D&D 5E Lore Bard x Life Cleric x Desert Druid: Who's the best healer in the game?

[Giltonio_Santos]

I don't know the math behind this, but I'm seeing a single feature that seems to be enough to place the bard of the College of Lore one step above the other healers: Cutting Words. From what I've seen, no other character can mitigate damage as a reaction. Is this feature as powerful as it seems?

Also, having Charisma as the spellcasting ability further helps the bard. While druids and clerics can also choose martial adept to "rally" and heal in a specially tough round, the bard will be providing the ally with 8.5 temporary hit points against whatever the cleric or druid manages to pull, considering that Charisma is not a wanted stat for either of those classes.

That said, the desert druid gains some powerful mitigation spells: blur (self only, but still very strong) and protection from energy. In the cleric's favor, no class ever comes near in number of hit points healed with a single spell. I believe every style is well-covered and all primary healers are viable, but the bard is king in actions per round, and number of actions has been a strong factor in the past. Any thoughts on that?

Cheers!

 

[yynderjohn]

The only downside of Lore Bard is that "Cutting Words" does not work vs anything that is immune to charm. I havent seen the Monster Manual yet, but that seems like it would be a large percentage of foes (undead, constructs, etc) compared to the Valor Bards ability which cannot be resisted (since it affects the player).

 

[Mr Fixit]

Cutting Words don't seem that overpowering, I think. It's limited to 5 uses per encounter at the most, assuming CHA20 and resting after every battle (also forgoing any other uses a bard may have for his inspiration), it's a single die and applies to one character in a round. I don't think it's that different from battlemaster's maneuvers giving party members various similar benefits.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

The problem with the valor ability is that it eats two actions instead of one (target's reaction and your bonus action) and you have no out if the attack doesn't end up where you predicted it to go. From the basic rules, it appears that only undead, constructs and swarms are automatically immune to charm. Basically, in a fight against those creatures, the lore bard would be in the same action economy as everybody else, which is ok, if he gets one more healing action per round in every other kind of combat.

 

[Zardnaar]

Valor bard is OK at the damage mitigation. The diviner wizard is very good at that as well but more limited per day. I think a bard proficient in martial weapons using the Polearm master feat and warcaster together could mitigate a lot of damage with vicious mockery casting it as a AoO. Fighter 1, BardX or just go with the valor bard. I have the cutting words bard and the diviner in my party I have to DM. They more or less shut down single target big bads.

 

[MortalPlague]

While playtesting, I had a brush between an angry purple worm and my 4th level party. The bard was restrained by roots, and the warlock stepped up beside him to help defend.

The warlock cast Cause Fear! The worm rolled a 15, just enough to hit his save! The bard used cutting words, and the worm fled, terrified from the party!

That inspired the group's name: The Company Of A Thousand Teeth.