Rules edition: This guide covers the legacy 2014 Bard class. Subclasses and options from later 2014-era books are named with their sources. The 2024 Bard has a revised progression and spellcasting rules; use that class as a complete version rather than mixing features.
A 2014 Bard is a Charisma-based full spellcaster with skills, support features, and several ways to shape a party’s options. Decide what you want to do most—control a fight, support allies, solve social and exploration challenges, or add weapon attacks—then choose spells and a Bard college to support it. A Bard can cover several jobs, but limited spells known and concentration mean each choice has a cost.
2014 Bard fundamentals
The Bard has a d8 Hit Die, light armor proficiency, and proficiency with simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, and shortswords. Choose three skill proficiencies from the Bard list. Charisma powers Bard spell attacks, spell save DCs, and Bardic Inspiration; Dexterity helps with attacks, initiative, and light-armor AC, while Constitution supports hit points and concentration saves.
Bards know spells rather than preparing a new list each morning. The Bard table sets how many spells you know and which spell levels you can cast. When you gain a Bard level, you learn a spell as shown on the table and may replace one Bard spell you know with another Bard-list spell of a level for which you have slots. Choose spells for the campaign rather than assuming you can change your whole list between adventures.
Bardic Inspiration uses a bonus action to give one creature other than you within 60 feet a die, if it can hear you. The ally can add the die to an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw within the feature’s time limit. You have uses equal to your Charisma modifier, minimum one; they return on a long rest. At Bard level 5, Font of Inspiration also restores them on a short rest. The die increases at Bard levels 5, 10, and 15. Since Inspiration uses a bonus action, it competes with bonus-action spells and other features.
Choose a Bard college
At Bard level 3, choose a college allowed by the campaign. College of Lore offers additional skills, Cutting Words as a reaction, and Additional Magical Secrets at level 6. College of Valor supports weapon use with armor and combat features, including Extra Attack at level 6. These two colleges appear in the 2014 Player’s Handbook.
Every Bard gains Magical Secrets at Bard levels 10, 14, and 18: at each of those levels, choose two eligible spells from any class list. Each spell must be a cantrip or a level you can cast; the spells count as Bard spells and are included in your Spells Known total. Lore’s level-6 Additional Magical Secrets grants two more spells under its feature and does not count them against the Bard spells known.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything adds the Colleges of Glamour, Swords, and Whispers. They support different concepts—fey influence, weapon-focused performance, or unsettling social and combat tricks—through their own features. Mythic Odysseys of Theros adds College of Eloquence, which specializes in persuasive speech and reliable Bardic Inspiration. Check the feature text and sourcebook before planning a build; a college’s name does not grant another college’s abilities.
Pick spells and manage concentration
Build a spell list around the problems you expect to face. A control or support spell may change an encounter more than a small damage increase, while a utility spell can solve a problem without a fight. Check casting time, range, components, duration, and whether a spell requires concentration. You can concentrate on only one spell at a time, so choosing faerie fire, suggestion, or another concentration spell means you cannot maintain a different concentration effect at the same time.
Some spells and Bardic Inspiration use a bonus action. Under the 2014 bonus-action spell rule, after casting a bonus-action spell, the only other spell you can cast that turn is a cantrip with a casting time of one action. Plan a turn around the spell’s casting time and the bonus action you want to keep. A musical instrument can be a spellcasting focus for Bard spells; focus rules do not remove a spell’s required material components with a listed cost.
Build through class levels
Expertise begins at Bard level 3: choose two proficiencies, either skills or one skill and your proficiency with a tool. At Bard level 10, choose two more. Use Expertise for checks that match the character’s role, such as Persuasion, Performance, Stealth, Perception, or a tool the party expects you to use.
Ability Score Improvements arrive at Bard levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 19. If your table allows feats, a feat replaces an improvement as permitted by the 2014 rules. Improve Charisma if it supports your spells and Bardic features; choose Constitution or Dexterity when survival or weapon use matters more. College features arrive at college-specific Bard levels, so check the class table before planning when a feature comes online. A multiclass also delays features based on Bard level.
Play the Bard as part of the group
Before a session, ask what challenges the party expects and choose spells accordingly. In combat, use positioning and cover, support allies with Inspiration when it matters, and avoid spending concentration on a spell that conflicts with the group’s plan. Out of combat, use skills and spells to create options for the whole party rather than treating every obstacle as a solo performance. Social skills can influence a conversation, but they do not force another character or NPC to act against the game’s circumstances.
The Bard’s flexibility comes from adapting within the choices you made. Keep the spell list and college features close at hand, track Inspiration uses, and coordinate bonus actions with spells and allies. The build works when its choices support the campaign the group is actually playing.
Official Rules Sources
- Basic Rules (2014): Bard class, Bardic Inspiration, colleges, and Magical Secrets
- Basic Rules (2014): Bard spell list
- Basic Rules (2014): feats and spellcasting rules
- Xanathar’s Guide to Everything: additional Bard colleges
- Mythic Odysseys of Theros: College of Eloquence
- Basic Rules (2024): revised Bard class
