How Dungeons and Dragons 6E Could Improve 5E's Bard Class

gamerant.com:

Among the classes in Dungeons & Dragons that players can role-play, the Bard has long become one of the most popular when it comes to ruining the DM's plans. These impossibly charismatic characters often influence players to lean in towards the more conversational skills, as the best Bard builds prefer to talk their way out of more encounters than fight.

So, when it comes to how Dungeons & Dragons might be able to improve on the Bard as the Sixth Edition is being developed, the best improvement might not actually be to touch the class itself. Instead, looking at the skill proficiencies and giving them more concrete utility for all players could impact the Bard's abilities more meaningfully than more specific tweaks.

The Best Concepts From Unearthed Arcana That Could Improve Dungeons and Dragons 6E

The skill checks currently in D&D 5E regarding Charisma are limited in a way that several other skills aren't, coming down to Deception, Intimidation, Performance, and Persuasion. Only one of these skills isn't directly related to talking, although Performance could certainly be used to decide if a speech or presentation of spoken poetry lands on an audience. In contrast, both Intelligence and Wisdom can spread across vast areas of study, from Magic and Nature, to Perception and Animal Handling.

Additionally, when taking many of these skill checks through the same logic that much of D&D 5E bases the core of the written rules on subjective DM rulings, many of these proficiencies could also be affected by other attributes. Some of this is up to the quality of the Dungeon Master, who might be able to draw from both the character's Charisma and Dexterity when completing a performance like juggling or playing a demanding instrument.