Inspire Awe and Admirals's Bicorne

[Vindicus]

My question to all of you. Does an Admiral's Bicorne extend the normal distance of Inspire Awe (30') from to 100' ? It would seem to me that it would but there have been stranger things in this game that don't mesh well.

Or does it only help abilities like inspire courage which do not state a distance? Essentially making sure that as long as they are within 100' they can auto hear you.

For reference:

Inspire Awe (DrM, p 13): Gain ability to inspire awe instead of courage. "A bard with 3 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use song or poetics to inspire awe in his enemies, rendering them shaken. To be affected, an enemy must be within 30 feet and be able to hear the bard perform. "

Admiral's Bicorne (Stormwrack, p 131) : "The wearer’s voice is magically
amplified, so that it can be heard clearly by anyone within 100 feet; class features and effects that depend on hearing the speaker benefit from the increased range."

Let me know what you all think.

[SLOTHRPG95]

The ability to hear you further than 30 ft. doesn't extend a fixed radius. You're right, however, that it works for Inspire Courage and the like.

[Zaq]

My reading: There are two separate limitations in Inspire Awe: one is being within 30', and one is being able to hear the bard.

The admiral's bicorne helps with the second limitation but not the first. So, for example, if there were a separate reason why your voice might not extend beyond—as an example—15', without the bicorne you couldn't affect anyone more than 15' away with Inspire Awe, but with the bicorne you could affect anyone up to 30' with Inspire Awe (and anyone up to 100' with other abilities that simply require that you be heard without a separate fixed range limitation).

I will acknowledge that the clause about "class features and effects that depend on hearing the speaker benefit from the increased range" is a bit ambiguous and could be read a bit more permissively than I have laid out. You could potentially read it as saying that any effect whose range is limited and that is based on hearing the user is increased by the bicorne. As always, when confronted with ambiguity, the GM's opinion is the only one that really counts, but my reading is the more restrictive one, at least in this instance.