Reduce the XP cost of bard songs?

[Egon the Monkey]

I can understand the DMs not wanting any bard to easily have all the songs, however the current cost is such that I would not scribe most bard songs even for a personal ally of my PC, unless I wanted to delay leveling for some reason. I've actually refused twice to scribe the Jungle Song for PCs who were friendly with Alvin as I balked at the XP cost.

Most songs cost anywhere between 250-1000 XP which is rather a lot. The gold cost, on the other hand, is fine as a high price on versatility. Now, I realise it is possible to scribe one out of someone else's book, but a songbook's not something a bard really wants out of his posession, with good reason. The feature is so underused that I think a reduction in the XP cost for some of the songs wouldn't be unreasonable.

[Damien]

they drop often enough and any people other than a bard just sell them anyway, the exp isnt that high and would just make bards corny and the same if every bard had all the songs

[Egon the Monkey]

I am not sure you read the XP costs I've explained up there, or tried to play a bard. My point is that it should be bards who should be trading and scribing songs, not just Joe Adventurer. Instead, I would not consider song trading on a bard. The XP cost is far out of proportion  when you consider the relatively modest XP cost of even L5 scrolls.

Some songs are common, others less so. In fact it's not actually the most powerful ones that are uncommon. For example there's a few songs that provide situational, mostly RP bonuses. These are rare. If you want that for your PC and know someone with it, it would be reasonable to pay or trade them for a copy. But for a song costing 500 XP you'd have to put a LOT of profit on or a really desired song yourself to make it worth the big XP hit. Which when said song costs 500GP, makes it unreasonably expensive.

It's a good system, but unless you let lucky on drops or a certain merchant, it's hard to learn the songs that suit your PC. Incidentally, this isn't a cry for "everyone needs Battlemarch and Jungle song", they are two of the more common songs I've seen. It's a suggestion to aid for example the Dwarf PC looking for an ancient song of the caves or the scholar bard looking for a rare and studious melody. To avoid them having to rely on a lucky dip.

[SkillFocuspwn]

I think the real question is whether the DMs would want songs to be treated like Wizard scrolls at current, with anybody being able to simply stock up a full selection if they have enough dollah, or whether it should be a matter of careful consideration who to give them to and your selection to be a deal of great importance.

If the less mechanically powerful spells were made a lot easier to collect, it would simply mean that everyone would have them as a standard, meaning every bard would have all of the easy to achieve songs and then one / a few of the more powerful ones. This would make all Bards a lot more similar.

I think this making it a real effort to swap any form of song lets a Bard's selection be unique rather than a standard thing for the class and I assume that is what the DMs are going for.