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Originally Posted by Bruno
Bardic Talent adds to the specified bard skills, gives a bonus to success rolls for Bard-song powers, and acts as Song Magery to the two listed colleges.
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Well, not quite:
Bardic Talent both adds to Bard-Song rolls and lets the bard cast Communication and Empathy and Mind Control spells (only!) as if he were a wizard who had the same level of Magery with the Song limitation.
It specifically
doesn't add to skills; as Chi Talent notes, "In general, a power's Talent doesn't add to its special skills – this one is an exception!" The bard template notes a Bardic Talent bonus for spells but not for special skills.
Thus, Bardic Talent is in effect this:
Generic Power Talent [5/level] + Magery (Limited Colleges*, Two Colleges, -30%; Song, -40%) [3]
* From the upcoming
Thaumatology.
The particular drawbacks of Bard-Song abilities are innate to the power modifier, but don't show up in the Talent; Talent is blind to such limitations on powers, because the abilities get to save points via a power modifier.
Magery 0 is a nonissue . . . Bards don't have it. For that matter, they don't truly have Magery. They have Bardic Talent, which poses as Magery in one specialized role.
Note again, though, that power Talents generally
don't add to special skills! That's only done for Chi Talent because it lets you create martial artists on sensible points instead of having to give them prodigious DX, IQ, HT, Will,
and Per just to be good at all their skills. This is why Chi Talent costs 15 points/level, in the spirit of similar Talents in
Martial Arts.