Are there electric guitars in DnD? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

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Platymus Pus

2013-09-08, 07:51 PM

Or even Bass guitars.
If so can I get a link?
I'm asking because I want to wield one as a weapon and an instrument for my character.
If not can you give the closest thing to it?

Squirrel_Dude

2013-09-08, 07:53 PM

I've never had a DM question it when a player says they are using an electric guitar. Just start shredding and then treat as (I guess) a club as a weapon.

If one actually exists, I wouldn't know, but that's never been a problem IME.

Platymus Pus

2013-09-08, 08:06 PM

Fax Celestis

2013-09-08, 08:28 PM

ahh, but what if I attached it to an amplifier?
would it boost certain skill checks?

Masterwork tool for Perform (Metal). +2 to the check. 50gp.

Lateral

2013-09-08, 08:36 PM

By the rules? I've never seen one statted out anywhere.

By the power of HELL YES, though?

HELL YES.

Telonius

2013-09-08, 08:39 PM

Complete Scoundrel, Instrument Blade, 10gp. Add masterwork for 300gp, then enchant as a Shocking Burst weapon. :smallbiggrin:

Platymus Pus

2013-09-08, 08:50 PM

Masterwork tool for Perform (Metal). +2 to the check. 50gp.

Complete Scoundrel, Instrument Blade, 10gp. Add masterwork for 300gp, then enchant as a Shocking Burst weapon. :smallbiggrin:

FFffsdfsfafa now I just need to find Instrument blade on the net and how masterwork tool works requirement wise.

Okay I also need to enchant it further, to be able to fly in short bursts(basically a single 5 foot square anytime as a swift action.
Unlimited if possible. It's part of the theme.

gurgleflep

2013-09-08, 08:50 PM

Would an axe be possible with that instrumental blade?
http://www.montymontyart.com/images/lumber_jacks_axe_guitar2.jpg

Fax Celestis

2013-09-08, 08:52 PM

FFffsdfsfafa now I just need to find Instrument blade on the net and how masterwork tool works requirement wise.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#toolMasterwork

Platymus Pus

2013-09-08, 08:54 PM

Would an axe be possible with that instrumental blade?
http://www.montymontyart.com/images/lumber_jacks_axe_guitar2.jpg

That's a bit too literal for what I'm going for, it would be cool if that was what I was going for.
I want an instrument that acts as a weapon, not a weapon that acts as a instrument.
It has to be more like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyh--Y5J354

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#toolMasterwork

Thank you.

Gnome Alone

2013-09-08, 09:15 PM

By the rules? I've never seen one statted out anywhere.

By the power of HELL YES, though?

HELL YES.

Incidentally, "by the power of HELL YES" itself counts as a successful Inspire Courage Perform (Oratory) check.

Vortenger

2013-09-09, 04:20 PM

I'd recommend taking a look at Brutal Legend's intro (the Jack Black video game) for an example of metal/fantasy, rock-as-magic inspiration. Make sure your character worships Ormigodden!

More on topic: I seem to remember there being a set of crystals that could produce any sound the user desired. It would look more like using a mixing table, but the sound would be in-game sanctioned metal. AFB and can't remember the source though. Think it was a Quintessential book...

Deadline

2013-09-09, 04:37 PM

Hmm, could you enchant a masterwork lute as an improvised weapon? If so, add Morphing and you've got an axe(guitar) that turns into an axe! Then proceed to enchant it with shocking burst, etc.

There has to be a way to make this work by RAW...

Platymus Pus

2013-09-09, 04:41 PM

Blas_de_Lezo

2013-09-09, 04:57 PM

Adamantine electric flute.

As adamantine, is almost unbreakable. You can use it as a light mace, a very solid choice if you take the Lighting Maces feat. Then use Prestidigitation to give it an electric reverb effect.

EDIT: and yes, you can rock with a flute, with the permission of Jethro Tull.

Ashtagon

2013-09-09, 05:03 PM

Check out Dungeon magazine #99.

Chronos

2013-09-09, 06:05 PM

Quoth Squirrel_Dude:

I've never had a DM question it when a player says they are using an electric guitar. Just start shredding and then treat as (I guess) a club as a weapon.
I have. Well, sort of.

A few campaigns ago, I was playing a bard, and discovered the awesomeness of the Summon Instrument spell (even more awesome with the houserule we use that cantrips are free). My DM pre-emptively warned me that I could only use it to produce an instrument consistent with medieval tech levels. Which is all I was planning on, anyway, as that still provides plenty of options. Like, didgeridoos instead of 10' poles, and measuring the depth of a pit by dropping a bagpipe followed by a tuba, so I'd be sure to hear the sound coming from the bottom. Or then dropping a whole bunch of bagpipes, to cushion my fall when I jumped down the same pit.

StreamOfTheSky

2013-09-09, 09:55 PM

One of my DMs had an electric guitar in his game. It was a guitar with a wand of jolt (cantrip; electric version of ray of frost) glued to it. :smallbiggrin:

Cirrylius

2013-09-10, 06:09 PM

I always wanted to play a bard with an electric guitar. Preferably an evil Tiefling with a satanic rock motif who played black metal. Think the first episode of Todd and the book of Pure Evil, with horns.

HalfQuart

2013-09-11, 09:32 PM

I semi-recently built a power metal bard using the classic DFI combination with Draconic Heritage with Pyroclastic Dragon to do sonic damage. He actually didn't use a guitar, but the fluff was that any instrument he played sounded like an electric guitar via magic or whatever. The DM loves the concept, but the character hasn't actually seen play yet.

Chronos

2013-09-11, 09:37 PM

HalfQuart, I take it you were inspired by Foster's Spellsinger books?

Platymus Pus

2013-09-11, 10:09 PM

HalfQuart, I take it you were inspired by Foster's Spellsinger books?

Do tell please.

Chronos

2013-09-11, 11:02 PM

Basically, you've got a dude from our world who is magically transported to a fantasy world. In our world, he's a janitor by day, and a struggling garage-band guitarist by night. In the fantasy world, though, he discovers that he's a special type of magic-user of nigh-limitless power called a spellsinger, who can produce almost any magical effect by singing it. One of the minor manifestations of his magic is that, in his hands, an ordinary lute-like instrument native to that world sounds just like an electric guitar (much to the surprise of his companions, who had never heard anything like that).

Cirrylius

2013-09-11, 11:46 PM

I read a book with a similar idea, except the guy was a musician/poet who rhymed and wrote jingles on the spot. One of his companions was a super helpful and good-natured entropy spirit, and another was Puck, the incarnation of perversity (as in contrariness). I wish I could remember more details:smallannoyed:

Xerlith

2013-09-12, 05:16 AM

Grab a lute/gitar, slap a permanent Sculpt Sound on it, you have an autonomous electric-guitar sound that doesn't even need an amp.
If you instead make it use-activated, you can even change the settings.
Then go Stormsinger.
Make it so the bardic music part of your Stormsong is fluffed as playing a riff.
Rock on.

Alternatively, do pretty much the same with all your bard spells.

Whatever you do, feel like this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EfhAFA2yFE)

EDIT: If you want a weapon, make a custom-made axe with steel strings and a reinforced guitar neck as a handle, it won't have much sound by itself, but then you can slap an Amplify spell on it. Preferably permanent.
Then go on and add Sculpt Sound on top of it.

EDIT2: I just got informed that Sculpt Sound can amplify the sound by itself. So Amplify spell seems obsolete, unless you want to be LOUD.
I know you want.

HalfQuart

2013-09-12, 06:53 AM

HalfQuart, I take it you were inspired by Foster's Spellsinger books?
Uhh, no, never heard of Spellsinger before, but thanks for the reference. I don't remember what the inspiration for the character was, but I think it was based in the Bard Handbooks that steer people to the sonic damage type because it's hard to resist. I don't actually remember if I came up with the metal character concept on my own or stole it from someone else. :-)

Platymus Pus

2013-09-12, 04:25 PM

Renen

2013-09-18, 12:22 PM

Slightly off topic, theres a book in which the main hero uses magic with an instrument. First its a violin, but it later turns into an electric guitar.
He did plenty of things with it, from sumoning cloudkill, to conjuring undead solders with cannons.

Asheram

2013-09-18, 12:58 PM

As an aside. D20 Modern lists the guitar as a Large (2h) improvised weapon doing 1d6. :smallbiggrin:

Captnq

2013-09-18, 01:20 PM

take a Lute-Bow.

LUTE-BOW
- CITYSCAPE (3.5)
Martial Ranged Weapon
Cost: 250 gp
Damage (s): 1d4
Damage (m): 1d6
Critical: x3
Range: 40 ft
Weight: 5 lb
Type: P
Ammo: Arrow
Search DC: 30
The upper layer of wood to which the strings are attached can be rotated with a standard action, so that the strings now lie perpendicular to the lute itself. The wood and the strings are treated to offer extra strength and resistance, allowing them to flex like a bow. Although it is held horizontally, like a crossbow, it is a hand-fired weapon, so it resembles a shortbow in usage. DC 30 to find.
Editor: Well, if you are a sneaky assassin with some serious poison, this could work. However, if you want to see something weird, check out the entry on instrument blade. Considering the description of the weapon requires that it be flexible, I do not think you can combine a lute-bow and an instrument blade. An instrument bayonet on the other hand is affixed to the lute, so I see no reason those two cannot work together.
Editor (Lute): This is from Song and Silence (3.0). This ancestor of the guitar has a pear-shaped bowl and a distinctive bent neck with frets for fingering. Between four and eight strings stretch between the base of the bowl and the top of the neck. Lutes vary between 30 and 36 inches in length, with the bowl taking up some two-thirds of that total. The musician either strums or plucks the strings to produce music. A highly versatile instrument because of its wide range of notes and inflection, the lute is accessible to the beginner but capable of great subtlety in the hands of a master. The deep bowl gives it a rich, full sound unlike that of any other stringed instrument. It is by far the most popular instrument with hards, especially half-elf and human ones.
Editor (Bardic Music): The most popular of the three prime bardic instruments, the lute enables a performer to maintain one bardic music or virtuoso performance effect while initiating another. Thus, a bard could maintain inspire competence on one listener while using suggestion on another.

take Hank's Energy Bow from the Animate Series Handbook and extrapolate out just the Energy Properties.

ENERGY
- ANIMATED SERIES HANDBOOK (3.5)
[HANK’S ENERGY BOW]
Price: 14,200 gp
Property: Bow
Caster Level: 6th
Aura: Moderate (DC 18) evocation
Activation: —
Although unstrung, it fires arrows of pure magical force that deal 2d6 points of damage. As they are force effects, the arrows do not suffer a miss chance when used against incorporeal creatures. The bow can be used to fire normal or magic arrows, but in such cases the bow does not confer its damage due to force. When drawn, the energy bow sheds light like a torch. In addition, you can use the bow to make power shots. To do so, before making attack rolls, choose a number to subtract from your attack rolls up to your base attack and add this same number to the damage dealt by the bow with any attack that hits. The penalty on attack rolls and bonus on damage rolls last until yours next turn.
Construction: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, magic missile
Editor: Awesome.

Add Shocking.

A lute with strings of force that crackle with electrical energy.

Add a Instrument Bayonet on the end.

INSTRUMENT BAYONET
- SONG AND SILENCE (3.0)
Martial Light Melee Weapon
Cost: 5 gp
Damage (s): 1d3
Damage (m): 1d4
Critical: 19-20/x2
Weight: 2 lb
Type: P
Sometimes a bard finds himself in a situation that requires self-defense at a few seconds’ notice. That’s when an instrument-mounted bayonet comes in handy. A bayonet (a long, thin dagger) affixed to the neck of a lute or other instrument can be used to fend off an attacker, or even to inflict respectable damage if set to receive a charge.
Editor: At first I thought the instrument bayonet and the instrument blade were the same thing, but they are not. An instrument blade can be hidden and comes out when triggered as a move action. An instrument bayonet is out all the time. All spring loaded hidden weapons comes with a built in -2 to hit, where as this weapon does not. An instrument blade can be thrown, this cannot. Both have their perks and downsides.

Give it the properties of a Songblade.

SONGBLADE
- ARMS AND EQUIPMENT GUIDE (3.0)
- COMPLETE ADVENTURER (3.5)
[SONGBLADE]
Price: 4,000 gp
Property: Melee
Caster Level: 8th
Aura: Moderate (DC 19) evocation
Activation: Wielded
Every move made with this rapier fills the air with sweet sounds. While holding a songblade unsheathed, the sword’s wielder gains a +2 enhancement bonus on Perform checks. A bard wielding a songblade can use her bardic music abilities one additional time per day. The blade is scored in a beautiful, intricate pattern, and air moving across this magical etching generates the music of a songblade. The blade’s musical qualities do not function underwater, in a vacuum, or in other environments where air cannot freely pass over the blade.
Construction: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, sculpt sound, creator must have bardic music class feature.
Editor: If you never plan of sneaking again, and are a bard, there are worse choices.
Editor (Bard WSAs): Definitely look into Songs and Echoblade.
Editor (Dragon Magazine 314): Heartfire Fanner PrC grants 5th lvl bardic music at 1st level. Not a big fan of dragon magazine (beta test, in my opinion), but if your DM allows you to use it, you really should look into it. That combined with this WSA and a number of others can give you multiple uses of Bardic Music that you can use to fuel your song based weaponry.

Also add Harmonizing WSA from MIC.

HARMONIZING
- CITY OF SPLENDORS WATERDEEP (3.5)
- MAGIC ITEM COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Price: +1 bonus
Property: Melee
Caster Level: 5th
Aura: Faint; (DC 17) illusion
Activation: Wielded; see text
Description: A strange melody seems to emanate from within this weapon.
A harmonizing weapon accompanies you in song if drawn, granting a +2 competence bonus on Perform (sing) checks. In addition, if you hold a harmonizing weapon when you begin a bardic music effect, the weapon can continue the effect for you, allowing you to focus on other efforts. One round after you begin a bardic music effect that allows or requires continued use or concentration (including inspire courage, countersong, fascinate, inspire competence, inspire greatness, song of freedom, and inspire heroics), the weapon picks up and continues the performance flawlessly for 10 rounds, until you start another bardic music effect, or until you command it to end as a swift (mental) action.
Construction: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, ghost sound, bardic music.
Editor: If you are a bard who wants a “singing sword”, this is the WA for you. Bards aren’t popular, but this might help make you more useful, so you can buff the rest of your party, then do something useful while your blade keeps the effect going. I recommend it in every weapon you can wield because there is nothing that says you can’t have three different bardic music effects running at the same time. It doesn’t even say you have to keep holding the weapon. You could hold the dagger. Start the music effect, then put it back in it’s sheath, or drop it on the ground, or if your DM is a pain about it being held the whole time, buy flying or dancing.

and then add the Bow of songs properties to the lute-bow itself.

SONGS
- MAGIC ITEM COMPENDIUM (3.5)
[BOW OF SONGS]
Price: 10,000 gp
Property: Any Weapon
Caster Level: 8th
Aura: Moderate (DC 19) evocation
Activation: Swift (command)
On your turn, you can expend one daily use of your bardic music ability to gain a bonus equal to your Charisma bonus on the next attack roll and (if your attack hits) on the corresponding damage roll that you make with the weapon.
Construction: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, sculpt sound, elf, bardic music.
Editor: Being a bard sucks. Bards are jacks-of-all-trades and masters of none. They make great fifth members of a group, helping to round out a party and cover other people’s buts. However, sometimes you just need to kick ass. This is a bit on the expensive side, but after buying echoblade, you might want to consider buying this. Now, the original was on a ranged weapon. I believe that there is no reason you cannot use this on any weapon (but not ammunition). A DM being a bit more strict might wish to limit this to Ranged weapons, and Echoblade to melee weapons. However, let’s be honest, It’s hard enough being a bard, don’t take away one of the few cool combinations in the game as well.
Editor (Dragon Magazine 314): Heartfire Fanner PrC grants 5th lvl bardic music at 1st level. Not a big fan of dragon magazine (beta test, in my opinion), but if your DM allows you to use it, you really should look into it. That combined with this WSA and a number of others can give you multiple uses of Bardic Music that you can use to fuel your song based weaponry.

And if you want the overkill, add Echoblade to the instrument Bayonet

ECHOBLADE
- MAGIC ITEM COMPENDIUM (3.5)
[CRYSTAL ECHOBLADE]
Price: 2,000 gp
Property: Melee
Caster Level: 10th
Aura: Moderate (DC 20) evocation
Activation: Use Bardic Music Ability
If you use your bardic music ability while wielding the weapon, the blade resonates in harmony, dealing additional sonic damage on each attack equal to half your bard level.
Construction: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bardic music
Editor: Holy Crap. For most people, this sucks, but every bard should drop the 2,000 gp to buy this.
Editor (Bardic WSAs): Using this isn’t a separate action, but a USE of your bardic music. So, lets say you buy this and the WSA Songs. Songs is a swift action to use one of your bardic music allotments. Since you are “using” bardic music, this kicks in. Although in that case, it only lasts for the next attack, since that’s how long the WSA Songs lasts. However, if you have bardic music running for a few rounds as you buff your party, this lasts as long as the buff does.
Editor (Dragon Magazine 314): Heartfire Fanner PrC grants 5th lvl bardic music at 1st level. Not a big fan of dragon magazine (beta test, in my opinion), but if your DM allows you to use it, you really should look into it. That combined with this WSA and a number of others can give you multiple uses of Bardic Music that you can use to fuel your song based weaponry.

Boom goes the dynamite.