Apart from maybe Monk, Bard might be the most divisive class in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons. While other classes either cause huge damage through their weapons or unleash powerful and destructive spells, Bards are a support class where you need to be happy playing second fiddle, even if your character is First Chair. As a result, it takes a certain type of player to want to run a Bard, especially for a longer adventure. But despite its love/hate dynamic with players, it remains one of the most iconic classes not only in D&D, but across the tabletop scene, and in the latest Unearthed Arcana OneD&D Playtest for the 2024 Player's Handbook, it was treated to a new subclass: College of Dance.
The importance of Bards to D&D's lore was underlined by the recent Honor Amongst Thieves movie, wherein our star Chris Pine was a Bard. However, the movie also highlighted the difficulty in selling what a Bard is - Pine's character Edgin was comically inept yet charismatic, and that's how most people will play Bards. They will be comic relief with a lot of creativity and ability to influence storytelling in ways say, a Barbarian, who will cause a lot more damage in combat, might find themselves coming up short.
College of Dance leans into this view of Bards, making them quick on their feet and trading in the typical image of a lute-strumming singer for interpretive dance. While various dance-based subclasses have been homebrewed (not least College of the Maestro in Critical Role, which turns the art of conducting into a rhythmic display of magic), this is still a novel idea that could offer a lot of opportunity for great storytelling around the table, as well as some interesting perks in combat. And since you're a Bard, by combat I mean 'avoiding getting hit' and 'watching other people fight'.
You get two perks at 3rd Level, two at 6th Level, and one at 14th in the College of Dance Subclass. First off at 3rd Level is Dazzling Footwork, which means your base Armor Class becomes Dexterity + Charisma + 10 (a number that could get pretty high for a Bard), and lets you trade in one use of Bardic Inspiration for an Unarmed Strike. Thanks to a further boost new to this subclass, you get to attack with Dexterity and roll a Bardic Inspiration die without expending a use of it just to deal Bludgeoning damage. Now, a Bard with Unarmed Strike is never going to do major damage to anyone, but you're not quite as defenceless as you might otherwise have been.
The other 3rd Level perk is Inspiring Movement, which is written in a highly convoluted way despite being mechanically very simple. Step one: an enemy must end its turn within five feet of an ally of yours. Step two: said enemy must be within 60 of you when it ends its turn. If that happens, you can use your Reaction to a) use Bardic Inspiration to move up to half of your speed, b) roll said Bardic Inspiration die to let the ally move five times the number rolled feet away without provoking an attack of opportunity. It's a run away mechanic.
T♛hankfully the next perk at 6th Level is much easier. If you fail on a Dexterity saving throw, you now only take half damage, and if you succeed, you take no damage at all, and any ally within five feet of you shares this perk. The other 6th Level perk is straightforward too - when you roll Initiative, you can choose as many creatures equal to your Charisma modifier within 60 feet, including yourself, to be boosted by a Bardic Inspiration roll for Initiative.
At 14th Level, we're rounding off with another simple one - you always have Otto's Irresistible Dance prepared, and can cast it without using a spell slot, but only once before either taking a Long Rest or expending four uses of Bardic Inspiration. Otto's Irresistible Dance is like a combination of Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Hold Monster - it makes your target dance around uncontrollably, unable to move, until they successfully save on a Wisdom Throw. It's a dance ray. It's very stupid. It's perfect.
All things considered, I will never, ever play this subclass. I think it's charming, and the ability to dodge everything thanks to some twinkle-toed genius is funny, but to me this subclass is like an annoying fly buzzing around your head, impossible to kill and only there to irritate. I can see the appeal for others more naturally drawn to outside the box approaches to combat, support play, and comedic characters, but the other new subclass (Druid’s Circle of the Sea) holds a lot more appeal for me. For anyone in the mood for bardic mayhem, though, this seems like a suitably silly addition.