The social class, the one to make all of the decisions, a leader. The Bard is versatility imbued into a singular class. They are capable of fulfilling any archetype found within a traditional party of adventurers, and more. Charismatic and charming, these powerful performers are the life of a party, both celebratory and adventuring parties, for that matter. Slaying witches and laying… nevermind. They are some of the most fun characters you can play as, most certainly. The proper jack of all trades for skills across D&D, as well as, if built right, can be a reckonable force for enemies to face, all with their cunning cantrips and powerful charms. Fifth Edition exhibits the instance of character within the aspect of role playing more than combat. The character is more vital than the sheet, giving the Bard its rightful place as a class. To explain, this article will determine a Bard in the eyes of the face of a party. Stereotypically, they are usually more sociable as a class to pick.
Bards are powerful in all dynamics. As a full-caster with a d8 to their hit dice, as well as good proficiencies in light armour as well as three skills, it propels them onward from what you can usually find within a full-caster, like in contrast a sorcerer, another full-caster with a measly d6 to their hit dice, alongside no armour proficiencies. The skills they can pick are, in fact, all of them. As a recommendation, the best trio of skills for the socialite would be;
- Performance
- Deception
- Insight
Furthermore, at your starting levels, you pick out the musical instruments you may use as a spellcasting focus. Although these hold little importance, it can illustrate a key aspect of the Bard. Creative ingenuity. Bards are performers at heart, and use that to cast their spells, but music is not the only option. Creative liberty is the essence of a bard, and so other forms of expression function in the same way as playing music. Customisation is the centre-piece of bards. Also, for the saving throw proficiencies, Bards get dexterity and charisma.
Spellcasting is an active point of the bard class, a feature that is critical. Using charisma as the spellcasting focus, Bards are entitled to two cantrips and four spells at level one, which grows in size alongside one another. Ritual casting is an ability also bestowed, the ability to cast certain spells as a ritual instead, taking much longer in turn for the ability to cast it, essentially, for free. For the last ability bestowed onto a bard at level one, they have the ability to give others a portion of luck and strength through Bardic Inspiration, another scaling feature similar to regular Inspiration dice. At this level, the extra dice added to a roll before a DM declares it as successful is a d6.
When levelling up, the values of a Bard are clear. Dexterity and charisma are the integral portions to a character, and ability score improvements should consider them as the most important. Jack of All Trades does exactly what it sounds like it does. All skills are given half-proficiency, half of what a proficiency bonus entails, rounded down. Song of rest, also learnt at second level, like Jack of All Trades, allows for health to be gained during a short rest. With the choosing of your subclass, alongside the third level feature known as expertise, does the Bard become a class which is malleable into different archetypes. Subclasses that keep to the traditional sense of a bard involve College of Lore, alongside College of Eloquence. To go for a more martial-oriented subclass, both College of Swords and College of Valor succeed greatly in this regard. Expertise, as previously mentioned, is an ability similar to Jack of All Trades. Instead of giving half-proficiencies, you instead pick skills you already have proficiency in, and add the proficiency bonus to them again. For the next ability, Font of Inspiration, the Bard becomes much more capable after just a short rest. Your bardic inspiration, which at this point would be upgraded to using a d8 instead of a d6, has already improved, and will do so, again, soon. With the next core class ability, Countercharm exhibits the support aspect to a bard. Magical secrets, at 10th level, then 14th and 18th later on, allows for the bard to take the spells of the other magical classes to use alongside their other spells. Before going over the 20th level, the Bardic Inspiration caps at the 12-sided dice, alongside the Song of Rest. Expertise is given to four of your chosen skills. For the last effect, an ability that incentivizes for the bard to use their inspiration during interactions with other characters, outside of combat, is that when the initiative is enacted, if a bard has no more inspiration die to be used, they, in fact, regain one use.
To summarise, the Bards are support classes done right, without the basic idea of healing allies. They can still hold their own, and make for fun characters both in and out of combat. This class is certainly tough to play at times, though, but the reward makes them all the more fun.
The recommended race for a Bard is Half-Elf, specifically the standard variation to the class. With expertise and jack of all trades being as integral to the character, the two extra skills given, alongside a +2 to charisma just showcases the validity of a half-elf bard as a starting character. When it comes to the ability scores, it’s best to focus on dexterity as charisma cannot be chosen a second time! For the list of abilities, from most important to least important, the list goes;
- Charisma
- Dexterity
- Constitution
- Wisdom
- Intelligence
- Strength
Strength is least important, playing music and casting spells are not in dire need of muscles and power. Charisma is the most important, by far. Bards are sociable beings, the stereotype of them all being deadly flirts did not come out of thin air, now did it?
This article was written by Aitso11 on Fiverr, where you can find his rates here.