The Bard remains the life of the party in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, with Bardic Inspiration still serving as the overture for the class and following the same chord—I mean dice progression—as its 2014 counterpart. But while most Bards would tell you that you can’t improve on perfection, the class now gains more access to their Bardic Inspiration, a major lift to Countercharm, a crescendo into Words of Creation, a powerful pairing of spells, and a brand new subclass, the College of Dance.

Below, we cover key changes to the 2024 Bard you’ll find in the new Player’s Handbook. If there’s a feature we don’t cover, such as Jack of All Trades, that means it remains unchanged or saw minor changes.

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2024 Bard Class Features Overview

Artist: Evyn Fong

Bardic Inspiration — Level 1

Bardic Inspiration is the driving force behind the Bard class, and the 2024 Player’s Handbook has made using the feature more appealing and inviting. A 2014 Bard might give an ally Bardic Inspiration and they may not get a chance to use it in the next ten minutes. Alternatively, they might use it on a D20 Test they would have already succeeded on, wasting the Bardic Die.

Now with the 2024 Bard, your Bardic Inspiration lasts for a full hour, so if your allies don’t use it in combat, they might still be able to use it on another D20 Test afterward, such as during a dungeon crawl. The truly impactful change, though, is that in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, a creature who has a Bardic Die doesn’t have to roll it until after they fail a D20 Test, so now they can hoard it until they know it has a chance of actually turning a failure into a success.

A big change delivered in a small number of words is the shift in who can receive your Bardic Dice. With the 2014 version of Bardic Inspiration, a creature had to be able to hear you. In the 2024 rules, they can hear or see you. This is a big shift in the flavor representation of Bards. The class used to feel like it was largely for musicians, with other types of performers waiting in the wings to fill the ensemble. But this shift in the language should encourage you to follow your own Bardic Inspirations even if you can’t carry a tune.

Your Bardic Inspiration dice are still determined by your Charisma modifier and still progress in the same order, so you get a d6 at level 1, a d8 at level 5, a d10 at level 10, and a d12 at level 15.

Expertise — Level 2

One of the prime appeals of playing a Bard is their extreme competence. The combination of Jack of All Trades and Expertise both being bestowed at level 2 now means that your 2024 Bard is leaning into their skill versatility earlier on in their career. You’ll also get Expertise for two additional skill proficiencies at level 9 instead of 10.

Song of Rest — Level 2

One 2014 Bard feature that did not make it into the 2024 version is Song of Rest, which restored extra Hit Points to the Bard and allies if they spent a Hit Dice to regain Hit Points at the end of a Short Rest. The 2024 Bard now gets earlier access to Expertise, utility improvements to Countercharm, and the major boosts to Magical Secrets and Font of Inspiration instead.

Bard Subclass — Level 3

The 2024 Player’s Handbook presents three familiar subclasses for Bards and one brand-new one. The returning Bard Colleges are mostly unchanged, with just a few quality-of-life improvements:

• College of Dance: This brand-new Bard subclass focuses the Bard’s power over the magic of creation into a physical art form, dance. College of Dance Bards gain boosts to their defenses when not wearing armor and use their Bardic Inspiration to fuel powerful Unarmed Strikes.
• College of Glamour: The Feywild-infused magic of this Bard subclass replaces the 2014 Enthralling Performance with Beguiling Magic, which adds Charm Person and Mirror Image to your prepared spells list and gives you a chance to bestow the Charmed or Frightened effect on a creature that sees you cast an Enchantment or Illusion spell within 60 feet. Also, Mantle of Inspiration now grants Temporary Hit Points equal to two times the number rolled on your Bardic Inspiration die instead of a flat number. In addition, Mantle of Majesty can now be regained by expending a level 3+ spell slot. Finally, Unbreakable Majesty can cause the attacker to miss instead of changing targets.
• College of Lore: When these studious Bards use Bardic Inspiration to activate Cutting Words, your roll is no longer impacted by whether the creature can hear you or if they’re immune to being Charmed. Also, Peerless Skill now doesn’t expend the Bardic Inspiration on a failure. Finally, Magical Discoveries has been rewritten, like Magical Secrets, and allows you to replace the chosen spell whenever you gain a Bard level.
• College of Valor: These skalds can now use a Simple or Martial weapon as a Spellcasting focus. In addition, when a College of Valor Bard gets an Extra Attack at level 6, you can now cast a cantrip that has a casting time of an action in place of one of those attacks.

Font of Inspiration — Level 5

Font of Inspiration has always turned up the volume on Bardic Inspiration by restoring expended uses after completing a Short Rest in addition to a Long Rest. The 2024 Bard accompanies that with another additional way for Bards to recover expended Bardic Dice. Once you reach level 5, you can expend a spell slot to regain a use of Bardic Inspiration. This does not cost an action, so you can choose to use it when you want to expend the Bardic Dice.

This new detail is a single sentence in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, but it has a big impact. Bardic Inspiration has always been the backbone of a Bard build, but the limited number of uses meant that a Bard player would have to be sparse with their Bardic Dice in between rests.

Now players have a lot more freedom to decide how they want to go about their business. If you want to focus on casting spells, you can, but if you built a Bard based around the functions of Bardic Inspiration, such as a College of Dance Bard who uses your Bardic Inspiration to fuel your features, you can choose to sacrifice spell slots to give yourself more access to those abilities.

The combination of this new Font of Inspiration with Bardic Inspiration dice now being expended after the roll fails encourages Bard players to use rather than hoard their Bardic Dice.

Countercharm — Level 7

Countercharm has moved from level 6 to level 7 for the 2024 Bard, but the upgrade in what the feature does is well worth the wait. The 2014 Bard’s Countercharm took an action and would last until their next turn, granting Advantage to allies on their saving throws against being Frightened or Charmed. So you had to really hope an enemy tried to frighten or charm your party to feel like it was worth activating this feature instead of attacking or casting a spell.

The 2024 Bard’s Countercharm is a Reaction, and you don’t have to use it until after you or your ally fails their saving throw against an effect that applies the Frightened or Charmed condition. Your ally then gets to reroll their save with Advantage. This means with your Countercharm, your allies now have up to three chances to succeed on their save against being Charmed or Frightened. Plus, this feature doesn’t have a limited number of uses, so it can be used each round when you or one of your party members are being talked into joining a Vampire’s cult!

Magical Secrets — Level 10

Magical Secrets also sees a buff from its 2014 counterpart. Instead of getting three chances to access another class’s spell list at fixed-level intervals, Magical Secrets now lets you select spells from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list every time you can add to your prepared spell list, and have them count as Bard spells.

This means that from Bard levels 10 through 20, you can choose spells from four different classes. Plus, when you replace a Bard spell from your prepared spell list, you can replace it with a spell from the other classes’ spell list.

Superior Inspiration — Level 18

Superior Inspiration moves from level 20 to 18 and gets a boost. The 2014 Superior Inspiration allowed you to regain one use of Bardic Inspiration if your pool was depleted when you rolled Initiative. In the 2024 version of Superior Inspiration, you regain up to two expended uses of Bardic Inspiration if your current pool is less than that. So if you have one use, you’ll get an extra, but if you have none, you’ll get two.

Epic Boon — Level 19

Epic Boons are a new type of feat introduced in the revised core ruleset that all require you to be level 19 to access. A level 19 Bard has access to one Epic Boon of their choice or another feat they qualify for. There are twelve Epic Boons found in the 2024 Player’s Handbook.

The following is the recommended Epic Boon for a Bard:

• Boon of Spell Recall: Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1 to a maximum of 30, and whenever you cast a spell with a level 1-4 spell slot, roll a d4 and if the roll matches the spell level you don’t expend the spell slot.

But we also recommend the Boon of Skill, which grants you proficiencies in all skills and gives you yet another Expertise, or the Boon of Speed, which lets you Disengage as a Bonus Action and adds 30 feet to your Speed.

Words of Creation — Level 20

Your new level 20 feature really plays up the idea that the Bard has mastered the magic of creation to the point where they have power over life and death. Words of Creation adds two of the most powerful level 9 spells to your prepared spells list, Power Word Kill and Power Word Heal. Bards can manipulate this power so well that you can potentially use it on two targets at once. Words of Creation allows you to cast these level 9 spells on a second creature within 10 feet of the original target.

Encore!

The 2024 Bard knows what its audience wants, a class that mixes some powerful spellcasting with a toolset of skills that allow a Bard to be one of the most versatile members of an adventuring party. So whether you want your Bard to share stories of their martial prowess, to move lithely across the battlefield, or draw in onlookers with the majestic power of their own beauty, you’ll be able to utilize the 2024 Player’s Handbook to put on quite a show.

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 2024 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 and subclasses:

• Bard Subclass (College of Glamour): Expanded coverage to outline the full breadth of changes.
• Bard Subclass (College of Lore): Expanded coverage to outline the full breadth of changes.
• Superior Inspiration: Reworded to state that you regain expended uses.