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The College of Glamour Bard inBaldur’s Gate 3isn’t the strongest class in the game. Sadly, that typically goes to theGiant Barbarian, or some other class that is capable of leveling a battlefield with its physical prowess.
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What the Bard lacks in physical strength, it makes up for with its cunning wits, dextrous nature, and fun spells. The Bard is more than just a fighter; it is a class for those who want to buff their allies and debuff their enemies.
If you are ready to strut Faerun in style, then here ishow to best build the College of Glamour Bard in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Best Character Creation Settings for the College of Glamour Bard
The Bard isn’t a class that you want to have on the sidelines. This is why I recommend that if you are going to have a Bard in your party, youmake them the face.
Bards are best known for theirCharismaandDexterity, meaning they are great at talking to others and persuading the populace. On a side note, they also make a great distraction for any would-be thieves.
Best Race Selection
There are multiple races that make good Bards in Baldur’s Gate 3. These include the following:
Gets an additional cantrip of your choosing from the Wizard spell list, has Darkvision, and gets advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Gets two additional spells while leveling up: Faerie Fire and Darkness. Also has superior Darkvision and Fey Ancestry to protect against being charmed.
Gets an additional skill proficiency.
Gets the Lucky feature, allowing them to reroll one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. Also gets the Brave feature, granting advantage against being frightened.
When it comes to selecting your race,I recommend choosing Drow or Halfling,as these make the most effective Bards. For starters, Drow gets access to Faerie Fire - a great spell for giving your allies advantage against enemies - as well as the Darkness spell, which is very helpful for blocking your opponent’s field of view.
Halflings, on the other hand, get the Lucky feature, which allows them to reroll attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. This is extremely useful in situations where you are trying to persuade an NPC and fail, but it is also very useful in combat.
If you choose Halfling, ensure you choose theLightfoot Halfling, as this variant of the race gets you advantage on stealth checks.
Best Starting Cantrips/Spells
As a Bard, you get access to a handful of spells when you create your character. At the start, you get to choose two cantrips and four spells. I recommend the following cantrips and spells:
Description
Vicious Mockery
Insult a creature: It has disadvantage on its next attack roll.
Gain advantage on Charisma checks against a non-hostile creature.
Vicious Mockery is a great spell to use against enemies in the early game, and giving them disadvantage on attack rolls is always useful. This can save your teammates' lives throughout the campaign.
Friends is also a great cantrip, as you will be able to more effectively persuade NPCs who aren’t hostile.
Up to 3 creatures receive a -1d4 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws.
Healing Word
Heal a creature you can see for 4-7 hit points.
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter
Leave a creature prone with laughter, without the ability to get up.
Dissonant Whispers
Frighten a creature: They’ll have disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls, and cannot move.
Bane is a great spell to have ready because it will allow you to impose a penalty on enemies, making it easier to affect them with your spells.
Dissonant Whispers is also great to have prepared because it hurts enemies and leaves them frightened, while also inflicting disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls.
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Next up is Healing Word, a staple healing spell that will help keep your party alive. Finally, there is Tasha’s Hideous Laughter - a spell that is amazing for knocking enemies prone. While prone, hits against enemies automatically crit, making your party more deadly.
you may switch out Tasha’s Hideous Laughter for another utility spell, such as Longstrider, as this will increase your movement in battle. This is great if you feel like you are lacking movement speed. You can also switch it out for Sleep, as this will allow you to get into some shenanigans, particularly in towns.
Best Background/Skills
When it comes to your background, the best two areEntertainerandGuild Artisan. The Entertainer background will give you theAcrobatics and Performance skills,while the Guild Artisan background will grant you the Insight and Persuasion skills.
When selecting your skills, you get to choose three to be proficient in, or four if you choose to be a human. I recommend takingDeception, Performance,andPersuasion.If you have Persuasion from the Guild Artisan background, or Performance from the Entertainer background, you should chooseIntimidation.
Best Ability Scores
When it comes to your Ability Scores, your main focus should be on yourCharismaand yourDexterity,as these are your most important scores. Typically, I have two dump stats, and in this case, they are Constitution and Strength.
Constitution
Intelligence
My Charisma is set to 17 because it is the main source of my spells, and the focus of the class is to be charismatic. My Dexterity is set to 16, so I have a strong attack stat for when the need to fight physically arises.
Next, my Intelligence is 12 because it has some of the most skills, making it useful to have a +1 for when you need to use different skills throughout the campaign. After that, my Wisdom is set to 11 because it isn’t necessary.
Finally, my Constitution is set to 10 because I don’t want to have a negative for my health stat, and my Strength is set to 8 because it is the least important stat for a Bard.
Best College of Glamour Bard Spells
As a magic class, the Bard gets various spells as they level up. These are the spells that I consider the best for theCollege of Glamour Bard.Keep in mind, these could change for you depending on your playstyle.
I focus on keeping the Bard as more of a utility class with a wide range of options to help aid their teammates and hinder enemies.
Also, each of these spells is one taken after the initial character creation, so the character creation spells are not on this list.
Blade Ward
Take only half the damage from bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing attacks.
Minor Illusion
Create an illusion that compels nearby creatures to investigate.
Disguise Self
Magically change all aspects of your appearance.
Blind a creature. Attack rolls against it have advantage, and the foe attacks with disadvantage.
Cloud of Daggers
Conjure a cloud of spinning daggers that attack anyone inside.
Hostile targets drop everything and become fearful: they have disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls.
Glyph of Warding
Inscribe a circle of arcane glyphs on the ground. When stepped on by an enemy, the selected magical effect will trigger.
Freedom of Movement
Snap an ally out of any stun. Difficult terrain can’t slow them down, and they can’t be magically paralyzed or restrained.
Confuse a group of creatures, causing them to attack at random, wander around aimlessly, and occasionally skip turns in the stupor.
Dominate Person
Make a humanoid fight alongside you. Every time the creature takes damage, it makes a Wisdom saving throw against your domination. Allies cannot be dominated.
Counterspell
Magical Secrets
Try to stop a spell being cast.
Conjure Elemental
Bend the barrier between the planes until they disgorge an elemental ally to follow and fight for you.
Mass Cure Wounds
Unleash a soothing hum of energy that heals you and nearby allies.
Otto’s Irresistible Dance
Cause a creature to start dancing, making it unable to take actions or move. Its attackers have advantage on attack rolls. The dancer has disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws.
Your eyes become black corridors walled in teeth, your gaze becomes capable of inflicting dread, sickness, or putting creatures to sleep.
Let’s break some of these spells down. In the early game, I prefer to stick with having Disguise Self thanks to make knack for stealing anything not nailed down, Blindness to help in combat, and Cloud of Daggers to protect myself from harm.
As I level up, I take spells such as Fear to help further control the battlefield, along with Glyph of Warding, which helps protect my character and rout enemies. Freedom of Movement is also great for removing the stun effect from your allies, something that will affect them heavily toward the end of the game.
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When you get Magical Secrets, I like to take Counterspell to help prevent enemies from casting spells, and Conjure Elemental. This will allow me to bring in an ally whenever I need to, and it can be very useful for inflicting more damage or protecting my character.
Finally, I like having both Otto’s Irresistible Dance and Eyebite. It lets me have a bit more choice in what I want to do, and I alternate between them depending on my mood in a fight, but Eyebite is better in most circumstances.
College of Glamour Bard Abilities/Feats
As you level up, the College of Glamour Bard will get only a few abilities unique to the subclass. These are:
Mantle of Inspiration
Imbue 2 allies with your vigor and grant them 5 temporary hit points. If they’re hit with a melee attack, the attack becomes charmed.
Increases to 3 allies and 8 temporary hit points at level 6.
Increases to 4 allies and 11 temporary hit points at level 10.
Mantle of Majesty: Command
Command a creature to flee, move closer, freeze, drop to the ground, or drop its weapon. Targets that are charmed automatically fail their saving throw.
While the College of Glamour Bard doesn’t have many unique abilities, they are powerful. Making it so enemies get charmed when they attack your allies is very useful and will help you control the battlefield.
Be sure to imbue your allies early. This way, when you are caught in a fight, you won’t need to worry about enemies attacking them and getting away with it. You can then use your Mantle of Majesty to make enemies drop their weapons, which is very useful in some cases, like obtaining the Emperor’s Staff.
Along with these abilities, you will want to grab the following Feats:
War Caster
You have advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration on a spell.
Ability Score Increase
Increase an ability score by 2 points or two ability scores by 1 point each.
Your hit point maximum increases by 2 for every level you have gained.
The War Caster Feat is one that I find the most essential because it grants you advantage while you are concentrating on a spell. I find that I always get knocked out of concentration, making this one of the best Feats for me.
On top of this, the ability score increase is great for increasing Charisma, making checks more difficult to pass. Finally, the Tough Feat is great for getting extra health since Bard’s can be squishy.
Best Equipment for College of Glamour Bards
Bards get some great equipment in Baldur’s Gate 3. Here is what you should look out for:
Sanguine Blade
Gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls, damage, and spell save DC for every foe you slay, up to a maximum of +3. If you have a +3 bonus, consume it to regain 3D10 hit points.
Harmonic Dueler
You make a performance check, success granting all your melee weapon attacks additional damage equal to your Charisma Modifier.
Infernal Rapier
You gain a +1 bonus to Spell Save DC. Instead of its Dexterity Modifier, the affected entity adds its spellcasting ability modifier to attack rolls. Grants the Planar Ally: Cambion (Level 6) spell.
Potent Robe
Your cantrips deal additional damage equal to your Charisma Modifier. At the beginning of the wearer’s turn, the robe activates, granting them temporary hit points equal to their Charisma Modifier. Armor Class +1.
Birthright
Charisma +2 (up to 22).
Hood of the Weave
You gain a +2 bonus to Spell Save DC and spell attack rolls.
Jannath’s Hat
Advantage on Persuasion Checks. Advantage on Deception Checks.
Cloak of Displacement
At the beginning of the wearer’s turn, the cloak activates, granting enemies disadvantage on attack rolls that target the wearer. This effect lasts until the wearer takes damage.
Cloak of Protection
Armor Class +1. Saving Throw +1.
Gemini Gloves
Cantrips targeting foes and allies can target an additional creature. The same target can be chosen twice.
Gloves of Dexterity
Increases the wearer’s Dexterity to 18. Attack Rolls +1.
Quickspell Gloves
Cantrips that cost an action cost a bonus action instead. This effect can be used once per short rest.
Boots of Persistence
You gain Freedom of Movement and Longstrider. Dexterity Saving Throws +1.
Disintegrating Night Walkers
Can’t be enwebbed, entangled, ensnared, and can’t slip on ice. Grants Misty Step.
Boots Of Brilliance
Restore Bardic Inspiration Class Action.
Spellcrux Amulet
Spell Slot Restoration Class Action.
Spell Savant Amulet
You gain an additional level 2 spell slot.
Ring of Regeneration
At the beginning of your turn, the ring activates and heals you for 1-4 hit points.
Ring of Protection
Shifting Corpus Ring
Grants the spells Invisibility and Blur.
When it comes to equipment, I prefer to stick with theInfernal Rapieronce I have it, since it has spell save bonuses and the ability to summon a Cambion ally.Harmonic Dueleris a great secondary option since it adds your Charisma Modifier to your damage rolls.
The hat I typically go for is theHood of the Weave,since it increases my spell save DC even more, making it more difficult for enemies to escape the effects of my spells. In addition to this, having theCloak of Displacementis a great way to avoid taking damage, but theCloak of Protectionis also good if you don’t have the Cloak of Displacement.
For your hands, I recommend using theGemini Gloves,as this pair of gloves allows you to target an additional creature with your cantrips. you’re able to, however, use theGloves of Dexterity,as having a higher Dexterity is great when you need to participate in close-range combat.
TheBoots of Persistenceare amazing for when you need to deal with difficult terrain, as they allow you to move freely around the battlefield. TheDisintegrating Night Walkersare an amazing alternative since they have a similar effect and grant you the spell Misty Step.
The Spellcrux Amuletis great since it allows you to restore a spell slot of your choosing. This can be used to restore high-level spell slots and use more high-level spells at the end of the game. Along with this, theRing of Regenerationis great for helping keep you alive, and theShifting Corpus Ringwill grant you the Invisibility spell for when you are in a jam or want to explore a restricted area.
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