Despite being one of perhaps the mechanically best classes in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons, the bar🌞d is somehow most well-known as the class that players who are interested in social encounters gravitate towards. Bards are second only to Wizards in the breadth of their spellcasting, arguably have the best skill check profic༺iencies in the game, and are incredibly fun to roleplay.

This combination of abilities makes the bard a more than formidable class for any dungeon master to deal with. Even so, most bard characters are seen as more of a meme than anything. Let's take a look at how the 2024 edition of the bard might change its reputation for the better.

6 Bet𝄹ter ꦡBardic Inspiration

Last Longer And Perform Better!

As the bard's most noteworthy class mechanic, bardic inspiration deserved some love to further distinguish bards from other classes. Thankfully, that's exactly what it received. Bardic inspiration has been buffed in three different measures, all of which make this class ability ten times better than it used to be. And that's far from an understatement.

First off, bardic inspiration now lasts an hour instead of only ten minutes. This means you can now hand out multiple bardic inspirations to your party before they come across a combat encounter, allowing you to use your bonus actions during combat for something else. After all, you're more than likely to come across one combat encounter, if not more, after an hour spent in a dungeon.

Secondly, bardic inspiration can now be rolled after you've failed your d20 roll. This is the most significant change as it ensures that bardic inspiration always has a chance at turning a failure into a success.

Thirdly, ꧃bardic inspiration can now be given to any creature that can see or hear you. Previously, you could only receive bardic inspiration if you could hear the bard. Allowing it to work as long as you can see the bard makes it much easier to hand out bardic inspiration no matter what terrible situation you or an ally has found themselves in.

5 🦂 Skill Monkey Sooner

Bards Are Now The De Facto Skill Check Class

Alongside rogues, bards are one of the two only classes to gain skill expertise from their class features. While there are other ways to gain expertise in certain skills, they are few and far between. Consequently, rogues and bards are the best classes in the game as far as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:skill checks are coꦓncerned. Rogues were only s🌺lightly better due to getting expertise earlier in their level progression.

While this remains true, it's less true in the 2024 version of the Player's Handbook. Bards now unlock their first expertise choices at level two and their second expertise choices at level nine. Meanwhile, rogues get their first expertise choices at level one and their second choices at level six.

This is a much more🦄 competitive rate for unlocking expertise. Taking into consideration that bards have high charisma scores for better, incredibly frequent charisma ability checks and that they can buff their ability checks with the new and improved bardic inspiration, we believe this now puts bards at the number one spot for the best skill check class.

4 You Get I♏nspiration A🗹nd You Get Inspiration

Bardic Inspiration Goes Brrrr

Unlocked at fifth level, Font of Inspiration has been completely reworked to provide you with more uses of Bardic Inspiration on demand instead of requiring the completion of a short or long rest. If you need more Bardic Inspiration, all you have to do is expend a spell slot to regain one. This doesn't even require an action or a bonus action: you can do it for free at any time you please.

While a spell slot is a costly resource to expend, sometimes a clutch Bardic Inspiration is well worth a single spell slot. It's easy to imagine a world where bards typically save their first level spell slots for reloading their Bardic Inspiration in the new edition. However, only time will tell.

3 Countercharm Is🌼 Actually Useful Now ♍

Who Doesn't Love Reactions?

While Countercharm has always been a cool ability, it was rarely used in the 2014 edition of the game as it required you to spend your action in hopes that your opponents were about to test your party with the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:charmed or frightened conditions. That's an incredibly high opportunity cost that often resulted in bards ignoring this feature entirely.

Although it's gained a level later at level seven, Countercharm can now be used as a reaction. This means that as long as you have your reaction available, you can use Countercharm to give an ally advantage on their save against charmed or frightened after they've failed their initial roll. In short, bards gain a nice reaction feature that is sure to see a lot of use.

2 More Mag🔴iꩲcal Secrets

Access Tons Of Spell Lists In Perpetuity

Ah, the bard's most beloved feature: Magical Secrets. In the 2014 Player's Handbook, Magical Secrets gave bards two spells from any class spell list at levels 10, 14, and 18. In the 2024 Player's Handbook, Magical Secrets has been severely buffed which was completely unnecessary but also very welcome.

In addition to their own spell lists, bards can now choose from the Cleric, Druid, and Wizard spell lists whenever they gain a newly prepared spell slot or replace an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:already known spell. In other words, upon 🦩unlocking this feature at tenth level, y🐎ou get your choice of up to two spells from a menagerie of class spell lists every time you gain a level up to reaching level 20.

This is a minor nerf, as you can no longer access every class spell list. However, the number of total spells you get from other spell lists has significantly increased. By level 20, you could have over ten spells from other classes. That's a trade well worth taking. Furthermore, this change also helps preserve the identity of unlisted classes by preventing the bard from pilfering their spells.

Bard's new capstone feature gained at level 20 also gives them some sweet new spell options. Words of Creation adds Power Word: Kill and Power Word: Heal to your prepared spells and gives you the ability to target a second creature within ten feet of your first target when casting these spells. Two ninth level spells for the price of one sounds like a great deal to me.

1 Subclass Changes 𝔉

More Than Just Musicians

The biggest changes we see to bard subclasses revolve around the idea that bards are more than the classic musician archetype. Storytellers, dancers, and other artists are just as deserving of the bard class as musicians. This shift is easily perceived thanks to the introduction of an entirely new Bard subclass: the College of Dance. However, existing subclasses have had some small changes as well. Here's a table showing what we know so far.

Looking at these developments, the bard is shaping up to be one of the most formidable classes in the 2024 Player's Handbook. Perhaps the bard will finally leave behind the mantle of the token joke character. Then again, it's even more likely that bard hijinks will become that more prevalent. Gods save us all.