D&D 5E Bardic Lore: A Basic College of Lore Bard Guide

Zardnaar · Dec 11, 2014

Gloves said:
Real life is important!

I have just rolled a 5e Half-Elf bard myself in a friend's campaign. I've been using your advice quite a bit, though I was fortunate that we used "4d6 drop lowest" for stat rolls and I ended up with no drop stats. The campaign doesn't begin until January, but for first level I've selected the cantrips "Friends" and "Viscious Mockery", and the 1st level spells "Sleep," "Dissonant Whispers," "Bane," and "Faerie Fire".

Although it overlaps with the party rogue quite a bit, I selected Stealth, Deception, Sleight of Hand, Persuasion, and Investigation as my proficient skills.

Not a lot wrong with that selection. I'm finding bane a bit meh at time as it requires concentration which conflicts with faerie fire. Depends of you life buffing vs debuff.

Zaruthustran · Dec 16, 2014

I think Bane is pretty good if you've got other casters in the party, and those casters cast save-based spells. In the above case it combos with the caster's own Vicious Mockery and Dissonant Whispers.

FormerlyHemlock · Dec 16, 2014

transtemporal said:
Nice one Zardnaar, like it a lot!

On the "don't get hit thing", some AC is better than no AC at low levels but burning a feat or taking dwarf only to have AC become functionally useless at high levels is a flawed decision to my mind, unless your dm allows feat swaps. Easier to hang at the back, looking innocuous.

You don't need your DM to allow feat swaps--just use Reincarnation to stop being a mountain dwarf.

transtemporal · Dec 19, 2014

emdw45 said:
You don't need your DM to allow feat swaps--just use Reincarnation to stop being a mountain dwarf.

Your solution is a spell that is either random, or chosen by the DM anyway. Easier to ask the DM to swap the feat.

Ogre Mage · Dec 21, 2014

Great guide. Zardnaar hasn't finished the section on multiclassing yet so I though I'd ask about it myself. My group is in the tentative stages of planning a 5th edition game and I want to play a half-elf lore bard with a small dip in one other class. The campaign will run from level 1 to about level 13. The two options I am considering are Lore Bard 12/Cleric 1 and Lore Bard 11/Warlock 2. I was wondering what people thought about the comparative merits of these two approaches. In a nutshell it seems to me that a level dip in cleric compensates for the lore bard's poor AC/defenses while the 2 level dip in warlock compensates for the lore bard's poor damage dealing ability. The two level dip for warlock delays the bard progression more but OTOH it does not invoke multiple ability dependency whereas the Lore Bard/Cleric does.

kirtar · Dec 21, 2014

One thing to keep in mind is that multiclassing warlock also delays your spell slot progression because Pact Magic is different than normal spellcasting. That said, if you have archfey patron you can faerie fire each short rest.

Zardnaar · Dec 29, 2014

Ogre Mage said:
Great guide. Zardnaar hasn't finished the section on multiclassing yet so I though I'd ask about it myself. My group is in the tentative stages of planning a 5th edition game and I want to play a half-elf lore bard with a small dip in one other class. The campaign will run from level 1 to about level 13. The two options I am considering are Lore Bard 12/Cleric 1 and Lore Bard 11/Warlock 2. I was wondering what people thought about the comparative merits of these two approaches. In a nutshell it seems to me that a level dip in cleric compensates for the lore bard's poor AC/defenses while the 2 level dip in warlock compensates for the lore bard's poor damage dealing ability. The two level dip for warlock delays the bard progression more but OTOH it does not invoke multiple ability dependency whereas the Lore Bard/Cleric does.

Both are decent the cleric offers heavy armor but you need a 15 str to really make use of it so I think I would go for the warlock and hang at the back and be an archer/buffer type PC.

Ogre Mage · Dec 30, 2014

Zardnaar said:
Both are decent the cleric offers heavy armor but you need a 15 str to really make use of it so I think I would go for the warlock and hang at the back and be an archer/buffer type PC.

Thanks for the advice. I have decided to go the Lore Bard/Warlock approach. When do you suppose you'll finish the guide? Those of us who have never played a bard before want to know!

P.S. I accidentally laughed at your post but actually think your advice is fine.

Zardnaar · Dec 30, 2014

Ogre Mage said:
Thanks for the advice. I have decided to go the Lore Bard/Warlock approach. When do you suppose you'll finish the guide? Those of us who have never played a bard before want to know!

P.S. I accidentally laughed at your post but actually think your advice is fine.

How long is a piece of string. Working on the spells with exeprience up to level 13 now and its not to hard to guess what the best level 8 and 9 spells are.

FormerlyHemlock · Dec 30, 2014

Ogre Mage said:
Thanks for the advice. I have decided to go the Lore Bard/Warlock approach. When do you suppose you'll finish the guide? Those of us who have never played a bard before want to know!

P.S. I accidentally laughed at your post but actually think your advice is fine.

Wait, is "laughing" on this board considered derogatory? I thought it signalled appreciation. Now I wonder if I've been accidentally mocking people whom I meant to praise...

D&D 5E Bardic Lore: A Basic College of Lore Bard Guide

Zardnaar

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Zaruthustran

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