“You have to be creative to use the creation bard.” -The Dungeon Dudes

Creation's ability can be used to create spell components with a gold cost. At lvl 14 you have unlimited Hero's Feast; you will never be without a Diamond for Raise Dead; you have the keys to planar travel as you don't have to find a Tuning Rod for Planeshift. This is what makes the class S Tier.

Higher level Creation Bards can cast a no component cost Hero’s Feast every day. That’s pretty nuts.

Here's my solution to "not always having the right thing to create" problem: grab a piece of paper and any time you come up with an idea for something you can create with performance of creation write it down. Any time you feel stuck just look at the list of notes and you'll probably have something on there that can be useful

I could cast the fly spell for 10 minutes with concentration, or I could animate a large rug that multiple people could fly on for an hour without concentration. With the same spell slot!

The dancing item can be a large construct with flying, which means you can have a flying mount at level 6.

Fun fact for creation bards out there, flour is very cheap detect invisibility

The College of Creation suffers from the same thing as an Illusionist: It requires creativity and DM permission. Being locked down by "no" all the time will make this into a waste of time. If you CAN get the right combination of DM and player, this subclass is hard to beat. You become basically an X-Man, creating what you need to solve the problem and help the team. This ability to create isn't exclusive to spellcasting, because you can save you spells for what you cannot create. This is at least A tier - but it need an A tier player and DM too.

one of my favorite uses of the Creation Ability? Spell Components. At later levels you can make Diamonds for Revivify and Raise Dead

The Dudes: "We're only going to be talking about one subclass today." Me: *looks at video length* The Video length: *28:53* Me: What the f***

Some meta shade being thrown at Wrath here. “Not every class can make oars”

Creation bards being able to create spell components earns it an A in my book. You can give your party a permanent hero's feast buff,, always have revivify at the ready, components for your party's wizard/sorcerer, etc.

I did play this class, and had an amazing blast with it. Multi-classed as a Warlock so I could repeatedly burn out Warlock spell slots to create and animate objects more often and easier. Also went Warlock of the Genie and Vessal was a large Ring with hollowed gem. Short rest inside the ring while familiar bird flee around holding it and travelling. Being able to create a barricade wall to give your group large cover, amazing. Being able to settle a bar fight by making one of the tables as an immediate ally and fighting with you and a summon spell, fantastic. Creating a wall to block the only entrance to enemies chasing you, life saving.

1st thing: You can’t cast animate objects if you don’t have any objects to animate. 2nd: animate a boat and fly around in it. 3rd: team up with an artificer who invents all the crazy contraptions, and recreate them at (sorta)will. S tier bard :)

As a fan of the college of swords, the biggest crime of Tashas was not giving the new fighting style options to them. Thrown weapon style fits so well

Just wanna point this out- animating performance doesn’t say the item has to be not worn/carried, meaning if you fight anyone that uses a weapon, you can animate that weapon and use it against them.

I love this class primarily for its creative role play facility. I'm not even talking about straight-up utility for solving problems and such, though that is excellent as well. But to give one example of something I did in my recent game: my party was exploring a haunted house for a Halloween-themed adventure, and in one room we were presented with a ghostly scene of a woman giving a little girl a new doll, and then another scene of the doll murdering the little girl, before our big fight against the evil little doll demon. After the fight, I went to the spot in the room where the little girl had died (in the ghostly scene that had played out before us) and used Performance of Creation to create a Lily, and placed it on the floor there in commemoration of her. Sure, I had used up that ability for the day and wouldn't have it for any problem solving later, but it was perfect for role playing my Bard's sentimentality and empathy.

Taking tiny servant with this class at level 10 is very fun to play and thematically pleasing. Especially when use performance of creation to create items that require the use object option. Telling your animated hammer to place a hunting trap to catch an enemy is a good time

I do love how this subclass basically turns you into a 1930s cartoon character

Some hilarious things I've noticed playing as a Creation Bard: - The Dancing Item has the same stats no matter their size. So imagine a baddie just minding their own business and a tiny, animated doll/teapot/whatever just runs up with their 18 strength stat and decks them with that 1d10 + proficiency Force Empowered Slam. - Whatever item you make glimmers and plays soft music when someone touches it. So whatever you make is gonna look glam af. My DM is nice enough that my character gets to pick the music, which has made for some hilarious moments. - Formal wear can easily fit into the gold limit, and it lasts a few hours, so you could theoretically be someone's Fairy Godparent. Or your own. My point being you'll always be ready for a fancy occasion. And I agree, it's always good to ask questions for your DM ahead of time so they wouldn't be put in the spotlight with a question that needs a little more thought. One of the perks of living with my DM, lol. This class has been fun as hell to play, especially since my character's backstory was that he was a con artist before becoming an adventurer.

Having played this, the Performance of Creation was most useful as a way to overcome environmental hazards. It has saved a life in combat more than once. It's also good to create cover (as long as your DM remembers that cover rules exist).

This subclass is perfect for creative players, when my best friend introduced me to DnD on December of 2020 she was playing a Creation Bard and i was playing a Tortle Kensei Monk, we were exploring a dark forest in the middle of the night and i was the only party-member without darkvision yet i had the highest AC of the group so when we were ambushed i had disadvantage and couldn't hit anything yet the enemies couldn't hit me either, she created a glowing mushroom and stuck it onto my Tortle's shell so he could see and kick-ass after a few rounds lol.

Re: Performance of Creation given the PHB is mentioned to find examples, I wouldn't get too hung up on the modern interpretation of 'object'. Any set of tools is composed of several 'objects'. So creating a rowboat without oars seems like a DM being an obstructionist. Personally, unless my players were being cheeky, I'd err on the side or the generous and magical. A huge object can be 15' x 15' ... so potentially say... a hut. IMO, if a bard wanted to make a hut I'd include things like hearth, bed etc.

I've been waiting so long for this, my Creation Bard only has 2 more sessions left in the campaign lol. I enjoyed it. The inspiration changes were good and my party liked them, especially the skill check and saving throw ones. Creating things came in handy many times, especially because we were Avernus and didn't always have things we needed or an easy way to get them. Most notable uses: free spell components, a spell focus for myself when we lost all our stuff, a silvered sword for the Rogue, a giant watermelon to stave off exhaustion from heat, a giant cake to impress a crazy eladrin, an iron rod to barricade a door, a ton of silver so the Paladin could make a ton of holy water. What I most anticipate is level 14 when I can make the spell component for Heroes' Feast so that we can have one every night. (Also you don't have to use a spell slot the first time you use it.) The Dancing Item is a good way to add more bodies to the battlefield and is a great use of my bonus action. Large items can block off areas. It's also a nice buff to the Rogue's speed. All in all, the class could probably be stronger but I've been happy with it.

I keep ending up watching these right after they come out, after just finding previous one. Amazing timing finding this channel

I was just waiting for this installment. p.s., I feel like this is an S tier subclass, but maybe that's because I'm a niche player. A creative player can do a lot with this. Mega robe of useful things plus a flying carpet/armchair/steel defender plus gravy on the inspiration. It's awesome.

College of Creation is the definition of "Huh, that's neat". At the end of the day, you're still a Bard - you'll never *suck* - but it's nothing that makes you go, "Wow, this is a total game-changer. How did I live without this?"

creation: heroes' feast AND the bowl that's the material component.

Dancing object + animate object + multiclass in to druid, Beauty and the Beast in D&D

Dungeon Dudes: gives Illusionist Wizard an A because it allows for tons of creativity. Also Dungeon Dudes: gives Creation Bard a B because it relies on being creative. Ignores flying mount at lvl 6, and free priceless spell components at lvl 14.

In my recent game we wanted to get up to the 2nd floor of a locked building, but no one had a grappling hook... so used Performance of Creation and made one! Useful!

Are you guys going to rank the College of Spirits at all? It’s probably one of my favorite bard subclasses right now

I don't play DnD but am subbed because I love listening to you guys!

An important consideration is that animated objects, like the one College of Creation bards create with Animated Performance, can flank an enemy and thus grant both of you advantage.

you can create a siege weapon and take 2 levels of artificer and take the repeating shot infusion to create a force ballista or a force cannon that only requires 1 person to use

A creation bard and a forge cleric in out of the abyss campaign would be game changing for sure.

one could also say “how much information would a 60 gp book on necromancers actually have?” college textbooks are expensive!

I love the idea of a precarious area like a canyon of some sort and the College of Creation Bard just sing a bridge into existence, or your the longboat you mentioned and so on.

Dungeon Dudes - You can make a cannon Me - Combo with a Druid or Cleric & make a huge cube of Potassium with them using a spell to create/unleash water. Laugh maniacally at the resulting explosion.

You could use this subclass to make an incredibly zany, almost Looney Toons esc vibe, I have a character concept that is a silent film star, who uses his creation abilities for slapstick comedic effect, like making a comedically large mallet, or oversized boxing gloves. I also have a character who is a chef, using his creation abilities to not only summon rare ingredients for his food, but also to animate things like cheese and bread. In terms of flavor, this is up there with Glamour, easy S for flavor.

Looking back, what would have been nice is an improvement of Summoning spells

I love this subclass. My initial first thought about this was Fantasia Sorcerors Apprentice animating a broom, after watching this I almost think about MacGyver which would pair nicely with an Artificer.

How about a multiclass ranking video. You guys are awesome. Thanks for the great videos

Counterpoint to spells such as fabricate or animate objects is that those are 4th and 5th level spells, while these are effectively 2nd and 3rd levels spells, which means you can save those higher level spell slots for better spells, or upcasting other spells.

I think creating costly spell components is a cool idea since a lot of good spells have costly components and that cost can be lessened or ignored as long as the casting time is shorter than the duration.

A bard assassin who’s murder weapon is never found because he simply creates them every time and dispels them after the kill, fun role play I thought of

About the DM shooting your creative ideas down: it really depends on the person. Whenever one of my players brings something up to me that I find cool or clever; I try my hardest to make it work, delaying my own plans if needed so that the player can have their moment. My friend, on the other hand, has in the past woven the narrative in a way that has invalidated my creative plans AFTER I had told him in advance... so, yea. YMMV!

At level 5+ you could create enough powdered diamond to cast Greater Restoration. If you have a Sorlock in your party that has a divine origin with access to the spell, you can let them chain short rests and you could supply them with the powdered diamond for it. That way, they keep all the spell slots they need for flexible casting.

You can create material components for spells with the lvl 3 feature. For instance: 50gp worth of chalk to cast teleportation circle once you can create any object: make a huge cube of Platinum. 15 cubic feet of Platinum weigh 2050 tonnes. drop that thing on any enemy, goodbye You can animate anything at lvl 6: for example the sword an enemy is holding. Creation Bard is the Cheese Bard.

I still cannot fathom how Eloquence got a B ranking in the community....

I think it can be S tier in MOST campaigns. So many people that play DnD are inherently creative.

Plus grab touch cantrips like Guidance and Resistance to continuously cast while inside genie vessel through your familiar to buff the ring wearer.

I think you are right, this is the definition of a textbook B tier. In its best environments its absolutely unrivaled, but if its kept in strict confines its good but not overwhelming. Depends hard on player capacity, DM permissions, and campaign setting.

Something to take note of that makes the creation bard stronger. The animating performance feature doesn't say it doesn't work on items being worn or carried. Which means you could animate an enemy's armour or weapon and they can't do anything about it.

DM running for a party of six 19th level PCs (starting at 2nd level) including a College of Creation bard and it's been amazing. They've conjured up everything from a car-jack to an army of toy soldiers and siege weapon (animated by the sorcerer). But the limit on the magical nature of the conjured items, and that it doesnt become super powerful until 14th level (when most of the items you want to conjure in a pinch are magical) keeps it nicely balanced.

Have your circle of shepherd Druid summon wargs or something of similar size and have your creation bard conjure a couple of chariots; now the party is fast and mobile and able to do raiding strikes repeatedly

Animating Performance allows the dancing item to take a non-dodge action by the bard spending their bonus action (or co-spending with Bardic Inspiration). This could be the Help action...Your bard could be bardically inspiring an ally (including the Note of Potential bonus) and giving that (or another ally) advantage via their dancing item. That's a LOT for a BA...for an hour without concentration or a spell slot (unless you want to use it for more than one hour per long rest).

I think Bard's create some of the best BBEGs

at the start of the episode I was going to make the oar joke... you guys don't disappoint 😂

Once every subclass has been ranked, are you planning on going back and ranking all subclasses of every class against each other? I imagine we'd see a lot more in D-tier when stacked up against some of the best subclasses in the game.

With this bard I think it really brings Cami-Cat's bard video "Meet my friends" to life. With the dancing objects ability and animate objects I just love the idea of a corrupt, greedy lord being absolutely BTFO'd by his own possessions.

one cool team synergy you can use a large and huge object for is whipping up a large huge weapon and proper size one for a rune knight that has become large or huge. No no matter what the rules is written interpretation says they actually have a proper size weapon for their new status, that’s a possible 3D12 axe with 3-4 extra attacks.

I love making characters with flavor over power and my satyr who is a bard with college of creation and a few levels of swashbuckler has a ton of potental

I think a really good use of the performance of creation, and something not being said, is making material components for spells. Like for greater restoration, or at higher levels resurrection and true resurrection

the bard makes a giant stone golem and then the wizard animates it LOL

5:40 When you raise the point about the temporary hit points, and not being able to just have them when you want, I look at it rather differently. Just as with the other 2 bonuses added into Bardic Inspiration for this class, it's a way of ameliorating your potential for failure. It's about knowing that, "even if I fail this throw, it won't ALL be bad, I'll get a few temporary hit points to make it hurt less. Sort of a consolation prize 😁. And I really think this is well created on the part of Wizards, because it speaks to the essential nature of the Bard class. If there are 2 principles definitive of the Bard, those would be that they are a Jack of All Trades, and that they are all about controlling morale to keep their party on top and their foes second guessing themselves. And the Mote of Creation is an excellent way to breath even more life into your team by giving then just that little bit more leeway in overcoming the tides of fate! If the "long enough lever" can move the world, then this is like putting some chalk on your hands to help you grip that lever.

It should be said, that with Leomund's Tiny Hut, as long as your cannon and ammo start *inside* the hut, they can have an inpenetrable force bubble and can't be targetted by attacks or spells from your enemies. Add Animate Objects for 10 loading/firing actions and you can rapid fire the cannon, provided you bring your own ammunition.

Creation bard is so much fun, animating my backpack to avoid climbing, str 18 it can carry my skinny ass bard, and still fight up top. Also what you animate is not limited to things not being carried so animating the enemies weapon thus disarming them and having a new ally is a lot of fun. Once I animated a cauldron of boiling soup and had it grapple enemies trying to dunk them in the soup Maybe not S tier for everyone but amazing for me

The biggest thing that I think the price restriction being lifted for a bard goes to the utility of making the most useful thing for other classes: expensive material components. Depending on how a DM looks at them, you could create everything you need for those big spells. Heroes feast? Oh here is that gem encrusted bowl. Resurrection? OH HERES A DIAMOND

As a bard of creation I used the song of creation at level 3 (and yes we did the math) and I used the song of creation in order to make a 5’x5’x5’ brick of granite directly above a hobgoblin. The dm ruled that since it was above the hobgoblin the space was considered unoccupied, the hobgoblin critically failed its dex save and the brick of granite fell and crushed it into jelly with 21,000 lbs of amazingness

Don’t forget to pick Tiny Servant as one of your magical secrets to operate your 5 cannons

Don’t forget if your a small race you can hide inside certain objects and take advantage of full cover only really getting attacked by an area of effect spells or features

I heard the Dune shout out!! “Can you make an ornithopter?!” Haha love you dudes!

I like the idea of making costly spell components. The ivory statue of yourself might be hard to get for contingency, or the powdered gems for simulacrum. Both costing at least 1500.

Good stuff, Dudes :) Scanlan showed that Bards can be awesome :P

I don't understand why they think using a 2nd level spell to use the creation ability again is a big deal when their comparison is Fabricate, a 4th level spell that also requires material components for making said object. It's free once per long rest, restores for a spell slot you get 4 levels earlier, and later ignores cost, and gives you multiple items for a single 2nd level spell if you need to use the ability more than once a day. Side note, Whispers Bard seems perfect for B tier. In a social campaign with more subterfuge, it's an S, and otherwise it's still good, even if some of the abilities become less useful.

It would be interesting for a creation bard to reskin all of their spells into created objects.

You could make material components for spells you or your allies need to cast. Or a ladder/ rope ladder/ grappling hook.

I would like to see a remake and deeper dive of the first part of the bard colleges.

i think the Mote of Potential should be thought of as Extra to the bardic inspiration, not another use. you get temporary hit points on the saving throw because you’re probably going to be taking damage, so it not only helps you make the save but it also takes the edge off when you take that damage.

Thanks.

Yup, College of Creation is very much one of the sandbox subclasses. It's definitely S tier as long as you're creative enough to use it well. There's some awesome ideas in the comments, you get a flying mount at level 6, you can create pricy spell components (heroes feast every day? sure. diamonds worth at least 25k for true resurrection? done.), your Bardic Inspiration is in a way better than all but the Eloquence Bard, you literally are just better at what Bards do than other Bards and you also get the best features from the Conjuration Wizard. You guys said that being at sea or siege may not happen and that somehow makes the subclass less useful. Well, as long as your party is doing anything at all, this class is useful. You can create a cart to travel in (that looks in any way you like), you can create any set of tools, you can animate a carpet to be a flying carpet for an hour for the whole party. That's not to mention creating weapons and armor and spell components. Truly a subclass with endless usefulness, on top of being a full spellcaster with Magical Secrets. EDIT: Just got to the part when you say "why would I need this ability, when I can use Teleport or Force Cage instead?" Well the answer is because you as a Bard have a very limited number of spells known and using a free ability and then maybe 2nd level spell slot to do it again for 6hrs at a time is better than using a 6th level spell slot for a similar effect. If this ability for the cost of a 2nd level spell slot provides an alternative to so many spells between level 2 and 6 that you don't have the room for, it's a pretty damn good ability. Definitely S guys, unless you have a shitty DM.

It has the same problem to me as the Conjuration wizard's Minor Conjuration: the rules for these semi-real magical objects are super confusing and almost all the cool things you'd want to do with the ability could potentially be shot down. Sure, I could have a conversation with my DM and establish they'll be quiter permissive. But we still end up bickering about how the ability works every time it's used, because every situation is different. And fundamentally I just don't like it when sessions devolve into bickering so as a player I just end up never using the ability. As a conjurer I occasionally conjured a chair to sit on and that's about it.

if you take artificer levels you can use song of creation to create any tools you need and then have the proficiancy to use them with artificer feature. you can also do things like create a boat with song of creation but then animate it so you have a flying boat for the whole party. i think the amount of creative awesomeness you could do crossing it with literally any artificer subclass would be amazing. im partial to alchemist myself. if the dm allows you could use song of creation to create components for making potions or things like glass vials if you run out. im realllllly looking into this for my next character concept.

Greta work! You should give another part for Barbarian

college of creation bard can create objects that are usable for consumable spell components, and once the gold cost goes away, they become insane

The creation bard. The drop ‘grand pianos on everyone’ class

So you can make a rowboat without oars, but you can make a cart with wheels? Would a sailboat have sails?

Was waiting on the ore talk

Are you guys going to look at the Undead warlock? It looks really cool but I really want to hear you guy’s opinions on it.

I am going play an eloquence bard with a dip in hexblade warlock. I am also considering a dip in sorcerer as an alternative or in addition to hexblade warlock. I have selected 1/2 elf for the +2 charisma bonus. For feats I will probably take inspiring leader at 4th level and actor at 8th level (or switched). Using point buy I can start out with a 17 charisma, then when I take the actor feat charisma will jump to 18. Actor feat combined with spells like disguise self will be useful at times. I will take a 14 dex if I will dip into hexblade warlock thereby max-min with AC for medium armor, but I will take a 16 dex if the DM does not allow multiclassing. None of my other stat will be less than a 10. The 1/2 elf eloquence bard with a dip in hexblade warlock will be very versatile. Almost never fail will persuasion and intimidation checks. AC=18 (14 dex + breast plate armor, shield) and still be able to move silently with breast plate, if I want to be noisy with half plate I can get an AC of 19. Unlimited eldritch blast, mage hand ,vicious mockery, minor illusion, (possibly later prestidigitation, message, and mend, although I seriously considering taking prestidigitation as a starting cantrip) hex, healing word, sleep, disguise self, detect magic, read languages, etc... Modest use of melee weapons using dex or charisma modifiers etc...

I'm loving these tier rankings - they are by far my favorite subclass reviews out there. I'd like to discuss the same content but early levels vs high levels because I feel some of these S-tiers can be slow burners or Front-loaded. Like Soul Knife or Echo Knight are Front Loaded but a Genie Warlock is going to be a slow burn. With most campaigns being mid-level and rarely getting to high-level, I'd like to see what your suggestions would be for mid-level play?

*Stares at the bard of creation making oars* WRATH! This guy can make oars!

Something that I would be trying to do with a creation Bard is take advantage of clockwork, or other non-magical machinery. Be a magical Leonardo da Vinci, only the things that you draw on your sketch pad spring to life and suddenly you have a tank that you can pedal around, or one of those neat spirally helicopters that you can have the barbarian pedal to get you to the top of A cliff. Or just a huge block of solid Platinum

The college of creation capstone feature feels like a better version of the illusionary reality from the illusion wizard subclass. Then the dancing items themselves are somewhat comparable to the primal companion from ranger. Personally think this subclass is sleeper op if used right and can easily see it being an S tier :3

The first time I played a creation bard the DM had a devil steal my power away instantly before I could use it for anything. My character was an ice sculpturing wood elf bard

I’d probably establish a d20 table, simple objects can be made without a d20 roll (lock pick), slightly more complicated objects might have a DC of 10 (simple weapons), more complicated concoctions might be a DC 18 (poisons, martial weapons ) and so on. And the role would be d20+ the characters charisma mod.

I think a creation bard would make a good villain.

So this powerful magic can create a set of oars??? Seriously, nice to learn your review and advice about the creation mechanics and creative thinking!

I'm really suprised they didn't lump in the spirits bard aswell. Was really curios about their opinion on it