Class Feature Friday: Zoophonia Muse (Pathfinder Second Edition Bard Muse)
(art by LeoDragonsWorks on DeviantArt)
Music is a fascinating concept. A pattern of sounds elicits a powerful emotional response because it is just that: a pattern. Such a pattern can be simple or incredibly complex, and all parts of the whole create something enjoyable or at least cathartic to experience.
But when you think about it, it is a curiosity. We only feel this way from listening to music because the human brain is built for finding patterns. Certainly most animals don’t pay music much attention any more than other sounds.
And yet… nature sings.
Birds have their various songs and calls that serve as territory signaling or attracting mates, crickets chirp, wolves howl, and so on, all different ways that the animal kingdom expresses itself. Certainly some of it seems pretty to us, but it is also often atonal and lacking harmony from our perspective. But can we deny that such sounds might be scratching the same itch for other animals as our songs do for us?
Tonight, we are looking at the zoophonia muse for bards, for those with a naturalist bent that learn to appreciate and draw inspiration from the natural sounds of the wild, mostly animal sounds, but certainly from other natural phenomena in part.
If this muse is an entity, it might be an awakened animal or even a nature spirit that takes an animal form. Otherwise, it might be any sort of nature deity, or it might even be just a personal appreciation held by the bard for the natural world and it’s sounds.
Their performances might use instruments that echo the sounds of animal cries, or their acting might include characters that have affectations based on animals, or anything similar. Either way, with their skills they bring a little natural power to the normally occult class.
At the base level, this muse allows the bard to communicate requests and commands to animals through their performances (emulating animal calls and transcending language), giving them a gift for communicating their intent to the animal world. However, without other magic it does not allow them to understand the animal in kind, limiting it’s applications. Additionally, they learn magic for summoning animals to aid them in battle.
Of course, there are feats associated with this muse, such as Bestial Snarling to strike fear into others by emulating threat displays or encouraging an animal companion to do the same. With Zoophonic Composition, they can weave messages and magic into a composition spell to sustain a summoned animal or command other animals. Tapping into their connection to animal life, Ears of the Forest allows a bard to use the senses of nearby animals to remotely view, listen, or use other senses to search. With Songbird’s Call, they can summon forth a swarm of singing, pecking songbirds to conceal themselves and strike foes. With mastery they can use Musical Summons to summon animals and perform a composition with the same fluid performance. Finally, true mastery allows them to use Pack Performance, which allows an allied animal or summon to intercept and attack a creature trying to disrupt their spells, shutting down the counteraction.
Of course, other feats might appeal to you as well, such as Martial Performance, Lingering Composition, Reliable Squire, Inspiring Resilience, Rallying Anthem, Triple Time, Allegro, Soothing Ballad, Vigorous Anthem, and Pied Piping, among any others that might suit your build.
With an animal summon, this muse is certainly begging for the bard to take summon animal as a signature spell and be able to summon, buff, and heal summoned beasts is a solid idea. However, consider also the utility of being able to convince animals to aid you. It’s not quite the same as being able to ask questions of them, but they certainly can come in handy.
Looking back on it, it’s pretty clear this muse is inspired at least in part by the Animal Speaker for First Edition Bard, which does mean a lot of my old advice about essentially living as a Disney Princess does apply here as well, or well, it can if you find it valuable. Consider what sort of relationship your character has with the animals they sing and perform for. Are they friends? Pawns?
While not as home as one of her feyblooded kin might be in the wild, Himmerbalg the pearl dragonet still adores animals, and turned her talent for mimicking bird calls into a career in naturalistic song. In the pursuit of furthering that career, she is putting together funds for an expedition to find the Geographer’s Dream, a region where every biome can be found within it’s borders, along with all manner of animals native to each. Of course, not many know that such a place does not exist on the material plane fully.
Normally more concerned with what happens after, Shoanagix is unusual among requiem dragons in that they are very fond of creatures that live, especially songbirds. Someone with a special connection to such fowl might go a long way in their favor.
Though he found solace in the songs of whales and other deep creatures, Obedrad could never forgive the stepfather that ruined his mother’s life to her eventual miserable demise, and so he studied the secrets of music and the deep with one goal in mind: to be able to summon up a whale so mighty that it might swallow that man and his entire vessel in one gulp. Nevermind that doing so would end many innocent lives as well as his own in the crossfire.