At each level, including 1^st level, you may learn a great ballad of your choice. Each day you can sing one of these songs to give you a positive relationship with an icon that you would not ordinarily have…as well as increasing a negative relationship with another icon.

Song choices for the great ballad are up to the role-player.

It takes at least a few rounds to sing a great ballad, so ideally it happens outside of combat. As you sing the ballad, it's an opportunity to tell the GM what's special about the story you are telling.

Make a Charisma skill check using your best singing or musical background. If you succeed, you gain 2 points of positive relationship with the chosen icon for the rest of the day (until the next full heal-up). The DC depends on the environment:

DC 15: Adventurer environment

DC 20: Champion environment

DC 25: Epic environment

You can use these points to roll relationship dice the way you roll your normal icon relationships (see Icon Relationships). If you already have positive or conflicted dice with the icon you've sung about, add them to your new bonus dice. If you have negative dice with the icon you've sung a ballad to, they can be temporarily overruled by the ballad, but the GM should feel free to interpret any 5s rolled with a heavy hand.

When your great ballad magically compliments an icon, another icon should take a hit. As you explain the story of your ballad to the GM, you should account for at least one icon who is being mocked, vilified, or referred to in unflattering terms. You get an equal number of cursed dice for that icon. Cursed dice aren't like negative relationship dice—they never help you. At the GM's option, you'll have to roll these cursed dice at least once and interpret them as possible problems for you: rolls of 1 are a definite problem; rolls of 2 mean there are story complications connected to the temporary enemy icon.