D&D 5E [GUIDE] A party without music is lame: A Bard Guide

[mellored]

3rd level spells:
Dispel Magic - were you thinking maybe of counterspell when you wrote this?

Hmmm.... possibly.

Dispel magic is exceedingly powerful, especially with the bonus the bard gets. A bard has a very good chance to dispel a very powerful effect, without having to use a higher spell slot. Dispel can be used on creatures, objects or just magical effect. Thus magic traps, gone. A buffed enemy, completely unbuffed. A spell that just locked down your party, undone.

I agree it's powerful, but it really depends on how many magical traps/barriers/objects you come across. They arn't common in the campaigns i've seen.
And hitting the caster with say... fireball is usually better then dispelling his buff.

But i will reword it.

Dispel in my mind is easily a gold spell by your rankings. Counterspell is at least blue. If only because counterspell also gets the bard bonus, meaning you can give the finger to that lich/illithid/drow/etc every time it tries to cast a spell.

At lest in the campaigns i've seen, spells arn't that common.
And using a spell to maybe stop stop a spell is iffy.

 

[mellored]

[MENTION=4036]Jeremy[/MENTION]ECrawford A spell learned via Magical Secrets counts as a bard spell, so it can be replaced upon gaining a level later.

 

[Searinox Nagharha]

But wouldnt it be a shame to use that slot to pick a spell your gonna drop later?

 

[mellored]

But wouldnt it be a shame to use that slot to pick a spell your gonna drop later?

Hard to say exactly what he meant by it. If you can trade your magic secrets for another magic secrets or just trade it for a bard spell.

But yes, the latter would be less impressive.

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

This is a tough call to make. Allowing you to trade up your Magical Secrets would enable you to cherrypick your four favorite spells of 6th-9th level, with two more added to Lore Bards.

The DM in me wants to say no, but the munchkin in me desires yes...

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

This is a tough call to make. Allowing you to trade up your Magical Secrets would enable you to cherrypick your four favorite spells of 6th-9th level, with two more added to Lore Bards.

The DM in me wants to say no, but the munchkin in me desires yes...

If you take Crawford's words literally, a Magical Secret spell becomes a bard spell for you. You can trade away your Magical Secrets for one level and then get it back later as a known spell, same as you could for any other bard spells. You cannot, however, freely trade it for a different Magical Secret.

 

[mellored]

Updated with SCAG.

Not much for the bard, though the new cantrips make the melee valor bard more viable.

 

[Raak]

[MENTION=6801209]mellored[/MENTION]

What are your thoughts / impressions about the College of Swords and College of Satire from UA?

http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/04_UA_Classics_Revisited.pdf

 

[mellored]

[MENTION=6801209]mellored[/MENTION]

What are your thoughts / impressions about the College of Swords and College of Satire from UA?

http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/04_UA_Classics_Revisited.pdf

Sword seems slightly worse then valor.
You don't have shields and TWF doesn't stack with the flourishes. Your going to be starved for bonus actions.
With defensive flourish it's better to have a flat +2AC shield and use your bonus action to give someone else the die.
Trick Shooter Flourish's bonus is only 1 attack, and even then only a dagger attack.
Unnerving Flourish... might be a bit broken. Dominate anyone you defeat for 1 save and a die? Though i guess if you fail you leave them alive and simply frightened.... hard to say with that one...

Though it does seem better for multi-classing. Rogue + trick shooter, or paladin + defensive flourish.


Satire is pretty good.
Tumble is crazy good mobility. Both dash and disengage as a bonus action beats the rogue.
Detect thoughts is a good spell for many types of campaigns.
Fools luck depending on how vengeful your DM is. It's certainly useful to be able to boost your own save, but it might be worse if your DM makes you take a penalty next time someone cast hold person on you. Probably best to ignore it in most of the time and just give out dice normally.

 

[Raak]

Thanks for replying Mellored! I heavily used your handbooks (4e and 5e) when they were on the WotC forums, so I was happy to hear that some of your stuff had made it over here.

I'm currently in a party that is Level 5. We have a Wizard (ranged), Warlock (ranged), Fighter (ranged), Sorcerer (ranged), Druid (mixes it up between wild shape and spells), Barbarian, and me - Bard. Large group, I know! It is primarily an urban intrigue campaign, but the DM throws his fair share of combat into the mix in the form of mini-dungeons between the intrigue.

I originally started out as a Lore Bard since we originally had a Paladin, but that player swapped out to Wizard later on. So, I've been towing the line with melee a little more to support the Barbarian and hold the front line. I'm feeling too squishy to do that with Lore Bard, though.

I want to be able to primarily support our barbarian since I'm one of the only buffers/healers while still protecting our back line. I've been considering Cleric (1) / Lore Bard (19) to be a little tougher - though the delayed spell progression irks me. Alternatively, I've been thinking of switching to Valor Bard and giving that a go. I'd lose out on Cutting Words, though, which I've seen a lot of use out of since I picked it up.

With my composition, what do you think would work best for my role in the group while hopefully remaining a Bard?

Thanks!