D&D bard instruments, and what each one sounds like
The bard instruments in D&D's 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) are 10 musical instruments, from the lute and lyre to the horn and bagpipes. A bard can use any of them as a spellcasting focus. BardRoll gives each its own synthesised voice, and the instrument sets the timbre of a performance, never its tune.
Instruments
Synthesised in your browser.
No sound? Check your phone is not on silent.
Which instruments can a bard play in the 2024 rules?
The SRD 5.2.1 lists 10 musical instruments, and a bard starts proficient with a few of their choice and can use any musical instrument as a spellcasting focus. BardRoll lists them by how they make a sound: plucked and struck strings first, then the drum, the bowed viol, the flutes and the horn, and last the reed instruments.
Does the instrument change the performance?
Only its sound. Every instrument plays the same notes for the same roll and spell; the voice is what changes. The lute, lyre and dulcimer share one plucked-string model, set apart by how long they ring and by octave. The flutes, horn, shawm and bagpipes are stacks of harmonics with breath in them, the viol is the same with the slowest attack, and the drum is a struck skin. The band line after the performance does not change with the instrument either.
Which instrument should a bard carry?
The one that sounds like your bard. The lute is the default for a reason: warm, quick and clear on a phone speaker. The horn sits an octave lower, the flutes and the lyre an octave higher, and the bagpipes never stop for breath. Each one here plays the same roll, the one the app's own picker uses, so you can choose by ear before you commit a character to it.
Can I play the instrument freely in BardRoll?
Yes, on the instrument tab. It turns the phone into a strip of notes in the app's everyday mode, with chords, and touching higher up a string sounds the octave above. Nothing played there is a roll: a song still costs a d20.
Questions
- What instrument does a bard use as a spellcasting focus?
- Any musical instrument. Under the 2024 rules a bard can use a musical instrument as a spellcasting focus for bard spells, so the lute on your back does double duty. BardRoll lets each bard carry one of the 10 instruments from the SRD 5.2.1, and every performance that bard gives plays in its voice.
- Are the instrument sounds recordings?
- No. Every note is synthesised in your browser when you play it, from a model of how that instrument makes sound: a plucked string, a stack of harmonics with breath, a bowed string or a struck skin. Nothing is downloaded or streamed, so a performance starts as soon as it is tapped and costs no data.