What are the RAW for Spellsong

Question

Specifically for the maintaining concentration part. Suppose I start an Inspire Courage as a move action and cast Major Image as a standard action. Next round I want to sustain with Spellsong. Does my Inspire Courage remain active, or is it suppressed? To sustain, is it the case that I just spend the 1 move action and it's sustained as long as the performance lasts, or do I have to spend it every round? Is the 1 performance round mentioned spent for every round I'm using Spellsong? And would I be able to cast and sustain another concentration spell such as Rage?

Answer 1

The rules, as written, are garbage for this feat. They are extremely poorly-written: awkward and unclear.

Therefore, my answer to this question is: Ignore the rules as written entirely. They are a meaningless mess of gibberish that almost, but not quite, means something. And I say this as (as of this writing) the top answerer of rules-as-written questions on this site.

The concept is sound. You can read the feat and get a pretty good idea for a neat feat. But the answers to your questions should all be determined by the DM for his own, homebrew feat, because this feat, as written, doesn’t clearly answer them.

Answer 2

Looking at the Bardic Performance rules, you find this paragraph:

Starting a bardic performance is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. Changing a bardic performance from one effect to another requires the bard to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard action. A bardic performance cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the bard is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. A bard cannot have more than one bardic performance in effect at one time.

(Emphasis is mine)

This establishes two ground rules:

1. You can't have more than one "standard" bardic performance at the same time
2. Starting a new bardic performance immediately ends any previous performances.

Now, the rules for using Spellsong as a concentration replacement are:

You can combine your bardic performance and your spellcasting in two ways: [...] Second, as a move action, you can use 1 round of bardic performance to maintain a bard spell with a duration of concentration. You can cast another spell in the same round you are using bardic magic to maintain concentration; if you do this, your concentration on the maintained spell ends when you end the bardic performance the spell is part of.

From this we learn that once you declare you are using Spellsong to maintain a spell - this counts as an actual bardic performance (as opposed to just "costing" performance rounds from your daily quota)

So, answering your questions:

Q1: "...Does my Inspire Courage remain active, or is it suppressed?

A1: It will end as soon as you activate Spellsong to maintain your Major Image.

(Note, however, that if you have the Lingering Performance feat, the bonuses granted by Inspire Courage will last 2 more rounds)

Q2: "To sustain,do I spend the 1 move action and it's sustained as long as the performance lasts, or do I have to spend it every round?"

A2: From the same rules above:

Starting a bardic performance is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action.

The wording of the Spellsong feat alter that to a move action, so it'll take a move action to start sustaining a spell, but just a free action in the following rounds.

Q3: "Is the 1 performance round spent for every round I'm using Spellsong?"

A3: I'm less certain about this one, but I'd go with each round of Spellsong costs 1 round of bardic performance - I don't see it mentioned specifically in the feat description, but that is more consistent with the way other bardic performances are handled.

Q4: "would I be able to cast and sustain another concentration spell such as Rage?"

A4: In general, it seems that the answer is "yes" - you use your concentration to maintain one spell, and use your performance to maintain the other - so the first will end when you break concentration, and the second when you stop expanding uses of bardic performance.

However, specifically for Rage, there's an additional complication: The spell description mentions that:

[...] The effect is otherwise identical with a barbarian's rage except that the subjects aren't fatigued at the end of the rage.

And from the Barbarian class rules:

While in rage, a barbarian cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.

So, you can't cast it on yourself and maintain the concentration while raging (with or without the Spellsong feat)