D&D 5e Bard Class Guide ~ Let Me Sing You The Song of My People!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ย. 2024
- This is the Dungeons and Dragons 5e Bard class guide video. Bards are not the greatest damage dealers but they are enormously versatile adventurers and spellcasters.
They are social juggernauts that can talk their way in and out of anything and in battle they excel at impeding enemies. With a little tweaking, they can be made to fulfil any role. This is definitely the class to play if you want to get of to some shenanigans in your game.
It is also one of the easier spellcasting class for beginners to start with.
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Ahh the Bard. The class known to kill someone by insulting them to death.
My party's bard killed a "Reptile God" (read: ancient spirit naga) with his rhymes using that ability
Yeah and its my favorite class!
I am going to make a subclass named the lyricist that is better at using viscous mockery just so that i can make a character that rap battles his opponents to death
That's amazing. Now imagine your lyricist versis another. Than you literally have a rap battle that is the decider of your fate xD
so he rapped so hard at the god it died that is freaking metal
Bard, preventor of TPKs, a Front-liner's best friend yet the closest companion to the backline, the silver tongue who makes Devils sign his own contracts, the breadwinner of the early levels, and most of all, the "Is anyone proficient in-" "yes" class.
Knight Brolaire that's a great description. The only game I've ever played in 5e with a bard, he was the only level 3 character in a mostly level 1 party (adventurer's league). In the boss room, a kobold sorcerer fireballed us and would have downed everyone except the bard and fighter (who took no damage thanks to shield master) if not for that cutting words leaving my (16 con warlock who saved) character and 1 hp. After that, thanks to a potion into the cleric and some heals all around, we managed to not lose anybody.
So, yes; a bard can totally turn a TPK into a no loss scenario.
:^)
"I roll to seduce!"
"...ok?"
"Nat 20!"
"You're an absolute legend, irresistible, but the door is unimpressed because it's an inanimate object"
Bard gaming
"Some players may not like the bard helping them" I have NEVER had a situation where my party members complained about me inspiring them or weakening their targets or keeping them alive lol
I think he meant the spell where you put makeup on your face and magically persuade someone to do something.
**uses Cutting Words** 🎶Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch~🎵
Goddammit that made me laugh
Under rated comment
finally, someone who does not complain about the bard and the abilities the class provides.
"There once was a maiden from Stonebury Hollow..."
She didn't talk much but boy did she swallow!
I had a nice lance that she sat upon!
The maiden from Stonebury who is also your mom.
drops mic
"W-what t-t-terrific audience!"
On recent Dnd news a group of bards and a beholder were seen Dancing to “safety dance by men without hats”
These class guides are of exceptional quality. Thanks for sharing!
While I love these videos mainly for the information they give out to newbies (like me), I also quite enjoy the back story that arcs over the guides. I actually would watch a show based on this animation.
As a DM, this is really helpful for NPCs and new players.
Bard the Swiss Army Knife of Classes :D
Troommate so you are saying that you won't need,want or use 90% of the abilities
If your are bad at it then yes. But if you are crafty enough you will even find a good use of the corkscrew or that way too small pincer
Bards are the best skill monkeys. Inspire is awesome. Lore Bards get cutting words which is an awesome debuff on enemies. Valor Bards are melee while still being a full casting class. Magical Secrets let's you use a lot of awesome spells before the designated class. Aura of Vitality is normally a level 9 Paladin spell, but the Bard can pick it up at 6. The Bards core spells are not bad at all, but you only have a few options for spell damage, but this is where magical secrets comes in.
Bard + Rouge best combo! Also my Bard is basically phoenix wright, throwing justice and make them guilty.
Shout "OBJECTION!" every time you cast counterspell.
Rogue. Not a kind of makeup but a kind of sneaky devil.
Swashbuckler rogue/bard is amazing.
Way to maximize the sneak attack...
@@DarthSoto78 Swashbuckler rogue & Valor bard...DEX + CHA + Jack of All Trades = "I'm going first!" That, then give her Medium Armor Mastery, and she's tip-toeing around in half plate while dealing out damage that is forcing the rest of the party to have to keep scraping the fighter's jaw off the floor.
Imagine getting divine smite and fireball as a bard. Man, that's overpowered.
And then replace a useless cantrip with eldritch blast.
...Divine Smite isn't spell
I decided to make a character that would be a capable but rather fragile caster that would also be very useful out of combat. After extensive research, I eventually decided to multiclass, so the long-term development of my character should look something like this (If I made some serious errors do let me know):
- Variant Human race
- College of Lore BARD as the primary class, sinking the first 3 levels into it
- Draconic Ancestry Sorcerer as the secondary class, sinking all remaining levels into it (17 to get WISH on level20).
- Noteworthy starting stats: DEX 14, WIS 16 (Yes this is intentional), CHA 16.
- Using ability score improvements to boost Wisdom and Charisma up to 18 and 20, as well as applying feats like EMPATHIC for some serious skills.
- No weapon use, relying on cantrips and spells to do all of the work (Quickened metamagic for some serious kicks).
- Main spell focus on supportive BARD spells like Faery Fire, Healing Words and Cure Wounds.
- Inspirations would be mostly used to deter the enemy and attempt to force a miss rather than help allies secure a hit.
Possibly my favorite class, although I don't always play them as musicians. They could be poets, heralds, drunken singers...
Yeah, the last bard I played was a motivational, Tony Robbins-esque bard.
Or a rapper lol
He diss you so hard u catch on fire.
The bard I currently play is a musician, but shes awful at it. She just picked up an instrument one day and started playing. All of her spells still work, but the honking coming from the bards instrument just makes for some funny roleplay.
Bard: *plays song of rest with many off notes*
Paladin: can you PLEASE stop that ruckus
Bard: do you feel better?
Paladin: i-
Bard: DO YOU feel better?
Paladin: ...yes..
Bard: then dont complain
My bard is a story teller kind of entertainer rather than a musician nor dancer
Hey CJ! Maybe you should do a cooperative video with Shadiversity where you guys do something D&D related. I found your channel because of one of his videos, and you guys are now my top 2 favorite channels! It would be awesome to see you guys work together
I'm so glad I came across this video because I'm making a forest gnome bard, and the D&D 5e handbook made trying to learn and understand how this class works difficult. So thank you for making this video! :)
Brought back fun memories... just never underestimate a bard with I think the spell is thunderroll.... ours nearly took out half the party in a cellar with it once... might have helped if the paladin hadn't forgot she was the tank and ran away.... oops! 😂
The bard is my favorite to play with a large party. Thank you for making this.
I've heard from many people that bards are not great, however, this video makes them seem really cool, useful and just all around great fun to play.
Thus proving again that Lore Bard is the best class in 5E.
Seriously, bard is the best class overall
👌👌👌
XP to Level 3 your awesome
Alex Rumley *you're
I don’t know why I’m watching this video. I know everything from your 2 minute song
🖕 This is for saying countercharm sucks.
@@mathunit1 Two years late but 🖕you for even thinking countercharm is any good. fr tho it is literal shit.
Bards are one of my most favorite classes!, so it was pretty nice when I saw your video on them, now I can't wait for my other favorite, the warlock! Keep up the good work!
I love this video. Its convinced me to roll a bard as my next character! Thank you for making these!
On the first turn of a high speed horse chase, I had my bard character cast dissonant whispers on one of the warhorses pulling one of the two bandit wagons chasing us. The warhorse failed its save but survived the damage and was forced to use its reaction to move as far away from me as possible. Since that wagon's other horse was unaffected, this caused the wagon to veer right into the other wagon, causing a collision that dealt 8d10 damage to both wagons and destroyed them. The horse I cast the spell on got run over and killed as this happened, and the three remaining horses took 8d4 damage from toppling over each other; they survived with 1 HP. The seven living bandits that were inside the wagons as they toppled and shattered took 8d8 damage and took the exact amount of damage needed to instantly kill them (DM runs Monster Death at 0 HP). This was all caused by a level 1 spell.
Our party felt bad and healed the surviving horses. Not wanting the meat to go to waste, we cut up and prepared the dead horse and got 12 days worth of rations. The horses watched in horror as we butchered their friend and ran away. Our artificer is calling me a murder hobo now.
So I just surpassed my usual shenanigans. I had my bard character in a battle where we surprised all the enemies. The enemies were conducting the production and distribution of powerful drugs. On my first turn, I cast fireball on four enemies, including a boss character and her second-in-command. This ignited some nearby straw on the floor. At the start of the next round, the fire spread to the drugs in the center of the room, and they exploded in a 40 foot sphere. Dealing 45 fire damage to most of the remaining creatures. Not one enemy got a single turn.
I found that taking eldritch blast as a Bard spell than going two levels in Warlock is a good idea if you are the team's main caster. My friends keep talking about Bard Barbarians or Bardbarians but that makes me think of Dave the Barbarian.
Bard the gold magnet if you pick the entertainer background.
I've been on youtube since it's inception and I haven't commented so much as I have on your videos lol!
I loved this video; I love how the bard was kinda rocking Dandelion's getup from the Witcher; Wild Hunt.
Anyway, my wife plays a bard and it's my favorite character in the Curse of Strahd campaign I'm dming.
Check out the bard I played, I got to sixth level.
Bard 3/Warlock 3
College of Lore and Pact of the Tome/Great Old One have a lot of synergy. Eldritch Blast/Agonizing Blast/Double Cantrip Damage, Pick up Shillelagh so you can dump STR. You get a couple lvl1 spell slots that refresh on short rests which is a godsend at tiers 1&2.
Theme wise I see it as a Bard seeking ancient knowledge stumbles on a book(Pact of the Tome) that leads him into making a pact with the elder gods to gain a truer insight into the workings of the universe. Carries a cane(for shillelagh) and wears a monocle. Obviously.
Bards are so fun. College of lore all the way. With a combination of bardic inspiration and cutting words, our 13 str monk was able to grapple and prone a troll for the entire fight. I just sat 10 feet way looking smug while occasionally shouting insults
bard has many different things going on at once that at first glance seem hard to bring together.. whats important is to synergize each feature into a stronger whole. once you do you play a class just as powerful as any other.
EDIT: oh wait, bard is a freaking full caster in 5E? hahahaha. right on my dude.
Suppose you are Level 20 standing before a boss room with no Bardic Inspiration. You could recover them all with a short rest, but that would take an hour, and depending on the circumstances, you may not even have an hour (perhaps lives are on the line). So what do you do? Start short battles with your party members. Superior Inspiration only cares that you roll initiative, and doesn't care whom you're trying to fight or how long you decide to fight. So you can roll initiative against your party members, then end the fight and give a party member a d12, then roll initiative, and repeat until everyone has a d12. Every party member now has a d12 to add to their rolls and it only took a minute or so.
Hope this is early enough for you to read it. Your vids are awesome and helpful to a beginner like me. Much love - A random fan.
I'm Gonna make a Kenku rogue who can only speak in song lyrics.
feeling like El Mariachi Desperado like Antonio Banderas does all the jack of all trades :D
Welcome to my... Second favourite/Favorite class depending on my mood.
not gonna lie Bard is, in my opinion, the best class. They are just so versatile it hurts.
I genuinely love that the bard is Purple because that is my favourite colour of all time.
"The world is their oyster"
Getting some 1 Night in Bangkok by Murray Head song vibes
Wow, you put a lot of work in animating your videos. Good work!
this channel deserves more subs
Top class videos, I'm finding them very helpful as I am fairly new to D&D.
The bard needs more love.
My Draginborn bard was able to angle himself into becoming the new regent in my last campaign. It was fun.
I played a blue Dragonborn bard as my first character
My multiclass for a bard is just 1 level of fighter so i can get proficiency in all armor and weapons, con saves because of concentration spells,defense fighting style for extra AC tankiness, and second wind to act as an emergency self heal per short rest
That way you dont need to waste an ASI to have resilient con
You also get more AC survivability than any dedicated spellcaster class
Even more than the warlock too since they can only at best have light armor(hexblade warlocks get medium armor, shields and martial weapons)
As a small bonus you can even use martial weapons and a shield too
Its a simpleton build really
But as CJ suggested 1 level of cleric is also good
Especially life domain cleric to give a small power up to the heals
And it also gains heavy armor proficiency too naturally without having to start off as a cleric
I've got a Halfling Lore Bard 7/ Diviner Wizard 2 on the go right now. Using the Bountiful Luck Halfling racial feat from the Unearthed Arcana I can stop my party from rolling 1's once a round; and with Inspiration, Portent dice, and Guidance/Bless from Magic Initiate, they almost never miss attacks, fail skill checks, or fail saves. I was going for the best possible support and we've made it to lvl 9 with no one dying so he must be doing something right.
Just a lovable 114 year old Halfling Historian with a nose for adventure that always leads him to interesting stories and ancient lore.
Also, maybe you could do a video on the Multiclass Spellcasting rules when you get done with classes? I've seen many so confused by them that they just don't bother and it can add a lot of versatility; especially to Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters.
Hmm... You've got a point. I will look into it.
Only just stumbled on to these videos, very neat stuff. I'm playing a lore bard with 3 levels in GOO tomelock dedicated to the lovecraftian all knowing horror Yogg-Sothoth. A fun flavorful mix of fear, illusion, psychic damage, mind control, and other fun battlefield control shenanigans, plus currently 9 cantrips keyed on CHA, whatever rituals I care for, and bard abilities that no longer require I be heard thanks to telepathy.
Thank you for doing this! This will be a big help!!!
Another thing you can add the jack of all trades half pb would be contested rolls
Say against someone trying to non magically grapple you
That i belive is an ability check too
Swashbuckler Rogue Sword Bard with a paladin smite from magical secrets. Makes for the ultimate magical duelist, or as I decided to call it, the Red Mage.
My favorite class, by far!
Did... you use a Geass symbol? Awesome.
You are one of the rare few who get it, LOL!
Buuuuttttt nothing is stopping me from playing an epic song befor a long rest there for inspiring all of my party and then inspiring the rest after said long rest
Bard the most music related class to a song that works with a guitar like salty dog
I can't wait for sorcerer
Lore Bard AC can be fixed by going Divine Sorc for just first level. Take mage armor and shield. Other benefits is con saves, getting a 2d4 roll to apply to a bad roll, and access to Bless.
I'm playing my first game and I chose bard can you explain?
You basically already pointed this out but: Find Greater Steed!
If you don't have feats in your game take find familiar and something like conjur animals for the 1st secrets or do that if you want the extra divination of a cleric ritual caster.
Your videos are fantastic, keep up the great work! Feel free to move away from d&d if you are interested
And that's why Bards are one of my favorites!!!
Love these videos. Wondering if you've considered updating them with other official subclasses such as the Xanathar's Guide College of Whispers, etc.?
I'm noticing you've done most of the classes hopefully you get a chance to do Mystic and sorcerer those happened to be my two favorite classes something about being born with power similar to the kind of concept of the X-Men at least as far as Mystics are concerned in fact one of my characters was to last from beginning as everyone around him was a hybrid character like half dragon half fiend or half angel so I got to start out at level 4 because I was a human so I chose two levels of psionic and two levels of sorcerer who could pass power points and metamagic points between each other allowing for a game breaking level of flexibility
Excellent video. exactly what i was hoping to find. Thanks bro. subscribed.
Wow. Bards are actually pretty boss
My favorite Build is Scanlan.
Temuldjin "Can I inspire myself?"
"Because you are Scanlan"
Just finished season 1 and undoubtedly the mvp of the group.
Bard: Who are you?
Fey Pact Warlock: You but with better cantrips and more roleplaying potential.
Bard: :(
Love the guide! Will you update any of your guides with Xanthars?
Oh god bards, turned a pathfinder group where we were being attacked by cultist into joining the cultist without any idea on what they warshipped. God damn you speedy g'nome zalis
I made a bard kobold and their highest stat was strength a near perfect roll for strength. I WAS A KOBOLD WITH AN INSTRUMENT!
Awesome video as always :D Which class comes next? ^^ (the one with the rapier?)
I love warriors and I love characters that can support the team. Paladins are cool and all, but the college of valor just seems to good. Already have an idea for a half orc skald :)
Hey CJ, love these videos! I'll show these to a friend if I ever have the time to start a new game. Got any tips on making a bard who is not necessarily a musician? I have a villain player character planned and I love the diplomancy and spellcasting features of the bard, but casting spells through music wouldn't fit his character. So far I just have that he's a jaded psychologist-turned-cult leader who somehow learned to cast spells. How would he have learned to cast them? Thanks again for the videos, this guy's definitely gonna be a lore bard.
And I won't make him a warlock because I already have a warlock character who's also a villain (don't worry, I evil responsibly)
Well, Bard's magic comes from words and music, so it's not an issue for your cultist to be based off the Bard class.
As an ex-psychologist, you could have learned your spell through your own discovery of the power of words and how the world sometimes shift to the direction of your description. It doesn't need to be powered by patron like warlocks.
The magic in your game world could be very systematic. At later levels he could be learning more powerful spells by perfectly mimicking spells cast by more powerful spellcasters. Maybe you can tie this to his cultic aspiration too.
For his musical instrument spellcasting focus, you might be able to convince your DM to let you use a whistle or silver tuning fork as reskinned existing musical instrument.
Don't Stop Thinking Thank you so much! I'll use this explanation, and maybe use an old scribbled-over psychology book as a focus and spellbook, if the DM allows it.
Level 9 bard: Lelouch Vi Britannia commands you!
Opinionofmine yes!
You forgot the Bard's main feature: the ability (and requirement) to seduce LITERALLY EVERYTHING
Dragonborn Sorcerer Level 4 / Bard Level 1 = insane at level 5 multi class
I feel like the Superior Inspiration could be home brewed to be a lot better.
This Saturday we will lunch our second campaign where I will play my first bard.
It's a Tiefling and I hope my group will find out his little secret after a while.
I named him Velkon. But Velkon is a charlatan and Velkon is only one figure Velki created. She is a young (14) girl who is traveling to find a way to avenge her mother. After her little brother died her mom hung herself and Velki tried to find a way to torture and kill the man she deems responsible for the dead of her family members.
To do this she created the guise of Velkon, a boy which the guards could hunt after he fullfied his purpose. She would return to being Velki.
She has mommy issues (caused by finding her mother hanging in the kitchen) and will flok to the closest mother figure.
I'm really hyped for the session and can't wait to act her out.
I love How the Wizard hates everyone.
Wow a bard is a decent class a shame the one lore bard in my party didn't want to bard for some reason.
Working on a College of Valor bard that is dipping into Battlemaster Fighter as a sort of commander type character. I just need to figure out how many levels to dip into fighter with.
Yeah, CJ, I'm basically going through older vids of yours and commenting. Sorry.
In this case, yes yes YES on non-archetype Magical Secrets. XD Personally, I'd probably dip more into Paladin as a "party-buffer" bard.
Though honestly for Lore Bard I think Crusader's Mantle is still a worthy choice in that regard.
Or really... ANY of the Aura spells. But... That's my opinion, and thinking of how unless I'm a bard with combat as a big theme of it (Valor, Swords), I PROBABLY wouldn't get as much use out of Conjure Volley or Destructive Wave.
So, what bards have people made/played? I've got a college of lore bard changeling child who plays violin and disguises herself as he dead half wood elf friend, a grumpy old tabaxi college of swords bard, and a female tiefling bard who I never got to pick a college for because we never got far enough into the campaign but she was the annoyed mother of the group who also handled finances.
I'm working on a Goliath Bard Monk
i have always liked bard druid. an elf that coms in to town trades good sings for coin and pick up a few stories/news to take home with. for CHA a bard sorcerer would be utility on a stick?
Toss a Coin to Your Witcher -Jaskier/Dandelion
Really great video I appreciate you going over the bard class I was really curious about it. But just out of curiosity what if you were to multi class with Bard and sorcerer considering that sorcerer and bard both use charisma as their spellcasting ability . I feel like you’d be a very powerful combination. Especially if you go with the college of lore archetype.
It definitely gives you more control over your spells with the sorcerer's meta magic. But in my opinion you may need to sink quite a few levels into sorcerer before you get something worthwhile out of it.
Don't Stop Thinking Thanks for replying and by any chance will you doing a class guide on the sorcerer.
Excuse the silly question but my first session is in a few weeks and I do not have something clear.
My character is a Tiefling bard and my problem is that my sheet says I start with a cantrip called Thaumaturgy, my question is, that cantrip counts for my first two cantrips or I choose that two and I also have Thaumaturgy as a third.
Also, the spells I learn from my race (darkenss and hellish rebuke) count towards my limit of what I can learn?
You choose two from your class and I also have Thaumaturgy as a third from Tiefling's racial trait.
The spells you I learn from your race (darkenss and hellish rebuke) are counted separately and have its own casting rule. You can't use your class' spell slot to cast them.
My favorite combo is lore bard 14 and arcane trickster rouge 6
Im starting a new campaign as a bard soon but only going 18 levels with it and dipping 2 into warlok for eldritch invocations
Bard / Gigolo my fav build
Theeeeeer once was a hero named Ragnar the red...
Will you make a video on Monks?
Of course. It's somewhere down the line.
So, would a lawful good bard willingly support a chaotic evil character?
Additional magical spirits
Aka knowing aura of vitality and healing spirit spells earlier than paladin and druid
I’m using a valor bard with a poll arm master 😉
Been thinking of making a deaf bard charactor who just shouts jiberish that for some reason makes you do things. I think it would make for some intresting dice rolls when im "conversing" with npcs or other players.
Wait so can Bards only replace “known” spells every time they lvl up?
That's right.
Thank you CJ👏👏👏👏👏👏
hi CJ Awesome video as always =)
I would like to know the name of the bard, why he is so shot? is he a dwarf or halfling?, and will he join the party?
He's a halfling bard and I haven't got a name for him yet. I don't think the party wants him to stick around after what happened. lol!
why did he have human ear? is he the Super Rare Halfhumanling???
My Bard uses both magic and combat master
Can you do one on sorcerer?
Great video, but i have one question about the level 2 ability, when you say counter spell, what do you mind with that?
Opponent's spells can be very devastating.
Counterspell is a spell that cancels your opponent's spell of the same level your counterspell is cast. If your opponent's spell's level is higher than your counterspell casting level, then you need to make a counterspell ability check. Jack of all trade gives you bonus to the counterspell ability check and other ability checks you are not already proficient in.
Lmao I can't wait to make my bard character bc they'll get a melodica