DnD Bard 5e class guide
The DnD Bard 5e class uses the power of pure charisma to cast spells, charm others, and inspire their party. A Dungeons and Dragons Bard often plays support to the group’s strikers and defenders, but their power and versatility means that they never play second fiddle. This guide explains the complete class’ rules and offers the expertise you need to craft a finely-tuned Bard build.
If you’re still shopping around, we can explain the other DnD classes you can choose from. Or, if you need extra help building a Bard, here’s all you’ll need to know about DnD races and DnD 2024 backgrounds.
DnD Bard 5e class guide:
Class features
At the very first level, a Bard gains their basic class features, including hit points, proficiencies, and starting equipment.
Hit points
Level: One
| Hit dice | 1d8 per Bard level |
| Hit points at level one | 8 + Constitution modifier |
| Hit points at higher levels | 1d8 (or 5) + Constitution modifier per Bard level after first |
Proficiencies
Level: One
| Armor | Light armor |
| Weapons | Simple weapons |
| Tools | Three musical instruments of your choice |
| Saving throws | Dexterity, Charisma |
| Skills | Choose any three |
Equipment
Level: One
Either:
- Leather armor, two daggers, a musical instrument of your choice, an entertainer’s pack, and 19 GP, or;
- 90 GP.
Spellcasting
Level: One
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 |
You can cast any Bard spell you know as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag. You can use a musical instrument (see the ‘Equipment’ section above) as a spellcasting focus for your Bard spells.
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.
| Spell slots | |||||||||||
| Level | Cantrips | Prepared spells | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9 | 3 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 10 | 4 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 11 | 4 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 12 | 4 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 13 | 4 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 14 | 4 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 15 | 4 | 18 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 16 | 4 | 18 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 17 | 4 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | 4 | 20 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | 4 | 21 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | 4 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Bardic Inspiration
Level: One
The Bard has a pool of Bardic Inspiration dice that they can give out to another creature within 60 feet as a bonus action. That creature then has an hour to use their Bardic Inspiration die. When they fail a d20 test during this period, they can roll the Bardic Inspiration die and add the result to their failed roll, using the die up. This may turn the failure into a success.
The Bard has dice equal to their Charisma modifier that they can hand out before they must take a DnD long rest. At level one, this die is a d6. It becomes a d8 at level five, a d10 at level 10, and a d12 at level 15.
Jack of All Trades
Level: Two
Starting at second level, you can add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any ability check you make that doesn’t already include your proficiency bonus.
Expertise
Level: Two
At third 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. At ninth level, you can choose another two skill proficiencies to gain this benefit.
Bard subclass
Level: Three
Starting at third level, you unlock Bard subclasses, meaning your Bard is able to join one of the Bard Colleges. These Colleges are associations of Bards who value different paths in life, magic, and performance. See our section on Bard Colleges further down the guide for more information on your options.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: Four
When you reach fourth level, and again at 8th, 12th, and 16th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by two, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by one. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Font of Inspiration
Level: Five
Font of Inspiration restores all uses of your Bardic Inspiration on a short or long rest. You can also spend a spell slot to regain a use of Bardic Inspiration (no action needed).
Countercharm
Level: Seven
When a creature within 30 feet fails a saving throw against the charmed and frightened conditions, you can react with a Countercharm, letting the target creature re-roll their save with advantage.
Magical Secrets
Level: 10
Any time you level up and your number of prepared spells increases (see the spellcasting table above), your new prepared spells can be from the Bard, Cleric, Druid, and Wizard spell list. Anytime you replace a prepared spell, you can also swap it for a spell from any of these lists. All your prepared spells count as Bard spells.
This means that a Bard can, if they learn all their new spells and swap a prepared spell at every level up, gain up to 14 spells from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list. And Lore Bards get an extra two on top of that. Magical Secrets gives the Bard a ridiculous amount of flexibility, as well as easy access to the game’s best spells.
Superior Inspiration
Level: 18
Superior Inspiration restores two uses of Bardic Inspiration whenever you roll Initiative. This only triggers if you have two or fewer uses left when Initiative is rolled.
Epic Boon
Level: 19
You gain an Epic Boon of your choice from the list of DnD 2024 feats.
Words of Creation
Level: 20
You always have Power Word Kill and Power Word Heal prepared. When you cast either spell, you can target a second creature as long as it’s within 10 feet of your original target.
Bard Colleges
Here you’ll find a complete explanation of how each College works. However, if you need help deciding which to play, be sure to check out our ranked DnD Bard subclasses guide.
College of Creation
Found in: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Believing that the act of creating art is the purest form of magic, most Bards who join the College of Creation connect deeply with their art, and their world’s creation myths.
Mote of Potential lets you create a Tiny mote of potential any time you give a creature a Bardic Inspiration die. It lasts until the die is spent, at which point the mote produces a unique effect. This depends on what the Bardic Inspiration die was used for:
- Ability check – Roll the Bardic Inspiration die again and choose your preferred result.
- Attack roll – Force each creature of your choice within five feet of an attack enhanced by Bardic inspiration to make a Con saving throw or take thunder damage equal to the Bardic Inspiration die’s result.
- Saving throw – The creature that used the Bardic Inspiration die gains temporary hit points equal to the die’s result plus your Charisma modifier.
Performance of Creation is an action that creates one non-magical item of your choice in an unoccupied solid surface within ten feet. Its value is up to 20 times your Bard level, and it can only be in the Medium or Small DnD sizes categories. When you reach sixth and 14th level, the item can become Large, and then Huge.
The item vanishes after a number of hours equal to your proficiency bonus or when you create another item in this way. You can only perform this action once per long rest – unless you spend a second-level or higher spell slot to do it again.
Another action you’ll learn is Animating Performance, which turns a Large or smaller non-magic item within 30 feet into an animated creature. It uses the Dancing Item stat block and lives for one hour (unless it has no hit points left or you die first).
The item acts on your Initiative during combat, and you can spend a bonus action to order it around. If you use your bonus action on Bardic Inspiration, you can command this item as part of the same action. Otherwise, it’ll automatically take the Dodge action (unless you become incapacitated, at which point it’s free to take other actions). The item remains animated until your next long rest or if you use the feature again.
Creative Crescendo enhances Performance of Creation, allowing you to create a number of items equal to your Charisma modifier. If you create more items than this max number, you can choose which old item disappears. Plus, you’re no longer limited by how much an item is worth when choosing what to create.
College of Eloquence
Found in: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
College of Eloquence is the perfect subclass for those who love to talk their way out of any situation they find themselves in. Masters of communication and storytelling, these Bards value the art of speaking above all else, and get quite good at it.
Silver Tongue lets you treat a Persuasion or Deception roll of nine or lower as a ten. Meanwhile, Unsettling Words is a bonus action that lets you use one Bardic Inspiration die to target a creature within 60 feet. Roll that die, and subtract the number from that creature’s next saving throw before the start of your next turn.
Unfailing Inspiration lets a creature keep the Bardic Inspiration die if the roll they added it to fails. Universal Speech is an action that targets one or more creatures within 60 feet (max equals your Charisma modifier). Whatever DnD languages the targets can speak, they can understand you for one hour.
If a creature succeeds on a roll that added one of your Bardic Inspiration dice, you can use Infectious Inspiration as a reaction to give a Bardic Inspiration die to a different ally within 60 feet who can see or hear you. This doesn’t use up one of your Bardic Inspiration die, and you can perform the act a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier before you need a long rest.
College of Lore
Found in: Player’s Handbook (2024)
College of Lore is perfect for Bards who want to know a little bit of everything. These Bards think of knowledge as an art form, and often gather in libraries and actual schools to swap information, and teach each other new skills. If you fancy playing a Bard who aspires to be more than just a pretty face, this might be the subclass for you.
Bonus proficiencies automatically gives you three extra skill proficiencies of your choice. Cutting Words means that, when a creature you see within 60 feet makes a successful ability check, attack roll, or damage roll, you can spend a reaction and one Bardic Inspiration die to influence their roll. Roll the Bardic Inspiration die and subtract the result from the creature’s roll.
From level six, Magical Discoveries lets you learn two spells from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list (in any combination). You must have the right level spell slots to cast these spells, but you always have them prepared – and can swap them when you gain a Bard level.
Finally, Peerless Skill is your subclass capstone. When you fail an ability check or attack roll, you can spend and roll a Bardic Inspiration die, adding its result to your failed roll. And if the roll you modify still fails, you don’t use up your Bardic Inspiration die!
College of Valor
Found in: Player’s Handbook (2024)
The College of Valor subclass is perfect for Bards who are interested as much in combat as they are with typical bardic musings. These Bards venerate the heroes of old, and use those ancient stories to inspire a new generation of heroes. Bards who choose this path are very reminiscent of the classic Bards of the fantasy genre, musical folk ‘historians’ who exist to sing the praises of those who have done Great Deeds.
Combat Inspiration gives these Bards new ways to use Bardic Inspiration straight out the gate:
- When a creature is hit by an attack roll, they can spend a reaction to roll the Bardic Inspiration die, adding the result to their armor class for the incoming attack.
- After a creature hits a target with an attack roll, they can roll the Bardic Inspiration die, adding the result to their attack’s damage.
Also at level three comes Martial Training. You become proficient with martial weapons, medium armor, and shields. You can also use weapons as a spellcasting focus to cast spells from the Bard spell list.
Extra Attack lets you attack twice in a turn, and Battle Magic lets you make a weapon attack as a bonus action if you spent your action casting a spell.
College of Glamour
Found in: Player’s Handbook (2024)
If you’re fascinated by fairy tales, College of Glamour is the perfect Bard subclass for you. Because the Glamour Bards draw their inspiration from fey, and the Feywild, they have an air of whimsy and mystery, and a touch of apprehension to them. These Bards value both the silly and terrifying aspects of fey, making them a delightfully flexible class to play.
The Glamour Bard’s level-three Beguiling Magic feature means you always have Charm Person and Mirror Image prepared. Any time you cast an enchantment or illusion spell with a spell slot, you can force a creature you see within 60 feet to make a Wisdom saving throw. They’re charmed or frightened for one minute if they fail, repeating the save at the end of its turns. You’ll need a long rest or to spend Bardic Inspiration to use this ability again.
Mantle of Inspiration is a bonus action that spends one of your Bardic Inspiration die. In exchange, you can choose a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier that are within 60 feet (and can see or hear you). Each gains temporary HP equal to twice the result of your Bardic Inspiration die, and they can immediately spend a reaction to move up to their speed without triggering opportunity attacks.
Mantle of Majesty means you always have the spell Command prepared Once per long rest you can cast Command as a bonus action without using a spell slot, and you gain a supernatural appearance that lasts for one minute or until your concentration ends. During that time, you can keep casting Command for free as a bonus action. Creatures charmed by you automatically fail saves against any Command spells you cast in this way. You can spend a spell slot of level three or higher to refresh this ability.
Lastly Unbreakable majesty can be triggered as a bonus action, and it lasts for one minute. During that time, any creature that hits you with an attack for the first time on a turn must pass a Charisma save against your spell save DC. If they fail, their attack misses. You can only use this feature once before you need a long or short rest.
College of Swords
Found in: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
College of Swords is the perfect subclass for those who want to be both the face and the fist of the party. Because this College values strength and fighting, it’s one of the most versatile Bard subclasses. If you have ever entertained the idea of being a stunt performer, College of Swords might suit you perfectly.
Choosing this College gives you proficiency with medium armor and the scimitar. If you’re proficient with simple or martial melee weapons, you can use one of these as a spellcasting focus. Like the DnD Fighter, you’ll also get to choose one of the following Fighting Styles:
- Dueling – +2 bonus to damage rolls when wielding a melee weapon in one hand, and no other weapons
- Two-Weapon Fighting – Add your ability modifier to the damage of your second attack when using two DnD weapons
Whenever you attack on your turn, Blade Flourish increases your walking speed by ten feet until the end of your turn. If your attack hits, you can also use one of the following options:
- Defensive Flourish – Spend Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage equal to your Bardic Inspiration die roll.
- Slashing Flourish – Spend a Bardic Inspiration die to deal extra damage equal to its roll, targeting your original target and any other creature of your choice within five feet of you.
- Mobile Flourish – Spend a Bardic Inspiration die to deal extra damage equal to the roll and push the target up to five feet away (plus the number from your die roll). You can then use a reaction to move up to your walking speed to another space within five feet of the target.
Extra attack allows you to attack twice on your turn. Finally, Master’s Flourish lets you roll a d6 instead of your Bardic Inspiration die when using a Blade Flourish option.
College of Whispers
Found in: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
The College of Whispers is all about manipulation. It doesn’t make them many friends, but it can make them very powerful allies.
Psychic Blades lets you spend a Bardic Inspiration die to add 2d6 extra psychic damage to a successful weapon attack. This can only be done once per round and on your turn.
Words of Terror forces a target to make a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you and another creature of your choice. This last for an hour or until the target is attacked or damaged, or sees you attacking or damaging an ally.
Mantle of Whispers lets you capture a humanoid creature’s shadow when it dies. This uses your reaction, and you now look like a living version of that person. The disguise lasts for an hour or until you end it using a bonus action. Becoming this person gives you access to information they’d have shared in public, but others can still figure out your disguise by passing an Insight check (roll it against your Charisma plus five).
Shadow Lore is an action that forces a creature to make a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed for eight hours. The charmed creature obeys your commands, and stays under your thrall unless attacked, damaged, or forced to make a saving throw.
College of Spirits
Found in: Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
College of Spirits Bards value stories and history above all, and they use magic to bring myth and legends to life.
Guiding Whispers lets you cast the Guidance cantrip with a range of 60 feet. Spiritual Focus lets you use a candle, crystal ball, skull, spirit board, or tarokka deck as your spellcasting focus. When you reach level six and you cast a damage or healing spell with this focus, you can roll a d6 and add the result to your damage or healing roll.
Tales from Beyond lets you spend a bonus action and a Bardic Inspiration die to reach out to spirits. Your die roll determines which of 12 possible effects will occur. This effect takes place when you use an action and choose a creature you can see within 30 feet to be its target.
Spirit Session is an hour-long ritual that involves a number of willing creatures equal to your proficiency bonus (including you). When the ritual is complete, you learn one Divination or Necromancy spell until the start of your next long rest. This spell’s level is equal to the number of creatures involved in the ritual (or less).
Mystical Connection lets you roll twice when using your Tales from Beyond feature. You can choose which result you want to resolve. If you roll the same number on both dice, you can choose any effect.
College of Dance
Found in: Player’s Handbook (2024)
The power that a College of Dance Bard feels can’t be expressed in words. Their magic comes from movement, and this means they’re one of the most agile Bards about. If you’d like to pick up a few tricks from the Monk’s playbook – or simply love to bust a move – this is the Bard subclass for you.
At level three, a Dance Bard wows you with Dazzling Footwork. This gives them advantage on any Performance check that involves dancing, and it ups their armor class to 10 plus their Dexterity and Charisma modifiers.
Dazzling Footwork also lets you make an unarmed strike when you use a spend a Bardic Inspiration die as part of an action, bonus action, or reaction. Finally, it allows you to use Dexterity rather than Strength for unarmed strikes. Any time you land a hit with one of these attacks, your damage equals a roll of the Bardic Inspiration die plus your Dexterity modifier.
Level six is a double-whammy of subclass features. Inspiring Movement is a reaction that, when you see an enemy end its turn within five feet of you, means you can move up to half your speed in exchange for a Bardic Inspiration use. After moving, one ally within 30 feet can also move up to half their speed as a reaction. Neither of these movements trigger opportunity attacks.
Also at level six comes Tandem Footwork. When you roll Initiative, you can spend and roll a Bardic Inspiration die. Every ally within 30 feet who can see or hear you then gets an Initiative bonus equal to the number rolled. You aren’t just fast when you’re a Dance Bard; you make everyone else faster.
Lastly comes Leading Evasion, which means you take no damage when you succeed on a Dexterity saving throw. You also take only half damage when you fail. Plus, any creature within five feet who makes the same Dexterity save benefits from your Leading Evasion ability for that roll.
Best Bard stats
From most important to least, these are the DnD stats a Bard should prioritize:
- Charisma – While bards are natural spellcasters, all their magic comes from their charm and performance skills, so, when rolling your Bard 5e stats, you’re going to want to prioritize Charisma (Cha) over everything else.
- Dexterity – The bard is proficient in several ranged and light melee weapons, which use Dexterity for their attack bonus.
- Constitution – Constitution provides a buff to the Bard’s ability to maintain concentration on a spell after they’ve been hit.
- Wisdom – Buffs your Perception stat, and helps protect you against the most common saving throws a DnD monster might throw your way.
- Intelligence – It can be useful to roll high on knowledge-based skills, but it’s not as essential as everything else on this list.
- Strength – Bards are basically never the muscle of the group. Leave the Barbarian 5e and Fighter 5e characters in the party to lift all the heavy things – as a Bard, you ain’t about that life.
Best Bard races
As with many other spellcasting classes, the best Bard races offer one of three things. Firstly, they make the Bard’s key roles (support and skill monkey, for example) even better. Alternatively, they might address the class’ biggest weaknesses by offering more endurance and resistance. Lastly, the top species can offer a Bard even more spells – usually from a spell list they’d struggle to access early on.
With these points in mind, here are some of our preferred Bard species picks:
Elf
An Elf offers many small benefits to a potential Bard. Darkvision is lovely, and advantage on Insight, Perception, Survival, or saving throws against being charmed are all welcome freebies. Plus, with a trance feature that lets you finish a long rest in four hours, your nights are freed up for all sorts of activities.
The main reason for choosing an Elf, though, is their Elven Lineage. Depending on the type of Elf you are, you’ll gain access to a small list of extra spells. These are always prepared, and they can be cast once per long rest without a spell slot.
| Lineage | Level one | Level three | Level five |
| Drow | The range of your Darkvision increases to 120 feet. You also know the Dancing Lights cantrip. | Faerie Fire | Darkness |
| High Elf | You know the Prestidigitation cantrip. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can replace that cantrip with a different cantrip from the Wizard spell list. | Detect Magic | Misty Step |
| Wood Elf | Your Speed increases to 35 feet. You also know the Druidcraft cantrip. | Longstrider | Pass Without Trace |
For us, the High Elf is the standout choice here. Access to Wizard cantrips gives the Bard a rare early-level offense option. Plus, free castings of two of the game’s top utility spells feels extra sweet. The Drow and Wood Elf both offer spells the Bard cannot access at level five, and both are strong picks for your repertoire, but the High Elf is slightly ahead in our books.
Human
Bards are great at every skill ever, and Humans make this doubly so. This species offers an extra origin feat and skill proficiency to expand your abilities. Plus, with a free Heroic Inspiration after every long rest, your chances of success increase dramatically, too.
Orc
If you’re building a Bard that will see the frontlines of battle often, you might want to choose a hardier species. There are many good options available, but the Orc is our personal pick.
As well as Darkvision, they offer the ability to Dash as a bonus action to quickly get out of dodge. This has the added bonus of granting you temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus, too. It’s a feature with limited uses, and that’s only a dribble of extra health, but it might be enough to keep your Bard from being downed.
Speaking of down, the main perk of being an Orc is your Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to zero hit points, you immediately get back up with one hit point, no death saves involved. You can only pull off this trick once per long rest, but hopefully you won’t need any more uses than that.
Best Bard spells
While most Bard spells are pretty effective, we’ve provided lists of the best Bard spells and worst Bard spells for beginners below. This section of the guide covers all your options from the official Bard spell list. If you’re wondering what spells to choose with your DnD Magical Secrets feature, our dedicated guide can recommend some picks from other class spell lists.
When choosing spells, it’s important to make note of their specific component requirements, and if they take concentration – as both these things can dictate whether you’re able to cast those spells at certain times.
Best Bard 5e spells for beginners
Minor Illusion
Level: Cantrip
This spell is able to create a small sound, smell, or spectre that lasts for a short time. This is great because it can be whatever you make of it – whether a cunning distraction, or an aid to your performance.
Vicious Mockery
Level: Cantrip
While the spell itself does only a small amount of damage, it can be so fun to use, and is an undeniably iconic Bard spell.
Healing Word
Level: One
Because Bards have low health and armour class, most Bards stay away from action to minimize getting hurt. Healing Word allows you to heal an injured companion from far away, meaning you can help without directly entering the fray.
Dissonant Whispers
Level: One
This is the perfect spell for dishing out small amounts of supplementary damage, and/or simply distracting an opponent, to give the edge to your allies. This spell can be very effective for getting attention, and doesn’t require any spell components/focus.
Sleep
Level: One
A fantastic spell for dealing with weak enemies that are compensating by using environmental advantages. When a group of Kobolds or Goblins get the drop on you and are enjoying substantial cover advantages, Sleep’s the perfect answer.
Enhance Ability
Level:Â Two
The spell does exactly what it sounds like it does, temporarily boosting an ability score for a given character. It can help your party become stronger, smarter, or whatever it is they might need to do! It’s versatile and you can use it often.
Suggestion
Level:Â Two
Suggestion allows you to suggest a task to any creature that understands you. Providing the creature fails their Wisdom saving throw, that creature has to carry out your suggestion to the best of their ability. Great for convincing an enemy to go home and take a nap during combat, or getting a guard to let your imprisoned friend loose, this spell has theoretically infinite fun-filled uses.
Bestow Curse
Level:Â Three
By simply touching a creature briefly, you can give it disadvantage on certain checks and saves, or make it unable to take a turn. While it doesn’t do any damage, it’s the perfect spell for aiding your companions in combat, by magically giving them the upper hand in a fight.
Enemies Abound
Level:Â Three
Another great combat spell that helps both your Bard, and your party, this one causes an enemy to lose the ability to distinguish friend from foe. Since most monster enemies have a low Int score, they’re extra-susceptible to this spell, allowing you to stop oncoming enemies in their tracks, and watch them turn on each other.
Polymorph
Level: Four
While this is a more complicated spell to deploy effectively, it’s one that’s endlessly versatile. Becoming someone else for a while has its advantages, that’s for sure.
Dimension Door
Level: Four
Being able to teleport? Yes, please! This gives you a way to teleport yourself and one other person away from the fight, or behind a locked door. Incredibly useful, and – crucially – can also be used for shenanigans.
Greater Restoration
Level: Five
If you are the party healer, you need this spell. Actually, even if your party has a healer, you need this spell. It provides so much safety and security to your companions, and can often be what saves a party member from dying. Great to have in your arsenal.
Hold Monster
Level: Five
Working on any creature except undead, this is a superb combat spell that completely paralyzes the target, rendering them useless in a fight.
The worst Bard spells for beginners
True Strike
Level: Cantrip
This spell becomes obsolete almost immediately. We highly recommend choosing a spell that aids you in more than one round of combat.
Illusory Script
Level: One
While it may sound cool, it’s a very situational spell that can easily be skipped in favour of alternatives you’ll use regularly.
Crown of Madness
Level: Two
This spell is a cool concept, but should be overlooked in favor of other options, simply because you have to use your action every turn to maintain its effects, stopping you from doing anything else to help the party.
Feign Death
Level: Three
Again, super cool concept! However, when you have access to so few spells at any one time, this one probably won’t be used enough to justify taking it from the start.
Locate Creature
Level: Four
Cool if you’re looking for a creature you know is close by, but given that it has a range of only 1,000 feet, if a creature is on the run, this spell swiftly becomes effectively useless.
Legend Lore
Level: Five
This one sounds technically uber-powerful – allowing you to magically summon up a basic knowledge on literally any topic – but it likely won’t come in useful often enough to justify it taking up precious space in your spell arsenal.
Best Bard builds
Now that you’ve got a sense for the Bard, and all the different ways you can play one, here are some premade Bard builds 5e that you can use, or draw inspiration from when creating your own character. We’ll explore a range of possible subclasses with each build, offering suggestions at crucial decision-making points. Also, you can calculate your base stats any way you like, but we’ve used the Standard Array for simplicity.
Aasimar College of Lore Bard
The College of Lore Bard is a solid all-rounder, proficient in a wide range of skills and able to access all spell lists at a far earlier level than other Bards.
Starting stats
| Strength | 8 |
| Dexterity | 14 |
| Constitution | 13 |
| Intelligence | 10 |
| Wisdom | 12 |
| Charisma | 15 |
Race
Aasimar come with custom ability scores, so you can add your +2 to Charisma and your +1 to Dexterity. By choosing this race, you’ll gain a bunch of general utility features, such as a free Light cantrip, Darkivison, and resistance to necrotic damage and radiant damage. Plus, once per long rest, you can spend an action healing an ally without the need to use spell slots.
The real reason to play an Aasimar is their Celestial Revelation ability. This lets you choose one of three possible conditions to unleash as a bonus action. We always choose ‘Radiant Soul’, as it gives you a flying speed equal to your walking speed. You’re much harder to hit when you’re in the air, meaning you can keep out of danger – and in range for your Cutting Words ability.
Spells
College of Lore Bards are all about being whatever their party needs in any given situation. So, when picking future spells, choose ones that fit areas the party doesn’t quite have covered yet.
At level six, you gain additional Magical Secrets, giving you access to all spell lists. We highly recommend picking up high-damage spells, because they’re something Bards rarely have access to. Do try to avoid choosing the same spells as other members of your party, though.
At higher levels, the Bard’s flexibility really comes out to play. You can be a backup healer, a smooth talker, a stealthy thief, and even a second string fighter, all at once. Keep having fun, and don’t worry if you choose a spell that turns out to not be useful – remember, you can switch one out every level up.
Halfling College of Swords Bard
Swords Bards spend a lot more time in melee range, so they need to be made of tough stuff. Here’s a build that’ll keep you alive in combat:
Starting stats
| Strength | 8 |
| Dexterity | 13 |
| Constitution | 14 |
| Intelligence | 10 |
| Wisdom | 12 |
| Charisma | 15 |
Race
Halflings are one of the most common races for bards in D&D, and with good reason – right off the bat you get a +2 to Dexterity, which is going to be needed for a more combat-based Bard. For this build, we’ll choose the Lightfoot subrace to get the +1 Charisma boost too.
You also gain the racial trait Lucky which allows you to reroll a single natural one, once per long rest. A handy backup for an attack-based Bard. You also gain advantage on any save against being frightened.
Fighting style
Dueling works well because it frees up one of your hands for spellcasting.
Spells
Start off by picking up a mix of healing and defensive spells – because later on you’ll be choosing more combat-based magic. From here on out, choose offensive spells that have a shorter range, as you will often be engaged directly in combat. We also recommend picking up defensive spells as the priority over damage-dealing spells.
At sixth level, you are granted an extra attack. Perfect for combat, and works best if you have spells like Dimension Door, or features that allow you to disengage, so that you can enter the fray and get out again freely without suffering DnD opportunity attacks.
Past sixth level, your Bard takes on more of a fighter role than a traditional Bard role, so when picking features and spells, it’s important to choose the ones that will most help you in combat.
Eladrin College of Glamour Bard
By picking up College of Glamour, your Bard will favour illusions, and trickery over open combat or hostility.
Starting stats
| Strength | 8 |
| Dexterity | 14 |
| Constitution | 13 |
| Intelligence | 10 |
| Wisdom | 12 |
| Charisma | 15 |
Race
The Eladrin have ties to the Feywild, so they fit the theme of this Bard subclass. Plus, you can assign your ability score increases however you like – we recommend adding a +2 to Charisma and a +1 to Dexterity.
Eladrin have Darkvision and advantage on saving throws to end the charmed condition on yourself. Their main advantage is the Fey Step feature that allows them to teleport as a bonus action. Most of the Glamour Bard’s abilities focus on buffing friends and manipulating enemies, so it helps to be able to move freely across the battlefield.
Spells
For spells, we suggest favoring defensive and support choices, as most College of Glamour features supplement their effects. As a Glamour Bard, you are gifted with extra abilities to aid your allies in combat. We recommend picking up spells that aid in social situations, for example those with Charm effects.
At higher levels, the Glamour Bard is all about bending people to their will to better serve their parties and themselves. You can either lean into this aspect, or focus on taking spells and feats that are in other areas of spellwork, to be as multifaceted as possible. It’s the freedom to go kind of all over the place with your spells that makes the Glamour Bard fun.
Got a Bard build in mind? Here’s how to write it all down on a DnD character sheet. We can also help you fill in the few remaining details, like your DnD feats.
This guide directly presents rules text for the DnD 5e Bard class, published by Wizards of the Coast under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
