D&D 5E Bardic Lore: A Basic College of Lore Bard Guide

[neobolts]

Valor's biggest feature is medium armor + shields. Basically medium armor mastery. You could reasonably ignore the weapons and just take the +4/5 AC. It's reasonably on par with cutting words Valor still hand out the same number of inspiration dice.

There's many buff spells that can be applied to attacks. Like ensnaring strike, flight, greater invisibility, haste, paladin smites or foresight.
Also, shield master + expertise athletics + multi-attack + grapple = prone + held. You can get enlarge via magic secrets so you can hold down bigger creatures too.

The level 14 is also decent. A few extra attacks from a handbow is helpful even with 14 dex.


Also, shillelagh (+ polearm master) = use Cha to attack. Reduces MAD a lot.

And i'll just casually drop this link to my bard guide as i leave....
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468629-A-party-without-music-is-lame-A-Bard-Guide

I've enjoyed your meticulous class breakdowns as a lurker on the WotC fourms, welcome on board!

 

[Zardnaar]

Hmmm, would Crusader's Mantle be a good pick for Magical Secrets?
Seems with all the other classes getting Extra Attacks, Pets, Summons or whatever, the damage potential racks up pretty high?

Also, Swift Quiver is a touched based spell and cast on a Quiver...
Can it be used on an Ally's Quiver? A sharpshooter Hunter with 4 attacks seems somewhat appealing.

Crusaders Mantle depends on the party composition and number of attacks the party can make. I'm not going to rate every spell in the PHB in terms of magical secrets though.

 

[DocSharpe]

So I like this guide. A lot. I certainly agree with your opening line that bards have a poor reputation as a class, but this has been one of the more enjoyable characters I've played. After playing a bard in AL up through lvl 9, I don't see a lot that I would disagree with. (I gravitate towards slightly different spells, but that may just be my playstyle). One thing to call out in Additional Magical Secrets is that the spells don't count against your total spells known, (spells from the main Magical Secrets feature do count)...it's something which some players have missed.

I would add one thought as far as feats go... Inspiring Leader is IMO a stronger feat for a Cha-based character than Healer. For a couple reasons, first, it's THP, which means you're pre-healing your party, as opposed to needing to spend an action during combat. Second, it's for six people, not just one, which is usually the entire party. At 9th level, my lore bard gives out 14 THP to most of the party...which for most characters is effectively an extra level or two of HP.


I would love to pick people's brains about what to do after 10th. As noted, I'm at 9th level, and will hit 10th very shortly. It feels like after 10th, there are diminishing returns on the abilities you get at higher levels. Improving Song of Rest to d10s and d12s, and BI dice to d12s barely register as improvements (beyond "yay, I get to use d12s for something"). Peerless skill is neat, especially as an initiative bump, but not worth investing another 4 levels in the class. Yeah, there are 6th level and higher spells...but I feel like I should be looking in another cart for tricks. Wondering if I'm missing the obvious here.

 

[Zardnaar]

High level lore bards are basically spell casters with some tacked on abilities. It depends on how you have built the class so far.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I would love to pick people's brains about what to do after 10th. As noted, I'm at 9th level, and will hit 10th very shortly. It feels like after 10th, there are diminishing returns on the abilities you get at higher levels. Improving Song of Rest to d10s and d12s, and BI dice to d12s barely register as improvements (beyond "yay, I get to use d12s for something"). Peerless skill is neat, especially as an initiative bump, but not worth investing another 4 levels in the class. Yeah, there are 6th level and higher spells...but I feel like I should be looking in another cart for tricks. Wondering if I'm missing the obvious here.

Like Zardnaar, I see sticking with bard as a strong option. You get more and better of everything you have up till now. High-level bards have something to look forward to at every spell level, and bailing on the class just because the class abilities are meh is an overreaction. They're meh because the spells provide the bulk of the utility. That being said, 19th and 20th level are less attractive because you're gaining only spell quantity and not quality at that point, so you have some room to multiclass (if it's appropriate to your character biography). But for the most part I'd stick with bard.

 

[Mistwell]

I'll hopefully get some more up on spells in the weekend an higher level magical secrets.

After that look at the EEPG.

Any interest in a valor bard guide? I wad also thinking about a bladelock.

I have a lot of interest in both, but the Valor slightly more than Bladelock. You teased an interesting combination for Valor once and I'd like to see what you do with it.

 

[Zardnaar]

I have a lot of interest in both, but the Valor slightly more than Bladelock. You teased an interesting combination for Valor once and I'd like to see what you do with it.

Certain spells are better for the Valor bard and there is the shield bash thing as well. Dissonant whispers for example is amazing if you have an additional 1-2 melee PCs in your party and is one of the few level 1 spells that is worth using at higher levels.

 

[travathian]

Like Zardnaar, I see sticking with bard as a strong option. You get more and better of everything you have up till now. High-level bards have something to look forward to at every spell level, and bailing on the class just because the class abilities are meh is an overreaction. They're meh because the spells provide the bulk of the utility. That being said, 19th and 20th level are less attractive because you're gaining only spell quantity and not quality at that point, so you have some room to multiclass (if it's appropriate to your character biography). But for the most part I'd stick with bard.

Completely agree. I think too many people think the lack of new abilities in the upper levels of the bard are a reason to ditch it.

Remember, Bard has full casting ability. Don't discount that. Take a look at some 7th-9th level spells. There's a reason even wizards get a small number of slots of those levels. They are exceedingly powerful. 17th level is huge for that 9th level spell. 18th level is likewise huge because of Magical Secrets (Wish spell anyone?). I think 19th is also key for the Ability Score/Feat. If all of your key stats are at even numbers or maxed, and your campaign doesn't use the option feat, then I can see multiclassing. Otherwise, stick with bard. 20th level gets very dicey. I dont see Superior Inspiration being all that useful, though a second L7 spell is pretty nice. But you have to weigh that against one level of Rogue/Fighter/Cleric/etc. There are lots of good possibilities for multiclassing a single level outside of bard that can round out your character.

But ditching the class after L10 and going an entirely different direction? I don't see it. I don't know what class you would pick that wouldn't suffer by itself only having 10 levels in it.

 

[CapnZapp]

Quantity is a quality of its own.

If I were to multiclass that late, I'd definitely stick to a full caster class.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

Faerie Fire can also be gained once per day by becoming a third level Drow- you might want to add that to the list of sources in the rating for that spell