Need some help optimizing a Lore Bard.

[Omnisandro]

I got invited to play at this new table. They had a TPK at low levels two times now, mostly because they had no healer/support, so i want to be what they need.

Life Cleric was my first choice, but i realized that as a Bard i can bring more then heals.

But i still don't have that much experience with 5e, so i tought you folks could give me some good hints. I have something like this in mind:


27 Point Buy, starting at 3.
Half-Elf, Lore Bard.
Entertainer background.

STR 8
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 12
CHA 16

Skills: Acrobatics, Stealth, Arcana, Insight, Perception, Survival, Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion.

Double proficiency: Acrobatics and Stealth at 3rd, Perception and Deception at 10th.

Questions:

What skills should i choose for double prof?

After Charisma, what should i increase CON or DEX?

What feat or feats should i go for? At what level?

Besides obviously heals and buffs, what are the key spells i should pick?

More importantly, what two spells from any class should i choose?

Is it worth it to stick to Bard for 20 levels? If not, when and what should i Multiclass into?

[CaptAl]

I got invited to play at this new table. They had a TPK at low levels two times now, mostly because they had no healer/support, so i want to be what they need.

Life Cleric was my first choice, but i realized that as a Bard i can bring more then heals.

But i still don't have that much experience with 5e, so i tought you folks could give me some good hints. I have something like this in mind:


27 Point Buy, starting at 3.
Half-Elf, Lore Bard.
Entertainer background.

STR 8
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 12
CHA 16

Skills: Acrobatics, Stealth, Arcana, Insight, Perception, Survival, Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion.

Double proficiency: Acrobatics and Stealth at 3rd, Perception and Deception at 10th.

Questions:

What skills should i choose for double prof?

After Charisma, what should i increase CON or DEX?

What feat or feats should i go for? At what level?

Besides obviously heals and buffs, what are the key spells i should pick?

More importantly, what two spells from any class should i choose?

Is it worth it to stick to Bard for 20 levels? If not, when and what should i Multiclass into?

If heals are your main concern pick up one level of life Cleric. Drop your Int and get Wis to 13 for the multiclass. This will net you the extra heals from the life Cleric level 1 ability, plus all armor proficiencies, and the rather spectacular Bless spell. Then you can focus on boosting Cha and Con with your ASIs.

At level 6 steal Aura of Vitality from the Paladin list and you'll be able to heal through just about anything. Then just fill in the rest with whatever you like. The Bard list is sadly lacking in offensive firepower, so I'd steal a blast spell too.

I'm currently playing this same kind of build for AL. I'm currently Life Cleric1/Bard 2 and I've been the out of combat star of the group. My basic strategy is to bless the Tank, the sharpshooter Rogue, and the Warlock, while handing out disadvantage via Viscous Mockery, and throwing around Bardic Inspiration to make sure we all get through. I went V. Human and took the Inspiring Leader feat as well to reduce the amount of healing I have to do via spell slots.

[bid]

Yeah, Dex14 with medium armor. You can get 9 14 15 10 13 16.

Start as lore 2 / life 1. Grab inspiring leader asap then push Cha, get resilient (Con). I would reserve an expertise for athletics/grappling, maybe later.

There are some sweet 3rd pally spells: aura and mantles.

[busterswd]

Life Cleric dipping is great for heals, but first off, you don't have the wisdom for it, and second off, being a "better" healer with the passive is largely overrated. You've already got a ton of Concentration only spells you're going to want to have running, and having Bless up is nice, but not your strength as a bard.

For Expertise, Stealth and Perception tend to be very powerful in 5E; that being said, most people will pick perception, so doing "better" in that may be wasted. I tend to favor a social skill of your choice and Stealth, mainly because failure in those situations can sometimes be unrecoverrable.


Bard Spells of Note

Cantrips -
Vicious Mockery (best support cantrip in the game)
Minor Illusion (limited by your DM/imagination but potentially best cantrip bar none)

1st-
Sleep (drop at 3 or so, but it's super powerful until then)
Tasha's Hideous (nice way to shut down an enemy with a level 1 spell slot)
Fairie Fire (only you and druids get this, great physical debuff)
Dissonant Whispers (if you have a lot of melee, this can be a wonderful nuke)
Detect Magic (nice ritual to have readied, especially if no one else has this)

2nd-
Blindness/Deafness (non concentration debuff)
Hold Person (situational but powerful)
Heat Metal (same)
Suggestion/Phantasmal Force (powerful but limited by your creativity/DM)
Enhance Ability (if you've got extra spells and want an out of combat boost)
Lesser Restoration (if your DM throws lots of Disease/Poison at you, also just good to know)

3rd-
Hyponotic Pattern (shut down a group of enemies)
Dispel Magic (see Detect Magic)
Bestow Curse (excellent Debuff)
Major Image (if you find you love illusions)

4th-
Polymorph (one of the more powerful and versatile spells in the game)
Freedom of Movement (situaitional non-concentration melee buff)
Greater Invisibility (rogues and actually most physical attackers will love you for this)

5th-
Raise Dead (when you need it, you NEED it)
Animate Objects (very solid summoning spell)
Hold Monster (all the sexy of Hold Person, none of the restrictions)
Greater Restoration (see Lesser, cures some niche but annoying status like Madness and Exhaustion)
Dominate Person (swings battles against humanoids HARD)



Magical Secrets:

Conjure Animals- summon mounts, scouts, have flying creatures occupy their flying creatures, restrain creatures, just raise your action economy by a ridiculous amount; the possibilities are numerous

Counterspell- with Jack of all Trades, you rival Abjurers, and stopping a nasty spell from landing against your party is way more effective than trying to heal up the aftermath.

Aura of Vitality- some of the best out of combat healing (and not terrible in combat, either), bar none.

Fireball- the one thing you lack is blasting. This fixes that.

Haste/Slow- more very party friendly buffs/debuffs

Runner ups:

Revivify- for the times when your party is super suicide prone. Weak choice, but when you do need it, you'll be glad you have it.

Goodberry/Eldritch Blast- very good spells for you to know, but better to spend a feat or dip Warlock to get them.

Find Steed- Decent spell, but there are other choices that I favor over this.

[EvilAnagram]

What skills should i choose for double prof?
Acrobatics and one conversational skill. I would say Deception. Deception is basically a spell in and of itself in its ability to alter the world around you.


After Charisma, what should i increase CON or DEX?
I prefer DEX, but they're both good choices.


What feat or feats should i go for? At what level?
I cover this in detail in the guide in my sig. War Caster and Luck are pretty sweet for you.


Besides obviously heals and buffs, what are the key spells i should pick?
First Level

Tasha's Hideous Laughter can drop an enemy out of combat for an extended period, and I love it.
Dissonant Whispers has good damage, alters the battlefield, and can give your buddies op attacks.
Faerie Fire can solve combat encounters when the enemy relies on hiding itself or inflicting disadvantage.


Second Level

Heat Metal is amazing in play. As a DM, I occasionally hate it.
Suggestion is and always will be a ton of fun.

After that
Look at my guide.




More importantly, what two spells from any class should i choose?
Counterspell and Haste.

Is it worth it to stick to Bard for 20 levels? If not, when and what should i Multiclass into?
Yes, it is. I recommend it.

[Citan]

I got invited to play at this new table. They had a TPK at low levels two times now, mostly because they had no healer/support, so i want to be what they need.

Life Cleric was my first choice, but i realized that as a Bard i can bring more then heals.

But i still don't have that much experience with 5e, so i tought you folks could give me some good hints. I have something like this in mind:


27 Point Buy, starting at 3.
Half-Elf, Lore Bard.
Entertainer background.

STR 8
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 12
CHA 16

Skills: Acrobatics, Stealth, Arcana, Insight, Perception, Survival, Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion.

Double proficiency: Acrobatics and Stealth at 3rd, Perception and Deception at 10th.

Questions:

What skills should i choose for double prof?

After Charisma, what should i increase CON or DEX?

What feat or feats should i go for? At what level?

Besides obviously heals and buffs, what are the key spells i should pick?

More importantly, what two spells from any class should i choose?

Is it worth it to stick to Bard for 20 levels? If not, when and what should i Multiclass into?
Hi!
For skills I' say it depends on the group.
If nobody has them, any combination of Perception/Stealth/Persuasion is good.
If you have a Rogue in your party, you can forget Stealth.
If you have a Ranger in your party, you can put maybe Perception on hold.

In which case I'd say pick up at least one social skill, Persuasion or Intimidation depending on your personal taste. Because you will be probably the best at CHA skills and party face anyways.
For the second one, if nobody picked up INT skill, Investigation is a solid one. As can be Arcana if there is much magic and magical creatures involved.

If you have trouble deciding, do yourself a treat and just pick up the one you really want to have fun with.

For spells,
Faerie Fire is always a good first spell.
If you have at least two martials in your group, Dissonant Whispers is great. If you have one Rogue, it's mandatory. Just beware that you'll have to be smart about positioning in some cases.
Otherwise, Bane is a great debuff spell.
Unseen Servant can be very nice if you're usually creative with spells.
You will also obviously learn Healing Word so that's it. :)

For 2nd level, Heat Metal is just great. I second Blindness as it is non-concentration.
You could amp the sneakiness with Invisibility (single) or Silence (group). Silence also doubles as a very effective way to reduce caster capability (or disable them completely if combined with a martial restraining their arms).

For Magical Secrets, my personal favorite for Lore's 6th is Conjure Animals because it's basically ten spells in one (help scounting, fighting, etc). Aura of Life is good for healing.
The one you will want whatever happens later is Circle of Power. I'm a bit amazed in fact that it is not quoted so often, because it's basically Paladin Aura + Evasion against every spell. It does center on you though so it means you have to stay close to the fight.

Beyond that, there are so many possibilities that I would rather suggest you to make a quick pass at all spells and note the ones you're interested in. :)