D&D 5E Glamour Bard is a bad ass subclass

[ECMO3]

Keep in mind that it uses the reaction of everyone who moves. That means they can't make OAs or cast Absorb Elements, Shield, or Counterspell. When they use it, it's time to hit them hard, or bypass the melee party members for the back line.

People don't use it for those reason sometimes, but it is freaking awesome and arguably OP for repositioning the battlefield all in one turn and even if they don't use it they still get the temp hit points.

I have used it a ton to set up my own spells too. Two ways

First getting allies out of an AOE spell you want to use. This works awesome with Fear and Hyp Pattern. Use it to get your frontliner to shift out of the way so you can cast Fear or for several allies to get out of the scrum so you can cast Hypnotic Pattern or Synaptic Static.

Also you can include yourself and basically double your movement on that turn to move yourself in position for a good spell (without AOOs). Again I commonly use fear with this.

 

[ECMO3]

Mantle of Majesty I find underwhelming in combat. It takes Concentration, which means it blocks my most useful spells. It takes a Bonus Action each time, which blocks my Mantle of Inspiration and Healing Word - there's a lot of utility as a secondary healer to bring someone up before their initiative passes so they don't miss their action, or to stand a primary healer back up.

I can see how that could be the case. It has not been a problem for me but that is probably do to some build/loot/play specifics.

I don't use healing word much unless someone is down, nor do I hand out inspiration much once MOI is available, but I have felt the bite of having to choose between MOM and MOI.

I think key for MOM is to have good actions to use that are not leveled spells. Bard Cantrips are not very good in combat, especially at high levels. My current character has a Rope of Entanglement and Eldrtich Blast through a feat so she usually has either a great or at least decent action available.

A previous character used Alchemists Fire or occasionally if she had advantage she threw a net (without proficiency) while she had MOM going. She also used Mage Hand for battlefield utility like applying poison to allies weapons or deploying caltrops. Those were all fairly useful actions to pair with her free bonus action command

 

[jayoungr]

Keep in mind that it uses the reaction of everyone who moves.

We know, but it's a big group, so there are almost always enough people who want it to make it worthwhile.

 

[CapnZapp]

Reminds me if "Washington's dream" a SNL sketch where future president Washington dreams to be free, free to drop the 'u' from English words like color and favor... but obviously not glamour.