Help on choosing a Bard College

[Draguya]

Hello there, I'm new to these forums and english isn't my main language, so I'm forgive me for any mistakes.

I've just started a level 3 Half-Elf Bard on a recently created campaign and already did some roleplay, so skills and ability scores choices are locked in. I've yet to pick spells and my character bard college, but I can't make up my mind.

We roll 4d6 for our ability scores, and here are mine right now:
STR 11, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 13, WIS 15, CHA 18

Currently the party is made of a Bladesinger Wizard and a Totem Barbarian. College of Lore does look like a better option, so I could either focus on buffing and healing the party, but the encounters are somewhat anti-caster wise. Nearly all of the encounters are goblins, which carry melee weapons and bows plus some of them also have a mount, which makes casters with low AC extremely easy to be killed, unless they stay from really far and even then, they still aren't safe.

Any recommendations on which Bard College I should take? I would also appreciate suggestions on spells, feats and such.

Looking foward to replies.
-Draguya

[dread05]

I've done a lot of research latetly on the topic since I was on the exact same spot (I ended up lore). As a lore bard you will be a support/control spellcaster, as valor you will be a "gish", melee combatant that can also cast spells, or later with war magic, cast and slash. Now setting aside your fluff and your backround, it really depends on your playstyle. In my group there was already a fighter and a rogue so the melee spot was kinda cramped and I ended up ranged. Yours seems like a similar situation.

Lore ends with 2 more spells and 3 more ability proficiencies, valor with an extra attack and proficiency with medium armor, martial weapons and a shield. As lore you will usually stand in the backround, cast greater invisibility on self and disrupt your enemies, while as valor you will be more aggrssive. both colleges will get the same amout of spells, but as valor you might want to multiclass to a melee class and grab some levels of fighter/rogue/paladin, depending on your playstyle. Lore has it tough with multiclassing.

Apart from lore and valor, there are also swords and satyr from the unofficial unearthed arcanas. Swords is a bad valor variant that focuses on two weapon fighting, but since many bard actions require your bonus action, this archetype conficts with itself. Satyr is pretty strong, but that really depends if you are ok roleplaying a clown.

[PoeticDwarf]

I've done a lot of research latetly on the topic since I was on the exact same spot (I ended up lore). As a lore bard you will be a support/control spellcaster, as valor you will be a "gish", melee combatant that can also cast spells, or later with war magic, cast and slash. Now setting aside your fluff and your backround, it really depends on your playstyle. In my group there was already a fighter and a rogue so the melee spot was kinda cramped and I ended up ranged. Yours seems like a similar situation.

Lore ends with 2 more spells and 3 more ability proficiencies, valor with an extra attack and proficiency with medium armor, martial weapons and a shield. As lore you will usually stand in the backround, cast greater invisibility on self and disrupt your enemies, while as valor you will be more aggrssive. both colleges will get the same amout of spells, but as valor you might want to multiclass to a melee class and grab some levels of fighter/rogue/paladin, depending on your playstyle. Lore has it tough with multiclassing.

Apart from lore and valor, there are also swords and satyr from the unofficial unearthed arcanas. Swords is a bad valor variant that focuses on two weapon fighting, but since many bard actions require your bonus action, this archetype conficts with itself. Satyr is pretty strong, but that really depends if you are ok roleplaying a clown.

Valor is one of the best choices in the game, but it makes you worse and depends on what you want. Lore is a classic bard role. Satyr is a stronger lore variant idea with very strong tricks but as with valor. Some prefer lore. Swords isn't that bad. The tricks are nice although you need your bonus action and you get more than valor. For two weapon fighters better

[Arkhios]

Apart from lore and valor, there are also swords and satyr from the unofficial unearthed arcanas. Swords is a bad valor variant that focuses on two weapon fighting, but since many bard actions require your bonus action, this archetype conficts with itself. Satyr is pretty strong, but that really depends if you are ok roleplaying a clown.

Satyr? Are you sure you mean this guy? http://img06.deviantart.net/d5ee/i/2015/049/3/f/satyr_by_lakehurwitz-d8ik5ri.jpg


Sorry, couldn't resist. Satire is the College you talk about. ;)

[Ninja_Prawn]

Lore has it tough with multiclassing.

Unless you're going for a skillmonkey type build, in which case a lore bard / rogue MC is almost compulsory.

The OP has fabulous stats and shouldn't be too worried about dying. As long as the barbarian does their job and the bladesinger sticks close to them, you shouldn't be getting too many goblins up in your face. With 18 Dex & Con, it's tempting to go for a valour bard with a heavy crossbow & Flame Arrows, Lightning Arrow and/or Swift Quiver, but I think a lore bard complements the others better. Focus on supporting your allies with magical buffs* and protecting them with Cutting Words while they crank out the damage.

*Haste, Fly, Invisibility, Bless etc.

Maybe look at the Inspiring Leader feat?

[dread05]

Satyr? Are you sure you mean this guy? http://img06.deviantart.net/d5ee/i/2015/049/3/f/satyr_by_lakehurwitz-d8ik5ri.jpg


Sorry, couldn't resist. Satire is the College you talk about. ;)

satire, satyr, satyra, yada yada, all come from the greek word σατυρα, and being greek they all look the same to me :P

[Mara]

Hello there, I'm new to these forums and english isn't my main language, so I'm forgive me for any mistakes.

I've just started a level 3 Half-Elf Bard on a recently created campaign and already did some roleplay, so skills and ability scores choices are locked in. I've yet to pick spells and my character bard college, but I can't make up my mind.

We roll 4d6 for our ability scores, and here are mine right now:
STR 11, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 13, WIS 15, CHA 18

Currently the party is made of a Bladesinger Wizard and a Totem Barbarian. College of Lore does look like a better option, so I could either focus on buffing and healing the party, but the encounters are somewhat anti-caster wise. Nearly all of the encounters are goblins, which carry melee weapons and bows plus some of them also have a mount, which makes casters with low AC extremely easy to be killed, unless they stay from really far and even then, they still aren't safe.

Any recommendations on which Bard College I should take? I would also appreciate suggestions on spells, feats and such.

Looking foward to replies.
-Draguya
Valor Bard Half Elf <your background>
STR 11, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 13, WIS 15, CHA 18
Skills: <whatever you picked>
Languages: Common, Elvish, <depends on background>
Expertise(<talky skill>, Stealth, Acrobatics, <other skill>)
ASI: +2 dex, +2 cha, Warcaster, Resilient(con), +1 con/ +1 wis
Cantrips: Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Friends
Magic Secrets(Elemental Weapon, Swift Quiver, Plane Shift, Resurrection, Wish, Mass Heal)
1st: Cure Wounds, Unseen Servant, Sleep*, Faerie Fire, Feather Fall*,
2nd: Enhance Ability, Invisibility, *Silence
3rd: Major Image, Stinking Cloud, *Tongues
4th: Polymorph, Freedom of Movement
5th: Animate Objects, Awaken
6th: Mass Suggestion
7th: Teleport
8th: Mind Blank
9th: True Polymorph

IMHO: Bard is already an overtuned class. With stats like those your valor bard may just be better than everyone at their own specialties.

[coredump]

Stick with Lore. You have melee, you need casting and the versatility that Magic Secrets gives you.

If you are really worried about AC, either take the Med armor feat, or dip a level in Cleric for Heavy Armor.

[Ninja_Prawn]

dip a level in Cleric for Heavy Armor.

With 11 strength and 18 dexterity? One ASI in dex gives you 17 AC, 19 if you can get a shield proficiency from somewhere. That's fine for a support caster.

Or take 2 levels of warlock for Armour of Shadows. That has more synergy with your build anyway.

[dread05]

1 lvl in fighter gives the lore bard medium armor archery fighting style and martial weapons. With his 18 dex, picking medium armor master, swift quiver and crossbow expert can turn the lore bard into magical archer with decent AC who can cast a spell as an action and the shoot 2 arrows as a bonus action.

[Sir cryosin]

First off he can't wear heavy armor needs a 15 strength he will be fine with studded leather. And next go lour if I was you at 6lv one of the spells I pick up is armor of agathys. But that's just because I love the spell.

[bardo]

The 1-level dip in Cleric looks good. OP already has the Wisdom requirement and is likely to be healing.

The proficiencies you get from dipping are nice, you can get heavy armour, shield, martial weapons, skills, depending on the domain. But more importantly you get 4 prepared spells (1 from Cleric level, 1 from Wisdom bonus, 2 from Domain), and 3 new cantrips.

What's good for spells for a 1st level Cleric? Guidance cantrip gives +1d4 on all skill checks out of combat to you and yours. Sacred Flame cantrip is an okay offensive cantrip, something the Bard spell list lacks. If you're planning to grab Cure Wounds as a Bard spell, you can save yourself a known spell and cast Cure Wounds as Cleric. Healing Word is better than Cure Wounds if you're interested mainly in picking up fallen comrades (bonus action and range). And... Bless.

Yes, your casting ability as a Cleric will be low. Sacred Flame will hit less often. Cure Wounds/Healing Word will heal for less hit points. You can pick spells that don't depend on the casting ability, for healing I don't think it matters much (if you think it matters consider life domain to make up for the difference).

1-level Cleric dip definitely interesting with those stats. Oh, and of course if you're dipping go Lore.

Bardo.

[Ashrym]

Lore ends with 2 more spells and 3 more ability proficiencies, valor with an extra attack and proficiency with medium armor, martial weapons and a shield. As lore you will usually stand in the backround, cast greater invisibility on self and disrupt your enemies, while as valor you will be more aggrssive. both colleges will get the same amout of spells, but as valor you might want to multiclass to a melee class and grab some levels of fighter/rogue/paladin, depending on your playstyle. Lore has it tough with multiclassing.

Lore has a few classes worth dipping. It's the comment on usually standing in the background and casting greater invisibility on oneself with which I disagree. 4th-level spell slots don't grow on trees that a character would usually do such a thing the majority of the time, and it would often cost the first round of actions. Both could be better spent. It would make more sense to use a 3rd-level slot on Spirit Guardians up closer and the actions to dodge, for example. There's no reason this bard needs to hang back any more than other characters given the light armor proficiency and high DEX on the rolls, and high CON to go with it. Studded leather is 16 AC already and standard would be 30hp based on the CON bonus at 3rd-level.

@Draguya:

You aren't getting that much out of the valor bard with your high DEX because medium armor would restrict your DEX bonus to AC anyway. The shield option exists but wouldn't necessarily be used either in lieu of TWF or a two hander. What the valor college does would be to give your companions more combat options on which to spend your inspiration. What you are really looking at is whether you want to be more of a melee style cleric sort or more of an enchanting sorcerer sort of bard. Or something else if you like the roguish trickster type, for example, but melee and caster are the two general directions.

Valor would be the way to go if you want to be more combat oriented. You have the CHA for offensive spells, regardless. This opens up extra attack (always good) and battle magic later (definitely useful because it allows for an attack and a spell). You can focus on buffs (which aren't that common on the bard list, tbh) and healing while still going that route and you'll be fine doing both. Jack-of-all-trades covers half of the additional skill proficiencies lore provides anyway. As someone said earlier, valor is always a good choice and having additional combat ability is useful in a small group.

Lore doesn't give you the shield proficiency but the medium armor is largely wasted, and even heavy armor is more than questionable because of the weight and lost DEX bonus to AC anyway. Lore does give additional skill proficiencies that are useful in a small group as well if there are a lot of skill checks being used in the game (take the enhance ability spell if there are). This is the PHB college you would take if you are looking at the roguish trickster, lore master, or enchanter (or other specialized caster) types of bards. This bard is less oriented towards combat but using TWF or a two hander is still an option so don't think you need to hang back with your decent AC. Picking up shield proficiency somewhere can be helpful if you want to play it more defensively and can be down with a feat or a splash. The popularity of this school is cutting words, which can be very decisive, and early access to customizing the spell list with extra secrets. Extra secrets isn't that much in the long run, but there is a long time to get to that long run in which it's extremely useful for a long time, and those secrets are great whether used for healing, buffing, or attack spells.

dread05 was correct in that it depends completely on your play style. Neither is a bad choice.

I'm going to caution you against dissonant whispers. That's a bit odd considering it's great for a 1st-level spell, but the best benefit is from triggering opportunity attacks and you are in a small party so it becomes less worthwhile. In a small group, and if you do end up in more combat, thunderwave is useful because it knocks foes away so you can move without taking opportunity attacks. Sleep is also a low level favorite.

If it were me, I would probably run around with dual short sword, studded leather, light crossbow, and go lore bard because I enjoy that style of bard. I typically go for the lore master type spell caster / healer focus. Standard attack damage would be low compared to most classes more built for combat but it is fairly well rounded. If I wanted to go for a more tankish combat I would go valor, use DEX weapon and shield, and most likely stick with the light armor options.

Hope that helps.

[bid]

STR 11, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 13, WIS 15, CHA 18

Currently the party is made of a Bladesinger Wizard and a Totem Barbarian.
Lore. You need a skill monkey.

You don't need medium armor with that Dex. You don't need extra attack with scag cantrips. Cutting word is better than combat inspiration.

There's the warlock 2 dip if you want good ranged damage along with the armor invocation. Or fighter 1 for the mariner/dueling style.

[joaber]

with those stats I would go for lore bard 15/ battlemaster fighter 5

Cons save + prof all weapons and armors + archery + action surge + combat superiority + extra attack + swift quiver + shapeshooter + crossbow expertise + elemental weapon + d12 cutting words + 8th lvl spell.

[Citan]

Hello there, I'm new to these forums and english isn't my main language, so I'm forgive me for any mistakes.

I've just started a level 3 Half-Elf Bard on a recently created campaign.
We roll 4d6 for our ability scores, and here are mine right now:
STR 11, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 13, WIS 15, CHA 18

Currently the party is made of a Bladesinger Wizard and a Totem Barbarian.
-Draguya

I'll plus the Lore Bard path. When you reach level 6, you can use your Magic Secrets to grab any good level 3 spell to complement whatever you feel your party is lacking.
If not definite option, Conjure Animals and Aura of Vitality are very sound choices: Aura is very resource-efficient healing, and you can bring animals into the fray for many reasons (put a blockade while you flee, help flanking, scout, etc).

For dip options, you can easily do without. With that said, with such good stats it would a bit sad not to sometime along your career. ;)
For lvl1 dip, Life Cleric is your best option: makes you a very potent healer and buffer (Bless, Guidance) as detailed by someone above.
For 2-levels, Fighter, Rogue, Warlock, Divination Wizard and Paladin are excellent choices.
Fighter brings proficiencies and Action Surge (2 spells in a turn), Rogue brings extra Expertise and great mobility, Warlock brings a powerful cantrip and free Mage Armor, Wizard extra dice swap and utilities. Paladin brings proficiencies, buffs (Bless, Shield of Faith), control (Command) and smite. Ah, oops, not Str enough. Forget Paladin. ^^
For greater dips, it would be bothersome to detail and it's not so much recommended if you're playing Bard for the first time. ;)

I'd suggest to stick to Bard at least until lvl6, maybe lvl8. Or, if you feel you're too frail, go "Fighter dip" and take the first lvl soon, the second much later (Action Surge is not great if you don't have good spells and slots to use it with after all ;)).



Lore ends with 2 more spells and 3 more ability proficiencies, valor with an extra attack and proficiency with medium armor, martial weapons and a shield. As lore you will usually stand in the backround, cast greater invisibility on self and disrupt your enemies, while as valor you will be more aggrssive. both colleges will get the same amout of spells, but as valor you might want to multiclass to a melee class and grab some levels of fighter/rogue/paladin, depending on your playstyle. Lore has it tough with multiclassing.

What???
On the contrary, Lore is the easiest to multiclass with.
For a dip smaller than or equal to 3 levels, all classes bring much to the Lore Bard, even the martials.

When dipping in a martial class for 4+ levels, it's much more interesting to grab Extra Attack through it and go Lore Bard instead.

Only if you want to build a gish based on a Bard chassis and dip into a spellcaster can Valor Bard be a better choice (and even so, not necessarily -see Blade Warlock or Favored Soul Sorcerer-).

[dread05]

Why would you dip 4+ martial levels in a full caster? just go valor at that point. Diping as lore is difficult. Warlock loses you spells slots, cleric requires you to suddenly become the chosen of a god and requires wisdom for spellcasting, sorcerer requires you to ignite mid adventure as a wild magic or draconic bloodline (tho it lets you keep your spell slots), wizard requires intelligence for spellcasting, druid is whatever. Martial dips loose you spell slots and after a certain point you should have picked valor and went gish.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

satire, satyr, satyra, yada yada, all come from the greek word σατυρα, and being greek they all look the same to me :P

We don't take kindly to your type around here......
...
..
.
*cough* :smalltongue:

Anyways... To the OP...

Both Lore and Valor are solid choices no matter what you want to do. Multiclassing Lore Bard with say, Fighter or Barbarian, gets you one hell of a Valore Bard.

But hat you could do is ask your DM. Ask which might be more handy and which would they prefer to see in the game. Either are really great options and you can do a lot of neat things with them.

[Citan]

Why would you dip 4+ martial levels in a full caster? just go valor at that point. Diping as lore is difficult. Warlock loses you spells slots, cleric requires you to suddenly become the chosen of a god and requires wisdom for spellcasting, sorcerer requires you to ignite mid adventure as a wild magic or draconic bloodline (tho it lets you keep your spell slots), wizard requires intelligence for spellcasting, druid is whatever. Martial dips loose you spell slots and after a certain point you should have picked valor and went gish.
Quite the opposite. Because mixing a true martial class and Lore Bard makes it much easier to create powerful gish combatants, arguably better than going Valor Bard and still dipping a few levels.
Mix Lore Bard with a Pally 6, you get most interesting Bard features and most greatness of a Paladin, including smites, but with better versatility and smite capabilities.

Mix a Lore Bard with an Arcane Trickster or an Eldricht Knight and you become at least as good in dealing damage as a Valor Bard, but much more efficient debuffs and either better offense or sneakiness/utility.
Etc, etc...

Only if you want to get a bit of weapon offense AND preserve the full spellcaster progression then Valor Bard is a better choice (the only choice in fact).
As soon as the martial part of your build becomes more than a "bonus" or "backup option" and instead the main focus of a gish build (or let's say, the "medium" of your go-to offense) or is at least on par with the spellcast part, many multiclass builds with Lore Bard are as good as pure Valor Bard, except it plays differently.
(Well, you could also make a build that uses Valor Bard to bring Extra Attack into a "other caster" chassis to get most spell slots but it's a lackluster chassis in terms of martial features, compared to others^^).

Also, what you said about stats requirement is equally valid for either College and equally irrelevant: if you have bad stats, just pick spells and archetype that don't rely on it. Cleric and Druid have many buffs, Wizard many utilities that don't rely at all on casting stat.

And what martials brings to either College at low level is equally good. Except that there is redundancy with Valor's lvl 3 proficiencies. And dipping up to 5 directly competes with existing Extra Attack of lvl 6 Valor Bard, which is its defining feature. Hence dipping further than 3 becomes a waste of a multiclass (well, unless you go 4 for the ASI, but it's off-topic ;)).

[dread05]

I think I'm biased into trying to maximise my own lore bard into a full spellcaster, hence being so negative about martial dips. I'm not saying diping is bad, it just doesnt feel as natural as lets say, cleric into fighter, sorcerer into bard etc.

[dread05]

We don't take kindly to your type around here......
...
..
.
*cough* :smalltongue:


seems like our reputation as gamers proceeds me

[SpawnOfMorbo]

seems like our reputation as gamers proceeds me

Nah, just an American cultural reference. That I could resist. Kinda a South Park reference too.

[Citan]

I think I'm biased into trying to maximise my own lore bard into a full spellcaster, hence being so negative about martial dips. I'm not saying diping is bad, it just doesnt feel as natural as lets say, cleric into fighter, sorcerer into bard etc.
Hey, no worries, no harm done, to each his opinion.
To be honest, I myself am biaised towards making only gish characters so tend to always mix (at least) one caster and one martial.

Valor Bard pure or with small dip is always a sound&fun build to play though (and as you stressed, you ARE a full spellcaster. Making envious any Arcane Trickster, Eldricht Fighter, Paladin or Ranger in the crowd). ;)

[diplomancer]

I think a 1 level cleric dip for a Lore Bard is VERY good. It nets you at least +2 AC (shield, armor increase may vary up to +4 total), bless (the best 1st level concentration spell), and guidance, which is always handy. The best two domains for a 1 level dip are, in my opinion, Life or Knowledge. Life makes you a better healer and has some interesting synergies with Magical Secrets (via goodberry or aura of vitality), but the 2 extra languages and 2 extra knowledge skills with expertise are really good and thematic for a lore bard. Besides, with Knowledge you get Identify (a ritual) as a domain spell, which is also really good.

The down side is a slight delay in your spell level progression but you dont lose any slots. Other possible downside (which does not apply to you) is the Wis 13 requirement.

On another note. You said that Race and Ability Scores are fixed. Assuming that you applied the 2 +1 of the half elf to dexterity and constitution, I would consider asking your DM to let you be a variant human with the actor feat. You will have one skill less and one less point of constitution, but not only that feat gives you a lot of fun, it has very interesting synergy with thr Friends cantrip. The one less point of Constitution is not bad at all, because Resilient Con is a very good feat for a full caster. It's so good that even if the DM does not let you change the race I would ask if it is possible to have Wis 16 and Con 17.

Cheers.

[dread05]

Knowledge cleric IS good, but it has 2 problems for me. 1st all the lvl 1 cleric spells require either a wis save or a wis spellcaster modifier, and most important (for my playstyle at least), is that you have to suddenly flavor your character as a devotee of a deity. I mean, I really tried it. I asked my DM to send us to a temple devoted to a knowledge deity and spent almost a week studying divine texts. But when I hit lvl 3 I decided that going lore and adding some of the proficiencies of the knwoledge domain througt the collage of lore to be more apropriate that becoming a cleric. It didnt feel like spending a week in a temple earned me the right to become a cleric, clerics are supposed to be priests chosen by their gods to bear their divine powers.

[Citan]

Knowledge cleric IS good, but it has 2 problems for me. 1st all the lvl 1 cleric spells require either a wis save or a wis spellcaster modifier, and most important (for my playstyle at least), is that you have to suddenly flavor your character as a devotee of a deity. I mean, I really tried it. I asked my DM to send us to a temple devoted to a knowledge deity and spent almost a week studying divine texts. But when I hit lvl 3 I decided that going lore and adding some of the proficiencies of the knwoledge domain througt the collage of lore to be more apropriate that becoming a cleric. It didnt feel like spending a week in a temple earned me the right to become a cleric, clerics are supposed to be priests chosen by their gods to bear their divine powers.

Well...
Hat down to you for truely roleplaying your character and your classes. Not so many players would be so straight.
And, yes, you're right, unless some special DM event such as an "illumination", I doubt any clerical order would consider one with one-week long studies a full-fledged cleric. ;)

With that said, if you want to go through with your reasoning, it will be the same with any class dip. Training, like, one or two weeks would hardly justify a Rogue or Fighter (even if you can argue your very high DEX and decent INT helps you learn quick).
It's not so much of a problem though. If you decide on a dip, speak with your DM beforehand (like, one/two "levels" before) and see with him how to build your case, so to speak, either because during the x next downtimes you will dedicate yourself into training for this dip, or maybe because a special quest would grant you a grace (warlock, sorcerer) or a reward in the form of training with a hero/champion (martial class).

[dread05]

Well some choises come easier than others. Paladins and War clerics are already trained warriors so a fighter dip is easy. A shadow monk can be trained to be an assassin in his monastery. Any class can make a pact with a fiend/fey and start ganing some levels in warlock. Any spellcaster may have a spell go wrong and end up in a magical explotion to fluff wild magic sorcery or have some draconic blood infused in his veins and manifest draconic sorcery.

[diplomancer]

You are a lore bard. Your character is literally devoted to lore. It is not difficult at all to imagine such a person to be a devout follower of a god of knowledge, and even a church member. For you to receive a small training as a cleric is not farfetched at all.

Of course, you have to play your character like that from the beginning for it to make sense. Depending on the skills you want, you may even choose the acolyte background if necessary.

As regards the wisdom modifier, I have one word: bless. You really wont be using a lot of other 1st level spells.

[dread05]

I think we interpret cleric different you and I. Being a devout follower of a deity, or even a church member, doesnt necessarily make you a cleric. It most likely makes you a priest.

Not every acolyte or officiant at a temple or shrine is a cleric. Some priests are called to a simple life of temple service, carrying out their gods’ will through prayer and sacrifice, not by magic and strength of arms. When a cleric takes up an adventuring life, it is usually because his or her god demands it.

A cleric is a priest who has a higher connection with his deity, and acts as his vassal or champion. A lore bard being a follower of a lore deity could mean, taking up history, medicine and relligon and poaching some cleric spells via magical secrets. Now if given deity would actually choose you to do his bidding, then yes you can call yourself a cleric, and you must be subjected to the deity's commands (whims).

I remeber my DM saying, if you do multiclass 1 lvl in cleric, I will be expecting you to change your RP. You can just go on pretending you're only a bard anymore. Then again if you or your DM dont put as much emphasis on the flavor and you are looking at the mechanical aspect of the thing, sure, go ahead.