D&D 5E [D&D 5E] Valor Bard/Fighter - How should I go about this?

I'm currently DMing a 5E campaign, but am working on some PC builds to have available for when I am able to get into a game as a player.

I am not particularly concerned with achieving hitting a Max DPR type character, but I would like to have my character as optimized as possible given the parameters of the character.

This is the general concept for the character -

*Valor Bard/Fighter - A melee-type character who sings during battle. I'm open to skewing more towards either class, though I am going to stick to Valor (rather than Lore) Bard for character/RP reasons.

*I would like the character to utilize a 2H weapon. Whether that should be Greatsword or Polearm is up for discussion.

*Dragonborn or Human (Variant) - I really like what the Dragonborn can do for this character with extra STR and CHA (and I like other potential RP aspects), but getting a Feat at turn one (Warcaster?) is very enticing. Other races are also up for discussion.

*Character is going to want to mix it up in melee more than just hanging back and buffing/healing.


Seems like I should start with Fighter to get a Fighting Style (Great Weapon Fighting) and all the weapon/armor proficiency and probably go at least until Level 2 (Action Surge) before taking any Bard levels, but I'm really not a character creation expert in 5E and would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks in advance for any input!

Fighter at level 1 gives you concentration saving throws (Con), heavy armor, shield.

If you want to play a human fighter, and want a polearm, then pick polearm master at level 1. GWF is a fun fighting style but Defensive is more effective for a two-handed warrior. I don't know much about the other stuff, but you could easily wait until level 4 to pick up war caster, it's not like low level fights last all that long or that you even have that many concentration spells at low level anyway. (I could be very wrong about that though, for Bards).

When I have a multiclass character I like to get both going as soon as possible, so level 1 fighter, level 2 something else for four or give levels. Then pick up either 1 or 4+ more levels of fighter. You definitely want the second attack so 5 levels of fighter is a good thing. Variant humans are a must have for the feat if you want to MC and not fall too far behind where non-MC characters lie. You can't go wrong with all the bang for your buck that polearm master gets you at level 1. If you play intelligently you can control the front line and get your OA to trigger quite often, netting you up to 3 attacks per round at level 1. That's just using clever positioning, and tactics. I think you probably want the extra point of AC from Defensive style more than the tiny boost to DPR from GWF damage. Sure, it's boring, but +1 to AC is powerful and will help you maintain concentration on buffs later on if you insist on using a two-handed weapon. Really, what you really want when you want to maintain concentration as a front line fighter type, is the best AC. So maybe even pick fighter, keep the shield, and also take the +defense style. 19 AC at level 1 is very good to have.

But if you go greatsword or polearm, I would definitely take defense style. It's always on and will benefit you and your group a lot more to have your spells be maintained than a tiny boost to damage.