Bardic music casting spells and music feats.

[dota600]

So a bard can sing and stuff, her song can inspire friends and sway foes. Its all good and great.

The problem is that when she cast a spell, her music stops and all is not well.

So does the melodic casting feat(complete mage) removes this restriction to the point that while she is singing, she can cast spells at the same time?

Melodic casting:
In addition, you can cast spells and activate magic items
by command word or spell completion while using a bardic
music ability. Bardic music abilities that require concentration
still take a standard action to perform.

What confuses me is that it is stated in melodic casting that it still requires a standard action to maintain the song. Does that mean the point of casting a spell is nullified(since casting takes a standard action)?

I do not know it confuses me. Please help. >.<

[dariathalon]

First, it says bardic music that requires concentration still take a standard action. Many bardic music abilities (like inspire courage, for example) do not require concentration so do not take an action to maintain.

Second, even if you are using a song that does require concentration, there are spells that do not take a standard action to cast. Quickened spells are a common example of this. This means, that as long as you maintain your concentration to continue singing the song (taking a standard action each round to do so), you can cast another spell as a swift action during your turn.

[dota600]

wow, okey thanks for that.

[Tyger]

Hold on there Dariathalon... you missed the important part:


From the SRD:
Even while using bardic music that doesn’t require concentration, a bard cannot cast spells, activate magic items by spell completion (such as scrolls), spell trigger (such as wands), or command word. Just as for casting a spell with a verbal component, a deaf bard has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use bardic music. If he fails, the attempt still counts against his daily limit.

I have underlined the important part.

To the OP, yes, that is exactly what Melodic Casting allows you to do - cast spells while continuing to sing your songs, including Inspire Courage and its ilk that don't require concentration.

Another option is the Harmonizing weapon enchantment from the MIC. It picks up your singing and sings for you, for 10 rounds. That can negate the need for the feat, but I think the feat has enough going for it (especially the Perform checks in place of Concentration checks) to make it very worthwhile.

[El Dorado]

Keep in mind that bardic music lingers for 5 rounds after the bard stops singing. You could conceivably inspire in round 1 and cast a spell in round 2, at which point your song lingers through round 6.

At low levels, this could be problematic, especially if you have multiple fights per day and/or very long fights.

If this a concern, Melodic Casting is definitely a good investment.

[Optimator]

The thing here is that most Bard songs don't require Concentration but rather they occupy the Bard's mouth or hands (or both). Melodic Casting frees up their hands/mouth for spells, thus letting you cast away without interrupting the Bardic music, unless it is one of the abilities that does use concentration, like Fascinate.

[thubby]

if there is a one handed musical instrument, you can always use that instead.

[Tyger]

if there is a one handed musical instrument, you can always use that instead.

One handed, no handed, twelve handed don't matter. The ability is quite specific, you can not cast spells while using bardic music. The feat changes that.

[Evard]

Feats Lyrical spell and Metamagic song may tickle your fancy, along with extra music. There is a thread on here about someone building a savage harbringer that talks about those two feats

[Captainocaptain]

Just out of curiosity, I always wondered, if a bard is making a performance (not actually using one of his special abilities but making a perform check to play an instrument and the like), can he still cast spells? Like if he is singing, can he cast a spell that does not require a verbal component?

[holywhippet]

Just out of curiosity, I always wondered, if a bard is making a performance (not actually using one of his special abilities but making a perform check to play an instrument and the like), can he still cast spells? Like if he is singing, can he cast a spell that does not require a verbal component?

I seem to recall a feat in 3.0 that let you slip a spell unnoticed into a performance. Othwerwise I'm not sure.

[noiadodh]

I seem to recall a feat in 3.0 that let you slip a spell unnoticed into a performance. Othwerwise I'm not sure.

Bards cant cast spells silently (they should have said it in the Bard class too, not only on the feat description)...

[El Dorado]

Most skills require standard actions so I would say you make your perform check or cast your spell. Disguise Spell allows you to cast a spell while making a perform check.

[dota600]

I seem to recall a feat in 3.0 that let you slip a spell unnoticed into a performance. Othwerwise I'm not sure.

you cannot cast spells silently.

*But* you can cast your spell in the disguise of singing something, look at the disguise spell feat on complete adventurer.

Singing 'My way' while casting dominate has never been so much fun.

[dariathalon]

Hold on there Dariathalon... you missed the important part:



I have underlined the important part.

To the OP, yes, that is exactly what Melodic Casting allows you to do - cast spells while continuing to sing your songs, including Inspire Courage and its ilk that don't require concentration.

Another option is the Harmonizing weapon enchantment from the MIC. It picks up your singing and sings for you, for 10 rounds. That can negate the need for the feat, but I think the feat has enough going for it (especially the Perform checks in place of Concentration checks) to make it very worthwhile.

Which is the point I was getting at. The feat allows you to ignore the normal way that things work. Since he was asking about the feat, I was describing how things work with the feat. I realize that bard's can't normally cast any spells while using their bardic music ability, but since the op was asking about Melodic Casting, I told him how that worked. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that point.

[Darrin]

you cannot cast spells silently.


Doesn't Subsonics (CWar) help with that?

There's also an obscure spell tucked away in Lords of Madness called whispercast. Cast it as a swift action, next spell you cast can ignore the somatic component if you can whisper (although... wouldn't whispering be somatic? *shrug*)