Blah, I can't get it to post up correctly at the moment, I'll get the rest up this evening.

Edit: Nevermind! It posted. I'll use this post for comments/edit notes.

Their home would be Cascadia, the city of the arts, not Taras, but that's not entirely important. I like the class, but at the same time don't. It is an interesting idea, but it doesn't get it's bases covered well and also clashes with the instrument enchantments that will be coming up soon. Take a look at them Here. The class itself isn't as versatile as it would need to be as it does not have special bonus for all instruments and it forces the virtuoso to take abilites that quite possibly undesirable and unfitting of their character to gain a few abilities that are fitting of their character. As such it's much better to avoid using songs as they are much better captured by the instrument enchantments.

Point taken on Cascadia, something I oddly looked over, seeing as I've RPed there in the past.

As for unfitting, I suppose that depends on how you view a Bard. My explaination for why I selected the requirements as I did:

Perform: The obvious skill of a Bard, as we're all performers at heart in some way, it's the one skill that definitely says Bard in many ways.

Knowledge - Arcana: In a pure nature, anyone of any class can sing a song or play a flute, and numerous characters over multiple boards I've RPed on have carried around instruments and RPed a thread of plain Jane music. Adding the magical nature to music is where the Bard splits from the average dabbler. Through almost every MMO and RP place I've ever played a Bard (which is actually the one class I adore beyond all others), it's the magical nature of a Bard's music that sets them apart from say, a warrior who can play the fiddle. Now, perhaps requiring it at the Adept level might be one step too high, but in my opinion, being able to weave magic into music is part of the heart of this class.

Alluring: Again, anyone can play a flute or strum on a lute, but only the Virtuoso is able to do so in a way that it has the power they need to be more than just an avid music player. When I play my music, I need you to be drawn to me, to be captivated by my music and allow it to flow through your being to have the strong magical effects it has. This is especially important once you get down to Dazzling Fascination. How is a Virtuoso to hold you captivated for that period of time if they can't draw your attention completely to them and take that bit of control both from you and away from you? Alluring was also supposed to be used in a sixth and final level, in which the Virtuoso could charm a target, singing a tale of what he or she wished the target to do, but I hadn't quite polished it off and I didn't want it to be an ability that would be easily abused.

Bards, in my opinion, have always been a tougher class to portray in RP, as beyond the fact that we sing songs and entertain people, it's tough to define just how that has any effect other than making people happy. I had begun asking myself exactly that question back when I was much more active with Aedra, and realized that I had to define a Bard into something beyond going to the courtyard and singing a few songs, going to a tavern and doing the same thing, and then going to yet another location and... doing the same thing.

I'm not exactly following you on the point that songs should NOT be a part of the definition of the Virtuoso PrC, as that is the very core of the class, songs that work as spells work for magic users. I sing you a peaceful, refreshing song, weaving my bardic lore and trained magic (while different magic from say a Wizard), and you begin to feel rejuvinated.

I COULD see adding further diversity to each level, as in enhancements to power of their songs and such, or maybe a stray combat skill or such, but I can't see removing songs. The only reason I held to keeping it pretty streamline, is that there are plenty of PrCs of all sorts that enhance melee and straight magic, but the Virtuoso was meant to define the heart of the Bard, their magical music. That, and I didn't want to overdo the PrC in its first unveiling and seem like it was a power trip.

I don't believe that this PrC "clashes" with the instrument enchantments, as anyone can put magic on a flute and play it til their heart is content, but a Virtuoso takes the average flute and make magical music. Two routes for two different types of people, Bards and non-Bards. In short, this PrC and your design of enchantments would co-exist perfectly, and now that I've seen them, I'd definitely use both the PrC to give myself the magic of the songs, and the enchantments to have instruments that were magical on their own.

Songs ARE the core of a Bard, hence things like the Harper's Companion which is stated to be favored by Bards and gives a list of songs that give magical enhancements. So, to take it a step further, Bardic magic should be able to do more, but only for the more accomplished of Bards.

For the middle ground, I see no issue with instrument enchantments allowing the average musician to enchant their flute, but I cannot agree that a highly skilled Bard would not be granted with magical songs that are not obtained by the average Joe.

I understand your requirements, The bard is the master Dabbler, versed in everything thing but not readily excelling in anything thing except music. While I wholey disagree that bards are just sing songs to entertain and make people happy and the various darker songs in your PrC support that.

Now that I notice it, Alluring is not a fitting for a PrC that focuses more on instruments than a PrC that focuses more on Vocals. Even for that it doesn't seem to fit. Sure believing gospel music helps it's effects, but most commonly you don't need to believe lyrics or poems for them to have an effect on you and your emotions. As you can see the feat has nothing to do with drawing people to you or holding their attention, despite that being your claim as to why it should be a requirement.

I mispresented myself. I meant moreso the use of that the instruments and effect too closely mirroring actual spells were not good and that all of the songs expect maybe Hymn of vigor were in need of removal, and also that the magical instruments covered the actual songs in a better manner than the PrC. The differences between bardic magic and wizardry is that the bard is not focused in magic, but rather music which the Bard uses to complement his spells. Were they both to use the same spell the effect would still be the same. Bards' songs have a magic of their own, but they focus mainly on emotions, inspiring fear and courage, subtlety making a crowd like you better, and Inspiring greatness, not burning things, healing, and bringing things back from the dead. If you wish to to capture the essence of the bard use emotional and mental effects. You should also allow the Virt to take on both the benign and malignant parts of each level.

You don't seem to have looked at the Musical enchantments. Unlike armor and weapon enchantments, instrument enchantments require a specific perform level for each enchantment such that one needs to have levels in perform to use the enchantment. They clash because they do the same thing, at least when the PrC refers to instruments. Given that people rarely get any more skills than they need for a PrC, the level requirements for the skill perform mirror the the requirements for your prcs and the various levels in it. They both allow for magic effects to come when a song is played. The enchantments allow the bard to choose his favored instrument, songs that are fitting for him, and enchantments gives the bard a huge amount of options. Your PrC makes the bard use random mediums rather than their favored medium. Storytelling, comedy, poems, vocals, and instruments are various mediums the bard can use.


Your PrC and my enchantments can get along yes, but you'll have to adjust your PrC first. Focus on non-instrumental mediums or use no focus at all. You could even tie in enchantments by allowing extra uses per day, or perhaps even using selected enchantments they have on any given medium without any enchanting.