Introduction
In 5th edition, bards have finally been upgraded to full caster and boy are they happy about it. No longer are bard players left feeling like they can’t enjoy the upper echelons of absurd spellcasting enjoyed by their friends. But, like every other Charisma caster, they have to lock in the spells they pick and, even though they have access to more and higher level spells now than in previous editions, there are still places where they could absolutely use some help. WotC decided to give them something unique to do just that: magical secrets. Every so often they can purloin a spell off someone else’s list and make it their own forever. So, how do we make best use of that?
I will break this document down into two and a half sections: one for most bards, a quick note for lore bards (who get these far earlier than other subclasses), and one for swords bards because their playstyle is different enough to warrant its own discussion.
Table of Contents
Most Bards
Every bard will get to take two leveled spells or cantrips from any class (including bard) at each of levels 10, 14, & 18 for a total of 6 additional spells over the course of the character. To boil the entire premise of this entire article down to a single sentence I will pose a question: what do you need? Take that. If you’re in a party with many spellcasters you may have everything covered and may want to fill in your own solo capabilities or lean into your specialization.
If (more likely), you aren’t, look at the spell list of a caster not in your group and see what unique capacities you can pull from there to cover something. Magical secrets are usually best spent acquiring utility that is otherwise inaccessible to your party, and we particularly want to look at spell lists that are intended to provide power later than when we can get access to it: paladins and rangers.
Half casters have some great options that aren’t intended to be accessed by these classes until levels 13 or 17 that you can take immediately at level 10. These also tend to be the most unique spells as they’re balanced for just those classes and can therefore do some interesting things when taken at lower levels. Let’s get into some of the best options in my opinion for our first secrets. For this first section, I will cover every cantrip and spell up to spell level 5 since this is the first time most bards will be able to take them.
Level 10
Interesting options from the Cleric list:
- : The best reliable Radiant damage in the game
- : Stacks with, but is also a little redundant to, Inspiration. If you find yourself running out of that frequently, consider this.
- : Something about an ounce of prevention worth being a pound of Cure Wounds. Especially useful if you have another healer/primary buff caster to put it on.
- : Cheap, low level Mass Healing Word. Although, by this point you already have Mass Healing Word so I would really only go for this if you don’t know what to do with your 2nd level spell slots or if you find everyone dying a lot.
- : A fabulous low-level divination, but this isn’t going to fundamentally change how your character works.
- : Incredible added damage if you don’t already use your bonus action often.
- : This is a 3rd level spell that averages the same amount of healing as Heal. Really nothing else needs be said.
- : Not nearly as restrictive as it was in 3.5, making it probably the best res spell out there, especially as it has the lowest cost.
- : One of the best save-or-sucks, but bards already have several good ones.
- : It’s an amazing safety net, but it does leave the target at just 1hp.
- : This is one of those “only limited by your imagination” in how good it is spells, assuming you’re near stone. If you aren’t near stone, it’s dead weight.
- : Bards don’t really get many divinations, and borrowing a Cleric’s ability to ask a literal deity is something can be very helpful if you like planning your approach to something instead of improvising.
- : None of the Summon/Conjure spells will get a blue rating from me because they’re competing with Find Greater Steed. But if you don’t want to have a pegasus for some reason and need another body, just pick the flavor and spell slot level you like best.
Interesting options from the Druid list:
- : For being a cantrip, it can do many things it really shouldn’t
- : A great choice if you insist on using a weapon, and since you’re casting it as a bard spell you can attack using Charisma. But unless you have a cantrip like Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade to boost the damage, there’s really no reason to use this instead of another offensive cantrip like.
- : One of the best defensive reactions in the game. Unless you’re a Swords bard you probably won’t get the bonus damage which means you don’t have to feel bad about never upcasting it. Only applies to you though.
- : A great option for area control, but bards already have several of those.
- : Superb low-level healing, especially if your DM doesn’t read the website
- : If you’re optimizing, you probably already have an answer for this, including one or two party members. But it’s really good if you don’t have that.
- : +10. Why WOTC.
- : A great option for area control, but bards already have several of those.
- : A really phenomenal spell… if you run into a lot of beasts. If you’re adventuring through a normal forest full of normal animals, consider it.
- : A great option for area control, but bards already have several of those. This one does come with damage, but it’s a commonly resisted type.
- : A great option for area control, but bards already have several of those.
- : Like Sanctuary but better, but also worse.
- : None of the Summon/Conjure spells will get a blue rating from me because they’re competing with Find Greater Steed. But if you don’t want to have a pegasus for some reason and need another body, just pick the flavor and spell slot level you like best.
- : If you don’t have a druid and you find yourself around a lot of water (like in a seafaring campaign), this will let you do some really neat water-bending stuff that can come in very handy.
- : None of the Summon/Conjure spells will get a blue rating from me because they’re competing with Find Greater Steed. But if you don’t want to have a pegasus for some reason and need another body, just pick the flavor and spell slot level you like best. This one is a little better because it’s more flexible in how many things you summon, but I’d still call it green
- : None of the Summon/Conjure spells will get a blue rating from me because they’re competing with Find Greater Steed. But if you don’t want to have a pegasus for some reason and need another body, just pick the flavor and spell slot level you like best.
Interesting options from the Paladin list:
- : If you have a lot of bodies and want distributed radiant damage instead of doing it all yourself with Sacred Flame. Maybe you’re fighting a ton of zombies or something.
- : Don’t let your memes be dreams.
- : If you expect to face a lot of spellcasters, this shuts them all down better than only being able to counterspell once a turn.
Interesting options from the Ranger list:
- Unfortunately, all the interesting options here are already covered under the druid list. One note though: if you’re playing an archery focused valor bard, Swift Quiver is one of the best spells in the game for you.
Interesting options from the Sor/Wiz list
- : One of the best scouting spells in the game, but if you already have a scout this can be redundant.
- : This is one of those “only limited by your imagination (and ethics)” in how good it is spells. Selling someone an enormous block of adamantine for huge profit and skipping town feels like a very Bard thing to do.
- : If you need telepathy, this is the gold standard. This will be much more impactful in intrigue-focused games compared to dungeon crawls, but it can be useful there too as a stealth aid.
Interesting options from the Warlock list:
- : At next level, it goes pew pew pew.
- : Bonus action teleportation is probably three of the most delicious words you can string together in D&D.
- : Good, but competes with Fly.
- : I’m rating Counterspell blue. Hmmm…
- : Good, but competes with riding a pegasus.
- : The trifecta of area-of-effect damage, blindness, and tentacles.
- : None of the Summon/Conjure spells will get a blue rating from me because they’re competing with Find Greater Steed. But if you don’t want to have a pegasus for some reason and need another body, just pick the flavor and spell slot level you like best.
- : One of the best personal buffs in the game. Take this if you do a lot of attacking or seem to get focused on by monsters.
- : None of the Summon/Conjure spells will get a blue rating from me because they’re competing with Find Greater Steed. But if you don’t want to have a pegasus for some reason and need another body, just pick the flavor and spell slot level you like best.
There’s a lot to cover there, so let’s go over some things. Being a bard, you’re probably replacing either a traditional arcane caster like a sor/wiz/warlock or a traditional divine caster like a cleric/druid given that you can fill either role. I’m going to therefore recommend that you mostly look at the list for whatever role you’re replacing and pick some utility that is missing from the group. There are some exceptions that are just fantastic and need to be called out however.
You’ve probably spent most of your life using your cantrips to insult people for psychic damage. It’s a fabulous damage type, it applies a great debuff, and it’s thematically hilarious. With that said, sometimes you’re going to want something other than psychic damage, and this presents us with two great options: Eldritch Blast and Sacred Flame. If your party is lacking in radiant damage, Sacred Flame will go a long way towards making sure you can deal with the undead and evil outsiders effectively. Meanwhile, Eldritch Blast is so good that people will often wander into a level of warlock for little other benefit.
If you’re the primary healer in the group, Aura of Vitality is ludicrous amounts of healing for a level 3 spell, with the caveat that you should basically never use it in combat. With the optional rules adding it to the cleric list, this becomes less mandatory to take on a bard, but it’s still incredibly strong as it was one of those spells balanced around not being available until character level 9.
If you don’t have anything else to do with your bonus actions yet, Spiritual Weapon remains king among spells that should be concentration but aren’t.
Revivify is so good that you should take it even if someone else in the party already has it because, if they die, you can use it on them. I would honestly only not consider this a priority if your party already has two instances of it.
I’m going to say that, especially if you’re light on bodies in your party, picking one of the Summon/Conjure [x] spells will help quite a bit. With that said though, you may want to instead look into Find Greater Steed. A Paladin exclusive that normally wouldn’t see play until level 13, get yourself a Celestial/Fey/Fiendish pegasus.They’re fast on the ground, they’re very fast in the air, and they may well be smarter and wiser than you are. They also speak three languages you probably don’t and can communicate with you telepathically so expect to suddenly have a great translator, and with their passive perception of 16 they’re more observant than most characters.
Pass Without Trace is one of those things that feels like someone forgot they were trying to create a bounded system. If you think you, your party, or anyone you’re friendly with might ever want to sneak somewhere, you should take this spell.
Bards are one of only two things that get to add a bonus to the roll for Counterspell, which makes it incredibly frustrating that they don’t get it natively. Per this Crawford tweet (which isn’t really surprising, it’s completely RAW and just something people overlook), Jack of All Trades applies to the Charisma check you would make to counterspell something that you didn’t beat by slot level.
Misty Step and Fly are both some of the best movement options in the game and getting access to them, even now, is still good. Especially if multiple members of your party haven’t figured out how to fly yet themselves. If you’re the only one by this point though, I’d probably skip it and just take your pegasus.
Level 14
Interesting options from the Cleric list:
- : Is someone missing a lot of hitpoints and needs them back right now? There is rarely a better option. Plus it’ll fix some common statuses (but not all of them).
- : A great buff for the whole party, and you cast it every day. But only once a day, which makes using a secret on it feel like a bit of a waste.
- : Superbly good defensive teleport, but it requires everyone to be adjacent to you and you need to have a “sanctum” in a temple basically.
- : At this level, someone needs to have it.
Interesting options from the Druid list:
- : If you find yourself often needing more distance or capacity than teleport, this can cover the gap.
- : It’s a really cool spell, but it’s going to take you out of your primary role.
- : A great option for area control, but bards already have several of those.
Interesting options from the Sor/Wiz list:
- : You can do many good things with this, but the imposition in 5e of only going up to level 5 makes this a little frustrating. I want to Heal someone when their Death Ward triggers, damnit.
- : Why is this here you ask? Read the entry for Wish below.
I wouldn’t say there’s anything really required here except Heal and Plane Shift. At least one person in the party needs one of each, but I would probably end up going back for earlier options to fill out my capacities for the role I was covering for.
Level 18
Interesting options from the Cleric list:
- : The best party-wide defensive buff in the game.
- : Is everyone missing a lot of hitpoints and need them back right now? There is no better option. Plus it’ll fix some common statuses (but not all of them).
Interesting options from the Druid list:
- : If your DM hasn’t given up yet, it would be theoretically possible to cast this on you and your pegasus for one spell slot.
Interesting options from the Sor/Wiz list:
- : If you want to be immortal, this is the best way to do it. But really, you’re taking Wish so you don’t need this too.
- : A rare spell that has no verbal component, meaning you can cast this and get all its amazing benefits even while Silenced.
- : One of the best save-or-sucks (especially since it’s not really a save), but bards already have several good ones.
- : It’s Wish.
At this level, the options you select are always Wish & whatever else you feel like, because Wish breaks the game. In fact, if you’ve also selected Simulacrum earlier (or now), you can go read my Practical Guide to Wish which will give you a brilliant rundown on how to have a naked clone army of you, become resistant to all damage, and have infinite money.
College of Lore
As promised, a quick note for lore bards: you should really be taking Aura of Vitality at level 6. Even if there’s another healer, topping everyone during a short rest for a single 3rd level spell slot is really, really good. I would personally almost always also take Revivify because it’s that powerful, but I can understand that feeling like too much of a tax so feel free to take something else that seems like more fun. Fireball in particular is another spell-level-3 staple and bards do struggle with area-of-effect damage. Pass Without Trace, Fly, Counterspell, and Hunger of Hadar are all also great options depending on what you need and what other casters are in your party.
College of Swords and College of Valor
Additional interesting options
- : Advantage on attack rolls and Concentration for a minute and some other cool stuff too.
- : Resistance to one of two elements and bonus damage back.
- : If your DM lets you put this on your pegasus too, oh boy. It stacks.
- : Still Concentration making them super hard to use for true gish builds.
- : An enormous pile of extra damage on every swing, balanced for high level paladins but still only using a 5th level slot for you.
- : The scaling makes this one of the most impactful spells available to melee characters.
- : 3d6 averages out to 10.5, meaning the healing averages to 5/turn. It’s not nothing, but you’re giving up extra attack as a sword bard and only getting the bonus action attack on the turn you cast it as a valor bard
- : The best spell to give yourself resistance to being punched and stabbed.
If you’re playing college of swords or valor, you’re not likely to be the primary healer in the party. This frees you up to be a little more selfish with your spells. One of the reasons I mention this is that, if you take Find Greater Steed (which you really should), you should pay special note to the line “While mounted on it, you can make any spell you cast that targets only you also target the mount.” This means that several of the buff spells listed above you can get double value out of, especially Armor of Agathys. Applying a ton of temp hp to your mount is a great way to increase its survivability, and getting free damage back on it is an amazing bonus. Woe betide any creature that tries to melee your pegasus out from under you. It’s also not concentration so you can run something else on both of you too.
Now, the wording “any spell that targets only you” is frustratingly vague. This Crawford tweet calls out smite spells as being explicitly disallowed because they target another creature. Fair enough (although they also require a weapon so the point is rather moot). But the semantics around “target” leaves a lot open to interpretation. Does Spirit Guardians target? Does it only target if you choose people to be unaffected? Is Investiture of Stone disallowed because your earthquakes could conceivably interact with other people? Does making the ground around you difficult terrain mean that Guardian of Nature is no good? Is Armor of Agathys even technically disallowed because the retributive damage “targets” someone else? By his wording in the followup tweet, probably. Before you go this route you should definitely talk to your DM about how pedantic they’re going to be about this.
Back to our regularly scheduled content. Speaking of Guardian of Nature, Great Tree form is really good for a dex-based melee bard (which will be nearly all melee bards). Be an elf and take Elven Accuracy for even more abuse.
If you do decide to pick up one of the Smite spells, just be careful about all of them having the Concentration tag, meaning that casting any of them will immediately break other Concentration, even if you immediately hit with it.
A final note: I called out in the Ranger section above, but college of valor can feasibly use archery as a primary damage source. If you’ve decided to play a bow bard (board?), Swift Quiver gives you two extra bow attacks as a swift action which means you can hit 4 attacks per round like a fighter. Given that the spell is balanced around not seeing play until level 17, you’re able to deal way more damage than you’re intended to with attacks at this tier of play.
