Halflings are natural bards, light of foot, and full of cheer. Roll a Halfling Bard if you want to provide versatility, utility, and a bit of flavor to your next D&D session.

The Halfling race AND the Bard class can be found in the Player’s Handbook. Click here to pick up your own copy of The Player’s Handbook!

How to Make a Halfling Bard

Light-footed halflings make for fantastic bards, adding both Dexterity and Charisma, plus other traits like Lucky and Naturally Stealthy. With the right background, you can pick up proficiencies such as stealth and sleight of hand to replace a rogue’s role, as well as being able to easily step into a variety of roles for your party with some simple builds.

As a bard, your top score should be allocated to CHA, and the second highest should be DEX. Charisma will help with things like performance checks – something you’re likely to utilize as a magical musician while DEX will increase your AC.

At 3rd level you get to choose a subclass, for Bards that’s known as a “College” – your choice of college has a major impact on your character.

There are many options, but a few stand out. The College of Lore gives a bunch of free skill proficiencies and a few spells from any class, making you into the ultimate jack of all trades Bard. Choose this college if you want to provide additional utility to your party. The College of Swords provides more of a “battle bard” flavor to your character, giving you more ability to deal damage in melee combat.

How to Play a Halfling Bard

As with all D&D characters, your playstyle has some flexibility depending on your build. Generally, bards are relatively squishy and should avoid direct confrontation. Many bard builds are focused on buffing the rest of the party and providing utility. The bard class is very versatile and can fulfill many roles depending on what your party needs.

Bards are jack-of-all-trades that excel outside of combat. Playing a bard effectively requires some ingenuity and quick thinking. Is your party low on funds? Maybe you can charm some tavern patrons out of their hard-earned coin with an impromptu concert. Need to sneak past a sleeping guard? Lull them into a deeper sleep with a magical lullaby. Think big and add flavor to your adventures.

How to Roleplay as a Halfling Bard

Bards thrive on stories, whether those stories are true or not. Your character’s background and motivations are not as important as the stories that he or she tells about them. Perhaps you grew up rich – well, there’s no good story to be told about that, so you might paint yourself as an orphan raised by an eccentric wizard.

Perhaps you were a young runaway or orphan, befriended by a wandering bard who became your mentor. Or you might have been a spoiled noble child tutored by a master. Think big and think bold, because your story doesn’t have to be true but it should be interesting!

Roleplaying in this way allows for some interesting reveals to the rest of your party. Are you who you say you are? That’s for you to know, and everyone else to find out.