Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dalton Onestone 01-09-05, 05:14 AM	I have a bard about to go into a largish battle (100 or so fighters on each side), raising the question -- just how far can his voice carry? Until the metal starts banging on metal and everybody's yelling, I would think the answer is "Pretty far". A trained singer or speaker in the middle of a park with no amplification and no special acoustics can reach many hundreds of listeners, probably thousands -- but only if they're being fairly quiet. If they all were fighting with each other -- hmm. On a related point -- what voice-amplification spells are available to a bard? I don't think there are any in the PHB, unless I'm being blind. How about other sources? Thanks!
Dalton Onestone 01-09-05, 06:59 PM	Bump ... ta-bump ta-BUMP bumpety bump
Seeker95 01-09-05, 08:37 PM	Although a few of the bardic music abilities identify "within range" or "can hear the bard", those with listed range are predominatly 30'. Fascinate says 90'. Since this is the longest distance, I would go with 90' for those that have no listed range. (houserule) I don't know of any amplification tools, but... I think it would be reasonable to have a bardic version of the metamagic feat widen spell and have it apply to the maximum range of bardic music. (again, a houserule). There are, of course, any number of magic items that could be created... Horn of Projection This (conch shell, cornucopia, ram's antler, et al) increases the volume the speaker. It can allow a speaker to project his voice a distance measured in yards instead of feet, effectively tripling the distance at which the voice can be clearly heard. For magical sounds projected through the horn, distances are doubled. This includes sonic spells and a bard's music. Prerequisites: CL 7; shout, creator must have enlarge spell or widen spell metamagic feat; Market Price 28,000*gp. *Pricing based on shout for CL and "foundation" cut in half because the horn does not actually "cast" any spell.
Dalton Onestone 01-10-05, 02:55 AM	Excellent mode of analysis, but I'm not sure it gives a convincing answer. With two exceptions, bardic music powers are of 30' range. One exception is at 90' range; the other, Inspire Courage, affects every ally who can hear him. So the question of how far his voice carries on a battlefield would, I think, remain open. If everybody is quiet, I would argue for a range of several hundred feet at a minimum. But battlefields of course are noisy.
RaspK FOG 01-10-05, 07:16 AM	First of all, I think that since there is a Listen skill in the game, we could rely on it for us, right? Now, a fight has a DC of -10, while talking people have a DC of 0; it is safe to assume that a singing person falls right at the middle for a DC of -5. However, it is safe to assume that the DC -10 could easily be applied as a penalty on the Listen check or, more accurately to the rules, as an increase in the check DC; the increase should be equal to the average check result of the average character minus the DC to hear a battle, or 10 - (-10), for a total DC of -5 + 20, or DC 15. Finally, those who participate in the battle receive a -5 penalty on their Listen checks for being distracted. Some might argue whether the increase should be less than +20, but this is another matter...