Bardic Music

Once per day, you can use song or poetics to produce magical effects on those around you (usually including yourself, if desired). While these abilities fall under the category of bardic music and the descriptions discuss singing or playing instruments, they can all be activated by reciting poetry, chanting, singing lyrical songs, singing melodies, whistling, playing an instrument, or playing an instrument in combination with some spoken performance. Each ability requires a minimum number of ranks in the Perform skill to qualify; if you do not have the required number of ranks in at least one Perform skill, you cannot gain the bardic music ability until you acquire the needed ranks.

Starting a bardic music effect is a standard action. Some bardic music abilities require concentration, which means you must take a standard action each round to maintain the ability. Even while using bardic music that doesn’t require concentration, you cannot cast spells, activate magic items by spell completion (such as scrolls), or activate magic items by magic word (such as wands). Just as for casting a spell with a verbal component, a deaf bard has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use bardic music. If you fail, the attempt still counts against your daily limit.