Bard College Advice

[Nheko]

Hello fellow poster. Long time lurker, and OotS fan with his first post.

I'm going to play the Out of the Abyss Campaign and I'm planning to play a Drow Bard but haven't decided which College shall I take.

The party consist of:

Dwarf Wizard (Abjurer)
Dwarf Fighter (B. Master)
Minotaur Cleric (War)
Deep Gnome Ranger (Archer)
Half-Elf Warlock (Blade Pact)

Which College will be the best fit, in your opinion, for this party.

[Socratov]

I'd say that some front line support would be welcome. With the ability to to increase AC through Bardic Music for Valor it would be fine to pick Valor. Also, you get enough spells to get those things the party needs that falls out of the spellset the wizard and cleric get. You could go for a front line, dex focused denial sort of valor bard. Meanwhile the archer and casters can pick fo hte other casters and archers and your battle master can run over all sorts of figures.

That said, there is something to say for cutting words and the added skills of the lore bard. Could potentailly inspire a roguish sort of character...

[Ashrym]

I'd go with an arcane trickster roguish style of lore bard. Ranger is the only other class with real skill benefits so filling out with a more skill focused class would be the way to go. A blade pact warlock, war domain cleric, and fighter cover a lot of the physical melee with a ranger for support fire already. The abjurer covers rituals and spells pretty well and the war cleric likely goes with more buffs.

Lore focuses more on skills, and fills in spell gaps sooner or add to the healing with better spells faster via extra secrets. Cutting words can help just as much as AC bonus as long as the opponents aren't immune to charm. It seems like the way to go here to add the most functionality to the group.

[miburo]

Yeah, it seems at first glance your team is missing a skill monkey, but that depends on the backgrounds of the rest of the party. Lore Bard is a good call--lots of extra spells and skill expertise. You may want to consider starting Cleric 1 for medium armor/shields and some extra divine spells/cantrips, if you are worried about front-line support.

That said, I think you'll be fine either way. Valor Bard with Warcaster and Booming Blade as a Magical Secrets would be really fun (Cast Dissonant Whispers, watch as your melee friends wham on the poor monster as they run away, and you can use Booming Blade on it as a bonus!). And you can have a reasonable amount of skill expertise and extra spells with Valor too.

[MaxWilson]

Hello fellow poster. Long time lurker, and OotS fan with his first post.

I'm going to play the Out of the Abyss Campaign and I'm planning to play a Drow Bard but haven't decided which College shall I take.

The party consist of:

Dwarf Wizard (Abjurer)
Dwarf Fighter (B. Master)
Minotaur Cleric (War)
Deep Gnome Ranger (Archer)
Half-Elf Warlock (Blade Pact)

Which College will be the best fit, in your opinion, for this party.

It is my impression that your party is going to have plenty of front-liners already (battlemaster, war cleric, bladelock, and possibly abjuror). A valor bard can fill a back line role perfectly well (archery) but that does open it up for you to be a lore bard if you want--and if so, Cutting Words will allow you to actively protect your partymates in a way they will appreciate.

If it were me, I'd want to be a Warlock 2/Lore Bard X with Agonizing Repelling Eldritch Blast and Conjure Animals + Aura of Vitality. I've played that combination and it's a real hoot: extremely powerful and versatile. The fact that you have 120' darkvision and so will have advantage on many of your Eldritch Blast attacks just makes it even better.

Edit: P.S. Welcome to the forum!

[Nheko]

Thank you very much guys, sorry by the delayed response.

I will go for the Valor Bard. After playing for them for a little bit, I believe that I will complement my party better.