Bard

It is said that music has a special magic, and the bard proves that saying true. Wandering across the land, gathering lore, telling stories, working magic with his music, and living on the gratitude of his audience—such is the life of a bard. When chance or opportunity draws them into a conflict, bards serve as diplomats, negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies.

A bard’s magic comes from the heart. If his heart is good, a bard brings hope and courage to the downtrodden and uses his tricks, music, and magic to thwart the schemes of evildoers. If the nobles of the land are corrupt, the good bard is an enemy of the state, cunningly evading capture and raising the spirits of the oppressed. But music can spring from an evil heart as well. Evil bards forego blatant violence in favor of manipulation, holding sway over the hearts and minds of others and taking what enraptured audiences “willingly” give.

Bard

Faerûnian bards are as likely to create their own heroic sagas as they are to sing of others’ exploits.

In both the Dalelands and the wilderness of the North, a semisecret society known as the Harpers recruits courageous bards of good alignments to carry on a millennia-old fight against evil. While not all bards are Harpers, the noble deeds of this group have given bards something of a heroic glow that they might not have in other worlds. Good bards who are not Harpers often carry themselves as if they were, a type of self-fulfilling prophecy that frequently causes common folk to look to bards for more than a good song.

Preferred Character Regions: Bards are common in many lands, including Amn, Chessenta, Cormyr, the Dalelands, the Dragon Coast, Evermeet, Luiren, Impiltur, the Moonshaes, Silverymoon, Tethyr, Thesk, Unther, the Vast, Waterdeep, and the Western Heartlands. Gold dwarven, moon elven, sun elven, lightfoot halfling, and strongheart halfling bards are also common.

hit dice: 1d8

hit points at 1st level: 8 + your Constitution modifier

hit points at higher levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per bard level after 1st

armor proficiencies: Light armor

weapon proficiencies: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords

tools: Three musical instruments of your choice

saving throws: Dexterity, Charisma

skills: Choose any three

starting equipment:

• Choose A or B: (A) Leather Armor, 2 Daggers, Musical Instrument of your choice, Entertainer’s Pack, and 19 GP; or (B) 90 GP
  

spellcasting:

You have learned to cast spells through your bardic arts.

Cantrips. You know two cantrips of your choice from the Bard spell list.

Whenever you gain a Bard level, you can replace one of your cantrips with another cantrip of your choice from the Bard spell list.

When you reach Bard levels 4 and 10, you learn another cantrip of your choice from the Bard spell list, as shown in the Cantrips column of the Bard Features table.

Spell Slots. The Bard Features table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your level 1+ spells. You regain all expended slots when you finish a Long Rest.

Prepared Spells of Level 1+. You prepare the list of level 1+ spells that are available for you to cast with this feature. To start, choose four level 1 spells from the Bard spell list.

The number of spells on your list increases as you gain Bard levels, as shown in the Prepared Spells column of the Bard Features table. Whenever that number increases, choose additional spells from the Bard spell list until the number of spells on your list matches the number on the table. The chosen spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For example, if you’re a level 3 Bard, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of levels 1 and 2 in any combination.

If another Bard feature gives you spells that you always have prepared, those spells don’t count against the number of spells you can prepare with this feature, but those spells otherwise count as Bard spells for you.

Changing Your Prepared Spells. Whenever you gain a Bard level, you can replace one spell on your list with another Bard spell for which you have spell slots.

Spellcasting Ability. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your Bard spells.

Spellcasting Focus. You can use a Musical Instrument as a Spellcasting Focus for your Bard spells.

class features:

Level 1: Bardic Knowledge

A bard picks up a lot of stray knowledge while wandering the land and learning stories from other bards. You can make a special bardic knowledge check with a bonus equal to your bard level + Intelligence modifier to see whether you know some relevant information about local notable people, legendary items, or noteworthy places. A successful bardic knowledge check will not reveal the powers of a magic item but may give a hint as to its general function. The DM can determine the Difficulty Class of the check by referring to the table below.

Level 1: Bardic Music

You can use song or poetics to produce a magical effect on those around you or yourself. While these abilities fall under the category of bardic music and the descriptions discuss singing or playing instruments, they can all be activated by reciting poetry, chanting, singing lyrical songs, singing melodies, whistling, playing an instrument, or playing an instrument in combination with some spoken performance.

Using Bardic Music. As a Bonus Action, you can play music that effects another creature within 60 feet of yourself who can see or hear you.

Number of Uses. You can play a bard song a number of times equal to your bardic level. You regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Countersong: You can cast Counterspell.

Fascinate: You can cast Charm Person as a 1st-level spell.

Level 1: Inspire Courage +1

As a bard song, you can cast Heroism at 1st-level spell.

Level 3: Inspire Competence

As a bard song when a creature fails a d20 roll, the creature can roll a D6 and add the number rolled to the d20, potentially turning the failure into a success. The die becomes a d8 at level 5, a d10 at level 10.

Level 6: Extra Attack

You can attack twice instead of once whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Level 6: Suggestion

As a bard song, you can cast Suggestion.

Level 8: Inspire Courage +2

As a bard song, you can cast Heroism at 2nd-level spell.

Level 9: Inspire Greatness

As a bard song, you can cast Haste.

subclass options:

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Bardic Class Features	Cantrips	Prepared Spells	1	2	3	4	5
1	+2	Bardic music, bardic knowledge, countersong, fascinate, inspire courage +1	2	4	-	-	-	-	-
2	+2		3	5	0	-	-	-	-
3	+2	Inspire competence	3	6	1	-	-	-	-
4	+2		3	7	2	0	-	-	-
5	+3		3	9	3	1	-	-	-
6	+3	Extra Attack, Suggestion	3	10	3	2	-	-	-
7	+3		3	11	3	2	0	-	-
8	+3	Inspire courage +2	3	12	3	2	1	-	-
9	+4	Inspire greatness	3	14	3	2	2	-	-
10	+4		3	15	3	2	2	0	-

Faerûnian Instruments

Some bards sing, others orate or dance, and some play familiar instruments such as the mandolin, lyre, dulcimer, and yes, the harp. Still other bards perform on less well-known instruments unique to Faerûn.

Birdpipes: Also known as the shalm, these are pan pipes. They are sacred to Lliira and the satyrs, and popular with wood elven and wild elven bards.

Glaur: A short, curved horn resembling a cornucopia. Fitted with valves, it sounds like a trumpet played in a high wind. Sun elves use them, halflings love them, humans either like them or hate them. Glaurs that lack valves are called gloons, and sound like melancholy horns echoing in fog.

Hand Drum: A double-headed drum, often played at high speed by warriors who wish to demonstrate their prowess without having to beat someone up.

Longhorn: A Faerûnian flute, common only in civilized areas and among the elves.

Shaum: A double-reed instrument, a sort of primitive oboe or bassoon, most popular with gnomes. Songhorn: A recorder, popular everywhere, unless someone has a hangover.

Tantan: The tambourine, popular with halflings and humans south of the Dalelands, disliked by dwarves, who prefer more honest percussion.

Thelarr: A simple reed instrument also called a whistlecane. An easy instrument to teach and so cheap that some bards give them away as gifts to children.

Tocken: A set of carved, oval, open-ended bells, played like a glockenspiel, particularly in underground civilizations and others whose buildings can maximize the resonant tones.

Wargong: A gong constructed of one or many shields, frequently those of defeated enemies. It is played with mallets, or in extreme cases, with warhammers. The goblins and dwarves make much of alternately constructing huge wargongs or attempting to liberate such shields taken by their foe.

Yarting: A guitar, growing in popularity through Faerûn after coming out of Amn and Calimshan some time in the past forty or fifty years.

Zulkoon: A complex and semiportable pump organ, associated in many minds with the zulkirs of Thay, whose slaves carry such organs in wagons in order to provide the proper music for their masters’ spells.

Bard Spell List

This section presents the Bard spell list. The spells are organized by spell level and then alphabetized, and each spell’s school of magic is listed. In the Special column, C means the spell requires Concentration, R means it’s a Ritual, and M means it requires a specific Material component.

		Cantrips (Level 0 Bard Spells)
Spell	School	Special
Blade Ward	Abjuration	C
Dancing Lights	Illusion	C
Friends	Enchantment	C
Light	Evocation	—
Mage Hand	Conjuration	—
Mending	Transmutation	—
Message	Transmutation	—
Minor Illusion	Illusion	—
Prestidigitation	Transmutation	—
Starry Wisp	Evocation	—
Thunderclap	Evocation	—
True Strike	Divination	—
Vicious Mockery	Enchantment	—

		Level 1 Bard Spells
Spell	School	Special
Animal Friendship	Enchantment	—
Bane	Enchantment	C
Charm Person	Enchantment	—
Color Spray	Illusion	—
Command	Enchantment	—
Comprehend Languages	Divination	R
Cure Wounds	Abjuration	—
Detect Magic	Divination	C, R
Disguise Self	Illusion	—
Dissonant Whispers	Enchantment	—
Faerie Fire	Evocation	C
Feather Fall	Transmutation	—
Healing Word	Abjuration	—
Heroism	Enchantment	C
Identify	Divination	R, M
Illusory Script	Illusion	R, M
Longstrider	Transmutation	—
Silent Image	Illusion	C
Sleep	Enchantment	C
Speak with Animals	Divination	R
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter	Enchantment	C
Thunderwave	Evocation	—
Unseen Servant	Conjuration	R

		Level 2 Bard Spells
Spell	School	Special
Aid	Abjuration	—
Animal Messenger	Enchantment	R
Blindness/Deafness	Transmutation	—
Calm Emotions	Enchantment	C
Cloud of Daggers	Conjuration	C
Crown of Madness	Enchantment	C
Detect Thoughts	Divination	C
Enhance Ability	Transmutation	C
Enlarge/Reduce	Transmutation	C
Enthrall	Enchantment	C
Heat Metal	Transmutation	C
Hold Person	Enchantment	C
Invisibility	Illusion	C
Knock	Transmutation	—
Lesser Restoration	Abjuration	—
Locate Animals or Plants	Divination	R
Locate Object	Divination	C
Magic Mouth	Illusion	R, M
Mirror Image	Illusion	—
Phantasmal Force	Illusion	C
See Invisibility	Divination	—
Shatter	Evocation	—
Silence	Illusion	C, R
Suggestion	Enchantment	C
Zone of Truth	Enchantment	—

		Level 3 Bard Spells
Spell	School	Special
Bestow Curse	Necromancy	C
Clairvoyance	Divination	C, M
Dispel Magic	Abjuration	—
Fear	Illusion	C
Feign Death	Necromancy	R
Glyph of Warding	Abjuration	M
Hypnotic Pattern	Illusion	C
Leomund’s Tiny Hut	Evocation	R
Major Image	Illusion	C
Mass Healing Word	Abjuration	—
Nondetection	Abjuration	M
Plant Growth	Transmutation	—
Sending	Divination	—
Slow	Transmutation	C
Speak with Dead	Necromancy	—
Speak with Plants	Transmutation	—
Stinking Cloud	Conjuration	C
Tongues	Divination	—