It's 2am and I can't sleep so have bardthoughts.
Bards are supposed to be the 5th man. In 5e, they're a spellcaster who can do social stuff, some broad skill applicability, and give someone enough of a bonus to do one thing really well in the moment. But 9 times out of 10 they're just going to throw on a concentration based buff, hang out in the backline sprinkling bardic inspiration, and drop the occasional, comparatively weak, damaging or healing spells.
So much of the class' core functionality was shifted into spellcasting that just maintaining a ghost of their 5th man role eats up so much of the class' remaining available features that they're the only class with 3 level archetypes. Which, as a designer, is just hot garbage. There's so little room to actually explore any kind of bard college or subclass because you get one at 3rd, then 6th, then 14th, and that's -it-.
So how do we fix it? Three major changes.
1) Reduce their spellcasting.
They're meant to be the 5th man, not a cleric with a few unique spells. Fortunately, I've already created a 3/4 caster for 5th edition so we can slap them with 7th level spellcasting. It'df look something like this:
That frees up some early game throughput while still ensuring they've got some spellcasting abilities. And while it constrains their high end throughput, and in particular delays their ability to revivify or raise dead, it gives us some room to work with throughout the leveling process.
New spell levels breakpoints are 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, and 19th. And with a throughput breakpoint at 5th by standard design we get...
2) Extra Attack at 5th level.
Yup! All Bards get extra attack, now, at 5th level. Because with their constrained weapon list and armor choice, as well as a lack of direct throughput abilities like rage, smite, or sneak attack, they'll get extra throughput but not feel as strong as a real front-line character. They do need -some- slightly better throughput, though... probably in a way that highlights their flavor and supports their identity.
3) Bardic Inspiration is altered.
Their 1st level ability gets a couple small changes. Still a bonus action to use inspiration, of course, but you also get another option: Bonus action Vicious Mockery. So a 1st level bard gets one spell slot per day, bardic inspiration, and bonus action insult. This makes them slightly more reliant on their weapons, and allows for more swashbuckly moments as you stab someone and insult them to add insult to injury... OR use two Vicious Mockery spells on your turn to deal 1d4 damage and disadvantage to two targets.
4) Early Expertise is Ditched for Bardsong.
What's Bardsong, I hear you ask. The answer is that it's a new and core identifying feature of the bard. You get a selection of bardsongs and activate them as an action. Every ally within 30ft, or enemy within 20ft depending on the song, is affected by the magical field you produce. THIS REPLACES BUFF SPELLS. The Bard's spell slots should mostly be for utility casting (knock, dispel magic, levitate, etc) and damage (shatter, thunderwave, etc) while their actual buffing abilities are core to the class itself. Start a bardsong with an action, everyone gets affected, lasts up to 1 minute, limited uses. But it needs something else fun that makes it a lever.
5) Flourishes as an aspect of Bardsong.
Flourishes end a bardsong in a big dramatic manner to channel its function into a single big and explosive benefit. Take Countersong, for example, which all bards would get at 2nd level in this structure.
All put together, the class might look something like this:
Why, yes, I -did- give the Bard an inordinate amount of cantrips. I figure with less high end magic and magic at will they could use some more versatility on the low end of the magical scale. Also cantrips are awesome and fun, and being stingy with them is mostly pointless.
Added a few new class features on there, and have to modify Words of Creation so I'll go ahead and explain 'em:
I figure if I can come up with 15-18 Bardsongs that's more than enough for people to choose 8 from. Honestly I could probably get away with just 12.
Bards are supposed to be the 5th man. In 5e, they're a spellcaster who can do social stuff, some broad skill applicability, and give someone enough of a bonus to do one thing really well in the moment. But 9 times out of 10 they're just going to throw on a concentration based buff, hang out in the backline sprinkling bardic inspiration, and drop the occasional, comparatively weak, damaging or healing spells.
So much of the class' core functionality was shifted into spellcasting that just maintaining a ghost of their 5th man role eats up so much of the class' remaining available features that they're the only class with 3 level archetypes. Which, as a designer, is just hot garbage. There's so little room to actually explore any kind of bard college or subclass because you get one at 3rd, then 6th, then 14th, and that's -it-.
So how do we fix it? Three major changes.
1) Reduce their spellcasting.
They're meant to be the 5th man, not a cleric with a few unique spells. Fortunately, I've already created a 3/4 caster for 5th edition so we can slap them with 7th level spellcasting. It'df look something like this:
That frees up some early game throughput while still ensuring they've got some spellcasting abilities. And while it constrains their high end throughput, and in particular delays their ability to revivify or raise dead, it gives us some room to work with throughout the leveling process.
New spell levels breakpoints are 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, and 19th. And with a throughput breakpoint at 5th by standard design we get...
2) Extra Attack at 5th level.
Yup! All Bards get extra attack, now, at 5th level. Because with their constrained weapon list and armor choice, as well as a lack of direct throughput abilities like rage, smite, or sneak attack, they'll get extra throughput but not feel as strong as a real front-line character. They do need -some- slightly better throughput, though... probably in a way that highlights their flavor and supports their identity.
3) Bardic Inspiration is altered.
Their 1st level ability gets a couple small changes. Still a bonus action to use inspiration, of course, but you also get another option: Bonus action Vicious Mockery. So a 1st level bard gets one spell slot per day, bardic inspiration, and bonus action insult. This makes them slightly more reliant on their weapons, and allows for more swashbuckly moments as you stab someone and insult them to add insult to injury... OR use two Vicious Mockery spells on your turn to deal 1d4 damage and disadvantage to two targets.
4) Early Expertise is Ditched for Bardsong.
What's Bardsong, I hear you ask. The answer is that it's a new and core identifying feature of the bard. You get a selection of bardsongs and activate them as an action. Every ally within 30ft, or enemy within 20ft depending on the song, is affected by the magical field you produce. THIS REPLACES BUFF SPELLS. The Bard's spell slots should mostly be for utility casting (knock, dispel magic, levitate, etc) and damage (shatter, thunderwave, etc) while their actual buffing abilities are core to the class itself. Start a bardsong with an action, everyone gets affected, lasts up to 1 minute, limited uses. But it needs something else fun that makes it a lever.
5) Flourishes as an aspect of Bardsong.
Flourishes end a bardsong in a big dramatic manner to channel its function into a single big and explosive benefit. Take Countersong, for example, which all bards would get at 2nd level in this structure.
This way you get a nice, relatively low-tier, bonus for an extended period of time that is tailored to the song/situation, and a single-use bigger impact ability. Higher level songs get to be stronger effects. Like "Accelerondo" (which is a terrible pun) providing a bonus to movement speeds and AC, with the option to flourish in order to allow someone to take an extra action.
All put together, the class might look something like this:
Why, yes, I -did- give the Bard an inordinate amount of cantrips. I figure with less high end magic and magic at will they could use some more versatility on the low end of the magical scale. Also cantrips are awesome and fun, and being stingy with them is mostly pointless.
Added a few new class features on there, and have to modify Words of Creation so I'll go ahead and explain 'em:
I figure if I can come up with 15-18 Bardsongs that's more than enough for people to choose 8 from. Honestly I could probably get away with just 12.
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