The Bard class in Dungeons & Dragons has always been unique in that it emphasizes the power of creation as a force to manipulate reality through magic. In the past, Bards have been infused with the powers of music, elaborate swordplay, or even the manipulation of whispers. With the brand new College of Dance subclass introduced in the 2024 Player's Handbook, Bard players can now craft characters for whom their body is their instrument.

Dance as a conduit for magic is a natural fit for bardic magic. Like music, dance has been a form of expression throughout human history, with traditional dances being connective tissue between generations. The development of dance techniques shares much in common with learning new fighting styles, with the body being put through rigorous training to gain muscle memory. Let's look at some ways that the College of Dance subclass helps Bards channel their creative magic through their physical form.

• College of Dance Bard: Fluid Form Meets Fighting Function
• Changes to Bardic Inspiration
• College of Dance Bard Features

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College of Dance Bard: Fluid Form Meets Fighting Function

The College of Dance Bard is a powerful combination of physical form and creative magic. A dancing Bard can cause mouths to drop before delivering a swift and elegant kick across the face.

This Bard subclass is in rhythm with the Bard parent class features by using Bardic Inspiration to fuel a new set of abilities and buffs for your character. It allows you to feel the music the way you prefer, whether that's by using your Bard spells, using Bardic Inspiration to boost your party, or by channeling your groove into Unarmed Strikes with the new Dazzling Footwork feature for the College of Dance.

In the 2024 Player's Handbook, you'll be introduced to a bevy of subclass features that establish how your College of Dance Bard's body has been honed as a weapon, and how their fluid movements can leave allies inspired and others in awe.

Changes to Bardic Inspiration in the 2024 Player's Handbook

Bardic Inspiration has been given quite the facelift in the new Player’s Handbook. When Bardic Inspiration is bestowed on another creature, they now can wait to use it until after their roll on a D20 Test has failed, to potentially turn a failure into a success. Creatures also now have a full hour to roll their Bardic Inspiration dice. In addition, the 2024 Bard’s Font of Inspiration, you can now expend a spell slot to get another use of Bardic Inspiration.

With these changes that boost the effectiveness of Bardic Inspiration, players should feel more confident in expending this exciting resource, and subclasses like the College of Dance are built to reward you as a player for doing so.

College of Dance Bard Features

Artist: Katerina Ladon

Dazzling Footwork — Level 3

Because dancing often requires unrestricted movement, the College of Dance Bard's initial features grant several benefits if they aren't wearing armor or wielding a Shield:

You've Got the Moves

With the Dance Virtuoso benefit, you gain an Advantage on any Charisma (Performance) check you make that involves you dancing. College of Dance Bards could use this feature to create distractions while their party focuses on a task, but it could also come in handy during a gala or event. Anyone who has seen an episode of Bridgerton surely has learned how high-stakes a courtly dance scene can become.

Release Your Inhibitions

College of Dance Bards gain a boost to your Unarmored Defense, giving you a base Armor Class of 10 plus your Dexterity and Charisma modifiers.

Feel the Beat, Deliver the Beatdown

You're also granted a new benefit to your Bardic Inspiration in combat with Agile Strikes, allowing you to deliver an extra Unarmed Strike whenever you spend a use of Bardic Inspiration as part of an action, Bonus Action, or Reaction. So, for example, this means when you give a party member Bardic Inspiration, not only will they get the appropriate level dice to use on a D20 Test, but you'll also be able to make an Unarmed Strike on an enemy as part of the same Bonus Action.

As a College of Dance Bard, those Unarmed Strikes of yours get a boost through the Bardic Damage feature. When you successfully deal damage on an Unarmed Strike, instead of the normal damage you'll deal Bludgeoning damage equal to a roll of your current Bardic Inspiration die plus your Dexterity modifier. So for example, at level 3, you'd get a d6 + Dex on your Unarmed Strikes, and at level 15, you'd get d12 + Dex. The best part about this is you don't expend the die for that damage.

Inspiring Movement — Level 6

Leaning into the Bard's role as a source of inspiration to uplift and engage their party members, this new feature truly lets two tango. When an enemy you can see ends its turn within 5 feet of you, you can use your Reaction to spend a use of Bardic Inspiration to move up to half your Speed, without provoking Opportunity Attacks. Once you've moved, an ally of your choice within 30 feet of you can also move up to half their Speed using their Reaction, similarly not provoking Opportunity Attacks.

What makes this feature especially cool is that since it does expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration, if you're unarmored, you can take advantage of your Agile Strikes feature from Dazzling Footwork and make an Unarmed Strike as part of your Reaction. This means when an enemy is foolish enough to end their turn within 5 feet of you, you can potentially deal damage to them, move yourself out of danger of their next attack, and help an ally move.

Tandem Footwork — Level 6

Also at level 6, you can help yourself and your allies get off on the right foot when it comes time to roll Initiative. As long as you don't have the Incapacitated condition when you roll Initiative, you can expend one Bardic Inspiration die to grant yourself and each ally within 30 feet of you who can see or hear you all gain a bonus to Initiative equal to the number rolled. Talk about letting your party get a leg up!

Leading Evasion — Level 14

As an expert dancer, a College of Dance Bard is like a leaf on the wind. All those years of shimmying and shaking have allowed you to avoid taking damage in certain situations. Starting at level 14, whenever you have to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, and you are not Incapacitated, you take no damage on a successful roll. If you fail the roll, you take only half damage.

No Left Sharks in this scenario, either! If any creatures within 5 feet of you are making the same Dexterity saving throw, you can also choose to let them share in this benefit as well. Think of it like the dance-off scene in the first Guardians of the Galaxy, because once your group has that groove, ooh, child, things are gonna get easier.

Learn the New Steps

The 2024 Player's Handbook has done some fine-tuning to the Bard class—including its subclasses, as you see here! Players who are fond of the class will find it streamlined yet familiar at the base class level, with an emphasis on moving some of the known features of higher levels to lower levels.

So if you're excited to do the twist and evade your foes, while landing powerful Unarmed Strikes down on them, two-step over to the College of Dance barre and get those limbs limber. But if utilizing spells or buffed skills is how you prefer to unleash your creative spirit, you'll find class and subclass options that march to your tune as well.

A lot has changed in the 2024 core rules revisions, and we're excited to share more of what you can expect. Stay tuned for additional class guides for the new Player's Handbook and more!

Ready to see what's next for D&D? The 2024 Player's Handbook, 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, and 2024 Monster Manual are all available for preorder on the D&D Beyond marketplace. Plus, you can save $60 and get exclusive digital bonuses when you preorder the Digital & Physical Core Rulebook Bundle!

Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-set Dice Ex Machina for the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsored The Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of the Rat Queens comic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcast The Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

This article was updated on August 13, 2024, to issue corrections or expand coverage for the following features:

• College of Dance Bard: Fluid Form Meets Fighting Function: Corrected reference from Bardic Damage, which is a benefit, to Dazzling Footwork, which is the feature.
• Dazzling Footwork: Changed terminology of "wearing" a shield to "wielding" a shield. Also, corrected reference to the Dance Virtuoso feature as a benefit.
• Inspiring Movement: Correct typo labeling this feature as "Inspiring Damage."