[3.P] DJ Magician in da house!

[ImperatorK]

I'm making a character that is supposed to be a D&D-ish magical version of a DJ. Thus I'm looking for suggestions on what classes, spells, tricks, items, etc. to use and how to best use them. I don't know much about DJing, so any ideas for cool tricks and effects you could make to create that DJ-ish feel and enhance the character's performances would be appreciated. Personally I can come up only with Fearie Fire as lighting effects and Ghost Sounds/Minor Image for audio/visual effects. That's it.
The character is a legendary artist and party organizer, high level. Generally he works solo, but occasionally hires some good musicians for particularly important events, like when performing in front of a powerful king, for example.

[sirpercival]

Homebrew allowed?  Because Powerbard sounds like a perfect fit...

[ImperatorK]

No.

[Raineh Daze]

Normal bard? Possibly the most painfully obvious suggestion.

[ImperatorK]

Yes, the most obvious. But there's more to my request than what class to take.
Disclaimer/Clarification: The request for help isn't just about mechanics. If you have some good fluff ideas I'd be happy to read them. I'm not very familiar with DJing, to be honest, so I need input from someone who is.

[Kethrian]

Prestidigitation.  Illusions to create mist effects and light shows, and possibly to create sounds (make music with magic!).  Ranks in Perform.  Fascinate.  Mass Suggestion.  Hypnotic Pattern.  Good Hope.

[Tonymitsu]

Assuming you are talking about a club DJ (the kind of person you'd see mixing at a dance) or a mobile DJ (same as above, but has his own sound system) I don't really think there is a fantasy equivalent to what you are looking for.

Bare minimum equipment is pretty much the songs you want to play, either on vinyls or digital, speakers so people can hear it, a 2 or 4 channel audio mixer with a crossfader (to transition back and forth between songs), and headphones so you can listen to one song while something else is being played for the audience.

Optionals include a microphone to talk to the audience, a digital synthesizer to add audio effects (distortions, echo, reverb, etc), and maybe sound samplers.

FYI, the DJ who performs at an event just picks the music.  He's very rarely the same guy who organizes the entire event.

To be a club DJ in D&D you'd probably have to first invent a medium upon which music is recorded, since, as far as I know, even huge events with kings involved are all played live.

What you want is probably more akin to an event coordinator.  These are the people that make the big money.  They are responsible for choosing the location, the entertainment (which could be a DJ), the guest list, speakers, and content.  They also deal with smaller details like staffing, food, the budget, advertising, etc.

[ImperatorK]

Um... you know there's magic in D&D, right? Magic that can basically do all that stuff?

[Tonymitsu]

Um... you know there's magic in D&D, right? Magic that can basically do all that stuff?

Well then there you go.
Just say he uses magic can create any kind of performance you want and call it a day.

If he's a good character he probably uses illusions to create entire shows as a backdrop to his music.  Like the holophoner from Futurama.

If he's evil he probably dominates or hypnotizes the audience into believing his show was awesome.

[ImperatorK]

You're joking, right? This is a poor trolling attempt, it has to be...

[SolEiji]

It's amusing, one of my players is doing exactly this.  She's a DJ from the future (it's a time traveling campaign).

His build is a sonic focused sorcerer, bard may not be actually required (but should be able to pull off the same).  The trick here is spell selection, and if you wish, the type of music.  Sonic damage in general is just really loud music.  Enchantment buffs can be inspirational themes and montages.  And of course, prismatic anything for disco fun.

And ranks in perform too, just for enjoyment.

Given the need for good spells, yet have a bardic feel, I recommend Sublime Chord so you can have the best of bard and sorcerer, and justify those perform ranks.  And the rest is just engaging in fluff and reflavoring.

[ImperatorK]

Combat capabilities aren't important for this character.

BTW, Eiji, did you miss the PM I send you some while back?

[Kethrian]

This would actually be a great concept for the Spell Thematics feat, too.   Give all your spells musical sound effects, mist and laser lights for visual.

You're joking, right? This is a poor trolling attempt, it has to be...

I agree.  He basically just ignored what you were asking for, then went and generalized my first post....

[Tonymitsu]

You're joking, right? This is a poor trolling attempt, it has to be...

Yes, I suppose it is a little difficult to offer advice when you, the OP, don't even know what the hell you want.

The character is a legendary artist and party organizer, high level.

Ok fine.  That's an event coordinator, not a DJ.

Generally he works solo...

So he routinely puts together high society events all on his own?  I don't think so.  Perhaps if he is the avatar of the god of event coordinators...

...I'm not very familiar with DJing, to be honest...

Obviously.

cool tricks and effects you could make to create that DJ-ish feel and enhance the character's performances would be appreciated.  Personally I can come up only with Fearie Fire as lighting effects and Ghost Sounds/Minor Image for audio/visual effects. That's it.

...uh, yeah?
What else do you need?
You are aware that the entire school of illusion spells is limited only by your character's imagination, right?  Anything you decide to create is immediately justified by the fact that it's not real.
"That DJ-ish feel"?  Your performance is basically creating a mix tape in front of a live audience.  You choose songs with compatible keys, based on the kind of reaction you want from the crowd.  Usually the goal is a smooth transition from one song to the next, keeping high energy on the dance floor.  Just treat the turntable like it's a musical instrument.  Today, the basic techniques like phrasing and beatmatching can be almost completely automated with digital software, even in a live show. There are beat-counters that can analyze the tempo and tell you the exact BPM of a song, and programs which can compare musical keys in different tracks to help with harmonic mixing.

[SolEiji]

A PM, eh wot? 

....oh!  Well damn, I'm late on that.  *Types away*

In the meantime, lack of combat use is good, in that case lemme see which spells would be fitting for your selection.  Performance boosters and ranks are assumed.

(click to show/hide)

Call Lightning: For heavy metal performances, make sure you aim it somewhere where it won't hurt anyone.  Sets up a dramatic BOOM!

Color Spray: Aim it in the air for a lightshow.  Try not to stun your listeners.

Contingency: When you want an effect to go off without using actions.

Dancing Lights: Well this one just obvious.

Darkness/Daylight and similar: Adjust the lighting conditions to help your color displays pop out.

Delayed Blast Fireball/Fireball/Fire Seeds/Fire Trap: I mean delayed blast fireworks.  Also works with similar spells.

Enthrall, Hypnotic Pattern, and similar: Fascinate them like a bard.  Well, you might be a bard.

Entropic Shield: Noted for this part, "A magical field appears around you, glowing with a chaotic blast of multicolored hues."  Sounds rave-tastic.

Faerie Fire: More rave party antics.

Flare: More flashy bangy stuff.

Nonharmful "Cloud" spells: Have it pour over the ground like fog machines or cold smoke.

Ghost Sound: For making music.

Minor/Major Image and the like: Illusions are your bread and butter here, providing both audio and video aspects.  Honestly, this line can do the whole thing solo.

Glitterdust: More magical sparkle effects.

Halluucinatory Terrain/Mirage Arcana: Maybe you need to adjust the environment to fit the music.

Illusory Wall: Use it to hide your smoke machines and equipment.

Prismatic Anything: Same thing as Dancing Lights, just don't have anyone get hit.

Prestidigitation: Use it for minor SFX work.

Sculpt Sound: Here we go, this is what we really want.  As far as audio goes, this is king.

Sunbeam/Sunburst:  LASERS make everything better!

Ventriloquism: Part of your sound-editting software to use.

Looks like your best bet, magicaly, is using the illusion line (multiple persistent images seem best), and edit other sounds with sculpt sound and ventriloquism.  Then apply lasers as appropriate.

You can also summon musically talented creatures (such as those fey, what are they, Grigs?), or friendly noise making Destrachans.

To make it more like a DJ, you could have aforementioned persistant image spells be contained on reuseable discs.  When activated, they begin playing their pre-determined track until its done or its canceled.

-------------------------------------

And some mundane or item based options for you...

Actual Fog Machines: Something sufficiently cold can get you some dry ice and subsequently fog effects.

Continual Flame Iuon Stones: Get hundreds of them in different colors.

Harmless Traps: Have floor traps which light up on contact.  You can have an entire disco floor like this.

Strobe Light: Place a rotating shutter or spin a bullseye lantern around at high speed for instant strobe effects.

I hope this works.

[ImperatorK]

@ Tonymitsu
Okay, that's enough from you. You're not being helpful, only annoying. I appreciate the lesson on DJing, but please refrain from further posting in this thread, I'm not in the mood to deal with your bullshit, thank you.

[SolEiji]

More on the subject of monsters, lantern archons are living balls of light (who surprisingly are not incorporeal) who are unlikely to startle due to being evil or monstrous.  You could summon a swarm of them and enlist them in a complex light show, possibly while doing things on their own with their light rays attack at will.  These guys were made for disco parties.  Not the right color?  Prestidigitate them into a new hue.

If you're wondering, I'm coming at this from a very Daft Punk-esque angle, so you may need to adjust as needed to your musical stylings.