Skill Mod Details

General Information

Q. What stats can a Musician buff?

A. Focus and Willpower, the secondary Mind stats. A Master Musician can double these stats for around two hours. Q. Can Musicians buff the Mind stat?

A. No; Dancers have a Mind buff.

Q. Isn't the Musician buff less valuable than the Dancer buff?

A. Many people find the Musician buff at least as valuable -- indeed, many would say more valuable -- because regeneration of Mind can be crucial. Also, armor encumbers Focus and Willpower, not Mind itself.

Q. What level of Musician can confer the buff?

A. Novice Musician and up. The buff depends on the Musical Mind Enhancement skill. At Novice Musician, this skill is 10, which results in a 10% increase in the relevant stats. At Music Tech 4, this skill is 75, resulting in a 75% increase. At Master Musician, this skill is 100, resulting in a 100% buff -- a doubling of Focus and Willpower.

Q. I'm a Musician. How do I confer the buff?

A. Two ways:

1. The active buff on a single target. Enter a cantina, theater, hotel, or camp. Target your listener with your mouse. Ask your listener to /listen to you -- to type /listen with you targeted. With the listener targeted, type /setperform. You should see a message indicating that you direct your message to the listener -- and the listener should see such a message from you. Begin playing. Choose a relatively high song and flourish a lot; choice of instrument may not matter, but to be safe choose a chid horn, traz, nalargon, ommni, bandfill, or mandoviol. Play for around 6 minutes -- less time if you can cram in more flourishes quickly, more time if you flourish at a more leisurely pace. After that, instruct the listener to type /stoplisten or to choose "Stop Listen" from the radial menu. At that point, the listeners secondary stats should jump up. The buff lasts up to two hours.

2. The passive buff on one or more targets. If you want to buff multiple people, you can group with them and have them all /listen while you perform. You don't need to use /setperform. The upside is that multiple people can get the buff from you at the same time. In theory, this buff was supposed to take longer than the /setp buff, but in practice it seems to take the same time.

Q. Why isn't there a message telling me that the buff is in progress while I'm playing or listening?

A. The devs are aware that players are unhappy that they can't verify that the buff is working while it's being conferred. The Musician Correspondent has asked them for improvements to this aspect of the buff, and said Correspondent is hopeful we'll see them sooner or later.

Q. Can I buff myself with music?

A. Not currently. The Musician Correspondent has raised this issue with the devs, and while the devs aren't necessarily opposed to a self-buff, there apparently are technical obstacles to implementing one. Yes, Doctors can buff themselves, but a Doctor self-buff apparently doesn't raise as many coding problems as a Musician or Dancer self-buff. Edit: more recently, the devs also suggested they had design objections to a self-buff. I am still hopeful that we'll see a self-buff some time in the future, but it will be a while, and it may not come to pass at all.

Q. Does flourishing affect the duration or power of the targeted (/setperform) buff?

A. Flourishing affects how fast you achieve maximum duration and maximum power. Flourishes will not, however, increase the maximum duration or power of the buff. In effect, flourishing cuts down the time you need to perform the targeted buff.

Q. Does flourishing affect the duration or power of the passive (grouped) buff?

A. If you don't flourish, you won't confer the buff. The more you flourish, the faster the buff is applied.

Q. Does song or instrument choice affect the duration or power of the targeted (/setperform) buff?

A. In theory, yes. As with flourishing, song or instrument choice will affect the time at which you achieve maxium power and duration with the targeted buff. If you play a higher song or instrument, the time required to buff is, in theory, shorter. In practice, many Musicians say they see no difference.

Q. Does song or instrument choice affect the duration or power of the passive (grouped) buff?

A. In theory, yes. A "higher" song or instrument supposedly speeds the rate at which the passive (grouped) buff is applied. In practice, many Musicians say they see no difference.

Q. Do "lighting effects" (Firejet, Colored Lights, etc) affect the duration or power of the targeted or passive buff?

A. No, not currently. I have asked the devs to implement such a feature, and I'm hopeful they will do so.

Q. Does instrument quality affect the duration or power of the targeted or passive buff?

A. No, not currently. Again, I have asked the devs to implement this feature; I don't know what the prospects are for implementation.

Q. If I stop playing in mid-buff, say to change instruments, does that interfere with the buff, or prevent it from "taking"? Does it matter how long I stop?

A. Stopping for a short time should not interfere with your buff. I've tested this repeatedly over the past few days, and my "main" can buff my "alt" even if the main stops playing for 30 seconds. The buff is triggered when the recipient stops listening, whether via radial, command-line, or walking out of range; it's not triggered by a cessation of the performance. That said, some players say it's safer to play continuously if possible.

Q. Precisely what is the amount of time a Master Musician must play to confer the maximum-length targeted buff (i.e., /setperform)?

A. As the answers above indicate, it supposedly varies depending on the song, instrument, and flourish amount. In practice, it seems to depend solely on flourish rate.

Q. How can I use /setperform with the nalargon or ommni box, since those most be targeted at all times?

A. The buff works with these instruments. If you're doing the /setperform buff, type /setperform (playername) to direct your performance to the player. Alternatively, you could target the listener with your mouse before you start playing; type /setperform; and then target the nala or ommni and start playing. You don't need to keep the listener targeted once you've typed /setperform. If you're doing the grouped buff, then you don't need to type /setperform at all; just play as usual.

Q. Can I switch songs while I buff?

A. Yes. The safest way to do this is with the /changemusic command, so that you don't stop.

Q. What if someone /listens for an hour or longer? Will that mess up the buff?

A. No, as long as they /stoplisten eventually.

Q. What if the listener leaves the cantina during the performance? Does that trigger the buff?

A. In theory, yes. In practice, not always. The surest way to trigger the buff is to stay in the cantina while /listening, then to type /stoplisten or choose Stop Listen from the radial menu. If you leave the cantina and the buff isn't triggered automatically, try typing /stoplisten.

Q. Does the buff work anywhere?

A. No. In theory, it works only in camps, theaters, hotels, or cantinas; "cantinas" include private homes, PA Halls, City Halls, and player cantinas. I've read unconfirmed reports of players buffing in starports, but I've been unable to do this myself. As for player-owned buildings in Player Cities, please see the next three questions.

Q. Does the buff work in player cantinas?

A. Yes.

Q. Does the buff work in player theaters?

A. Last I checked on Test Center, it did not work here -- nor did ordinary healing -- unless one performed backstage. I don't know if this has been fixed yet.

Q. Does the buff work in City Halls?

A. Apparently it does, though I myself haven't tried it yet.

Q. Can the listener /stoplisten while meditating and still get the buff?

A. No, you should not meditate while typing /stoplisten. If you are meditating while you /stoplisten, you may well prevent the buff from being applied.

Q. I can't buff! What am I doing wrong?

A. Lots of possibilities:

1. Your listener forgot to /listen to you, or /listened to the wrong Musician, or forgot to type /stoplisten at the end of your performance. This happens more often than people realize.

2. You forgot to target the listener and type /setperform at the beginning of your performance.

3. Your listener recently died, crashed to desktop, timed out, or suffered some other calamity. I've read some reports that recent trauma to the listener may impede the buff, especially if the listener had a Music buff up when the calamity occurred. It may be that the buff drops but that the buff timer fails to reset. I'm reporting this to the devs. In the meantime, if you have trouble buffing someone, ask them about this type of pre-buff calamity.

4. Your listener had some other buff up. In theory, this "stat bug" has been fixed as of the most recent patch, but ask your listener about this if there's a problem buffing.

5. You're in a player-city theater. These are bugged.

6. You're not in a camp, hotel, theater, or cantina.

7. You didn't flourish.

8. You didn't play long enough.

9. You typed /setperform more than once, or changed targets and typed /setperform.

10. Your listener started /listening long after you started playing and typing /setperform. Ideally, your listener should be listening when you start playing, and before you type /setperform.

11. You stopped for a long time in mid-performance.

12. Your listener ran out of range for a moment. Even if he or she returns, the buff trigger may have been pulled, and you must re-buff.

13. You are not a Novice Musician or higher, or your Musical Mind Enhancement skill is zero.

14. You used a song or instrument that is too "low" while performing the targeted buff.

15. The listener was meditating when they typed /stoplisten.

16. The listener left the cantina without typing /stoplisten. Leaving the cantina is supposed to trigger the buff, but it doesn't always.

Q. Sorry, I've tried all the suggestions in the above answer, and I still can't buff.

A. Report this in the Musician forum, and direct your post to the Musician Correspondent. Actually, there's a stickied thread there for reporting bugs with the buff.

Q. Why bother reporting bugs here? The devs won't listen to problems with the buff.

A. Actually, the devs have asked the Correspondent to take an active role in monitoring how the buff is working and to report back on bugs and problems. The devs do read the Correspondent's posts in the Correspondent Forum, and they usually respond within a day or two.

I hope this helps. If there are errors in this FAQ, please let me know so I can revise and update it.

Applying the Enhancement

Mind Buffing Basics

Mind buffing may seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Any entertainer who has reached at least novice in the Dancer Profession or Musician Profession may administer mind buffs. The strength of the buff depends on advancement in the Technique line of either profession.

There are two different types of mind buffs. One buff is to the mind pool, the second buff is to focus and willpower. Dancers are responsible for the mind pool and musicians are responsible for focus and willpower. Neither buff is really “better” than the other overall, it is really situational which is preferred.

In addition to two different types of mind buffs, there are also two ways of administering mind buffs. They can be applied actively to a single target, or passively to everyone grouped with the entertainer. Aside from being grouped or not and how many can be buffed at once, there is no difference in how the buff is applied.

Steps for the person being buffed

Before starting the buff, it is best to make sure that the recipient is not watching or listening to anyone. This is just a precaution to make sure things work right. The recipient should then start watching or listening to the entertainer as appropriate, and watch or listen to nobody else until the buff is complete. A minimum of two minutes watching or listening is required. That two minutes does not necessarily have to be while the entertainer is buffing, so it is a good idea to start listening first.

Once the buff is finished, it is not applied until the recipient walks away, or stops watching or listening with either the radial menu or the /stopwatch or /stoplisten command.

Steps for the entertainer

When buffing, an entertainer has two options. They can perform for the recipient with the /setperform Entertainer Command, or they can invite them to the group. If the recipient is invited to the group nothing else is required from the entertainer for them to be buffed. An entertainer can be buffing group members and a target at the same time.

Once the recipient is watching or listening to the entertainer, the entertainer performs for anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes. The more active the entertainer performs, the quicker the buff will be applied and the longer it will last.

How much will the buff be?

Unlike doctor buffs, entertainer buffs are based on a percentage of the recipients base stats. The entertainers musical or dancing mind enhancement determines the percentage. A Master Dancer will have 100 dancing mind enhancement, and a Master Musician will have 100 musical mind enhancement. There are also skill enhancing attachments (Sometimes called SEAs or skill tapes) which can give a boost to mind enhancement. Multiples of these can be put on different pieces of clothing (One per article of clothing) up to a bonus of +25. Higher will show in the skills, but the buff will be unaffected. Bio-engineers, unfortunately, can do nothing to help mind buffs.

Some flourishing is required to get a full strength mind buff, however 4–12 flourishes (Depending on what dance or music is being performed) is enough for even a master with all the enhancements their clothes will fit.

How long will the buff last?

Mind buffs can last anywhere from 1 minute to 2 hours. The duration of the mind buff depends on two things. How long the entertainer performed, and how much they flourished. Every 10 seconds performing is 1 minute extra duration, and every flourish is 1 minute extra duration. Flourishes are counted even if the entertainer never performs them (Stops before they come up for musicians, or flourish during another flourish for dancers). For those doing the math, this means the minimum amount of time needed for a full 2 hour buff is 3 minutes 20 seconds, assuming flourishing as fast as the game allows (5 flourishes every 10 seconds).

How will I know when it's been long enough?

There are several game utilities you can use to notify yourself when the buff is done. Generally a buff will take 3 minutes 20 seconds if you are over-flourishing, or closer to 8–10 minutes if you are doing normal performing and flourishing as you need it for your performance.

3 minutes 20 seconds is 200 seconds, 10 minutes is 600 seconds.

Alarms You can create alarms with the /alarmAddIn command. Usage is /alarmAddIn hours minutes message. Once you set an alarm, after it expires it will display the message and play a sound for you. You can use /alarm to list alarms and /alarmRemove to remove alarms, for example if someone gets impatient and leaves early.

Example: /alarmAddIn 0 10 \#ff0000It's been 10 minutes

/pause In addition to alarms, you can also set a /pause command running. This must be used together with another command, with a ; in between. Most commonly used in macros or aliases. The usage is /pause seconds.

Examples: /pause 600;/tell yourname \#FF0000It's been 10 minutes /pause 600;/echo \#FF0000It's been 10 minutes /pause 600;/groupsay It's been 10 minutes, your mind buff is done

What should an entertainer charge for a buff? Some people will do buffs for Tips. Others have a set fee they charge up front. The range seems to be anywhere from 2k to 10k. So if you are tipping for a buff, keep that in mind.

If you want to really make money like this, you can setup a group where you invite people as they pay, then let them know when they are finished. To keep track of everyone, you can do something like this..

/alias buffInvite /invite;/ttell Join my group for a buff. I'll let you know when you are done;/pause 600;/g Your buff is done

Then when Luke comes along for a buff, you target him and type /buffInvite Luke. Half way through the buff, his friend Leia comes along for a buff, you would target her and type /buffInvite Leia.

Analysis of mind buffs

If you are just interested in what is needed for a buff to be applied, you're done. The rest of this is dealing with the details of how the system works.

The basics...

It's very simple. There are two things that add to a buff. Every xp “tick”, and a flourish. Each of these events adds to both the time, and size of the buff.

Making a buff last...

Buffs are a minimum of 10 seconds. From there it's minutes at a time. Every flourish, and every xp tick adds 1 minute to the buff. So if there were not a 5 flourish limit, 120 flourishes would be 2 hours. Since there is a 5 flourish limit, that means at most you can add 6 minutes every 10 seconds. (5 for a flourish, 1 for the xp tick)

Making a buff bigger...

This is where what you are playing/dancing makes a difference. Again, every flourish and xp tick add to the buff.. But what they add is different. The base amount they add is based on the level of what you are performing, or what instrument you are playing. Specifically:

Dance
Music
% per tick
% per flourish

Basic, rhythmic (Novice Entertainer)
Starwars 1, slitherhorn (Novice Entertainer)
2%
10%

Basic 2, Rhythmic 2?, Footloose
Fizzz, Fanfar, Rock, Starwars 2, Folk
3%
15%

Formal
Kloo Horn, Starwars 3
4%
20%

Popular, Poplock, Popular 2, Poplock 2?
Traz, Ballad, Bandfill
5%
25%

Lyrical, Exotic, Exotic 2?
Chidinkalu Horn, Ommni Box, Waltz, Jazz
6%
30%

Lyrical 2?, Exotic 3?, Exotic 4 (Master Dancer)
Nalargon, Virtuoso (Master Musician)
7%
35%

Now a little explanation on how that works... That is the base gain. The xp tick always adds that amount to the buff. A flourish, however, adds 5x that to the buff. So a flourish of basic adds 10%, while a flourish of virtuoso or exotic3 adds 35%. So, while the level of the performance DOES effect the gain.. 10 flourishes and even basic is 100%.

Experience from buffing...

Buffing gives experience. Entertainer healing experience, in fact. Healing xp shows up as the last of 3 lines of healing xp each tick. But where does it come from? Every % buffed by the xp tick gives 1xp. So, if you look at that chart above and replace % with xp, that is how much xp you get per tick, up until your max. The max, of course, being your mind enhancement skill. Thus, if an unenhanced master is dancing exotic, and flourishes once early on, they will get 35% from the flourish, and 65% from the xp tick, so they will give the group 65 healing xp. If you get to 100% before one tick, you get no xp at all, as the xp tick isn't buffing any percentage.

On the 2 minute minimum...

The only effect the two minute minimum has is exactly that, a two minute minimum for the buff to take effect. It doesn't matter if they started watching/listening before being buffed, nor does it matter if you are performing for the entire 2 minutes. They can start watching/listening, then you stop performing, then 2 minutes later start again, and you could grant them a tiny buff nearly right away. Other than that, the minimum has no effect on the buff.

Getting the best buff

So basically for the best buff, you need to do 120 flourishes or xp ticks. So every 10 seconds you spend buffing is one less flourish you need to do. Thus, the minimum is 3 minutes, 20 seconds.. That is 20 xp ticks for 20 minutes, and 100 flourishes for the other hour 40 minutes.

If I wanted to do math I wouldn't have a computer. What does this all mean? Well, to get the best buff, how long depends on how often you flourish... Based on the interval between flourishes...

2 seconds or less: 3 minutes 20 seconds
4 seconds: 5 minutes 42 seconds
5 seconds: 6 minutes 40 seconds
6 seconds: 7 minutes 30 seconds
8 seconds: 8 minutes 53 seconds
10 seconds: 10 minutes
15 seconds: 12 minutes
20 seconds: 13 minutes 20 seconds
30 seconds: 15 minutes
never: 20 minutes

If you want to figure it out yourself, the formula based on Pause length and Time for the total buff is:

Time and Pause are in seconds.

10*Time Pause = ----------- 1200 – Time

1200*Pause Time = ---------- Pause + 10

Formulas