Bard Questions

I won't even ask whether or not to take Quaking Chorus. I already know that answer at least

Does the Soothing refrain heal Vampires?

Is it recommended to get the Hymn of the Pyre

What songs "pulse" and what ones simply apply their effect once when they are used? Can those ones whose effects are immediate one time effect be used repeatedly one after another with no delay or must you wait for the bard song to end?

Is Song's Subjugation worth taking?

Does Winter's Carol repeat it's damage?

How useful are the Crafting Feats for bards?

Not sure if soothing refrain heals vampires or not. I've been playing Alastair a lot lately, so if any vampires want to test it out, give me a hollar in game.

Somnific Lullaby, Quaking chorus, soothing refrain, and mundane melody "pulse" round to round.

Hymn of the Pyre, it applies the stat lowering effect and intitial burning at the start of the song to enemies within range. THose enemies will take burning damage round to round though. Enemies entering into range after the song is song don't get affected by either the stat lowering, or the round to round burning damage.

THe others are "at time of singing" types, including winter's carol, which doesn't repeat it's damage like hymn of the fire does. All songs last for the same duration as regular bardsong, and you can't sing another one until the first one sung has ended, even if it's not affecting enemies anymore/your deadman summons are all dead, ect.

As for if hymn is good to take, I'd say it's not a bad one at all. It's on par with curse song power-wise in my opinion. Not useful against fire-type of baddies, but devastating to creatures weak against fire (mummies), and fire is always good for killing those damn trolls (except cinders of course).

What do you mean by "song subjugation"? Do you mean mundane melody? If so, yes, mundane is very worth it, even without the SR aspect working. You won't get the 100% enemy spell failure until 40th, and it's only around 50% or so at bard level 20, but having that dracolich fail it's healing itself, or casting harm on you roughly 50% of the time can be a lifesaver.

Crafting feats... Im not sure really. I haven't looked too closely at all that a bard might be able to craft (there's a few flags which are craftable only by bards, but beyond that, not sure). Scroll scribing can be very useful if you use scrolls a lot and want to just toss out more ice storms in a battle.

I'm more than willing to test it out (I really REALLY want it to work on him) under two conditions

A: There's a DM there to rez me if I die
and
B: There's a DM there to give me releveling scales if it doesn't work.

And yes, my bad, I did mean Mundane Melody... I still can't figure out why I keep thinking "Song's Subjugation"...

Indeed, Soothing Refrain does heal Vampires.