Thought about making a Bard. Anything to keep in mind?

[CrackedChair]

After hearing about a bard a friend made, I thought I'd give it a try too.

I have no knowledge of a bard other than the fact they are skill users primarily and they are full casters.

I er, also planned on it being a Lightfoot Halfling, to utilize their stats...

Any help with bards will be appreciated.

[Townopolis]

Valor is good if you don't have a solid front line to hide behind. Lore is good if you do. Sleep is very good until level 5, Tasha's Hideous Laughter is very good after level 5. Faerie Fire is very good.

Even if you go Valor, you aren't a tank. Generally don't try to be a major source of DPR--that's what the entire rest of the party is for. Prayer of Healing or Aura of Vitality will provide excellent out of combat healing once you get spell secrets. Pick Prayer if your party has six members and damage tends to be distributed evenly; pick Aura in all other situations.

Since bards can do a little of everything, paying attention to what your party is good at and filling in the blanks is usually a winning strategy. Once you hit level 5, you can usually throw 2-3 inspirations at any given situation to smooth things along, but YMMV.

Trying to be "likeable" usually results in being bland, forgettable, and tiresome.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Bard players get asked things like "so what do you say for cutting words? So have a couple witty ideas a session thunk up.

I am really enjoying playing a Bard right now btw.

[JAL_1138]

Counterspell is practically a must-take for Magical Secrets. Jack of All Trades applies to the check, so basically only Abjuration wizards can out-Counterspell them.

Bards are almost better as debuffers than buffers in combat. Hypnotic Pattern is an amazingly-good AoE disable that can change the course of an encounter. They're missing a lot of good buffs like Haste and Fly. Still, once Polymorph comes online and you can start turning the Fighter into a T-Rex, they're not too shabby in the buff department. Bardic Inspiration is a decent boost, but Lore Bards will often want to reserve it to Cutting Words an enemy's attack.

Valor Bards can make surprisingly-decent archers. They definitely won't win any prizes for DPR compared to Fighters and Rangers, not by any stretch, but they can still be quite effective. But it takes them a couple of feats and several levels to pull off. It's arguably better not to try, and focus on casting instead, unless you just really want the extra versatility.

Don't try too hard to be a damage-dealer with spells. Debuffs, buffs, utility, and healing should take precedence. But by the same token, keep a bit of damage among your spells for versatility.

[FaceofBo]

Please for the love of god take Healing word. Often times bards are secondary supports, so having even a tiny bit of healing for picking people up or something is so incredibly necessary. Especially low level bards without any healing are just, really really painfully mediocre(In a dungeon crawling setting). Balancing support with tricks and such is really important.

[CrackedChair]

I took healing word! No worries!

[mephnick]

Don't make the same boring bard everyone else does.

Half-Orc College of Blades with Strength, Con, Cha and a Greataxe. Flourish your axe. Expertise Intimidate and Athletics. Screw other skills. Use only fear or mind-**** spells. Vicious Mockery is you screaming that you're going to rip their guts out. Dissonent Whispers is you whispering that you're going to rip their guts out. Grapple suckers who step up to you. Don't play music. Your Song of Rest is knocking everyone in your party over their heads so they sleep well.

Etc

[scalyfreak]

Don't make the same boring bard everyone else does.

Half-Orc College of Blades with Strength, Con, Cha and a Greataxe. Flourish your axe. Expertise Intimidate and Athletics. Screw other skills. Use only fear or mind-**** spells. Vicious Mockery is you screaming that you're going to rip their guts out. Dissonent Whispers is you whispering that you're going to rip their guts out. Grapple suckers who step up to you. Don't play music. Your Song of Rest is knocking everyone in your party over their heads so they sleep well.

Etc

Well, now I know my next character... though all bards need an instrument. Half-orc bard with bag pipes sounds about right to me.

[Finger6842]

You will struggle to survive as a stealth out front so resist the temptation and focus on your casting and bow skills. You have a level or two to spend on multiclass options but don't lose your level 18 magical secrets, it's too powerful if you might ever reach that high.

[Marvnmartian]

Any help with bards will be appreciated.

Remember your capstone is trash so taking a 1 level dip into cleric or a two level dip into warlock will greatly improve your character as a lore bard, and a 1-2 level(2 level imo) dip into fighter for valor.

Warlock 2 gives you the round by round blasting with Eldritch Blast + agonizing blast. But i wouldnt dip more than 2 you will want your last Magical secrets at 18 for wish/meteor Swarm/mass heal etc.

Starting out cleric is a great way to improve the bard drastically. Go knowledge if your party lacks a wizard for all intellect skills. Go Life if you have a reckless party who you know will benefit from goodberry and aura of vitality(only waste both of your lvl 6 magical secrets on both if you have concerns about party members being dumb with their health, Otherwise goodberry + conjure animals is always a good duo)

[JAL_1138]

Seconding the 1-or-2-level dip into Fighter for a VB. Archery Style is a huge boost to accuracy, and if you're making a Sharpshooter bard, will really help your DPR by mitigating the -5 accuracy penalty somewhat. Starting Fighter for Con saves is a good idea, though losing Wis save proficiency is painful in its own way. Half-elves' Advantage on saves vs Charm effects takes a bit of that sting out, but Vhuman is often the better choice for the starting feat.

A 2-level dip early on is tough, because VBs already get going late, with no access to Magical Secrets until bard 10. Pushing it back to 12 is a pain. Losing the last stat bump at Bard 19 is a bit painful as well. Still, Action Surge from Fighter 2 is extremely powerful and worth weighing against the cost of the ASI. An extra spell or two more Sharpshooter shots (or combining the two) in a round is fantastic.