Mountain Dwarf Bard/Salesman

[TheCleverGuy]

I had an idea to make a Mountain Dwarf bard. Essentially, he's an ale salesman. Using the Guild Artisan background and the Dwarf's natural proficiency with brewer's supplies, his story is he travels from town to town and tavern to tavern promoting his family's label, but jealously guarding the secret family recipe. He'll always have a small sample cask on him, and he'll offer to brew a full cask for every tavern owner he sees.

As a child, he loved hearing tales of adventure and learned many of them by heart, along with some associated musical instruments (horn, drum). He craved adventure, so he convinced his parents to let him go out into the world as a marketer.

I rolled stats for him last night, but rolled sort of poorly. I ended up with (after race bonuses): STR 14, DEX 10, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 14. I figured, being a Mountain Dwarf, I'd probably go with the College of Valor option, for some decent melee attacks. I'm not sure which spells I should start him with, though.

I have no idea when/if I'll ever get a chance to actually play this character, but I really like the concept. (If I ever do get the chance, I'd probably re-roll the stats.) Just wanted to share and see if you all had any feedback.

[banthafett]

I rolled stats for him last night, but rolled sort of poorly. I ended up with (after race bonuses): STR 14, DEX 10, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 14. I figured, being a Mountain Dwarf, I'd probably go with the College of Valor option, for some decent melee attacks. I'm not sure which spells I should start him with, though.


The standard rolling rules allow you discard what you rolled in favor of the standard array (15,14,13,12,10,8) which would be a good move in your case. If you take the array you could end up with 16/13/14/8/10/15 which would let you boost Dex and Cha with your first ASI so that you get the maximum benefit to AC from Dex in medium armor. After that, stick to Cha until you've maxed it out.

Since you're a salesman you will almost certainly want to take Persuasion as one of your Expertise skills, as well as Performance (for sales pitches and general musical entertainment). Bear in mind that if an inn keeper does want barrels of ale it would realistically take over a month to go from raw materials to a drinkable state, and you would need to be actively involved over the first couple of weeks. Strictly going by the crafting rules though, you could create a barrel in a couple of days.

When it comes to early spell selection, these are my suggestions.

Cantrips:
Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade are good options for you given that you want to mix it up in melee. They will become less attractive once you get Extra Attack, but they will be very worth while for the early game. Otherwise, Prestidigitation and Minor Illusion are great for sales pitches.

Level 1:
Sleep is obviously a great control spell, and Healing Word has excellent action economy.

Level 2:
Heat Metal is very consistent damage with no save. Phantasmal Force requires an intelligence save, which most enemies are bad at, and can be used to control and/or consistently damage an opponent.

[Unoriginal]

This sounds like an interesting character.

Just to say, though, I don't know any DM who would accept you to roll the stats in advance. Usually it's done with the DM present, for obvious reason.

[TheCleverGuy]

This sounds like an interesting character.

Just to say, though, I don't know any DM who would accept you to roll the stats in advance. Usually it's done with the DM present, for obvious reason.

Oh ya, I totally get that. I've taken to rolling stats for a character when I get an idea for one, just to do get the character down on paper, so I can remember it if it ever comes up later on. I don't really have any plans to actually use this guy in the foreseeable future.

[TheCleverGuy]

The standard rolling rules allow you discard what you rolled in favor of the standard array (15,14,13,12,10,8) which would be a good move in your case. If you take the array you could end up with 16/13/14/8/10/15 which would let you boost Dex and Cha with your first ASI so that you get the maximum benefit to AC from Dex in medium armor. After that, stick to Cha until you've maxed it out.

Since you're a salesman you will almost certainly want to take Persuasion as one of your Expertise skills, as well as Performance (for sales pitches and general musical entertainment). Bear in mind that if an inn keeper does want barrels of ale it would realistically take over a month to go from raw materials to a drinkable state, and you would need to be actively involved over the first couple of weeks. Strictly going by the crafting rules though, you could create a barrel in a couple of days.

When it comes to early spell selection, these are my suggestions.

Cantrips:
Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade are good options for you given that you want to mix it up in melee. They will become less attractive once you get Extra Attack, but they will be very worth while for the early game. Otherwise, Prestidigitation and Minor Illusion are great for sales pitches.

Level 1:
Sleep is obviously a great control spell, and Healing Word has excellent action economy.

Level 2:
Heat Metal is very consistent damage with no save. Phantasmal Force requires an intelligence save, which most enemies are bad at, and can be used to control and/or consistently damage an opponent.

Thanks for the tips! Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade are both frequently mentioned, but they're not in the books I have (only the PHB and Xanathar's). But it's entirely possible that I'll pick up more books before I get a chance to actually play this character anyway. The crafting rules in the PHB are really confusing to me, but I figure I can cross that bridge when/if I come to it. Also, I did not know the rule about switching out bad rolls for the standards--that's definitely good to know for the future.

[Capellanus]

Are Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade available as Bard cantrips at level 1?

I do not see it in the Errata, but SCAG shows them as only available to Sorcerers, Warlocks and Wizards.
(Ignoring Magic Secrets)

[Aett_Thorn]

Are Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade available as Bard cantrips at level 1?

I do not see it in the Errata, but SCAG shows them as only available to Sorcerers, Warlocks and Wizards.
(Ignoring Magic Secrets)

Nope, they're not. As a Valor Bard, you'd need to wait until level 10 to get one.

[banthafett]

Nope, they're not. As a Valor Bard, you'd need to wait until level 10 to get one.

You could also get it with the Magic Initiate feat, but without being a Variant Human you couldn't get it at level 1.

[Aett_Thorn]

You could also get it with the Magic Initiate feat, but without being a Variant Human you couldn't get it at level 1.

True, but with stats like those, he's going to want to focus on bumping up his Cha early. I'd actually recommend staying away from melee in this case, and being more of a support/control Bard. A Glamour Dwarf would be kind of hysterical to see.

[Ventruenox]

A Glamour Dwarf would be kind of hysterical to see.

Using that bonus action Command to order people to "Drink!"

[ZorroGames]

Using that bonus action Command to order people to "Drink!"

Okay, I so like this (plus OP) that I may steal it. So funny. In real life I rarely drink beer but I can totally buy this concept stereotype or not. Nice flavor twist to make this dwarf design your own, OP!

[TheCleverGuy]

Okay, I so like this (plus OP) that I may steal it. So funny. In real life I rarely drink beer but I can totally buy this concept stereotype or not. Nice flavor twist to make this dwarf design your own, OP!

By all means, feel free to use!