Bard College of Valor 5e
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Surprising some, bards are close to fighters, barbarians, paladins, and rangers in their martial capabilities thanks to two subclasses: College of Swords and College of Valor, both of which provide you with Extra Attack at 6th level. Each promotes a slightly different direction for builds with Swords delivering a more comprehensive expansion to a specific fantasy.
College of Valor doesn’t offer fighting styles in the way Swords does, pushing you towards different options than it offers. Ranged valor bards are the most common and potent option, as they only need a high Dexterity and Charisma to function. Strength-based builds can have a ton of problems with juggling their needed Ability Score Improvements, especially given that they’ll want a +2 Dexterity for medium armor, a high Charisma for their spellcasting and Inspiration Dice, and a high Strength for weapon attacks, and that’s before considering a high Constitution for survivability. It can be done, but juggling it all will require some concessions in consistency somewhere.
See Also: Best Feats for Valor Bard
3rd Level: Bonus Proficiencies and Combat Inspiration
Bonus Proficiencies offered by this college include medium armor, shields, and martial weapons. Swords gets Dueling and Two-Weapon Fighting Fighting Styles; in exchange, Valor gets all martial weapon proficiency, opening more Strength-based builds alongside archery options with longbows. Plus, shield proficiencies make the sword and shield defensive builds a lot better.
Combat Inspiration was heavily “nerfed” by the addition of Magical Inspiration from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, as adding dice to damage was a major reason this feature was a major improvement for bards. Still, it being able to function like a rollable Shield spell for a single attack is fine. It isn’t the main reason I’d consider this, though.
6th Level: Extra Attack
Extra Attack is a core mechanic that scales martial characters in the mid-game. Getting it a level later than fighters and the other martial classes is a bit of a bummer, but ultimately will easily allow your character to participate meaningfully in martial combat.
Extra Attack on bard also means you’ll want to consider taking Magical Secrets to empower your attack rolls on hit damage. Spells like Holy Weapon can trade 5th-level spell slots for 2d8 bonus radiant damage on hit for an hour or as long as you maintain concentration, which can let you hit like a truck.
Valor bards also love using longbows, making effects like Swift Quiver backbreaking for DMs to deal with when you get 5th-level spells on top of extra attack and Sharpshooter.
14th Level: Battle Magic
Battle Magic is a feature you’re going to regularly want; it's a major quality-of-life upgrade. Where normally you’d swap between rounds of making action-based attack rolls with bonus action inspiration and spellcasting for action-based spells, now, you can make attacks alongside casting action-cast time spells. It’ll feel like a major pay-off for building around feats like Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter, as you’ll find you’ll get to use them every round regardless of what your action is spent doing.
All Together
College of Valor ends up being the basic extra attack college for bards wanting to use bows, two-handed weapons, or shields. Most iconic martial builds are doable here alongside getting all the glory of 9th-level spells in the upper tiers, making it an incredibly appealing option for people who want it all.
Swift Quiver is a 5th-level spell that brings the archery build together with some outrageous attack options, and Holy Weapon and other boons to hit empower a variety of options you’d want to pursue.
The bulk of the power here is nested in Extra Attack, martial weapon proficiencies, and Magical Secret-specific spells empowering your build. You can create builds that feel like they’re making no concessions and getting everything a martial and full-caster could ever want. It may not be outwardly apparent, but College of Valor is sneakily excellent, and like Swords, can deliver martial fantasies to bard who want to fight in the front line.
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