Suggestions for 5th lvl bard in a shifting ensemble

[orionbryan]

1. Abilities after Half-elf racial applied are
STR: 12
DEX: 17
CON: 17
INT: 14
WIS: 14
CHR:20

2. Seeking to play a Lore bard. Only core is used
3. Not wanting to multi-class
4. Avoiding melee, preferring buff/debuff/control
5. Wish to be sneaky and a face
6. This is 5e

Thanks for reading my post and offering your ideas. What would you do with these conditions? Posters often don't state their goals and boundaries. I have tried to do this. The next session or two is gladiatorial arena fights while the DM generates new content. I will use this time to play test my bard in combat offset by gambling/scheming/resting social situations.

Parameters for your consideration:
Level 5 lore bard being built
Ancient Rome setting
Light RP. I would be the most active role player
DM will use social combat card deck for non-combat encounters
Party is low life miscreants and criminals
I will be a well played neutral
Low to moderate magic item power. I get no choices at the beginning.
Race: half elf. Open to others. Uncommon allowed.
Feats allowed
Stats assuming half-elf racial applied. No level 4 adjustment applied. I rolled 5d6 at the table. Kept 3d6: 12, 17, 17, 14, 20
Only core allowed + uncommon races
DM running a somewhat sneaky campaign but when the party blows it, as it is keen to do, the combat is brutal and often lethal.

Character goals: party face, bag-o-tricks, survival in above-average difficulty as the norm, help DM drive an increase in RP to enrich his stories. Self sufficient and capable of support.

Other characters in party. DM is comfortable with a somewhat shifting cast but imposes XP barriers. Myself and one of the other players don't like to change often:
Aasimar sneaky rogue, sword wielder. Sticks with character.

Storm cleric with munchkin tendencies who is kept well in check. Knows rules well and helps other players like me but doesn't role play much. Revolves characters.

Melee focused warlock who seems to die often and revolves similar characters.

[nickl_2000]

Here are the things it appears that you are asking for.

1) feats at level 4, or are they not allowed since your get no ASI at level 4?
2) Spell selection
3) Skill Profs?
4) Background?

Or what exactly are you looking for?

[orionbryan]

Here are the things it appears that you are asking for.

1) feats at level 4, or are they not allowed since your get no ASI at level 4?
2) Spell selection
3) Skill Profs?
4) Background?

Or what exactly are you looking for?

Yes that is a correct summary of what I am seeking. Feats are allowed.

Two more questions

1. Also, I would interested in how a more experienced player would cadence his rounds. What would be a list of actions at the beginning, middle, and end of a fight? I would assume giving out inspiration near the top of a battle would be efficient and helpful.

2. How would you operate spacing and distance with my party in mind? I am interested in using any features of the map and would like to help the party address the problem of enemies swarming us in a corner or other disadvantageous spot.

[orionbryan]

Here are the things it appears that you are asking for.

1) feats at level 4, or are they not allowed since your get no ASI at level 4?
2) Spell selection
3) Skill Profs?
4) Background?

Or what exactly are you looking for?

We have the option to take the ASI. I just haven't assigned it yet.

[Aymon]

Yes that is a correct summary of what I am seeking. Feats are allowed.

Two more questions

1. Also, I would interested in how a more experienced player would cadence his rounds. What would be a list of actions at the beginning, middle, and end of a fight? I would assume giving out inspiration near the top of a battle would be efficient and helpful.

2. How would you operate spacing and distance with my party in mind? I am interested in using any features of the map and would like to help the party address the problem of enemies swarming us in a corner or other disadvantageous spot.


OK, so you're the face, the support, and the arcane caster. Lore bard is good, but your defences, at will damage and spell selection are limited, and you don't want to multiclass.

Feats: Alert, or ritual caster wizard. Get the other at 8th.

Skills, expertise in stealth and perception. Add investigation, 1 or 2 social skills, acrobatics, and possibly Arcana if you need it.

Background, Noble for roleplay, urchin or criminal if you need thieve's tools.

Spells. Minor illusion, mage hand, vicious mockery,
Healing word, silent image, detect thoughts, shatter, hypnotic pattern, plus extras you like (faerie fire, invisibility?)

Save inspiration for cutting words. Minor illusion to give you cover, silent image a wall, fog cloud, or monster to distract and control battlefield, shatter or hypnotic pattern if there is a good group to Target, otherwise dodge/hide - hold back and see what develops. Healing word immediately if someone drops, unless they won't get an action before being hit again.

You are the squishy caster..stay out of combat and don't scout alone. Get the cleric to prepare Enhance Ability for social situation, or give you guidance.

At sixth get counterspell and fireball. At 8th the feat you missed at 4th.

Or take variant human and get ritual caster at first level for a familiar and a tiny hut with alert as well.

Or Mage Initiate warlock for Eldrich blast, light and disguise self, or MI sorcerer for firebolt, acid splash and shield.

[JeffreyGator]

since you get 5 inspirations you may want to consider giving one out to the party tank if there is one, but otherwise save those for cutting words which is very helpful to help your control spells land when the enemies beat your 16 save.

Vicious mockery may be your go-to action for your playstyle. Use it against whoever is attacking the character that needs most protection.

Urchin or criminal would fit the group well. Gives you thief tools and disguise kit and stealth.

You get 10 Proficiencies and two expertise and will be +1 on everything else.

For party face you need deception, persuasion, intimidation and insight. Expertise on one of these maybe depending on how social card deck works.

Perception is good to have expertise unless a bunch of the rogues already have it.

Investigation is needed to find traps.

You may want survival and medicine.

Feats: Inspiring Leader to give everyone 10 temp hp every short rest will make you very loved.

Spells:
I like tashas and/or dissonant whispers to lock down an enemy to let your allies destroy it.

You will need healing word.

I would consider some that you will generally cast as rituals. I like unseen servant pre cast ritually instead of mage hand. Detect Magic.

Minor Illusion - might to used to provide illusory cover for you or a rogue.

Vicious mockery as regular thing.

You probably also want a light crossbow for damage.

[orionbryan]

OK, so you're the face, the support, and the arcane caster. Lore bard is good, but your defences, at will damage and spell selection are limited, and you don't want to multiclass.

Feats: Alert, or ritual caster wizard. Get the other at 8th.

Skills, expertise in stealth and perception. Add investigation, 1 or 2 social skills, acrobatics, and possibly Arcana if you need it.

Background, Noble for roleplay, urchin or criminal if you need thieve's tools.

Spells. Minor illusion, mage hand, vicious mockery,
Healing word, silent image, detect thoughts, shatter, hypnotic pattern, plus extras you like (faerie fire, invisibility?)

Save inspiration for cutting words. Minor illusion to give you cover, silent image a wall, fog cloud, or monster to distract and control battlefield, shatter or hypnotic pattern if there is a good group to Target, otherwise dodge/hide - hold back and see what develops. Healing word immediately if someone drops, unless they won't get an action before being hit again.

You are the squishy caster..stay out of combat and don't scout alone. Get the cleric to prepare Enhance Ability for social situation, or give you guidance.

At sixth get counterspell and fireball. At 8th the feat you missed at 4th.

Or take variant human and get ritual caster at first level for a familiar and a tiny hut with alert as well.

Or Mage Initiate warlock for Eldrich blast, light and disguise self, or MI sorcerer for firebolt, acid splash and shield.




This is what I ended up with before reading the latest two posts. Ignore the weapons. This generator seems to have a glitch.

https://www.orcpub2.com/pages/dnd/5e/characters/17592195164346

I was thinking I would take eldritch blast at 6th along with something else, and use a crossbow or vicious mockery in the interim. When I get eldritch blast I will use it or vicious mockery depending on the tide and scope of battle I don't really like healing word. We have a cleric and the heal is not that significant to me. Minor illusion is interesting and I may switch out for it before the session. I thought earth tremor had some interesting options with a rogue to I took that. I also want to be careful not to take too many concentration required spell.

I see my self using inspiration for the rogue as a swift or cutting words early in the fight. Then I would drop a buff/debuff/AOE control as appropriate and spam vicious mockery a few times. I can use dissonant whispers to push enemies past the cleric and rogue. I actually think I will take Pyrotechnics because it is nice to be a bard with a control spell that is not save dependent. I like that option. knocking them prone, pushing them around, or putting them at disadvantage is the type of style I want. Also I took invisibility for the bag-o-tricks and for how useful it can be for the sneaky campaign.

[Aaron Underhand]

This is what I ended up with before reading the latest two posts. Ignore the weapons. This generator seems to have a glitch.

https://www.orcpub2.com/pages/dnd/5e/characters/17592195164346

I was thinking I would take eldritch blast at 6th along with something else, and use a crossbow or vicious mockery in the interim. When I get eldritch blast I will use it or vicious mockery depending on the tide and scope of battle I don't really like healing word. We have a cleric and the heal is not that significant to me. Minor illusion is interesting and I may switch out for it before the session. I thought earth tremor had some interesting options with a rogue to I took that. I also want to be careful not to take too many concentration required spell.

I see my self using inspiration for the rogue as a swift or cutting words early in the fight. Then I would drop a buff/debuff/AOE control as appropriate and spam vicious mockery a few times. I can use dissonant whispers to push enemies past the cleric and rogue. I actually think I will take Pyrotechnics because it is nice to be a bard with a control spell that is not save dependent. I like that option. knocking them prone, pushing them around, or putting them at disadvantage is the type of style I want. Also I took invisibility for the bag-o-tricks and for how useful it can be for the sneaky campaign.

At will damage is not your thing, and you'll never be that good at it (compared to martials or the Warlock). What your party needs is some AoE damage, and for you to be debuff and control - Shatter, and cutting words, then fireball and counterspell. If all you do on your turn is dodge, and make them miss that is a very good use of your action - as the caster expect to be targeted...

I guess I would say Magical secrets are too valuable to use on cantrips, and Mage Initiate as a feat at 8th or 12th gets you two relatively cheaply. You'll still lag behind, but when cantrips get to x3 at 11th you'll have something to do...

Equally Healing word is there to get the cleric from unconscious to one hit point - nothing more. It's an emergency button, you may never cast it, but when someone goes down being able to get them back to act, using only a bonus action, at range, is amazing.

The single target saves are good with your high DC, depends if you fight single enemies or hordes or enemies with henchmen... If no one in the party has AoEs you'll get swamped...

[orionbryan]

OK, so you're the face, the support, and the arcane caster. Lore bard is good, but your defences, at will damage and spell selection are limited, and you don't want to multiclass.

Feats: Alert, or ritual caster wizard. Get the other at 8th.

**I will look into these. I don't know about them.

Skills, expertise in stealth and perception. Add investigation, 1 or 2 social skills, acrobatics, and possibly Arcana if you need it.

**This I had already exactly

Background, Noble for roleplay, urchin or criminal if you need thieve's tools.

**I am going to do an RP thing here at the expense of optimization. I am making a composite of stock mannerisms and values from some characters of Vikings in History Channel. Mostly Ragnar's sons plus Floki, and the wandering magic man who got with Largatha's replacement (props on that). He wandered first to Frankia and then south to Rome. It doesn't matter that the timelines don't sync. The setting is the European best of all and DM said Northern Europe was on the table.

He will be not a Viking warrior but a shaman-ish type of bard. Valor seems obvious but he is more frail and bookish, being a rare half-elf anomaly. He gets a far leash because of his race and is viewed with fear and curiosity. He takes a long view on clan affairs, seeking far flung knowledge and magics, and returning every decade.
I took far traveller.

Spells. Minor illusion, mage hand, vicious mockery,
Healing word, silent image, detect thoughts, shatter, hypnotic pattern, plus extras you like (faerie fire, invisibility?)

**Im not sure if I can comfortably play illusions but I would like to do it right. Healing word is a nice panic button, to paraphrase another poster. You can see my spells in the linked character sheet.

Save inspiration for cutting words. Minor illusion to give you cover, silent image a wall, fog cloud, or monster to distract and control battlefield, shatter or hypnotic pattern if there is a good group to Target, otherwise dodge/hide - hold back and see what develops. Healing word immediately if someone drops, unless they won't get an action before being hit again.

**good illusion notes. I like the idea of being a dodger by leveraging cutting words, though avoiding melee combat of course. A missed attack is a good way for the enemy to spend an action.

You are the squishy caster..stay out of combat and don't scout alone. Get the cleric to prepare Enhance Ability for social situation, or give you guidance.

**my CHR is 20

At sixth get counterspell and fireball. At 8th the feat you missed at 4th.

**ive never used counterspell. I'll look it up. I played with fireball in the last session.

Or take variant human and get ritual caster at first level for a familiar and a tiny hut with alert as well.

Or Mage Initiate warlock for Eldrich blast, light and disguise self, or MI sorcerer for firebolt, acid splash and shield.

**reponses in the quote

[orionbryan]

At will damage is not your thing, and you'll never be that good at it (compared to martials or the Warlock). What your party needs is some AoE damage, and for you to be debuff and control - Shatter, and cutting words, then fireball and counterspell. If all you do on your turn is dodge, and make them miss that is a very good use of your action - as the caster expect to be targeted...


** yes I see what you mean. I will not do eldritch blast at 6 or with a feat and instead focus in debuff and field control.


I guess I would say Magical secrets are too valuable to use on cantrips, and Mage Initiate as a feat at 8th or 12th gets you two relatively cheaply. You'll still lag behind, but when cantrips get to x3 at 11th you'll have something to do...

Equally Healing word is there to get the cleric from unconscious to one hit point - nothing more. It's an emergency button, you may never cast it, but when someone goes down being able to get them back to act, using only a bonus action, at range, is amazing.

**yes action economy is important to me. I am used to playing fighters in other dnd versions. I really enjoyed my paladin pathfinder for that reason.

The single target saves are good with your high DC, depends if you fight single enemies or hordes or enemies with henchmen... If no one in the party has AoEs you'll get swamped...

**Yes we tend to get swarmed. I must say though that our cleric likes to use sprirtual guardians to great effect. I can supplement or maybe replace that effort. I will discuss the DMs feelings in illusions. It's always a good conversation to have at the start of a campaign.

More responses in the quote

[Aaron Underhand]

Don't forget cutting words can be used on any attack - if you stop the cleric getting hit he doesn't have to save to keep concentrating on his spirit guardians. It really is a stronger use in combat than inspiration.

Of course out of combat for the sneaky/social activities inspiration from you(+d8), and guidance from the cleric (+d4), or better Enhance ability (Roll with advantage) can allow your party to consistently win the battle of skills...

[Finger6842]

1. Abilities after Half-elf racial applied are
STR: 12, DEX: 17, CON: 17, INT: 14, WIS: 14, CHR:20
Half Elves really make the best Bards, it's the Sleep/Charm/Darkvision combo.
Take your ASI for STR: 12, DEX: 18, CON: 18, INT: 14, WIS: 14, CHR:20


Not wanting to multi-class... Avoiding melee, preferring buff/debuff/control
You really should reconsider this, not only is the level 20 capstone for a Bard horrible but you don't really need ASI's. At level 7 a dip into Wizard gets you a ton of spells to buff and debuff with. It also solves the Bards lack of a blasting cantrip, adds attack advantage through the find familiar spell, adds emergency defense through the shield spell. Sorcerer is another viable option with many of the same benefits. Avoiding melee is great AND highly recommended. Take a bow, when you are stuck in no man's land with nothing to do you can at least contribute when ranges are long. Also, bows have other uses. Upgrade to studded leather ASAP, it's cheap and at level 5 you'd be shocked how often this will make an attack miss.


The next session or two is gladiatorial arena fights while the DM generates new content. Ancient Rome setting
If possible skip this. You are neutral and don't care about the Arena or Glory (BTW you will not do well there, it's not your role). Instead, practice RP by taking one of the downtime suggestions. For Example:
1. Start learning a skill (Thieves Tools, Healing Kit, Shield or Longbow would be great starters). Finding someone to teach you while the party guns blast away in the Arena is a great use of your time. (It's 1GP per day for 250 days after you find a teacher)
2. Practice Performances. You are a Bard, go make some GP AND start working on your reputation. Half Elves are natural Diplomats, start practicing this skill to move up in society. Better patrons mean better earnings means more skills earned.
3. Join a Guild. For example the Harpers (or local equivalent). The benefits here are so varied that it's impossible to describe all the implications but from an RP standpoint, it can launch 1000 adventures for the DM all of which make you the central character. Be careful to include what the other party members would most enjoy.
4. Research. Again 1GP per day but worth its weight because you will learn local lore about things you may face in the wild, places you may want to seek to solve the unexplained.
5. If you are going to take Wizard be on the look out for spell scrolls or books that you can copy into your book when the time comes.


Party is low life miscreants and criminals. I will be a well played neutral.
This is part of your backstory but doesn't need to define it. You can choose any background as who you are, being a criminal is just the result of a choice you made. I say this because one of the best Bard paths is Necromancy related which is almost always a criminal offense. I took Guild Artisan which will play nicely if you became a criminal by embezzlement or were framed. Really take whatever you like then become a criminal through that background.


Low to moderate magic item power. I get no choices at the beginning.
This implies that there will be a choice later. If so and you will multiclass wizard then seek a headband of intellect. 19 INT is not just good for spells, it's awesome for saves AND changes the fundamental way you view your character. Other considerations are:
1. Any kind of magical bow, you will use this far more than you think.
2. Gauntlets of Ogre Power. You won't be in melee but consider 2 things here. The party doesn't have a Strength based character so who will crash open any doors. You need a 16 Strength to wear plate mail (if memory serves). You may not want it now, but here in a second, it will make sense.


DM running a somewhat sneaky campaign but when the party blows it, as it is keen to do, the combat is brutal and often lethal.
OK, my best advice here. Don't sneak. You can be really good at it but once it fails, and it will, you will be boned hard. You don't have the AC/HP pool to do it AND you have a rogue who's actually good at it. Instead, use yourself as the bait or distraction. Shoot arrows at the bad guys, get them to run past the rest of the party who is hiding to surprise them as they pass. This gives the whole party both surprise AND advantage. The bump in their DPS should be your main goal. I know I keep saying shoot arrows and this is boring but I can tell you from experience, the first survivability skill you will learn is when to use your spell slots. There seem like a lot but short of adding a Wizard level, they will be forever too few.


Character goals: party face, bag-o-tricks, survival in above-average difficulty as the norm, help DM drive an increase in RP to enrich his stories. Self-sufficient and capable of support.
Face you have in spades with a 20 CHA but don't be afraid to let others take the lead here. Rember that the negotiator is rarely the man in charge, RP this angle and let the Lock or Rogue do some face time. It's also important to note here that THIS is where you talk the DM into an advantage on skill checks. Dealing with the underworld? Let the Rogue take lead, Dealing with the mortician looking for cadavers to animate? Let the Lock take lead. In both cases, ALWAYS expend a Bardic Inspiration on them before the encounter. 10 minutes is an eternity for an encounter.


Other characters in the party. DM is comfortable with a somewhat shifting cast but imposes XP barriers. I and one of the other players don't like to change often:
*Aasimar sneaky rogue, sword wielder. Sticks with character.
* Storm cleric with munchkin tendencies who is kept well in check.
* Melee focused warlock who seems to die often and revolves similar characters.
Assuming the Lock is a bladelock, your party actually has some tanky characters. In this case, you can minimize considerations that affect the rest of the party and focus on versatility. Definitely, don't take their spell lists into account since they change characters.

Recommended spells:
Cantrips
Vicious Mockery, OMG the disadvantage is awesome, resulting in large amounts of effective heal.
Mage Hand, never be where the trap goes off, remember to reposition the party first, fundamental and critical. Also, reach levers.
Minor illusion and Prestidigitation round this out as my favorites (with no UA)
Level 1
Thunderwave, AOE, enough said.
Fairie fire, again, creates advantage AND see invisible.
Cure wounds, take it, you'll need it.
Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals, Identify, Detect Magic and Featherfall all are solid spells as well.
Level 2
Invisibility, critical in a ton of situations but remember, they can hear you and you cannot walk on water.
Shatter, AOE
Too many good spells here. Blindness, Heat Metal, Silence, and Phantasmal Force get honorable mention but there are more
Level 3
Hypnotic Pattern, AOE battlefield control with a WIS save which is one of the harder ones.
Leomunds Tiny Hut. Spell recovery, the best thing for your party which is caster heavy. Use it creatively to minimize discovery.
Major Image, Apply this to your performances AND combat as distractions etc... The key to effective use of this spell makes it believable. In performances remember the crowd WANTS to be amazed. Always argue advantage for the skill check on this basis.
Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Fear, Non-Detection, Plant Growth, Stinking Cloud are all solid options here as well.

At level 6 you will get Magical Secrets. this is all how you want to RP. I went with counterspell and haste but then our campaign was caster heavy.
Counterspell, Haste, Aura of Vitality, Mass Healing Word, Animate Dead, Call Lightning, Lighting, Fireball, Slow, Fly, Misty Step, Hunger of Hadar and even second level Find Steed are solid spell choices. There are more, the true agony is choosing two that fit your play style and campaign.
At level 10 I went with Banishing Smite and Wall of Force but here again there are a ton of options.

For my 10 skills, I chose Acrobatics, Deception, History, Insight, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Stealth, and Survival. Jack of all trades made the rest still effective. Expertise in Perception and Performance, then later in Persuasion and Insight. I dipped 1 Rogue at 18 for History and Investigation but at that point, we were doing a ton of skill checks for tracking down things (and we didn't have a Ranger). The sneak attack feature got me to sneak a little more and I didn't need the ASI. My background gave me a tool proficiency and I took cartographers tools. I tried learning proficiency in the Religion skill from our party Life Priest. At the end of 250 days though I still wasn't proficient. I continued discussing it at the table and 12 levels later got that skill as well which was unexpected but very nice. In that time I had successfully learned proficiency with Shields, Thieves Tools and Forgery Kit.

The only Feat I took was Warcaster (because I learned to use a shield which had me not using a focus), Resilient CON and Lucky were the only other ones I considered.

There are a ton of ways to maximize specific skills but I went the path of being able to perform as many different rolls as possible. TANK was the only thing I dare not try in this Build, though with the Shield spell I could fill even that role for a round or two.

My typical priorities for encounters are:
1. If I know the combat or skill check is coming, give Inspiration to everyone I feel might use it. If I don't know then my bonus actions during combat will hand these out.
2. Attempt to use diplomacy, avoiding the antagonistic properties of the encounter if possible.
3. Use cutting words where appropriate.
4. Use my bow to get the NPC's good and wounded, the party had 2 PC's with Toll the Dead which you won't have unless the DM allows it.
5. Attack with the bow or in rare cases a spell appropriate to the encounter (heal, vicious mockery, thunderwave, shatter, faerie fire).
6. Use the "ready" "help" "disarm" or "dodge" actions. Mostly help. Once the encounter is over.
7. Heal the party, song of rest, tiny hut, etc.
8. Use my Insight skill to seek advantage on Perception and/or Investigation skills.

Some other thoughts, avoid conflict where possible, specifically in towns. Fewer enemies, more renown. Cast invisibility on yourself to avoid tavern brawls and try not to cast thunderwave or shatter there. The damages may be worse than losing the fight though your typical "tough" guy in there will have almost no chance to save vs either spell. Always combine sneak with invisibility, this will help avoid the "they heard you" encounter.

By and large, 5e is mostly about advantage and disadvantage so as a skill monkey you should always use one skill to provide a potential advantage for another skill. You are the sum of your parts, NOT 1 at a time. That's where the Bard really shines. Want a great performance, use illusion spells to amaze the audience. Need a Platform? Tenser's floating disk (If you took wizard). Describing a bad guy to the constabulary? Again, Illusion...this is what he looked like Centurion! Want some good will? Take the Plant Growth spell and Increase the crop yield, you may become a Folk Hero and who knows, maybe the DM will reward you with a Feature like Rustic Hospitality, or maybe some kind of monetary reward, which at 5th level can really help. Along the way, you will likely earn a Title or 3. You should use these to improve your audience or by 10th level, you'll never Perform again, it's simply not an effective use of your time.

There's more but this is already too lengthy, my apologies.

[orionbryan]

The bard played well in the session and I thought I would provide how some of your feedback fared. Quite well.

Out of combat I used a combo of message, sleight of hand, and dex checks (playing quarters for shots) to hang with the dwarf lock in a drinking game against three humans. I used message to push a strategy, and used slieght of hand to toss my drinks once they were wasted. I suggested one human give up and go get some sleep before the arena when he was sloshed. I did my sly thing while the dwarf pounded drinks like he was born to do. When there was just us, shook hands, split the cash, and likely made future enemies. Just like the infamous bard should.

In combat I had a rough start getting my action economy right. After a few rounds of the first battle I had some orcs feared and avoided the flail snails well enough. Then I used suggestion to tell one orc to bring me the chest of platinum from the pit. I gave the crowd a performance on my Shawm in front of my chest of platinum while I somewhat evaded its attacks. I got inspiration for that. And spent it in the fight.

In the second round we did a king of the hill with random spinning bladed tops. At the top was a powerful trident. The holder of it for 1 minute wins or if all others are knocked out. I kind of broke this encounter actually. We leveled after the first arena bout so I took counterspell and misty step. I wanted more defensive options because the mobs are so tough in this campaign. Misty step was the shiny star. I moved, misty stepped, and grabbed the trident. Then I went invisible auto-win. I got inspiration again. The other three just held off the 4 gladiators while I stayed away and quiet. The DM was a little irritated at first that I found an alternative solution. I just said that I was merely choosing the alternative solution based on the stated win conditions. He appreciated the ingenuity and I am sure I will pay for it one day