Description

When a sentient creature touches this artifact they must immediately choose to use it for good or for awesome (not necessarily evil, but certainly selfish). Using the PoD for awesome turns a novice performer into the stuff of legends, while using it for good greatly enhances a talented performer’s already impressive skills.

For Awesome: Regardless of race, class, or skill the creature gains the Bardic Performance ability of a 9th level bard up to 25 rounds per day (this usage need not be continuous). The user is also treated as if they had 10 ranks in the Perform: Strings and Perform: Sing skills.

For Good: The user is treated as if their bard level is 5 levels higher than it actually is for the purposes of gaining new bardic performance abilities and enhancing those s/he already has. It gives the user an additional 10 rounds of bardic performance per day and gives a +5 enhancement bonus to the Perform: Strings and Perform: Sing skills.

The PoD also confers the following spell-like abilities, assuming the user has sufficient ranks in the Perform: Strings skill (skill ranks given by the PoD count towards meeting these requirements). All spell-like abilities use wielder’s CHA bonus as the relative stat when calculating spell DCs. Rank 10, 15 and 20 powers may each be used once per day.

5 Ranks: Ghost Sound (only able to create musical sounds, e.i. horns, percussion, etc.), Dancing Lights
10 Ranks: Power Word: Deaf (as Power Word: Blind) as a 10th level caster.
15 Ranks: Power Word: Stun as a 15th level caster
20 Ranks: Power Word: Kill as a 20th level caster

The PoD seems to have something of a mind of its own as it refuses to be held by one person for too long of a time. After spending about 10 years with one person the PoD must be passed on or it will find a way to escape its current wielder only to be found later by someone else.
Any person with no ranks in either Perform: Strings or Perform: Sing who touches the Pick of Destiny instantly suffers 10D6 damage and a permanent negative level.