Should a Bard multiclass?

[Omen D&D]

So I've got a level 6 Bard (Lore) and I was wondering if, in the future, it'd be good for Bards to multiclass. I'd be fine with conceding level 20 as of right now (maybe to Rogue), but that doesn't really do much since it's only 1 level in a class. In my opinion the Bard gets a lot of sweetness up to level 19, but I'm open to multiclassing earlier.

I advice lvl 3 in rogue/mastermind, you will get a lot of good support features and, the xtra 3 languages (one being thieves cant) is a welcome edition for RP, sneak attack. This can be mixed great with your control spells.


Anything more and you lose out on getting 9th lvl spells. and anything less, loses you all the support features mastermind gets you. I don't see losing superior inspiration or the final magical secrets as a bad thing, at lvl 17 you can already cast so much and the final features i think depends on what you have been wanting you're bard to do. IF you need that final magical secrets. Then don't take it. BUt i think you are missing out on the support stuff

[sithlordnergal]

So I've got a level 6 Bard (Lore) and I was wondering if, in the future, it'd be good for Bards to multiclass. I'd be fine with conceding level 20 as of right now (maybe to Rogue), but that doesn't really do much since it's only 1 level in a class. In my opinion the Bard gets a lot of sweetness up to level 19, but I'm open to multiclassing earlier.

So, I would take a single level of Warlock, and take Hexblade. That will give you an excellent damage cantrip, Shield, better armor, and access to a few more damaging first level spells. Skip the Hex spell though, you don't need it

[Tallytrev813]

You just got one of the best bard features. You could take 2 warlock (popular). If damage isn't needed and you are not a gish (lore) paladin/rogue/fighter is worse. Take 2 warlock now or take nothing

^^^
This guy nailed it.


If your party needs a little more DPR from you in favor of support, then take 2 of Hexblade Warlock. You'll get a shield for +AC, Eldritch Blast, and 2 Invocations (Agonizing blast and Mask of Many Faces). Eldritch Blast becomes your new go-to action (in favor of Vicious Mockery) for pretty solid Force damage, and you gain At-Will Disguise Self.

If your party doesnt need the Damage, go straight Bard.

Disclaimer - im assuming you're Lore - its all i play.

[JackPhoenix]

I'm sure your advice would've been appreciated.

If it came 3 years ago, that is. As it is, thread necromancy is frowned upon.

[Tallytrev813]

I'm sure your advice would've been appreciated.

If it came 3 years ago, that is. As it is, thread necromancy is frowned upon.

I clicked it from the front page - look at the time stamps on the posts. This whole page is from today. Was that intentionally snarky?

[sithlordnergal]

I clicked it from the front page - look at the time stamps on the posts. This whole page is from today. Was that intentionally snarky?

I don't think he's accusing you of the thread necro. If you look, Omen necro'd the thread, and we found it

[JackPhoenix]

I clicked it from the front page - look at the time stamps on the posts. This whole page is from today. Was that intentionally snarky?

It's on the front page because Omen D&D responded to more than 3 years old thread. The post you've replied to is over 3 years old. It doesn't matter how old "this whole page" is, when the post before that was made 3 years ago. Thread necromancy is against the forum rules.

[Keravath]

Personally, I liked the 2 level hexblade warlock multiclass for my lore bard. It fit the character back story and was taken early so at level 5 he was 3 lore bard/ 2 hexblade warlock.

This multiclass delays spell progression by one spell level and loses the level 19 ASI.

However, in exchange I added the following:
- proficiency with medium armor and shields as well as martial weapons. With a 14 dex and a +2 shield, my AC at level 13 is 20. It will go higher if I get some magic armor. I also have the shield spell from hexblade warlock giving an AC of 25 if I want to use a reaction.
- hexblades curse - add proficiency damage if doing damage
- additional spells and cantrips - shield, hex and especially eldritch blast
- invocations - agonizing blast and one other - could be devils sight for seeing in the dark (great for races without darkvision), mask of many faces for at will disguise self and some fun social interactions, or repelling blast for a 10' push back on EVERY eldritch blast bolt for some cool crowd control and the ability to push opponents off cliffs.
- two short rest first level spell slots for additional fuel for shield or other first level spells like dissonant whispers or faerie fire

Some of the benefits depend on your stats. If your dex is higher than 14 (which it likely is) then the AC boost may mean less ... but you still get to use a shield and you still have a hand free for spell casting.

So far, I have enjoyed the trade off, the hardest level was level 6 for me before getting third level spells but the at will damage from agonizing blast compensated.

I find that often the bard will cast a concentration spell for cc like hypnotic pattern or similar and then has to fall back on cantrips for about 50% of the combat rounds (This depends on whether your campaign runs one big combat/day or several encounters - the more encounters and the less you can afford to blow all your spell resources on one fight). I found vicious mockery to be extremely lacking. There is nothing quite like casting vicious mockery at level 6 and doing 2 damage (assuming that the target fails the very commonly resisted save) and then comparing to 2d10+charismax2 for agonizing blast with a very rarely resisted damage type.

I've even found occasion to use hex when the best action my bard could take was to stack damage on a difficult target (I'd tried blindness and the target's save was very large).

At 4th level the spells I took were dimension door and polymorph. Polymorph can be fun and can either CC a boss or save one of your team mates with a timely transformation but I didn't find waiting a couple of levels for these to be much of a problem since I could do a lot with the 3rd level spells already. However, delay of spell levels is probably the biggest issue and taking the levels of hexblade now might make you feel like you are really slowing your progression while when I took it early it just became a part of the character so it didn't really feel behind and I always had agonizing blast to fall back on for damage.

As for magical secrets, I took fireball and counterspell at 6 and wall of force and circle of power at 10. There are a lot of good choices depending on which way you want to go with the character.

P.S. You probably don't want more than 2 levels of multiclassing IF you think the character might get to level 20 since the level 18 magical secrets will give you access to any 9th level spells of your choice and makes a decent capstone.

[Tallytrev813]

It's on the front page because Omen D&D responded to more than 3 years old thread. The post you've replied to is over 3 years old. It doesn't matter how old "this whole page" is, when the post before that was made 3 years ago. Thread necromancy is against the forum rules.

So then dont you think your comments would be better served directed towards the person who revived the thread?

I'm not sure why i was singled out by you when there's a whole page of posters above me all of whom responded. Particularly with a post that could be read as possessing rude tone.

[MaxWilson]

So then dont you think your comments would be better served directed towards the person who revived the thread?

I'm not sure why i was singled out by you when there's a whole page of posters above me all of whom responded. Particularly with a post that could be read as possessing rude tone.

I'm pretty sure post #34 was a response to post #31, not #33. I.e. JackPhoenix was responding to Omen. He even made a point of echoing Omen's use of the word "advice."

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: This is a good example of: 1) why thread necromancy is disfavored and 2) why vigilante modding is unhelpful. Both are prohibited here.