Metaperformance Feats
Music Week is in full swing this week, and that means that today’s feats are all but guaranteed to be catchy and lyrical. When I think of music and Pathfinder, the first thing that comes to mind is the bard, and so it should be no surprise that today’s orchestra of feats are all tied to the bard’s bardic performance class feature. In fact, they’re an entirely new category (some might say genre) of feats, metaperformance feats. What do they do? Well…
Metaperformance Feats
Metaperformance feats are feats that modify bardic performances. A character can apply no more than one metaperformance feat to a single performance at any given time. Most metaperformance feats cause the performance to use up multiple rounds of bardic performance for each actual round that they are used.
Encaptivating Fascination (Metaperformance)
Your performance is so distracting, even obvious threats are easy to ignore.
Prerequisite: Fascinate bardic performance class feature.
Benefit: Whenever you use the fascinate bardic performance, you can make your performance encapitvating. If you do, then the saving throw DC to end the fascination effect if presented with a potential threat increases by +4, and even an obvious threat does not automatically end the fascination, although it does allow a new saving throw at the normal DC. This feat has no effect on the initial saving throw DC to resist the fascination. If you use this ability, then each round that you maintain the performance counts as three rounds for the purposes of how many rounds you can perform each day.
Improved Inspiration (Metaperformance)
You are able to go all-out on a particularly inspiring performance.
Prerequisite: Inspire courage, inspire competence, or inspire greatness bardic performance class feature.
Benefit: Whenever you use the inspire courage, inspire competence, or inspire greatness bardic performance, you can treat your bard level as four higher than it actually is for the purposes of determining what benefits are granted by the performance. If you do, each round that you maintain the performance counts as two rounds for the purposes of how many rounds you can perform each day.
Sonorous Doom (Metaperformance)
You proclaim the target’s inevitable demise with such provenance and gravitas that he can’t help but believe it.
Prerequisite: Dirge of doom bardic performance class feature.
Benefit: Whenever you use the dirge of doom bardic performance, you can make it a sonorous doom. If you do, the penalties that the subject suffers as a result of being shaken increase to -3. If you use this ability, then each round that you maintain the performance counts as two rounds for the purposes of how many rounds you can perform each day. If your bard level is 14 or higher, you can increase the penalties to -4, but doing so increases the difficulty of the performance, and each round counts as three rounds for the purposes of how many rounds you can perform each day.
Swift Soothing (Metaperformance)
Your soothing performance can revitalize and reinvigorate your allies in the blink of an eye.
Prerequisite: Soothing performance bardic performance class feature.
Benefit: Whenever you use the soothing performance bardic performance, you can perform it with extreme rapidity, allowing the benefits to take place immediately, rather than at the end of four rounds. Using this performance in this way counts as 6 rounds of bardic performance for the purposes of how many rounds you can perform each day, even though it takes only a single round.
Versatile Distraction (Metaperformance)
You can counter other performances in unusual ways.
Prerequisite: Countersong and distraction bardic performance class features.
Benefit: Whenever you use the countersong or distraction bardic performance, you can perform the other simultaneously. This effectively allows you to use the Perform skills associated with countersong to perform a distraction performance, and vice versa, and also allows you to combat sonic and language-dependent effects and patterns and figments at the same time. Unlike most metaperformance feats, using this feat does not cause the performance to use additional daily rounds for each round it is maintained.