Bard | Class Features | Dungeons & Dragons 5e | Statblocks & Sheets | World Anvil

Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild

Bard


Hit Points

Hit Dice: d8 per Bard level
Hit Points at first Level: 8 + CON
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 5 + CON

Proficiences

Armor: Light armor
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Tools: Three musical instruments of your choice: Bagpipes, Dulcimer, Viol
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Charisma
Skills: Choose any three:
  • Arcana
  • Intimidation
  • Religion

Class Features

Bardic Inspiration (3 uses/Long Rest)

  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 GM 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.  

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 (e.g. to 1d8 at 9th level).  

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.
  • Arcana
  • Intimidation
At 10th level, you can choose another two skill proficiencies to gain this benefit.  

Bard College

At 3rd level, you delve into the advanced techniques of a bard college of your choice, such as the College of Lore. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th and 14th level.
 

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:
  • Animal Handling
  • Perception
  • Stealth

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 GM 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.


Starting Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

  • any simple weapon (Light Hammer)
  • any musical instrument (Bagpipes)
  • Leather armor and a dagger

 


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.  

Cantrips

You know two cantrips of your choice from the bard spell list:
  • Minor Illusion
  • Vicious Mockery

Spell Slots

The Bard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your 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.  

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

  You know five 1st-level spells of your choice from the bard spell list:
  • Bane
  • Cure Wounds
  • Dissonant Whispers
  • Sleep
  • Tasha's Hideous Laughter
You know one 2nd-level spell of your choice from the bard spell list:
  • Lesser Restoration

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

= 13

  Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier

= +5

 

Ritual Casting

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


Created by

Taraka.

Statblock Type

Class Features

Link/Embed