Bard / Fighter character idea

[Foxydono]

Last night I was thinking about a new character idea. I wanted to make a sneaky ranged character that could also cast spells. A rogue/ranger multiclass would fit this description nicely, but for some reason I didn't fancy that. After some thinking I decided I wanted to throw the bard class into the mix, but then it became the question on how to multiclass. Things like fighter 2/rogue 1/bard 17, crossed my mind, but that isn't ideal either. After searching the internet for a few hours I stumbled across the Unearthed Arcana. I can't post links yet, but you can easily find the pdf through Google.

When I read it I came up with the following character Idea: fighter 6/bard 10 (the campaign will probably end around level 15).

The first few levels will go into the fighter class. You get some nice bonuses like a fighting style (Archery), action surge, an extra attack and two feats at level six. I was thinking of making him or her a cavalier. When I can afford it maybe a flying mount, but I'll begin with a horse. The characters main stats will be dexterity and charisma. The second most important stat will be constitution for concentration and hit points and after that maybe wisdom/strength and lastly intelligence. As soon as possible the character will pick up mounted combatant and after that the sharpshooter feat. By this time I'll hopefully have a flying mount and I'll be shooting arrows from above with my longbow. I thought about a crossbow, but this build is already really feat heavy, so decided against it.

If I come into melee I see him or her picking up a whip and shield. A bit Indiana Jones like, very versatile and fun! After level 6 the character multi-classes into a satire bard. Also from the Unearthed Arcana. Since the party has no rogue, having thieves toolkit is a bonus. Tumbling fool will help me when I get into a tight spot, so I can run away and shoot with my bow. The half falling damage will come in handy as well, seeing how I ride a flying mount. As soon as I reach bard level 4 I take the warcaster feat so I can cast spells while mounted and holding my bow. Expertise will come in handy for animal handling and such checks. When advancing further I'll probably boost my dexterity as much as possible for more damage and AC. Possibly I could take another feat instead like spell sniper, lucky or resilient, but I don't think that's worth it over 2 dexterity. But who knows I found a magic item to boost dexterity by that time. At 10th level I can take other spells, and I will definitely take Swift Quiver for extra damage.

As for the race I am not sure. With so many feats to take human variant is a nice option as always, but half-elf is nice as well. Even a Tiefling is something worth considering and a Halfling is an excellent choice as well.

What do you guys think of the character idea? Advice and tips are more than welcome! :)

[Biggstick]

Levels 1 through 6 might last a pretty long time. As long as you're fine with playing a character that's primarily a Bard as a Fighter for the first 6 levels, your leveling scheme seems fine.

As for mounted combatant, that's a feat that only provides a real advantage if you're utilizing melee attacks. Warcaster is another feat that I'd definitely reconsider. It doesn't provide you any real benefits if you're planning on using a bow, as most DMs will allow you to hold the bow with one hand and perform the somatic and material components with the free hand. I'd definitely take both feats out of consideration of this build.

Don't limit yourself to Satire, as all Bards have access to the feather fall spell at bard level 1. As for the Thieves tools, you can gain proficiency with those by having the criminal or urchin background (or a custom background if your DM is open to that).

Have you considered Fighter 1//Valor Bard xx? You'll be a much higher level spell caster, your second attack comes online at PC level 7, you get your expertise and spells faster. I'd recommend getting at least 18 Dex before picking up Sharpshooter, and then maxing out your Dex.

[JAL_1138]

Levels 1 through 6 might last a pretty long time. As long as you're fine with playing a character that's primarily a Bard as a Fighter for the first 6 levels, your leveling scheme seems fine.

As for mounted combatant, that's a feat that only provides a real advantage if you're utilizing melee attacks. Warcaster is another feat that I'd definitely reconsider. It doesn't provide you any real benefits if you're planning on using a bow, as most DMs will allow you to hold the bow with one hand and perform the somatic and material components with the free hand. I'd definitely take both feats out of consideration of this build.

Don't limit yourself to Satire, as all Bards have access to the feather fall spell at bard level 1. As for the Thieves tools, you can gain proficiency with those by having the criminal or urchin background (or a custom background if your DM is open to that).

Have you considered Fighter 1//Valor Bard xx? You'll be a much higher level spell caster, your second attack comes online at PC level 7, you get your expertise and spells faster. I'd recommend getting at least 18 Dex before picking up Sharpshooter, and then maxing out your Dex.

Seconded.

Fighter 1 for Archery Style (and possibly heavy armor, but you're probably going pure Dex so that may be out unless you roll really good stats) is a decent dip for Valor, and Valor Bards are pretty competent archers anyway with Crossbow Expert.

Warcaster is really only important for a) two-weapon users and b) shield users that aren't clerics or paladins. There's a Sage Advice or a Mearls tweet floating around somewhere that two-handed weapons take two hands to use, not hold, so casters can simply let go with one hand in order to cast.

Mounts tend to have low HP (feat gives you ablility to redirect damage from mount to you), so if you're really invested in being a rider, it could be useful, but I'd generally say skip it.

If you're not going Fighter 1 Valor X, and intend to take several levels of a non-bard class, Ranger might have more synergy with an archery build that isn't getting more than two attacks per round under normal circumstances anyway, since Rangers are half-casters and you wouldn't be losing as many spell capabilities. Ranger extra attack kicks in at level 5, and they have some archery-focused goodies like Hunter's Mark and Colossus Slayer.

[djreynolds]

Valor bard, a dip a level of fighter whenever.

[Foxydono]

Thanks for all the advice! I agree that a valor bard makes more sense as you get a second attack so you don't need to take that many levels in warrior. Being able to cast spells at an earlier level will be nice! It's a shame the mounted combatant feat gives so little benefit to ranged combatants, except being able to redirect the damage to yourself of course. As for the warcaster I didn't realize you could cast spells while holding the bow while not having the feat.

As for my build I thought about what you said, but if I'm playing a 1st level of fighter and then switching to a valor bard it feels like I'm going to miss some flavor. I did look at the ranger for a bit and discovered yet another Unearthed Arcana (UA)! The revised version of the ranger. It feels a bit overpowered though if I'm honest, but I do feel it matched my character well so here is my second attempt on a build. Although it goes against the title of this thread: beast master ranger (UA revised) (2?)3(4?) / valor bard x.

This will give me a few benefits. At first level I'd take the natural explorer route. Being a sneaky ranged attacker this seems like the best course. Moving through difficult terrain, advantage on initiative rolls and even advantage if your first to act seems really awesome to surprise people. I imagine some rogue/monk builds will love this as well. Then you get weapon mastery at 2nd level and finally at 3rd level I can choose beast conclave for my mount / animal companion. Seeing as there are no flying mounts I was looking at a black panther and thought: can a halfling ride it?! If so then that would make it really nice, and it would fit the concept of the build I'm trying to make.

Alternatively you could only do two levels in the ranger and buy a mount when I get the money. A third option is to do four levels of the ranger and then get the ability score improvement. This way you also have an even number, so it wouldn't set my back spellcasting wise if I switch to bard afterwards. If I'm really crazy you could possibly consider a 5th level of ranger. Although the coordinated attack doesn't benefit me much as I'll be doing ranged damage mostly, I would be able to cast 2nd level spells like pass without trace! Choices, choices :)

If you go down this road, it will open up even more possibilities. Like going deep stalker conclave for five levels and get darkvision (as human or halfling) and getting an extra attack on your first turn. This way you don't need to go valor bard, but you could go lore bard and benefit from a variety of abilities. I decided against this though, because it seems more like power playing and I want to stick to my original idea of a sneaky ranged character on a mount.

As for feats I'm hesitant about getting mounted combatant. At low levels it wont be such a problem not to have it, but I'm afraid my animal companion will die too quickly at higher levels if I cannot redirect the damage to myself. Getting sharpshooter and boosting my dexterity to 18 will be my highest priority though.

What are your thoughts on this build?

[djreynolds]

For ranger and bard, you will need a 13 in dex and wis and chr, easily done if you are rolling stats, but with point buy it could be tougher. And I would like a 10 in intelligence and a 12 in con, and that means strength is dumped. 8/13/12/13/10/13 doable and very skilled scouty type

Starting off as a fighter gives you con save proficiency and archery style off that bat.

I would just go rogue/ranger and call it a day. Arcane trickster/deep stalker could be cool.