Orc War Howler: Lore Bard

[Kadesh]

I can't sing. God knows I've tried. I really want to, but I've never managed it to stsy in tune for longer than 2 notes. So, Orc Howler. Scream loud enough to put the enemy off, and beats his drum for Inspiring Presence Healing.

That said, I want to try and play a Bard, and I want to play a non-standard one, and instead play as a Half Orc Intimidator Build (we have a Mastermind Party Face otherwise), and I have the ultimste goal of heing able to fight well in melee, and there is a point at which my current character is sensible to stay for a while (Paladin of Conquest/Hexblade) but thebparty would move.

Currently 8th level, thinking Lore Bard all the way through, but will take advice otherwise: I really want to pick up Find Greater Steed for Battle Cat at 10th, so the sooner I get there the better. I intend to go for Tensers Transformation when I can as well.

My two feats are going to be War Caster (dual wield maces/morning stars) and Inspiring Leader, and use buffs and healing in that way, while acting as a second line combatant.

Any advice on other spells to go for?

[Unoriginal]

If you want to fight well in melee, why go Lore rather than Sword or Valor?

[JackPhoenix]

If you want to fight in melee, you'll be better served with swords or valor bard than lore. Lore bard is propably the worst class for damage output.

Neither maces nor morningstars are light weapons, so you can't use them for twf without Dual Wielder.

[JellyPooga]

If you want to fight well in melee, why go Lore rather than Sword or Valor?

Lore Bard has the advantage of being able to pick up 2 off-list melee buffs of 3rd level or lower. Spirit Guardians, Spiritual Weapon, Elemental Weapon, Haste, Fly, Armour of Agathys, Hex and any of the X Smite spells are great spells that a Swords or Valour Bard might not think to pick up ay 10th level because they're "wasting" the opportunity to pick something of a higher level.

[Exocist]

If you want to fight in melee, you'll be better served with swords or valor bard than lore. Lore bard is propably the worst class for damage output.

Neither maces nor morningstars are light weapons, so you can't use them for twf without Dual Wielder.

You can fix this with a 1 or 2 drop in Hexblade. 1 Drop will let you fight in melee with Rapier + Shield, give you medium armor and let you use CHA (so you don't have to pump DEX). It'll also give you Booming + Green-Flame Blade to increase your melee damage. 2 Drop will let you just use Eldritch Blast as your damage source instead of trying to hit things.

[Kadesh]

No thanks on Hexblade again guys, sorry. I want to play something slightly different.

I think the wrong end of the stick came across when I said I want to TWF, I simply want to be able hit stuff if I need to while riding Battle Cat and screaming at people.

I'm not sure that any of the suggestions for Hexblade has anything to do with what I want to do with the build.

[Crgaston]

You can fix this with a 1 or 2 drop in Hexblade. 1 Drop will let you fight in melee with Rapier + Shield, give you medium armor and let you use CHA (so you don't have to pump DEX). It'll also give you Booming + Green-Flame Blade to increase your melee damage. 2 Drop will let you just use Eldritch Blast as your damage source instead of trying to hit things.

:Edit: You must have replied just after I started typing, and then I got distracted and this took me an hour to actually send. Bottom line, if you want to hit stuff as a Lore Bard and not be a Hexblade, you probably want a 1 level Fighter dip. You’ll never get Extra Attack, so maximizing your offhand Attack and boosting your AC are key.

:End edit:

With a Hexblade dip you’re not limited to rapier. You can use an actual orcly weapon like a war pick. Or whatever.

I like the concept. I do think a starting level in Fighter or Hexblade would be helpful for the concept, despite the delay of your battle cat. With Fighter, you’ll get Con Saves which will be huge, since most of the better Bard spells are concentration. It would also let you pick either TWF or Defense fighting styles and get better weapon/armor/shield options

You could start (using PB) with 16/10/15/8/10/15 and dual wielding hand axes, which you can also throw. (Or even cooler, use Light Hammers as your drum mallets!)

Bump Con/Cha at Bard 4 (CL5)
and then Warcaster at B8. Without a way to get better armor, though, your AC is going to stink. 12 is your max without magic.

Fighter 1 would let you get Chainmail for 16 AC (17 w/ Defense) without having to invest in Dex at all. Dual wield your hand axes until Bard 12 when you can grab the dual wielder feat for your morning stars or just stick with light weapons and bump Str or Cha.

[Exocist]

No thanks on Hexblade again guys, sorry. I want to play something slightly different.

I think the wrong end of the stick came across when I said I want to TWF, I simply want to be able hit stuff if I need to while riding Battle Cat and screaming at people.

I'm not sure that any of the suggestions for Hexblade has anything to do with what I want to do with the build.

The Suggestions for Hexblade are simply to allow you to actually fight well in melee, as you said you wanted to. Without it, your damage will be bad (Due to no attack cantrips unless you burn a magical secret on it), your AC will be worse (No Shields, Light/Mage Armor only & DEX won't be higher than 14 or 16 until late) and you will be Tri-Stat dependent on DEX to be able to actually hit things.

If you don't want to do Hexblade or Paladin MC (which are basically standard options for making yourself somewhat decent in melee as a fullcaster) you could instead try to MC into Stone Sorcerer 1, which would give you Martial Weapons, Shields, Attack Cantrips & AC based on CON, so build would become Stone Sorcerer 1 (Better saves IMO)/Lore Bard 19.

[Kadesh]

1 Fighter level makes sense.and thanks for the advice.

I'm not sire that suggesting someone who is currently playing a Paladin/Hexblade wanting to try a bard should try and play exactly the same thing but with Bard levels added.

I'm not too fussed about being Tri Stat dependent. No huge need for Cha past 13 with Expertise picking up the slack, Str and Con Boost from Core Stats, and with the suggestion of Fighter, I can rock in Plate Armour and get the fighting style for Prof to Off Hand.

[Crgaston]

1 Fighter level makes sense.and thanks for the advice.

I'm not sire that suggesting someone who is currently playing a Paladin/Hexblade wanting to try a bard should try and play exactly the same thing but with Bard levels added.

I'm not too fussed about being Tri Stat dependent. No huge need for Cha past 13 with Expertise picking up the slack, Str and Con Boost from Core Stats, and with the suggestion of Fighter, I can rock in Plate Armour and get the fighting style for Prof to Off Hand.

Cutting Words is amazing, and with a 13 CHA you'll only have 1 use per short rest. Not good. Not to mention you want your debuffs to actually stick. I'd want 16 CHA at least.

[JellyPooga]

Cutting Words is amazing, and with a 13 CHA you'll only have 1 use per short rest. Not good. Not to mention you want your debuffs to actually stick. I'd want 16 CHA at least.

Yeah, Bards are one of the more reliant Classes on their prime Ability Score; not only does it affect their spell Saves (which their list has a lot of "Save or X' spells), but also their Bardic Inspiration (and its derivatives), amongst other things. You don't want to skimp on Charisma as a Bard.