Music rings out from every tavern large enough to squeeze in a gnome, voices echoing across the night sky. Bards, composers, singers, and more share their gift of music to the world and the best tunes, or at least the catchiest, grab the world by the ear, their music leading listeners on a journey of emotions. If you wish to join those on stage, from the run-down tavern to the largest music halls, from the side of the road to the noble's house, you must practice and hone your craft.

To spread your name, and by extension your music, you must start small and work your way up to the great music halls and royal banquets. Once you have increased your popularity in a city, you might be invited to perform for royalty, at banquets, important feasts or any other important events.

To perform and increase your popularity in the various musical circles, you must be proficient with a musical instrument. Your choice in musical instruments might affect who invites you where, as many may refuse to host someone playing bagpipes to a tea party or will jump at the chance to invite you to a tea party if you can play the harp. Your choice in musical instruments and their effects on others is determined by the DM.

When you are just starting, you will first need to increase your popularity to play at better-paying gigs. Most local taverns will host you for a few hours, and might even pay you some coins if they think you did well enough. Larger and more established businesses and establishments may not allow you to perform until you have a more recognizable name.

When you first arrive in town, based on your overall popularity, see the Popularity chart below, you may have a hard time finding a nice establishment to perform at that will appreciate your skills.

Once you find a venue, you must determine how long you will be playing for and then roll a Charisma (Performance) check. Your Performance check will be affected by how long you performed for and the DM may place restrictions as to how long the owner of the establishment is willing to allow you to perform.

Performance Time

The effects that correspond to time may change based on the circumstances surrounding the performance. The DM may decide that a music hall is fine with a short 1-hour performance and doesn't impose disadvantage while performing for 4 hours at a long banquet doesn't grant advantage as you are not the focus.

After you roll your Performance check, thus ending your performance, you then form a dice pool and roll a number of dice equal to the result of your Charisma (Performance) check.

If you performed at a tavern for 2 hours and rolled a total of a 13 on a Performance check, you would have 13 dice in your dice pool.

The dice pool starts as d8s, but changes based on different factors as decided by the DM. Examples are provided in the Performance Situations chart below, though these situations may affect the dice pool differently depending on circumstances and venue being played at, per the DM's discretion.

When a situation causes the size to decrease, you decrease the size of the dice rolled by one step. If a situation causes the size to increase, you increase the size of the dice rolled by one step. You can not decrease the size of the dice below a d4 and you can not increase the size of the dice rolled above a d12.

Your pool's dice size will be determined by the DM and they may include several different factors and situations that affect the size of the dice in the pool.

If a situation calls for your dice to decrease in size, you would decrease your starting pool of d8s to a pool of d6s. On the reverse, if the situation called to increase your dice, you would increase your starting pool of d8s to d10s.

On very special occasions, the DM may decide that to perform for a grandmaster in their field, and to determine their enjoyment of your music, you must increase the size of your dice to d20s. This represents the most difficult of challenges that only but the most gifted could ever hope to attempt, let alone succeed.

Once you roll your dice pool, you then count the number of 1s you rolled, those are your successes for the performance and go towards the amount of money you make for the performance as well as increases your popularity in the city.

The more 1s you roll, the more successful your performance and the more that people will remember you and spread your name around the city. This type of popularity may provide additional benefits not mentioned here, like people recognizing you on the street or inviting you to play private parties, per the DM's discretion.

Your popularity determines what establishments will excitedly allow you to play at their venue, as well as how much you could expect to get paid for performing at those establishments. Consult the Popularity chart for more information.

The DM may determine that you can play at higher-end establishments, even if your popularity isn't high enough, so long as you can pay or bribe your way onto the stage. In this case, they may also determine to increase the size of your dice pool by one or more.

*This might represent tips and gifts left behind by your audience. You may have set up a fee before hand.

Once you determine the number of successes on your dice pool, you add that total to your Popularity and then you determine your pay by referencing the chart above and rolling a number of Pay dice equal to your total successes. The DM may determine that you can roll additional dice for your pay based on any special circumstances.

If you performed at a mid-tier tavern and rolled 13 dice in your pool, you may end up with 3 successes at the end of the performance. You would then add 3 to your total Popularity Score and then roll your pay, which would end up being 3d8 sp. This is the pay given to you by the tavern and any tips you made that night.

The DM may decide that you can spend any points you have in your popularity score to better help you and your party get out of trouble, connect with the right people or get free lodgings at a tavern. A few examples are provided below, the DM might determine that certain requests cost more or less popularity. Once you spend your popularity points, your total popularity score decreases by an equal amount, which might impact what places you can play at.

Traveling to new locations can greatly reduce your popularity score simply because they haven't gotten a chance to hear about you yet, or you've just been away for so long that they have forgotten about you. When you travel to another city, decrease your popularity by an amount as determined on the Travel chart. The DM may determine that you are famous and that the decrease is less, typically if you have a Popularity of 50 or more.

If you once performed in a city and are returning, determine how long since you last performed and add that penalty to your score, to a minimum of 0.

The DM may have other ways for you to spend your popularity, or allow you to increase it. Fighting off monsters that have been plaguing a village is a good way of building up your popularity, just as killing the town leader may greatly reduce your popularity.

These rules can help provide more challenges or provide different ways of affecting performances.

If you are proficient in additional musical instruments, you can put on a more diverse performance. This allows you to reroll a number of dice in your dice pool equal to half the number of musical instruments you are proficient with. You must use the second result.

If more than one character is part of the performance, they do not make their own Charisma (Performance) check. Instead one character can help the other and add their Charisma (Performance) bonus to the other's check. They must be performing for the same amount of time.

Wondrous item, uncommon

While performing with this musical instrument, it gives off such sweet melodies that over the course of an hour or longer performance, the attendants are under similar effects to that of a sympathy spell, though the effects are not as severe. Due to their rapt attention on you, when you roll your dice pool, you can count a success on any dice that comes up with the result of a 1 or 2.

A noble or establishment may insist that you come up with new music for their enjoyment. The first time you perform this music for them, you must have at least a number of successes in your dice pool as determined by the chart below. If you are unable to succeed at least the number of times as determined by the chart below, your performance was a failure and you are unable to add those successes to your Popularity Score or gain any pay for your efforts. The DM may determine that there are additional penalties for failing to succeed for your patrons, especially if they are someone important or the event you performed at was very important.

The DM may determine, upon a success, that you gain additional pay for your efforts in pleasing your patrons.

If you roll your dice pool and have no successes, then your performance was received so negatively that the audience began turning against you. You suffer a penalty to your Popularity Score equal to the number of dice you rolled whose results were the highest result on the die.

Example: If you roll 10d8, and had no 1s in the dice pool, you failed the check. You then lose a number of popularity equal to the number of 8s you rolled in the dice pool.