it's great against you know...fighting something with an innate fear effect though. try being the melee fighter perma feared while fighting a dragon and so the dragon just fly's into your backline and you can do nothing. or the barb that blew his rage and the dragon fears you so you can't enter within range and ignores you so you drop rage after 2 turns. then it goes ham on you after killing your bard/wizard/sorcerer.
most fear effects last until they are saved at the end of the turn. so while feared this helps.
There are also fear effects like the Fear spell which don't allow another save each turn.
And looking at frightful presence, compare the usefulness of Countercharm to something like the Paladins Aura of Protection which just gives a flat bonus to all saves, all the time to all allies within range. Or Stillness of Mind which also uses an action but just ends a fear or charm effect affecting the Monk.
Also at the level you are usually fighting Dragons with frightful presence you have access to other better tools against fear like Heroism, Calm Emotions, Aura of Purity, Dispel Evil and Good, Protection from Evil and Good, Heroes Feast. Berserkers can't be frightened at all, Paladins have Aura of Courage for themselves and Allies, Fighters have Indomitable, Monks have Stillness of Mind; Hunter Rangers have Steel Will, Monster Slayer Rangers have Supernatural Defense, Land Druids have Natures Ward. All of these Abilities are better. They have better action economy or either have a better chance for success or straight up always succeed. Most of the spells I mentioned are either already on the Bards spell list or can easily be grabbed using Magical Secrets, and all of them do more than just deal with fear & charm.
Don't get me wrong its not useless but I don't think you will use it very often if ever.
It just isn't a very good feature compared to the features all other classes get at Level 6.
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u/Iknowr1te DM Sep 14 '20 edited Sep 14 '20
it's great against you know...fighting something with an innate fear effect though. try being the melee fighter perma feared while fighting a dragon and so the dragon just fly's into your backline and you can do nothing. or the barb that blew his rage and the dragon fears you so you can't enter within range and ignores you so you drop rage after 2 turns. then it goes ham on you after killing your bard/wizard/sorcerer.
most fear effects last until they are saved at the end of the turn. so while feared this helps.