Build your Bard! (a 5e Guide)
"What a nice antagonist you got there, it would be a shame if someone were to seduce it."
These guides are focused on the mechanics of the game, especially combat. D&D being a ROLE-PLAYING game, a player can have fun playing any combination of race and class they find interesting, regardless of its effectiveness. Without lessening any other approach to the game, these guides are aimed at those who want information about the effectiveness of certain aspects of the classes and the pros-cons of the various decisions that punctuate the character’s growth.
5/5 Gold
4/5 Blue
3/5 Green
2/5 Purple
1/5 Red
Bard has been synonymous with versatility since his first appearance in D&D. Being able to do everything in the most attractive way possible: that is the Bard’s style.
Of course, this makes it very difficult, despite the vast amount of abilities at your disposal, to truly excel at any of them.
Fortunately, designers have almost completely forgotten about this concept in 5E, probably feeling guilty about the treatment the class received compared to other casters in D&D 3.5.
In this edition, the bard can simultaneously cover every role (with the appropriate build) and excel in a field of his choice, becoming a valuable member of any party lucky enough to have one.
Class Features
Disclaimer: Features from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (TCoE) are considered optionals, Use them at your DM’s discretion.
Level 1
2/5 Hit Dice d8. could be worse, but also much better.
2/5 Proficiency in Light Armor. Covers the absence of the spell Mage Armor, nothing more.
4/5 Proficiency in simple weapons, hand crossbows, short swords, long swords, rapier. Not much choice, but the rapier is more than enough.
4/5 Proficiency in saving throws. DEX, CHA. DEX is vital, both against spells and traps. CHA is uncommon but protect against some nasty effects.
Spells. See appropriate section.
5/5 Bardic Inspiration. One of the best support features. As a bonus action, you can provide your ally with an extra dice roll to add to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw. Remember that it last only 10 minutes and has limited uses, so don’t spam it.
Level 2
5/5 Factotum. Half proficiency bonus to EVERY skill check if you’re not already proficient, initiative included.
3/5 Song of Rest. Extra healing per short rest. A useful bonus to save Hit Dice or to maximize recovery between fights.
3/5 Magical Inspiration (TCoE). The Bardic Ispiration dice can now be used to enhance the damage or hp restored by a spell. Only woeka on one target unfortunatelly. There are much better ways to spend those precious dices, but more options are always welcome.
Level 3
Bardic College: See appropriate section.
5/5 Mastery. Double proficiency bonus on four ability checks. The other reason bards are so good at skill checks. Choose something useful like Perception but save at least one spot for memes like Athletics if your Performance type is wrestling.
Level 5
4/5 Source of Inspiration. More Inspiration for everyone! (and more maneuvers for the College of Swords)
Level 6
2/5 Countercharm. Useful on paper, requires too much preparation and foresight to be used effectively.
Level 10
5/5 Magical Secrets. Let’s steal some spells! It allows to cover your weaknesses or specialize on a role. Ultimate versatility, in and out of combat.
Level 20
2/5 Higher Inspiration: Not the most exciting of capstones, but it gets the job done.
Ability Scores
For a spellcaster, abilities that increase spell DC and attack rolls should be prioritized, in this case Charisma. That said, a few talents may be useful, especially if you want to use weapons.
1/5 STR: Least important, unless you want to use your lute as a mace for some reason.
4/5 DEX: Second place, increases AC, initiative, and weapon damage.
3/5 CON: Third place: always good to have extra hit points and a decent concentration saving throw.
1/5 INT: Slightly more important than STR because of knowledge rolls, but still particularly useless.
2/5 WIS: Fourth place, protects against several annoying spells.
5/5 CHA: Highest priority, affects both spellcasting and other class skills.
RACES
“The only sound I want to hear from gnomes is their death throes”
1/5 Hill Dwarf. Nothing useful here, unless you want to make a Bard who plays the skulls of his enemies with a warhammer
1/5 Mountain Dwarf. As above, but on the mountains.
2/5 Woodland Elf. +2 DEX is good and theoretically +1 WIS is as well, but you really want CHA
2/5 High Elf. As above, but worse for the +1 INT
5/5 Drow. Definitely the best elf. +1 CHA, +2 DEX, superior darkvision, Keen Senses and Fey Ancestry are very useful. Avoid if your build involves a lot of attack rolls though, due to Sunlight Sensitivity.
5/5 Lightfoot Halfling. As the horrible drawing in the manual shows, halflings are natural Bards: +2 DEX +1 CHA are optimal, while Lucky is very strong.
2/5 Stout Halfling. Worse thant the agile cousin, as CHA is too important.
2/5 Human. Suffers too much from competing with it’s cousin. SPOILER: This rating will not change for any other class.
5/5 Human Variant. In 5th edition, talents are much more powerful and provide much larger bonuses. For a spellcaster, they are slightly less impactful but still useful.
Notable examples are Lucky, Warcaster or Resilient (CON), or if you want to use weapons Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter or Mobility.
3/5 Dragonborn. For those who want to make a Bard with high STR and, arguably, little AC.
2/5 Forest Gnome. The absence of CHA among the increments is unforgivable.
2/5 Rock Gnome. As above.
5/5 Half-Elf. One of the best races for Bard. +2 CHA and to +1 to two stats of your choice, immunity to sleep, Fey Ancestry and Darkvision. What more could you want?
1/5 Half-Orc. It is said that every thousand years a special orc is born, one that can resist spitting when speaking and uses cutlery to eat.
Half-orcs born from the union between a human and such individuals could theoretically have the predisposition to play instruments more complex than the war triangle.
Unfortunately, this is only conjecture.
4/5 Tiefling. Excellent race, everything is optimal except the +1 to INT, which can still be used to get good arcana rolls Darkvision, Fire Resistance, Thaumaturgy, Darkness and Hellish Rebuke grant Tieflings additional versatility to what the class already provides in spades.
Tortle package
1/5 Tortle. The only thing useful is the fixed 17 AC, nothing else is particularly relevant to the class.
Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
1/5 Duergar. No bard dwarves 🙁
Tiefling variant: The manual contains interesting variants
2/5 Feral. +2 DEX +1 INT, better keep using the vanilla version instead.
3/5 Devil’s Tongue. You already know the spells it offers by default, but that’s not necessarily a problem. Also adds room for an extra cantrip. On the other hand, we miss out on Hellish Rebuke and especially Darkness. Considering that the bards get few cantrips we consider it a slightly better choice, but that’s just taste.
2/5 Hellfire. Burning Hands is not an amazing spell, considering you have access to Shatter.
5/5 Winged. FLIGHT. nothing more to say.
Elemental evil
3/5 Aarakocra. No CHA bonus, but at least it can fly.
1/5 Deep Gnome. No CHA bonus and does not fly.
Genasi. +2 CON never hurts, but it’s not enough to justify the absence of CHA
- 2/5 Air Genasi. The best of the four, thanks to the DEX bonus.
- 1/5 Earth Genasi. Nothing useful beside enabling Rock music puns.
- 1/5 Fire Genasi. Also nope. Produce Flame may be useful as an offensive cantrip, normally having access only to Vicious Mockery, but that’s just too minor a benefit.
- 1/5 Water Genasi. Abilities are too situational.
Aasimar. An excellent choice even before looking at subrace features: resistance to both necrotic and radiant damage, Healing hands, a good support skill, and Light can be useful despite Darkvision being very common.
- 5/5 Protector Aasimar. The best of the three, thanks to +1 WIS and especially Radiant soul, which gives access to flight.
- 5/5 Scourge Aasimar. Second best in stats (+1 CON) but Radiant C<onsumption is not very useful on a spellcaster.
Watch out for friendly fire. - 5/5 Fallen Aasimar. Worst stats but amazing transformation: the CD is based on CHA and can save your life when surrounded by enemies, in addition to some nice extra damage.
1/5 Firbolg. Spells and skills are totally built towards Druid, which could be an interesting fit for a Bard, if only the stat bonuses weren’t so bad.
1/5 Goliath. The mountain life leaves no room for music and poetry.
2/5 Kenku. Probably the conceptually furthest race from a Bard, since they can’t create original artwork by themselves. Mechanics-wise, they have a lot of Extra Skills and Mimicry is a nice feature, but no CHA means meh.
1/5 Lizardfolk. Correction: This is the furthest race from the Bard.
5/5 Tabaxi. +2 DEX and +1 CHA, excellent. Proficiency in two key skills is cool, while Feline Agility is very useful for a class that is not particularly tough. Finally, Climbing Speed gives excellent mobility and the possibility to make your character a circus acrobat.
4/5 Triton. Especially good for melee builds, although DEX would be preferable to STR. Cold resistance and Water Wall are nice, While Emissary of the Sea can be useful in certain situations.
1/5 Bugbear. Arms are too long to play an instrument properly.
3/5 Goblin. Good for a valor/swords college Bard who thinks they’re a rogue. Nimble Escape is also wonderful.
1/5 Hobgoblin. Nothing for a performer.
2/5 Kobold. Deekin Scalesinger! Similar to a Goblin, but worse.
1/5 Orc. Unless the DM is homebrewing you one of thse legendary orcs mentioned earlier, there is nothing of value here.
5/5 Yuan-ti. Race with serious balancing issues: Magic Resistance and Poison Immunity. Along with +2 CHA and +1 INT, Darkvision and Innate Spellcasting. Poison Spray is definitely useful, given the absence of damaging cantrips besides Vicious Mockery.
It loses some points due to the useless INT increase, but the truckload of extremely powerful abilities still makes them one of the best choices for a bard.
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
4/5 Baeelzebub Tiefling: Very similar to the default oprion. Crown of Madness is better than Hellish Rebuke, but Darkness scales far better than Ray of Sickness. In the end it’s a matter of taste.
5/5 Dispater Thiefling. +2 CHA +1 DEX, great stats!. Alter Self helps against racists and Detect Thoughts has a lot of uses.
5/5 Fierna Tiefling. +2 CHA +1 SAG, good combo for a proper caster. A free daily Suggestion is amazing.
5/5 Glasya Tiefling. Like Dispater Tiefling but with Invisibility. Wonderful.
5/5 Levistus Tiefling. +2 CHA +1 CON, Thieflings have good stats in general for bard. Ray of Frost is useful when verbal abuse doesn’t inflict enough damage.
4/5 Mammon Tiefling. Worst stats and most situational spells of all thieflings. Still, the +2 CHA is there and Magic Hand is not the worst spell I can think of.
5/5 Eladrin. +2 DEX +1 CHA, very good. Misty Step alone sells the race, even without the seasonal bonuses. The worst option for them would be Summer: the damage is not very high and requires being face to face with the enemy.
2/5 Sea Elf. +2 DEX +1 CON, Unfortunately, most of the proficiencies are redundant and the additional weapons are not good enough compared to a rapier.
3/5 Shadar Kai. +2 DEX +1 CON, good for builds based on weapon combat. Blessing of the Raven Queen is a great feature.
1/5 Githyanki. +2 STR and +1 INT, RIP space pirate bard.
1/5 Githzeray. Better than the previous one, but still a poor choice despite having interesting spells.
Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica
1/5 Centaur. Hellenic legends often depict them with a zither or harp. They are called “legends” for a reason.
2/5 Loxodon. Exceptional drummers thanks to their proboscis, but lacking in CHA.
1/5 Minotaur. If you want cow musicians ask Blizzard.
5/5 Simic Hybrid. An excellent race for any class, almost on par with Variant Human and Half-Elf. +2 CON and +1 to a stat of your choice, Darkvision and the versatile Animal Enhancement, which allows us to choose two boosts at level 1 and 5.
- 4/5 Manta Glide. Gliding is not the same as flying, but still COOL.
- 4/5 Nimble Climber. Climbing is useful in numerous situations, from exploration to combat.
- 1/5 Underwater Adaptation. To be considered only in aquatic campaigns.
- 1/5 Grappling Appendages. Unfortunately, the power of love doesn’t work in 5e, so becoming better at hugging enemies is not exactly the best option.
- 5/5 Carapace. Simple but extremely effective.
- 1/5 Acid Spit. We have bows and spells for ranged attacks, plus puking around while fighting isn’t very charismatic.
1/5 Veldaken. +2 INT +1 WIS, completely off the mark even though some traits are interesting.
Eberron. Rising from the Last War
5/5 Changeling. +2 CHA +1 any and Shapechanger. Wonderful Bards.
5/5 Kalashtar. Excellent for spellcasting builds. +1 CHA +1 WIS, Advantage on WIS saving throws and Telepathy among the best powers.
Shifter. Very diverse subraces, but only one good.
- 1/5 Beasthide. Armored but awkward.
- 1/5 Longtooth. Only good at playing guitar with their teeth.
- 5/5 Swiftstride. +2 DEX +1 CHA, plus a good Shifting Feature. Perfect for a build based on weapons, both ranged and melee.
- 2/5 WildHunt. Lacks CHA, too bad.
5/5 Warforged. Another race that is good on everything thanks to customizable skills. +2 CON +1 choice (CHA), +1 AC, Constructed Resilience and Proficiency in one of the best tools.
Dragonmarks. Clarifications:
Dragonmarks for Humans and Halflings are race variants that replace base traits.
Dragonmarks for Half-elves replace the increases in trait scores and the two additional skills, but the other half-elven traits such as resistances/immunities are retained.
Dragonmarks for Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Halflings replace the subrace.
Next to each mark are the races and lineages to which they belong, respectively.
Dragonmarks provide access to extra spells for spellcasters, opening up a new universe of amazing, yet complex combinations.
To keep the guide accessible to everyone we will NOT consider such combos.
5/5 Mark of Detection [Mezzelfi, House of Medani]. +2 WIS + 1 of your choice. Invisibility and virtually all spells that begin with Detect. Great for an all-rounder.
1/5 Mark of Finding [Humans or Halflings, House of Tharashk]. Decent spells, but no CHA.
4/5 Mark of Handling [Humans, House Vadalis]. +2 WIS +1 choice, too bad for the Druid spells.
3/5 Mark of Healing [Halfling, House Jorasco]. Provides the best healing spells, pity about the lack of CHA.
5/5 Mark of Hospitality [Halfling , House Ghallanda]. Perfect stats, spell list goes from good to suboptimal. All in all a solid race.
3/5 Mark of Making [Humans, Cannith House]. +2 INT + 1 choice, suboptimal stats and same for spells.
5/5 Mark of Passage [Humans, House Orien]. +2 DEX +1 choice with a mix of defensive and movement spells.
2/5 Mark of Scribing [Gnomes, Sivis House]. +1 CHA, however the Gnome’s +2 INT is useless and the spells provided are already present in the bard’s default list.
1/5 Mark of Sentinel [Humans, House Deneith]. Lacks CHA and is geared towards a tank skillset.
5/5 Mark of Shadows [Elves, Houses Phiarann and Thuranni]. + 1 CHA, Invisibility, Minor Illusion, bonus to stealth and performance. Many spells are redundant, but still worth it.
5/5 Mark of Storm [Mezzelfi, Lyrandar House]. +1 DEX +2 CHA, Lightning Resistance, good control spells and the amazing Conjure Minor Elemental.
1/5 Mark of Warding [Dwarves, House Kundarak]. All wrong.
Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
1/5 Ravenite Dragonborn. Too violent.
3/5 Draconblood Dragonborn. +2 INT (WHY) +1 CHA, Forceful Presence (advantage to one social interaction per day) is definitely thematic and breathing fire never fails to impress.
2/5 Lotusden Halfling. 0 CHA tree hugger.
3/5 Pallid Elf. Would be great thanks to Invisibility and +2 DEX, but lacks CHA.
5/5 Hollow One. Not really a “race”, but a subrace that can be obtained when a character dies. You keep the traits of the initial race, plus you get Cling to Life (regains 1pf if you make 16+ on a death saving throw) and Unsettling Presence (Disadvantage to ST for a target). Spectacular.
Mythic Odysseys of Theros
1/5 Leonin: They could have potential as black metal singers, but WOTC disagrees.
5/5 Satyr: A glorious opponent for the Half-Elf: +2 CHA + 1 DEX and the terrifying Magic Resistance. The rest is just fun stuff.
Bardic Colleges
““‘Performance’ is as versatile a concept as the class itself.”
Brief note: The scores of the various features described are evaluated relatively to the isolated class, without regard to any comparison with other classes. This is particularly relevant for the bard, as all colleges are functional and effective. The subsequent analysis is therefore very strict, to provide a clear distinction between abilities.
5/5 College of Lore
“If it exists, I can cast it.”
The College of Wisdom takes all aspects of the Bard, particularly the variety of known spells and numerous skills, and greatly amplifies them, allowing for incredible versatility.
4/5 Bonus Proficiencies. More proficiencies never hurt, but things are getting out of hand here.
5/5 Cutting Words. Great defensive use for Bardic Inspiration dice.
5/5 Additional Magical Secrets. You can steal additional spells at level six, allowing to personalize your character very early: Need damage? Take Fireball. Lacking a healer? Steal something from the cleric’s spell list and you’re good to go. This makes the Lore Bard one of the best spellcaster in the game.
3/5 Peerless Skill. Very useful, but competes for the Bardic Inspiration dice with the far more useful Cutting Words or the standard Bardic Inspiration.
4/5 College of Valor
“Me llamo Iñigo Montoya. Tu mataste a mi padre… ¡prepárate a morir!”
Gish closer to a fighter, both melee and ranged. Solid, but not completely broken.
Gish: Spellcaster-Fighter Hybrid
4/5 Bonus Skills. Required to go melee. War Spellcaster is mandatory if we want to use a shield.
4/5 Combat Inspiration. Less versatile than Cutting Words, but retains defensive effectiveness. The damage bonus won’t be necessary most of the time.
4/5 Extra Attack. Essential for keeping pace with other fighters.
4/5 Battle Magic. Casting and attacking in the same turn. Very useful, though it comes in a little late at level 14.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
5/5 College of Glamour
“Bitch, I’m FABULOUS”
Subclass for clout-chasers. Adds good indirect support, control, and defensive options.
5/5 Mantle of Inspiration. One of the few powers consuming bardic inspiration dice that is actually better than the default effect: it gives a lot of temporary hit points potentially ranging from 15 at first levels to 60 and helps reorganizing the party.
3/5 Entrhalling Performance. Very strong, but require one consecutive minute of performance.
5/5 Mantle of majesty. Command at will is remarkable.
5/5 Unbreakable Majesty. Awesome name. An effective way to protect yourself and, should things go wrong, to convince enemies to beat up someone else.
3/5 College of Swords
“The pen is mightier than the sword, but just imagine the power of a sword used as a pen.”
College that imitates a FIghter multiclass build. Looks good on the surface, but drains the uses of Bardic Inspiration very fast. Extremely strong from 14th level onwards.
3/5 Bonus Proficiency. Being able to use the weapon as a focus is cool, but a shield would have come in very handy.
3/5 Fighting style. Important to increase damage. Dueling would have made more sense with a shield, though.
3/5 Blade flourish. We get manoeuvres to use in combat. Versatile, but conflicting with the powerful Bardic Inspiration:
- Defensive Flourish. Adds the inspiration die to the AC. Almost always the best choice.
- Mobile Flourish. Useful for pushing a troublesome target into your Paladin’s melee range or down a magical ravine. Note that it can push creatures of any size!
- Slashing Flourish. The worst manoeuvre. It can hardly be used on ranged weapons and the damage is not worth it.
4/5 Extra attack. Any self-respecting caster’s melee specialization must have a way to get extra attacks, otherwise it will never be remotely comparable to a standard fighter.
5/5 Master’s flourish. Unlimited manoeuvring. From here on out we can be considered very respectable fighters: huge defence thanks to Defensive Flourish and field control with Mobile Flourish.
2/5 College of Whispers
“Crawling in my skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin”.
Dedicated to espionage and subterfuge: it’s an interesting subclass, too bad its powers are either situational or can be easily replaced by common spells. In a purely investigative campaign, the score rises to blue.
3/5 Psychic Blades. Good amount of extra damage when you hit someone with a weapon, too bad the rest of the subclass isn’t combat focused.
2/5 Words or Terror. Terrorize someone after a long conversation about your last trip to Furrycon. Very situational, but effective.
3/5 Mantle of Whispers. When someone dies we can turn into him for a while, gaining some of their knowledge. Useful for infiltration and intelligence operations.
3/5 Shadow Lore. A personal slave for 8 hours. Can blow up entire campaigns depending on the target. The main issue is that the same and even more can be done by casting Dominate Person. You save a slot though.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
4/5 College of Creation*
The ultimate sex-doll artisan
Archetype based on creating and animating objects. It has HUGE potential that should deserve a gold rating, but it requires creativity and the DM’s complicity.
4/5 Mote of Potential. Decent buffs to an already very strong ability, especially the bonus to STs.
4/5 Performance of Creation. Creates an item out of thin air. The possibilities are endless: ladders, weapons, huge objects to block passage… A skilled Bard can get by using this feature alone. It also becomes absolutely broken if the master allows to create WALLS, making this archetype a terrifying controller . Unfortunately, the object must appear within 10ft and is subject to interpretation and DM’s approval- Still remains extremely versatile.
5/5 Dancing Item. Leaving aside how cool would be beating enemies with a FLYING PAN, being able to create a durable companion, especially at early levels, gives you an unmeasurable advantage. Moreover it has large size, 18 STR and FLIGHT: nothing is stopping you from using a giant dildo as a mean of transportation AND mass destruction. Finally, the high strength score is retained regardless of size, allowing stupid shit like animating a sheet of paper, slipping it under a door and then have it beat up whatever was waiting for your party on the other side.
4/5 Creative Crescendo. Creating an extra small object doesn’t help much. The removal of the cost is huge on the other hand: you can now create GIANT DIAMOND/ADAMANTIUM CASKETS to block the nemy’s movement and projectiles. This privilege not super easy to use, and your mileage will vary based on your DM.
5/5 College of Eloquence
a Bard/Bard/Bard triclass
Subclass based on powering up Bardic Inspiration. Feels like a bard multiclassed bard: perfect for those who want to become the ultimate support.
4/5 Silver Tongue. With this the average level 3 Bard can’t roll less than 17 on persuasion and deception. Bravo WOTC.
5/5 Unsettling Words. Bardic Inspiration can also be used to lower the opponent’s ST. Suggestion, Hypnotic Pattern and many more Bard spells are prone to fuck enemies up if they pass the Saving Throw.
5/5 Unfailing Inspiration. A creature inspired by the Bard does not lose the inspiration die if it fails the roll it was applied to. Translated: Bardic Inspiration is now broken.
3/5 Universal Speech. For an hour several creatures are able understand what you say, but you don’t understand them. Nothing exceptional but it’s an extra privilege.
5/5 Infectious Inspiration. When Bardic Inspiration is succesfully applied to a roll, another target gets a free inspiration. Basically, the entire party has an extra d12 to basically every dice roll.
5/5 College of Spirit
I see dead people… lots of them killed by us
Subclass based on powering up Bardic Inspiration. Feels like a bard multiclassed bard: perfect for those who want to become the ultimate support.
3/5 Guiding Whispers. Access to the Guidance trick, a good support spell that boosts skill rolls. Also gains 6 squares of range.
3/5 Spiritual Focus. You can use something spooky, like a candle or a skull, to cast spells. It doesn’t affect mechanics until level 6, where every spell cast by Spiritual Focus gets 1d6 extra damage or healing. It’s not a lot but it’s free damage, especially good for area spells.
NOTE: spells that do not have material components do NOT get the bonus, because they are not cast through Spiritual Focus. It doesn’t work with Vicious Mockery for example, too bad.
4/5 Tales From Beyond. The unique and fun power of this bard. You can spend a Bardic Inspiration die to roll on the Spirit Tales table. Each “Tale” has a different effect, ranging from teleporting targets to dealing psychic damage to enemies, and they’re all pretty strong. With an action you can spend the tale on an ally or target, consuming it. The random nature precludes it from gold, but it remains a good power.
5/5 Spirit Session. Every bard must have a broken power, apparently. If you play the Ouija Board with companions for one hour (can be done during a rest) you have access to a necromancy or divination spell of your choice from ALL THE HANDBOOKS for one day. Now the bard steals spells every day. A companion has died and there is no healer? Let’s hold hands and learn Resurrection. Is the bad guy hiding? Locate Creature and go. Versatility galore.
3/5 Mystical Connection. More control over Tales From Beyond, allows you to roll twice on the table and choose the result.
FEATS
The need for feats depends mainly on the type of build: Many weapon-based builds require them, while those focused on spells usually prioritize increasing their charisma score.
5/5 GO(L)D TIER
Lucky. Extremely powerful feat for any character.
Moderately Armored. Almost mandatory for any bard: shields and medium armor are a big boost in defence. College of Sword and Valor don’t need this though.
Inspiring Leader. 10 minutes preparation for a decent buff, as well as cementing your role as group leader.
4/5 GOOD TIER
Alert. It’s important to act first and cast control spells before the enemy casters can.
Bountiful Luck (Racial, XGtE). A great way to further support your teammates.
Dragon Fear (Racial, XGtE). Perfect if you have an odd CHA score. The ability can frequently disrupt a fight.
Drow High Magic (Racial, XGtE). Detect Magic at will is definitely useful. Dispel Magic is a mandatory spell, and Levitate can be useful as both a buff and a debuff.
Fey Teleportation (Racial, XGtE). As above. An emergency blink is always nice to have.
Crossbow Expert. Great for builds based on ranged attacks. Also useful for pure spellcasters, when Vicious Mockery doesn’t do enough damage as a cantrip.
Fey Touched (TCoE). +1 to CHA, Misty Step and a 1st level spell of your choice. We suggest Bless o Hex. Loses value as you level up.
Shadow Touched (TCoE). The spell selection is slightly worse than the previous feat, but Invisibility rocks.
Sharpshooter. Excellent damage-increase for a bow or crossbow build, best if you have access to the Archery fighting style.
Fighting Initiate (TCoE). To be considered to get the Archery style, otherwise just pick the College of Sword.
Resilient (CON or WIS). Always good to have better saving throws: CON helps with concentration rolls and both protect from some ugly effects.
Slasher/Piercer. Feat for weapon builds, especially for College of Sword: decent boost to piercing or cutting weapon damage. Spellcasters can ignore this.
Magic Initiate. Useful to complement various builds: spellcasters can take Fire Bolt or other damage cantrips, while Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade are good for melee, Mage Armor is also a nice option.
Warcaster. Important for melee builds, particularly dual wield or sword/shield. Nothing for a spellcaster.
Telepathic (TCoE). +1 CHA, Telepathy and Detect Thoughts. Very useful, especially if the DM knows that the Message cantrip is not as stealthy as everyone thinks.
Mobility. Definitely useful for melee builds, excluding College of Sword that has Mobile Flourish.
3/5 DECENT TIER
Telekinetic (TCoE). +1 CHA, Enhanced Magic Hand and the ability to push people, even if only for 5ft. Can be nice for specific builds.
Fade Away (Racial, XGtE). Wouldn’t be bad, if it didn’t require being a Gnome.
Second Chance (Racial, XGtE). An ability score increase and a “disadvantage” to the enemies. Useful for College of Swords.
Metamagic Initiate (TCoE). Just two metamagic points can make the difference if used well. We recommend Concealed Spell: it costs only one point and is very useful during stealth and, more importantly, to avoid Counterspell.
2/5 NOT GARBAGE TIER
Dragon Hide (Racial, XGtE). Useful if you have an odd ability score. Bonus armor is not groundbreaking for the class, as it can already use light armors.
Flames of Phlegethos (Racial, XGtE). As above, useful if you have an odd stat. Unfortunately, a bard only has access to fire spells through Magical Secrets.
Prodigy (Racial, XGtE). Become the supreme Swiss Army knife.
1/5 GARBAGE TIER
Everything else.
SPELLS
Note: Spells marked by an asterisk are part of the extended list present in Tasha’s Caudront to Everything
3/5 Friends. Mainly used to intimidate or coerce someone rather than befrind them, since the target will realize the trick anyway. Best with a disguise kit and a permissive DM.
5/5 Vicious Mockery. THE Bard cantrip. Damage is terrible but the effect is very strong and remains somewhat relevant during most of the level progression.
1/5 True Strike. No. There are so many better ways to spend a turn.
4/5 Minor Illusion. With a little imagination this could be the best cantrip in the game. Tremendously dependent on the creativity of the player and th DM’s leniency.
2/5 Blade Ward. Rarely useful. since in combat retreat o ut of enemy range is usually a better option. When that’s not possible this cantrip can save your life, though. Outside of combat it can be used places with many non-magical, attack roll traps.
3/5 Light. Not being able to see in the dark sucks. Remember that even with Darkvision you still have disadvantage on perception checks in total darkness.
2/5 Dancing Lights. As the name implies it conjures a small amount of lights you can move. Too bad it requires concentration.
3/5 Mage Hand. Having a little more range is always useful, especially when you want to open doors or chests after you rolled a 5 on perception to look for traps.
3/5 Message. Can be very useful with a little creativity. Just remember you still have to verbally spell your message and point to the target, it’s not free telepathy.
3/5 Prestidigitation. Not as versatile as Minor Illusion, but still fun to use.
2/5 Mending. Lots of unimportant uses, definitely not a high priority spell to learn.
3/5 Thunderclap [XGtE]. Decent area-of-effect damage, albeit in a small radius. Not recommended in stealthy situations.
2/5 Animal Friendship. If you really want to play Snow White.
3/5 Bane. Versatile debuff, even if it is often better to use Tasha’s Uncontainable Laughter. However, having a Saving Throw on CHA is very good.
3/5 Feather Fall. Situational, but always saves lives.
2/5 Disguise Self. Slightly worse than selecting disguise kits with Expertise.
3/5 Charm Person. Not requiring concentration makes this a viable spell. Very useful in social and roleplay heavy environments.
4/5 Comprehend Languages. The importance of this spell comes out the first time the bard tries to charm giants. Essential.
4/5 Cure Wounds. Healing never goes out of fashion.
3/5 Earth Tremor [XGtE]. A nice AoE, for a 1st level spell. Difficult terrain all around the caster may cause more problems than advantages, however.
3/5 Heroism. Huge amount of temporary HP at low levels, but scales quite poorly.
2/5 Identify. Useful, but best left to Wizards who have less issues with how many spell they learn.
3/5 Silent Image. An improvement over Minor Illusion.
4/5 Detect Magic. Essential if you are the only caster in the party. Otherwise, you can leave it to wizards and sorcerers.
4/5 Faerie Fire. Makes enemies glow! Incredibly useful: giving advantage to allies’ attacks can turn the tide of a fight. However, the Dexterity ST is easily overcome.
4/5 Thunderwave. Area spell with decent damage and can push enemies away from us or into a volcano. Scales well with higher level slots.
2/5 Speak with Animals. Useful if you want to tell your dog that no, he’s not being abandoned, he’s just going on an adventure.
5/5 Healing Word. The definition of combat healing. Useful up to mid/high levels to revive unconsious allies, while the Bonus Action casting time allows you to not completely lose a turn. Mandtory, but scales horribly with higher level slots.
1/5 Longstrider. Can make up for the loss of speed from wearing heavy armor. If you find yourself in a situation where this actually comes in handy, then you have chosen the wrong class.
4/5 Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. Control spell that is neither a Fear effect nor a Charm effect. You must take into account the Intelligence limit and the additional ST with advantage each time the affected target takes damage. Useful to cast on someone and then focus someone else.
2/5 Illusory Script. Tremendously situational, could be useful in roleplay situations.
3/5 Unseen Servant. Handy for mundane situations or for triggering obvious traps.
4/5 Sleep. Relevant up to level 3-4, then only useful if cast with higher level slots. All in all, a good choice at low levels.
2/5 Color Spray*. Sleep has a much stronger effect.
5/5 Dissonant Whispers. The best 1st level spell Bard has access to (also the only single target damage spell). Psychic damage is very rarely resisted, except by plants and constructs to which they are usually immune. Can trigger opportunity attacks from the party if used correctly. Definitely a good choice.
4/5 Phantasmal Force. Very strong spell when used creatively and the DM lets you get away with it.
3/5 Aid*. A nice buff if you have slots to spare, by not being a spellcasting focused build for example.
1/5 Animal Messenger. Go be a Druid somewhere else.
4/5 Hold Person. Amazing control spell. Remember that attacks against a paralyzed creature means guaranteed crit if you hit. A bit restrictive on the type of targets, it still remains effective at higher levels.
2/5 Magic Mouth. Fun to use but not really effective outside of roleplay.
3/5 Calm Emotions. Stronger than it looks: negates fear and charm on allies and can turn a fight into a pleasant chat. The issue is when someone succeeds the ST.
3/5 Enhance Ability. There are better things to keep concentratio on, but it may prove useful situationally.
4/5 Blindness/Deafness. Good debuff that doesn’t require concentration, CON ST decreases its effectiveness against most monsters, since it is usually one of the higher stat around.
3/5 Crown of Madness. Potentially blue in a well coordinated party or in tactically favorable situations. Remember that it is limited to humanoid targets only.
3/5 Enlarge/Reduce*: As a combat buff is not very exciting (1d4 more damage, useful only if the target has many attacks) but can be used to create improvised cover or reduce insurmountable obstacles.
1/5 Enthrall. A WIS ST to give Disadvantage on Perception checks to perceive any creature other than the caster. there are many non magical ways to get the same effect.
5/5 Shatter. One of the few AOE damaging spell directly available to the class that also scales efficiently with higher level slots.
3/5 Detect Thoughts. Amazing as an interrogation tool and as a radar to detect hidden sentient creatures.
4/5 Invisibility. Allows others to face obstacles that normally only a rogue could overcome. Having Advantage on the first attack or giving Disadvantage on the first ST in combat is also pretty good.
1/5 Locate Animals or Plants. To find where to go be a druid elsewhere.
2/5 Locate Object: Like Locate Animals or Plants only for non-living things. Used much more frequently, but not that much.
5/5 Mirror Image*. One of the best defensive spells in the game: requires no concentration and it works no matter how much the attack rolls.
4/5 Cloud of Daggers. One of the few guaranteed damage spells. Always cool, especially in combination with effects that block or prevent movement.
2/5 Pyrotechnics [XGtE]: Would rank blue if it didn’t require preexisting fire. It can be used in combination with Produce Flame.
5/5 Heat Metal. Forcing someone to drop their weapon or take continuous damage is obviously good, but the real strength of this spell is casting it on metal armor and giving Disadvantage on almost everything, since it would probably take minutes to remove it.
4/5 Lesser Restoration: Good choice even when you have access to Greater Restoration.
2/5 Knock [Knock]: It is incredible how many things can be blown up with this simple spell. Still pretty situational.
4/5 Silence [Silence]: Very useful to make spellcasters cry, as virtually all spells have verbal components. The area is not very large, so coordination is required to keep the target locked in the area. Also useful in stealth situations.
1/5 Skywrite [XGtE]: Like Animal Messenger, but now the whole town knows about the message. Saves money in corporate marketing scenarios.
5/5 Suggestion. Oh boy! Probably the most versatile level 2 spell. Not only can it be used to remove an opponent from combat, but also to convince him to help. Some DMs may not allow such uses of the spell, however.
2/5 See Invisibility. Faerie Fire is better and also allows the rest of the party to see the target.
2/5 Warding Wind [XGtE]. Situational.
3/5 Zone of Truth [Zone of Truth]. Portable magic polygraph. Effectiveness is dependant on the adventure type.
2/5 Nondetection. Situational. Useful if the group’s nemesis is a Diviner.
3/5 Leomund’s Tiny Hut. An excellent spell to allow a Long Rest in dangerous places, the only concern being Dispel Magic. If possible, the Wizard should take care of this spell.
4/5 Catnap [XGtE]. Recover your Bardic Inspiration in 10 minutes instead of an hour! Every character who regains resources during short rests will love you!
3/5 Clarvoyance. A small sensor spy or ambush whatever hides behind that suspicious door.
2/5 Plant Growth. The slow effect is very strong, has a large area and no ST. Too bad it requires the presence of plants. Either become a farmer or always bring a large sack of cut grass with you.
5/5 Dispel Magic. Mandatory spell, can literally make the difference between life and death.
3/5 Enemies Abound [XGtE]: Good debuff that requires the uncommon INT ST. Too bad about the random behavior.
2/5 Glyph of Interdiction: One of the most versatile spells in 3.5 (Goodnight, sweet prince ;-;), the number of ways it can be used in 5e have decreased. As a Glyph, it is limited to its positioning, but it can be very useful in situations where the goal is to protect a place.
3/5 Major Image. Big brother to Minor Illusion. Blue if the DM is very permissive about how strong your illusions are. Note that it becomes permanent if casted with a 6th level slot.
4/5 Intellect Fortress (TCoE). Unfortunately requires concentration. Useful for protecting stupid Fighters from charm or fear effects. Scales well with slot levels, as it can be extended to more targets.
2/5 Sending. Updated, improved, and VERY expensive version of Message. Politely ask your Wizard to learn it.
5/5 Slow*. Excellent area debuff: -2 to AC, blocks reaction, spells, and extra attacks.
3/5 Tongues. Normally this would be purple, but the fact that it enables Suggestion in a lot of circumstances boosts the score up one rank.
5/5 Mass Healing Word*. Area healing with a bonus action. One of the best spells in the manual.
1/5 Feign Death. May make some sense in roleplay situations, otherwise it’s pretty useless.
3/5 Stinking Cloud. Good area control spell, despite not being particularly large. Too bad creatures can just walk out of the cloud.
3/5 Speak with Dead. Potentially useful, especially to learn how not to become like the guy you’re speaking to.
2/5 Speak with Plants. Useful for telling your bonsai that no, it is not being abandoned, you’re just going on an adventure.
4/5 Fear. Control spell that loses its effect when the enemy breaks line of sight. It allows for attacks of opportunity and is absolutely devastating in small rooms with no obvious places to hide.
3/5 Bestow Curse. Excellent single target debuff, with many good options to choose from. Too bad about having to touch the target.
5/5 Hypnotic Pattern. Area control spell with good range that incapacitates multiple targets on failed ST. It has no verbal component, making it perfect in stealth situations. Pretty broken, and by pretty broken we mean absolutely disgusting.
1/5 Phantasmal Killer*. Only 4d10 damage and Frightened condition on a target, which can try to free itself every turn. The level 2 version, Phantasmal Force, is much better. with that at least you can confuse and disorient an opponent with it.
2/5 Charm Monster [XGtE]. Nice against low level creatures with low Wisdom.
4/5 Compulsion. Forces a creature to move where you want, more or less. Effectiveness depends entirely on positioning but can be crucial in tight spaces or when you need to keep opponents away from spellcasters.
4/5 Confusion. Control spell with random outcomes, but still pretty good.
5/5 Greater Invisibility. An incredibly strong buff, especially with a rogue in the party who can easily go around stabbing people with sneak attack without repercussions.
3/5 Freedom of Movement. Good immunity to many common debuffs, like a Storm Giant’s hug
2/5 Locate Creature. Situational, but lets you locate the villain of the campaign.
5/5 Polymorph. And now I’m a Dinosaur.
Incredibly useful, gives a huge amount of HP (T-Rex, Whale, Giant Ape) to an ally, with th potential for some good damage. Can also be used to remove an enemy from combat, trasformed into a narcoleptic snail.
4/5 Dimensional Door. Excellent utility spell. You can even bring a friend with you while you blink.
2/5 Illusionary Terrain. Situational and dependent on both the creativity of the caster and the level of fun allowed by the DM.
5/5 Animate Object. “Creates” numerous allies. Nothing is more satisfying than beating up a poor bandit looking for loot with a handful of gold coins. Also having extra bodies on the battlefield is devastating in 5th edition. Finally, it combines well with Dissonant Whispers, as it triggers eveey object’s opportunity attack.
4/5 Hold Monster. The monstrous and therefore more versatile counterpart to Hold Person. Beautiful in combination with paladins or fighters: remember that paralyzed means guaranteed critical hit.
3/5 Circle of Teleportation. Useful but situational, can become essential in campaigns where your party has a main base or must travel from one city to another.
2/5 Legend Lore. Not particularly useful, leave it to the cleric.
4/5 Geas. From the way it is written, the spell has tremendous potential, like Suggestion on steroid. Can be an incredible trump card if the DM allows it.
3/5 Mass Cure Wounds. Useful when lots of people have been beaten up but, thanks to Tasha, we already have access to Mass Healing Word.
4/5 Dominate Person. This spell is really powerful: there’s a lot of ways you can make people kill themself for your benefit.
3/5 Mislead Mislead. A good spell for exploration. Suitable for stealthy situations as it does not require verbal components.
2/5 Planar Binding. Geas works better in most cases.
2/5 Modify Memory. Usually more useful to the DM than to the players.
3/5 Rary’s Telephatic Bond (XGtE)*. Literally Whatsapp: allows you to connect 8 creatures telepathically for an hour. Useful for silent communication, coordination and meme sharing.
5/5 Raise Dead. As an adventurer, you risk your life every day. Even if other spellcasters have access to this spell, it is always worth taking it in case they’re the ones who need it.
4/5 Greater Restoration. Bigger version of Lesser Restoration. Mandatory if no one else in the party has it.
3/5 Awaken. Useful if you want to tell your dog that no, he is not being abandoned, he is just going on an adventure, but you want him to answer in common. Can provide strong allies if used on the right targets.
3/5 Scrying. Useful for spying on the big bad boss. Much more frequently used the opposite way.
2/5 Seeming. Disguise Self on multiple target. Good spell for infiltrations, nothing more.
1/5 Skill Empowerment [XGtE]. A 5th level slot to double proficiency is a complete waste.
4/5 Synaptic Static [XGtE]. Psychic Fireball with the coolest name possible and a good secondary effect. Useful against groups of big, dumb hitters.
2/5 Dream [Dream]. Spam the dreams of opponents, as well as their e-mails. Also does damage.
4/5 Otto’s Irresistible Dance. Freezes a creature without Saving Throw and requires an action to end the effect. Perfect for humiliating nasty, ugly things like Dragons by showing the world their lack of coordination on the dance floor.
5/5 Heroes Feast*. With only 10 minutes of preparation it greatly boosts your party’s survivability for an entire day. Part of every adventurer’s balanced breakfast.
1/5 Programmed Illusion. Magic Mouth with a timer and 5 more levels required to cast.
2/5 Find the Path. Magic GPS, should have been a few levels lower.
3/5 Eyebite. Great spell to debuff a large number of creatures. Against few targets, Hold Monster/Person or Hypnotic Pattern are more efficient.
5/5 Mass Suggestion. Suggestion. Mass. Doesn’t need an explanation. Useful to win elections.
2/5 Guards and Wards. Nice if you are the dungeon owner, not the adventurer.
3/5 Truesight. Does what it says. Generally not too useful, but some situations are specifically made to be resolved with this spell.
Dream of the Blue Veil (TCoE). Allows you to change plane temporarily. Serves no purpose except as a plot device.
4/5 Etherealness. Excellent evasion spell.
5/5 Forcecage. Cages someone in an indestructible box with no ST, no concentration required, and no components consumed. There’s no need to read about other 7th level spells.
2/5 Project Image. The spell itself is very nice and offers a lot of roleplay cues. Too bad about the high level slot and the various limitations.
2/5 Mirage Arcane. Changes the landscape of up to 1 square mile. In practice can create or remove difficult terrain, so it is situationally useful.
1/5 Prismatic Spray*. Although it has a huge area, 5 out of 7 effects inflict 10d8 damage of a random element. A Fireball or Synaptic Static using this slot level do much more damage and you don’t risk rolling an element the target is resistant or immune to. The debuffs aren’t bad, but they don’t justify the rest.
2/5 Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion. Great when you have 100 friends to play D&D with and your parents won’t let you use the garage.
3/5 Resurrection. For those things that have been dead too long for Raise Dead to work.
4/5 Regenerate. A lot of HP over time. Very good out of combat: can regrow that arm you left in the mouth of a giant crocodile 5 levels ago.
2/5 Symbol. Would be a great upgrade for Glyph of Interdiction if it didn’t cost so much.
1/5 Mordenkainen’s Arcane Sword. A slightly upgraded version of Spirit Weapon with a ridiculously high cost.
4/5 Teleport. Because a Bard is never late; nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.
Antipathy/Sympathy*. a spell so situational and specific that it makes no sense to even give it a rating.
5/5 Dominate Monster. Like Dominate Person, but for everything. Very strong effect, but remember that every damage instance triggers a saving throw. Useful to make the dragon forget it has wings after jumping from the 6th floor.
1/5 Glibness. There is a base skill that does the same thing.
3/5 Power Word: Stun: Excellent effect with a minimum duration of 1 turn. If you have any way of knowing the enemy’s current HP the rating rises to blue.
4/5 Feeblemind. Intelligence locked at 0. F**k your Mage! (and Warlock, and Sorcerer, and everyone else)
3/5 Mind Blank. a 24h protection against psychic damage and divination spells without concentration. Pretty good if you are actually concerned about those things.
3/5 Mass Polymorph [XGtE]. BOOM, Jurassic Park. Unfortunately the strongest beast you can transform into is a T-Rex, which is not very threatening at this level.
5/5 True Polymorph. BOOM, Dragonheart. Potentially Forever.
4/5 Power Word: Heal. The first GOOD heal spell since Mass Healing Word. For when the party has taken many, many hits.
3/5 Power Word: Kill. Area death effect with no saving throw. Only good if you have are really good at guessing the opponent’s hp.
4/5 Prismatic Wall. The ultimate wall: Nothing with a brain would dare to cross it and attacks cannot get through. The only downside is that spells or arrows cast by companions can’t get through either.
5/5 Foresight*. Advantage to everything. EVERYTHING. Terrific buff.
3/5 Psychic Scream [XGtE]. As unexciting as a 9th level spell can be. INT ST is a bonus.
MAGICAL SECRETS
NOTE RAW (Rules as Written): You can only exchange a spell learned from Magical Secrets with one from the bard spell list, effectively “losing” a secret.
A Sage Advice suggests DMs should allow to exchange a secret spell with another secret each time you increase you. If this optional ruling is ignored, be sure to only pick generally useful spells that you wouldn’t want to replace in the future. Otherwise, feel free to experiment with some of the more interesting, but not optimal spells.
3/5 Eldritch Blast. The best cantrip in the game, period. You can’t tap into its true potential without multiclassing Warlock, however.
3/5 Guidance. When Bardic Ispiration is not enough.
2/5 Shillelagh. With this you can attack using your CHA bonus. We suggest a multiclass in Warlock Hexblade instead.
4/5 Bless. Without Clerics or Paladins in the party, you might want to take this spell in consideration. It’s strong during early lvels and scales well with slots.
5/5 Shield. It’s the name of the blog, there must be a reason: one of the best defensive spell in the game, perfect for melee builds.
4/5 Spiritual Weapon. The cast and th weapon attack only require a bonus action and deal force damage. Very viable spell.
4/5 Misty Step. Excellent mobility for a single bonus action.
2/5 Prayer of Healing. One of the main out of combat healing spells,.Decent choice if your group lacks healers.
3/5 Pass Without Trace. +10 to Stealth checks is a nice bonus, might be worth taking this spell if no one else has access to it and there are no rogues in your party.
4/5 Scorching Ray. Efficient spell: good damage for the level and scales well. Great choice if you want to hit harder.
3/5 Shadow Blade [XGtE]. Lots and lots of damage for a 2nd level spell. Great for melee bards, Requires concentration, unfortunately.
4/5 Aiuto [Aid]: Technically, temporary hitpoints still work for the purpose of healing unconscious allies. Good choice if for some unknown reason you don’t have access to Healing Word.
3/5 Animate Dead. Create a skeleton, give it a bow and point it in a random direction. It’s always great to have more allies in a fight. Requires your party to be ok with having undead around and, if not, a good disguise roll to pass it as your long lost cousin.
4/5 Aura of Vitality. Excellent healing both in and out of combat, especially when facing constant damage over time.
5/5 Counterspell. Amazing ‘get out of jail free’ card that will make your DM struggle, especially if more than one party member have access to this. Almost mandatory.
3/5 Conjure Animals. Being a druid is fine this time. Can be a huge asset if used wisely.
3/5 Blink. Good defensive spell without concentration. Bard already has access to Mirror Image so consider stacking them together for ultimate dodge.
3/5 Crusader’s Mantle. Cast it on the fighter and forget about it.
5/5 Fireball. Perhaps the most famous spell in all of D&D. Any situation can be solved with a Fireball; if it doesn’t work, it’s because not enough Fireballs were used.
1/5 Remove Curse. If no one else has access to this just go find a Cleric in town and pay for it.
4/5 Revivify. Resurrecting someone on the spot is always good. Prioritize it if you don’t have Paladins or Clerics in your party.
3/5 Spirit Guardians. Very strong and very useful, but competes with many other spells with concentration. Best for melee builds, since the area of effect is not very large.
4/5 Haste. Your [non-caster class] will adore you.
4/5 Fly. Never goes out of style.
5/5 Summon Fey (TCoE). We suggest to take at least one “Summon X” spell from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, since they are very strong and versatile. This one, for example deals 2d6 + level damage and can teleport every turn with powerful additional effects, like charm for an entire minute. Among the best summon splls, if not THE best when it comes to special powers.
4/5 Summon Shadowspawn (TCoE). Very resistant, although the additional skills are not the best compared to the other summons and there is also risk of friendly fire. However, Despair is perfect for preventing escapes.
5/5 Summon Undead (TCoE). The most versatile of the summon spells: each monster has a specific role: the Phantom runs through things while terrorizing, the Putrid poisons and paralyzes and the Skeleton safely attacks from a distance.
2/5 Arcane Eye. Good for exploring the dungeon, better if the Wizard uses it.
4/5 Banishment. Good for removing an annoying enemy from combat.
4/5 Wall of Fire. If used wisely, walls can really turn an encounter on it’s head. 5/5 If you are confident in your tactical skills.
2/5 Evard’s Black Tentacles: Generally a sub-optimal choice as a Secret because of the many other concentration spells. Mainly used by evil masterminds as a disciplinary tool against their minions.
4/5 Summon Aberration (TCoE). Similar to Summon Undead: One can attack from a distance, one has a situational feature, and one has an aura. Slightly less versatile than Summon Undead NOTE: due to the way this spell scales, it’s much more efficient to cast it using an even numbered slot level.
5/5 Summon Construct (TCoE). Incredibly tough and resilient summon for when you need a wall with fists. Thanks to Berzerker Lashing, the clay golem is usually the best choice, but Heated Body is very valuable in fights against many enemies.
5/5 Circle of Power. Perhaps the best way to use a 5th level slot. Advantage to saving throws against spells and Evasion to the whole party? Yes please. Also, a Bard can learn it at level 10 while normally a Paladin would have to wait until level 17.
4/5 Swift Quiver. Can be devastating combined with a magic crossbow, especially since it doesn’t require you to actually make attacks. This way you can cast a spell and make 2 attacks with the Bonus Action in one turn.
3/5 Destructive Wave. Good area of effect damage, but there are better alternatives.
4/5 Temporal Shunt(EGtW). An interesting combination of Counterspell and Shield: makes a target disappear before his attack or spell as a reaction. As a bonus, the target has no memory of suffering such an effect. Expensive, but extremely useful both in and out of combat
5/5 Wall of Force. Finally a proper wall, second only to Prismatic Wall. Imprison enemies, protect yourself, control the battlefield and many other fun party tricks.
4/5 Windwalk. Potentially skip large chunks of dangerous dungeons and move around the world very quickly. Possibly gold for campaigns in large open worlds and no druid in the party.
3/5 Contingency. Dedicated to all those who want to make dramatic and dangerous entrances or exits, but also want to live to tell about it. Favourite spell of people suffering from paranoia.
4/5 Disintegrate. The solution to your lack of high damaging single target spells.
5/5 Globe of Invulnerability. Excellent to keep the party alive against spellcasters. Also very powerful as an anti-anti-caster mechanism.
5/5 Summon Fiend (TCoE). Don’t be fooled by the apparently high PF: a Summon Construct of the same slot level has even more. The high score comes from the wonderful Magic Resistance, the Yugoloth’s teleportation and the Devil being the best ranged fighter among all evocations (unless the enemy resists fire damage).
5/5 Mental Prison (XGtE). Very good spell: 15d10 potential damage and a restrained opponent. Although they can free themselves, anyone who doesn’t immidiately recognize the spell should at least lose a turn. At worst 5d10 guaranteed and an INT saving throw, one of the hardest to resist.
5/5 Simulacrum. What’s better than one Bard? Two Bards!
3/5 Plane Shift. Situational. Teleport is usually better.
4/5 Holy Aura. Slightly different version of Circle of Power. Good when there’s no clerics nearby.
5/5 Maze. No saving throw and an Intelligence check to get out. A lot more monsters than you think have trouble being smart. Almost too good to be true until used against your party.
3/5 Demiplane. “Yeah, well, I’m gonna go build my own plane of existence, with blackjack and hookers.”
5/5 Wish. No explanation needed.
3/5 Mass Heal. Many, many, MANY HP to redistribute to the whole party. A great spell in a vacuum, but there are too many palatable choices for a 9th level slot.
3/5 Time Stop. A little extra time to prepare before a fight is always useful.
3/5 Invulnerabilty [XGtE]. Being immune to all damage is definitely nice, but duration and concentration requirement have a clear impact on the effectiveness.
4/5 Meteor Swarm [Meteor Swarm]. Lots and lots of damage. Watch out for tight spaces, if you consider a medium sized building a ‘tight space’.
4/5 True Resurrection. When you fall in love with your Sphere of Annihilation and the platonic relationship is no longer enough.
MULTICLASS
“Thre is no such thing as enough versatility”
Multiclassing is an option to consider particularly for melee/ranged weapon builds. Besides, there is not much to get beyond level 18, when you get the level 9 spell slot and the last magical secret. Another good option is to level bard only up to 14 to get the last skill from your college and then move on.
1/5 ARTIFICER
Music studies don’t mix well with majoring in engineering apparently. INT-based class with nothing particularly useful at first levels.
1/5 BARBARIAN
The Skald, or Bardbarian, is a fun but unfortunately suboptimal idea, especially when compared to the fighter. Most of the barbarian‘s abilities scale off strength, which is not as useful for a bard as dexterity, plus during Rage you can’t cast spells or maintain concentration, though you can still use Bardic Inspiration. It can be a lot of fun to roleplay, at least.
2/5 CLERIC
Can be interesting for some builds: War Domain to gain access to armours or Life Domain to become the ultimate healer. Even then it still remains a weak choice. In general don’t take levels in it unless you know what you’re doing.
1/5 DRUID
Wisdom requirement, early spells not particularly useful and Wild Shape has no synergy with Bard unless you have to entertain a forest.
5/5 FIGHTER
At least one level in fighter is basically a must for any build that involves weapons.
Level 1. Weapons and armours proficiency, a Fighting Style and Second Wind. Exactly what a dueling bard needs.
Level 2: ACTION SURGE: Scary skill that improves even more your versatility: You can attack twice, attack and cast, or cast and cast. Either way heavily testing the DM’s patience.
Level 3:
4/5 Battlemaster: Maneuvers are the apex of versatility. You can even use them in conjunction with the College of Sword maneuvers.
3/5 Champion: Scoring critics more frequently is always fun, but it’s not exactly optimal for a spellcaster.
1/5 Eldritch Knight: Gaining additional cantrips and spells based on INT can’t really to what other subclasses offer.
1/5 Arcane Archer (XGTE): One of the worst subclasses in the game. See our other guide for an explanation.
3/5 Cavalier (XGtE): It provides extra attacks, which is good, but makes enemies target you, which is REALLY bad.
5/5 Samurai (XGtE): Excellent defensive specialization due to advantage and temporary hit points gain. The extra language or proficiency is a nice bonus.
5/5 Echo Knight (EGtW): Amazing subclass which gives you a STAND: a copy of yourself that can attack, teleport and do other cool things.
4/5 Rune Knight (TCoE): It grants access to special runes, some of them defence-based. Very welcomed by the somewhat frail bard.
2/5 Psi Knight (TCoE): Intelligence based, not very good.
4/5 ROGUE
A rogue/bard is usually preferable to a bard/rogue, but it’s still a good multiclass. Two levels are enough for a spellcaster build, while weapon users may consider investing an additional level.
Level 1. Expertise to become even more versatile, and Sneak Attack to increase damage a bit, even if not by much without investing lots of levels
Level 2. Cunning Action is the main appeal of this multiclass, since it provides great mobility options.
Level 3:
3/5 Thief: Suboptimal choice, Fast Hands is nice but not absolutely necessary.
4/5 Assassin. Great if you have some kind of bonus to initiative, like Factotum. Big damage boost.
1/5 Arcane Trickster. BAD. As nice as the archetype is by itself, the Intelligence required to be effective completely butchers it.
4/5 Swashbuckler. Excellent, especially for College of Valor or College of Swords. The ability to use Sneak Attack without being hidden or getting advantage in some way, in addition to various bonuses to Initiative, make the Swashbuckler one of the best options for a weapon bard.
2/5 Mastermind (XGtE). Interesting, though not very effective. Early level features are nice and add decent flavor. Great to get a “spy” theme going but, mechanics-wise, there are better options like College of Whispers.
3/5 Scout (XGtE). It might be a good alternative to becoming a fighter if your goal is to make an exploration focused character.
1/5 Inquisitive (XGtE). Nothing interesting: bards already drown in proficiencies and the additional ones given by this archetype are nothing impressive. As for Sneak Attack, Swashbuckler is better anyways.
3/5 Phantom (TCoE). Selecting an additional proficiency every morning is redundant, but can become crucial in some rare events. Wails from the Grave would be good if it didn’t scale off the investment in levels for Sneak Attack.
4/5 Soulknife (TCoE): Psionic Powers offers great synergy, granting telepathy and a bonus on failed skill checks. Psychic Blades are powerful weapons that remain useful even when magic weapons of mass destruction +3 start to show up in your loot.
1/5 WIZARD
A poor choice. The Intelligence requirement and the lack of impactful early game skills (except for Portent) makes Wizard an unappealing second class.
If you really want to multiclass a pure spellcaster, Sorcerer or Warlock are much better options in every way possible.
1/5 MONK
There’s no reason to take Monk now that there’s a new Fighting Style for unarmed combat. All wrestler bards now simply go fighter.
5/5 PALADIN
While at first this might seem an odd pairing, the strength and charisma requirements can easily be met at character creation and the benefits are significant. Divine Smite is an excellent source of damage that can make use of the numerous spell slots, while the other features increase the survivability of non-combat-oriented Colleges. That being said, between paladin and fighter, the choice is mostly based on preference: the former for burst damage, the latter for consistency.
Level 1: Divine Sense and Lay on Hands are a good addition to an already strong skillset and are comparable to what you would get from a level in fighter.
Level 2: Fighting Style, Spells, Divine Smite. Fighting style is a solid addition, especially if you have chosen a weapon based College. The additional spells, on the contrary, are nothing exceptional. Last but not least, Divine Smite is the reason you pick this multiclass: lots of damage at the cost of a few spell slots.
Level 3: Two levels are usually enough, since the oaths are not particularly strong at low levels. Don’t sleep on some of the stuff you get from them though.
4/5 Oath of Devotion: Charisma added to damage and a magic weapon are not bad at all. Turn the Unholy is a fairly useful skill that scales poorly. A solid oath.
1/5 Oath of the Ancients. Very bad: Nature’s Wrath is probably the worst possible use of Channel Divinity, and Turn the Faithless is situational.
5/5 Oath of Vengeance. Now we are talking: Oath of Enmity is probably the most useful skill after Divine Smite. Perfect choice for a melee build.
3/5 Oath of Conquest. Fun, but not particularly strong abilities. Average.
2/5 Oath of Redemption: The best suited for Spellcaster focused characters. Channel Divinity‘s options and higher level abilities are the closest to the most commonly portrayed Bard philosophy, at the cost of losing in combat effectiveness compared to the other oaths.
4/5 Oath of Watchers. Amazing defensive choice: Watcher’s Will protects against nasty spells and Abjure the Extraplanar is the least situational power of its kind.
5/5 Oath of Glory. Grants access to two superb spells: Guiding Bold and Heroism. Also Insipring Smite is one of the best usages for Channel Divinity.
2/5 RANGER
As with the monk, the skills obtained are almost completely obsolete. Luckily, thanks to Tasha’s revised ranger, you could vaguely consider if you really like exploring the forest, but a fighter still remains 238010901283 times better
4/5 SORCERER
The main reason to multiclass sorcerer is Metamagic. Having access to even one metamagic option can radically change a spellcaster, and bards greatly benefit from abilities such as subtle spell or twinned spell.
5/5 WARLOCK
Arguably the best dip (one level multiclass). Warlock is one of the most abused classes when it comes to multiclassing, as its low-level abilities remain strong at any level. This is obviously an excellent choice for a pure spellcaster build, granting access to the best damage cantrip in the game (Eldritch Blast) and a couple of extra spell slots recoverable via short rest.
Level 1. Otherwordly Patron, Pact Magic. These are the main reason you want to get a level in warlock, plus the already praised Eldritch Blast.
4/5 The Archfey. Solid expanded spell list and nice abilities overall. Best option if you prefer being a controller instead of a blaster.
2/5 The Fiend. Dark One’s Blessing is not very powerful and the additional spells are worth it only if you take at least 3 levels in the class.
4/5 The Great Old One. Telepathy makes up for the spell list, which doesn’t shine in either power or originality.
3/5 The Celestial (XGtE). More heals, more cantrips, more cleric stuff. Starting as a bard, all the stuff this patron offers is either redundant or covered in other, better ways.
5/5 The Hexblade (XGtE). Someone at WotC was probably drunk when they decided to write this Patron. First and foremost you can apply CHA to your weapon attacks. You also get armour proficiency, the Shield spell and Hexblade Curse. Colleges of Valor or Swords don’t have to think twice about taking this.
3/5 The Fathomless (TCoE). Spawn tentacles around the battlefield. Useful for distraction, as the damage will quickly become irrelevant at higher levels. It also has Thunderwave, a great spell.
5/5 The Genie (TCoE). Good all-around choice: amazing spells, especially the Marid list, and a consistent damage bonus via Genie’s Wrath.
Lvel 2: Eldritch Invocations, excellent features that enhance other spells and provide some peculiar abilities. Note that the level required by some invocations is the warlock class level.
Level 3: Pact Boon. Not as important a level as the others, especially since you’re forgoing getting your last Magical Secret at 18. Only take it if you’re sure your character won’t reach those levels or you have more than one multiclass in mind.
3/5 Pact of the Chain: Having a familiar is extremely useful and versatile.
1/5 Pact of the Blade: Doesn’t provide any noteworthy benefits.
5/5 Pact of the Book. New cantrips are always welcome, even if we already have access to the best one. For example, Shillelagh is necessary in case you want to make a CHA-based fighter, without selecting the Hexblade. The real power lies however in the Eldritch Invocation: Book of Ancient Secrets, which allows you to learn all ritual spells of any class (possibly wizard), thus becoming an absolute hoarder of spells.
NOTE: each time you level up you can replace a learned invocation with another.
2/5 Pact of the Talisman (TCoE): Doesn’t hold a candle to the Chain or Book Pacts. If for some reason you like the talisman aestethic, at least pick Eldritch Invocation: Rebuke of the Talisman.
