Dancing + Playing an instrument + Singing

[Alonsua]

What would be the penalties if a musician was to do all of those at the same time?

[Alonsua]

Would three hard techniques at -4 do it?

For example:
Dance While Playing [H/Dancing-4]
Sing While Dancing [H/Singing-4]

This means that you can do the three of them at (Lowest of Dancing/Musical Instrument/Singing)-8, or two of them at Lowest-4. Training three hard techniques to the maximum would cost 15 CP and allow to do the three without penalties. Sounds fair?

[Anaraxes]

Depends on the details. Singing while playing a guitar or the piano has little penalty (if any). Singing while playing the flute or trumpet is next to impossible. Similarly, dancing of some sorts with a guitar isn't too hard, while dancing with the piano isn't going to happen (though I'm sure there's some musical that stuck one on a dolly just to make it happen). And the dance matters; waltzing isn't breakdancing with that guitar.

I'd just leave it up to situational modifiers, rather than try to hammer all the possibilities into specific Techniques.

[AlexanderHowl]

I agree, though I think that singing and playing a string or percussive instrument would give a -2 to both tasks. Dancing would depend on the specific dance, but I would say that singing and dancing would give a -2 to both tasks. I would suggest that dancing with a partner while attempting to play an instrument would give a penalty dependent on the size of the instrument (dancing with partner while using a harmonica would only give a -2 to both tasks but dancing with a partner while using a tuba would give a -10 to both tasks).

[Stormcrow]

I'd probably just make them roll against the lowest of all three skills to represent the overall performance.

[SionEwig]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

I'd probably just make them roll against the lowest of all three skills to represent the overall performance.

This is more probably it for in general. Understanding of course that there are situational variables that could make things more difficult.

Or alternately roll (at no penalty) for each skill.

[whswhs]

As a minor note, some instruments are designed to be used in conjunction with rhythmic body movements, such as finger cymbals or castanets. I would not apply any penalty to their use with a suitable dance style.

[Alonsua]

Seems like there is a huge divergence in this topic, so initially I will keep the -4 like a Dual-Weapon Attack or Horse Archery.

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by Alonsua

Seems like there is a huge divergence in this topic, so initially I will keep the -4 like a Dual-Weapon Attack or Horse Archery.

I think the divergence isn't so much some think it easy in abstract and some think ist impossible in abstract, but rather the exact combination of dance, instrument and singing is massively important to the question.

Honest best answer i can give is it depends on the combination at the time (but yeah I know not much of an answer)

[Wonazer]

I've noticed, watching my favorite bands, that they can play well enough while singing, but it's never complicated. When complicated happens, the singing stops. At the same time, when the singing is taken to another level, the instrument playing is really simplified if not stopped altogether.

I was listening to a musician play a simple melody on the piano while asking for audience interaction. Eventually, they had to stop completely just to speak -- they specifically noted the difficulty of doing both. However, that may be something specific to speaking, rather than a memorized melody of singing while playing, i.e. another melody weaved into a melody vs the patterns of spoken word conflicting with the musical melody.

I'm of the opinion of a tangible, but not overwhelming, penalty. Simply put, if you're doing more than one, you're not at your best for any one of them. It all depends on context as well -- which aspect (if not all three) is impactful? If the words matter for influence, for example, is the dancing/instrument enhancing or detracting from the desired result?