Bardic Music and Concentration

[Diarmuid]

Last night our group got a little stuck when the Bard used Inspire Courage. We couldnt determine fully (within the short rules question time we allow for mid combat) whether he needed to spend a standard action each round to maintain the IC.

To move things along, the DM ruled he did but in taking the time to go back over the bardic music the player and I are of the opinion that it doesnt require concentration based on the fact that specific uses of Bardic Music do specify concentration and IC does not.

Just looking for the rules-savvy to chime in and let me know how it goes down. (We dont play Bards a lot, heh).

[Keld Denar]

IC does not require Concentration (as in a standard action), but it does require effort to maintain. You can not cast a spell or perform certain actions while maintaining IC (without a special feat or ability). IC does not hinder you from fighting at all.

Some music DOES require Concentration (as in a standard action each round), and the ones that does explicitly state thus. If its not stated, it requires only minimal effort to do so.

Being disabled by a Stun, Daze, or Paralysis effect, however, would inhibit your ability to maintain a song effect. Running, jumping, tumbling, dancing, or fighting would not. Spellcasting would though, most of the time (unless you took Melodic Casting from CMage).

Citation:

Starting a bardic music effect is a standard action. Some bardic music abilities require concentration, which means the bard must take a standard action each round to maintain the ability. 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.

Example of required Concentration.

If a creature’s saving throw succeeds, the bard cannot attempt to fascinate that creature again for 24 hours. If its saving throw fails, the creature sits quietly and listens to the song, taking no other actions, for as long as the bard continues to play and concentrate (up to a maximum of 1 round per bard level).

Inspire Courage, lacking any indication of Concentration

A bard with 3 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use song or poetics to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear the bard sing. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the bard sing and for 5 rounds thereafter. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 8th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by 1 (+2 at 8th, +3 at 14th, and +4 at 20th). Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability.

[faceroll]

It says right in the descriptions of which bardic music abilities require concentration. Inspire Courage does not have that line of text.