Best Support Character

[ruy343]

So, I've got a group that's getting together soon that's going to have a few people that are new to the game. Rather than create a super-optimized build to "show them how it's done", I'd like to make a character that excels in making everyone else on the team look awesome and perform at their best. I've thought of a few classes for this build, but I wanted to see what creativity the forums could come up with.

Rules:

• I don't care about my damage-dealing ability
• Healing spells are preferred, but not required
• Transmutation (and other schools) spells that buff other players are a must
• Try not to regurgitate what other posters have commented. Try to be creative.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

The best stock option is going to be a lore bard who uses magical secrets to take the best cleric, druid and wizard spells to supplement the support role. Also grab the inspiring leader feat for rousing pre-battle speeches.

[Fralex]

I played a transmuter wizard once. It was nice because so many of my spells didn't have their effectiveness tied to someone failing a saving throw. I recommend spells that enable interesting stories. Enlarge/reduce is great for this, and jump, while not as applicable to many situations, is another fun one when it comes up. Just think of things a player might wish they could pull off, and see if you can make that possible.

[DireSickFish]

Life domain cleric is going to be a very powerful support character. The Cleric list has a lot of good buffs and debuffs on it for you to use. Bless is a handy use of concentration. With the healing boost it becomes a lot more viable to heal party members. Since you don't care about offensive power you can pick up supportive feats such as the leadership one or the mundane healing one to give you even more support options. Go Asimar for there built in lesser restoration and light spells or variant human to pick up the leadership feat from level 1.

[archaeo]

Try not to regurgitate what other posters have commented. Try to be creative.

That's gonna be hard because, naturally, someone has already said the correct answer: Lore Bard.

I think you could also make an argument for Life Clerics and Land Druids, but that's really about it. There are lots of classes that let you support other people, but they all tend to focus more on being awesome themselves (Paladin, Wizard) or only supporting your bros occasionally (Battle Master, the other 1/2 and 1/3 casters).

[Icewraith]

That's gonna be hard because, naturally, someone has already said the correct answer: Lore Bard.

I think you could also make an argument for Life Clerics and Land Druids, but that's really about it. There are lots of classes that let you support other people, but they all tend to focus more on being awesome themselves (Paladin, Wizard) or only supporting your bros occasionally (Battle Master, the other 1/2 and 1/3 casters).

Agreed, Lore Bard is definitely the best chassis for the concept, with Life Cleric next. Other good support spells include Greater Invisibility if you have a rogue, Bless, and Magic Weapon if nobody has one (and you need one).

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

A dip into sorcerer would also be useful, for twinning concentration buff spells.

[Talderas]

• Transmutation (and other schools) spells that buff other players are a must

You might want to relax on that requirement and instead focus more on debuffing the enemy. When you buff yourself and allies, concentration spells end when you decide to end them and they almost never fail to land. If you fall back to damage dealing spells then you're risking exactly what you're going for or you end up with a lot of unused spell slots which you may feel compelled to use for dealing damage. On the other hand you could focus more on debuffing the enemies where it's not guaranteed to stick and most of them have a save at the end of the target's turn. The spells aren't going to last as long and you're going to go through more spell slots. If the enemy is seemingly quite persistent at failing its save to break the effect then there are other non-concentration effects you could use.

I'm going to recommend a debuff heavy lore bard that utilizes bardic inspiration for cutting words rather than bardic inspiration. While debuffs can take away from the other players by trivializing encounters, they do give you the opportunity to play your spellcasting and abilities in an active rather than passive way. if you buff the players they're going to know and realize some of their awesome is because of you and that may hang over them. A conservative approach with debuffs won't necessarily illicit such a response, especially if you do it because they are at risk from something rather than in a proactive manner.

[Person_Man]

In my opinion, the best non-self buffs are probably Guidance, Bless, Enhance Ability, Pass Without Trace, Haste, Freedom of Movement, Polymorph, and Animal Shapes. (Though I'm sure I'm probably forgetting a few high level options).

That points to a Grassland Land Druid, who gets all of the above by default, except for Bless. (Which you can get with Magic Initiate Feat or 1 level of Cleric if you also want a Domain power).

For points in originality I'm going to advocate Grassland Druid. Take Sentinel Feat. Have an ally take Mounted Combat. Before combat cast a Concentration buff spell on an ally. Let ally ride you into combat. If an enemy attacks you, then your ally can prevent it with Mounted Combat, and you get a free attack against the enemy thanks to Sentinel. Mounted Combat also grants you Evasion, helping to keep your Concentration buff up. If you get knocked out of your Wildshape form somehow or get bored of being a mount, you still have a bunch of spells to fall back on, including healing spells. Plus you're an awesome scout/escort with Pass Without Trace and Wildshape. You get Goodberry and other healing spells. And you're Wisdom SAD thanks to Shelagh and Wildshape, which means your Wis can be 20 ASAP, which also helps with Perception.

[Theodoxus]

In my opinion, the best non-self buffs are probably Guidance, Bless, Enhance Ability, Pass Without Trace, Haste, Freedom of Movement, Polymorph, and Animal Shapes. (Though I'm sure I'm probably forgetting a few high level options).

That points to a Grassland Land Druid, who gets all of the above by default, except for Bless. (Which you can get with Magic Initiate Feat or 1 level of Cleric if you also want a Domain power).

For points in originality I'm going to advocate Grassland Druid. Take Sentinel Feat. Have an ally take Mounted Combat. Before combat cast a Concentration buff spell on an ally. Let ally ride you into combat. If an enemy attacks you, then your ally can prevent it with Mounted Combat, and you get a free attack against the enemy thanks to Sentinel. Mounted Combat also grants you Evasion, helping to keep your Concentration buff up. If you get knocked out of your Wildshape form somehow or get bored of being a mount, you still have a bunch of spells to fall back on, including healing spells. Plus you're an awesome scout/escort with Pass Without Trace and Wildshape. You get Goodberry and other healing spells. And you're Wisdom SAD thanks to Shelagh and Wildshape, which means your Wis can be 20 ASAP, which also helps with Perception.

Grab level 1 Life Cleric for Bless, and your good berries are now doing 4 points of healing a pop as well!

[Easy_Lee]

The grassland druid and lore bard options are great; you can't go wrong with those for support.

To offer up something different, let's say your party members already selected some classes that overlap with those two. The most important rule of support is to play what your team needs. With that in mind, a divination wizard could serve quite well. You use your divination spells to scout ahead and lay things out for your team; you use the archetype feature to fix their low rolls, or make the enemy miss crucial attacks; and you choose those wizard spells that deal with threats which the rest of the team can't handle, whether Web, hold person, Maze, or something else would be appropriate .

[ruy343]

That's gonna be hard because, naturally, someone has already said the correct answer: Lore Bard.

Apologies: the rules I wrote were intended to discourage people just popping in and posting what they feel was the correct answer, without explaining why they thought so. So far, we've had a rather interesting discussion. Thanks!

I had thought of Life Cleric and Bard, but hadn't considered a sorc dip for twinned buffs or a land druid. That's the kind of feedback I was looking for. Thanks!

EDIT: Oooh! Divination wizard: that's an interesting approach as well...

[Shining Wrath]

Lore bard, Land Druid, Life Cleric are already covered, so I'm going to try to think outside the box.

You want to do something other than direct damage that results in the party winning. Some new thoughts:

• Knowledge Cleric. You can be proficient at whatever you need to be proficient at. Whatever skill or tool (or, arguably, language - AFB) the party requires, you can supply - for a while.
• Illusionist or Enchantment Wizard: You don't solve problems by dealing damage, you solve problems by messing with people's minds.
• If and only if you have a good handle on where the campaign is set and what your foes will be, a Ranger's Favored Enemy / Terrain can boost the party in a variety of ways
• The Arcane Trickster has one trick - Mage Hand - which works in a variety of ways

[ChubbyRain]

Dex/Con/Cha based Rogue with a dash of battle master and fill out the rest with lore bard...

V. Human Rogue Thief 5/Fighter BM 5/Bard Lore 10

Human
Healer Feat

Rogue
Cunning Action
3: Fast Hands (use healer kit as a bonus action)
4: Inspiring Leader (level + cha temp HP)
5: Uncanny Dodge
Fighter
3: Rally (d8+cha temp HP), Goading Attack (remember you have uncanny dodge), Menacing Strike (OA galore)

Bard: Nuff Said up thread. Get bless.

When you aren't healing or using maneuvers you can do decent damage damage or as your main tactic use the HELP ACTION. Your AC should be something like 12+5+2 (shield): 19 and you can grab a spell like Mirror Image or blur to help your defenses.

You can always move in, help action, bonus action disengage, run away.

[Icewraith]

Diviner wizard can be tough to do in a way that doesn't overshadow party members or dominate the style of play. You can also wreck a lot of the DM's plans, on purpose or by accident.

[Ashrym]

I agree with much of what has been discussed so far but would like to add wild mage has some useful abilities and spells to fit the style, and valor bard inspiration options for adding AC or damage (after rolling a crit) make them worth considering.

With bounded accuracy, any ability that adds dice is pretty potent and that covers most forms of bardic inspiration. Saving throws and hit rolls being prime examples. Bard is my top choice for that reason on a support character. The skill bonuses are gravy.

[MinotaurWarrior]

I'd seriously consider oath of ancients defender paladin 7 / Wolf-Totem Barbarian 3, to get you to 10.

This may not actually be the optimal way to buff others for better objective results. However, I think it is the best way to make others look awesome. (1) It's not at all fiddly, so you're not taking up huge amounts of gametime the new guys could be spending doing stuff they think is awesome and (2) It just makes them better at doing what they're doing - which will likely seem wholly attributable to them. Nobody thinks of the wolf totem barbarian when they get their game changing crit, or when the rogue is always getting sneak attacks. Compare that to, say, you casting enlarge / reduce and allowing the rogue to fit through the doggy door / air shaft / whatever. That is partly a cool thing you did. Not just a cool thing the new guy did.

[DireSickFish]

I'd seriously consider oath of ancients defender paladin 7 / Wolf-Totem Barbarian 3, to get you to 10.

This may not actually be the optimal way to buff others for better objective results. However, I think it is the best way to make others look awesome. (1) It's not at all fiddly, so you're not taking up huge amounts of gametime the new guys could be spending doing stuff they think is awesome and (2) It just makes them better at doing what they're doing - which will likely seem wholly attributable to them. Nobody thinks of the wolf totem barbarian when they get their game changing crit, or when the rogue is always getting sneak attacks. Compare that to, say, you casting enlarge / reduce and allowing the rogue to fit through the doggy door / air shaft / whatever. That is partly a cool thing you did. Not just a cool thing the new guy did.

I do think the wolf totem barbarian ability is one of the best support abilities int he game. Doubly so if you have any classes that do well with crits. I played a Pally once and was loving my barbarian bro for making all my smites land and critting a lot more.

[jkat718]

This is super-niche, and most DMs probably don't know the rule (or ignore it, if they do), but there is this downtime option in the DMG:

PERFORMING SACRED RITES A pious character can spend time between adventures performing sacred rites in a temple affiliated with a god he or she reveres. Between rites, the character spends time in meditation and prayer.  A character who is a priest in the temple can lead these rites, which might include weddings, funerals, and ordinations. A layperson can offer sacrifices in a temple or assist a priest with a rite.  A character who spends at least 10 days performing sacred rites gains inspiration (described in chapter 4 of the Player's Handbook) at the start of each day for the next 2d6 days.

My party's cleric helps out everyone else by running the local church, and thereby a) generating revenue, b) providing free housing at the church's shelter, and c) generating inspiration, all at once.

[Person_Man]

I agree with much of what has been discussed so far but would like to add wild mage has some useful abilities and spells to fit the style, and valor bard inspiration options for adding AC or damage (after rolling a crit) make them worth considering.

Just my opinion, but I would never play a Wild Mage as a support character unless everyone in your party was completely aware of and totally cool with the potentially random nature of your magic, particularly at low levels, where you could very easily kill one of your allies by accident.

I get that lots of people love the Wild Mage specifically because of its randomness. But to me, it feels like an anti-support class.

[silveralen]

Hmm I'm trying to think of combos no one mentioned but most of the ground has been covered. Possibly... you could mix lore bard with paladin? Or land druid with life cleric? Both might have some benefits to them if done well.

Lore bard+paladin, you gain a source of healing independent of spell slots and you have the auras that help if you keep close to your team.

Land druid and life cleric gives you a bigger array of spells while still getting the healing boost from life cleric.

You know... A life cleric mixed with non casting ranger might be interesting.

That's about all I can think of. Not sure either is good but they are things we haven't talked about so far.

[Giant2005]

Play a Necromancer! Kill your allies in their sleep and turn them into zombies - removing their free will so they can't do anything stupid is the best support there is!

Other than that, I'd recommend an Oath of the Ancients Paladin. Their level 7 Aura is exceptionally powerful (Half damage from all spells) and at level 9 they get access to the best healing spell in the game (Far superior to anything a Life Cleric could ever hope to accomplish) and some of the best buffs in the game (Elemental Weapon, Crusader's Mantle). They also have access to the Protection Fighting Style which is basically the only way to use your reaction to support people and of course Lay on Hands for curing diseases and such. You could do the same thing as a Lore Bard, minus the aura, Lay on Hands and the Fighting Style and have it come online 3 levels earlier if you wanted (It doesn't sound worth it but those 3 levels are a massive difference in time played).
The Paladin gives you something productive to do with your Reaction and Concentration slot while also giving you a passive buff for the party which means you need to find something useful to do with your Bonus action and action (Which doesn't require concentration). The action can easily be taken care of via the help action although you might be better off taking a level or two of Bard and spamming Viscious Mockery to impose disadvantage on your enemy's attacks. Bard would also give you Inspiration which activates on your unused bonus action. I'd also recommend Sorcerer levels for quickened and Twinned Spells. Twinning would mean two concentration spells active (Two Elemental Weapons would be glorious) and Quickened would give you a little something extra to do with that bonus action if you are out of Inspiration or Inspiration isn't the best course of action at that moment.

TLDR: Eventually you would want to be Paladin 9/Bard 1 (or 2)/ Sorcerer 10 (or 9).
That'd give you:
a passive spell resistance aura
the best heals in the game for post-battle clean up
the best buffs in the game and the ability to twin them
inspiration buffs
the ability to impose disadvantage to the attacks of up to 4 enemies per turn (Protection Fighting Style, Quickened Viscious Mockery, Twinned Viscious Mockery).

[Ashrym]

Just my opinion, but I would never play a Wild Mage as a support character unless everyone in your party was completely aware of and totally cool with the potentially random nature of your magic, particularly at low levels, where you could very easily kill one of your allies by accident.

I get that lots of people love the Wild Mage specifically because of its randomness. But to me, it feels like an anti-support class.

I definitely get that. Random wild surge stuff keeps me from playing one but the abilities and spells for support are there, and the randomness is generally more beneficial than harmful. It's also subject to DM application (which is also a bit of a pain) as to when it's applied. Right spells and some of the abilities do fit into a support / controller role. I simply believe it's worth considering for some who might enjoy it and not the best option in my opinion.

[SharkForce]

TLDR: Eventually you would want to be Paladin 9/Bard 1 (or 2)/ Sorcerer 10 (or 9).
That'd give you:
a passive spell resistance aura
the best heals in the game for post-battle clean up
the best buffs in the game and the ability to twin them
inspiration buffs
the ability to impose disadvantage to the attacks of up to 4 enemies per turn (Protection Fighting Style, Quickened Viscious Mockery, Twinned Viscious Mockery).

i'd go clear through to bard 5. refreshing your inspiration uses on a short rest instead of daily is a huge difference. and if you're gonna go bard 5, you may as well go bard 6 :P

[Giant2005]

i'd go clear through to bard 5. refreshing your inspiration uses on a short rest instead of daily is a huge difference. and if you're gonna go bard 5, you may as well go bard 6 :P

That is a fair call! Would really hurt the Sorc points though. Then again, if you are pushing Bard all the way to 6, you can use Magical Secrets to get the necessary level 3 Paladin spells so Paladin 7/Bard 6/ Sorc 7 could work.

[MrStabby]

My vote would be paladin. Use your shield mastery to knock down other characters for your team mates to beat up, use your auras to save team mates and your spells can heal people. If you take a level of life cleric somewhere along the way to enhance your healing, things just get better.

[XmonkTad]

I'm playing a diviner wizard right now and, as Easy Lee said, it makes an excellent support. When your paladin really wants to go nova, having his attack pre-rolled just makes them feel great. I do terrible damage, but haste is such a powerful boost to a well-built melee ally that I'm responsible for quite a bit of damage.

What levels are you looking at playing? Here is a fun build for medium levels
Totem Barbarian 6/Battlemaster Fighter 7
Take Commanders Strike, Wolf totem at 3 and eagle totem at 6. From up to a mile away you can spot an enemy and see what their characteristics are and once you get close you can give all of your allies extra attacks with advantage. You're pretty non-magical though, so no fun buff spells which can be really helpful.

Playing a full caster is probably your best bet because you're much more feat independent. A "Twin Spell Haste Spam" sorcerer is a great support, and you can still do damage when needed.

[numerek]

The Guarded Cleric build

Can be easily modified to be more supportive.
And can also be done by a lore bard with a one level delay.

Being able to put up a powerful moveable ongoing damage shield around your group is very supportive in the right situation. And once its up all your actions are free to do other things to support your party.

[Slipperychicken]

Diviner wizard can be tough to do in a way that doesn't overshadow party members or dominate the style of play. You can also wreck a lot of the DM's plans, on purpose or by accident.

If the DM's plan can be foiled by two d20 rolls going against him, then it wasn't a very solid plan in the first place.

[bolrath]

Not sure if said before but a trickster cleric is always fun for a support character. With giving an ally advantage on stealth and pass without trace as a cleric spell leads to amazing ambushes where the endemy is killed before they know what hit them. And then you have access to all the good cleric support spells such as mass healing word and mass cure wounds which of everything goes bad, can cast both in one turn(mass CW as an action and mass HW as a bonus action.)