Good Morning Game Fans, we’re back to continue our deeper investigation into the mysteries of Dungeons and Dragons, and how it shaped the larger roleplaying game community. We’ve put a temporary hold on our discussion about races in fantasy roleplaying (We’ll pick back up with the races from Volo’s Guide to Monsters and the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion after this interlude). We’re going to discuss the role of Classes in fantasy roleplaying games, and then we’ll take a look in turn at each of the character classes in the Player’s Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition.
So what is a Character Class? In Dungeons and Dragons (and many other roleplaying games) A Character Class represents a combination of special abilities, options and skills that make up a character’s occupation. Your Character Class helps define what options you have to interact with the larger game world, and determines whether you’re a sneaky expert, or a bold warrior, or a crafty arcane magician.
It also serves to indicate to other players what they can expect your character to be capable of doing. In other words, it can serve as a keyword for you to identify a variety of factors. It’s also the second most common descriptor used to identify a character after race. For example, “He’s a human ranger, or she’s an elven wizard.” in the same way that people can identify as a lawyer, or a doctor or a soldier, the fantasy adventurer identifies as a barbarian, or a ranger, or a wizard.
Bard:
Bards occupy a special niche in the fantasy world. Travelling from place to place and either singing, dancing or telling stories, they earn their keep by enrapturing audiences in fantastic tales of high adventure, terrible foes, and lost civilizations. A Bard is a master at telling these stories, and a few of them are telling their own stories of daring and high adventure.
A Bard is an expert in an assortment of skills and have a wide area of potential expertise. Bards are interesting additions to adventuring parties because they can be good at just about anything. They know a wide range of information on topics, can cast an assortment of arcane spells, and might just be the right person at the right time to save the day.
Creating a Bard:
Why did you pick Bard for this character? Is he or she a wanderer at heart, looking for whatever trouble he or she can find along the way? A learned expert, or a soulful musician? Do you sing for your supper, or dance, or play an instrument, or tell the greatest stories ever told? What brought your character to this role, and how did they end up deciding on the Bard life? Figuring out these answers can help you figure out why you want to be a bard, and how you can select a background that works with the class and your concept.
Bards have a broad range of potential for expertise, so you have some options for deciding what you want to do. The role that the Bard fills best in a party of adventurers is the party’s Face. What this means is that your character speaks for the party in most cases, and you should select the skills and abilities that will give you the best foot forward as a party spokesman. The other advantage a Bard has is in versatility. A Bard can fill in for a variety of roles that other characters typically fit into. They are probably not the best fit for the job, but they can manage it for a while.
The Bard runs on Charisma for most of its social interaction capabilities and its spellcasting, but Intelligence is just as important to help the Bard know the stuff they are supposed to know. With a wide swath of potential roles to fill, No two Bards are probably going to be alike, and with Race, Archetype and Background choices, Bards are almost infinitely customizable.
Class Features
This section contains all of the mechanically and statistically relevant information that you will need as a player to build your character.
Hit Points:
Hit points represent the amount of damage a character can take before being incapacitated and potentially dead. Every class has a specific range of potential hit point totals, modified by the character’s Constitution modifier.
Hit Dice: Bards use a D8 for their hit dice. This is a middle of the road hit die, the dedicated arcane spell casters are rolling D6s, while the rogue, the Cleric, and the monk are also rolling D8s. Compared to more martially capable characters, Bards can’t take as much of a punch without succumbing to their injuries
Hit Points at 1st level: A 1st level Bard will have 8 hit points plus an additional number of hit points equal to their constitution bonus.
Hit Points at higher levels: Every level after first, a Bard gains an additional D8 hit die, which they can roll for hit point, or take the average value of 5. They also get to add their Constitution modifier to whatever they roll. The new Hit Die plus Con mod is added to their existing Maximum hit points, and they are off to the races.
For example, a level 3 Bard has just gained enough experience points to achieve level 4. They roll a D8, and come up with a 6. The player adds their Constitution bonus of +2, and this comes to an 8. Added to the existing maximum Hit Point total of 24, the new 4th level Bard has 32 hit points.
Proficiencies:
Proficiencies represent specific training and competency levels with a variety of weapons, armor, saving throws, tools, and skills. When using weapons and skills your character is proficient in, as well as making saving throws of types your character is proficient with, you get to add your proficiency bonus to the die roll.
Armor: Light Armor
Weapons: Simple Weapons, Hand Crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Tools: Three musical instruments of choice
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Charisma
Skills: Choose any three
Note: There are other ways to acquire certain proficiencies beyond the character class. Certain races, backgrounds, and other options allow a character to pick up proficiencies outside their normal range, so if you see something you’re looking for, you might just find it in another section.
Equipment:
Every character class has a recommended starting package of weapons and equipment. This is an excellent way to save yourself time by grabbing a gear package and being ready to go. All of the suggestions are laid out in a menu, and you as a player get to make one choice per bullet point for your character’s equipment.
- (a) rapier or (b) longsword or (c) any simple weapon
- (a) diplomat’s pack or (b) an entertainer’s pack
- (a) lute or (b) any other musical instrument
- Leather armor and a dagger
Class Abilities:
The majority of the remaining class description will feature a combination of special abilities and tricks that only members of this specific class have access to. These are the other professional capabilities that define this class and separate it from the remaining ones. They give the flavoring that make the bard play differently from the sorcerer. They have a specific format that they’ll likely follow:
1st Level
Spellcasting
Through the power of rhyme, verse, and will, a bard can create magical effects. Spellcasting is an incredibly dense topic that is covered in Chapter 10 of the PHB (Spellcasting) and Chapter 11 (The Spell Lists). I’m going to cover the basics of how Spellcasting is affected by being all that is Bard, but you should definitely check out both of those chapters before slinging spells.
Cantrips
The Bard knows two cantrips from the Bard Spell list. As the bard gains more experience, they learn more cantrips.
Spell Slots
The Bard has a limited number of slots that they can use to cast magical spells. There’s a big table on page 53 that will tell you how many spell slots of each level you have available. In order to cast a spell, you need to have a spell slot of the appropriate level or higher available. Casting the spell expends the spell slot. All expended spell slots recover with a long rest.
Note 1: Some spells work better when cast with higher level spell slots.
Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher
A Bard knows 4 1st level spells at 1st level, and there’s a handy chart on page 53 that shows a Bard when they learn more spells.
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is the spellcasting attribute a Bard uses. The Bard’s force of will and strength of personality are what give the magic its power. What this means in game terms is as follows:
- Spell Save DC = 8 +Bard’s Proficiency Bonus + Bard’s Charisma Modifier
- Spell Attack Modifier= Bard’s Proficiency Bonus +Bard’s Charisma Modifier
Ritual Casting
The Bard can cast any bard spell as a ritual, if the spell has the ritual tag
Spellcasting Focus
The bard can use a musical instrument as a focus for Bard Spells.
Bardic Inspiration
The Bard can inspire greatness in his or her allies. The Bard spends a bonus action and targets a creature within 60 feet. That creatures gets an inspiration die (a D6). At any point in time during the next ten minutes, that creature can roll their inspiration die as a bonus to an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. The die has to be used before the DM announces success or failure, but can be added after the roll is made. The inspiration die increases as the Bard level’s up.
The bard has a number of uses of bardic inspiration equal to their charisma modifier, and recharge any spent usages after a long rest.
2nd level
Jack of All Trades
The Bard knows a little bit of everything. He or she adds ½ his or her proficiency bonus to any ability checks that don’t already include the Bard’s proficiency bonus.
Song of Rest
With soothing music or gentle stories, the Bard can aid the healing of his or her companions. If they can hear the bard’s performance, they heal an additional 1D6 hit points for their rest. (the die of additional healing increases as the Bard levels up)
3rd Level
Bardic College Ability 1
Depending on which Bardic College you select, you’ll get one of two abilities. I’ll cover these below when I cover the archetypes in greater detail.
Expertise
The bard selects two of their skill proficiencies and doubles their proficiency bonus.
4th Level
Ability Score IncreaseYou can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
5th Level
Bardic Inspiration
(Improves to 1D8)Font of Inspiration
The Bard recharges all of the Bardic Inspiration after finishing a short or long rest.
6th Level
Bardic College Ability 2Depending on which Bardic College you select, you’ll get one of two abilities. I’ll cover these below when I cover the archetypes in greater detail.
Countercharm
The Bard’s charisma can protect their allies from fright and charm. As an action, the Bard begins a performance that lasts until the end of it’s next turn. During that time, the Bard and their allies have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and/or frightened. A creature has to be able to hear you in order to benefit from this ability, and the benefits end if the Bard is incapacitated.
7th Level
No New Abilities gained
8th Level
Ability Score IncreaseYou can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
9th Level
Song of Rest
(Improves to 1D8)
10th Level
Bardic Inspiration(Improves to 1D10)
Expertise
The bard selects two of their skill proficiencies and doubles their proficiency bonus.
Magical Secrets
Bards know an awful lot about a lot of different topics. The Bard can select two spells from any list that is either a cantrip, or a level of spells the bard can cast. The chosen spells are considered to be on the Bard’s spell list, and are included in the number of spells known on the Bard table on page 53.
11th Level
No New Abilities gained
12th Level
Ability Score IncreaseYou can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
13th Level
Song of Rest(Improves to 1D10)
14th Level
Magical SecretsBards know an awful lot about a lot of different topics. THe Bard can select two spells from any list that is either a cantrip, or a level of spells the bard can cast. The chosen spells are considered to be on the Bard’s spell list, and are included in the number of spells known on the Bard table on page 53.
Bardic College Ability 3
Depending on which Bardic College you select, you’ll get one of two abilities. I’ll cover these below when I cover the archetypes in greater detail.
15th Level
Bardic Inspiration(Improves to 1D12)
16th Level
Ability Score Increase
You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
17th Level
Song of Rest(Improves to 1D10)
18th Level
Magical SecretsBards know an awful lot about a lot of different topics. The Bard can select two spells from any list that is either a cantrip, or a level of spells the bard can cast. The chosen spells are considered to be on the Bard’s spell list, and are included in the number of spells known on the Bard table on page 53.
19th Level
Ability Score IncreaseYou can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point. You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability. Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.
20th Level
Superior InspirationIf the Bard rolls initiative and has 0 uses of Bardic Inspiration, he or she immediately gains a use of it.
Thoughts and Ideas:
So what does all of this mean? The keyword for the Bard has to be utility. Bards have enough spellcasting prowess to be able to strengthen the resolve of their allies, and demoralize their foes. Magical Secrets lets them fill in for either an arcane artillery piece by picking up some higher level arcane spells like fireball or lightning bolt, or they can fill the cleric role by picking up some higher level healing magic.
In many ways, a Bard is a role-player with a wide swath of skills and areas of potential expertise. Each little ability and skill they pick up lets them fill in for either parties that are missing characters or fill a role of their own. Don’t underestimate the role a Bard can play when you have one join your group, or when you make one. Bards can fill a lot of slots, and you get to decide what the slots are when you build your Bard.
Archetypes:
A character class is built to be as broadly encompassing as it can be. There are many types of wizards in the world, and different types of fighters as well. Each class has access to a selection of Archetypes that allow a player to further tighten up their concept and build the type of character they are specifically looking for. Rogues have access to both thief and assassin, for example, and while they are both Rogues at heart, the abilities that each Archetype uses definitely change the way the class feels to play.
The two Bardic Colleges offered in the Player’s Handbook for the Bard are the College of Lore and the College of Valor. Each one adds a group of abilities to the core Bard, and they can shift the way you look at your character and the feats of awesome you might want to pull off.
College of Lore
The College of Lore are the very traditional story telling, song singing, entertainers that most of us think of when we hear Bard. They gather knowledge and information to share with the wider world, and are keen on sharing information with the world around them. This Bardic College doubles down on the knowledge gathering and magical capabilities of the Bard and enhances those abilities further. Let’s take a closer look at the three abilities for the College of Lore.
3rd Level
Bonus ProficienciesThe Lore Bard acquires three new skill proficiencies of choice.
Cutting Words
The Bard is a master of distraction and annoyance. When a creature within 60 feet of the Bard makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a damage roll, the Bard can expend a use of Bardic Inspiration, as a reaction, to roll a Bardic Inspiration die and subtract the result from the creature’s roll. Creatures that can’t hear the Bard, or are immune to being charmed are immune to this effect.
6th Level
Additional Magical SecretsBards know an awful lot about a lot of different topics. The Bard can select two spells from any list that is either a cantrip, or a level of spells the bard can cast. The chosen spells are considered to be on the Bard’s spell list, but are not included in the number of spells known on the Bard table on page 53.
14th Level
Peerless SkillThe Bard can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration to roll a Bardic Insipration die and add it to the result of an ability check. The Bard can use this ability after the die is rolled, but before the DM announces success or failure.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The College of Lore Bard doubles down on magical prowess and skill proficiency. This character is an expert in a wide range of topics and supplements that prowess with spells from a myriad of sources. I like the potential for filling in skill deficits within a party, and in a pinch, the Lore Bard can pinch hit for either a more dedicated arcane or divine spell caster.
College of Valor
The College of Valor Bard takes the Bard, adds a swash to buckle, and turns them loose on the world. These are not merely the singers of great deeds, nor are the merely spinners of tales. They are heroes who’ve travelled the world and seen things other people can only imagine. With a stout heart, a sword in hand, and a song on their lips, the Valor Bard inspires heroes in every generation. Let’s take a closer look at the three abilities for the College of Valor.
3rd Level
Bonus Proficiencies A Valor Bard gains proficiency in Medium Armor, Shields, and martial weapons.
Combat Inspiration
A Valor Bard has two new uses of Inspiration DIce- Damage: A creature can choose to roll a Inspiration Die from a Valor Bard to add to a damage roll.
- Defense: As a reaction, a creature can roll an Inspiration Die from a Valor Bard to add to its Armor Class against the attack the reaction is declared against.
6th Level
Extra Attack
When the Bard takes an attack action, he or she can perform an additional attack as part of that action.
14th Level
Battle Magic
When the Bard uses their action to cast a Bard spell, they can make a single weapon attack as a bonus action.
Thoughts and Ideas:
The Valor Bard is a potent addition to the martial aspect of a party. With the ability to wear heavier armor and utilize more dangerous weaponry, the Valor Bard can step into the front line of combat and certainly pull their own weight around fighters, rangers, and the other martially inclined classes. Further, their additional magical abilities, and inspirational bonuses can help fill in when other spell casters aren’t close.
Conclusions:
As i have stated previously, the byword for the Bard is Utility. The next best word to describe a Bard is customizable. The class abilities and magical prowess of a Bard makes it highly unlikely that if two were made right next to each other, they would look nothing alike in skills, proficiencies, and spell choices. There are few bad options available to a Bard, and that’s one of their great strengths.
The potential pitfall of a bard is trying to do too much at one time. Bardic utility means that a Bard can do a lot of things reasonably well, but they still have to focus in on a couple of areas of extreme specialization or they are going to get caught trying to do everything and failing to live up to that task. Try and focus on a couple of areas that you feel comfortable with, and let the other characters pick up the slack.
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