Bardic Masterpieces
Talented bards can learn or create masterpieces, unusual applications of the bardic performance ability requiring special training.
Masterpiece descriptions adhere to the following guidelines:
Prerequisite(s): Perform (oratory) 13 ranks, ability to speak Draconic.
Cost: Feat or 5th-level bard spell known.
Effect: This urgent verse tugs at the racial arrogance of dragonkind, compelling dragons, both true and lesser, 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 Ancients’ Flight, 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.
Use: 2 bardic performance rounds per round.
Activation: 1 full round.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 5 rounds of bardic performance.
Activation: 5 full rounds.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This agonizing eulogy gets into a listener’s blood, and bestows on him the phantom sensation of great agonies. 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 round.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 5 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 masterpiece for the remainder of its duration.
Use: 4 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 4 full rounds.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion or sing) 10 ranks.
Cost: 5th-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds, +1 round per additional round of duration.
Activation: 3 full rounds.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 masterpiece, you take a –2 penalty on melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, and you must make a concentration check to cast any spell (DC 15 + the spell’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 masterpiece with fighting defensively and Combat Expertise, but not total defense. When you use this masterpiece, it lasts until the start of your next turn. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance (such as Lingering Performance) affect this masterpiece; this allows you to get multiple rounds of its benefit (and its penalties) at the cost of only 1 round of bardic performance.
Use: 1 bardic performance round.
Activation: 1 free action.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 5 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 3 full rounds.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion) 15 ranks or Perform (wind) 15 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 5th-level bard spell known.
Effect: Like a singer shattering a wine glass with a perfect note, your music cracks stone, shivering solid rock until it snaps. When you complete the performance, you create a tremor identical to an earthquake spell. For each round you continue to expend bardic performance rounds, the area experiences a round-long aftershock, which has the following effects. Caves, Caverns, or Tunnels: Smaller collapses cause 4d6 points of damage (Reflex DC 5 half ) and pin any creatures caught inside. Cliffs: More cliffs crumble, creating a landslide that travels half as far horizontally as it falls vertically. Any creature in the path takes 4d6 points of bludgeoning damage (Reflex DC 5 half) and is pinned beneath the rubble. Open Ground: Each creature standing in the area must make a DC 5 Reflex save or fall down. Fissures open in the earth, and every creature on the ground has a 25% chance of falling into one (Reflex DC 10 to avoid a fissure). The fissures are 20 feet deep, and these fissures remain open at the end of the quake. Pinned Beneath Rubble: Any creature pinned by the effects of the aftershock takes 1d3 points of nonlethal damage per minute while pinned. If a pinned character falls unconscious, she must make a DC 5 Constitution check or take 1d3 points of lethal damage each minute thereafter until freed or dead. Rivers, Lakes, or Marshes: The area drained away by the earthquake remains drained for the duration of the aftershock. Spellcasting: The concentration DC to cast during an aftershock is 15 + the spell’s level. Structure: Any structure standing on open ground takes 50 points of damage. A collapsing structure deals 4d6 points of bludgeoning damage to creatures inside it (Reflex DC 5 half), and the creatures inside are pinned beneath the rubble.
Use: 10 rounds of bardic performance, +1 round for each round of aftershocks.
Activation: 10 full rounds.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 6 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This stirring pibroch reminds dragons of a significant victory by one of the legendary heroes of their kind and fills lesser races with a feeling of frustration and rage. 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.
Use: 2 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 2 full rounds.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) or Perform (comedy) 6 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This pantomime tells the tale of Gorroc, a foolish farmer who failed to control the weeds that grew so quickly upon his land. In desperation, Gorroc 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.
Use: 2 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 1 full round.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) 10 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 standard action per 10-foot square.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (comedy) 5 ranks or Perform (oratory) 5 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known
Effect: These tales include the stories of The Marriage, The Queen Mother, and The Rakshasa, among others. 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round, +1 round per ally affected.
Activation: 1 full round.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (string) 11 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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. Though the best-known version of this masterpiece refers to an infernal bargain, it can be used to conjure any sort of extraplanar creature (such as an archon, elemental, or protean). Other versions and arrangements of this masterpiece may have different names but otherwise identical effects.
Use: 10 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 10 minutes.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing), Perform (string), or Perform (wind) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round, plus 1 or more additional uses per round to increase the duration of this effect.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: When you activate this soothing performance, one target within close range falls asleep as if affected by deep slumber 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 round.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (string) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 energy damage. The energy type can be either acid, cold, or fire (your choice, chosen when you begin performing the masterpiece). 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 masterpiece.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 masterpiece as long as you maintain the performance.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 full round.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) or Perform (dance) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level spell known.
Effect: 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).
Use: 1 bardic performance round per 10 minutes of the effect’s duration.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 11 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 a 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.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 3 full rounds.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion) 7 ranks or Perform (wind) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round of bleed.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion) or Perform (sing) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (oratory) 10 ranks or Perform (sing) 10 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This piece tells the story of a mighty priest-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 masterpiece, 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 masterpiece; otherwise the benefit is lost. This ability does not stack with other effects that increase your speed (such as haste) or alter time (such as time stop). Your allies may benefit from this masterpiece, but they must listen to it intently (to the exclusion of all other activities) for the duration of the performance, and you must expend 1 round of bardic performance for each ally other than yourself whom you want to gain the ability to accelerate time (for example, affecting yourself and five others requires expending 11 rounds of bardic performance). This is a language-dependent effect.
Use: 5 bardic performance rounds, +1 round per additional person affected.
Activation: 1 minute.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing) 5 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 round.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (comedy) or Perform (oratory) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 is affected by stone to flesh.
Use: 2 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 1 minute.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (keyboard) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: The complex arpeggios in this piece follow each other so quickly that the music can sound jumbled and disjointed at first. As the piece progresses, however, distinct phrases emerge, creating a wild but harmonious piece that inspires feelings of unfettered freedom. 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 round.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) 3 ranks or Perform (oratory) 3 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This collection includes the stories of The Big Sky, The Rabbit Prince, and The Sickness, among others. When you complete the performance, choose one adjacent creature. You and that creature are affected as if you had cast shield other.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 3 rounds.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (keyboard) or Perform (wind) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: The complex notes and layered repetitions of this masterpiece bring to mind the countless dead of ages past and suffuse those who listen to it with a subtle melancholia and grim acceptance of the temporary nature of life. Starting with a trio of notes, repeated frequently and with ever-greater insistence, it becomes a whirling, head-spinning vortex of sound. 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 hide from undead spell. As with hide from undead, 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 hide from undead 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round of the performance, +1 round per ally affected, +1 round per dedicated refrain.
Activation: 1 minute.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion) 3 ranks, Perform (string) 3 ranks, or Perform (wind) 3 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 1st-level bard spell known.
Effect: This bright and spritely tune mimics the sound of human 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 masterpiece 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 spell affects your jumping distance (see Acrobatics).
Use: 1 bardic performance round.
Activation: 1 minute.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (act), Perform (oratory), or Perform (sing) 10 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: You provide an impassioned monologue from the point of view of a noble queen, voicing her inner turmoil at being betrayed by her own sister and calling for justice to strike from the heavens. If you perform this masterpiece with the Perform (sing) skill, it is a tempestuous aria instead of a rousing soliloquy. Upon completing the performance, you may conjure bolts of lightning as though you had cast call lightning storm, except the bolts are made of elemental thunder and deal sonic damage rather than electricity 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 sonic damage instead of 5d6.
Use: 5 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 5 full rounds.
Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) or Perform (oratory) 10 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: This short monologue tells the story of a village priest who thought to command the gods. This so annoyed the gods of the weather that they gave him exactly what he wished for, and the priest’s long-winded sermons tore apart his temple and scattered his parishioners. When you complete the performance, you conjure a great wind as if you had cast control winds.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 3 full rounds.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of Fiends. Copyright 2012, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Hal Maclean and Colin McComb.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of Angels. Copyright 2012, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Amber E. Scott.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Dragonslayer’s Handbook. Copyright 2013, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Shaun Hocking, Marie Small, and Jerome Virnich.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Magical Marketplace. Copyright 2013, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: John Ling, Ron Lundeen, Patrick Renie, David Schwartz, and Jerome Virnich.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Champions of Purity. Copyright 2013, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Jessica Blomstrom, Adam Daigle, Shaun Hocking, Daniel Marthaler, Tork Shaw, and Christina Stiles.
Pathfinder Player Companion: The Harrow Handbook. Copyright 2014, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Crystal Frasier, Will McCardell, and David Schwartz.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Bastards of Golarion. Copyright 2014, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Judy Bauer, Neal Litherland, Ryan Macklin, and David N. Ross.
Masterpiece Name
In addition to the name of the masterpiece, this line indicates which Perform skill or skills the masterpiece relies upon. Prerequisites: Like feats, masterpieces have prerequisites that a bard must meet in order to learn them. Only bards may learn masterpieces. Cost: Each masterpiece has an associated cost to learn it. Typically, a bard must spend one of his bard spells known of a specific spell level or select it in place of a feat. The bard can spend a bard spell known of a level higher than the listed level to learn a masterpiece (for example, spending a 4th-level spell known to learn a masterpiece that requires spending a 3rd-level spell known). Effect: This brief description summarizes what occurs when a bard performs the masterpiece. Unless otherwise stated, a masterpiece’s effects are supernatural. Unwilling creatures may attempt a Will save against the effect of a masterpiece; the save DC for masterpieces is equal to 10 + 1/2 the bard’s level + the bard’s Charisma bonus. Masterpieces that duplicate spells use the bard’s caster level for the spell’s caster level. Use: This line specifies how many bardic performance rounds the bard must use to activate the masterpiece. In some cases, the bard can extend the duration of the masterpiece by expending additional rounds of bardic performance, just as if it were any other use of bardic performance. The bard expends the listed number of bardic performance rounds when he starts performing the masterpiece; if he is interrupted, the attempt fails and the spent performance rounds are lost. Action: This line indicates the type of action performing the masterpiece requires. If it only requires a standard action to activate, being able to activate a bardic performance more quickly (at 7th level, activation is a move action, and at 13th, it becomes a swift action) applies to the masterpiece as well. Unless otherwise stated, effects or feats that extend the duration of bardic performance (such as the Lingering Performance feat) do not apply to masterpieces. MasterpiecesTable: Bardic Masterpiece Summaries
| Masterpiece Name | Prerequisites | Benefit | Use | Activation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancients’ Flight (Oratory) | Perform (oratory) 13 ranks, ability to speak Draconic, bardic performance | This urgent verse tugs at the racial arrogance of dragonkind, compelling dragons, both true and lesser, to perform the epic alongside you. | 2 bardic performance rounds per round. | 1 full round | DSH |
| At the Heart of It All (String, Wind) | Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 5 rounds of bardic performance. | 5 full rounds | UM |
| Canticle of Joy, The (Sing) | Perform (sing) 7 ranks, bardic performance | This agonizing eulogy gets into a listener’s blood, and bestows on her the phantom sensation of great agonies. One target within range is cursed as though affected by bestow curse as long as the bard maintains the performance. | 1 bardic performance round per round. | 1 round | BoG |
| Cat-Step, The (Dance) | Perform (dance) 5 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 4 bardic performance rounds. | 4 full rounds | UM |
| Clamor of the Heavens (Percussion, Sing) | Perform (percussion or sing) 10 ranks, bardic performance | Evil creatures that hear the performance and fail a Will save against the effect are blinded and deafened for the duration. | 3 bardic performance rounds, +1 round per additional round of duration. | 3 full rounds | CoP |
| Dance of 23 Steps, The (Dance) | Perform (dance) 4 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 1 bardic performance round. | 1 free action | UM |
| Dance of Kindled Desires, The (Dance) | Perform (dance) 5 ranks, bardic performance | Your dance entices one creature within 30 ft. 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. | 3 bardic performance rounds. | 3 full rounds | BoF |
| Depths of the Mountain, The (Percussion, Wind) | Perform (percussion) 15 ranks or Perform (wind) 15 ranks, bardic performance | When you complete the performance, you create a tremor identical to an earthquake spell. | 10 rounds of bardic performance, +1 round for each round of aftershocks. | 10 full rounds | UM |
| Dragon and the First King, The (String, Wind) | Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 6 ranks, bardic performance | 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 her allies improved by two steps. | 2 bardic performance rounds. | 2 full rounds | DSH |
| Dumbshow of Gorroc, The (Act, Comedy) | Perform (act) or Perform (comedy) 6 ranks, bardic performance | This pantomime tells the tale of a foolish farmer who failed to control the weeds that grew so quickly upon her land | 2 bardic performance rounds. | 1 full round | UM |
| House of the Imaginary Walls, The (Act) | Perform (act) 10 ranks, bardic performance | You silently mime building an invisible wall, flattening your hands along linear planes to indicate its location and orientation. | 1 bardic performance round per round. | 1 standard action per 10-foot square | UM |
| Illusion’s Decree (Comedy, Oratory) | Perform (comedy) 5 ranks or Perform (oratory) 5 ranks, bardic performance | While performing this masterpiece, you gain a +4 bonus on saving throws to disbelieve illusions | 1 bardic performance round per round, +1 round per ally affected. | 1 full round | HH |
| Legato Piece on the Infernal Bargain (String) | Perform (string) 11 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 10 bardic performance rounds. | 10 minutes | UM |
| Life Budding In Salted Earth (Sing, String, Wind) | Perform (sing), Perform (string), or Perform (wind) 4 ranks, bardic performance | This masterpiece grants all allies within 30 feet fast healing 1 for as long as the bard maintains the performance. | 1 bardic performance round per round, plus 1 or more additional uses per round to increase the duration of this effect. | 1 standard action | CoP |
| Lullaby of Ember the Ancient, The (Sing) | Perform (sing) 7 ranks, bardic performance | When you activate this soothing performance, one target within close range falls asleep as if affected by a special deep slumber as long as you maintain the performance. | 1 bardic performance round per round. | 1 round | UM |
| Melody of Frightful Death (String) | Perform (string) 7 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 1 bardic performance round per round. | 1 standard action | BoF |
| Minuet of the Midnight Ivy (Dance) | Perform (dance) 4 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 1 bardic performance round per round. | 1 full round | UM |
| Pageant of the Peacock (Act, Dance) | Perform (act) or Perform (dance) 4 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 1 bardic performance round per 10 minutes of the effect’s duration. | 1 standard action | DSH |
| Pallavi of Nirvana’s Blossoming (Dance) | Perform (dance) 11 ranks, bardic performance | Upon completing the performance, you summon a fixed aura of divine sunlight that glows in a 100-ft.-radius circle centered on you. | 3 bardic performance rounds. | 3 full rounds | BoA |
| Quickening Pulse, The (Percussion, Wind) | Perform (percussion) 7 ranks or Perform (wind) 7 ranks, bardic performance | 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 ft. who can hear your performance must save or take 1d6 points of damage as their pounding heart causes them to sweat blood. | 1 bardic performance round per round of bleed. | 1 standard action | UM |
| Rat Quadrille (Percussion, Sing) | Perform (percussion) or Perform (sing) 4 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 3 bardic performance rounds. | 1 standard action | MM |
| Requiem of the Fallen Priest-King, The (Oratory, Sing) | Perform (oratory) 10 ranks or Perform (sing) 10 ranks, bardic performance | This piece tells the story of a mighty priest-king who seemed to defy time by snatching near-victory from an overwhelming number of enemies. | 5 bardic performance rounds, +1 round per additional person affected. | 1 minute | UM |
| Rheumy Refrain, The (Sing) | Perform (sing) 5 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 1 bardic performance round per round. | 1 standard action | BoF |
| Rondeau of Heavenly Order (Sing) | Perform (sing) 4 ranks, bardic performance | 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. | 1 bardic performance round per round. | 1 round | BoA |
| Stone Face (Comedy, Oratory) | Perform (comedy) or Perform (oratory) 7 ranks, bardic performance | When you complete the performance, the target is affected by stone to flesh. | 2 bardic performance rounds. | 1 minute | UM |
| Symphony of the Elysian Heart (Keyboard, Wind) | Perform (keyboard) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks, bardic performance | You and up to one ally per bard level within 30 feet who can hear you are under the effect is basically to that of freedom of movement, | 1 bardic performance round per round. | 1 round | BoA |
| Tales of Twisting Steel (Act, Oratory) | Perform (act) 3 ranks or Perform (oratory) 3 ranks, bardic performance | This collection includes the stories of The Big Sky, The Rabbit Prince, and The Sickness, among others. You and that creature are affected as if you had cast shield other. | 3 bardic performance rounds. | 3 rounds | HH |
| Toccata and Fugue of the Danse Macabre (Keyboard, Wind) | Perform (keyboard) or Perform (wind) 4 ranks, bardic performance | 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 hide from undead spell. | 1 bardic performance round per round of the performance, +1 round per ally affected, +1 round per dedicated refrain. | 1 minute | UM |
| Triple Time (Percussion, String, Wind) | Perform (percussion) 3 ranks, Perform (string) 3 ranks, or Perform (wind) 3 ranks, bardic performance | This bright and spritely tune mimics the sound of human feet, slowly building to a steady, ground-eating pace. When you complete this performance, you affect one ally in hearing range per bard level. | 1 bardic performance round. | 1 minute | UM |
| Vindictive Soliloquy (Act, Oratory, Sing) | Perform (act), Perform (oratory), or Perform (sing) 10 ranks, bardic performance | You provide an impassioned monologue from the point of view of a noble queen, voicing her inner turmoil at being betrayed by her own sister and calling for justice to strike from the heavens | 5 bardic performance rounds. | 5 full rounds | MM |
| Winds of the Five Heavens, The (Act, Oratory) | Perform (act) or Perform (oratory) 10 ranks, bardic performance | This short monologue tells the story of a village priest who thought to command the gods. When you complete the performance, you conjure a great wind as if you had cast control winds. | 3 bardic performance rounds. | 3 full rounds | UM |
Ancients’ Flight (Oratory)
You compel dragons to recite an epic poem telling the story of their race’s creation.Prerequisite(s): Perform (oratory) 13 ranks, ability to speak Draconic.
Cost: Feat or 5th-level bard spell known.
Effect: This urgent verse tugs at the racial arrogance of dragonkind, compelling dragons, both true and lesser, 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 Ancients’ Flight, 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.
Use: 2 bardic performance rounds per round.
Activation: 1 full round.
At the Heart of It All (String, Wind)
Your song pierces to the heart of a creature’s identity, weakening it against you.Prerequisite(s): Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 5 rounds of bardic performance.
Activation: 5 full rounds.
The Canticle of Joy (Sing)
Your haunting melody is capable of shattering the very minds of those who hear it.Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This agonizing eulogy gets into a listener’s blood, and bestows on him the phantom sensation of great agonies. 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 round.
The Cat-Step (Dance)
Your agile dancing allows you and others to fall safely and land gracefully.Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 5 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 masterpiece for the remainder of its duration.
Use: 4 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 4 full rounds.
Clamor Of the Heavens (Percussion, Sing)
This confusing dirge of melody and counter-melody was composed for choirs celebrating various martyrs. It is intended to praise and magnify the glory of the lords, but to the uninitiated it sounds like a battle hymn.Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion or sing) 10 ranks.
Cost: 5th-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds, +1 round per additional round of duration.
Activation: 3 full rounds.
The Dance of 23 Steps (Dance)
This complex dance makes you difficult to strike.Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 masterpiece, you take a –2 penalty on melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, and you must make a concentration check to cast any spell (DC 15 + the spell’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 masterpiece with fighting defensively and Combat Expertise, but not total defense. When you use this masterpiece, it lasts until the start of your next turn. Abilities that extend the duration of a bardic performance (such as Lingering Performance) affect this masterpiece; this allows you to get multiple rounds of its benefit (and its penalties) at the cost of only 1 round of bardic performance.
Use: 1 bardic performance round.
Activation: 1 free action.
The Dance of Kindled Desires (Dance)
Each sway and shake of your hips calls up another temptation from the depths of Hell until your spectator, hapless and drooling, finally succumbs and freely offers up his life, honor, or very soul for just a taste of what you have proffered.Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 5 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 3 full rounds.
The Depths of the Mountain (Percussion, Wind)
Your drumming skills can break solid rock.Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion) 15 ranks or Perform (wind) 15 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 5th-level bard spell known.
Effect: Like a singer shattering a wine glass with a perfect note, your music cracks stone, shivering solid rock until it snaps. When you complete the performance, you create a tremor identical to an earthquake spell. For each round you continue to expend bardic performance rounds, the area experiences a round-long aftershock, which has the following effects. Caves, Caverns, or Tunnels: Smaller collapses cause 4d6 points of damage (Reflex DC 5 half ) and pin any creatures caught inside. Cliffs: More cliffs crumble, creating a landslide that travels half as far horizontally as it falls vertically. Any creature in the path takes 4d6 points of bludgeoning damage (Reflex DC 5 half) and is pinned beneath the rubble. Open Ground: Each creature standing in the area must make a DC 5 Reflex save or fall down. Fissures open in the earth, and every creature on the ground has a 25% chance of falling into one (Reflex DC 10 to avoid a fissure). The fissures are 20 feet deep, and these fissures remain open at the end of the quake. Pinned Beneath Rubble: Any creature pinned by the effects of the aftershock takes 1d3 points of nonlethal damage per minute while pinned. If a pinned character falls unconscious, she must make a DC 5 Constitution check or take 1d3 points of lethal damage each minute thereafter until freed or dead. Rivers, Lakes, or Marshes: The area drained away by the earthquake remains drained for the duration of the aftershock. Spellcasting: The concentration DC to cast during an aftershock is 15 + the spell’s level. Structure: Any structure standing on open ground takes 50 points of damage. A collapsing structure deals 4d6 points of bludgeoning damage to creatures inside it (Reflex DC 5 half), and the creatures inside are pinned beneath the rubble.
Use: 10 rounds of bardic performance, +1 round for each round of aftershocks.
Activation: 10 full rounds.
The Dragon and the First King (String, Wind)
You affect the mood of listeners by celebrating the defeat of the father of all dragons.Prerequisite(s): Perform (string) or Perform (wind) 6 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This stirring pibroch reminds dragons of a significant victory by one of the legendary heroes of their kind and fills lesser races with a feeling of frustration and rage. 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.
Use: 2 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 2 full rounds.
The Dumbshow of Gorroc (Act, Comedy)
Your acting conjures hellfire and salt to destroy plants.Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) or Perform (comedy) 6 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This pantomime tells the tale of Gorroc, a foolish farmer who failed to control the weeds that grew so quickly upon his land. In desperation, Gorroc 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.
Use: 2 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 1 full round.
The House of the Imaginary Walls (Act)
You can trap opponents with the power of your acting.Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) 10 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 standard action per 10-foot square.
Illusion’s Decree (Comedy, Oratory)
These stories of wiliness and mystery inspire listeners to see through deceptions.Prerequisite(s): Perform (comedy) 5 ranks or Perform (oratory) 5 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known
Effect: These tales include the stories of The Marriage, The Queen Mother, and The Rakshasa, among others. 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round, +1 round per ally affected.
Activation: 1 full round.
Legato Piece on the Infernal Bargain (String)
Your skilled playing can conjure up supernatural servants.Prerequisite(s): Perform (string) 11 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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. Though the best-known version of this masterpiece refers to an infernal bargain, it can be used to conjure any sort of extraplanar creature (such as an archon, elemental, or protean). Other versions and arrangements of this masterpiece may have different names but otherwise identical effects.
Use: 10 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 10 minutes.
Life Budding In Salted Earth (Sing, String, Wind)
This delicate tune suggests the determined sprouting of seedlings through barren, rocky soil.Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing), Perform (string), or Perform (wind) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round, plus 1 or more additional uses per round to increase the duration of this effect.
Activation: 1 standard action.
The Lullaby of Ember the Ancient (Sing)
You can put powerful creatures to sleep with the power of your song.Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: When you activate this soothing performance, one target within close range falls asleep as if affected by deep slumber 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 round.
Melody of Frightful Death (String)
The pain and horror of the Abyss shrieks through your instrument to make a listener experience the death she dreads most.Prerequisite(s): Perform (string) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 energy damage. The energy type can be either acid, cold, or fire (your choice, chosen when you begin performing the masterpiece). 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 masterpiece.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Minuet of the Midnight Ivy (Dance)
Your winding, twisting dance is helpful in dodging obstacles and climbing.Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 masterpiece as long as you maintain the performance.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 full round.
Pageant of the Peacock (Act, Dance)
Your elegant movements cause you to seem to be more than you are.Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) or Perform (dance) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level spell known.
Effect: 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).
Use: 1 bardic performance round per 10 minutes of the effect’s duration.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Pallavi of Nirvana’s Blossoming (Dance)
The divine sunlight caused by this dance banishes darkness and causes flowers to bloom.Prerequisite(s): Perform (dance) 11 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 a 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.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 3 full rounds.
The Quickening Pulse (Percussion, Wind)
Your driving notes cause unnatural heart rates in your opponents.Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion) 7 ranks or Perform (wind) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round of bleed.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Rat Quadrille (Percussion, Sing)
This repetitive, distracting melody wears down foes.Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion) or Perform (sing) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 1 standard action.
The Requiem of the Fallen Priest-King (Oratory, Sing)
Your performance reveals ways to cheat time itself.Prerequisite(s): Perform (oratory) 10 ranks or Perform (sing) 10 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This piece tells the story of a mighty priest-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 masterpiece, 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 masterpiece; otherwise the benefit is lost. This ability does not stack with other effects that increase your speed (such as haste) or alter time (such as time stop). Your allies may benefit from this masterpiece, but they must listen to it intently (to the exclusion of all other activities) for the duration of the performance, and you must expend 1 round of bardic performance for each ally other than yourself whom you want to gain the ability to accelerate time (for example, affecting yourself and five others requires expending 11 rounds of bardic performance). This is a language-dependent effect.
Use: 5 bardic performance rounds, +1 round per additional person affected.
Activation: 1 minute.
The Rheumy Refrain (Sing)
Your strange melody of hacking gasps and pained wheezes draws upon the dark powers of The Grey Wastes to fill a witness with debilitating and distracting phlegm.Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing) 5 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 standard action.
Rondeau of Heavenly Order (Sing)
Your carefully structured song imposes rigid order on your listeners.Prerequisite(s): Perform (sing) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 round.
Stone Face (Comedy, Oratory)
Your antics can soften even the hardest visage.Prerequisite(s): Perform (comedy) or Perform (oratory) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: 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 is affected by stone to flesh.
Use: 2 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 1 minute.
Symphony of the Elysian Heart (Keyboard, Wind)
You spark notes of joy and freedom in your listeners.Prerequisite(s): Perform (keyboard) or Perform (wind) 7 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 3rd-level bard spell known.
Effect: The complex arpeggios in this piece follow each other so quickly that the music can sound jumbled and disjointed at first. As the piece progresses, however, distinct phrases emerge, creating a wild but harmonious piece that inspires feelings of unfettered freedom. 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round.
Activation: 1 round.
Tales of Twisting Steel (Act, Oratory)
This medley of tales inspires listeners to new heights of bravery and self sacrifice.Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) 3 ranks or Perform (oratory) 3 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: This collection includes the stories of The Big Sky, The Rabbit Prince, and The Sickness, among others. When you complete the performance, choose one adjacent creature. You and that creature are affected as if you had cast shield other.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 3 rounds.
Toccata and Fugue of the Danse Macabre (Keyboard, Wind)
Your spooky music blurs the boundaries between life and death, confusing the senses of undead creatures.Prerequisite(s): Perform (keyboard) or Perform (wind) 4 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 2nd-level bard spell known.
Effect: The complex notes and layered repetitions of this masterpiece bring to mind the countless dead of ages past and suffuse those who listen to it with a subtle melancholia and grim acceptance of the temporary nature of life. Starting with a trio of notes, repeated frequently and with ever-greater insistence, it becomes a whirling, head-spinning vortex of sound. 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 hide from undead spell. As with hide from undead, 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 hide from undead 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.
Use: 1 bardic performance round per round of the performance, +1 round per ally affected, +1 round per dedicated refrain.
Activation: 1 minute.
Triple Time (Percussion, String, Wind)
Your lively cadence puts a spring in the step of weary marchers.Prerequisite(s): Perform (percussion) 3 ranks, Perform (string) 3 ranks, or Perform (wind) 3 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 1st-level bard spell known.
Effect: This bright and spritely tune mimics the sound of human 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 masterpiece 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 spell affects your jumping distance (see Acrobatics).
Use: 1 bardic performance round.
Activation: 1 minute.
Vindictive Soliloquy (Act, Oratory, Sing)
Your bombastic speech creates booming reverberations of sound.Prerequisite(s): Perform (act), Perform (oratory), or Perform (sing) 10 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: You provide an impassioned monologue from the point of view of a noble queen, voicing her inner turmoil at being betrayed by her own sister and calling for justice to strike from the heavens. If you perform this masterpiece with the Perform (sing) skill, it is a tempestuous aria instead of a rousing soliloquy. Upon completing the performance, you may conjure bolts of lightning as though you had cast call lightning storm, except the bolts are made of elemental thunder and deal sonic damage rather than electricity 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 sonic damage instead of 5d6.
Use: 5 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 5 full rounds.
The Winds of the Five Heavens (Act, Oratory)
You control the wind by telling a tale demonstrating the hubris of mortals.Prerequisite(s): Perform (act) or Perform (oratory) 10 ranks.
Cost: Feat or 4th-level bard spell known.
Effect: This short monologue tells the story of a village priest who thought to command the gods. This so annoyed the gods of the weather that they gave him exactly what he wished for, and the priest’s long-winded sermons tore apart his temple and scattered his parishioners. When you complete the performance, you conjure a great wind as if you had cast control winds.
Use: 3 bardic performance rounds.
Activation: 3 full rounds.
Section 15: Copyright Notice
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Ultimate Magic. Copyright 2011, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Jason Bulmahn, Tim Hitchcock, Colin McComb, Rob McCreary, Jason Nelson, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Sean K Reynolds, Owen K.C. Stephens, and Russ Taylor.Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of Fiends. Copyright 2012, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Hal Maclean and Colin McComb.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of Angels. Copyright 2012, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Amber E. Scott.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Dragonslayer’s Handbook. Copyright 2013, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Shaun Hocking, Marie Small, and Jerome Virnich.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Magical Marketplace. Copyright 2013, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: John Ling, Ron Lundeen, Patrick Renie, David Schwartz, and Jerome Virnich.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Champions of Purity. Copyright 2013, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Jessica Blomstrom, Adam Daigle, Shaun Hocking, Daniel Marthaler, Tork Shaw, and Christina Stiles.
Pathfinder Player Companion: The Harrow Handbook. Copyright 2014, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Crystal Frasier, Will McCardell, and David Schwartz.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Bastards of Golarion. Copyright 2014, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Judy Bauer, Neal Litherland, Ryan Macklin, and David N. Ross.
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