Valor bard... Dip fighter 3 for battlemaster?

[krugaan]

My DM is allowing pistols, I'm considering dipping fighter 3 for precision / trip and Archery style. Is it worth it for the massive spell hit? Playing pota and I'm the only experienced player with a moon druid and a rogue.

I have the pistol equivalent of Xbow mastery, so with sharpshooter I'll have very good ranged damage

[steppedonad4]

Not sure why you'd want trip since that just gives you disadvantage to ranged attacks once they're prone. I'd go Disarming, Pushing & Precision.

As a full spellcasting class, three levels isn't as huge a hit as it would be on a half-caster class but it still means losing out in the long run, especially as you go up levels and find you don't have access to the much more powerful higher level spells.

Having said that, why be a valour bard at all? A rogue or ranger or full fighter class makes a better archer.

[krugaan]

I figured bard would be good for cc, offhealing, and ranged I suppose. We're getting a wizard, so I won't have to worry as much about cc. Plus, guns!

[steppedonad4]

A ranged battlemaster, as strange as it may seem, is actually pretty terrifying. Most of the manoeuvres apply to any weapon attack so can be used with ranged weapons. Plus Action Surge can be seriously devastating. Plus it makes for a pretty kick-ass gunslinger given the disarm (shooting a gun out of an opponent's hand), pushing attack (blowing someone away off a cliff or through a door/window), and many others are quite flavourful for the concept. Also, more feats from the fighter base class since it's actually quite a feat-intensive build. You can even go high Charisma and use Rally to bolster your comrades.

[krugaan]

Doesn't seem ridiculous at all to me. Disarm seems less than ideal for ranged since the target can immediately pick up whatever it dropped, trip for melee, goading to debuff angry targets or menacing to protect casters.

I was planning on taking banishing smite at 10, also have a home brew "elemental shot" which is a weaker lightning shot, but does minor elemental effects like lingering acid damage or set things on fire. It just hurts wasting spells when the attack misses

[JAL_1138]

Valor bards take a long time to kick in. They can become very good archers with Crossbow Expert + Sharpshooter...at 10th level when they can steal the Swift Quiver spell off the Ranger list. The trouble is that dipping Fighter 3 pushes that back even farther and delays Extra Attack until 9th level and Swift Quiver until 13, unless you take the Fighter dip after that (in which case you lose out on Heavy Armor).

It could be a very good archery build at 20, but for most of normal gameplay it will lag considerably.

[krugaan]

Valor bards take a long time to kick in. They can become very good archers with Crossbow Expert + Sharpshooter...at 10th level when they can steal the Swift Quiver spell off the Ranger list. The trouble is that dipping Fighter 3 pushes that back even farther and delays Extra Attack until 9th level and Swift Quiver until 13, unless you take the Fighter dip after that (in which case you lose out on Heavy Armor).

It could be a very good archery build at 20, but for most of normal gameplay it will lag considerably.

the firearm-equivalent swift quiver replacement my DM ruled still requires at least a bonus action to reload two firearms, so it's not quite as good as with bows. in fact, I think i'd be better off taking banishing smite or haste instead.

As to heavy armor, well, i'd never be using it anyway, since I have high dex and you can't stealth. The question is +2 ranged hit, action surge, and maneuvers worth lagging 3 spell levels and magic secrets? and if it is, when should I take it?

[Tanarii]

Why are you going Valor instead of Lore? Curious. I've always felt a Dex-based Valor Bard is a complete waste of the two big benefits of Valor: 2-handed high damage weapons, and medium armor. Choosing to MC Fighter makes the big benefit of Valor even more pointless.

Regardless, your critical level is level 6 for Extra Attack. Don't multiclass anything before that. One level delay might be acceptable depending on the benefit, 3 isn't. (Also, I just answered my own question 'why Valor'. Extra Attack & Martial (firearms), as well as cast/shoot on the same turn later on. /doh)

[krugaan]

Why are you going Valor instead of Lore? Curious. I've always felt a Dex-based Valor Bard is a complete waste of the two big benefits of Valor: 2-handed high damage weapons, and medium armor. Choosing to MC Fighter makes the big benefit of Valor even more pointless.

Regardless, your critical level is level 6 for Extra Attack. Don't multiclass anything before that. One level delay might be acceptable depending on the benefit, 3 isn't.

basically, guns and no casting loss. but yeah, MC fighter is overlapping a good amount of stuff. That +2 to hit is so tasty though :\

i'll likely end up staying pure valor, I think. pistol and shield is a good combination as it is, the damage just won't be outrageous.