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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8665495" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>As a general rule, it is advisable to avoid too much blending if at all possible. You're definitely going to feel the impact of delaying things on both sides here. E.g., you're still going to be casting 3rd level spells at character level 10, and won't be getting a 4th level spell until nearly twice the usual level.</p><p></p><p>Is there any reason you couldn't trim Warlock down (skipping Thirsting Blade) and instead play a Valor or Swords Bard? That is, greatswords are a relatively slim damage boost compared to various alternatives, and come at the cost of being rather low AC, especially since you will have neither sky-high Dex nor the Str (or proficiency) to wear heavy armor. For example, let's say you take Swords Bard and just two levels of Warlock. That free fighting style from Swords would go to Duelling, making your preferred choice of weapon (presumably rapier or longsword, but really any 1d8 weapon works) 1d8+2 base damage, for a total of 6.5. Your base damage with a greatsword would be...7. Unusually, you'll actually have higher minimum base damage (3 vs 2) but also lower max base damage (10 vs 12). And Swords Bard gives you the extra attack you're wanting without spending an invocation on it, letting you spend one of your two Invocations on Beguiling Whispers to make up for the lost Lore Bard skills.</p><p></p><p>Doing things this way, you skip out on three Warlock levels, allowing you to get all worthwhile Bard features (the Bard capstone is trash) by 20th level, while delaying important features (like Extra Attack and higher-level spells) as little as possible. The only things you <em>really</em> pay for this are 1 invocation (which was being spent on Thirsting Blade anyway, so it's not much of a loss), 1 skill proficiency, Cutting Words (which <em>is</em> nice, but not essential) and the 2 early Magical Secrets spells from Lore. In exchange, though, you get Blade Flourish (which will be <em>very</em> helpful for survivability), and eventually you can save your inspiration dice for helping others, using "free" d6 dice for Blade Flourish uses. Also! Even though you'll technically get Magical Secrets 1 level later with this Swords build, you won't actually <em>lose</em> any, because your Bard 15/Warlock 5 build misses out on the level 18 Magical Secrets anyway. So you'll still be able to get all those spells if you want them, it will just be very slightly delayed compared to your current plan.</p><p></p><p>I genuinely think you could pull off Sword Bard 3/Warlock 2/Sword Bard 15 and end up with something <em>very nearly</em> identical, and yet paying a much, much lower price tag.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8665495, member: 6790260"] As a general rule, it is advisable to avoid too much blending if at all possible. You're definitely going to feel the impact of delaying things on both sides here. E.g., you're still going to be casting 3rd level spells at character level 10, and won't be getting a 4th level spell until nearly twice the usual level. Is there any reason you couldn't trim Warlock down (skipping Thirsting Blade) and instead play a Valor or Swords Bard? That is, greatswords are a relatively slim damage boost compared to various alternatives, and come at the cost of being rather low AC, especially since you will have neither sky-high Dex nor the Str (or proficiency) to wear heavy armor. For example, let's say you take Swords Bard and just two levels of Warlock. That free fighting style from Swords would go to Duelling, making your preferred choice of weapon (presumably rapier or longsword, but really any 1d8 weapon works) 1d8+2 base damage, for a total of 6.5. Your base damage with a greatsword would be...7. Unusually, you'll actually have higher minimum base damage (3 vs 2) but also lower max base damage (10 vs 12). And Swords Bard gives you the extra attack you're wanting without spending an invocation on it, letting you spend one of your two Invocations on Beguiling Whispers to make up for the lost Lore Bard skills. Doing things this way, you skip out on three Warlock levels, allowing you to get all worthwhile Bard features (the Bard capstone is trash) by 20th level, while delaying important features (like Extra Attack and higher-level spells) as little as possible. The only things you [I]really[/I] pay for this are 1 invocation (which was being spent on Thirsting Blade anyway, so it's not much of a loss), 1 skill proficiency, Cutting Words (which [I]is[/I] nice, but not essential) and the 2 early Magical Secrets spells from Lore. In exchange, though, you get Blade Flourish (which will be [I]very[/I] helpful for survivability), and eventually you can save your inspiration dice for helping others, using "free" d6 dice for Blade Flourish uses. Also! Even though you'll technically get Magical Secrets 1 level later with this Swords build, you won't actually [I]lose[/I] any, because your Bard 15/Warlock 5 build misses out on the level 18 Magical Secrets anyway. So you'll still be able to get all those spells if you want them, it will just be very slightly delayed compared to your current plan. I genuinely think you could pull off Sword Bard 3/Warlock 2/Sword Bard 15 and end up with something [I]very nearly[/I] identical, and yet paying a much, much lower price tag. [/QUOTE]
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