Spellcasting

You have learned to untangle and reshape the fabric of reality in harmony with your wishes and music. Your spells are part of your vast repertoire, magic that you can tune to different situations. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the bard spell list.

Cantrips

You know two cantrips of your choice from the bard spell list. You learn additional bard cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Bard table.

Spell Slots

The Bard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your bard spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

For example, if you know the 1st-level spell cure wounds and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast cure wounds using either slot.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

You know four 1st-level spells of your choice from the bard spell list.

The Spells Known column of the Bard table shows when you learn more bard spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the table. For instance, when you reach 3rd level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the bard spells you know and replace it with another spell from the bard spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your bard spells. Your magic comes from the heart and soul you pour into the performance of your music or oration. You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a bard spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier

Ritual Casting

You can cast any bard spell you know as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag.

Spellcasting Focus

You can use a musical instrument (see the Tools section) as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells.

Bardic Inspiration

You can inspire others through stirring words or music. To do so, you use a bonus action on your turn to choose one creature other than yourself within 60 feet of you who can hear you. That creature gains one Bardic Inspiration die, a d6.

Once within the next 10 minutes, the creature can roll the die and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes. The creature can wait until after it rolls the d20 before deciding to use the Bardic Inspiration die, but must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once the Bardic Inspiration die is rolled, it is lost. A creature can have only one Bardic Inspiration die at a time.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Your Bardic Inspiration die changes when you reach certain levels in this class. The die becomes a d8 at 5th level, a d10 at 10th level, and a d12 at 15th level.

Jack of All Trades

Starting at 2nd level, you can add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any ability check you make that doesn’t already include your proficiency bonus.

Song of Rest

Beginning at 2nd level, you can use soothing music or oration to help revitalize your wounded allies during a short rest. If you or any friendly creatures who can hear your performance regain hit points at the end of the short rest by spending one or more Hit Dice, each of those creatures regains an extra 1d6 hit points.

The extra hit points increase when you reach certain levels in this class: to 1d8 at 9th level, to 1d10 at 13th level, and to 1d12 at 17th level.

Bard College

At 3rd level, you delve into the advanced techniques of a bard college of your choice: the College of Lore detailed at the end of the class description or another from the Player's Handbook or other sources. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th and 14th level.

• [#College of Creation]College of Creation[/#] (UA) [Support]

• [#College of Eloquence]College of Eloquence[/#] (UA) [Support]

• College of Glamour (XGtE pg 14) [Support] (Ok)

• [#College of Lore]College of Lore[/#] (PHB pg 54) [Spell Utility] (Good)

• College of Swords (XGtE pg 15) [Melee DPS]

• College of Valor (PHB pg 55) [Tank] (Ok)

• College of Whispers (XGtE pg 16) [RP]

Expertise

At 3rd level, choose two of your skill proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead. For a Bard, the Inspiring Leader (PHB) or Magic Initiate (PHB) feats are a good choice.

Bardic Inspiration (d8)

[#Bardic Inspiration]Bardic Inspiration (d8)[/#]

Font of Inspiration

Beginning when you reach 5th level, you regain all of your expended uses of Bardic Inspiration when you finish a short or long rest.

Bard College Feature

[#Bard College]Bard College[/#]

Countercharm

At 6th level, you gain the ability to use musical notes or words of power to disrupt mind-influencing effects. As an action, you can start a performance that lasts until the end of your next turn. During that time, you and any friendly creatures within 30 feet of you have advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed. A creature must be able to hear you to gain this benefit. The performance ends early if you are incapacitated or silenced or if you voluntarily end it (no action required).

Ability Score Improvement

[#Ability Score Improvement]Ability Score Improvement[/#]

Song of Rest (d8)

[#Song of Rest]Song of Rest (d8)[/#]

Bardic Inspiration (d10)

[#Bardic Inspiration]Bardic Inspiration (d10)[/#]

Expertise

At 10th level, choose two more of your skill proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies.

Magical Secrets

By 10th level, you have plundered magical knowledge from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Choose two spells from any classes, including this one. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip.

The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are included in the number in the Spells Known column of the Bard table.

You learn two additional spells from any classes at 14th level and again at 18th level.

Ability Score Improvement

[#Ability Score Improvement]Ability Score Improvement[/#]

Song of Rest (d10)

[#Song of Rest]Song of Rest (d10)[/#]

Bard College Feature

[#Bard College]Bard College[/#]

Magical Secrets

At 14th level, you have plundered magical knowledge from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Choose two spells from any classes, including this one. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip.

The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are included in the number in the Spells Known column of the Bard table.

You learn two additional spells from any classes at 18th level.

Bardic Inspiration (d12)

[#Bardic Inspiration]Bardic Inspiration (d12)[/#]

Ability Score Improvement

[#Ability Score Improvement]Ability Score Improvement[/#]

Song of Rest (d12)

[#Song of Rest]Song of Rest (d12)[/#]

Magical Secrets

At 18th level, you have plundered magical knowledge from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Choose two spells from any classes, including this one. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip.

The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are included in the number in the Spells Known column of the Bard table.

Ability Score Improvement

[#Ability Score Improvement]Ability Score Improvement[/#]

Superior Inspiration

At 20th level, when you roll initiative and have no uses of Bardic Inspiration left, you regain one use.

College of Lore

Bards of the College of Lore know something about most things, collecting bits of knowledge from sources as diverse as scholarly tomes and peasant tales. Whether singing folk ballads in taverns or elaborate compositions in royal courts, these bards use their gifts to hold audiences spellbound. When the applause dies down, the audience members might find themselves questioning everything they held to be true, from their faith in the priesthood of the local temple to their loyalty to the king.

The loyalty of these bards lies in the pursuit of beauty and truth, not in fealty to a monarch or following the tenets of a deity. A noble who keeps such a bard as a herald or advisor knows that the bard would rather be honest than politic.

The college’s members gather in libraries and sometimes in actual colleges, complete with classrooms and dormitories, to share their lore with one another. They also meet at festivals or affairs of state, where they can expose corruption, unravel lies, and poke fun at self-important figures of authority.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Lore at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with three skills of your choice.

Cutting Words

Also at 3rd level, you learn how to use your wit to distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and competence of others. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a damage roll, you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature’s roll. You can choose to use this feature after the creature makes its roll, but before the DM determines whether the attack roll or ability check succeeds or fails, or before the creature deals its damage. The creature is immune if it can’t hear you or if it’s immune to being charmed.

Additional Magical Secrets

At 6th level, you learn two spells of your choice from any class. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip. The chosen spells count as bard spells for you but don’t count against the number of bard spells you know.

Peerless Skill

Starting at 14th level, when you make an ability check, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration. Roll a Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to your ability check. You can choose to do so after you roll the die for the ability check, but before the DM tells you whether you succeed or fail.

College of Creation

Bards believe the multiverse was given existence through word and sound, esoteric harmonies that continue to resound through existence: the Song of Creation. The bards of this college draw on this ancient power through performances of dance, music, or song to bring into being what they need most.

Members of this college might have developed their powers during experiences on other worlds or planes of existence. Those who have seen the commonalities of multiple realities might have learned how to tap into truths most mortals glimpse only for a moment. Alternatively, the bard might find themselves out of step with their own home plane, reality, or time, their connections to elsewhere allowing them to manipulate the space around them. Regardless of where a bard draws their powers from, other performers might be drawn to them, either to learn their secrets or to put an end to their dangerous manipulation of the Song of Creation.

Note of Potential

Starting at 3rd level, you can manipulate the Song of Creation to summon a floating musical note of possibility:

Whenever you give a creature a Bardic Inspiration die, you can create a Note of Potential. The note orbits within 5 feet of the creature. The note is a Tiny object that is intangible and invulnerable, and it lasts until the Bardic Inspiration die is lost. A creature with a note can use it in the following ways:

Note of Destruction. Immediately after the creature rolls the Bardic Inspiration die to add it to an attack roll, the creature can expend the note to create a burst of sound. Each other creature within 5 feet of it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or take thunder damage equal to the number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die.

Note of Protection. Immediately after the creature rolls the Bardic Inspiration die and adds it to a saving throw, the creature can expend the note to gain temporary hit points equal to the number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, provided the creature doesn't already have temporary hit points.

Note of Ingenuity. When the creature rolls the Bardic Inspiration die to add it to an ability check, the creature can expend the note to roll the Bardic Inspiration die again and choose which roll to use.

Animating Performance

Starting at 6th level, Your mastery over the Song of Creation allows you to magically bring items to life. As an action, you can target a Large or smaller nonmagical item you can see within 30 feet of you and animate it. The animate item uses the Dancing Item stat block and is under your control for 1 hour or until it is reduced to 0 hit points.

In combat, the item shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or the Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, or Search action.

When you use your Bardic Inspiration feature, you can command which action your animated item takes as part of the same bonus action.

Once you animate an item with this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest or until you expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher to use this feature. You can have only one item animated by this feature at a time; if you use this action and already have a dancing item from this feature, the first one immediately becomes inanimate.

Performance of Creation

Starting at 14th level, Your performance can manipulate the magic of creation, briefly transforming the world around you. As an action, you can create one nonmagical item of your choice in an unoccupied space within 10 feet of you. The item must appear on a surface or in a liquid that can support it. The gp value of the item can’t be more than 20 times your bard level and must be Large or smaller. Tiny glimmering, intangible notes float around it, and a creature can faintly hear music when touching it.

For examples of items you can create, see the Armor, Weapons, Adventuring Gear, Tools, and Mounts and Vehicles tables in chapter 5, “Equipment,” of the Player’s Handbook.

The created item disappears at the end of your next turn, unless you use your action to maintain it. Each time you use your action in this way, the item’s duration is extended to the end of your next turn, up to a maximum of 1 minute. If you maintain the item for the full minute, it continues to exist for a number of hours equal to your bard level.

Once you create an item with this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest or until you expend a spell slot of 5th level or higher to use this feature. You can have only one item created by this feature at a time; if you use this action and already have an item from this feature, the first one immediately vanishes.

College of Eloquence

Adherents of the College of Eloquence master the art of oratory. Persuasion is regarded as a high art, and a well-reasoned, well-spoken argument often proves more powerful than objective truth. These bards wield a blend of logic and theatrical wordplay, winning over skeptics and detractors with logical arguments, and plucking at heartstrings to appeal to the emotions of entire audiences.

Universal Speech

Starting at 3rd level, You have gained the ability to speak and reason with any creature. As a bonus action, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration. When you do so, roll your Bardic Inspiration die, and choose a number of creatures within 60 feet of you that you can see equal to the roll. For 10 minutes, the chosen creatures can magically understand you, regardless of the language you speak, and you have advantage on Charisma checks made to influence them. This feature works even on a creature that doesn’t speak any languages.

Soothing Words

Starting at 3rd level, You can now cast calm emotions without expending a spell slot. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. You regain all expended uses of this feature when you finish a long rest.

Undeniable Logic

Starting at 6th level, You can spin words laced with magic into a knot of reasoning that can be encouraging or impossible to follow.

As a bonus action, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration. When you do so, choose a creature you can see within 60 feet of you that can hear you, then roll your Bardic Inspiration die and choose one of the following:

• The creature takes psychic damage equal to the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die, and the creature must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw against your spell save DC or have disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.

• The creature regains hit points equal to the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die, and the creature has advantage on the next saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.

Infectious Inspiration

Starting at 14th level, When a creature adds one of your Bardic Inspiration dice to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and the roll fails, the creature can keep the Bardic Inspiration die.

In addition, when a creature adds one of your Bardic Inspiration dice to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and the roll succeeds, you can use your reaction to encourage a different creature (other than yourself) that can hear you within 60 feet of you, giving it a Bardic Inspiration die without expending any of your Bardic Inspiration uses. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.