Feat Descriptions
Bard Feats are summarized on the table below. Note that the prerequisites and benefits of the feats on this table are abbreviated for ease of reference. See the feats description for full details.
The following format is used for all feat descriptions.
Feat Name: The feat’s name also indicates what subcategory, if any, the feat belongs to, and is followed by a basic description of what the feat does.
Prerequisite: A minimum ability score, another feat or feats, a minimum BAB, a minimum number of ranks in one or more skills, or anything else required in order to take the feat. This entry is absent if a feat has no prerequisite. A feat may have more than one prerequisite.
Benefit: What the feat enables the character (“you” in the feat description) to do. If a character has the same feat more than once, its benefits do not stack unless indicated otherwise in the description.
Normal: What a character who does not have this feat is limited to or restricted from doing. If not having the feat causes no particular drawback, this entry is absent.
Special: Additional unusual facts about the feat.
| Feat Name | Prerequisites | MP Increase | Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritative Song (Metasong) | — | +2 | You can alter any song that targets a single creature per round to become an authoritative song. When you perform an authoritative song, choose one of the following activities to prohibit: move closer to you, move away from you, make a melee weapon attack, make a ranged weapon attack, cast an offensive spell, or cast a non-offensive spell. A creature that is affected by the song and fails its saving throw against that song (if the song allows a saving throw to resist) cannot perform any action of the selected type on its next turn. This additional effect is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. |
| Coaxing Song (Metasong) | — | +2 | This feat only works with mind-affecting songs. A coaxing song affects mindless oozes and vermin as if they weren’t mindless, but has no effect on other creature types. |
| Crypt Song (Metasong) | — | +2 | You can enhance any song that inflicts hit point damage to become a crypt song. A creature that dies within 1 round of being damaged by a crypt song is considered to have been killed by a death effect for the purpose of being returned to life. An undead creature damaged by a crypt song gains the sickened condition for a number of rounds equal to the song’s original song level; this duration is halved if the undead creature succeeds at its saving throw against the song. A crypt song gains the death descriptor. |
| Dazing Song (Metasong) | — | +3 | You can modify a song to daze a creature damaged by the song. When a creature takes damage from this song, they become dazed for a number of rounds equal to the original level of the song. If the song allows a saving throw, a successful save negates the daze effect. If the song does not allow a save, the target can make a Will save to negate the daze effect. If the song effect also causes the creature to become dazed, the duration of this metasong effect is added to the duration of the song. Songs that do not inflict damage do not benefit from this feat. |
| Disruptive Song (Metasong) | — | +1 | Targets affected by a disruptive song must make concentration checks when using songs, spells or spell-like abilities (DC equals the save DC of the disruptive song plus the level of the song being cast) for 1 round. Targets that avoid the song’s effects avoid this feat’s effect as well. |
| Empower Song (Metasong) | — | +2 | All variable, numeric effects of an empowered song are increased by half including bonuses to those dice rolls. Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected, nor are songs without random variables. |
| Encouraging Song (Metasong) | Cha 13, Diplomacy 6 ranks | +1 | Any morale bonus granted by an encouraging song is increased by 1. |
| Extend Song (Metasong) | Able to perform 1st-level bard songs | — | Your Bard songs last an additional three rounds beyond its normal duration. |
| Fearsome Song (Metasong) | — | +2 | When a creature takes damage from a fearsome song, if that creature fails its save against the song, it becomes shaken for a number of rounds equal to the song’s original level. If the song doesn’t allow a save, creatures harmed by it can attempt a Will save (against the same DC the song would have if it did allow a save) to negate the shaken effect. If the song effect already causes creatures to become shaken, on a failed save, add the duration of this metasong effect to the duration of the shaken condition imposed by the song. A fearsome song can’t cause a creature to become frightened, even if that creature is already shaken. |
| Focused Song (Metasong) | — | +1 | When performing a song that affects or targets more than one creature, you can choose one target or creature within the song effect. That creature’s saving throw DC to resist the song is increased by +2. You must choose which target to focus the song on before performing the song. Songs that do not require a saving throw to resist or lessen the song’s effect do not benefit from this feat. |
| Harmonic Song | Bardic performance class feature | — | Whenever you perform a 1st or higher level song while you are maintaining a bardic performance, you can maintain the bardic performance for that round without expending one of your rounds of performance for the day. In addition, you can switch from one bardic performance to another as a swift action when you perform a song while maintaining a bardic performance. |
| Heighten Song (Metasong) | — | Variable | A heightened song has a higher song level than normal (up to a maximum of 6th level). Unlike other metasong feats, Heighten song actually increases the effective level of the song that it modifies. All effects dependent on song level (such as saving throw DCs) are calculated according to the heightened level. |
| Lingering Performance | Bardic performance class feature | — | The bonuses and penalties from your bardic performance continue for 2 rounds after you cease performing. Any other requirement, such as range or specific conditions, must still be met for the effect to continue. If you begin a new bardic performance during this time, the effects of the previous performance immediately cease. |
| Maximize Song (Metasong) | — | +3 | All variable, numeric effects of a song modified by this feat are maximized. Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected, nor are songs without random variables. An empowered, maximized song gains the separate benefits of each feat: the maximum result plus half the normally rolled result. |
| Persistent Song (Metasong) | — | +2 | Whenever a creature targeted by a persistent song or within its area succeeds on its saving throw against the song, it must make another saving throw against the effect. If a creature fails this second saving throw, it suffers the full effects of the song, as if it had failed its first saving throw. Songs that do not require a saving throw to resist or lessen the song’s effect do not benefit from this feat. |
| Piercing Song (Metasong) | — | +1 | When you perform a piercing song against a target with spell resistance, it treats the spell resistance of the target as 5 lower than its actual SR. |
| Quicken Song (Metasong) | — | +4 | Performing a quickened song is a swift action. You can perform another action, even performing another song, in the same round as you perform a quickened song. Performing a quickened song doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. |
| Reach Song (Metasong) | — | Variable | You can alter a song with a range of close or medium to increase its range to a higher range category, using the following order: close, medium, and long. Songs with a fixed range have their range doubled, for the cost of 1 MP. Songs with a range of personal do not benefit from this feat. |
| Sickening Song (Metasong) | — | +2 | You can modify a song to sicken a creature damaged by the song. When a creature takes damage from this song, they become sickened for a number of rounds equal to the original level of the song. If the song allows a saving throw, a successful save negates the sickening effect. If the song does not allow a save, the target can make a Fortitude save to negate the sickening effect. If the song effect also causes the creature to become sickened, the duration of this metasong effect is added on to the duration of the song. Songs that do not inflict damage do not benefit from this feat. |
| Song Perfection (Metasong) | Perform 15 ranks, at least three metasong feats | — | Pick one song which you have the ability to perform. Whenever you perform that song, you may apply any one metasong feat you have to that song without affecting its MP cost, as long as the total modified cost of the song does not exceed the maximum amount of MP you may spend on a single song. In addition, if you have other feats which allow you to apply a set numerical bonus to any aspect of this song (such as Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, and so on), double the bonus granted by that feat when applied to this song. |
| Studied Song (Metasong) | — | +2 | When performing a studied song, designate one target affected by the song. Attempt an appropriate Knowledge check based on that target’s creature type as you perform the song. The DC for this check is equal to 20 + the creature’s CR based on its race and not including any class levels or template (a creature that is defined by class levels has an effective CR of 0 for this ability). If you succeed, your studied song ignores any elemental resistance or damage reduction the target has because of its race as well as any bonuses on saving throws against the song granted by the target’s race (such as the bonus from a dwarf’s hardy ability). Your studied song doesn’t ignore elemental resistance, damage reduction, or saving throw bonuses granted by other songs and effects. If you fail the Knowledge check, the song still has its normal effects. |
| Thundering Song (Metasong) | — | +2 | You can modify a song to deafen a creature damaged by the song. When a creature takes damage from this song, it becomes deafened for a number of rounds equal to the original level of the song. If the song allows a saving throw, a successful save negates the deafening effect. If the song does not allow a save, the target can make a Fortitude save to negate the deafening effect. If the song effect also causes the creature to become deafened, the duration of this metasong effect is added to the duration of the song. Songs that do not inflict damage do not benefit from this feat. |
| Threnodic Song (Metasong) | Knowledge (religion) 6 ranks | +2 | This feat only works on mind-affecting songs. A threnodic song affects undead creatures (even mindless undead) as if they weren’t immune to mind-affecting effects, but has no effect on living creatures. |
| Bardic Masterpieces | |||
| Anthem of Pageantry (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks | — | When you complete the performance, a single room or chamber you occupy appears to be swathed in silks and opulent furnishings you envision. You and up to one ally per bard level within the room who can hear you are clothed in illusory exotic fabrics, furs, and jewels while in the room. If you or an affected ally leave the room before the effect’s duration expires, the illusion ends. A creature can attempt a Will save to disbelieve the illusion. |
| Bahamut’s Fury (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (act), Perform (oratory), or Perform (sing) 10 ranks. | — | Upon completing the performance, you may conjure bolts of lightning as though you had cast call lightning storm, except the bolts are made of holy light and deal holy damage rather than lightning damage. The bolts do not increase in damage if outdoors in a stormy area. Instead, in any environment, you may attempt a DC 25 Perform check as part of the standard action to call a bolt. If your Perform check is successful, that bolt deals 5d10 points of holy damage instead of 5d6. |
| Ballad of the Homesick Esper (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (oratory) or Perform (sing) 5 ranks; ability to speak Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Auroran, Celestial, Enochian, Ignan, Infernal, Runic, Terran, Thorian, or Umbran. | — | This mournful poem beckons outsiders back to the plane on which they were spawned, making them pine for their true home. Any summoned non-native outsiders who can hear this performance must each succeed at a Will save or feel compelled to return to their home plane. If an outsider fails its save, each round of the performance expends 2 rounds of the remaining duration of any spell or effect that summoned that creature to the current plane (in addition to the normal duration that passes each round). Called outsiders who fail their Will saves against this masterpiece take a –2 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws for the performance’s duration. If the performer can’t speak the native tongue of the outsider’s home plane, the outsider gains a +4 bonus on its Will save against this effect. |
| Chaos of the Void (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (oratory) or Perform (sing) 7 ranks. | — | You force one target within 30 feet to perceive his allies as being dragged into Abyssal pits. When you complete the performance, the target must attempt a Will save. On a failed save, the target gains the shaken condition and can’t see or hear any allied creature for the duration of the performance. All of the target’s allies function as if invisible to it, making conversation impossible and preventing the target from gaining benefits from any effects that require hearing or seeing an ally. This is a fear and illusion (glamer) effect. |
| Chocobo Time (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (percussion) 3 ranks, Perform (string) 3 ranks, or Perform (wind) 3 ranks | — | This bright and spritely tune mimics the sound of chocobo feet, slowly building to a steady, ground-eating pace. When you complete this performance, you affect one ally in hearing range per bard level. This feat increases the affected target’s base land speed by 10 feet for 1 hour. This adjustment is treated as an enhancement bonus. There is no effect on other modes of movement, such as burrow, climb, fly, or swim. As with any effect that increases your speed, this ability affects your jumping distance (see Athletics). |
| Clamor of Divine Judgment (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (percussion) or Perform (sing). | — | Evil creatures that hear the performance and fail a Will save against the effect are blinded and deafened for the duration. On a successful save, they are shaken instead. Undead or creatures with the evil subtype that fail their saves are stunned for the duration, while those that succeed are staggered. |
| Dance of Beauty’s Wiles (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) 5 ranks. | — | When you begin this performance, select one creature within 30 feet to become overwhelmed by lustful feelings toward you. Each round, the target must attempt a Will save. If the target would not normally be attracted to you, it receives a +4 bonus on its saving throws. For each failure, the DCs of your Bluff and Diplomacy checks against that creature are reduced by 2 (to a maximum reduction of 10) and the target takes a –1 penalty on Will saving throws against enfeebling effects that you create (to a maximum of –5). These penalties last for 1 minute after the performance ends. |
| Dance of the Naga (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) 5 ranks. | — | When you complete this performance, choose one target per bard level to gain the benefits of this masterpiece. An affected creature can move through areas at least half its width with no penalty for squeezing, and can move through a space at least one-quarter its width using the normal penalties for squeezing. This is a polymorph effect. |
| Dirge of Leviathan (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) or Perform (string) 7 ranks | — | All creatures within 30 feet who can hear your performance must succeed at a Will saving throw or be compelled to flee from you, as per greater command. For creatures on a ship, this effect means taking efforts to alter course and sail away. An affected creature continues its efforts for as long as the performance continues, and it reacts with violence to anyone attempting to prevent it from fleeing. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance (such as Lingering Performance) affect this masterpiece. |
| Disguise of the Red Warrior (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (comedy) 5 ranks or Perform (oratory) 5 ranks. | — | While performing this masterpiece, you gain a +4 bonus on saving throws to disbelieve illusions. You can expend 1 round of bardic performance for each ally other than yourself whom you want to gain this bonus. |
| Endless Waltz of the Tarutaru (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) or Perform (string) 4 ranks. | — | One ally within 30 feet regains 3 hit points when you activate this performance and each round that you maintain it. Whenever the target casts a healing spell while you maintain your performance, one of the spell’s targets regains 3 additional hit points (whether or not the spell normally heals damage). This performance relies on audible and visual components. You cannot change the targeted ally without ending the performance. |
| Esper’s Aria (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks. | — | When you complete the performance, one creature within 30 feet is affected by beast shape I. If your caster level is at least 10th, you can affect that creature with baleful transform instead; an affected creature automatically succeeds at the spell’s secondary save. If your caster level is at least 15th and you spend 10 additional rounds of bardic performance, you can affect up to one creature per 3 bard levels with beast shape II instead. This performance allows a Fortitude save instead of a Will save to resist its effects. |
| Exhilarating Prayer of Fabul (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) 4 ranks. | — | After completing the series of exercises, anyone who observed the performance (including yourself ) gains a circumstance bonus on all Acrobatics checks and to CMD equal to 1/5 of your bard level (minimum +1). This bonus persists for 10 minutes. |
| First Broods’ Flight (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (oratory) 13 ranks, ability to speak Draconic | — | This urgent verse tugs at the racial arrogance of dragonkind, compelling dragons to perform the epic alongside you. Any creatures of the dragon type that can hear this masterpiece must succeed at a Will save or be compelled to join in the performance. Affected dragons cannot use their mouths to attack or even speak except to recite Flight of the First Brood, preventing them from using their bite attacks and breath weapons, casting spells with vocal components, or otherwise communicating vocally for the duration of the performance. The effect ceases as soon as you end your bardic performance. |
| Garuda’s Spiraling Ascent (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (act) or Perform (dance) 7 ranks. | — | Your whirling motions summon a 15-foot-high cyclone into an empty space adjacent to you. This cyclone persists until you stop using bardic performance to sustain it, and extends an additional 15 feet in height each round you sustain it until it reaches a ceiling or other obstacle. As a move action, you can direct the cyclone to harmlessly flow around one willing creature adjacent to the cyclone and move the creature to any other square adjacent to the cyclone at any height the cyclone has reached. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity. The cyclone is immobile once created. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance (such as Lingering Performance) affect this masterpiece. |
| Gogo’s House of Imaginary Walls (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (act) 10 ranks. | — | You silently mime building an invisible wall, flattening your hands along linear planes to indicate its location and orientation. This “wall” is only real for creatures that see you perform this masterpiece (Will negates); you and your allies may automatically fail your saves if you want to treat the wall as real (for example, if you want to use the wall as a bridge to cross a chasm). For creatures who believe the wall is real, it has hardness 8, 90 hit points, and a break DC of 30 (multiple believing creatures can attack the walls, breaking through it more quickly as if they were all attacking a real wall rather than each attacking separate mental constructs). This is an illusion (phantasm) effect. Because the wall is a mental image, it blocks incorporeal creatures that fail their saves (because they perceive it as a magical barrier that excludes them), though they can still go around the wall or through the floor or ceiling to bypass it. It does not affect objects or creatures immune to mental effects (which can result in situations like an archer firing through the wall but unable to physically cross it). You can create one 10-foot-square wall per use of this ability; over several rounds you can extend this square or create other walls, all of which persist until you stop using bardic performance rounds to sustain them. The wall is immobile once created. Part of the wall must be in or along the edge of your space, and you cannot create a wall that extends beyond your natural reach (though you can create a wall, move, and create another by using this ability again). Once created, the wall exists until you end your performance or affected creatures “break” it. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance (such as Lingering Performance) affect this masterpiece. |
| Hymn of Restored Balance (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) or Perform (wind) 6 ranks. | — | At the end of the round on which you complete this song, all allies within 30 feet who observed your performance gain a new saving throw to end the ongoing effects of certain debilitating conditions. An ally who is exhausted, fatigued, nauseated, sickened, staggered, or stunned as the result of a previously failed saving throw can attempt a new saving throw to immediately end one of the above effects. Characters under multiple effects must choose which effect they wish to attempt to end prematurely. Effects that did not grant a saving throw to resist can’t be ended by this masterpiece. In addition, anyone who observed this performance gains the effects of delay poison at a caster level equal to your bard level. |
| Ifrit’s Rondo (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (oratory) or Perform (percussion) 7 ranks. | — | Up to one ally per bard level gains the benefits of haste while you maintain this masterpiece, except the bonus to AC and on attack rolls and Reflex saves is one-fifth of your bard level. These allies must be within 60 feet of you to receive this benefit. When you cease performing this masterpiece, any creature that received this benefit for at least 3 rounds must succeed at a Fortitude save at this masterpiece’s DC or be fatigued for twice as many rounds as they were affected. |
| Legato Piece of the Four Fiends (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (string) 11 ranks. | — | This fast-paced tune harmonizes with the magical frequencies of another plane, allowing you to draw an extraplanar creature to you and bargain for its service. When you complete this performance, you call one or more outsiders as if using planar ally. Unlike with planar ally, the creature is not necessarily associated with your deity, and has an initial attitude of “indifferent” toward you. Because it is intrigued by your performance, it remains for up to 1 minute to hear the service you are requesting and the payment you are offering. If you succeed at an opposed Charisma check against the creature (with a +0 to +6 bonus on your roll based on the nature of the service and the offered reward), it agrees to perform the service. This ability otherwise works like planar ally. |
| Life Water in Arid Sands (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing), Perform (string), or Perform (wind) 4 ranks. | — | This masterpiece grants all allies within 30 feet fast healing 1 for as long as the bard maintains the performance. He may increase the cost per round of the performance up to a total number equal to half his bard level to increase the fast healing by 1 for each additional round expended. |
| Limitless Blue (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) or Perform (string) 9 ranks. | — | You and a number of allies (up to one creature per bard level) who can see and hear you gain a swim speed of 40 feet and a bonus on Swim checks equal to half your caster level. When using this masterpiece for long-distance travel, you and your affected allies can hustle without taking nonlethal damage (a forced march still requires Constitution checks). This means you and affected allies can cover 8 miles underwater in an hour of swimming. If an ally can no longer see or hear you, she loses this benefit. |
| Lingering Leitmotif (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) or Perform (oratory) 4 ranks. | — | You sing or chant simple phrases or a distinctive series of notes that you associate with a specific trade good or service. While you perform these jingles, allies within 30 feet are affected by this performance’s effects and are treated as being affected by your inspire confidence bardic performance. Furthermore, if an affected creature purchases the associated good or service, that creature immediately gains a number of temporary hit points equal to half your bard level. |
| Lucian Kings’ Saga (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (oratory) or Perform (sing) 15 ranks. | — | When you activate the performance, one target creature other than you within close range (25 feet + 5 feet/2 levels) gains the benefit of a commune spell. You must continue the performance for the target to receive answers, as your retelling is magically guided to include relevant responses. If you cease the performance before the target has asked all of its questions, or if you run out of bardic performance rounds, any remaining questions are lost. |
| Lullaby of the Lamia Queen (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) 7 ranks. | — | When you activate this soothing performance, one target within close range falls asleep as if affected by Sleepga as long as you maintain the performance. Unlike the spell (which affects weaker creatures first), this masterpiece targets a specific creature of your choice. Although this lullaby does have words, it is not a language-dependent effect. |
| Melody of Life (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) or Perform (wind) 4 ranks. | — | This lilting tune is soothing and repetitive. When you activate the performance, choose one creature per bard level within close range. Any targeted creature must succeed at a Will save or take a –2 penalty on saving throws against mind-affecting enfeebling effects and on Sense Motive checks. This effect lasts for as long as you maintain the performance. Although this performance does have words, it is not a language-dependent effect. |
| Melusine’s Dance of Desires (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) 5 ranks. | — | Your dance entices one creature within 30 feet that is able to see you, invoking every imaginable vice and craving until finally the desire the creature personally finds most appealing overwhelms its thoughts. You always know what your target wants, and, if you have the means to provide it, can offer it to the creature in exchange for a specific service. The creature can resist this effect with a successful Will saving throw, and creatures never agree if you offer services that are physically impossible or obviously suicidal, or if you lie about having the means to fulfill the desire in question. The service can never take more than a day to complete, and the affected creature gains a +2 bonus on its saving throw if the service requires more than an hour to complete. |
| Mindflayer Quadrille (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (percussion) or Perform (sing) 4 ranks. | — | You tap out or sing a diverting tune that sticks in the mind of the target, causing the target to take a –2 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty on concentration checks for 10 minutes. A successful Will save halves the penalties and reduces the duration to 1 minute. This ability is a mind-affecting compulsion effect and relies on audible components. |
| Minuet of the Malboro (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) 4 ranks | — | As ivy climbs walls and spills across even the rockiest and most uneven of terrain, so too does your dance propel you across broken stone and up walls. As long as you maintain the performance, whenever you move, you may move through 5 feet of difficult terrain each round as if it were normal terrain; this allows you to take a 5-foot step into difficult terrain. As long as you move laterally at least 10 feet, you may climb as if you had a climb speed equal to your base speed. You may spend the first round of this performance demonstrating the dance to up to one creature per two bard levels; if these students succeed at a DC 15 Perform (dance) check, they also gain the benefits of this feat as long as you maintain the performance. |
| Mysidian Discourse of the Mind (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (oratory) 4 ranks. | — | Upon completion of your lecture, anyone who listened to your performance gains a +4 insight bonus on Knowledge checks to perform research in a library, and on Spellcraft checks to identify the properties of magic items. |
| Nidhogg and the First King (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 6 ranks. | — | Any creature of the dragon type that hears the entire performance must succeed at a Will save to avoid having her attitude toward the performer and his allies improved by two steps (from Hostile to Indifferent, for example). A creature of any other type (apart from the bard and his allies) must succeed at a Will save to avoid having her attitude toward the performer and his allies worsened by two steps (from Indifferent to Hostile, for example). These effects last for 1 minute per bard level, or until he or his comrades do anything to worsen the mood of the dragon, or improve the mood of those affected otherwise. Multiple uses of this masterpiece cannot improve or worsen attitudes more than two steps. |
| Pallavi of the Phoenix (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) 11 ranks. | — | You begin your dance slowly, focusing on exact posture, the position of your limbs, even the direction of your gaze, then build to a blur of motion. Upon completing the performance, you summon a fixed aura of divine sunlight that glows in a 100-foot-radius circle centered on you. The divine sunlight acts as true daylight and affects creatures damaged or destroyed by such light. The light is as bright as sunlight at full noon and counters or dispels any darkness spells of 4th level or lower. If the dance is performed in an area of more powerful magical darkness, both the divine sunlight and darkness are temporarily negated so that otherwise prevailing light conditions exist in the overlapping areas of effect. Within the area of the sunlight, plants grow and blossom rapidly, becoming an overgrown tangle. This effect mimics the overgrowth version of plant growth. You and one ally per three bard levels are immune to the movement-impairing effects of the overgrowth. The divine sunlight and all its associated effects last for 1 minute per bard level you possess. |
| Primal Heart (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks. | — | This haunting melody teases at the veils of understanding and drills into the bedrock of truth. Upon completing this performance, the target attempts a Will save. Failure means you understand the target’s primal nature; you gain a +4 bonus on Charisma-based checks to influence the target, and the DCs of your abilities and spells that would influence the creature or its actions (including charm and compulsion effects) increase by +2. These bonuses last for 1 day. You must have an idea of who the creature is when you begin to play the song, either through researching the creature or by observing it directly from no farther than 100 feet. |
| Ramuh’s Striking Staff (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (percussion) 10 ranks. | — | You produce a thunderous, rolling clamor in imitation of Ramuh’s staff strikes, culminating in a resounding blow akin to a massive thunderclap. At the completion of this performance, you call down a smiting bolt of lightning and thunder to strike your enemies. This functions as flamestrike, with a caster level equal to your bard level, but half the damage is lightning damage and the other half is non-elemental damage. |
| Relentless Reprise (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (keyboard), Perform (sing), Perform (string), or Perform (wind) 4 ranks. | — | Whenever you end a bardic performance, you can add a quick reprise that makes it unnaturally catchy. Any creature within 30 feet of you when you finish your performance will run the risk of having your tune replaying endlessly in its mind. Unless the creature succeeds on a Will saving throw (DC = 10 + 1/2 your bard level + your Charisma modifier), the tune distracts it for 1 day per bard level. The creature takes a –4 penalty on concentration checks, initiative checks, and Perception checks as long as it remains distracted. The creature’s sleep also becomes fitful, requiring half again as long for the usual benefit and entirely negating the benefits of full bed rest beyond a normal rest. Once per day upon waking after rest, the creature can attempt a new Will saving throw to shake off the relentless reprise. If it fails, the creature takes 1d2 points of Wisdom damage. This is a curse effect with audible components. |
| Rondeau of Bastok (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) 4 ranks | — | This song follows a set repetition of verses and refrains with a pattern of syllables that remains constant from line to line. As you sing, listeners find their actions bound by your song’s relentless order. One enemy per bard level within listening range must make a successful Will save or find its movements hampered. A creature that fails its save can move only in a straight line each turn. The creature can choose which direction it wishes to move each turn, but it can move only along a straight line in that direction, and cannot move around corners or otherwise deviate from this line until its next turn. This effect lasts as long as you maintain the performance. Although this song has words, it is not language-dependent. |
| Servants of the Mountain (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) or Perform (percussion) 7 ranks. | — | Up to one creature per bard level that can see and hear you can ignore the effects of encumbrance and armor on its skill checks and movement while you engage in this performance. This does not allow affected creatures to exceed their maximum carrying capacity. |
| Sir Bearington’s Jig (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 11 ranks. | — | Choose a non-hostile animal within line of sight that can see and hear you perform. This masterpiece affects the target as the awaken spell for as long as you maintain the performance. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance (such as Lingering Performance) affect this masterpiece. |
| Siren’s Requiem (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) 17 ranks. | — | All living creatures you select within 30 feet at the start of your turn each round gain 2 negative levels unless they succeed at a Fortitude saving throw (DC = 10 + 1/2 your bard level + your Charisma bonus). This is a death effect and a sonic effect. |
| Sorceress’ Fury (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (act) or Perform (oratory) 7 ranks. | — | When you complete the performance, you fall prone, the emotion or power behind your speech driving you to your knees. Any creature that damaged you within the last round must succeed at a Will save or be cursed, as per the bestow curse spell. Once per day, if you are reduced to fewer than 0 hit points, you can activate this bardic masterpiece as an immediate action before you become dying or dead as long as you have at least 3 rounds of bardic performance remaining. |
| Spirit of Syldra (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (strings) 7 ranks. | — | Upon the completion of this performance, you inspire the animal (or similar) companions, familiars, and mounts of allies who can hear the performance to avoid a similar fate, granting them the benefits of greater magic fang with a caster level equal to your bard level. |
| Shiva’s Refuge (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) or Perform (oratory) 10 ranks. | — | This masterpiece can be performed only at or after dusk, or in weather conditions stormy enough to affect visibility. When completed, this masterpiece conjures a frozen shelter. This acts as the hemisphere form of wall of ice centered on you, except that the radius is 20 feet, the hemisphere has a single doorway large enough for a Medium creature, and the shelter lasts until the next sunrise or until you leave the shelter. |
| Symphony of Dark Elf’s Bane (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (keyboard) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks. | — | You and up to one ally per bard level within 30 feet who can hear you can move and attack normally for the duration of your performance, even if under the influence of magic that usually impedes movement. This effect is identical to that of freedom of movement, except that this masterpiece does not allow subjects to move and attack normally while underwater unless these creatures would already be able to do so, and only lasts as long as you continue the performance. |
| Symphony of the Dark Messenger (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) 15 ranks. | — | The sinisterly seductive song bores its way into the target’s flesh, levitating it as per reverse gravity as long as the bard maintains the performance. Although the symphony does have words—and is often sung in Infernal—this is not a language-dependent effect. |
| Symphony of the Lunarian’s Ascent (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (percussion) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks. | — | All allies within 30 feet become immune to one of the following (your choice) while they can hear your performance: charm effects, the dazed condition, fear effects, magical sleep, paralysis, the staggered condition, or the stunned condition. You must choose the condition before activating the performance and can’t change your choice during the performance. If any affected ally currently has the chosen condition, she can attempt a new saving throw against it each round she can hear your song. Success on this saving throw has its usual benefit, but failure has no effect at all. This performance relies on audible components. |
| Tales of the Kings’ Shields (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (act) or Perform (oratory) 3 ranks. | — | When you complete the performance, choose one adjacent creature. You and that creature are affected as if you had cast shield other. |
| The Canticle of Mother’s Reunion (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) 7 ranks. | — | One target within range is cursed as though affected by bestow curse as long as the bard maintains the performance. Although this lullaby does have words, it is not a language-dependent effect. |
| The Cockatrice Gambit (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (comedy) or Perform (oratory) 7 ranks | — | You tell an old and humorous tale about a woman who refused to smile at anything, no matter how funny. Through a series of increasingly unlikely events involving a cart of horse manure, a king, and a flying carpet, her legendary frown broke at last. When you complete the performance, the target cured of Petrify status. |
| The Dance of the Moogle (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) 4 ranks | — | The shuffling steps, bends, and leaps of this intricate dance make you a difficult target to hit, but also make it more difficult for you to perform other actions. When using this feat, you take a –2 penalty on melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, and you must make a concentration check to perform any song (DC 15 + the song’s level), but you gain a +2 dodge bonus to your Armor Class. When you have 8 ranks in Perform (dance), and every 4 ranks thereafter, the penalty increases by –1 and the dodge bonus increases by +1. You can combine this feat with fighting defensively and Combat Expertise, but not total defense. When you use this feat, it lasts until the start of your next turn. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance (such as Lingering Performance) affect this feat; this allows you to get multiple rounds of its benefit (and its penalties) at the cost of only 1 round of bardic performance. |
| The Foolish Galka (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (act) or Perform (comedy) 6 ranks | — | This pantomime tells the tale of a foolish galka farmer who failed to control the weeds that grew so quickly upon his land. In desperation, the farmer bargained with a devil, who blasted the earth with salt and withering heat, leaving the fertile land desolate for a century. When you complete the performance, you can create a 30-foot cone or a 60-foot line that is blasted with scorching air and hot salt. Plants and oozes in this area take 1d6 points of damage per bard level (maximum 10d6); half this damage is fire damage, half is piercing damage. A Reflex save reduces the damage by half. Creatures other than plants or oozes take half damage, or no damage on a successful save. |
| The Kefka Refrain (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (sing) 5 ranks | — | Your song emulates the sounds of a terrible illness, causing one creature you are aware of who can hear your song to develop a psychosomatic flu. If the target fails its Will save, whenever it attempts any action other than moving up to its base speed or making a single melee attack (but not both) in a single round, it must succeed at a concentration check (DC 10 + your Charisma modifier) to avoid wasting its action because of a fit of coughing and sneezing. |
| The Mithra Cat-Step (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (dance) 5 ranks | — | This quick dance is a series of small steps culminating in a series of leaps. When you complete the performance, for the next 10 minutes you treat any distance fallen as if it were a number of feet shorter equal to half your bard level × 5. You may spend the first minute of this effect demonstrating the dance to up to one creature per two bard levels; if these students succeed at a DC 15 Perform (dance) check, they also gain the benefits of this feat for the remainder of its duration. |
| The Requiem of the Fallen Mage-King (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (oratory) 10 ranks or Perform (sing) 10 ranks | — | This piece tells the story of a mighty mage-king who seemed to defy time by snatching near-victory from an overwhelming number of enemies. When you complete the performance, you gain the ability to accelerate time once, which must be used in the next 10 minutes. When you perform this feat, you gain the ability to spend a swift action to perform a nonmagical action that normally requires a move action or a standard action. For example, you could make a full attack, then spend a swift action to take a normal move, load a light crossbow, or draw a weapon in the same round. You must use this extra action within 10 minutes of performing the feat; otherwise the benefit is lost. |
| The Tragedy of the Final Aeon (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (oratory) or Perform (sing) 4 ranks. | — | When you activate this performance, one target within 30 feet becomes flat-footed for as long as you maintain the performance (Will negates). If you target a creature that has not yet acted in a surprise round, the creature does not get to act in the surprise round. Any target with the uncanny dodge class feature or an ability with a similar effect is immune to this performance. This is a mind-affecting emotion effect. |
| Those Chosen By the Planet (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (percussion) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks. | — | You create a musical tempo that first mirrors your enemies’ heartbeats, and then quickens them to dangerous levels. When you complete the performance, all enemies within 30 feet who can hear your performance must save or take 1d6 points of damage as their pounding heart causes them to sweat blood. Creatures that are immune to critical hits are unaffected by this ability. Each round that you continue the performance adds another round to the bleed effect. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance (such as Lingering Performance) affect this masterpiece. |
| Tonberry's Grudge (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (string) 7 ranks | — | You produce a sound that causes creatures to believe they are suffering a particularly ghastly and terrifying death, such as immolation, freezing to death, or being eaten alive by insects. When you complete this performance, all creatures within 30 feet who can hear your performance must make a successful Will saving throw or take 1d6 points of elemental damage. The elemental type can be either earth, fire, ice, lightning, water, or wind (your choice, chosen when you begin performing the feat). Affected creatures that fail their saving throws take damage on the round you begin the performance and each round you continue the performance as long as they remain in range. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance affect this feat. |
| Toccata and Fugue of the Phantom Train (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (keyboard) or Perform (wind) 4 ranks. | — | Upon completing the performance, you and up to one ally per level within listening range become hidden from undead, as if under the effects of a dead silence spell. As with dead silence, one creature breaking the effect ends the benefit of the performance for all recipients. But by spending an additional round of bardic performance when you perform or maintain the masterpiece, you can dedicate a refrain to a particular ally; even if one ally breaks the dead silence effect, the ally receiving the dedication remains hidden so long as he does not break the effect himself. You can dedicate a refrain multiple times in the performance (up to once per round) as long as you spend 1 round of bardic performance each time for the ally receiving a dedication. |
| Triumph of the Revolution (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (percussion) or Perform (wind) 4 ranks. | — | When you learn this masterpiece, choose a teamwork feat for which you meet the prerequisites. Once the feat is chosen, it can’t be changed. This performance grants the chosen feat to all allies within 30 feet who can see and hear you. Your allies don’t need to meet the prerequisites of this feat. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance, such as Lingering Performance, affect this masterpiece. |
| Under the Weight (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (percussion) 15 ranks or Perform (wind) 15 ranks. | — | When you complete the performance, you create a tremor identical to an earth rupture spell. For each round you continue to expend bardic performance rounds, the area experiences a round-long aftershock, which has the following effects. |
| Vamo alla Flamenco (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (act) or Perform (dance) 4 ranks. | — | By gracefully weaving your body through subtle forms and postures you can convince others of your breeding, eloquence, and refinement. For the duration of the effect, you gain a +4 circumstance bonus on Bluff checks, and may attempt a Bluff check in place of an Intelligence check or Intelligence-based skill check. The subtle changes in your movements also confer a +4 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks to appear to be someone of a higher station (an aristocrat, merchant prince, or even a queen). |
| Winds of the King in Black (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (act) or Perform (oratory) 10 ranks. | — | This short monologue tells the story of a village priest who thought to command the gods. This so annoyed Odin that he gave him exactly what the priest wished for, and the Dark Divinity tore apart the priest’s temple and scattered the parishioners with a mere swing of the Zantetsuken. When you complete the performance, you conjure a great wind as if you had cast control winds. |
| Wutai Song of Defiance (Bardic Masterpiece) | Perform (oratory) or Perform (sing) 10 ranks. | — | When you complete the performance, all allies within 30 feet gain an attack of opportunity when reduced to negative hit points, or whenever a foe deals hit point damage equal to or greater than its Hit Dice, for the duration of the performance. The attack of opportunity can be made against any enemy within reach; it does not have to be against the source of the damage, and does not count toward your allies’ maximum attacks of opportunity per round. This attack of opportunity is resolved prior to the enemy’s attack, but the triggering attack is still resolved even if the enemy is killed or incapacitated. |