Willie the Duck
Hero
Hi all, here's the situation-
After months of hinting at Out of the Abyss, the DM instead decided to run an all-drow campaign. The story as we know it is thus: We were part of a minor house in Menzoberranzan. It fell out of favor with Lolth and was mostly wiped out. We were the part of the house deemed loyal enough to be spared. We have one year of protection (from war of annihilation, not universal), after which we will have had to have made enough allies or shown ourselves useful enough not to be wiped out. We will have to socialize, convince the other houses to use our services, do espionage, do all the sorts of stuff one does in an urban campaign. But then also go adventuring some in the underdark to actually accomplish those things we arrange to do for other houses. So social and skullduggery talents can't be neglected, but we can't be total pushovers in fights either.
The party is going to consist of:
female Drow Cleric (Lolth-trickery) 4, Acolyte background.
female Drow Barbarian (not sure what type, probably a re-skinned :smallbiggrin: bear) 3, noble background(maybe?)
female Drow Monk (either shadow or long death from SCAG) 3, noble background
And me, a male Drow Bard (to be determined) 3, charlatan background.
We will also have some low-power warriors, guards, men-at-arms to adventure with.
A little background on the players: We have played together for one previous campaign, which was the first 5e one for everyone except myself. A lot of the players still play like it was 2nd edition. High level strategic gameplay is a little behind the curve compared to these boards (no one has yet abused GWM or SS, no sorcadins or sorcerer/warlock combos, etc.).
The RP idea for my male bard is if the females in the group are lieutenants of the household, and the guards are enlisted, I am the non-comm. I am suave, charming (but forgettable), and people usually see me as a standard issue noble male having to be half in the court, half actually leading men. Kind of a fopish lesser noble of no concern, so they underestimate me, but I don't look out of place either in court or on the adventure. What else do I do with this RP-wise
My main crunch questions involve whether to pick valor or lore bard, what spells to select, if lore bard, what magic secrets, and what to do with my ASI come level 4.
My (rolled, and modified by race) stats are
Str 10 Dex 20 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 18
Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Deception, Insight, Perception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, disguise kit, forgery kit
HP: 26, AL: I don't know, probably CE, but maybe up to TN
For Valor vs. Lore it is a hard pick. For Lore, cutting words is clearly useful. The three extra skills (probably Investigation, Persuasion, and thieves' tools) would be okay, but at this level are only +1 compared to Jack of all Trades. The two spells from Magic Secrets at 6 would definitely define the build. Valor is an odd one. I'd usually say it wasn't worth it. Combat Inspiration looks just in general worse than cutting words (boost AC instead of subtract from attacker's to-hit, but it takes both my bonus action to give and my allies' reaction to use). With a 20 Dex, medium armor is unimportant. The shield would be nice, except that pretty much requires war caster, plus you can't use it while using a bow. The extra attack would be very nice though. Here's why: I'm going to assume that, given how much social stuff we'll likely be doing (and how much of the skullduggery crap will fall on my shoulders, what with a monk and barbarian being much of the party), a lot of my spells will be enchantments and such. In the many combat situations where I might not have the right spells, it'd be nice to be able to plunk away with two 1d8+5 attacks instead of one.
For ASI/Feats: War Caster is a natural choice for valor. +2 Charisma of course makes sense (especially for enchantments, which are usually save based, and often 1/rnd when used in combat). Inspiring Leader is thematically interesting (and helps keep those low-level warriors alive). If I did go Lore, Magic Initiate to grab maybe green-flame blade and a long-range blast cantrip (fire bolt or eldritch blast, depending on whether I chose a sorcerer or warlock 1st level spell) might shore up some combat weakness.
So that's my thoughts as of now. What do people suggest for valor/lore, for ASI, and for spells?
Much thanks!
After months of hinting at Out of the Abyss, the DM instead decided to run an all-drow campaign. The story as we know it is thus: We were part of a minor house in Menzoberranzan. It fell out of favor with Lolth and was mostly wiped out. We were the part of the house deemed loyal enough to be spared. We have one year of protection (from war of annihilation, not universal), after which we will have had to have made enough allies or shown ourselves useful enough not to be wiped out. We will have to socialize, convince the other houses to use our services, do espionage, do all the sorts of stuff one does in an urban campaign. But then also go adventuring some in the underdark to actually accomplish those things we arrange to do for other houses. So social and skullduggery talents can't be neglected, but we can't be total pushovers in fights either.
The party is going to consist of:
female Drow Cleric (Lolth-trickery) 4, Acolyte background.
female Drow Barbarian (not sure what type, probably a re-skinned :smallbiggrin: bear) 3, noble background(maybe?)
female Drow Monk (either shadow or long death from SCAG) 3, noble background
And me, a male Drow Bard (to be determined) 3, charlatan background.
We will also have some low-power warriors, guards, men-at-arms to adventure with.
A little background on the players: We have played together for one previous campaign, which was the first 5e one for everyone except myself. A lot of the players still play like it was 2nd edition. High level strategic gameplay is a little behind the curve compared to these boards (no one has yet abused GWM or SS, no sorcadins or sorcerer/warlock combos, etc.).
The RP idea for my male bard is if the females in the group are lieutenants of the household, and the guards are enlisted, I am the non-comm. I am suave, charming (but forgettable), and people usually see me as a standard issue noble male having to be half in the court, half actually leading men. Kind of a fopish lesser noble of no concern, so they underestimate me, but I don't look out of place either in court or on the adventure. What else do I do with this RP-wise
My main crunch questions involve whether to pick valor or lore bard, what spells to select, if lore bard, what magic secrets, and what to do with my ASI come level 4.
My (rolled, and modified by race) stats are
Str 10 Dex 20 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 18
Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Deception, Insight, Perception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, disguise kit, forgery kit
HP: 26, AL: I don't know, probably CE, but maybe up to TN
For Valor vs. Lore it is a hard pick. For Lore, cutting words is clearly useful. The three extra skills (probably Investigation, Persuasion, and thieves' tools) would be okay, but at this level are only +1 compared to Jack of all Trades. The two spells from Magic Secrets at 6 would definitely define the build. Valor is an odd one. I'd usually say it wasn't worth it. Combat Inspiration looks just in general worse than cutting words (boost AC instead of subtract from attacker's to-hit, but it takes both my bonus action to give and my allies' reaction to use). With a 20 Dex, medium armor is unimportant. The shield would be nice, except that pretty much requires war caster, plus you can't use it while using a bow. The extra attack would be very nice though. Here's why: I'm going to assume that, given how much social stuff we'll likely be doing (and how much of the skullduggery crap will fall on my shoulders, what with a monk and barbarian being much of the party), a lot of my spells will be enchantments and such. In the many combat situations where I might not have the right spells, it'd be nice to be able to plunk away with two 1d8+5 attacks instead of one.
For ASI/Feats: War Caster is a natural choice for valor. +2 Charisma of course makes sense (especially for enchantments, which are usually save based, and often 1/rnd when used in combat). Inspiring Leader is thematically interesting (and helps keep those low-level warriors alive). If I did go Lore, Magic Initiate to grab maybe green-flame blade and a long-range blast cantrip (fire bolt or eldritch blast, depending on whether I chose a sorcerer or warlock 1st level spell) might shore up some combat weakness.
So that's my thoughts as of now. What do people suggest for valor/lore, for ASI, and for spells?
Much thanks!
