Joyful noise and concentration

[Hiro Quester]

I'm playing a 14th level bard (bard 10/sublime chord2/heartfire fanner2). I'm principally a buffer and backup caster, and backup melee fighter if necessary.

I'm pretty sure the DM is setting up some clever way to silence me, totally hobbling my ability to sing or cast spells, in a way I can't immediately counter, dispel or move away from.

I did not take Joyful Noise (which negates silence in a 10 ft radius) as a first rank spell. But I'm considering getting a couple of scrolls for this contingency. I can make the spellcraft check to read the scroll without a read magic spell (which has a verbal component and can't be cast in a silence field).

But as I read the spell description, I see that JN requires concentration to maintain. So while dispelling the silence around me, I still wouldn't be able to sing or cast spells.

So is joyful noise only useful for helping other casters near me?

Or is there a way I can use it to enable me to sing to others in that radius, or to cast my own spells?

The melodic casting feat enables a perform check instead of concentration, which of course I can fly past. But to concentrate on a spell and begin a song (std action) would not be possible, right? Or would it just add to the DC of the concentration?

Alternatively, if I break concentration to cast, can the spell get out before the silence is restored?

[SPoilaaja]

Swift Concentration, Complete Scoundrel. Let's you concentrate as a swift action for one round, once per encounter.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Sonorous Hum, SpC. Forget what levep it is as a Bard Spell but its a level 3 Sorc/Wiz spell. Allows you to maintain concentration on a spell and cast normally

[Zweisteine]

Any idea what your DM is planning, or why? (If he's doing it specifically to incapacitate you, and you aren't facing a cunning mastermind who knows your capabilities, you should probably talk to him about it.)

The simplest I can think of is to cast silence on your clothing.

Remember that you usually can't outsmart a DM. Perhaps find a way to be immune to silence?

[Hiro Quester]

Thanks!

Swift concentration as a skill trick would work. But because I have melodic casting and none of my (limited) spells require concentration, I haven't invested enough in concentration to meet the 12 ranks prerequisite. So that's out.

Sonorous hum would help a lot. And for bards it's a second level spell.

The downside it it would take a round to cast and then another to cast joyful noise. But that's better than being silenced the full duration.

We have a largish group, and many encounters don't last more than a couple of rounds. I might be better to just wear the silence and use snowflake wardance to dance silently into melee. But it will be good to have this as an option.

And it's not that the DM is planning anything explicitly against me, he just likes to challenge us. He wants us to prepare well and try to find ways to deal with EBGs other than by rushing in and just killing everything.

So he throws Bad Guys at us that disable things we have started to take for granted (e.g. anti-magic fields, four difficult encounters in a single day so nobody has spells left, etc).

So I just expect that sooner or later some Bad Guy will silence me, too. So just in case, I'm going to get both sonorous hum and joyful noise on a scroll.

Unless anyone has other suggestions, that is.

[SPoilaaja]

Silence is an emanation, if you are able to get total cover from the point of origin, it does not affect you. You could stash a tower shield in your Heward's handy haversack and whip it out and take total cover.
"The shield does not, however, provide cover against targeted spells; a spellcaster can cast a spell on you by targeting the shield you are holding." This just means that he can TARGET spells on you, so it implies that you indeed can use it for total cover against spells that do not target you.


EDIT: Forgot about arcane spell failure. GG

[StreamOfTheSky]

Look up the spell Amplify, also in Spell Compendium*. I'm honestly not sure what purpose Joyful Noise is supposed to serve compared to Amplify, the latter just seems...better.

*Or try google.

[Hiro Quester]

Amplify... I never noticed it before.


Amplify counters and dispels silence, and is also countered and dispelled by silence.

Perfect. 20 foot radius, same as silence. No concentration needed. One round to cast and get back to business.

And also useful for long distance listening. I'm definitely getting a few scrolls with amplify on them.

Thanks, Stream!

[Darrin]

Consider picking up a Glyph Seal (1000 GP, MIC) and you can activate it as a free action (keyed to a pocket, ammo, or spell component).

[StreamOfTheSky]

Amplify... I never noticed it before.



Perfect. 20 foot radius, same as silence. No concentration needed. One round to cast and get back to business.

And also useful for long distance listening. I'm definitely getting a few scrolls with amplify on them.

Thanks, Stream!

And no verbal components, of course. :smallsmile:
Sometimes, the designers actually *DO* catch the little rules hitches and account for them.

EDIT:

And yes, I love the "out of combat" uses of Amplify, it's just a fun spell. That also happens to single-handedly prevent all of your class features from getting shut off.


...anyone whose voice is amplified remains unaware of the increase in volume.
:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin: