspire greatness, so that by the end of the third round, three buffs are going.)
Beyond the implications of having a sword extend these effects, can a single bard put multiple effects in place, simultaneously? Many effects last for a certain number of rounds after the bard stops playing, but I can't find an official answer.
My initial thought is to say no.
I see sustained bardic music effects as similar to getting an awesome song stuck in your head. If it is overlapped by a different awesome song, the first one goes away, because people can't really hold multiple disparate melodies in their heads without it completely changing the nature of the song.
Anyone have advice on this? Would it actually be a game breaker, or is it no different than a wizard stacking buff spells before a fight?
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Comments
In summary, if you want the weapon to confer a feat, that's fine, and I think all the bard musics CAN stack.
After discussing the matter with my players, I have decided to allow multiple bardic music effects. However, I am going to apply a mild house-rule for my own sense of verisimilitude. Basically, stacking the effects amounts to weaving a more complex melody. Therefore, the perform check for later bardic music buffs will be slightly higher than for previous effects to avoid creating a hot musical mess.
The bard's player is fine with this, because she says, "My perform check is so high it won't really matter." Until I throw them up against the Thunderbeast of Metal RAWK!
Speaking of RAWK, I had an awesome idea for a slightly modified bard who is essentially an axe-wielding metal singer. I think the skinning potential for various bard spells could be pretty epic. (e.g. confusion causes the targets to begin moshing, randomly attacking, flailing or just standing and headbanging, glitterdust lets out a pyrotechnic burst from the end of the bard's instrument & sound burst amounts to an epic rawk "YEEEEEEEEEAHHH!")
I like the ideas.
Your metal NPC reminds me of a character I played in a comic book superhero game.... He was a 80's metal rocker. Complete with long over-hairsprayed frizzy hair, spandex, cape and bandanas! He wielded a flying V guitar with lightning bolts on it. His name was MegaHertz!! LOL. Good times, indeed.
Mostly I just wanted to pop my head in and say that Poutine_Paladin's comment reminded me of "this":http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail45.html.
And mostly for the sake of getting the thoughts out of my own head, but possibly for the sake of others who might encounter a similar conundrum in the future, I've also decided to edit this to point out that I cosplayed for over four hours at A-Kon this weekend as Nyan Cat - complete with my ThinkGeek t-shirt playing the music on continuous loop. And while the music was definitely enhancing the cosplay experience, it was doing so at a level that didn't require conscious concentration.
Also, if you want to kill off some catgirls by having this kind of discussion: adrenaline is a funny thing. After you spike it with sufficient stimulus, it takes time to burn off afterward - even if the stimulus is removed.
With both the above paragraphs taken together, since they reference a completely non-magical world, I find it easy to believe that a Bard could rile up someone's aggression with one magical song, and then switch to a different magical song without his comrades suddenly losing their riled-up-ness.