Bard College of Glamour 5e
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Garbed in a flowing gown ornately decorated in a gilded leaf pattern, an elvish harpist takes center stage, eager listeners crowded around the overgrown amphitheater. As her fingers pluck the strings, the whole of the woodland theater seems to tilt towards her, plants, animals, and people alike mesmerized by the otherworldly music flowing from her silver-stringed instrument.
College of Glamour may be the most flavorful bard college. It takes the seductive and dazzling presentations fey and fairies are known for and offers it to the class most known for wanting to be the center of attention. It's not a subclass packed full of raw power, but instead offers you a bit of utility alongside the presentation of a runway model paired with a siren.
See Also: Best Feats for Glamour Bard
3rd Level: Mantle of Inspiration and Enthralling Performance
Mantle of Inspiration provides temporary hit points to some allies in exchange for Bardic Inspiration dice; mechanically, not particularly riveting. It does offer an interesting utility boon with free reaction movements that don’t provoke attacks of opportunity, making this an excellent tool for disengagements and repositioning. As one of two third-level features, that’s fine on its own, but where the option shines to me is the open-ended “wonderous appearance” you take on, letting this be a vessel for creative bursts of grandeur to sell a character’s aesthetic.
Enthralling Performance is the other half of their 3rd level features, giving you a minute-long performance to charm a group of people to protect you, or at minimum, work with you. A minute may not sound like a long time but seriously mitigates this feature's utility. Where this shines brightest is in environments you’d want to use Charm Person; it being free and refreshing on short rest makes it something you can take in place of Charm Person, but not really something you want alongside it, as both do a similar enough effect that is fairly narrow in usability.
Neither of these features screams overtly busted, but both together paint a clear picture of what this character’s all about: themself. Glorious presentation and enthralling words denotes a character who needs everyone to not only see them but adore them.
6th Level: Mantle of Majesty
Mantle of Majesty may be one of my favorite features ever printed. You get a minute-long mantle of beauty that lets you use the Command spell at will, as a bonus action, and without cost. On top of that, it automatically works on creatures you’ve charmed, encouraging building towards and around the charm condition. Setting up a fight with an Enthralling Performance into a Mantle of Majesty is going to nearly never happen; when it does, though, you can Command the charmed creatures around.
It costs you your concentration, and honestly, Command at will isn’t really that powerful, especially as you get into the middle to upper tiers. It can be fine, but there are stronger spells that ask for your concentration. You’ve got Magical Secrets coming up in 4 levels that can give you summon and conjuration effects that you’ll probably prioritize over this. That being said, I challenge anyone to find a feature that so perfectly marries flavor and function in this game. A sweet idea, executed cleanly, with reasonable utility in the mid-tiers, even if it has diminishing returns as the game progresses.
14th Level: Unbreakable Majesty
Unbreakable Majesty brings the subclass to a close in a fitting way: by attempting to make you untouchable. Mechanically, it takes the Sanctuary effect, removes the hostility breaking it mechanic, and stacks on top of that a resentful retaliatory save penalty when something does successfully hit you. Want a scornful character who gets irate when their outfit is torn by a blade? This provides protection alongside that feeling, encouraging and rewarding your spite with a boon to effects bards love to use.
All Together
Mantle of Inspiration gives you enough of a new utility tool early to keep your early-tier fights feeling like you’ve got more to offer, which when paired with Enthralling Performance, sets up your expectations for your upper-level features. Mantle of Majesty paired with Enthralling Performance and other charming effects is incredibly fun to build towards, but not particularly rewarding. Unbreakable Majesty tops off the option with a scornful defensive tool.
Mantle of Majesty refreshing on long rest with Enthralling Performance and Unbreakable Majesty refreshing on short rest is a bit clunky, especially given how Mantle of Majesty defines this option's unique play element. I really which you could get additional uses out of Mantle, as Command at will is such an interesting bonus action option to have that can clearly denote this subclass with its own play patterns.
Bonus actions can be challenging to juggle here. Mantle of Inspiration, regular Bardic Inspiration, Mantle of Majesty, and Unbreakable Majesty all use your bonus action, making juggling each a bit tricky. It can be hard to get all of the effects out and working together in harmony, making them feel like tools you have to split up between fights, which isn’t ideal when bringing a subclass together, especially in big set piece encounters. It feels a bit disjointed mechanically. If there were any overlap with the bonus actions and being able to give out Inspiration I’d be a lot higher on this option.
Still, College of Glamour offers an option that sells a particular fantasy and sells it well. If you want to be the hottest, most glamorous, captivating, and enticing character, College of Glamour delivers on that fantasy in spades.
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