Drum Your Way to Victory in Dungeons & Dragons

A new Dungeons & Dragons supplement adds two new drumming subclasses for bards. Earlier this week, Chad Lensch released the Bard College of Percussion, a new third-party Dungeons & Dragons supplement that adds two new subclasses, new backgrounds, new magic items, and even a handful of NPCs that are all focused on drumming and other percussion instruments. While playing a drummer might seem like an unusual choice at first, drums have long been associated with the military and are a critical part of any band or orchestra. Since bards can pick a drum as one of their default instruments, it makes sense to have some bardic subclasses that are all about using rhythm in and out of combat.

The focus of the new supplement is two new bardic subclasses - one for Pitched-Percussion Bards and one for Non-Pitched-Percussion Bards. The Pitched-Percussion Bard uses their drums to soothe and heal allies, while the Non-Pitched-Percussion Bards use their precise rhythms to manage the battlefield and create panic in foes. There are also some new backgrounds, allowing players to choose to be a street musician, a military drummer, or even a shaman in their past. The new magical items are also a blast, ranging from drum mallets that transform into maces to magic cymbals that can be thrown as ranged weapons.

In the forward of the new supplement, Lensch notes that he's been playing drums since he was seven years old and now teaches drumline. And it's clear that Lensch is a percussion expert, as the supplement is filled with snippets of percussion music sheets and even an explanation of the differences between different instruments. A lot of care and love went into this supplement, and that helps set it apart from other subclasses.

Bard College of Percussion is available on the DMs Guild for $5.95.