help with a lore bard

[ominak]

so i need some help. im going to make a lore bard that does more damaging spells than utility spells. so i need help. what are some good races, feats and, most importantly, spells. (also can you tell me how they would they cast it? i know how would cast thunderwave (lifts hand up then powerfully strums the instument) but how would they cast fire bolt? (before you say anything, college of lore)) thank you for your help

[Psyren]

If you're focused on blasting for your lore bard, here's some things to consider:

1) Damaging cantrips - you'll want something to fall back on that you can use with Cha and that hits harder than Vicious Mockery, like Firebolt, Ray of Frost, Acid Splash, Sacred Flame, or of course if you can swing it, Eldritch Blast. If you can pick one of these up without burning a feat, MS, or delaying your casting progression - even better.

2) Weak defenses - With light armor and no shields. bards are one of the squishier classes in the game; Several of their subclasses shore up their defenses, like Valor and Swords boosting your armor or Creation giving you a pet you can hide behind, but all Lore really gets to fall back on are its spells and maybe a dash of Cutting Words reactions early on when enemies are only attacking once provided you can spare the Inspiration. (Personally I'd save it to use on your allies.) Compare this to other blasters like wizards/sorcerers getting Mage Armor or being able to choose additional defensive subclasses, or other blaster subclasses like Light Cleric that can simply wear a breastplate and shield.

3) Bard list gaps - The Bard list is strong but has some notable gaps, such as blasting (the main reason you're here), physical control like walls, and teleportation. Magical Secrets help with this, but you only get so many of them even with Lore, so anything you can get from other sources will be helpful.

4) Counterspell - Lore Bards are uniquely positioned to benefit from this, being one of very few subclasses who can pick it up nearly on-level despite not knowing it natively. Better still, Jack of All Trades works on it, making them second in effectiveness with it only to the Abjurer Wizard (and before level 10, they have them beat.)

With these in mind, I'd aim for a race that can help you with as many of the first three as possible, and ensure Counterspell is one of my early AMS to cover off on the fourth one. For example, a race like Astral Elf helps with #1 and #3 - you get a solid blasting cantrip in the form of Sacred Flame, and their Starlight Step gives the Bard access to teleportation such that they don't need Misty Step. Alternatively, I might go Kobold and use their Draconic Sorcery feature to pick up Fire Bolt, or Water Genasi for Acid Splash.

[KorvinStarmast]

so i need some help. im going to make a lore bard that does more damaging spells than utility spells. so i need help. what are some good races, feats and, most importantly, spells. (also can you tell me how they would they cast it? i know how would cast thunderwave (lifts hand up then powerfully strums the instument) but how would they cast fire bolt? (before you say anything, college of lore)) thank you for your help

Which books are you using? You could be a vHuman and take the magic initiate feat: that allows you two damaging cantrips (Eldritch Blast, Fire Bolt) that will stand you in good stead. Suggest Magic Missile as the level 1 spell if your focus is damage.

I found Shatter (2d level spell) to be Underwhelming, but it was now and again a useful spell at low levels.
Magical Secrets at level 6: Fireball.
Level 4 spell: Wall of Fire. Depending on how you shape this, it can be very nice but you have to maintain concentration.
When you can get it: Synaptic Static. (5tyh level spell)
Magical Secrets 10: Animate Objects. (5th level spell) Surprising amount of damage) or
5th level spell: Cone of cold: this one does pretty well, resistances considered.
Steel Wind Strike: lots a damage. spread out over five targets
When you can get it: Circle of Death. (6th level spell)
When you can get it: Disintegrate: level 6 spell, need 14 lvl magical secrets.
When you can get it (lvl 13): Prismatic Spray. (Level 7 spell, it is on the bard list (at least in Tasha's) and OMG can it deal out the damage to a crowd. Problem is that it takes a long time to resolve if you hit a lot of creatures.
When you can get it: Delayed blast fireball. (7th Magical Secret)
When you can get it: Meteor Swarm (9th Magical Secret).

As to counterspell: get it. Psyren is right, it's a good choice.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Can I ask why you need to be a lore bard if you're focusing on damage spells?

[KorvinStarmast]

Can I ask why you need to be a lore bard if you're focusing on damage spells?

That's a fair question. Lore bards have some nice features all around - cutting words is good all game long - though what with expertise and skills and bardic inspiration: maybe they also need to be the party face...which a Lore Bard fits nicely. (I'll be interested to see the OPs answer to this).

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

That's a fair question. Lore bards have some nice features all around - cutting words is good all game long - though what with expertise and skills and bardic inspiration: maybe they also need to be the party face...which a Lore Bard fits nicely. (I'll be interested to see the OPs answer to this).

I love lore bards. Favorite subclass/class at a 5E table. If you have to do skills and party face stuff and utility casting, lore bard is the answer. I feel like in that case you wouldn't necessarily want a bunch of damage options too, though. I'm just wondering if what the OP wants is something that can be accomplished better as a celestial tomelock or a divine soul or shadow sorcerer or even a divination wizard.

[ominak]

That's a fair question. Lore bards have some nice features all around - cutting words is good all game long - though what with expertise and skills and bardic inspiration: maybe they also need to be the party face...which a Lore Bard fits nicely. (I'll be interested to see the OPs answer to this).

i wanted a lore bard so can use spells life fireball. i get this because of additional magical secrets.

[ominak]

I love lore bards. Favorite subclass/class at a 5E table. If you have to do skills and party face stuff and utility casting, lore bard is the answer. I feel like in that case you wouldn't necessarily want a bunch of damage options too, though. I'm just wondering if what the OP wants is something that can be accomplished better as a celestial tomelock or a divine soul or shadow sorcerer or even a divination wizard.

i simply wanted it to be a bard. no one is expecting the person playing a musical instument to sudenly cast fireball

[Sherlockpwns]

As far as how it looks to cast a spell like fire bolt or fireball, I always like the idea the bards epic performance literally manifest it like the vfx of a music video.

As far as being a blasty lore bard, I think you have it about right already. Fireball. Bards just don’t get many damage spells. If you take a cantrip by feat or as another pick that’s fine too.

At 10 there aren’t too many new options that beat fireball in the traditional blasting sense. Animate objects already discussed above is straight broken if your dm allows it. Most of the juicy stuff is concentration, and bards have plenty of concentration spells already. Plus you’ll already have synaptic static for single target.

There are so many interesting options at 10 I’d be remiss to suggest getting more blast power over something like find greater steed or even something like summon celestial. Let alone counterspell or wall of force, two of the most useful spells in the game.