[Basic Set; DF?] Song writing skill/s?

[jacobmuller]

Was intending to give bonuses to Magic use for singing and dancing.
Then realised I don't know what skill/s should be used to write a song?
On the fly - Fast Talk and Poetry?
Persuasive - Diplomacy and Poetry?
I mean, performing the song is Singing, but what skill/s would characters need to make up jingles for their spells?
I'm thinking they can use the rote verse they were taught for unmodified skill or come up with original, custom to the situation "spell-songs".

Then there's the interpretive dance aspect:/

I don't want to add new skills for Songwriting and whatever creating a dance routine should be called (Choreography is taken - although Alt Spec - Solo might do).

Has anyone worked with this aspect of their Bards' abilities?

[PK]

You want the Musical Composition skill.

[jacobmuller]

I forgot about that one.
But, read RAW, that ain't it.
Poetry+Mus.Comp. is heading the [w]right way...

[Phil Masters]

Those two skills, yes. Remember that plenty of songs have had the music written completely separately from the lyrics - setting an extant poem to music, or fitting words to an extant tune.

Writing the two together might be a little easier than writing one to fit the other, because you can adjust the evolving melody to fit the words and vice-versa - but then you need the same character, or a tight team, to have professional-grade levels in two different skills.

Improvising a song on the fly is a roll against either or both skills at a penalty (though an audience may accept a smaller margin of success, because the trick is impressive in itself); improvisation is a core part of many musical traditions. Working up a dance routine in advance is Choreography; improvising a few steps on the fly is a common feature of many dance traditions, and so is just Dancing.

[jacobmuller]

TQ.
Letting myself into a world of refrain if any players take up the option and decide to act it out on top of the extra skill checks. All good if they enjoy it.

But they'll have to be desperate for bonuses to try Mus.Comp. + Poetry, then Dance, and then the spell skill check.
I have a feeling there's a table out there for cross referencing the secondary skill values to make it just a straight bonus to the Primary (spell) skill.

This begins to sound like convention floor fun but with singing and dancing compulsory; double DoS bonus if you can perform the jingle-dance... But I'll leave that one to the experts and look forward to the Tweets.

Thank you both.