In the article on CBR the author heavily implies that the change of bardic inspiration from a Bonus action to a Reaction makes the bard more powerful. I beg to differ. They first start out implying that when a bard gives inspiration the person given it has to use it on their next roll, instead of the 10m window that is clearly stated. While it may be true a bard could use inspiration and not have it needed by the person given it, 10 minutes is 100 rounds of combat, and odds are, if any combat scenario lasts that long, there will be at least one time that the dice will not favor the player. Changing it to a reaction does give the freedom for a bard to use it outside of their turn, but only once until their turn comes back around. So a simple scenario illustrates the difference:
A group of adventures with a bard in party cautiously approach the dragon's cave, they prepare before heading in, spell casters using their warding and protection magic, and the bard goes from member to the next, offering words of encouragement to bolster their will and resolve (giving out inspiration to those the bard can), then when they go in and the battle ensues, whether the dragon was aware of them or still asleep, at some point the dragon uses its breath weapon on the party, and 2 members need to use the inspiration on their saving throws, though the fighter decides not to as he closes with the beast, saving his inspiration die to help make sure he lands a strong hit on the dragon.
With the new change since the bard can only use it as a reaction, when the dragon breaths fire, they could choose to give help in the saving throw to only one member of the party and is not able to help the fighter land his hit.
I believe this should be in the unearthed arcana forums. However...
I think the changes have positive and negative depending on situation. A reaction to a failed roll is much better than blindly giving out inspiration to a character and that character using the inspiration before learning success or failure on the roll. There's no guessing on someone needing the bonus.
That also leads to a uses in the same turn issue because the bonus action method can allow multiple characters a bonus at the same time and using a reaction means that reaction is no longer available for another use. Another issue is the recipient of bardic inspiration needs to remain within range of the bard. The bonus action method allows a character to move a considerable distance away and still benefit.
I think the reaction system is overall-better but it would be nice to have both options.
A group of adventures with a bard in party cautiously approach the dragon's cave, they prepare before heading in, spell casters using their warding and protection magic, and the bard goes from member to the next, offering words of encouragement to bolster their will and resolve (giving out inspiration to those the bard can), then when they go in and…
They spend 20 minutes working out a puzzle, getting through traps and dealing with a few minions in service of the mighty dragon and once they face off against the dragon no one has inspiration to use on the breath weapon.
It cuts both ways, you can lay out a scenario that makes one version or the other shine. But I think the reaction version is better. I know at times a player can forget they had it to use.
As someone who likes Bards, I was initially worried that seeing the number of uses cut so drastically would hurt me. Then, in play, I realized that I'm almost never in range of the person who needs Inspiration when they need it, so I end up finishing most sessions with all of my BI left. (We tend to have a lot of outdoor encounters. This may get better in traditional dungeons.)
Thus far, the only really good use I've had for Bardic Inspiration was to Shatter, catching our 1 HP tank in the AoE (but that was the only way to get all the monsters) and then use the Healing feature to keep him on his feet.
We all felt like it was a clever use of the ability, but completely stupid. But I could afford to do it because I wasn't likely to get any other way to spend it.
It's more difficult to use, and you get fewer of them, and you have to be in the thick of things to make it work. And you can't bail out multiple members at once anymore. It's overall a much weaker ability and less useful.
As someone who likes Bards, I was initially worried that seeing the number of uses cut so drastically would hurt me. Then, in play, I realized that I'm almost never in range of the person who needs Inspiration when they need it, so I end up finishing most sessions with all of my BI left. (We tend to have a lot of outdoor encounters. This may get better in traditional dungeons.)
Thus far, the only really good use I've had for Bardic Inspiration was to Shatter, catching our 1 HP tank in the AoE (but that was the only way to get all the monsters) and then use the Healing feature to keep him on his feet.
We all felt like it was a clever use of the ability, but completely stupid. But I could afford to do it because I wasn't likely to get any other way to spend it.
It's more difficult to use, and you get fewer of them, and you have to be in the thick of things to make it work. And you can't bail out multiple members at once anymore. It's overall a much weaker ability and less useful.
60 feet is pretty far. I wouldn’t call that the thick of things. I can see players being that far apart if you deal with a lot of outdoor combats, but anything beyond 30ft isn’t in the thick of things. Most PCs can’t travel more than 30ft and have an action in a turn. I could see an argument to extend the range of BI to 90ft. It’s not like you as the bard wants to be in the cone of cold you are inspiring your ally to resist. You want to be beyond the range of other spellcasters. I didn’t know this was a problem when I did that survey. If enough other people notice this during the playtest hopefully they all say something in future surveys and maybe that range can get adjusted. I think it’s far superior as a reaction. Especially since it can’t be forgotten.
Wait. Healing word is 60' range. As is Shatter, Hold Person, Vicious Mockery and a number of other spells - there's only a small handful of spells with greater range. On a battle map, 60 feet is 12 squares away. In my experience, most battles take place in dungeons or otherwise indoors, so 12 squares is a generous size field.
What kind of situations are you routinely in such that 60' is too far to hit your allies? Or enemies, given that the only subclass option is Lore Bard?
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In the article on CBR the author heavily implies that the change of bardic inspiration from a Bonus action to a Reaction makes the bard more powerful. I beg to differ. They first start out implying that when a bard gives inspiration the person given it has to use it on their next roll, instead of the 10m window that is clearly stated. While it may be true a bard could use inspiration and not have it needed by the person given it, 10 minutes is 100 rounds of combat, and odds are, if any combat scenario lasts that long, there will be at least one time that the dice will not favor the player. Changing it to a reaction does give the freedom for a bard to use it outside of their turn, but only once until their turn comes back around. So a simple scenario illustrates the difference:
A group of adventures with a bard in party cautiously approach the dragon's cave, they prepare before heading in, spell casters using their warding and protection magic, and the bard goes from member to the next, offering words of encouragement to bolster their will and resolve (giving out inspiration to those the bard can), then when they go in and the battle ensues, whether the dragon was aware of them or still asleep, at some point the dragon uses its breath weapon on the party, and 2 members need to use the inspiration on their saving throws, though the fighter decides not to as he closes with the beast, saving his inspiration die to help make sure he lands a strong hit on the dragon.
With the new change since the bard can only use it as a reaction, when the dragon breaths fire, they could choose to give help in the saving throw to only one member of the party and is not able to help the fighter land his hit.
I believe this should be in the unearthed arcana forums. However...
I think the changes have positive and negative depending on situation. A reaction to a failed roll is much better than blindly giving out inspiration to a character and that character using the inspiration before learning success or failure on the roll. There's no guessing on someone needing the bonus.
That also leads to a uses in the same turn issue because the bonus action method can allow multiple characters a bonus at the same time and using a reaction means that reaction is no longer available for another use. Another issue is the recipient of bardic inspiration needs to remain within range of the bard. The bonus action method allows a character to move a considerable distance away and still benefit.
I think the reaction system is overall-better but it would be nice to have both options.
They spend 20 minutes working out a puzzle, getting through traps and dealing with a few minions in service of the mighty dragon and once they face off against the dragon no one has inspiration to use on the breath weapon.
It cuts both ways, you can lay out a scenario that makes one version or the other shine. But I think the reaction version is better. I know at times a player can forget they had it to use.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
As someone who likes Bards, I was initially worried that seeing the number of uses cut so drastically would hurt me. Then, in play, I realized that I'm almost never in range of the person who needs Inspiration when they need it, so I end up finishing most sessions with all of my BI left. (We tend to have a lot of outdoor encounters. This may get better in traditional dungeons.)
Thus far, the only really good use I've had for Bardic Inspiration was to Shatter, catching our 1 HP tank in the AoE (but that was the only way to get all the monsters) and then use the Healing feature to keep him on his feet.
We all felt like it was a clever use of the ability, but completely stupid. But I could afford to do it because I wasn't likely to get any other way to spend it.
It's more difficult to use, and you get fewer of them, and you have to be in the thick of things to make it work. And you can't bail out multiple members at once anymore. It's overall a much weaker ability and less useful.
60 feet is pretty far. I wouldn’t call that the thick of things. I can see players being that far apart if you deal with a lot of outdoor combats, but anything beyond 30ft isn’t in the thick of things. Most PCs can’t travel more than 30ft and have an action in a turn. I could see an argument to extend the range of BI to 90ft. It’s not like you as the bard wants to be in the cone of cold you are inspiring your ally to resist. You want to be beyond the range of other spellcasters. I didn’t know this was a problem when I did that survey. If enough other people notice this during the playtest hopefully they all say something in future surveys and maybe that range can get adjusted. I think it’s far superior as a reaction. Especially since it can’t be forgotten.
Wait. Healing word is 60' range. As is Shatter, Hold Person, Vicious Mockery and a number of other spells - there's only a small handful of spells with greater range. On a battle map, 60 feet is 12 squares away. In my experience, most battles take place in dungeons or otherwise indoors, so 12 squares is a generous size field.
What kind of situations are you routinely in such that 60' is too far to hit your allies? Or enemies, given that the only subclass option is Lore Bard?