One of the most interesting aspects of the most recent play-test material was the inclusion of new subclasses for existing classes; and the Bard received a new subclass that many players had been clamoring for: the “College of Dance”.
(seriously, if you look in the homebrew section; the sheer number of “College of Dance” subclasses submitted was staggering).
And you know what? It’s a pretty great subclass.
WotC added a feature that many home brews included in their “concept” for a Dance Bard: chiefly, an AC that implements the Bard’s Charisma & Dexterity modifier; and the ability to attack unarmed using Dexterity, as well as using Bardic Inspiration scaling for the damage roll.
Already, this gives the Dance Bard the tools needed to become a “decent” skirmisher.
…but while this gives the Bard “some” degree of martial capability; I believe that this subclass is more focused around battlefield positioning; with perhaps a great way of emphasizing Attacks of Opportunity.
The feature, “Inspiring Movement” gives great action-economy for martials who like to bash their enemies…the Bard can use a Reaction to strike an opponent within 5ft of them, and then move up to half their speed without provoking an opportunity attack. Fantastic bang for the buck.
But wait, there’s more: your ally can choose to move without provoking opportunity attacks, too…possibly to an even greater distance.
Now, this could be good for getting squishy characters out of bad situations…but a martial who wants to get into a better position to whack their enemies can also benefit.
But say that the martial is comfortable with the bad guy within melee range…well, if they have the “Sentinel” feat; they can instead choose to remain within range, and keep that opponent stuck there; while the Bard retain their ability to bonk & dance away.
On the surface, this seems fairly straightforward…but the Dance Bard really enhances battlefield placement & how the party can approach attacks of opportunity.
The subclass has other features; but these were the key things that interested me (as well as shared “Evasion”, whew!).
Plus, you could regulate how often you whack people…every time you use a Bardic Inspiration; be it as a bonus action or reaction, and with “Font of Inspiration”, you get those uses back…and you can then also expend spell slots to earn Bardic Inspiration back (not that you want to use your precious spell slots simply to punch people; but hey, the option is there!).
What were other people’s general feelings of the subclass?
I know I’ve had several dance-themed Bards who can finally see the light of day.
I love the dance partner idea for the class, my current worry is it compared to Monk. In many ways it just looks like a better monk with all the class features. I hope some form of it sticks around.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I love the dance partner idea for the class, my current worry is it compared to Monk. In many ways it just looks like a better monk with all the class features. I hope some form of it sticks around.
College of Dance is distinctly not a 'better Monk' because unlike the monk, the College of Dance does not have a reliable way to attack more than once per turn. Yes, you get a free punch if you use a Bardic Inspiration, but you only get so many of those and short rests are super unreliable, so it won't come up nearly as often as the monk getting three attacks per turn guaranteed, every turn, by level 5 and four if they want to burn ki - which they generally have more of than bards have Inspiration.
The College of Dance is not an aggressive/attacky bard class, or at least not any more aggressive/attacky than any average bard occasionally poking things with a rapier. It's a bard that can forego armor to fit the player's aesthetic of a lithe, nimble dancer wearing flowing silks (or whatever your dancer wears) instead of heavy leathers, and which can influence movement and positioning on the battlefield. Something like a choreographer, rather than a disciplined martial artist. I anticipate it will not go over well with people who don't use battlemaps, since Theater of the Mind rarely indulges in frippery like combat positioning, mobility, or battlefield hazards, but the idea of a bard that remains a credible(ish) threat while completely naked is an alluring one for many players.
I think I would have preferred an ability to substitute somatic for material components or verbal components, some way of emphasizing that the bard is dancing to cast their spells rather than just beatboxing, but it is what it is. I have a College of Dance bard already made actually, it was a near-ideal subclass for a character I was already building, but her game is quite far away so the playtest will likely be scrapped and 5e no longer slated for its desperately needed repairs by the time that game starts. Bleh. Oh well.
Kinda an interesting thought I was having us there are 3 variations on the dancer depending on spell list choice. I was picturing a Primal list using a hakka like dance. For your bard what kind of dance style do you picture them having and what is the spell list you picked? Ballet, gymnastics, interpretive dance, pop and lock, two step, maybe they really like the flapper dances lol.
Also love the idea of a Dancer and a Monk being a team up, twins, siblings similar yet disparate.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I'm not using the 1DD playtest base bard, since I need to be able to make a DDB character sheet for it. Instead I'm using a homebrew copy of the subclass on the 5e bard.
That said, Valiant's dances are energetic, fast-paced performances not entirely unlike depictions of the "Gipsy dance". Lots of circling, sweeping movements, lots of leaps and stomps - she's a tiefling with hooves instead of feet, so she can get some real sweet percussion from hooves clicking loudly on the floor of wherever she's performing. She can sing because bard, but I see her verbal accompaniment to her dances being more whoops, shouts, and energetic barks than traditional singing. She actually uses a tantan (i.e. the Weird D&D Name for a tambourine) and incorporates minor illusion into her dances with her off hand. I'm hoping to get an instrument of illusions version of her tantan so she can have two sources of illusory accompanyment on her dancing, but yes.
The College of Dance Bard is, first and foremost, a full caster (either Arcane, Divine, or Primal) with expertise in multiple skills, and then, at the end of that, a skirmishing type unit like a Monk.
Because of its access to a full casting list, and at level 10 multiple full lists, it is exponentially more powerful than anything else you'd compare it to, whether a Rogue for expertise, or a Monk for skirmishers.
It is good, but the UA6 Bard is really good. It's a hard choice to take a Rogue when you can get a full Arcane caster with most of the skill proficiencies/expertise of a Rogue.
The College of Dance features don't really make it a better Bard though, but I can imagine it being fun to play.
I was excited for the Dance Bard at first too, but when I filled out my survey I realized it's pretty disjointed and needs work.
1) It's positioned as a melee subclass, but will end up sucking at melee because it lacks both multiple attacks (without burning through its BP) and a means to make its punches magical/force like the monk does. A d12 punch sounds fun, but won't matter if resistance makes it a d6 and/or you can only swing once per round.
2) Unarmored Defense has the same monk problem where it sucks until high levels when you can max out both your defensive stats. (Though unlike the monk, at least the Dance Bard can still wear armor at low levels.)
3) Base Bards also lost all their martial weapon proficiencies, so picking Dance Bard means losing access to a lot of great martial feats like Charger or Sentinel or Mage Slayer etc.
Taken together, I'm left feeling you'd have better results as a Valor Bard who wears armor and picks up Tavern Brawler.
Also, it's a bit weird that Dance Bards get evasion before Rogues and Monks do.
The evasion seems appropriate to me, just because of the nature of their movement being unpredictable.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
The evasion seems appropriate to me, just because of the nature of their movement being unpredictable.
I'm all for them getting evasion, but not only do they get it earlier than any other class in the game, their version is superior. That feels like a bit much to me.
Inspiring Movement: To me this should be like a "May I cut in?" type move.
This should work like Battle Master "Bait and Switch." As a reaction to an enemy moving adjacent to an ally. (And before the enemy makes an attack) You spend an Inspiration die. Move adjacent to an Ally within your movement range without provoking an attack of opportunity. Swap places with Ally (Ally can move without provoking attack of opportunity.) And you gain an AC boost equal to the Die roll till the start of your next turn.
As is. If an enemy beats up a party member and ends it turn next to an ally. If I am 60 feet away, I can move an additional 15 feet away. then ally can move 5 feet time die roll. Why? This does not say DANCE to me at all.
SO, I can cast Hold Person (Vs Wisdom Save) at level 3 bard and next turn attack target with advantage and auto Crit with attack made at 5'. And keep him held if I maintain concentration and he fail his save.
SO, at level 5 I can use Stunning strike (vs CON save) at level 5 Monk and next turn opps. target no longer stunned.
SO, I can cast Hold Person (Vs Wisdom Save) at level 3 bard and next turn attack target with advantage and auto Crit with attack made at 5'. And keep him held if I maintain concentration and he fail his save.
SO, at level 5 I can use Stunning strike (vs CON save) at level 5 Monk and next turn opps. target no longer stunned.
Assuming the person is a humanoid yes, and they fail the second save they get at the end of their turn and you did no damage the turn you cast hold person unless you spent a bonus action to use your bardic inspiration while the monk still did normal damage. Also the bard spent a per long rest resource and the monk spent a per short rest resource.
SO, I can cast Hold Person (Vs Wisdom Save) at level 3 bard and next turn attack target with advantage and auto Crit with attack made at 5'. And keep him held if I maintain concentration and he fail his save.
SO, at level 5 I can use Stunning strike (vs CON save) at level 5 Monk and next turn opps. target no longer stunned.
Isn’t this how Hold Person has always worked for everyone? Not sure how it is more relevant for the Dance Bard, or any other Bard.
I like the idea of the Dance Bard. I think some of the features are nice. Unarmored Defense fits the character, as a dancer probably doesn't want their movement to be restricted by armor, and it's an option.
I am unsure of the Unarmed Strikes though. I kind of thought using a weapon, like a dagger or two, felt more appropriate. And nothing else in the subclass supports unarmed fighting (which I mentioned in the survey). So I don't know how much they will be relying on unarmed strikes.
And they are not a better monk. I initially was a little put off by their damage die scaling faster than monks, but it doesn't really matter as I don't see Dance bards taking the fight to the enemy with one, possibly two if they use BI, unarmed strikes, when they have so much more going for them as a full caster. I guess Unarmed Strikes is a "break glass in case of emergency" type feature?
Dazzling Footwork is a self-buff feature. Inspiring Movement, Leading Evasion, and Tandem Footwork are group/party buffs. and Irresistible Dance an enemy debuff. Fits the bard support role pretty well. Unarmed strikes seem the odd one out. But overall thematic.
I anticipated the parallels made with Monk; however I’m glad that the general sentiment is that the Dance Bard can’t really “fill the shoes” of a fully-fledged Monk.
It is interesting that the Dance Bard cannot completely eliminate musical instruments from their subclass (since they still need them to cast spells).
I had a saxophone Bard (re-flavored Horn) who could simply put the instrument away when they make their “unarmed” attack…or with a generous GM, perhaps they’d allow him to use it as a bludgeon. That’d be funny.
Personally, I like the additional “option” unarmed strikes provides…bonking people if I get cornered; or better yet, bonking an enemy in tandem with another martial party member…and falling back on spells when you run out of Bardic Inspiration.
Heh…my favorite part is pairing different types of “dances” with the Arcane, Divine & Primal spell lists.
My problem with Dance Bard is it doesn't really feel like a dance battler; it feels like a caster that's good at dodging AoE and can punch something decently hard once. Valor and Swords have far more synergy between their martial and caster "halves."
(seriously, if you look in the homebrew section; the sheer number of “College of Dance” subclasses submitted was staggering).
I'm one of those homebrewers, and honestly the subclass kind of writes itself.
You want the option to be unarmored, so DEX+CHA AC is a no-brainer
You want them to be able to do stuff with their dance moves, so you enhance their unarmed capability
They're still a bard, so you want them to be able to somehow inspire with their dancing
Some people are flipping out at the 1DND Dance bard's unarmed attack, but as Psyren spelled out, spending your entire action to attack one time falls behind really quickly. Add to this the opportunity cost of that action - you are doing this instead of casting one of your powerful full-spellcaster spells - and melee attacking ends up being a pretty bad idea.
So it falls into the same rut as Bladesinger wizards (but even worse) - a "gish" class that has to choose between using their full suite of class abilities, or engaging in melee. Once you get 3rd or 4th level spells they are almost always a better use of your action, so your cool subclass feature ends up just being used to mop up in the last round of the battle.
My problem with Dance Bard is it doesn't really feel like a dance battler; it feels like a caster that's good at dodging AoE and can punch something decently hard once. Valor and Swords have far more synergy between their martial and caster "halves."
Agreed. All the other battler bards at least got a 2nd attack. They got increased defense and yeah cool they can punch hard, but it take a while to out pace weapon damage anyways. So it feels more like a ribbon feature than something you use in a fight. If giving them a reliable 2nd attack would step on the monks toes too much that says more about how bad the monk is than how good the dance bard is.
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One of the most interesting aspects of the most recent play-test material was the inclusion of new subclasses for existing classes; and the Bard received a new subclass that many players had been clamoring for: the “College of Dance”.
(seriously, if you look in the homebrew section; the sheer number of “College of Dance” subclasses submitted was staggering).
And you know what? It’s a pretty great subclass.
WotC added a feature that many home brews included in their “concept” for a Dance Bard: chiefly, an AC that implements the Bard’s Charisma & Dexterity modifier; and the ability to attack unarmed using Dexterity, as well as using Bardic Inspiration scaling for the damage roll.
Already, this gives the Dance Bard the tools needed to become a “decent” skirmisher.
…but while this gives the Bard “some” degree of martial capability; I believe that this subclass is more focused around battlefield positioning; with perhaps a great way of emphasizing Attacks of Opportunity.
The feature, “Inspiring Movement” gives great action-economy for martials who like to bash their enemies…the Bard can use a Reaction to strike an opponent within 5ft of them, and then move up to half their speed without provoking an opportunity attack. Fantastic bang for the buck.
But wait, there’s more: your ally can choose to move without provoking opportunity attacks, too…possibly to an even greater distance.
Now, this could be good for getting squishy characters out of bad situations…but a martial who wants to get into a better position to whack their enemies can also benefit.
But say that the martial is comfortable with the bad guy within melee range…well, if they have the “Sentinel” feat; they can instead choose to remain within range, and keep that opponent stuck there; while the Bard retain their ability to bonk & dance away.
On the surface, this seems fairly straightforward…but the Dance Bard really enhances battlefield placement & how the party can approach attacks of opportunity.
The subclass has other features; but these were the key things that interested me (as well as shared “Evasion”, whew!).
Plus, you could regulate how often you whack people…every time you use a Bardic Inspiration; be it as a bonus action or reaction, and with “Font of Inspiration”, you get those uses back…and you can then also expend spell slots to earn Bardic Inspiration back (not that you want to use your precious spell slots simply to punch people; but hey, the option is there!).
What were other people’s general feelings of the subclass?
I know I’ve had several dance-themed Bards who can finally see the light of day.
I love the dance partner idea for the class, my current worry is it compared to Monk. In many ways it just looks like a better monk with all the class features. I hope some form of it sticks around.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
College of Dance is distinctly not a 'better Monk' because unlike the monk, the College of Dance does not have a reliable way to attack more than once per turn. Yes, you get a free punch if you use a Bardic Inspiration, but you only get so many of those and short rests are super unreliable, so it won't come up nearly as often as the monk getting three attacks per turn guaranteed, every turn, by level 5 and four if they want to burn ki - which they generally have more of than bards have Inspiration.
The College of Dance is not an aggressive/attacky bard class, or at least not any more aggressive/attacky than any average bard occasionally poking things with a rapier. It's a bard that can forego armor to fit the player's aesthetic of a lithe, nimble dancer wearing flowing silks (or whatever your dancer wears) instead of heavy leathers, and which can influence movement and positioning on the battlefield. Something like a choreographer, rather than a disciplined martial artist. I anticipate it will not go over well with people who don't use battlemaps, since Theater of the Mind rarely indulges in frippery like combat positioning, mobility, or battlefield hazards, but the idea of a bard that remains a credible(ish) threat while completely naked is an alluring one for many players.
I think I would have preferred an ability to substitute somatic for material components or verbal components, some way of emphasizing that the bard is dancing to cast their spells rather than just beatboxing, but it is what it is. I have a College of Dance bard already made actually, it was a near-ideal subclass for a character I was already building, but her game is quite far away so the playtest will likely be scrapped and 5e no longer slated for its desperately needed repairs by the time that game starts. Bleh. Oh well.
Please do not contact or message me.
Kinda an interesting thought I was having us there are 3 variations on the dancer depending on spell list choice. I was picturing a Primal list using a hakka like dance. For your bard what kind of dance style do you picture them having and what is the spell list you picked? Ballet, gymnastics, interpretive dance, pop and lock, two step, maybe they really like the flapper dances lol.
Also love the idea of a Dancer and a Monk being a team up, twins, siblings similar yet disparate.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I'm not using the 1DD playtest base bard, since I need to be able to make a DDB character sheet for it. Instead I'm using a homebrew copy of the subclass on the 5e bard.
That said, Valiant's dances are energetic, fast-paced performances not entirely unlike depictions of the "Gipsy dance". Lots of circling, sweeping movements, lots of leaps and stomps - she's a tiefling with hooves instead of feet, so she can get some real sweet percussion from hooves clicking loudly on the floor of wherever she's performing. She can sing because bard, but I see her verbal accompaniment to her dances being more whoops, shouts, and energetic barks than traditional singing. She actually uses a tantan (i.e. the Weird D&D Name for a tambourine) and incorporates minor illusion into her dances with her off hand. I'm hoping to get an instrument of illusions version of her tantan so she can have two sources of illusory accompanyment on her dancing, but yes.
Please do not contact or message me.
The College of Dance Bard is, first and foremost, a full caster (either Arcane, Divine, or Primal) with expertise in multiple skills, and then, at the end of that, a skirmishing type unit like a Monk.
Because of its access to a full casting list, and at level 10 multiple full lists, it is exponentially more powerful than anything else you'd compare it to, whether a Rogue for expertise, or a Monk for skirmishers.
It is good, but the UA6 Bard is really good. It's a hard choice to take a Rogue when you can get a full Arcane caster with most of the skill proficiencies/expertise of a Rogue.
The College of Dance features don't really make it a better Bard though, but I can imagine it being fun to play.
I was excited for the Dance Bard at first too, but when I filled out my survey I realized it's pretty disjointed and needs work.
1) It's positioned as a melee subclass, but will end up sucking at melee because it lacks both multiple attacks (without burning through its BP) and a means to make its punches magical/force like the monk does. A d12 punch sounds fun, but won't matter if resistance makes it a d6 and/or you can only swing once per round.
2) Unarmored Defense has the same monk problem where it sucks until high levels when you can max out both your defensive stats. (Though unlike the monk, at least the Dance Bard can still wear armor at low levels.)
3) Base Bards also lost all their martial weapon proficiencies, so picking Dance Bard means losing access to a lot of great martial feats like Charger or Sentinel or Mage Slayer etc.
Taken together, I'm left feeling you'd have better results as a Valor Bard who wears armor and picks up Tavern Brawler.
Also, it's a bit weird that Dance Bards get evasion before Rogues and Monks do.
The evasion seems appropriate to me, just because of the nature of their movement being unpredictable.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I'm all for them getting evasion, but not only do they get it earlier than any other class in the game, their version is superior. That feels like a bit much to me.
Inspiring Movement: To me this should be like a "May I cut in?" type move.
This should work like Battle Master "Bait and Switch." As a reaction to an enemy moving adjacent to an ally. (And before the enemy makes an attack) You spend an Inspiration die. Move adjacent to an Ally within your movement range without provoking an attack of opportunity. Swap places with Ally (Ally can move without provoking attack of opportunity.) And you gain an AC boost equal to the Die roll till the start of your next turn.
As is. If an enemy beats up a party member and ends it turn next to an ally. If I am 60 feet away, I can move an additional 15 feet away. then ally can move 5 feet time die roll. Why? This does not say DANCE to me at all.
SO, I can cast Hold Person (Vs Wisdom Save) at level 3 bard and next turn attack target with advantage and auto Crit with attack made at 5'. And keep him held if I maintain concentration and he fail his save.
SO, at level 5 I can use Stunning strike (vs CON save) at level 5 Monk and next turn opps. target no longer stunned.
Assuming the person is a humanoid yes, and they fail the second save they get at the end of their turn and you did no damage the turn you cast hold person unless you spent a bonus action to use your bardic inspiration while the monk still did normal damage. Also the bard spent a per long rest resource and the monk spent a per short rest resource.
Isn’t this how Hold Person has always worked for everyone? Not sure how it is more relevant for the Dance Bard, or any other Bard.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
I like the idea of the Dance Bard. I think some of the features are nice. Unarmored Defense fits the character, as a dancer probably doesn't want their movement to be restricted by armor, and it's an option.
I am unsure of the Unarmed Strikes though. I kind of thought using a weapon, like a dagger or two, felt more appropriate. And nothing else in the subclass supports unarmed fighting (which I mentioned in the survey). So I don't know how much they will be relying on unarmed strikes.
And they are not a better monk. I initially was a little put off by their damage die scaling faster than monks, but it doesn't really matter as I don't see Dance bards taking the fight to the enemy with one, possibly two if they use BI, unarmed strikes, when they have so much more going for them as a full caster. I guess Unarmed Strikes is a "break glass in case of emergency" type feature?
Dazzling Footwork is a self-buff feature. Inspiring Movement, Leading Evasion, and Tandem Footwork are group/party buffs. and Irresistible Dance an enemy debuff. Fits the bard support role pretty well. Unarmed strikes seem the odd one out. But overall thematic.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
I anticipated the parallels made with Monk; however I’m glad that the general sentiment is that the Dance Bard can’t really “fill the shoes” of a fully-fledged Monk.
It is interesting that the Dance Bard cannot completely eliminate musical instruments from their subclass (since they still need them to cast spells).
I had a saxophone Bard (re-flavored Horn) who could simply put the instrument away when they make their “unarmed” attack…or with a generous GM, perhaps they’d allow him to use it as a bludgeon. That’d be funny.
Personally, I like the additional “option” unarmed strikes provides…bonking people if I get cornered; or better yet, bonking an enemy in tandem with another martial party member…and falling back on spells when you run out of Bardic Inspiration.
Heh…my favorite part is pairing different types of “dances” with the Arcane, Divine & Primal spell lists.
My problem with Dance Bard is it doesn't really feel like a dance battler; it feels like a caster that's good at dodging AoE and can punch something decently hard once. Valor and Swords have far more synergy between their martial and caster "halves."
I was just imagining a Capoeira based Monk, and then realized that might be more close to the College of Dance Bard than a Monk.
I'm one of those homebrewers, and honestly the subclass kind of writes itself.
Some people are flipping out at the 1DND Dance bard's unarmed attack, but as Psyren spelled out, spending your entire action to attack one time falls behind really quickly. Add to this the opportunity cost of that action - you are doing this instead of casting one of your powerful full-spellcaster spells - and melee attacking ends up being a pretty bad idea.
So it falls into the same rut as Bladesinger wizards (but even worse) - a "gish" class that has to choose between using their full suite of class abilities, or engaging in melee. Once you get 3rd or 4th level spells they are almost always a better use of your action, so your cool subclass feature ends up just being used to mop up in the last round of the battle.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Bladesinger is much better off though:
1) Higher AC because they can add their casting stat without giving up armor
2) Not only does it get Extra Attack, it gets Super Extra Attack that lets them add in a bladetrip
3) In addition to the bladetrips, Wizard list has spells that synergize much better with gishing and weapons in general
4) When gishing is impractical or dangerous, you're still a wizard and can solve all the same problems they can normally.
Dance Bard is starting from a weaker list, weaker offense, and weaker defense, even compared to Valor and Swords, never mind Bladesinger.
Agreed. All the other battler bards at least got a 2nd attack. They got increased defense and yeah cool they can punch hard, but it take a while to out pace weapon damage anyways. So it feels more like a ribbon feature than something you use in a fight. If giving them a reliable 2nd attack would step on the monks toes too much that says more about how bad the monk is than how good the dance bard is.