Introduction
The DnD 5e Bard is fantastically versatile. With access to any skill, expertise, and full spellcasting, the Bard can fill essentially every role in the party. Subclasses like College of Lore are more of the classic support Bard, with improved magical options and support abilities, while College of Swords and College of Valor can serve as front-line melee characters who can bring their spellcasting and support capabilities into the heat of battle.
Because bards can do so much within a single class, they can fill nearly any role within a party. Their open skill options, Expertise, and buff spells allow them to thrive as a Face and a Scout, while their spellcasting makes them effective Controllers and Support casters. The Bard’s biggest deficiencies are damage output and durability, so it’s hard to build them as a Blaster, Defender, or Striker, but even that isn’t impossible. Subclasses like College of Dance can expand these rolls by changing the Bard’s playstyle.
Despite being themed around music and performance, Bards have nearly no mechanics related to performing. You don’t need the Performance skill, and, other than using them as a spellcasting focus, you don’t need musical instruments.
This article is for the 2024 DnD 5e rules. For the 2014 rules, see our 2014 DnD 5e Bard Class Guide.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Bard Class Features
- 2024 Bard Changes from 2014 Rules
- Bard Backgrounds
- Bard Species
- Bard Ability Scores
- Bard Skills
- Bard Feats
- Bard Weapons
- Bard Armor
- Bard Multiclassing
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.
The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.
Bard Class Features
Optional Class Features are detailed below under Optional Class Features.
: d8 is fantastic for a full casting class, but you’re not going to survive rushing into melee all the time unless you go for Valor to boost your AC.
: Dexterity is great for avoiding fireballs, but most spells which call for Reflex saves won’t outright disable you, and Charisma saves are extremely rare.
: Light armor and a handful of weapons won’t give you a ton of options, but it’s enough to get by, and Bards rely mostly on their spells and special abilities. You do get three skills of your choice, which opens up a lot of really great options.
1. : The Bard’s signature feature, Bardic Inspiration is an absolutely fantastic support ability. The dice last an hour, so you can often pass them out long before you’re in danger rather than scrambling to hand them out during combat. The dice can be used on any d20 test, so I recommend saving them for narrow misses on saving throws or for high-value attack rolls.
1. : Bards are full spellcasters, and their spell list falls into an interesting niche. They share many options with the Wizard, but they also get crucial healing options like Healing Word and Lesser Restoration. Bards prepare spells permanently, so you’ll need to put some thought into your spells each time that you gain a level.
2. : Always fantastic.
2. : Helpful for skills in which you don’t have proficiency, but you’ll almost certainly be proficient in most skills that you’re well-suited to use, so this may rarely impact a check.
3. Subclass: Bard subclasses are briefly summarized below. See our Bard Subclasses Breakdown for help selecting your subclass.
- College of Dance: A novel take on a martial Bard, turn dancing in combat into a powerful unarmed combat style.
- College of Glamour: Charm, dominate, and command creatures around you.
- College of Lore: Emphasize the Bard’s mastery of skills and spells by getting even better at skills and spells.
- College of Valor: Add a splash of additional martial capabilities to the Bard.
5: : This allows you to use your Bardic Inspiration ability up to three times as often in a single day, assuming two short rests.
7. : Charm and feat effects are common. This will see frequent use.
9. : Always fantastic.
10. : Access to nearly every spell in the game. This does exclude some class exclusives like Find Steed and Hex, but you still get a ton of options. Remember that you can retrain your lower-level spells, allowing you to replace your low-level spells with spells from different spell lists.
18. : Excellent. You effectively don’t need to ration your Bardic Inspiration uses.
20. : These aren’t the best 9th-level spells, but adding a second target makes them much more appealing.
2024 Bard Changes from 2014 Rules
This section is from our 2024 DnD Rules Transition Guide.
- 1: Bardic Inspiration. Inspiration dice now have a 1-hour expiration (formerly 10 minutes), and the die is used when they fail a d20 roll rather than allowing the option to use the die before knowing that you failed and potentially wasting the die.
- 1. Spellcasting. Now allows you to change a cantrip when you gain a Bard level.
- 2: Expertise. Moved from level 3 to 2.
- 5: Font of Inspiration. You can now spend a spell slot to use Bardic Inspiration again.
- 7: Countercharm. Now works as a Reaction without you spending your Action to perform first.
- 9: Expertise. Moved from level 10.
- 10: Magical Secrets. No longer a limited number of spells. From level 10 onward you can pick spells from the Bard, Cleric, Druid, and Wizard spell lists, including when you retrain spells that you already knew. No more Paladin/Ranger/Warlock spells.
- 18: Superior Inspiration. Moved from level 20, and it now raises you to two dice instead of granting just one.
- 20: Words of Creation. Power Word Heal/Kill prepared for free and you can affect two creatures with both of them. These are 9th-level spells, so doubling their effectiveness is pretty great.
Bard Backgrounds
An increase to Charisma is too crucial to forgo, so any Background which doesn’t include Charisma is immediately out. Charisma-based skills are also ideal. College of Valor will also want both Dexterity and Constitution.
For information and advice regarding Origin Feats, including those granted by your Background, see the Bard Feats section, below.
- (PHB): Magic Initiate (Cleric) is good, but not enough to make up for the mediocre skills and the fact that Bards only care about one of the ability scores.
- (PHB) : Absolutely fantastic for the Bard, especially in a small party where you have gaps in skill proficiencies.
- (PHB) : Conceptually the default for the Bard, but the skills are awful. The ability scores are good and the Musician feat is welcome in any party, but it’s hard to waste two skill proficiencies on borderline useless skills.
- (PHB) : Decent ability scores, but the skills are poor, and there’s little reason for Healer when you can cast Healing Word.
- (PHB) : Good ability scores, and Lucky is an easy feat on any character. The only low point is Animal Handling.
- (PHB) : Fine, but Charlatan is a much easier choice.
- (PHB) : Another way to get Magic Initiate, but without a Charisma increase it’s a poor choice for the Bard.
- (PHB) : Great ability scores and skills for a Bard looking to fill in for a Rogue in the party, and Lucky is an easy feat on any character.
Bard Species
Additional defenses, extra skill proficiencies, and innate spellcasting can all be very useful.
- (PHB): Two damage resistances, Darkvision, a once per day heal, and a once per day combat transformation. Most Bards don’t rely enough on direct damage spells or weapons to make the Transformation’s damage bonus meaningful, but College of Valor Bards will find it very helpful.
- (PHB): Darkvision, a damage resistance, and once per day flight are great, but you will likely never use the breath weapon beyond very low levels.
- (PHB): Darkvision, resistance to the most common non-weapon damage type, and more hit points. Tremorsense is neat, but you have spells to handle invisible or hidden enemies. A great choice for College of Valor, but otherwise the durability may not do much for you.
- (PHB): Darkvision and an extra skill are both great, plus you can get access to some spells from outside of the Bard’s spell list. High Elf’s cantrip can get you a great offensive cantrips from the Wizard’s spell list, while the Wood Elf’s access to Pass Without Trace simplifies stealth for the whole party.
- (PHB): Darkvision and Gnomish Cunning are both great, and the added cantrips from Gnomish Lineage offer some interesting utility options. Paired with good Wisdom and proficiency in Wisdom saves, failing those saves will be exceptionally rare.
- (PHB): Giant Heritage doesn’t offer a lot of easy options for full casters, but Cloud Jaunt is fantastic non-spell teleportation, so you can use it the same turn that you cast a leveled spell. Stone’s Endurance is also useful for frail spellcasters. Large Form won’t see much use, but Powerful Build might help you escape grapples if you can’t get out by other means (such as Cloud Jaunt).
- (PHB): Brave and Lucky are both helpful, and Halfling Nimbleness may help you get past enemies to get into a safer position, though it won’t prevent Opportunity Attacks when you need to leave an enemy’s reach. Naturally Stealthy might let you hide before combat starts, but without Cunning Action it won’t see use in combat.
- (PHB): An additional skill and origin feat are an easy choice on any build.
- (PHB): Adrenaline Rush is an excellent option for getting out of dangerous positions quickly without a spell, and the Temporary Hit Points are great on a frail spellcaster. If that doesn’t keep you alive, Relentless Endurance provides some insurance.
- (PHB): Darkvision, a damage resistance, and some innate spellcasting almost entirely from outside of the Bard’s spell list. The spell choices aren’t crazy, but there are some consistently useful options here, and access to offensive options like Fire Bolt are a great addition to the Bard.
Bard Ability Scores
The Bard is heavily reliant on Charisma, but also needs a bit of Dexterity and Constitution for survivability. Most Bards will start from roughly the same set of ability scores, but martial Bards like College of Dance may put additional focus on Dexterity.
: Dump stat. Even in melee, the Bard can rely solely on Dexterity
: In light armor and with no shields, the Bard needs Dexterity to boost their poor AC. It also helps when you must occasionally resort to using weapons. Martial bards like College of Dance and College of Valor may need more than usual.
: Everyone needs hit points, and you need to be able to maintain Concentration.
: Several interesting skills rely on Intelligence.
: Good for important saves and a handful of skills, including Perception.
: The Bard runs on Charisma. Get as much as you can, as early as you can. Even martial Bards should typically prioritize Charisma over Dexterity or Constitution. Remember: you’re a spellcaster first, and everything else is secondary.
| Point Buy | Adjusted | Standard Array | Adjusted | PHB Recommended | Adjusted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Str | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Dex | 15 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| Con | 14 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 13 |
| Int | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 13 |
| Wis | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 10 |
| Cha | 15 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 17 |
Bard Skills
- (Dex): Too situational, but if you’re built for melee you need either this or Acrobatics to get out of grapples if you don’t have magical options for it like Misty Step.
- (Wis): Bards are not Druids.
- (Str): Functionally useless.
- (Int): One of the most important Knowledge skills.
- (Cha): Helpful for a Face.
- (Int): A useful knowledge skill.
- (Wis): Helpful for a Face.
- (Cha): Helpful for any Face.
- (Int): Very important, but you really only need one person in the party to have it.
- (Wis): This skill is useless. Medicine is best done magically.
- (Int): Good knowledge skill, but not as crucial as Arcana or Religion.
- (Wis): The most rolled skill in the game.
- (Cha): This is really weird. In 5e Bards don’t actually need Performance, so you can completely skip it. 3.0 was my first RPG, and Bards are indelibly fused to the Perform skill in my mind, so I’m having a little bit of a mental freak-out as I write this. If you do take it, you can use it during Downtime to support a Wealthy lifestyle, allowing you to live in luxury while your adventuring buddies are crowding into rooms at the local inn trying to get by on whatever loot they found.
- (Cha): The king of Face skills.
- (Int): One of the most important Knowledge skills.
- (Dex): Too situational.
- (Dex): Essential if your party lacks a dedicated Scout.
- (Wis): Too situational.
Bard Feats
This section does not address every published feat, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover feats which we think work especially well for the class or which might be tempting but poor choices.
Origin Feats
These feats typically come from your Background, but you can also select an Origin Feat any time that you could select a General Feat, and you may get more from sources like the Human’s species traits.
- (PHB): Never a bad choice, but Bards don’t have most of the big area control spells that spellcasters like the Druid and the Wizard want to cast before anyone else acts in combat.
- (PHB): Neat, but not especially impactful. Crafting mundane gear stops being impactful early in the game as players quickly accumulate enough to afford nearly anything in the Player’s Handbook. This notably omits the Herbalist Kit as a choice, so you can’t even use this to craft Potions of Healing.
- (PHB): Rerolling dice on healing spells is nice, but not especially impactful. The vast majority of hit point restoration is either Healing word to rescue dying allies or hit dice during a Short Rest. Sources of healing intended to bring creatures up to a significant portion of their hit points usually use a static number rather than dice (ex: Heal).
- (PHB): An easy choice on any character. It won’t directly impact your build, but it’s a great default if you don’t need anything else.
- (PHB): Druid spells to get Shillelagh for College of Valor Bards or Wizard spells to get options like Fire Bolt and Shield can both have a huge impact.
- (PHB): A great way to contribute to any party.
- (PHB): Not impactful enough even if you’re build for College of Valor.
- (PHB): Excellent in small parties where you need more skill coverage.
- (PHB): You’re not going to make Unarmed Strikes even if you’re built for melee.
- (PHB): Helpful with d8 hit dice and poor armor, but not essential.
General Feats
- (PHB): I would only take this on the Bard, and even then, it’s not great.
- (PHB): Even if you’re planning to use weapons, you need to leave your Bonus Action free for spells and for Bardic Inspiration.
- (PHB): A passable choice for School of Dance, but other Bards should skip it, and even College of Dance should be cautious since it doesn’t increase Dexterity or Charisma.
- (PHB): A consistent and effective way to boost your AC in melee if you’re building for College of Valor.
- (PHB): You need your Bonus Action to use Bardic Inspiration and to cast spells.
- (PHB): Cast Healing Word.
- (PHB): Bards don’t get enough elemental damage to justify this.
- (PHB): Two more prepared spells and access to some 1st-level spells from outside of your spell list. Misty Step is great on any spellcaster.
- (PHB): If you want heavy armor, start your build with a level in Fighter.
- (PHB): A massive amount of temporary hit points.
- (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
- (PHB): Good insurance against difficult mental saves, but without a Charisma increase it’s hard to select this at low levels.
- (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
- (PHB): Borderline worthless. Put +2 into Dexterity and wear light armor.
- (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
- (PHB): Once you get Magical Secrets, you can learn to cast Find Steed. At that point, mounted combat becomes a viable tactic, which means that Mounted Combatant has some appeal.
- (PHB): If you’re proficient in Perception and have decent Wisdom, you may be well qualified to use Perception reliably. But even then, this is only helpful if your DM likes to use stealthy enemies and/or likes to include traps in combat encounters.
- (PHB): You should not be using weapons enough to justify using this.
- (PHB): Bards don’t get spells that deal poison damage, and you’re not going to use weapons enough to make poison via weapons a meaningful option. Even if you do, you need your Bonus Action free for spells and Bardic Inspiration.
- (PHB): Constitution saves are crucial for Concentration. War Caster may be better if you’re building a martial bard so that you can use Reactive Spell, but if you only care about Concentration, Resilient is better.
- (PHB): There are some great level 1 Ritual spells like Comprehend Languages and Find Familiar, but the fact that this only lets you get level 1 spells significantly limits its usefulness. Getting rituals from outside of your own spell list is nice, but unless there are specific Rituals that you want, this isn’t worth a feat.
- (PHB): Two more prepared spells are always nice, and Invisibility is a staple spell, but Shadow Magic’s options for 1st-level spells simply aren’t as good as those available via Fey Touched.
- (PHB): Not useful enough even if you’re building a martial bard.
- (PHB): Most Bards aren’t proficient in shields, and Valor Bards won’t have the Strength to make Shield Bash effective.
- (PHB): More skills and more expertise are great on a class that is so good with skills.
- (PHB): You should not be using weapons enough to justify using this.
- (PHB): Tempting to get yourself out of melee safely.
- (PHB): Use Vicious Mockery.
- (PHB): An easy choice on any spellcaster. Telekinetic Shove will compete for your Bonus Action with options like Healing Word and Bardic Inspiration, but you won’t be able to use it effectively every turn, so it’s not really an issue. Remember that creatures can willingly fail saving throws, allowing you to use this on allies in order to move them out of dangerous positions, break grapples, or otherwise help them.
- (PHB): Very cool, but usually talking works fine.
- (PHB): Great for martial Bards built for melee. If you only care about Concentration, Resilient (Constitution) provides a bigger bonus, but War Caster can improve your mental ability scores, so it’s often easier to fit into a build.
- (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
Epic Boons
- (PHB): Even martial Bards aren’t so dependent on weapon attacks that you can justify this.
-
(PHB): Basically
free Misty Step every time that you cast a spell as an Action.
Unfortunately, Bonus Action and Reaction spells don’t qualify. According to
the Rules Glossary: “When you take the Magic action, you cast a spell that
has a casting time of an action or use a feature or magic item that requires
a Magic action to be activated.”
Outside of combat, you can still use this to get around obstacles. Cast a harmless spell like Prestidigitation and you can teleport without making a mess.
- (PHB): A powerful defense on any character.
- (PHB): 2d4 averages to 5. Adding +5/-5 to a saving throw can rescue you or an ally, or it can cause an enemy to fail a save. On a d20 scale, 5 means that there’s a 25% chance on any given roll that this will have an impact. Granted, it is still a dice roll, so the smaller the gap, the safer this is to use. On a full caster where save-or-suck spells are such a huge part of your arsenal, this is devastatingly effective. The fact that you can use it once per encounter is amazing.
- (PHB): More hit points are great on a class as frail as the Bard, but given the choice between this and Resilient (Constitution), you need proficiency in Constitution saves much more than 40 hp and some extra healing.
- (PHB): Even martial bards don’t attack frequently enough to make this appealing.
- (PHB): The Last Stand feature is great insurance, but definitely not enough to justify your first Epic Boon. Try to get someone to cast Death Ward on you.
- (PHB): Nice, but remember that you have Jack of All Trades.
- (PHB): Take Boon of Dimensional Travel instead.
- (PHB): This gives you a 25% chance to retain your spell slot when casting spells of up to level 4. You get 4 level 1 spell slots and 3 of each of levels 2, 3, and 4. On average, you get 1 extra level 1 spell slot, and slightly less than 1 for levels 2, 3, and 4. This is fine, but definitely don’t make it your first boon.
- (PHB): Be invisible at all times outside of combat. Take advantage of invisibility at the start of combat, then look for ways to become invisible as frequently as possible. Even if you’re not making attack rolls (and you almost certainly aren’t doing so often), the defensive benefits of invisibility are massive. However, remember that a lot of things are an Action, so it’s very easy to break this invisibility. Notable examples that people easily overlook include Hide, Search, and Study.
- (PHB): You have magic options to handle invisible enemies.
Bard Weapons
The Bard is proficient in simple weapons. College of Valor grants proficiency in martial weapons. However, no Bard gets access to Weapon Mastery, so Weapon Mastery options aren’t part of the consideration.
- : Your best melee weapon simply because it has the Finesse property.
- : A light crossbow combined with True Strike will deal more damage than most cantrips until you reach level 11, making it a go-to attack option at least until level 11.
Martial Bard Weapons
Bards which have access to martial weapons have more diverse weapons options.
- : Your best ranged weapon option.
- : More damage than the longbow, but if you have Extra Attack, the Loading property becomes a problem.
- : Your most obvious melee weapon option.
- : Reach is really good because you don’t need to get into melee to use this.
Bard Armor
The Bard is proficient in light armor. College of Valor grants proficiency in medium armor and shields.
- : Starting gear.
- : Most Bards will live in Studded Leather.
- : The Valor Bard’s best armor. May double as a percussion instrument.
- : Valor Bards will want as much AC as they can get, so a shield is an obvious choice. Unfortunately, it can cause issues when you’re trying to cast spells and use Battle Magic at the same time.
Bard Multiclassing
This section briefly details some obvious and enticing multiclass options, but doesn’t fully explore the broad range of multiclassing combinations. For more on multiclassing, see our Practical Guide to Multiclassing.
- : Starting with 1 level in Fighter gets you Constitution saves, heavy armor, shields, martial weapons, Fighting Style, Weapon Mastery, and Second Wind. All of that makes you immediately better than College of Valor. Two levels gets you Action Surge, but you can’t use Action Surge to cast spells, so it’s not especially appealing.
- : Play College of Dance.
- : Despite sharing similar ability score needs, there’s almost no synergy here.
- : Everything you want will be better from either the Druid, the Fighter, or the Rogue.
- : More Expertise. Two levels for Cunning Action can be very useful.
- : More Charisma-based spellcasting. Two levels for Font of Magic and Metamagic can be very useful.
- : Pact of the Blade makes weapons much more viable for the Bard, but you’ll still do better using True Strike, which is already on your spell list.
- : Access to some powerful 1st-level spells include Mage Armor and Shield, as well as all of the Wizard’s level 1 rituals.
