Too many options, not enough decision on what to play.

[Corginin]

Hello fair persons!

Starting a new game from level 1 and I decided to let everyone else go ahead and pick their classes and fill in to round out the party. DM decided to allow stat rolls and I rolled "well" with a 16, 16, 15, 14, 13 12. I had decided to play a Half-Orc Barbarian/Bard multiclass and rp a shirtless bard with high physical stats and charisma wielding an axe both in battle and taverns (DM was even cool with the greataxe actually being a guitar for great pun filled action). Rage would kind of be a sideline thing only used when I was out of spells to fling.

However those plans went awry when our wizard decided to switch to a fighter. This leaves my current party very front line heavy with a Fighter, Monk, and Moon Druid. My question to you wonderful folks is, what should I play?! I am currently stuck between deciding if I want to play a bard still or wizard, both with a possible cleric dip. Our party is decidedly lacking in the CHA/INT department as well as casting department aside from the druid.

Any suggestions? I would love to play the Bardbarian rock star, but don't want to step on any toes and we definitely have a couple of gaps to fill.

[Specter]

I say never multiclass Barbarian with a spellcaster. But some will disagree.

Between Bard and Wizard? Both are solid controllers. If you're going to dip in Life Cleric, I'd suggest Bard simply because they get more healing spells.

[Willie the Duck]

With those stats, you could go straight valor bard, keep a decent Int and pick up a bunch of knowledge skills that normally the wizard your party doesn't have would have taken), and still play him off as a martial, skald-like bard (just not, y'know, a front-liner).

[Corginin]

I say never multiclass Barbarian with a spellcaster. But some will disagree.

Between Bard and Wizard? Both are solid controllers. If you're going to dip in Life Cleric, I'd suggest Bard simply because they get more healing spells.

While I would normally agree on the Barbarian, I think I was going more for "flavor/fun" with that one. The idea of a shirtless bard running around with a great "axe" just sounded awesome.

What about a knowledge dip with the bard for the extra expertise in Int skills as well as some other cleric goodies? Feel that is worth a level?

[Corginin]

With those stats, you could go straight valor bard, keep a decent Int and pick up a bunch of knowledge skills that normally the wizard your party doesn't have would have taken), and still play him off as a martial, skald-like bard (just not, y'know, a front-liner).

Race wise, maybe the stereotypical Half Elf and go 12, 16, 16, 16, 14, 16 or even 12, 16, 16, 14, 14, 18? That would also give me two additional skills. Though really I guess any race works in this case given the array of stats?

[Willie the Duck]

vHuman also works, perhaps with your 1st level feat being Skilled. But yes, any race works, since you aren't trying to pick up some highly specific trait (like being able to wear heavy armor without high strength, shoring up weapon or armor profs, etc.).

It is awfully hard to pass up half-elves when making a Cha-based class though.

[eastmabl]

Shirtless bard-barian with a greataxe? It sounds like a mountain dwarf to me.

+2 Str / + 2 Con will help round out the barbarian side, and you have a 16 that you can dedicate to your Charisma.

[coredump]

Hello fair persons!
I had decided to play a Half-Orc Barbarian/Bard multiclass and rp a shirtless bard...wielding an axe both in battle and taverns

Any suggestions? .

The answer is obvious. You should play a half-orc barbarian/bard....

So you are front-line heavy. So what? 5E is pretty forgiving, you should be fine. Play whats fun and have at it. You already said you will be more spellcaster than rager..... what more do you need?

[KnotaGuru]

You have a fighter, rogue, and moon druid in the party. All 3 rely on attack rolls, even if the fighter and/or rogue go ranged. Bless would be nice to have to increase successful attack rolls. You could go cleric or paladin or even favored soul sorc/life domain. Cleric 1/bard X would be nice too. Could go life domain for increased healing and heavy armor/shields. Or you could go knowledge domain for extra skills & languages, medium armor/shields, and access to identify spell. Then go lore bard for some awesome control options, buffs/debuffs, inspiration, and magical secrets to cherry pick your favorite spells.

[Zene]

The answer is obvious. You should play a half-orc barbarian/bard [....]
5E is pretty forgiving, you should be fine. Play whats fun and have at it.

5e is very forgiving, but Bard/Barbarian may test that as it's a really rough combo with almost no synergy. I think you may have trouble feeling like you're contributing to the party as your teammates (especially the fighter and druid) start to leave you behind with their mid-level abilities.

However, you've got a great character concept that you'd enjoy playing. Why not go full Barbarian, but take the Entertainer background and have the exact same backstory? Or even full greataxe-wielding Valor Bard? No need to change anything else about the character. You can even fluff Medium armor to be shirtless -- nothing says Half Plate needs to be the top half.

[Specter]

While I would normally agree on the Barbarian, I think I was going more for "flavor/fun" with that one. The idea of a shirtless bard running around with a great "axe" just sounded awesome.

What about a knowledge dip with the bard for the extra expertise in Int skills as well as some other cleric goodies? Feel that is worth a level?

Sure, why not. Bards are the skillful guys after all. As long as you have other things from Cleric that would be desirable (like Bless, for instance). If all you want is those expertises, it's probably not worth delaying your own spell progression.

[Zene]

What about a knowledge dip with the bard for the extra expertise in Int skills as well as some other cleric goodies? Feel that is worth a level?

That's a pretty good dip if you want to be Mr. Skills. Besides the expertise, you get Guidance, which when combined with Jack of All Trades at Bard 2 means you can be pretty darn good at everything. That can definitely be a worthwhile tradeoff for being a level behind in Bard abilities/spells but I'd still recommend you be really sure you want to do it. Keep in mind that you can dip Knowledge Cleric 1 at any point in your bard progression, no need to do it at the beginning. You can wait til your Valor Bard gets Extra Attack, or til your Lore Bard gets Magical Secrets, or even later.

[KnotaGuru]

I recommend the dip at 1st level for armor proficiency & bless spell. Bards are squishy, even valor bards don't get med armor & shields until level 3. Until then, you're running around in leather+DEX. And due to bounded accuracy, it's more difficult to land attacks in the early levels making bless more valuable. Clerics also get proficiency in WIS saves, while bards get DEX. imo, WIS > DEX

[Ashuan21]

Actually a Bard/Bardbarian is not that bad, take Armor of Agathy as Magical Secrets and have it last double as long thanks to the resistances. While raging there's no reason not to keep inspiring people.
This comes online quite late but you could start as a Bard and play it normally in the meanwhile.

Bard/Barbarian is also one of the best grapplers (Rogue is probably strictly better but Bard has its pros).

[KnotaGuru]

Actually, you can't cast or concentrate on spells while raging. Basically, the best bard and barb class abilities can not be combined.
Valor bards make excellent grapplers if you want to go that route: shield master feat, expertise (athletics) and enhance ability spell. Once you have your extra attack at level 6, you can knock prone, grab & drag/choke in the same round. Select enlarge person later via magical secrets to grapple larger foes.

[Hrugner]

Just stick with the original idea. I happen to be playing a shirtless, heavy metal barbarian entertainer, except he's a dwarf and he plays a giant taiko drum wearing traditional diapers...

That aside, you would probably get better synergy from classes other than bard and or barbarian. A monk bard would give you the shirtless-ness and let you hold a non-fluffed instrument while kicking your foes. A warlock/bard would let you use a constant disguise self to appear as naked as you like and give you some other SFX. A sorcerer bard would give you dragon skin shirtlessness, that's probably your best bet if you wanted to be castery.

[Yagyujubei]

just stick with bard imho. backline JOAT will be useful in that pt, and control spells will be really strong with all the powerful melee you have access to.

I would nix the barbarian MC though and just go pure lore bard with like...a bow or something ranged.

[Ashuan21]

Actually, you can't cast or concentrate on spells while raging. Basically, the best bard and barb class abilities can not be combined.
Valor bards make excellent grapplers if you want to go that route: shield master feat, expertise (athletics) and enhance ability spell. Once you have your extra attack at level 6, you can knock prone, grab & drag/choke in the same round. Select enlarge person later via magical secrets to grapple larger foes.

Obviously Armor of Agathys doesn't require concentration, sssso I guess your argument is invalid.
Bardic Inspirations can still be used so you can combine those, at least a spell and rage. College of Lore lets you mitigate incoming damage so the Armor is still better.
Obviously the other spells are for situations in which melee is unadvisable.

Valor Bard alone is not that great as a grappler, it lacks a lot, especially in resisting to hard hits. Duergar race mitigates some problems, played with EK and Lore Bard is quite strong.

[Drackolus]

Just think of your rage as another spell. I think that's the easiest way to go about it.
2 levels of barb, then pump of valor bard until at least 6. Then consider going back into barb (wolf totem can give you more support abilities). The real kicker is that you can rage or enhance strength, then use your expertise in athletics to grapple->prone like a champ. Downside is that you can't really use a greataxe while grappling due to lack of hands. You can shove though. You can grant your bardic inspiration after the fact, so you can totally headlock someone on the ground and tell your friend to finish them off.

[Miffles]

Look through the book for 6 months then you might decide something (kinda worked for me)

[Kurt Kurageous]

nothing says Half Plate needs to be the top half.

Besides PHB p.145, right? "Half plate consists of shaped metal plates that cover most of the wearer's body. It does not include
leg protection beyond simple greaves that are attached with leather straps."

But have a DM handwave it. It's so awesome it might even qualify for rule of cool.

Nothing says you can't run a game any wrong way you want, right?

Sorry to killjoy.

[Zene]

Besides PHB p.145, right? "Half plate consists of shaped metal plates that cover most of the wearer's body. It does not include
leg protection beyond simple greaves that are attached with leather straps."

But have a DM handwave it. It's so awesome it might even qualify for rule of cool.

Nothing says you can't run a game any wrong way you want, right?

Sorry to killjoy.

Interesting definition of handwaving.

IMO if your DM follows a completely literal reading of flavor text in the book that has no effect on mechanics, and inteprets it in a way that runs counter to not only fun but also reason ... well, just think of it as an early warning sign. Be grateful it came up, giving you the chance to jump ship before you actually invested any time in his campaign.

[Ogre Mage]

For the ultimate support caster build, go Lore Bard X/Life Cleric 1. Lore Bards sorely lack AC defense, but with this build you get heavy armor and shield proficiency via Life Cleric. Grab Aura of Vitality via magical secrets which will be supercharged by the Life Domain power. Toss out bardic inspiration, cutting words, bless, guidance, heals, etc. like candy. Bask in the adoration of the party and accept your accolades.

[Zene]

For the ultimate support caster build, go Lore Bard X/Life Cleric 1. Lore Bards sorely lack AC defense, but with this build you get heavy armor and shield proficiency via Life Cleric. Grab Aura of Vitality via magical secrets which will be supercharged by the Life Domain power. Toss out bardic inspiration, cutting words, bless, guidance, heals, etc. like candy. Bask in the adoration of the party and accept your accolades.

Yeah if you want to be the ultimate healer at L7, you do this, and pick up not only Aura of Vitality but also Goodberry with your Magical Secrets. You will have absolutely insane amounts of healing. I've heard it gets a lot less attractive compared to other healing builds as you level, but you're still basically a full Lore Bard, which is pretty awesome in itself.