Help optimising a Warlock/Bard/Fighter

[KevlarTheD]

So I'd like to play a character who can hold their own as a traditional melee combatant, but also has more than a few magical tricks up their sleeve. I've come up with a couple mixes, but I'm not sure in which order I should take my class levels.

I'm looking mainly at spells that don't allow saves or target myself - Hex, Misty Step, Invisibility. For my warlock invocations, Misty Visions and

Race: Half-Elf Background: Noble
Fluff:
I was born to an aged human adventurer and the daughter of an elvish noble whose heart he stole. My father died ten years ago, when I was a young adult. I have lived in our countryside estate with my mother and uncle ever since, dreaming of adventuring and finding some ancient secret or treasure.
One day, my mother was called from her countryside estate to the capital, I accompanied her. Though she had sent news of my birth, she had never disclosed to her relatives that my father had been human. The news we had traveled to the capital to receive was that my mother, distantly related to royalty, had through some circumstance ended up next in line to the throne. I, a half breed, could obviously never be considered in line for succession to the throne and a scandal ensued. It was determined that my mother should return to her countryside estate, and never make her claim to the throne.
Setting off from the capital, disgusted with elvish politics and determined to find a way to give my mother the throne that is rightfully hers, our convoy was ambushed by marauders and my mother killed. Unable to face my uncle, I sent the survivors of my household staff on without me and stuck out for a nearby city to find some way of restoring my family's influence.

STR 16
DEX 14
CON 16
INT 9
WIS 8
CHA 16

The way I have it mapped out now is:

Level | Class
1 | Fighter 1 - Defense
2 | Fighter 2
3 | Warlock 1 - Fiendish Patron
4 | Warlock 2
5 | Warlock 3 - Pact of the Chain, Imp
6 | Bard 1
7 | Bard 2
8 | Bard 3 - College of Lore
9 | Fighter 3 - Battle Master
10 | Fighter 4 - Ability Score Increase
11 | Fighter 5 - Extra Attack
12 | Bard 4 - Ability Score Increase
13 | Bard 5
14 | Bard 6
15 | Fighter 6 - Ability Score Increase
16 | Fighter 7
17 | Fighter 8 - Ability Score Increase
18 | Fighter 9 - Indomitable
19 | Fighter 10
20 | Fighter 11 - Extra Attack (2)


I'm note sure if this is the best progression. It has a lot of stuff but seems clunky. Start as a fighter for proficiencies, starting equipment, and that second level bonus action. Turn to warlock as my character hook develops, making a pact with a fiend.

I really like the Misty Visions evocation. What about my second one?

I've heard Bard and Warlock mix well together. I'll already have weapon and armour proficiencies I'm looking to get Extra Attack from my fighter levels, so I thought I would go College of Lore with the Bard - maybe Fireball and Revivify for my extra spells.

Please confirm: Having both Bard and Warlock spell slots still doesn't put me on the multiclass spellcaster list. I have slots with which I can cast Warlock spells, and slots with which I can cast prepared Bard spells. I can use my warlock slots to cast prepared Bard spells of the appropriate level.

I'm sure there's some variant on this where I only dip bard 2 or 3, and am a bit more of a melee fighter. Will doing Bard to 6 make this mechanically not good enough at either spell casting or melee?

Is Medium Armor Master any good? I wonder if I can be relatively stealthy in a breastplate with +2 dex, stealth proficiency and a few illusions. but the character is meant to be a bit more of a face.

[TheOOB]

I don't really see what Warlock is netting you. From an optimzation standpoint, 3 more levels of bard would gain you two more spell levels. I feel your character is dipping a lot and not getting much out of it.

[Giant2005]

I would cut back on Fighter personally - 11 Fighter levels just aren't worth the investment for a third attack. Something like Warlock 12, Fighter 2, Bard 6 would be better if you care about melee fighting. Adding the Cha bonus to your damage is plenty of compensation for the loss of that third attack.
Having said that, the build itself will always be far from maximized because you are combining fighting styles that just don't combine well. For instance, as long as you have two levels of Warlock, your Eldritch Blast is always going to be your best attack which means any levels (Including the Warlock levels) that are enhancing your melee combat style are kind of wasted from a powergaming perspective.

[Rilak]

Fighter is fine. But it's not Battle Master you want. It is Eldritch Knight. Since Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast is 4d10+4d6+4*CHA on a single target at higher level (with Hex), it is a great use of your action to cast a Cantrip instead of poking things (3 attacks is maybe 3*(3d6+STAT) with Hex). EK7 gives a bonus action to attack when you cast a cantrip. You also gain 3 spellcasting levels.

You only need to go for EK7 with this build, but EK8 adds the stat bonus.

Note that Warlock 3 adds very little compared to Warlock 2. Since you cannot add CHA to damage until level 12, you need your DM to be very nice to you if you can add it at level 3. And then you are better off with Pact of the Chain (Find Familiar is an okay choice, the familiar gives you a free Help action). Pact of the Tome gives you three additional cantrips however, which can be nice despite already having 3 classes that can cast cantrips...

Anyway, EK8 Warlock 2 gives you a possible 10 levels of Bard. 10+2(from EK) is nice, 5th level Bard spells known, of which 4 spells can be from other class spell lists. 6th level slots available.

But given that you will often spend your bonus action on attacking, bardic inspiration might not be used as much.

This character would be able to stealth and be the face. He would also be able to stand right next to the battle using armor of agathys.

If you do not want to be stealthy (going for STR+H.Armor instead of DEX), it is possible to dip Paladin 2 for a higher burst DPS. You will have a lot of level 1 slots that you could use as Divine Smite fodder.
Eldritch Blast 4*(d10+d6+CHA) + bonus attack (dX+STR+(2~5)d8).