As a Bard, cast Expeditious Retreat at start of combat to have speed advantage.
If a lone foe can't match your speed and doesn't have a ranged attack:
When you're not engaged, cast Vicious Mockery. Either they engage, or they retreat out of your range, or they slowly lose all HP, aka "chipping". (Exceptions: they have reliable WIS save, or they resist psychic damage.)
When the foe engages, cast Dissonant Whispers, which forces them to retreat giving you AoO. You can't do that all day, but you might use every remaining spell slot on this, after the first slot for Expeditious Retreat.
Would the Mobile feat improve options even further?
If a lone foe can't match your speed and doesn't have a ranged attack:
When you're not engaged, cast Vicious Mockery. Either they engage, or they retreat out of your range, or they slowly lose all HP, aka "chipping". (Exceptions: they have reliable WIS save, or they resist psychic damage.)
When the foe engages, cast Dissonant Whispers, which forces them to retreat giving you AoO. You can't do that all day, but you might use every remaining spell slot on this, after the first slot for Expeditious Retreat.
Would the Mobile feat improve options even further?
