The Bard is one of the three classes that has been released for testing in the second One D&D playtest document.
Bards retain their support-role focus, with Bardic Inspiration remaining a major class feature gained at level 1. The overall shape of the class is going to look familiar, but there are a few tweaks.
First off: let's look at how Bardic Inspiration works.
The biggest change here is that, rather than giving it to an ally on your turn as a bonus action, you now use a reaction to immediately give it to someone who fails a d20 test. This means that you're basically never going to have a BI die sitting around doing nothing because the non-Bard player who has it has forgotten it exists (or has been hoarding it for a "really important" roll).
Additionally, BI can now be used to instantly heal someone as a reaction when they take damage. This is huge because you can hold off on using this until they take a blow that reduces them to zero hit points (you need to be able to see or hear them, but they don't need to be able to see or hear you, which means that works!) This can be an absolute life-saver and do a ton to keep a character from dying and keeping things working in the party's favor.
Later on, at 7th level, you get BI back on a short rest - which is two levels later than before. Also, you now get PB BI dice, rather than your Charisma modifier, which means a little less early on, but ultimately more (and favors a multiclass dip). However, in addition to this, if the roll is a 1, you don't expend the die (the +1 bonus is still applied).
Next, another big change: Spellcasting.
Bards now get to prepare spells each day, rather than learning a set array of them. Also, as mentioned in an earlier post, they now get access to the entire Arcane spell list... but only half the schools of magic. Bards can prepare any Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, or Transmutation spells.
Note that Cantrips (0-level spells) are also "prepared."
The number of spells you can prepare is equal to the number of spell slots you have - which is actually true of the spells known for the 2014 Bard. However, you now can only prepare a number of spells per spell level that you have of that spell level - rather than taking, say, 5 1st level spells to give yourself more options, you'll need to take 4 1st level spells and, say, 2 2nd level spells if you're level 3.
Magical Secrets has been redesigned, where you can pick any of the three spell lists and prepare up to two of the spells from those lists, with no restriction on school. You get this twice. But these are flexible as you prepare new spells, so this is pretty versatile.
Songs of Restoration seems to replace Song of Rest, and comes at 2nd level. This works similarly to "Domain Spells" in that you get with Cleric subclasses (at least in the current system). These spells don't count against your prepared spells, and add Healing Word, Lesser Restoration, Mass Healing Word, Freedom of Movement, and Greater Restoration - spells you'd typically not be able to get outside of Magical Secrets.
Interestingly, this really makes every Bard an at least halfway decent healer (coupled with the healing use of Bardic Inspiration).
Bards historically have only gotten subclass features at 3, 6, and 14, making them the least subclass-influenced class. Now, subclass features levels are standardized across the board, and they'll be getting them at 3, 6, 10, and 14.
One subtle change is that Jack of All Trades only applies to ability checks that would normally use a skill proficiency you don't have - meaning that you don't get to add half your PB to Initiative rolls.
So, before we get into the College of Lore, let's talk about this.
I think the most impactful element here is the change to Bardic Inspiration. It's going to feel much more impactful this way. The reactive healing is also incredibly powerful.
Bards here, as mentioned above, now have a pretty enormous array of really great healing capabilities. And if you take Divine or Primal Magical Secrets (and you're bound to get one or the other at least eventually, if not both) you can get the resurrection magic you'd need to really be a full healer (and because you don't have to pick them out when you gain the feature, but only when you prepare the spell, you have every reason to do so).
College of Lore
So, a few things:
Cutting Words no longer affects damage rolls, but you get to wait and see if the target succeeds before you try it. Also, being immune to the charmed condition no longer prevents this from working.
At level 6, you get Cunning Inspiration, which gives you quasi-advantage on your Bardic Inspiration rolls (roll twice, take the higher number).
There's no Additional Magical Secrets, which makes sense given how flexible the new version of that (which you still get twice) is. Instead, you buff your Cutting Words later on to deal psychic damage to a creature you use it on (this is optional, so you can still use this in a social encounter where you don't want to actually harm the recipient). The damage is equal to the roll plus your Charisma modifier, so not shabby - some pretty hefty, automatic damage.
Peerless Skill is also buffed in a couple ways: like the new BI, you get to see if the check fails before using it, and on top of that, if it still fails, you don't expend the die.
Overall Impressions:
This feels like it's a buff in most cases. Losing, say Countercharm is not exactly a huge loss given how underpowered that was in the first place. I still think I'm not quite inclined toward the class just as a matter of flavor, but I do think that the core features feel much more usable and effective.
So much of this redesign feels like it's catching those moments of "oh, crap, I forgot to use this ability" and redesigning them so that you can, in fact, use them (the changes to the Guidance spell, which we'll eventually get to, while certainly a nerf, are of the same ilk). Bardic Inspiration is going to make a difference far more than it has in the past.
The flexibility of being able to prepare spells is also a really major change (one we'll also be seeing in the Ranger). While I can imagine some people will lament the identity you can carve out with your selection of spells, I think that this will give players the opportunity to try out spells the might otherwise avoid.
So, my feelings here are overwhelmingly positive. Generally I've had that impression for the One D&D playtest in general, with a handful of issues (critical hits, a change which has notably been reverted in this UA) but overall a feeling of optimism.
Personally, I cannot wait to see the Mage UA, particularly to see how Warlocks are going to look.
No comments:
Post a Comment