Which Subclasses Should Get a Revision: Bard

 Once again, I'm looking at the many subclasses that came out in 5E before the 2024 core rulebooks to determine which, if any, ought to get a revised reprint. The criteria here are the following: it must have a cool concept that will excite players to try it, and it must have mechanics that fail to live up to that concept.

In other words, this will probably exclude the worst and the best subclasses. The worst because we don't really want to see them again, and the best because we can just use the ones that already exist. Of course, it's a bit more nuanced than that: some of the worst subclasses have actually pretty compelling concepts behind them. We saw with the Warrior of Elements Monk that they can take one of the worst (if not the worst) of all subclasses (The Way of Four Elements) and turn it into something actually quite decent and maybe even really good.

Caveat here: I've never really gotten the Bard as a class. It can be powerful, but the route to that power is generally indirect. So these judgments might require a grain of salt.

I'll give a simple Yes or No regarding each subclass as to whether I think they should work on a revision to it to publish, but I'll explain my thoughts and also touch on how certain I am of that choice. Generally speaking, the bar should be high to get a reprint, as I'd prefer that WotC work on brand-new stuff more often than not.

Swords: No

    I'm a bit torn on this one. When it was released, it more or less occluded the College of Valor as the go-to martial Bard. Valor got some buffs in the new PHB, including a Bladesinger-style extra attack. Now: do we need to see Swords get the same treatment? Would we want them to gain access to Weapon Mastery? Or can we just leave it be? I lean toward that latter choice, but I could be talked into feeling differently.

Whispers: Yes

    I love a spooky subclass, and this subclass is both spooky in a "scary" way and also in a "Cold War spycraft" way. While there is some real power to it, I think that this is a subclass that could use another pass to deal with some very situational subclass features (it's amazing that you can steal another creature's shadow to use as a disguise, but it does not come up a lot in-game).

Creation: No

    This one's more opinion. I don't actually have a great sense of how popular this one is, or how powerful.

Eloquence: No

    Here's an example of a subclass that feels strong in concept (I always imagine playing them like a lawyer) and also strong in mechanics. I think it's powerful enough as is and should be fine to keep as it is.

Spirits: Yes

    I love the idea of this class, and while I'd naturally play one as a Victorian-era spiritualist in a ghost story, you can definitely play this less spookily as just a storyteller physically manifesting your tales. This was always one of those subclasses that just kind of struggled because of the way its action economy worked, and with a few tweaks could, I think, reach its potential.

And that's our Bards! Next, we'll move on to Clerics.