Bard at higher levels: how to deal with magic resistance

[Grenouillebleue]

Hello,

I'm currently running a homebrew campaign as a lore bard, and everything was great at lower levels: my spells really messed up our opponents, from the humble Faerie Fire to the awesome suggestion or dominate monster. Vicious mockery didn't deal a lot of damage but its rider was awesome and made the DM curse at me.

But now, we're level 12 and I'm running into a regular problem: many monsters have magic resistance, and that totally screws me up. Most of my spells are save or suck, and, well, they suck on a save (i.e. no half-effect). So I feel kinda useless on those fights, and it's probably going to get worse since our DM hints at hordes of demons and devils about to unleash hell on us.

Any advice on spells I could learn that would make me useful in such circumstances ? Also, my DM is ok for me to change my magical secrets if I find something better (I picked fireball and spiritual guardians at level 6, then destructive wave and circle of power at level 10). Anything that has no save would be wonderful (like Tasha's irresistible dance, but that's once a day).

Thanks a lot for your suggestions !

[ghost_warlock]

One route is to forget about targeting enemies and buff your allies, instead. Haste, bless, polymorph, crusader's aura - that kind of thing. It's not as glamorous and isn't hard control like hypnotic pattern, but your allies will love you for it, your enemies can't shut you down with magic resistance, and DMs usually won't have enemy casters counterspel you

[EvilAnagram]

One route is to forget about targeting enemies and buff your allies, instead. Haste, bless, polymorph, crusader's aura - that kind of thing. It's not as glamorous and isn't hard control like hypnotic pattern, but your allies will love you for it, your enemies can't shut you down with magic resistance, and DMs usually won't have enemy casters counterspel you

This is pretty much the way to go about it. The only controllers who can reliably target fiends are wild sorcerers, so you would be better off buffing and healing allies in those fights.

[Asmotherion]

I know I might sound cliche, but Dipping Warlock 2 gives you a nice Charisma based Eldritch Blast and the ability to add your Cha modifier to it, and Hex packs a lot of Damage... Fay Patron is very thematic for a Bard too.

Anyway, enough with my little "Warlock is the solution to Every Problem" Theory XD

You can actually take Eldritch Blast and Hex with Magical Secrets, though you won't have the invocation to add your Cha Mod to every Blast... that said, it's still good Damage, and makes you a Half-Decent Ranged Damage Dealer.

Then, if you're up against Fiends, and you want a Control Bard, you can apply Batlefield Control. Take spells like Wall of Force, Forcecage, Globe of Invulnerability.

Since you already have Magic Circle, get your hands on Planar Binding, and Force one of the Fiends to become your minion (after trapping it in a Magic Circle). You can pull great RP with your Bard, with the right spells ;)

[SharkForce]

buffing the party is a good solution.

otherwise, you're gonna need to look for ways to figure out what to target in saves. int, followed by cha, are the most likely to be poor saving throws for fiends... but for some of them, you'll want to target strength or con or dex instead (if you can easily target wis, probably *all* of their saves are bad). even with advantage, you've got pretty good odds of landing a spell on at least one target if their bonus is low enough.

so, you could ask your DM how he's running knowledge skills; is it possible you've heard that the goristro is particularly vulnerable to banishment, or that they're knowing for being exceptionally stupid?

anyways, the typical "no save allowed" spell is going to be wall of force. it will allow you to divide a fight into two fights, which hopefully will make the whole thing easier. however, illusions are *also* no-save until they're interacted with, and depending on your DM you maybe be able to take advantage of that. be cautious, some fiends have true sight, though it isn't as common as devil's sight. you probably won't get more than 1-2 rounds of "control" (really more like distraction) out of your illusions, but if your DM is good at not metagaming, you should be able to get those 1-2 rounds fairly consistently for at least some enemies.

[Trampaige]

Since you already have Magic Circle, get your hands on Planar Binding, and Force one of the Fiends to become your minion (after trapping it in a Magic Circle). You can pull great RP with your Bard, with the right spells ;)

Circle of Power and Magic Circle are not remotely the same thing.

[JAL_1138]

Buff and heal (Lore Bards can be about as good as a non-Life-Domain Cleric in that department).

Spirit Guardians would be good, as one of the better damage and control spells out there, but a Lore Bard will want to avoid getting in that close to enemies. I'd swap it for Counterspell (Bards are incredibly good Counterspellers because Jack of All Trades applies to the ability check).

Haste could be good to pick up for a Magical Secret, as would Fly if you've got some solid ranged-damage dealers. A Hasted paladin can nova like nobody's business, for example.

[EKruze]

Don't bother letting them save at all. Consider spells like Otto's Irresistible Dance and Forcecage for foes with Magic Resistance.

[Asmotherion]

Circle of Power and Magic Circle are not remotely the same thing.

My bad, read about a Circle, remembered a Circle and then assumed it was the Fun Circle to RP with :P I have a selective Short Term Memory.