Well, I played a kobold summoner in a fairly long lived game (made it to 12 from 3 if i remember it correctly). When I said I was playing a kobold everyone assumed I'd have some kind of dragon eidolon. They were rather shocked when I summoned another kobold. When the laughter quieted down my...
I found the following spells to be great picks for the bards I played.
Fly, Fireball/lightning bolt, Dragons Breath, Haste, Revivify, Spirit Guardians, Animate Dead, Blink, Guidance, Eldrich Blast, Hex
Dipping 1-3 levels can be a big power boost. The only real combo that I've seen be broken is a paladin warlock with hexblade. I don't allow hexblade multi classes. Straight lock hexblade are fine.
I like the volo's kobold personally. Kobolds were always underdogs (until 4th edition) and that lead to much of their charm. As for grovel, cower,beg just rename the ability if you don't like it. Most of the problems people seem to have with the ability is the fluff, so change it, the mechanic...
Near at will stun and mobility will make the monk still valuable. The monk will also have more attacks and beable to deal full damage to creatures with resistance where the beast cannot.
By raw I believe the answer to this would be, no they would still be immune. The spell itself specifically says creatures that can't hear you are immune to its effect. The text of the spell is clear though it's intent maybe a tad murky. As a DM I would probably rule yes though, possibly offer...