D&D 5E Bard + Warlock multiclass

[Inoeex]

Hey everyone

I am asking for some consultant please.

I am gonna to start a new game as a Bard and since Bard does not get good stuff at level 20, I am thinking abt going multiclass.
I think Rogue must be the best option but I wanna go for warlock " Great Old One pact " so I can cumminicate with anyone without any words : )

The thing I want to know is, do you suggest me to start the class as Bard or Lock? I dont know which one should be my main class?

I can get cantrip from both classes I presume, but what abt skills? Can I benefit from my primary class's skills besides me second class?

Also I want to know what is the rule for learning spells, let say my total level is 5, will I have my two 3rd level slots? Or I have to gain 5 levels as Bard in order to have my 3rd level slots


Thanks in advance : )

 

[Horwath]

Warlock doesn't stack his levels to other spellcasters. He has separate mechanics: short vs long rest.

But you do get cantrips from both classes for their respective levels. and you can cast all spells known with both classes spell slots.

You dont get any extra skills if you go from bard to lock but you gain one if you go from lock to bard, but the sum is the same it's 3+0 or 2+1. you always get bards 3 instruments proficiencies.

Both classes get overlap in light armor proficiency. Maybe you could weasel in from your DM extra skill proficiency because of that

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Starting as a Warlock gets you Wisdom + Charisma save proficiency; Bard gets you Dexterity + Charisma, and additional weapon proficiencies (hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords). Are you more afraid of Fireballs or Dominate Person? Are you planning to gish it up any with rapiers? (Probably not.) Do you think of your bard as more of a spellcaster or a warrior?

When I played a Bardlock I started with Warlock, in large part because I didn't want to have to explain in play why he suddenly started dabbling in Cthulu's brain. It was easier to just start him out that way and say that he branched out into other esoterica (Bard stuff) from there. Worked out well for me and was a lot of fun to play. I'd recommend it.

 

[Tormyr]

Warlock doesn't stack his levels to other spellcasters. He has separate mechanics: short vs long rest.

But you do get cantrips from both classes for their respective levels. and you can cast all spells known with both classes spell slots.

You dont get any extra skills if you go from bard to lock but you gain one if you go from lock to bard, but the sum is the same it's 3+0 or 2+1. you always get bards 3 instruments proficiencies.

Both classes get overlap in light armor proficiency. Maybe you could weasel in from your DM extra skill proficiency because of that

Bard and Warlock multiclass so well together from an ability score standpoint that I would think the additional proficiency would be unnecessary, especially when they have access to at will mage armor and can have access to shield.

To the OP, what level are you starting at?

 

[Inoeex]

Warlock doesn't stack his levels to other spellcasters. He has separate mechanics: short vs long rest.

You dont get any extra skills if you go from bard to lock but you gain one if you go from lock to bard, but the sum is the same it's 3+0 or 2+1.

Both classes get overlap in light armor proficiency. Maybe you could weasel in from your DM extra skill proficiency because of that

Aah thats lame, so my warlock slots will be useless for bard spells :<
How can I get extra skills from Lock to Bard ? I found out the related article in the PHB page 164 "Multiclassing Proficiencies" it says you only get 1 extra skill if your main class is Bard.
Not every DM are generous :|

Starting as a Warlock gets you Wisdom + Charisma save proficiency; Bard gets you Dexterity + Charisma, and additional weapon proficiencies (hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords). Are you more afraid of Fireballs or Dominate Person? Are you planning to gish it up any with rapiers? (Probably not.) Do you think of your bard as more of a spellcaster or a warrior?

When I played a Bardlock I started with Warlock, in large part because I didn't want to have to explain in play why he suddenly started dabbling in Cthulu's brain.

I want to play as a skill monkey, I wanna avoid fights with my other skills as much as I can but spells are my 1st choice when it comes to fight

Yeah I thought abt the story too, starting with Lock is more reasonable : )

Bard and Warlock multiclass so well together from an ability score standpoint that I would think the additional proficiency would be unnecessary, especially when they have access to at will mage armor and can have access to shield.

To the OP, what level are you starting at?

We will start from 1.
Do you suggest me to pick Armor of Shadows as one of my invocations? Since I wanna go for 2 or 3 Lock lvls, I only can get two invocations .... I was thinking abt Mask of Many Faces for disguise self at will and Eyes Of The Rune Keeper to read all the writing in the game

 

[Tormyr]

Aah thats lame, so my warlock slots will be useless for bard spells :<
How can I get extra skills from Lock to Bard ? I found out the related article in the PHB page 164 "Multiclassing Proficiencies" it says you only get 1 extra skill if your main class is Bard.
Not every DM are generous :|



I want to play as a skill monkey, I wanna avoid fights with my other skills as much as I can but spells are my 1st choice when it comes to fight

Yeah I thought abt the story too, starting with Lock is more reasonable : )



We will start from 1.
Do you suggest me to pick Armor of Shadows as one of my invocations? Since I wanna go for 2 or 3 Lock lvls, I only can get two invocations .... I was thinking abt Mask of Many Faces for disguise self at will and Eyes Of The Rune Keeper to read all the writing in the game

Check multiclass rules again. According to the Pact Magic section, you can use the spell slots interchangeably. Choose whatever invocations you like and fit your character concept the best. In my experience, 5e works quite well with suboptimal characters (let alone ones that are not perfectly optimized). We have a Paladin with an 8 Charisma that works really well.

My suggestion would actually be to play the bard straight up without multiclassing. The odds of this character making it to level 20 due to character reasons or real life stuff is relatively low in the grand scheme of things. The original reason you cited for multiclassing was because of a capstone feature that you were not excited about, but you might not get there anyway. If your character makes it to level 20 and you take 3 levels of Warlock, you will have also sacrificed an ability score improvement and an additional opportunity to dip into the spells of another class. We had a level 19 bard in our party until it died a couple weeks ago, and it was awesome. It was also awesome when I brought him back the following week as a favored spawn of Kyuss and he used all of his signature stuff (tsunami, shapechange into a tyrannosaurus rex, bardic inspiration, etc.) against the party.

Go for the lore bard! It will be great. If you do not like it, you can always dip into another class later, even at level 17 or 18.

 

[mellored]

You can use any spell slot to cast any spell you know. So you can go ahead and cast cure wounds with warlock slots, or hex with bard slots.

The big thing you miss out on is higher level spells. A bard 10/warlock 10 will have a lot of low level spells to choose from, and a lot of slots to cast them in, but will lack the big spells like mass suggestion, force cage, or foresight.
Fortunatly, cantrips, inluding eldrich blast, will scale by character level. So you won't be short on damage.


There's also big bumps in power at class level 5, and 11. So you might to get to bard 5 fist, then warlock 11, then finish up with bard.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Aah thats lame, so my warlock slots will be useless for bard spells :<
How can I get extra skills from Lock to Bard ?

Go Lore Bard. At Lore Bard 3 you get a pile of extra skills. You'll have just as many skills as any other Lore Bard out there.

If you really, really want extra skills, you can pick the warlock Invocations that give you more skills, and/or add a level of Rogue. If you take level 1 in Rogue that gives you four starting skills (plus skills from your race and background), then one more when you multiclass to Bard, and then whatever else you get from Lore Bard and Warlock invocations on top of that. But really it's redundant.

 

[mellored]

If you want all the skills...

Half-elf (2 skills) background (2 skills, 2 tools) Rogue 1 (4 skills if you start rogue, thieves tools), knowledge cleric 1 (2 skills, 2 expertise), warlock 2 with beguiling influence (2 skills), lore bard 3 (1 skill for multiclassing, 1 instrument, 3 skills for lore bard)
level 7 = 16 skills, 4 expertise, thieves tools, 1 instrument, and 2 other tools. Not to mention plenty of cantrips.
And there's still the skilled feat as well.


10 Str, 14 Dex, 12 Con, 12 Int, 14 Wis, 16 Cha. Leaves you well rounded for all the skills. Or trade Str and Int for 14 Con.

Medium armor + shield, bless, eldrich blast, healing word, and cutting word to be competent ranged support in battle.

I would finish with bard 6, warlock 11, rogue 2, knowledge 1. With 20 Cha and inspiring leader. Though hard to say what order to go in.
Sorcerer 3 is also tempting for quickened bless.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Storywise, becoming a warlock is easy, especially for a GOOlock. See an ugly picture or statue, hear funny voices in your head, hazzah, you are a warlock (or crazy or probably both). It is kind of like the old school paladin: out adventuring and you get a vision of LG paradise, and paladinhood, here you come.

If you are looking for utility, I would recommend a chainlock with a sprite familiar, maybe starting after level 7 bard.

All the old Weird Tales stories had strange piping music associated with the GOO's, so bardlock is a good thematic combo (ditto Devil Went Down to Georgia for the fiendlock/bard and the feylock/bard is a satyr's best friend).