DF: Bard Song

Captain-Captain · 03-11-2008, 02:55 PM

The Bardsong limitation puts a couple of it's covered traits into an impractical for use in the genre state.

You have to sing or play an instrument continuously for Bard Song based abilities to function.

The trait "Mimicry" in a dungeon setting will primarily be used to help the bard imitate someone else. The fact he has to sing or play an instrument while doing so, sort of negates the impersonation aspect of it's use in most cases.

Subsonic and/or Ultrasonic Speech has similar headaches: While you can speak while singing, how the heck do you LISTEN while making music? Possible but really limits the ability. If you're tryig to Eavesdrop on someone who speaks ultra or sub sonically, you are revealing your presence at minimum, and hindering your chances of hearing what's said as noted above.

These are pretty much the in dungeon primary uses of these traits. And they aren't all that practical in the dungeon as written.

FIX: Mitigator: Initiation +10%. The value of this enhancement is my guess as to what part of the -30% of Bardsong isn't mana dependency, affected by MR and Mana Level. If Kromm rules 'Must make music' has a different value, the cost of Initiation changes accordingly.

With initiation, the Bard Song trait continues so long as the Bard is actively using it. If the Bard does anything that requires a Concentrate maneuver, the trait(s) end immediatley. They also end if anything the GM feels would distract the Bard occurs.

Once a trait has gone into working-without-a-song mode, playing music again won't help you sustain it's use.

Initiation is a positive point costing version of activation, the name is used here to avoid confusing the two modifiers. The effect goes off as soon as the music stops, so it is possible for a Bard to initiate this, keep playing or singing and initiate other traits and then let them all carry on. If the GM thinks they distract the Bard, they may all go down.

Example: Kenneth is trying to help two members of different races, one who can only communicate subsonically and one who can only communicate ultrasonically settle a dispute. He can activate both traits and translate.

OTOH, using mind control on someone tends to disract from every other active use of a Bardsong trait. It's not advisable to try it with anything else, with the possible exception of Telesending your effective slave it's orders. Once you've finished giving those orders, Telesend ends, and trying to talk just to keep it going tends to distract from controling your victim...

Option: The GM can assign fatigue costs for using Initiation based traits.

Recommendation: Buy Selectivity along with the Mitigator. While you can just play and not let a trait keep functioning after you stop, if there are extra fatigue costs you really want to sever them if you can.

03-11-2008, 02:55 PM	#1
Captain-Captain Join Date: Aug 2004	DF: Bard Song The Bardsong limitation puts a couple of it's covered traits into an impractical for use in the genre state. You have to sing or play an instrument continuously for Bard Song based abilities to function. The trait "Mimicry" in a dungeon setting will primarily be used to help the bard imitate someone else. The fact he has to sing or play an instrument while doing so, sort of negates the impersonation aspect of it's use in most cases. Subsonic and/or Ultrasonic Speech has similar headaches: While you can speak while singing, how the heck do you LISTEN while making music? Possible but really limits the ability. If you're tryig to Eavesdrop on someone who speaks ultra or sub sonically, you are revealing your presence at minimum, and hindering your chances of hearing what's said as noted above. These are pretty much the in dungeon primary uses of these traits. And they aren't all that practical in the dungeon as written. FIX: Mitigator: Initiation +10%. The value of this enhancement is my guess as to what part of the -30% of Bardsong isn't mana dependency, affected by MR and Mana Level. If Kromm rules 'Must make music' has a different value, the cost of Initiation changes accordingly. With initiation, the Bard Song trait continues so long as the Bard is actively using it. If the Bard does anything that requires a Concentrate maneuver, the trait(s) end immediatley. They also end if anything the GM feels would distract the Bard occurs. Once a trait has gone into working-without-a-song mode, playing music again won't help you sustain it's use. Initiation is a positive point costing version of activation, the name is used here to avoid confusing the two modifiers. The effect goes off as soon as the music stops, so it is possible for a Bard to initiate this, keep playing or singing and initiate other traits and then let them all carry on. If the GM thinks they distract the Bard, they may all go down. Example: Kenneth is trying to help two members of different races, one who can only communicate subsonically and one who can only communicate ultrasonically settle a dispute. He can activate both traits and translate. OTOH, using mind control on someone tends to disract from every other active use of a Bardsong trait. It's not advisable to try it with anything else, with the possible exception of Telesending your effective slave it's orders. Once you've finished giving those orders, Telesend ends, and trying to talk just to keep it going tends to distract from controling your victim... Option: The GM can assign fatigue costs for using Initiation based traits. Recommendation: Buy Selectivity along with the Mitigator. While you can just play and not let a trait keep functioning after you stop, if there are extra fatigue costs you really want to sever them if you can. __________________ ...().0...0() .../..........\ -/......O.....\- ...VVVVVVV ..^^^^^^^ A clock running two hours slow has the correct time zero times a day.