Editing Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (section)

===[[Bard]]===
Still a jack of all trades, but a comprehensive regimen of buffs has made them positively terrifying. Now can routinely get spells from other classes' spell lists, plus some rogue skillmonkey powers, all on top of their own unique musical abilities. The ability to cherry pick spells is amazing, since each class has a few broken options. ''Swift quiver'' nets you four attacks at level 10, ''animate dead'' gives you your own personal army, etc. Hilariously, this means that one of the most often-derided classes in the game is now one of the best picks for [[powergamer|people more interested in breaking the game than playing it]].

Subclasses are known as "Colleges":
* '''College of Lore''' (PHB): Based aorund the "charm enemies and buff your allies" aspect of the class. Gives a standard bardic boost to their skillmonkey and caster powers.  Given that bards are full spellcasters this edition, Lore Bard is a contender for "best overall spellcaster in the game."
* '''College of Valor''' (PHB): Based around the "jack of all trades, master of none" aspect of the class; offers extra weapon profiencies, an extra attack, and combat-buffing, culminating in [[magus|the ability to attack with a weapon and a spell on the same turn]].
* '''College of Swords''' (Xanathar's Guide to Everything): Inspired by the Blade [[kits|kit]] from [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons|AD&D]], this College, like the Valor Bard, is a beefed up combatant; but this time it's focused on directly enhancing the Bard's fighting skill along [[Swashbuckler]] lines, as opposed to the more [[Warlord]]-like Valor Bard. Taking the College of Swords gives your bard free proficiency with scimitars and medium armor, the Two-Weapon Fighting Style class feature, the Blade Flourish ability, an extra attack, and [[magus|the ability to attack with a weapon and a spell on the same turn]]. The Blade Flourish is its most distinctive class skill; three new uses for Bardic Inspiration that requires you to be wielding a dagger, longsword, rapier, scimitar, or shortsword - Defensive Flourish boosts AC, Trick Shooter's Flourish enhances your ability to accurately throw a dagger, and Unnerving Flourish lets you frighten a creature into telling you stuff instead of killing it.
**In May 2017, the College of Swords got a revamp: it now gets free proficiency with Medium Armor and Scimitars, the ability to use Simple & Martial melee weapons as implements for bardic spells, the ability to pick either the Dueling (+2 to damage when wielding a one-handed melee weapon and no other weapons) or Two-Weapon Fighting Styles at level 3, a revamped version of Blade Flourish that functions as a new attack option at level 3, the ability to make two attacks as part of Blade Flourish at level 6, and the ability to use a free d6 instead of a Bardic Inspiration dice for Blade Flourishes at level 14.
* '''College of Satire''' (UA: Kits of Old): Based on the Jester AD&D kit. Basically a walking slapstick routine. Is a nimble, lucky bastard, specializing in trolling enemies. Aside from free proficiency with thieves tools, Sleight of Hand and one other bonus skill, it gains the Tumbling Fool ability (spend a bonus action to Tumble, which lets you either combine the Dash & Disengage actions, gain a Climb speed, or take half falling damage), Fool's Insight ability (cast Detect Thoughts Cha modifier times per long rest, targets that resist immediately do something embarrassing, like burping, pratfalling, etc), and Fool's Luck ability (burn Bardic Inspiration to try and fix a failed check, at the price of penalizing your next check).
* '''College of Glamour''' (Xanathar's Guide to Everything): Your classic enchanter-bard, with features like bestowing temp HP on your allies, being able to Charm Person with your performances, don a "Mantle of Majesty" once per day that lets you throw around Command spells as you please for a minute, and a super-charged Sanctuary spell that you can pull out once per encounter.
* '''College of Whispers''' (Xanathar's Guide to Everything): Like Glamour, this one focuses on mind control magic, but as more of a ''[[Dark Sun]]''-style assassin-bard, with the ability to conjure poison on its weapons, plant magical seeds of paranoia in peoples' brains, wear the shadows of people they kill in order to steal their appearance & memories for a while, and the ability to use a sort of suped-up Charm Person spell once per day.
* '''College of Eloquence''' (Mythic Adventures of Theros): A heavily support-based subclass, with the ability to communicate with any sort of creature. This also adds new uses to Bardic Inspiration (boosting saves or gimping enemy saves) and gives a welcome kick to your inspiration economy by letting allies keep it if they botch a roll or granting free inspiration after the ally you inspired passes with it. When it got released for Theros, it gained the ability to effectively take 10 on persuasion and deception checks and split its inspiration gifts between two levels. Was reprinted in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
*'''College of Creation''' (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything): This subclass focuses on adding riders to your abilities. Each use of Bardic Inspiration adds another effect based on what roll it was used for. You can also create items as early as level 3 and animate existing objects to fight alongside you like a temporary companion at 6.
*'''College of Spirits''' (UA 2020 Subclasses Part 4): You are equal parts ghost whisperer and storyteller. Your Bardic Inspiration gives out a random buff as well as a later power to conduct seances to learn temporary spells. Will be getting a final writeup in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.