D&D (2024) +Caster Single Target Damage+

[Zardnaar]

Innate Sorcery gives Advantage on Sorcery spells. So go Sorcerer 3 and you have easy advantage on Scorching Ray

Plus a subclass. Possibly Divine Soul to land an extra hit.

Yeah wife spotted the advantage to hit combo. Until CME I'm not a worried about it vs getting more bard levels ASAP.

YMMV.

And if I'm resorting to CME I want to be proficient in con saves or have advantage at least.

 

[mellored]

Yeah wife spotted the advantage to hit combo. Until CME I'm not a worried about it vs getting more bard levels ASAP.

A normal Scorching Ray + Advantage is probably the highest damage (6d6) you can do at level 3.

And if I'm resorting to CME I want to be proficient in con saves or have advantage at least.

Yea, that's why I suggested Vengeance paladin further up.
Easy advantage. Though Foresight would be better, it's hard to reach while dipping.

 

[Mistwell]

A simple application of the Glyph method is Hex the previous night triggered the following morning. With a couple high enough slots the caster gains concentration-free Hex all day long to add to attacks by sacrificing a rat that next morning.

That fits into the 10th level Valor Bard splashed Warlock rather easily.

I like it. And Hex SHOULD be concentration-free all day in my opinion. So I think it's fair balance-wise as well.

 

[Zardnaar]

A normal Scorching Ray + Advantage is probably the highest damage (6d6) you can do at level 3.

Yea, that's why I suggested Vengeance paladin further up.
Easy advantage. Though Foresight would be better, it's hard to reach while dipping.

Foresight a long way away and falls into the theoretical camp.

If I was going sorcerer/bard I want CME ASAP imho.

Lvl 3 scorching ray is still limited and is more Sorcrerors thing. Sorcerer 3, bard 3 or 4 isn't as much fun as Sorcerer 1/Bard 6.

I don't rate being good for a single level as that good ymmv of course. Scorching Ray+hex is nice lvl 3. There's also other ways to buff accuracy eg bless, human, feats etc.

Warlocks an obvious contender at low levels for the OPs criteria. Just can't abuse CME without 10 levels of bard or 7 levels of Lore Bard.