Baldur’s Gate 3 Does Not Fix The Worst Bard Ability, But The 2024 Player’s Handbook Does

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Bards are extremely powerful in and , with an amazing spell list, access to magical secrets, and subclass options that make them incredibly versatile. But undoubtedly, their worst feature is Countercharm. In both the video game and the TTRPG, Countercharm is a blemish on an otherwise amazing list of class abilities.

Unlocked at level six, Countercharm allows bards to use an action and set up an anti-charm effect in an area around themselves. This effect does not actually prevent players from being charmed; rather, it gives them advantage on saving throws against the Charmed and Frightened effects, which many races already get through abilities like Fey Ancestry. On top of that, maintaining the effect requires an action each turn. This ability is almost never worth using, given how much of a bard's turn it takes to set up, but 's 2024 has a solution.

In a statement at Gen Con 2024, Jeremy Crawford has explained why one of D&D's most popular classes won't be in the newest Player Handbook.

In, Countercharm can be used with a little more flexibility. The area it affects is not tied to the bard; rather, it can be put down and left in an area within range when it is activated. Furthermore, the ability doesn't require an action each turn to maintain. These things make it better, but they by no means make Countercharm good.

The main issue with Countercharm is that it requires players to preemptively realize when they will need to make a save against Charmed or Frightened effects. This might be fine on repeated playthroughs, when players know exactly which enemies will use these effects, but otherwise, players must take a risk by using their action to set up a power that may or may not have any use whatsoever. Plus, the Charmed effect hardly ever shows up in, making that part of the ability useless in pretty much every situation.

With that main issue in mind, the 2024 makes one change that takes Countercharm to the next level: making the ability take a reaction to