Baldur's Gate 3: Top College of Glamour Bard Build

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, make them the face. Bards are best known for their Charisma and Dexterity, 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: 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, make sure you choose the Lightfoot 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: 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. 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. 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 can 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 are Entertainer and Guild Artisan. The Entertainer background will give you the Acrobatics 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 taking Deception, Performance, and Persuasion. If you have Persuasion from the Guild Artisan background, or Performance from the Entertainer background, you should choose Intimidation.

Best Ability Scores

When it comes to your Ability Scores, your main focus should be on your Charisma and your Dexterity, as these are your most important scores. Typically, I have two dump stats, and in this case, they are Constitution and Strength. 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 the College 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. 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. 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: 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: 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: When it comes to equipment, I prefer to stick with the Infernal Rapier once I have it, since it has spell save bonuses and the ability to summon a Cambion ally. Harmonic Dueler is a great secondary option since it adds your Charisma Modifier to your damage rolls. The hat I typically go for is the Hood 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 the Cloak of Displacement is a great way to avoid taking damage, but the Cloak of Protection is also good if you don't have the Cloak of Displacement. For your hands, I recommend using the Gemini Gloves, as this pair of gloves allows you to target an additional creature with your cantrips. You can, however, use the Gloves of Dexterity, as having a higher Dexterity is great when you need to participate in close-range combat. The Boots of Persistence are amazing for when you need to deal with difficult terrain, as they allow you to move freely around the battlefield. The Disintegrating Night Walkers are an amazing alternative since they have a similar effect and grant you the spell Misty Step. The Spellcrux Amulet is 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, the Ring of Regeneration is great for helping keep you alive, and the Shifting Corpus Ring will grant you the Invisibility spell for when you are in a jam or want to explore a restricted area.