D&D's Xanathar's Guide To Everything Bard College of Whispers

[@vincentbettenfeld572]

College of whisper + rogue mastermind perfect recipe for disaster

[@F4R207]

I have a player who plays a Changeling College of Whispers Bard and it's a deligfully entertaining challenge for me as a game master to engage in a play on secerets, coming up with character flaws for my NPCs which the players character can uncover and play on. It makse me be beter at what I do and forces me to let the setting become more nuanced. It keeps me creatively on my toes and I love that. PS. Always play to entertain. No matter if you're a player or a game master, always play to entertain the group. It's after all the entire point of roleplaying games, to keep each other entertained.

[@chartreuseking5995]

Here is hoping College of Satire is the last unrevealed Bard subclass.

[@BobTheArchmage]

The table of contents have been leaked. The Bard's get College of Glamour, College of Whispers, and College of Swords/Blades.

[@Abelhawk]

"Hiya, Georgie! What a nice boat. Do you want it back? You look like a nice boy. Do you want a balloon too?..."

[@matthewrodgers1885]

Planning on a Kenku College of Whispers Bard who uses his mimic ability to recreate sounds and instruments while picking up rumors in the taverns he performs in so that he can gain information in order to spy and/or assassinate his targets.

[@jsizzlesaurusrex]

No you weren't listening. I want a battle rapper bard that defeats his opponents with is sick freestyles.

[@drakkonusfrostburn4038]

jsizzlesaurusrex Actually all bards can do that. Ideally though, the Rap Battle Bard would have Sick Burn: add your Cha mod to vicious mockery's damage total. Aditionally, if you cast visious mockery as your action on your last turn you can add one of your inspiration dice to the damage dice you roll, it deals fire damage.

[@alejandrovalenzuela7994]

so, anybard with sick bars?

[@G-Blockster]

This class reflects several iconic characters in fiction: Iago (Othello), Grima' Wormtongue (LOTR), and the Man with No Name (Fistful of Dollars) to name a few examples.

[@pedrof6767]

you guys scared me I thought this segment was over, glad to see we still have some more, loving this

[@pedrof6767]

naa smth even more silly, I usually watch this during my lunch time and today it wasnt up yet xD

[@Indestructoboy]

So, Cisero from Skyrim?

[@lysandriah8290]

I once played a bardbarian whispers bard combined with path of the desert storm. My character was the leader of a nation-spanning criminal syndicate. :3

[@falconforgefantasy9496]

Never cared for bards, but this changes everything. Reminds me of wormtongue from Lord of the rings. Just sitting behind the king and altering his mind to dust. (Just watch out for gandalf)

[@SatansWerewolf]

My DM admitted last session that his campaigns always end up being mostly about the side-quests and the main quest itself hardly even gets dealt with.

[@xmaly2856]

Woo! Glad they're in it. Was worried they wouldn't be.

[@davidcox9235]

Sessions like that are the most fun for me

[@SeanBoyce-gp]

It's interesting to me the Mearls' favorite part of the game is the part that can be done with any system, most others, arguably, better than D&D. I just find that interesting because creating encounters, crafted experiences reliably executed using game rules, at all scales across all three pillars of play is something I think that D&D executes really well, because of the really intelligently built math and systems in place for managing that. But if the wild card moments are the most valuable, I think that there are demonstrably better systems that cleave to that idea.

[@canadiancrowdpleaser9766]

Brillobreaks ... it .. it is a roleplaying game .....

[@scarletjester7831]

So Joker, turning one another against each other but can get their hands dirty if needed with the Psychic Blade ability. Whispers can use daggers outside of stealth play with the bonus damage the ability gives

[@Mike-zi4hi]

My only worry with this class as far as why people would avoid it is similar to some rogue builds. They require too much spotlight dedicated to solo shenanigans that don't work as well in group play. Maybe in a campaign designed for intrigue they can shine a bit more but overall it seems pretty niche. Not saying the idea isn't cool, I love the idea of that bard.

[@bobbobby475]

Mike Palazzolo totally agree bro! I've been making a 3 war cleric and 17 mastermind who tries to provoke war due to his religion and is like covert ops of his church but then I step back and think... I realize that trying to play this, although it would be super fun for me, would take so much resources away from my teammates

[@chrispatterson7798]

Remember that adding classes to monsters is a great way to spice up villains. Imagine a vampire who is a College of Whispers Bard. I just made a an Adult Green Dragon with some levels in College of Glamour; beware the singing Green Dragon. I don’t think the classes are always solely for just the players benefit.

[@theawkwardpotato1973]

Hmmm. I have a character this subclass would fit with perfectly.

[@goyasolidar]

When are we getting the Bard College of Yodeling?

[@GO_EZ]

Yeees I was hoping for this Bard College!

[@timothyferguson8333]

Hook me up with a Drunken Master video! Itching for that subclass!!

[@pedrof6767]

YES!, gimme some monk love, DM or kensai

[@redoryx1872]

Came here to comment this lmao

[@daiedalous]

hoping drunken master, kensai, and tranquility all make the cut

[@sillvvasensei]

Drunken Master is in. ToC has been spoiled on Reddit.

[@mooxim]

A d12 dagger!? That's terrifying!

[@gr8gr0n4]

I have been playing a bard for a while and this is how I've been playing. Sneak into the enemy fortress, kill some poor guard, Impersonate guard, cause havok, party comes in and murders everyone in the chaos, ???, Profit

[@imtoosnob]

The shade! The shade of it all!

[@Troommate]

I'm a Bard College of Whispers I inspire myself :D

[@burnslayer6665]

I can’t wait to play this class again

[@genaschtes]

i see the bard and the college of whisper like the faceless men in GoT.

[@codypatton2859]

Yeah, though they're more of rogues since they're assassins.

[@MrReddieZ]

"If hes creepin up on people thats messed up" Me, a whisper bard using invisibility and the telepathic feat so I can scare people from a far lmao

[@tomisabum]

The idea of the College of Whispers as an institution itself is also just super interesting. Who are the non-bard 'stage hands' who help such an organization flourish, and what would its intentions be? I'm tempted to make a rogue mastermind with a musical bent whose got a background with them!

[@thefracturedbutwhole5475]

I would think there are not any actual college of whispers institutions, there could be if that is what you want, but the college of whispers is despised by all the other colleges and you would probably have a really hard time operating as a college of whispers bard if everyone knew you belonged to that college. It makes sense that the college of whispers would be hidden inside of all the other colleges, and those who belong to it train only 1-2 students at a time instead of whole classes.

[@meka2347]

I have a bard that is in the zentarm and huge amounts of cash it’s great

[@blazinlatino89]

This sounds perfect for the new waterdeep dragonheist game

[@tylerdmcgilvery]

Oh my bard Lector just changed yet again !!!

[@SatansWerewolf]

Also, please cover hexblade warlocks. :)

[@mikegould6590]

This sounds like Matt Colville's Bard College in Collabris.

[@lapetitecuillereetlepaindo3005]

I agree, I do feel that the rules don't really help doing that. I feel skills need to be more detailed in order to encompass this type of play. The way I see it, combat is really well designed to be relatively simple and straightforward. And the out of combat stuff is mostly covered by skills, but this section is really lackluster in DnD 5e. I feel like new players are lost when it comes to skills because success is not as clearly defined as Saves and Attacks. Since skill DCs are not explicit, they sometimes feel arbitrary. It almost feels like you need experience in previous editions to have a feeling of how hard a skill check should be.

[@KevShaw808]

Panorin made it into the book!

[@nathanialrochester8445]

"Don't be a dick" Wise words.

[@declan_dimitrescu6285]

I have a drow college of whispers bard and shes amazing and op asf xD

[@snorehawk64]

I’m going changeling college of whispers

[@kingdom99hearts]

Was playing another system BASH Superhero setting. We needed to destroy this base or something and I was so intent upon sending the two youngest characters up as Girl Scouts selling cookies. Mind you they were both teenage males. PArty was convinced no there is no chance of this working even though we were playing a silver age setting. Tabletop story.

[@Lensah23]

Interesting....but what about sorcerers? They've been made rather redundant in 5e, any plans on them?

[@laoxep]

2 subtypes already announced and there are videos:shadow and divine soul

[@canadiancrowdpleaser9766]

Raikerr they are boring anyway so who cares.

[@thefracturedbutwhole5475]

@@canadiancrowdpleaser9766 The Wizard is over here!

[@holysnackpack]

I'm still waiting for a College of Community bard, where you get financial aid, and a liberal arts degree.

[@CrazyConnor2]

Wow Mearls, thanks you for this very informative video that tells us nothing about how the class works or how it changed since the UA that introduced it. 👍

[@chrislinneman5343]

These videos are for people that don't use UA, or at least it seems that way to me. If they just explained the whole subclass why would we even need to buy the book?

[@yamatoblaze]

None of Mearls' videos have been very informative. I've much preferred Crawford's share.

[@CrazyConnor2]

yamatoblaze AGREED

[@Heckuvaguy]

That's the point of these videos, isn't it? It's a "teaser" to grow interest in the class so people actually buy the book that has it.

[@yamatoblaze]

Sure, but Mearls' teasers don't grow my interest in any way. He basically just talks about the feeling he thinks the archetype captures or the iconic character that inspired it. Which is all well and good, but ultimately useless (in my opinion anyway) because I pretty much *know* what feeling an archetype is supposed to capture/what iconic characters it represents. I don't need to watch a 5 minute video to learn that! After all, once you know the archetype's name and the class it belongs to it really doesn't take much thought to figure that out. To know whether I actually want to include the options in this book within my games, and therefore to know whether I might want to buy the book, some sense of how the archetype plugs into the rules would be helpful. Crawford's videos remain firmly in the realm of "teaser", but are much more useful to me in making that decision. He gives some hints about how it might actually work in play. In large part he has done this simply by commenting about whether or not it has changed or stayed mostly the same since UA, which at least gives me a touchstone.

[@ctlc]

Sad they didn't mention any mechanics... Did it get changed at all from ua?

[@C4rrEternal]

Makes me think "not really"

[@maledictus21]

I don't want to shoot the messenger but man these descriptors. "Creepy." "I want this to mess with the campaign." "Loose cannon." Come on mate those things don't need mechanical support.

[@abouttime837]

these things entirely depend on the table dude. if you don't trust your mates on the table then put that off limits but there are tables where this would be tons of fun. plus a problem player will find other ways to mess with a campaign, and most likely it would be about combat. this subclass has a ton of RP which rarely appeals to problem players. you can definitely be a good creepy character and messing with the campaign is what makes it interesting for the DM.

[@haikumagician4363]

maledictus21 they try to add something for everybody

[@scottsaren4678]

This class seems cool, but unlike most class mechanics very dependent on the DM.

[@jamesdodd1908]

And the College of Swords?

[@josephhalfacre1584]

Have we not had any Paladin subclasses covered? Or did I just miss them somehow? We've had multiple of some of the other classes new subs. Are we getting any Paladin subs?

[@Nemo12417]

I would assume the Oath of Conquest is getting added, as it appeared in a second UA, as is the Oath of Redemption.

[@Alefiend]

It's a great idea in theory. In practice, it is hard if not impossible to have one character do a social interaction and infiltration extravaganza while the other characters wait in camp or take passive roles in the mission. So many characters are built with combat as an important part of their design, often the most important part. Yes, every PC should be able to function without having to roll initiative, but everybody needs to know what they're in for before the campaign starts.

[@Kinowolf]

Alefiend I've played it like sending a rogue or ranger ahead in stealth, except for social situations. This bard is like your plant in a heist. He should also be working with the team even if he goes off to accomplish something solo.

[@Alefiend]

I get that. It's just that I've never-in 39 years of gaming-been in a D&D group that had the approach or the patience to do that. Other games yes, D&D no. Bad luck on my part, I guess.

[@bobbobby475]

Ale_Fiend Sounds like you play with a bunch of kiddies. In my group our players gladly hand over spotlight because we're all considerate of each other.

[@thefracturedbutwhole5475]

@@bobbobby475 That is the kind of group this sub-class would shine in, just because you can do something disruptive doesn't mean you have to, just have your college of whispers bard be trying to achieve a goal so they only do their thing when they need to or the party requires, long story short - have your college of whispers bard work with the party and campaign not against it.

[@thefracturedbutwhole5475]

@@Alefiend Well, that just makes me sad.

[@adrenalineunlimited]

Reminds me of an Ac Inc character

[@undrhil]

So ... he played it as a dick to mess with the DM, but he doesn't want anyone else to play it that way. Riiiiight.

[@gorter23]

i can wait until the the pdf becomes available to download

[@skeletor8951]

Oh dear...

[@Patsyketsy]

I want to make an evil Propaganda officer of an empire kind of bard with this college

[@masonwarren3117]

people who say this is just worse rogue are missing out

[@Olathaen]

I really, really, really hope the artificier is coming in the guide... My DM would allow it then :P I really hope mystic does NOT come in the guide, I would have to allow it then :p

[@willbrolley262]

shikilaki it's been confirmed that the Mystic, Artificier and Revised Ranger will not be appearing in this book.

[@Nemo12417]

The Revised Ranger won't be? Disappointing.

[@Olathaen]

Darn... Thank you for informing me tho...

[@caerdwyn7467]

This is a class that would make an excellent political nemesis. Reminds me of Grima Wormtounge (in application if not in presentation). The agent provocateur of the Big Bad, sowing discord and poisoning the good guys’ attitudes against the players.... yessssssss

[@TheLastDesperado]

So, Mance Rayder?

[@Parox6]

But with magic instead of ''special pie''.

[@jamesmoses6845]

I was creating my character based on me in rl. Everyone who suggested things to me always had these 3 in common : sorcerer, bard, or rogue. I think the college of whispers bard fits closest to me in rl. I am a guitarist, pianist, and violinist, with characteristics much like this. Too bad it means I am a bad guy in rl 😂 all the tests I took had one thing in common, and it was my alignment. In rl, I am neutral evil

[@jameswarner1928]

This seems very open to abuse

[@teiabutters7732]

Another bard subclass, are you serious? I want to hear about wizards and paladins...not a bard with the "cause drama" ability. Or a ranger with "access MM" as a bonus action.

[@eijibayushi7029]

Bards suck now.

[@thefracturedbutwhole5475]

Those are fighting words.