Well, we're closing in on getting all the classes reviewed. I believe at this point we only have the Artificer, Wizard, and Bard left. So recently after doing the Cleric, with its huge number of frontloaded subclasses, I'm going to save Wizards for later (though they only have four post-PHB subclasses) and given that we just did Barbarians, it seems a good time to look at full casters.
Bards are a weird class - they're the full casters with the most subclass support for weapon-wielding melee builds (with two fully built around the notion and one giving a single ability to boost these capabilities). They're also weird in that they only get subclass features at three levels, compared to most classes getting them at four different levels (Fighters and Clerics get them at five different levels, though for Clerics the level 8 feature is always either Divine Strike or Potent Spellcasting, making them closer to class features than a subclass feature.)
Bards generally have a theme of having a lot of enchantment magic and other stuff to either enhance allies or hinder and bewilder foes, with less of an emphasis on straight damage output. But let's see how their various subclasses work, and complement different roles.
College of Lore:
Lore Bards are maybe the "quintessential" bards, though given their reputation for flexibility, perhaps neither PHB subclass is the truly dominant one. Lore bards collect stories, reflecting a bigger emphasis on magic.
At 3rd level, you get proficiency with three skills of your choice, which is pretty darn good (Bards already start with one more than most classes.)
Also at 3 you get Cutting Words. When a creature you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, ability check, or damage roll, you can use your reaction, expending a Bardic Inspiration die and rolling it, and subtracting the number rolled from the creature's roll. You can use this after they've rolled but before the DM tells you whether the roll succeeds or fails (or before the creature deals damage.) This is one of those things where timing at the table might be a bit fraught, so I'd recommend DMs be generous in interpreting this. The creature is immune to this effect if it can't hear you or is immune to being charmed (really imagine a lot of people forget this part.)
So, you sort of have anti-inspiration, which is cool. Scanlan from Critical Role's 1st season used this frequently, and it could really be clutch sometimes.
At 6th level, you get Additional Magical Secrets, which, ironically, comes before you get Magical Secrets at 10. You can learn two new spells of your choice from any class that are of a level you can cast. They count as Bard spells for you (so you can use Charisma and any items that boost your bard spells) but don't count against your total known spells. So, you can pick up Revivify, Fireball, or other great 3rd level spells with this, which is pretty cool if a bit unexciting.
At 14, you get Peerless Skill. When you make an ability check, you can expend a use of Bardic Inspiration and roll the die, adding it to your ability check. You choose to do this after you roll the d20 but before you know if you've succeeded or failed. So you can kinda-sorta give yourself inspiration, though only on ability checks.
So, nothing is really mind-blowingly cool here, but nothing's useless either. A reasonable if perhaps a bit dull choice, but not a bad one.
Also, we're done already? Maybe I'll put more in this post (I'd only planned to do the two PHB options. In fact, I think we can squeeze in four subclasses per post and finish the whole class off in two posts.)
College of Valor:
The College of Valor is focused on stories of bravery ad heroism, and supports more of a melee-fighter kind of gameplay.
You get proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons, making you a much more capable and durable melee combatant. (The armor and shield is great, though the martial weapon might be a bit redundant as Bards already get Rapiers, though I suppose if you wanted to use a bow, or if you had the stats to be a Strength-based bard, you could try that.)
At 3rd level you get Combat Inspiration. Essentially, creatures with your Bardic Inspiration can use them on weapon damage if they land a hit, or they can use their reaction to spend it and add the number to their AC if they're attacked. As seems a theme with Bard subclasses, you get alternate ways to use Bardic Inspiration, and in this case, it supports a more martial character.
At 6th level, you get Extra Attack. Slightly later than true martial classes, though only because of where Bards get their subclass features. Again, this really reinforces the idea that you're turning the class into more of a martial class.
Finally (man these go quick) we have, at level 14, Battle Magic. When you use your action to cast a bard spell, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action. This works very similar to the Eldritch Knight's Improved War Magic, and lets you get a little more damage in there while casting spells.
Again, none of this is over-the-top crazy, but this does the basics of making the Bard work as a martial class (on top of your full-caster spells.) Of course, we'll eventually get to the College of Swords, which I think is a more interesting take on this basic premise.
College of Glamour:
Glamour Bards I think of as being Bowie-esque rock gods, and it's not entirely unfounded. These are bards who wield the magic of the Feywild, and thus are unparalleled in their ability to charm others.
At 3rd level, you get Mantle of Inspiration. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration and choose a number of creatures you can see within 60 feet of you (who can also see you) up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier. Each gains 5 temporary hit points (and I believe this can include yourself.) When they gain these temp hit points, they can immediately use their reactions to move up to their speed without provoking opportunity attacks (I suppose this means that if they don't take the Temp HP, they don't get to move.) The Temp HP goes up to 8 at 5th level, 11 at 10th level, and 14 at 15th level. So, this is a good way to protect your allies and maybe get them out of a tight situation.
Also at 3rd level, you get Enthralling Performance. If you perform for at least 1 minute, a number of humanoids within 60 feet of you who watched and listened to the whole performance equal to your Charisma modifier or lower (minimum of 1) have to succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, or they become charmed by you, and while charmed, they idolize you and speak glowingly of you (they won't necessarily fight to protect you, but they'll hinder people who oppose you). The effect lasts for 1 hour, or if they take any damage, you attack them, or it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies.
The best part, though: if it succeeds on the save, it has no idea you tried to charm it.
And you can use it once per short or long rest.
This (and the class of similar abilities for other subclasses) is really fantastic - it allows you to do things that you might normally consider too risky. Casting charm person on, say, a King, could very easily get you executed. But no one will know you tried anything other than performing for them. In fact, in a game my friend runs, the Kenku bard did exactly that when they had an audience with the king, and my friend desperately asked me to search for a magical item the king would bestow upon his new favorite musician while he continued DM'ing the session.
At 6th level, you get Mantle of Majesty. As a bonus action, you can cast Command without expending a spell slot, and you take on an appearance of unearthly beauty for 1 minute or until your concentration ends. While concentrating in this way, you can cast Command as a bonus action on each of your turns, again without expending a spell slot. A creature already charmed by you automatically fails its save against your Commands. And you can do this once per long rest.
Command is one of those spells that is really strong in the immediate short term, but given that it only affects one turn, it can feel like too little for the spell slot. But this ability lets you practically dominate a creature (or different creatures as needed.) Pretty cool.
At 14, you get Unbreakable Majesty. Your appearance permanently gains an otherworldly aspect that makes you look more lovely or fierce (again, I'm getting huge glam-rock vibes). As a bonus action, you assume a "magically majestic" presence for 1 minute or until you're incapacitated. Any time a creature tries to attack you for the first time on a turn, they must make a Charisma saving throw. If they fail, they can't attack you on this turn and have to choose a new target for their attack or the attack is wasted. On a success, they can attack you this turn, but then they have disadvantage on any saving throw they make against your spells on your next turn. You can do this once per short or long rest.
The fact that they're penalized for succeeding is truly fantastic. Basically, while this is up, they're strongly disincentivized from attacking you, which is probably ideal as a Bard.
I really think that this subclass leaps ahead of the PHB ones and really gives you some cool features to work with. Pretty much everything is a one-use-per-rest, but these abilities are still really very cool and flavorful.
Ok, let's get through one more and we'll be halfway through the class.
College of Swords:
Thematically, this is the subclass for characters who are stunt-performers, juggling knives, swallowing swords, and other death-defying performances. Mechanically there's a lot of overlap here with the College of Valor, but as is the case with many Xanathar's subclasses, we see a more ambitious design.
At 3rd level you gain proficiency with medium armor and the scimitar. No shield or other martial weapons like Valor, but medium armor at least will make you a more durable melee combatant (at least until you get +5 to Dexterity.)
Additionally, you can use a simple or martial weapon that you're proficient with as a spellcasting focus for Bard spells. This is actually a bigger deal than you might think - Somatic components can still be performed while you have a spellcasting focus in hand, so you will not need to get Warcaster or drop your weapons when you cast your spells even if you're dual-wielding.
Also at 3, you get your choice of two Fighting Styles. You can choose between Dueling or Two-Weapon Fighting. In theory you should get more damage if you take the latter, but only if you don't use your bonus action a lot (which, as a Bard, you might.)
Finally, at 3rd level, you get the real crux of the subclass: Blade Flourish. When you take the attack action on your turn, your walking speed increases by 10 feet until the end of the turn, and if a weapon attack that you make as part of the action hits a creature, you can use one of the following Blade Flourish options. You can only use one Blade Flourish option per turn (I assume this means you can use only a single flourish period, rather than two of the same.)
Defensive Flourish lets you expend a Bardic Inspiration die and roll it to add extra damage to the target you hit as well as adding it to your AC until the start of your next turn.
Mobile Flourish works the same way, adding damage to the attack equal to the amount you rolled on the expended die, but you can also push the target up to 5 feet away from you, plus a number of feet equal to the amount you rolled. You can then immediately use your reaction to move up to your walking speed to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the target. So you can push them out of position and then reposition still in melee with them if you want (maybe getting them away from a fallen ally and making it harder for them to get back to that ally.) Notably, this can move a target of any size with no save against it, which is a pretty strong feature.
Slashing Flourish lets you expend a Bardic Inspiration die, rolling it and dealing that much extra damage as normal to the target, but also dealing that extra damage to any other creature of your choice within 5 feet of you.
So you kind of get a Battle Master-like set of Bard-specific maneuvers here, not to mention extra mobility. Note also that none of these have to be melee attacks.
At 6th level, you get Extra Attack, which is identical to any martial class' feature except one level later, just like Valor Bards.
Finally, at level 14, whenever you use a Blade Flourish option, you can roll a d6 and use it instead of expending a Bardic Inspiration die. So, you'll never run out of these, and can potentially conserve your real Bardic Inspiration dice for... Bardic Inspiration. Every single turn can have one of these effects, and a d6 isn't nothing - getting a free +6 to your Armor Class along with an extra 6 damage on an attack is pretty nice.
I think it's pretty clear that Swords does a lot more interesting things with the idea of a melee bard than Valor does, and almost feels like an update to it.
With that, we have only one subclass left in Xanathar's, along with two out of Tasha's (one of which was a reprint from Mythic Odysseys of Theros) and one out of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. So do not expect them to be even close to alphabetical order. So far it really feels like the PHB was just doing the absolute bare basics for the class, but things have gotten way more interesting in Xanathar's. We'll check out the College of Whispers and the see Eloquence, Creation, and finally Spirits next time.
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