D&D 5E Hex sword bard - where to go next

[VizjereiJames]

Hi guys, I wonder if you can help with my sword bard/hexblade going forward.

I pictured him as a ff14 red mage style fighter, spells from afar and dashing in for some real damage, before being able to get out of melee when needed. Light healing ability (healing word) and overall flexibility to adapt to most situations.

He’s also Tabaxi so imagine puss in boots

Rolled well on stats - 14, 16, 14, 12, 14, 18 in order with tasha’s adjusted racial bonuses already added

Currently sword bard 4 - warcaster feat at 4, duelling fighting style
Hexblade 1
Rapier+shield combo

Currently using booming blade as my main attack. +7 hit, 1d8+6 piercing + 1d8 thunder

Not sure where to go next, my current thoughts:

-More bard - higher level spells, second attack (would negate booming blade though)
-More warlock - invocations, possibly pact of the blade, warlock spells
-Rogue - 3 levels for cunning action, 2d6 sneak and swashbuckler. Swashbuckler allows better initiative, free disengage on the target plus easy way to get sneak attack which stacks with booming blade.

For context we are playing curse of strahd, and in the party is a vengeance paladin, arcane trickster rogue, wildfire Druid and zealot barbarian.

All advice and thoughts welcome, I look forward to hearing from you
James

 

[Merchant of Shadows]

If your DM is handling short rests proterly - 5th level of bard for Font of Inspiration seems very tempting. After that I'd go for 5 levels in sorcerer to get haste and the ability to twin it (you can share it with the rogue or barbarian and the paladin will have a haste of his own plus a nice boost to your Con saves with his aura). Keep in mind that you will always remain a jack of all trades and specialised builds will begin to overtake you, but you can certainly find your niche in the party if you try. By that time you will be lvl 11 and the campaign will be close to it's end, but in case it isn't - 5 levels of warlock to get eldritch smite will give you another way to set up any enemy for a melee smackdown by your party.

 

[jgsugden]

Where I would go will depend upon a lot of things:

What is your relationship to your Patron? What is your Patron? If for example, it is a Greatsword like Blackrazor, and you intend to wield it someday, you need to set that up.

Bards are highly social classes. Are you the Face of your party? If so, how important is it to develop those abilities?

Are you the damage source for your party, or are there other heavy hitters? If there are other heavy hitters, focusing more on control than on damage will make you a more efficient party member.

If you just want damage capability: Bard to 8 (you need multi-attack, you want to Raise charisma). Then paladin 2 (for Smite), although from an RP perspective being both a Warlock and a Paladin/Cleric can be a blessing and a curse (intentional). From there, either bard to 17, or Sorcerer to 9.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

The module purports to go up to tenth level. Given that there are only so many levels left I'd avoid Rogue since you are already multiclassed, unless you really want to focus on melee. The main thing you seem to want out of Rogue is easy disengage. But you can pick up the Mobile feat with your next ASI and make do with mobile flourishes until then. Unless you intend to play such that you are going straight to the sneak attacking through every round of the fight I think it is better to focus on upping your spellcasting game, especially since there seems to be several dedicated melee people in your group already. That said, another ASI might not be in the cards depending on what you want.

Personally when I had a Sword Bard I could never bear to actually put my spell progression on hold to take the Swashbuckler levels I had planned for. Sword Bards are great for versatility's sake, but you are never going to be the melee mvp of a team like yours, whereas with more Bard levels you can be the battlefield control mvp who also then lends a hand in melee while maintaining concentration on the Hypnotic Pattern and throwing Healing Words at whomever needs them. If you went Swashbuckler Rogue you'd be better at the melee part but still not a particular star on a team that already has a Paladin, a Barbarian, and a dedicated Rogue, and you'd be weaker in everything else Bards do (expertise in two more skills notwithstanding).

Going at least another couple levels in Bard gets you much better inspiration, 3rd level spells, and a second attack (which is sometimes going to be better than only getting one shot with a booming blade). Bard 5 should definitely be your next level. Whether Bard 6 for extra attack is worth it ironically depends on whether you intend to take Rogue levels since if you do need to land a sneak attack die it becomes more important to get multiple shots at the sneak attack apple.

Bard 7 gets you Greater Invisibility, which is basically the highest of the major melee buff spells, so it would be a possible logical place to end a melee oriented Bard career, but then again there is an ASI at Bard 8, Some awesome Level 5 spells at level 9, and, should you get to level 10, Magical Secrets. It's hard to get off that Bard train.

Warlock 2 for invocations may make sense depending on how deeply you desire invocations. I think unless you are eldritch blasting and/or want to make one of the various at will spell invocations central to your play it's probably not worth it except on the road to Warlock 3. But going up to Warlock 3 does make a lot of sense. I don't think there is really all that much for you in Pact of the Blade unless you are going to Warlock 5, but Pact of the Chain (or possibly Tome) would give you a familiar, which means making a lot more attacks with advantage. Also you would get access to some great 2nd level spells for the melee inclined like Mirror Image, Misty Step, and Shadowblade.

All and all I'd recommend either sticking Bard, or building towards Bard X/Warlock 3.