So at level 14, a College of Lore bard gets this feature:
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 roll the die for the ability check, but before the DM tells you whether you succeed or fail.
Personally, this feels underwhelming for a level 14 feature. This is basically just giving yourself a bardic inspiration that can only be used on ability checks, but not attack or saving throws. It doesn't feel like it's adding or even enhancing something. It's just letting you use a lesser version of an existing feature on yourself. What am I missing here?
You're not missing anything, this is giving yourself a Bardic Inspiration die as a Reaction after you roll an Ability Check. It is not particularly flashy, but there may be some value to it that you're not getting.
First of all, this is the first time in a Lore Bard's progression when they can actually use their Bardic Inspiration on themselves. Before this, they were only able to use it to give to other people. Second, it stacks with everything else that can benefit an Ability Check. You're not actually giving yourself Bardic Inspiration, so it doesn't contend with another Bard giving Bardic Inspiration to you. This also stacks with either Jack of All Trades or Expertise, allowing you to get some pretty ridiculous numbers. Third, there are some times when an Ability Check can be somewhat clutch. You know that this (and Jack of All Trades) enhances Initiative rolls, right? Peerless Skill is also what let's Lore Bards be the best Counterspellers in the game, even better than Abjuration Wizards. Glibness + Jack of All Trades + Peerless Skill on your Charisma check to Counterspell I dunno ... Vecna, for example, means you can use your lowest level slots and still be guaranteed to counter a 9th level spell.
But again, it's not flashy.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Ophidimancer is correct about everything except that the feature doesn’t use a reaction.
Id also like to emphasize the impact this feature can have on initiative. At the level this feature is gained, the bards inspiration die is a 1d10, for an average of 5.5 on a potential initiative check. This also synergizes well with cutting words, which can actually reduce an enemies initiative too. While cutting words would be potentially more impactful as it would push the enemy down the initiative list, allowing the bard AND Ally’s to act earlier, peerless skill can be used too since it requires no action to use. This can cause one of the largest differences of initiative in the game with no feat investment and it helps the party.
a caster being able to have the first turn in combat can make the whole party better, and sometimes even save the party depending on circumstances..
Yeah, peerless skill isn't fancy and it uses a rather limited resource but it's definitely got it's uses. As pointed out above, initiative is a big one when it enables a spellcaster to go first.
Here are examples of some ability checks from "Using Ability Scores" in the PHB that do not apply skill proficiencies: force open stuck/locked/barred doors, wriggle free of bonds, hold one's breath, have a gut feeling, blend in to a crowd, or gather information. Jack of all Trades and Peerless Skill can both be used for these checks, and every skill in which the bard is not proficient, and every spell that might make an ability check.
I'm not above casting enhance ability (WIS) and walking around asking "what's my gut telling me?" with peerless skill as a backup against low rolls. ;-)
Peerless skill isn't over powered but it can make a big difference when the check matters and it's fun.
As someone who has played in games that are more skill focused the idea of being able to get an extra d10 on top of whatever other bonuses the party is stacking for a clutch check to defeat an encounter is pretty awesome. Bards are the ones most likely to be making social checks in a party (expertise and charisma scaling spell casting puts them ahead of all but a charisma rogue), being less likely to fail on the deception/persuasion/intimidation check to get you past an entire encounter that would drain resources is amazing.
On a more combative side of things, Counterspell rolls are ability checks, so I'm fairly sure that this also applies to it.
On a more combative side of things, Counterspell rolls are ability checks, so I'm fairly sure that this also applies to it.
Actually it's worth keeping in mind that you can use social skill checks in combat as well; unless your DM is really generous it's going to take your action, so not the fightiest option in your arsenal, but if it means you can Deceive an enemy into thinking you're an ally in disguise, or Persuade or Intimidate an enemy into backing off for a round or even surrendering then it's potentially a similar benefit to Charm Person or Hold Person while preserving spell slots.
Plus if you're using Peerless Skill to push this then at that point Bardic Inspiration comes back on a short rest, so it's an easier resource to recover, and with checks being easier to get silly bonuses in (especially with Lore's bonus Expertise) then it can be more likely to succeed than a lot of spells while targeting the same ability scores (since the opposed roles are usually Intelligence or Wisdom based).
Also I didn't see anyone mention Enhance Ability for skill checks; if you really need a check to succeed then you can't go wrong with advantage + expertise + peerless skill + ally bonuses. 😉
You're not missing anything, this is giving yourself a Bardic Inspiration die as a Reaction after you roll an Ability Check. It is not particularly flashy, but there may be some value to it that you're not getting.
First of all, this is the first time in a Lore Bard's progression when they can actually use their Bardic Inspiration on themselves. Before this, they were only able to use it to give to other people. Second, it stacks with everything else that can benefit an Ability Check. You're not actually giving yourself Bardic Inspiration, so it doesn't contend with another Bard giving Bardic Inspiration to you. This also stacks with either Jack of All Trades or Expertise, allowing you to get some pretty ridiculous numbers. Third, there are some times when an Ability Check can be somewhat clutch. You know that this (and Jack of All Trades) enhances Initiative rolls, right? Peerless Skill is also what let's Lore Bards be the best Counterspellers in the game, even better than Abjuration Wizards. Glibness + Jack of All Trades + Peerless Skill on your Charisma check to Counterspell I dunno ... Vecna, for example, means you can use your lowest level slots and still be guaranteed to counter a 9th level spell.
But again, it's not flashy.
It's not a reaction (that would make it even worse), but it's still pretty bad for a 14th level feature. Even if this were a Level 3 feature it still wouldn't (by itself) make me want to run out and play the Lore Bard.
But obviously the Lore Bard is still really good because of earlier features. And I generally don't care about high level features that I will almost certainly never get to use.
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You're not missing anything, this is giving yourself a Bardic Inspiration die as a Reaction after you roll an Ability Check. It is not particularly flashy, but there may be some value to it that you're not getting.
First of all, this is the first time in a Lore Bard's progression when they can actually use their Bardic Inspiration on themselves. Before this, they were only able to use it to give to other people.
Second, it stacks with everything else that can benefit an Ability Check. You're not actually giving yourself Bardic Inspiration, so it doesn't contend with another Bard giving Bardic Inspiration to you. This also stacks with either Jack of All Trades or Expertise, allowing you to get some pretty ridiculous numbers.
Third, there are some times when an Ability Check can be somewhat clutch. You know that this (and Jack of All Trades) enhances Initiative rolls, right? Peerless Skill is also what let's Lore Bards be the best Counterspellers in the game, even better than Abjuration Wizards. Glibness + Jack of All Trades + Peerless Skill on your Charisma check to Counterspell I dunno ... Vecna, for example, means you can use your lowest level slots and still be guaranteed to counter a 9th level spell.
But again, it's not flashy.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Ophidimancer is correct about everything except that the feature doesn’t use a reaction.
Id also like to emphasize the impact this feature can have on initiative. At the level this feature is gained, the bards inspiration die is a 1d10, for an average of 5.5 on a potential initiative check. This also synergizes well with cutting words, which can actually reduce an enemies initiative too. While cutting words would be potentially more impactful as it would push the enemy down the initiative list, allowing the bard AND Ally’s to act earlier, peerless skill can be used too since it requires no action to use. This can cause one of the largest differences of initiative in the game with no feat investment and it helps the party.
a caster being able to have the first turn in combat can make the whole party better, and sometimes even save the party depending on circumstances..
Ooh, nice catch. That makes it even better than what I said.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Yeah, peerless skill isn't fancy and it uses a rather limited resource but it's definitely got it's uses. As pointed out above, initiative is a big one when it enables a spellcaster to go first.
Here are examples of some ability checks from "Using Ability Scores" in the PHB that do not apply skill proficiencies: force open stuck/locked/barred doors, wriggle free of bonds, hold one's breath, have a gut feeling, blend in to a crowd, or gather information. Jack of all Trades and Peerless Skill can both be used for these checks, and every skill in which the bard is not proficient, and every spell that might make an ability check.
I'm not above casting enhance ability (WIS) and walking around asking "what's my gut telling me?" with peerless skill as a backup against low rolls. ;-)
Peerless skill isn't over powered but it can make a big difference when the check matters and it's fun.
As someone who has played in games that are more skill focused the idea of being able to get an extra d10 on top of whatever other bonuses the party is stacking for a clutch check to defeat an encounter is pretty awesome. Bards are the ones most likely to be making social checks in a party (expertise and charisma scaling spell casting puts them ahead of all but a charisma rogue), being less likely to fail on the deception/persuasion/intimidation check to get you past an entire encounter that would drain resources is amazing.
On a more combative side of things, Counterspell rolls are ability checks, so I'm fairly sure that this also applies to it.
Counterspell, dispel magic, or opposed checks with thing like grappling or shove. Peerless skill can be applied to a lot.
Actually it's worth keeping in mind that you can use social skill checks in combat as well; unless your DM is really generous it's going to take your action, so not the fightiest option in your arsenal, but if it means you can Deceive an enemy into thinking you're an ally in disguise, or Persuade or Intimidate an enemy into backing off for a round or even surrendering then it's potentially a similar benefit to Charm Person or Hold Person while preserving spell slots.
Plus if you're using Peerless Skill to push this then at that point Bardic Inspiration comes back on a short rest, so it's an easier resource to recover, and with checks being easier to get silly bonuses in (especially with Lore's bonus Expertise) then it can be more likely to succeed than a lot of spells while targeting the same ability scores (since the opposed roles are usually Intelligence or Wisdom based).
Also I didn't see anyone mention Enhance Ability for skill checks; if you really need a check to succeed then you can't go wrong with advantage + expertise + peerless skill + ally bonuses. 😉
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It's not a reaction (that would make it even worse), but it's still pretty bad for a 14th level feature. Even if this were a Level 3 feature it still wouldn't (by itself) make me want to run out and play the Lore Bard.
But obviously the Lore Bard is still really good because of earlier features. And I generally don't care about high level features that I will almost certainly never get to use.