With only three levels at which they gain subclass features, Bards are, arguably, less definined by their subclasses than other classes. On the other hand, with subclasses like Valor and Swords really enabling a truly melee-focused build, including the standard martial feature Extra Attack, perhaps that's reductive. Bards are known for their versatility, and some subclasses lean more heavily on that than others. We're going to finish out the Bards in just this second post, given that it's a bit easier to squeeze each subclass in there, though this means that we'll be spreading them out over three (arguably four) different books. We begin with the last of the Xanthar subclasses, the spooky College of Whispers (which I'm told is inspired by the bards of Dark Sun,) then going over to Theros' College of Eloquence (reprinted in Tasha's) and then Tasha's College of Creation, followed by the newest Bard subclass, the College of Spirits from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.
College of Whispers:
Through their musical, performative style of spellcasting, it makes sense that Bards are good at manipulating the emotions of others. This can often be friendly, filling allies with bravery and encouragement, or befuddling foes. But sometimes it means instilling a sense of utter dread, and none are more effective at this than the College of Whispers, the shadiest (though no longer the spookiest - see Spirits later in the post) of Bard colleges.
At 3rd level you get Psychic Blades. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend a Bardic Inspiration die to deal 2d6 psychic damage to the target. You can only do this once per round. At 5th level this becomes 3d6, then at 10th it becomes 5d6, and at 15, it becomes 8d6. While you don't get other melee support like Valor or Swords, you can land some really painful strikes with this feature. As a DM I'd rule you could crit on this as well, though it's a little ambiguous.
Also at 3rd level, you get Words of Terror. Similar to the Glamour Bard's ability, if you spend at least 1 minute speaking with one humanoid alone for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to seed paranoia in its mind. At the end of the conversation, they need to make a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you or another creature of your choice for 1 hour, or until it's attacked or damaged, or until it witnesses its allies being attacked or damaged. If they succeed, they have no idea that you tried to frighten it. You can do this once per short or long rest.
The hour duration is a little narrow, but if you, for example, can sneak in and talk to a big bad's lieutenant before you go to confront them, you might force them to sit out the fight by making them afraid of the boss - or you, of course. Definitely there for creative players to exploit in interesting ways.
At level 6, you get Mantle of Whispers. When a humanoid dies within 30 feet of you, you can capture its shadow as a reaction. You keep this shadow until you use it or finish a long rest. As an action, you can use the shadow and transform it into a disguise that appears on you. You look like the dead person (but healthy and alive) and the disguise lasts for an hour.
While disguised, you also gain access to any information the humanoid would share with a casual acquaintance, giving you general details of their personal life and background, though not secrets. Basically, you have an easier time passing as that person thanks to this information. People can see through the disguise with a successful Wisdom (Insight) check against your Charisma (Deception) check, though you get a +5 bonus to your roll (so they better be very insightful.) Once you capture a shadow, you can't capture another one until you finish a short or long rest.
Admittedly, the reliance on it being a humanoid target might be of limited use in some campaigns, but again, this is very cool. True to a lot of bards, there are some very strong social-encounter/RP features here.
At level 14, you get Shadow Lore. As an action, you can whisper to a creature of your choice within 30 feet that you can hear (not see, necessarily). They must make a Wisdom saving throw, automatically succeeding if they don't share a language with you. On a success, the whisper sounds like unintelligible mumbling, and has no effect.
On a failure, the target is charmed by you for the next 8 hours or until you or your allies attack it, damage it, or force it to make a saving throw. It believes you know its most mortifying secret. You don't actually know the secret, but the target is convinced you do. As such, the charmed creature will obey your commands for fear that you will reveal its secret. It won't risk its life or fight for you unless it was already inclined to do so. It grants you favors and gifts it would offer a close friend. When the effect ends, the creature has no idea why it was so afraid of you. You can use this once per long rest.
So, this is very, very cool. You basically get to blackmail any creature that fails its save without actually learning anything. This does not require the creature to be a humanoid (as long as you share a language,) and I believe this will take a monster out of a fight if it works. Again, the RP potential here is fantastic, and is definitely something a creative person could make use of.
Whisper Bards are very capable of being rather terrifying manipulators, and while I don't know that their subclass features (apart from Psychic Blades, which is not nothing) are really great for combat, they are going to be really good for any intrigue-heavy campaign.
College of Eloquence:
Introduced in Mythic Odysseys of Theros, this is basically the Bard-as-philosopher, though I think you could flavor this as any kind of orator. I actually think that this would be a great subclass for playing a lawyer working for the Azorius or Orzhov in Ravnica, or any revolutionary activist in other settings. It's also a really, really strong subclass, which we'll get into now:
At 3rd level, you get Silver Tongue. When you make a Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Deception) check and roll a 9 or lower on the d20, you can treat it as a 10. This is freaking amazing, as you'll likely have proficiency (maybe even expertise) in one or both of these, and now you basically can't roll really poorly on it. Rogues have to wait to level 10 to get this kind of feature.
Also at 3, you get Unsettling Words. As a bonus action, you can expend a Bardic Inspiration die and choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. Roll the die, and the creature must subtract the number rolled from the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn. So, you can of course use this right before casting a spell on the creature, or set up one of your party members to be much more likely to succeed. Very useful.
At level 6, you get Unfailing Inspiration. If a creature adds your Bardic Inspiration die to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, and the roll still fails, they get to keep the die. In other words, your Bardic Inspiration sticks around until it's actually helped out. This is really great, and will encourage players to try using it even on a really bad roll - if it doesn't help, they keep it for the next, and if it does, it's a clutch moment.
Also at 6, you get Universal Speech. As an action, you can choose a number of creatures up to your Charisma modifier within 60 feet of you (minimum of 1). The chosen creatures can magically understand you, regardless of the language you speak, for 1 hour. Note that the creature does not need to speak a language, so you could use this on beasts or plant creatures, or other things that aren't generally smart enough to speak a language, and you can still communicate with them.
You can use this once per long rest, or use it again by spending a spell slot of any level.
Finally, at 14, you get Infectious Inspiration. When a creature within 60 feet of you adds your Bardic Inspiration die to an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and then succeeds, you can use your reaction to grant a different creature (other than you) that can hear you within 60 feet a Bardic Inspiration die without expending any of your uses of the feature. You can use this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) per long rest.
This effectively doubles your Bardic Inspiration uses (at least when using it in the traditional way,) as long as your party only uses them once per round. Combined with the fact that they're only going to expend it if it succeeds, you're going to be providing a ton of inspiration to the team. And that Unfailing Inspiration feature is going to stick to the secondary people with this feature. Hell, you can actually chain a single Inspiration to many different people (though you're limited in uses and by your reactions per round.)
Eloquence Bards take the idea of Bardic Inspiration and really pump it up to a huge degree, maximizing the effectiveness of the core Bard feature. Add that to the fact that you basically can't fail Persuasion or Deception checks and you're looking at a very strong subclass - maybe the strongest?
College of Creation:
Taking a somewhat more primal, yet at the same time very whimsical approach to the bard, the College of Creation treats the musical magic of bards as the very basis of existence, and as such, this gives them a lot of power over reality through their magic.
At 3rd level, you get Mote of Potential. When you give a creature a Bardic Inspiration die, you create a Tiny, intangible and invulnerable object that is the manifestation of the note, which orbits within 5 feet of the creature - it could look like a musical note or any other symbol of art and life that you choose. When the creature uses the Bardic Inspiration die, the mote will create a different effect depending on whether it's used on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw.
Ability Check: When they use it on an ability check, they can roll the die a second time and choose which one to use, causing the mote to pop and emit colorful, harmless sparks.
Attack Roll: Right after they use the die to add to an attack roll, the mote thunderously shatters, and the target and each creature of your choice (rather than the user) within 5 feet of it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take thunder damage equal to the number rolled on the die.
Saving Throw: Right after the Bardic Inspiration die roll is added to a saving throw, the mote vanishes with the sound of soft music, and the creature gains temporary hit points equal to the number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 temp HP).
So basically, whatever they're using their BI die for, they'll get a little extra boost from it relevant to what they're trying to do.
Also at 3 you get Performance of Creation. As an action, you can create a nonmagical object in an unoccupied space within 10 feet of you. The item has to appear on a surface or in a liquid that can support it. The gp value has to be no m ore than 20 times your bard level, and it has to be Medium or smaller. The item glimmers softly, and creatures can hear music faintly when touching it. It disappears after a number of hours equal to your proficiency bonus. You can use this feature once per long rest, or you can expend a spell slot of 2nd level or higher to use it again before then. You can only have one item conjured this way at a time, causing the first to vanish if you use it again. The item's size can be Large after you hit 6th level and Huge after you hit 14th level.
This is actually pretty amazing - need any object? Just conjure it into existence. Your imagination is the limit here. You could copy a key, or build a carriage, or even a boat (maybe at later levels.)
At 6th level, you get Animating Performance. As an action, you can target a Large or smaller nonmagical item and animate it using the Dancing Item stat block (which scales with your level and spell attack modifier, similar to most modern "pet" features.) The Dancing Item does a respectable amount of damage with its single attack, and can slow enemies or grant allies extra speed, and can also hover in the air. The Dancing Item remains animated for 1 hour, or until reduced to 0 hit points, or until you die. It shares your initiative, and requires your bonus action to command it to do anything other than Dodge as an action (though it can use reactions and movement on its own.) When you use Bardic Inspiration, you can command the item as part of the same bonus action, which is actually super useful, as Bards generally do that a lot.
You can animate one Dancing Item for free per long rest, or you can spend a 3rd level or higher spell slot to use it again. You can only have one Dancing Item active at a time - using this on another object causes any existing Dancing Item to revert to inanimate status.
I love the ability to get a combat pet, and I think it's really exciting in a kind of fairy-tale, Disney manner to be able to animate any object (technically, RAW it doesn't even say that the item can't be worn or carried, which could lead to some really insane shenanigans like animating a foe's armor or weapon, though I think I'd insert that as a bit of house-rule errata.) I'd love to have a credenza beat the crap out of my foes.
At 14, you get Creative Crescendo. When you use your Performance of Creation feature, you can create more than one item at once. You can make a number of items equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of two.) If you create an item that would exceed that number, you choose which of the previous items vanishes. Only one of these items can be the maximum size - the rest must be Small or Tiny. But! You are no longer limited by the gold value of what you create. It occurs to me, actually, that this could be used to create expensive material components for spells - the items themselves are not magical, so if you needed a valuable diamond to cast something like Resurrection, you could easily pop one of these out and use it before it vanishes. But also, the lack of a gold value limit just unleashes your creativity. You want to conjure a carriage for your allies to ride in style? Make it the most ostentatious, gilded nightmare of decadence.
I know College of Glamour is the fey-based Bard subclass, but I really get a profoundly fey feeling of whimsy from this subclass. It's also a great opportunity for player creativity, which is always fun, and the Animating Performance feature feels like it will never not be fun.
College of Spirits:
Now we come to the spookiest of Bard subclasses. You can play this as a kind of fortune teller, or a Spiritualist Medium, interpreting and telling the stories of the spirits. I really like the idea of using Tarot cards instead of rolling a die for this class. Introduced in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, there's obviously a bit of creepiness to this class, though that depending heavily on how your flavor the spirits you channel.
At 3rd level, you get Guiding Whispers. You learn the guidance cantrip (which doesn't count against your bard cantrips) and it now has a range of 60 feet.
Also at 3, you get Spiritual Focus. You can use alternative objects as spell focuses for your Bard spells. These might be a candle, crystal ball, skull, spirit board, or tarokka deck (the D&D equivalent of the Tarot.) When you hit 6th level, if you cast a bard spell that deals damage or restores hit points through the spiritual focus, you can roll a d6 and add the amount to one damage or healing roll of the spell. (I believe that normal bard foci like an instrument can still count as a spiritual focus, so a Rhythm-Maker's Drum should still work, though I could be wrong. If not, as DM I'd just give that player a +1 Tarokka deck instead of the drum.)
Again at 3rd level, we get the core of the subclass: Tales from Beyond. When holding your spiritual focus, you can use a bonus action to expend a use of a Bardic Inspiration die and roll on the Spirit Tales table, using the Bardic Inspiration die to determine the result on the table. You can retain the tale you roll in your mind until you bestow its effect or you finish a short or long rest. As an action, you can choose a creature you can see within 30 feet of you (this can include you as a target) and once you do, you can't use that tale until you roll it again on the table. You can only retain one tale in mind at a time, and if you roll again, you lose the previously-known tale.
Notably, the table has 12 results, but because you start off with a d6 Bardic Inspiration die, you'll need to level up to eventually hit the higher results on this table. Deep breath, here we go:
1: Clever Animal: For the next 10 minutes, when the target makes an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma check, they can roll an extra die to add to the check immediately after rolling the d20 and add the result. The extra die is your Bardic Inspiration die.
2: Renowned Duelist: You make a melee spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes force damage equal to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier.
3: Beloved Friends: The target and another creature of its choice it can see within 5 feet of it gain temporary hit points equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier.
4: Runaway: The target can immediately use its reaction to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see. When the target teleports, it can choose a number of creatures it can see within 30 feet of it up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 0) to immediately use the same reaction.
5: Avenger: For 1 minute, any creature that hits the target with a melee attack takes force damage equal to one roll of your Bardic Inspiration die.
6: Traveler: The target gains temporary hit points equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die plus your bard level. While it has these temp hit points, their walking speed increases by 10 feet and they get a +1 bonus to their AC.
7: Beguiler: The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take psychic damage equal to your Bardic Inspiration die, and the target is incapacitated until the end of its next turn.
8: Phantom: The target becomes invisible until the end of its next turn or until it hits a creature with an attack. If the target hits a creature within an attack during this invisibility, the creature it hits takes necrotic damage equal to a roll of your Bardic inspiration die and is frightened of the target until the end of the frightened creature's next turn.
9: Brute: Each creature of the target's choice it can see within 30 feet of it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, the creature takes thunder damage equal to three rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die and is knocked prone. On a success, the creature takes half damage and is not knocked prone.
10: Dragon: The target spews flames from the mouth in a 30 foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking fire damage equal to four rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die on a failure or half as much on a success.
11: Angel: The target regains hit points equal to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier, and you end one condition from the following list on the target: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, petrified, or poisoned.
12: Mind-Bender: The target must make an Intelligence saving throw or take psychic damage equal to three rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die and be stunned until the end of its next turn.
Phew! Obviously, this introduces a bit of randomness to the subclass, but you'll be able to choose how to apply these Tales. It seems that most of them are really more combat-oriented, so you'll likely want to reserve them for such times. Clearly the features get more powerful the higher you can roll, so there's a real sense of progression to them. Naturally there are some you'll want more than others depending on the situation, but you also don't have to use them immediately, so you can wait for the right moment.
At 6th level, you get Spirit Session. You can conduct an hour-long ritual channeling spirits (which can be done as part of a short or long rest) using your Spiritual Focus. You can conduct the ritual with a number of willing creatures equal to your proficiency bonus (including yourself). At the end of the ritual, you can temporarily learn one spell of your choice from any class. The spell has to be of a level equal to the number of creatures that conducted the ritual or less, and it has to be of a level you can cast. It also has to be of the divination or necromancy schools. The spell counts as a bard spell for you, but not against your spells known.
You cannot perform this ritual again until you finish a long rest, and you know the chosen spell until you start a long rest - so just one spell at a time. While the limitation on schools is certainly going to narrow your choices down, you will be able to use this to get something like Revivify, or Scrying - it's always going to be something you can consider and plan for - for example, if you need a particular spell. And if you're 13th level or higher, you can pick up Danse Macabre for premium spookiness.
Finally, at level 14, you get Mystical Connection. Whenever you roll on the Spirit Tales table, you can roll the die twice and choose which of the effects to bestow - and if you roll the same number twice, you can just ignore the roll and pick any effect from the table. Much like the Wild Magic subclasses, this gives you a bit more control over the randomness, will will make the feature a lot more useful.
I gotta say, as someone with a very strong inner goth, I'm always going to be drawn to the spookier subclasses, and while the Spirit Tales might not always give you quite what you want, it's a really cool and flavorful subclass.
And so, after only two posts, we come to the end of the Bard subclass review. I definitely think things get significantly more interesting by the time we get to Xanathar's, as with many classes. I think Sword Bards are actually a pretty good dip for many melee classes, as those flourishes can be pretty great (though you could also just get three levels of Figher for Battle Master.) I think that the ones published in Tasha's really speak to me, along with the Spirits Bard, which might not strictly be all that powerful, but is oozing flavor, which I always find a very important sign for any subclass.
With this, I believe that we're down to just the Artificer and the Wizard. The former has only four subclasses, which means we could very well get the whole thing done in a single post (though I might spread it out). Wizards, on the other hand, have a ton of subclasses in the PHB, with only one in Xanathar's. I'm not entirely sure where to put the Bladesinger in the order of things, given that the reprint in Tasha's is a bit of a revision if memory serves. Sadly, we didn't get the Graviturgist or Chronurgist reprinted in Tasha's, but I'll be reviewing them as well because A: they're still official and B: they're both awesome. Wizards have the second-most subclasses of any class, though, so expect that to be in many parts.
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