Making a Bard/Fighter "skald" type character, could use advice

[Hoche]

Hello, hello. Long time peruser of guides, but first time poster. I hope you don't mind.

Let me just get to it - I'm working on creating a character for a small-ish (four player and a DM) campaign. I have a general idea of what I want the character to be - Valor Bard/Fighter multiclass with the majority of points in Bard (I was thinking 16/4), a guy who's basically a warrior and a minstrel in one. The initial concept was pretty much directly a norse skald, but I don't know how faithfully I want to stick to that - but that's at least the basis. The two things I wanted to ask are as follows:

1. I still haven't settled on a race, but the two that feel the most right are a Mountain Dwarf and a Dragonborn. From a lore/RP perspective, which one of these do you think would fit better? I know that neither one of them is a bad choice for a Valor Bard, so I'm not too worried about that, but it's hard for me to decide between them.
2. I haven't done any major multiclassing before, except for a single time I made a Barbarian/Fighter (3 levels of Barbarian into the rest Fighter, it was fun!). What would be a good order of levels for me to take for a character like this? I'm hardly an expert and any advice is welcomed.

I'm also curious as to how effective you think a Valor Bard/Fighter multiclass might be. It seems like a good concept to me, enabling a sort of frontline versatile support, but as I mentioned earlier, I'm no expert.

[NiklasWB]

I'd say Mountain Dwarf would be more fun, but then again I don't really like Dragonborn at all. Honestly though, I kind of like the Bard idea for a dwarf. Think about the scene in the Hobbit when the Dwarves sing "The Misty Mountains cold". Dwarves would likely have a long tradition of singing (both merrily and solemn) and deep harmonies that echo through the mountain halls.

In terms of multiclassing I'd say go full Valor Bard if you want to optimize. Valor Bard are perfectly capable of being semi-front line versatile support. Valor Bard and Fighter also both get Extra Attack, martial weapons and medium armor which makes some levels (Fighter 5 and Bard 6 respectively, and valor bard level 3) a bit redundant.

If you are dead set on multiclassing however, probably go Fighter first for the Saves and Heavy Armor Proficiency. You will get enough skills either way probably, so I'd recommend not starting Bard unless you want to increase DEX over STR. Then I'd say go maybe 17 Bard, 3 Battle Master (or whichever Fighter subclass you want). If you take battle master, pick support Maneuvers, like Menacing attack, Commander's strike, Rally, to get the "Singing/Shouting Fighter"-feel.

Again, I'd probably recommend a pure Valor Bard. Maybe pick up heavy Armor Proficiency with a feat instead? You probably don't want to delay your spellcasting progression too much either way.

[Unoriginal]

Any reason to not go with Sword Bard?

Would fit your character concept to a T

[CTurbo]

2 or 3 levels of Fighter helps a Valor Bard out tremendously. Heavy Armor, Second Wind, Action Surge, Fighting Style, archetype features. I'd stop at 3 though.

What do you envision this guy fighting with? Sword and Shield? Archery? Big two handed weapon?

[Vorok]

Dwarf versus dragonborn? Well, dragonborn lacks darkvision, but has the 'big dragon man' vibe and elemental resistance, as well as the breath, which varies in usefulness. Also you can start with 16 in both str and cha.

Dwarf gets darkvision, but their armor and weapon profs are wasted. A bit slower, which might hinder your face-smashing capabilities.

Bards get plenty of buffs, so you could get spells that lessen your weakness (not sure if they get the darkvisionspell, but if they do, get it as a dragonborn (or the darkvision item), or the various spells granting light. For dwarves you could get longstrider if you find yourself constantly out of range. Or get a supply of javelins/handaxes to throw.

[Hoche]

Hello again and thank you for your replies! I'm sorry for not responding sooner, but I was dealing with some pretty crippling allergies last night, enough that I had to call out of work today for them. It's a pain, but sometimes that sort of thing happens.

I'd say Mountain Dwarf would be more fun, but then again I don't really like Dragonborn at all. Honestly though, I kind of like the Bard idea for a dwarf. Think about the scene in the Hobbit when the Dwarves sing "The Misty Mountains cold". Dwarves would likely have a long tradition of singing (both merrily and solemn) and deep harmonies that echo through the mountain halls.

In terms of multiclassing I'd say go full Valor Bard if you want to optimize. Valor Bard are perfectly capable of being semi-front line versatile support. Valor Bard and Fighter also both get Extra Attack, martial weapons and medium armor which makes some levels (Fighter 5 and Bard 6 respectively, and valor bard level 3) a bit redundant.

If you are dead set on multiclassing however, probably go Fighter first for the Saves and Heavy Armor Proficiency. You will get enough skills either way probably, so I'd recommend not starting Bard unless you want to increase DEX over STR. Then I'd say go maybe 17 Bard, 3 Battle Master (or whichever Fighter subclass you want). If you take battle master, pick support Maneuvers, like Menacing attack, Commander's strike, Rally, to get the "Singing/Shouting Fighter"-feel.

Again, I'd probably recommend a pure Valor Bard. Maybe pick up heavy Armor Proficiency with a feat instead? You probably don't want to delay your spellcasting progression too much either way.

Thanks for the information! I have to admit, I'd forgotten about that particular scene from the Hobbit, and it's really starting to make me lean towards making this particular character a Dwarf. I wouldn't say I'm dead set on multiclassing, but it was my original intention with this character, so it's definitely something I'm going to have to consider. Whichever choice I make, I'm definitely going to be taking this advice into account - it'll probably depend on how my stats go in the end.

Any reason to not go with Sword Bard?

Would fit your character concept to a T

I hadn't looked into a College of Swords bard, actually, though looking into it, I'm afraid he doesn't quite fit what I have in mind. This school seems more for a sort of swashbuckler or a rapier-wielding duelist than someone who's going to wield a heavy weapon, which is sort of what I had in mind. If you think that's not quite right, please feel free to correct me!

2 or 3 levels of Fighter helps a Valor Bard out tremendously. Heavy Armor, Second Wind, Action Surge, Fighting Style, archetype features. I'd stop at 3 though.

What do you envision this guy fighting with? Sword and Shield? Archery? Big two handed weapon?

Hm, I'd considered going for four levels in Fighter to get the extra ASI, but I suppose missing out on that 9th level spell slot is probably too big a cost for a mere ASI. I'll make sure to keep that in mind!

Regarding what I was envisioning, I'd imagined some sort of large weapon as you said, like a warhammer or axe, but I wasn't really set on it. One of the biggest things I'm worried about is if that's going to prevent me from using my Bard spells in battle, since you can't very well wield an instrument and a two-handed weapon at the same time. That won't be an issue, will it?

Dwarf versus dragonborn? Well, dragonborn lacks darkvision, but has the 'big dragon man' vibe and elemental resistance, as well as the breath, which varies in usefulness. Also you can start with 16 in both str and cha.

Dwarf gets darkvision, but their armor and weapon profs are wasted. A bit slower, which might hinder your face-smashing capabilities.

Bards get plenty of buffs, so you could get spells that lessen your weakness (not sure if they get the darkvision spell, but if they do, get it as a dragonborn (or the darkvision item), or the various spells granting light. For dwarves you could get longstrider if you find yourself constantly out of range. Or get a supply of javelins/handaxes to throw.

I know in my last game, having Darkvision or a Light spell was practically a necessity with how often we found ourselves fighting in the dark - though weirdly enough, we never had to deal with a Darkness spell. Also, the games I run tend to roll stats, as we feel it makes for a more organic experience. I'll definitely keep these things in mind though!

[sophontteks]

You could also go full fighter with the performer background. Depends on what you are really looking for in a bard here.

Either way, I wouldn't go fighter. Paladin is the way to go. You can cannabalize your many bard spells for smite. Because paladins have better spell progression you wont set your casting back as far by starting with 2 levels of paladin, which is all you need to smite with high level bard spells. Those smites will help you deal with your delayed extra attack.

[Veldrenor]

1) Mountain dwarf is good for darkvision, strength, and con, but almost everything else is redundant. Dragonborn doesn't have any completely useless racial features, but the breath weapon ends up pretty weak and sometimes you need that darkvision. Personally I'd go with the dragonborn, but both are quite useful.

2) Fighter should probably be your first level. Heavy armor is great, and a lot of bard spells require concentration so proficiency in constitution saves is stupendous. Second level should be bard to get the utility rolling. Beyond that is pretty flexible. You could go fighter 2 for Action Surge or fighter 3 for an archetype before focusing bard. You could go straight into bard until bard 6 for that extra attack, or 7 for 4th level spells, then pick up the fighter levels.

Having just finished a campaign as a Fighter/Bard, it's a very effective and flexible multiclass. Admittedly I was a Lore Bard rather than a Valor Bard so your experience may vary, but it provides a lot of support to the party and is an amazing multiclass for shutting down an enemy caster.

Regarding what I was envisioning, I'd imagined some sort of large weapon as you said, like a warhammer or axe, but I wasn't really set on it. One of the biggest things I'm worried about is if that's going to prevent me from using my Bard spells in battle, since you can't very well wield an instrument and a two-handed weapon at the same time. That won't be an issue, will it?

You need two hands to swing a maul or greatsword but you only need one hand to hold it, so when you need to cast you can just take a hand off your weapon and reach for your instrument/component pouch. If your instrument is a violin and your DM requires you play it while casting, then you'll have problems, but generally it's a non-issue.