Tasha's, Class by Class - Bard

 Bards are such a weird and idiosyncratic class - really powerful in their group synergy, but generally underpowered in terms of personal power. We get some interesting ideas here in Tasha's. Let's look at class features first:

New Spells:

Like all the casters, the options for PHB spells are expanded, as well as getting new spells out of Tasha's. The new PHB spells are: Color Spray, Command, Aid, Enlarge/Reduce, Mirror Image, Mass Healing Word, Slow, Phantasmal Killer, Rary's Telepathic Bond, Heroes' Feast, Prismatic Spray, Antipathy/Sympathy, and Prismatic Wall.

Magical Inspiration (2nd level):

If a creature has a Bardic Inspiration die from you and casts a spell that restores hit points or deals damage, the creature can roll that die and choose a target affected by the spell. Add the number rolled as a bonus to the hit points regained or damage dealt. The Bardic Inspiration die is then lost.

    This gives BI another potential use, though limiting it to a single target keeps it from getting crazy. Still, being able to toss in a bit of extra healing or damage is pretty great.

Bardic Versatility (4th level):

Whenever you get the Ability Score Improvement feature, you can either replace one of the skills you chose for the Expertise feature with another skill proficiency you have that doesn't have Expertise already, or you can replace a Bard cantrip with a different Bard cantrip.

Subclasses:

College of Creation:

This can be flavored as either whimsical, primal, or both, allowing you to basically sing or play things into existence. In addition to granting bonus effects for the normal uses of your Bardic Inspiration (with a cool visual to represent it) you can also just sing into being nonmagical objects of a certain value, which scales up in both value and potential size with your bard level. The objects are temporary, and obviously made by magic (as they glimmer and there's faint music that can be heard by anyone touching it,) but if you need anything in a jiffy, this is a great way to provide it.

Also, you can turn any large or smaller object into a friendly construct that can fight alongside you, and while it uses your bonus action to command it, you can also command it when you use Bardic Inspiration, so you'll generally always be able to direct it.

College of Eloquence:

Reprinted from Mythic Odysseys of Theros, what is ostensibly a much drier flavor of Bard is actually quite powerful, focusing on the idea of being a great orator. You essentially get reliable talent for Persuasion and Deception right there at level 3, and eventually your Bardic Inspiration sticks around until it actually causes a success, which is, frankly, amazing.

With that and other features, you essentially become extremely efficient with your Bardic Inspiration - this is a fantastic subclass if you want to be your group's "face."

    So, overall, we only get one brand new subclass, though the one we do is really quite excellent. Eloquence, while a reprint, is also pretty fantastic, and again, what I think always seems to be a good sign is that I can really visualize the different subclasses and their aesthetics. College of Creation has a major whimsical, feywild aspect to it, while it feels like everything an Eloquence bard says should feel like the inspiring, climactic speech of a legal drama.

    I'll be honest, what little I've played of Bards, I've not been that into them, but these both feel like they could be fun in their own ways.