Bard and Rogue Team Advice

[BardGonnaBard]

Hello! I'm fairly new to DnD and wanted to know what people recommend for a team of a bard and rogue. Currently my wood elf bard is planned to be in the College of Valor and my friend's drow rogue is in the assassin class. Also, does this sound like a good team?

[Nifft]

Assassin is a bit too niche, and a bit too unreliable. A different Rogue subclass would be better -- Arcane Trickster for the best flexibility & power, especially if you've got access to the cantrips in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Thief is fine too though.

Valor Bard is fine. Bard is solid. You're not going to do nearly as much damage as the Rogue, but that's fine -- you do everything else.

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If you find that you need more power:

- One of the strongest multi-class character builds is probably a Rogue 5 / Totem Barbarian ++, so consider that if the character needs help.

- Another of the strongest multi-class characters is Paladin 2 / (full Charisma caster like Sorcerer or Bard), and you're a Bard so you'd just need two levels of Paladin.

[Contrast]

For clarity - is it just the two of you in the party or were you just looking to act as a team in a larger party?

If its just the two of you, you both wanna try and cover as much ground as you can so my initial suggestion would be arcane trickster for the rogue. In fairness with only the two of your if you invest in stealth as well you could probably get more use out of the assassin ability than many parties.

You're lacking any melee support so the rogue may find it difficult to get sneak attack reliably. Maybe consider swashbuckler?

While I get the appeal of valor bard, I do note that there are some pretty nice options you can pick up with magic secrets as a lore bard which would help you cover more ground.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I second Lore Bard. The additional spell selections and Vicious Mockery are very helpful and fun.

[BardGonnaBard]

For clarity - is it just the two of you in the party or were you just looking to act as a team in a larger party?

If its just the two of you, you both wanna try and cover as much ground as you can so my initial suggestion would be arcane trickster for the rogue. In fairness with only the two of your if you invest in stealth as well you could probably get more use out of the assassin ability than many parties.

You're lacking any melee support so the rogue may find it difficult to get sneak attack reliably. Maybe consider swashbuckler?

While I get the appeal of valor bard, I do note that there are some pretty nice options you can pick up with magic secrets as a lore bard which would help you cover more ground.

We are in a larger group (5 people including us) but are generally paired together.

Considering the larger party, should my Bard still swap colleges and friend's assassin still reclass?

[Nifft]

We are in a larger group (5 people including us) but are generally paired together.

Considering the larger party, should my Bard still swap colleges and friend's assassin still reclass?

The Assassin may want to re-think that subclass. IMHO the Assassin features are too situational and unreliable unless the whole party is focused on stealth.

As a Bard, you're fine. You could be stronger as a Lore Bard but it's not that much of a difference in a normal-sized party.