Bard

Class Features

As a bard, you gain the following class features.

 Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per bard level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your

 Constitution modifier per bard level after 1st

 Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows,

 longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Tools: Three musical instruments of your choice

 Saving Throws: Dexterity, Charisma
Skills: Choose any three

 Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to
the equipment granted by your background:

 • (a) a rapier, (b) a longsword, or (c) any simple weapon
• (a) a diplomat’s pack or (b) an entertainer's pack
• (a) a lute or (b) any other musical instrument
• Leather armor and a dagger

 Spellcasting

 You have learned to untangle and reshape the fabric of
reality in harmony with your wishes and music. Your
spells are part of your vast repertoire, magic that you
can tune to different situations. See chapter 10 for the
general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 for the
bard spell list.

 Cantrips
You know two cantrips of your choice from the bard
spell list. You learn additional bard cantrips of your
choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known
column of the Bard table.

Spell Slots
The Bard table shows how many spell slots you have to
cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of
these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level
or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you
finish a long rest.

For example, if you know the 1st-level spell cure
wounds and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot
available, you can cast cure wounds using either slot.

 Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher
You know four 1st-level spells of your choice from the
bard spell list.

 The Spells Known column of the Bard table shows
when you learn more bard spells of your choice. Each of
these spells must be of a level for which you have spell
slots, as shown on the table. For instance, when you
reach 3rd level in this class, you can learn one new spell
of 1st or 2nd level.

 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.

 Spellcasting A bility
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

 Ritual Casting
You can cast any bard spell you know as a ritual if that
spell has the ritual tag.

 Spellcasting Focus
You can use a musical instrument (found in chapter 5)
as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells.

 Bardic Inspiration

 You can inspire others through stirring words or music.
To do so, you use a bonus action on your turn to choose
one creature other than yourself within 60 feet of you
who can hear you. That creature gains one Bardic
Inspiration die, a d6.

 Once within the next 10 minutes, the creature can roll
the die and add the number rolled to one ability check,
attack roll, or saving throw it makes. The creature can
wait until after it rolls the d20 before deciding to use the
Bardic Inspiration die, but must decide before the DM
says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once the Bardic
Inspiration die is rolled, it is lost. A creature can have
only one Bardic Inspiration die at a time.

You can use this feature a number of times equal
to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You
regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Your Bardic Inspiration die changes when you reach
certain levels in this class. The die becomes a d8 at 5th
level, a d10 at 10th level, and a dl2 at 15th level.

 JackofAllTrades

 Starting at 2nd level, you can add half your proficiency
bonus, rounded down, to any ability check you make that
doesn’t already include your proficiency bonus.

 Song of Rest

 Beginning at 2nd level, you can use soothing music or
oration to help revitalize your wounded allies during
a short rest. If you or any friendly creatures who can
hear your performance regain hit points at the end of
the short rest, each of those creatures regains an extra
1d6 hit points.

 The extra hit points increase when you reach certain
levels in this class: to 1d8 at 9th level, to 1d10 at 13th
level, and to 1d12 at 17th level.

 Bard College

 At 3rd level, you delve into the advanced techniques of
a bard college of your choice: the College of Lore or the
College of Valor, both detailed at the end of the class
description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level
and again at 6th and 14th level.

 E x p e r t i s e

 At 3rd 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 10th level, you can choose another two skill
proficiencies to gain this benefit.

 Ability Score Improvement

 When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th,
and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your
choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of
your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability
score above 20 using this feature.

 Font of Inspiration

 Beginning when you reach 5th level, you regain all of
your expended uses of Bardic Inspiration when you
finish a short or long rest.

 Countercharm

 At 6th level, you gain the ability to use musical notes or
words of power to disrupt mind-influencing effects. As
an action, you can start a performance that lasts until
the end of your next turn. During that time, you and any
friendly creatures within 30 feet of you have advantage
on saving throws against being frightened or charmed.
A creature must be able to hear you to gain this benefit.
The performance ends early ifyou are incapacitated or
silenced or if you voluntarily end it (no action required).

Magical Secrets

 By 10th level, you have plundered magical knowledge
from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Choose two spells
from any class, including this one. A spell you choose
must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard
table, or a cantrip.

 The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are
included in the number in the Spells Known column of
the Bard table.

 You learn two additional spells from any class at 14th
level and again at 18th level.

 Superior Inspiration

 At 20th level, when you roll initiative and have no uses
of Bardic Inspiration left, you regain one use.

Bards of the College of Lore know something about
most things, collecting bits of knowledge from sources
as diverse as scholarly tomes and peasant tales.
Whether singing folk ballads in taverns or elaborate
compositions in royal courts, these bards use their gifts
to hold audiences spellbound. W hen the applause dies
down, the audience members might find themselves
questioning everything they held to be true, from their
faith in the priesthood of the local temple to their
loyalty to the king.

 The loyalty of these bards lies in the pursuit of beauty
and truth, not in fealty to a monarch or following the
tenets of a deity. A noble who keeps such a bard as a
herald or advisor knows that the bard would rather be
honest than politic.

 The college’s members gather in libraries and
sometimes in actual colleges, complete with classrooms
and dormitories, to share their lore with one another.
They also meet at festivals or affairs of state, where they
can expose corruption, unravel lies, and poke fun at self-
important figures of authority.

 Bonus Proficiencies
When you join the College of Lore at 3rd level, you gain
proficiency with three skills of your choice.

 Cutting Words
Also at 3rd level, you learn how to use your wit to
distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and
competence of others. When a creature that you can
see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability
check, or a damage roll, you can use your reaction to
expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling
a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number
rolled from the creature’s roll. You can choose to use
this feature after the creature makes its roll, but before
the DM determines whether the attack roll or ability check succeeds or fails, or before the creature deals its
damage. The creature is immune if it can’t hear you or if
it’s immune to being charmed.

Additional Magical Secrets
At 6th level, you learn two spells of your choice from any
class. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast,
as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip. The chosen
spells count as bard spells for you but don’t count
against the number of bard spells you know.

 Peerless Skill
Starting at 14th level, when you make an ability check,
you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration. Roll a
Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to
your ability check. You can choose to do so after you roil
the die for the ability check, but before the DM tells you
whether you succeed or fail.

College of Valor

Bards of the College of Valor are daring skalds whose
tales keep alive the memory of the great heroes of the
past, and thereby inspire a new generation of heroes.
These bards gather in mead halls or around great
bonfires to sing the deeds of the mighty, both past
and present. They travel the land to witness great
events firsthand and to ensure that the m em ory of
those events doesn’t pass from the world. With their

songs, they inspire others to reach the same heights of
accomplishment as the heroes of old.

 Bonus Proficiencies
WhenyoujointheCollegeofValorat3rdlevel,you
gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and
martial weapons.

 Combat Inspiration
Also at 3rd level, you learn to inspire others in battle.
A creature that has a Bardic Inspiration die from you
canrollthatdieandaddthenumberrolledtoaweapon
damage roll itjust made. Alternatively, when an attack
roll is made against the creature, it can use its reaction
to roll the Bardic Inspiration die and add the number
rolled to its AC against that attack, after seeing the roll
but before knowing whether it hits or misses.

 Extra Attack
Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of
once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

 Battle Magic
At 14th level, you have mastered the art of weaving
spellcasting and weapon use into a single harmonious
act. When you use your action to cast a bard spell, you
can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.