5e A new player to 5e need help with build a buffer bard.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Hello guys :)

I am new to 5e(I was playing and DMing 3.5 for a few years).

I want to join a group of friends in 5e game.

For this game I need a PC at levels 1,3 and 5(same one).

I have read a little and I want to make a bard and focus on buffing my party members.

The race I want to play is Yuan-ti Pureblood.

She will be CN or NE base on the party and DM restrictions.

The rules for book is core+1.

We use point buy:
8 str 14 dex 12 con 14 int 10 wis 17 cha with the race bonuses.

I have no idea what will be good for spells.

I want to use poison and buffs.

The PC look at the party will be something like:


They are my toys and no one is allowed to tuch them.

I will make those low life closer to the strength of my race with my magic and music.

I will like to get advices on how to use my buffs, spell knowed to choose from and how to successfully use poison in my build (I was thinking on something like a trowing knifes or a dagger+crossbow).

Of course I will take any advice you will want to give to a player new to 5e.

[nickl_2000]

Well, you are playing a Yuan-Ti, so that covers your poison damage (with the free charisma based poison spray cantrip), and it takes care of you +1 book. Applying poison to a weapon will be much harder, it's very expensive and not all that effective in 5e. So, I would stick with the spells if you can.

So you now have the choice of spells and bardic college.

Cantrips: You get 2 + poison spray.
-Poison Spray covers you primary damage dealer cantrip.
-Vicious Mockery provides a back up damage source, and a good debuff in giving opponents disadvantage
-The last cantrip is up to you. Some solid choices would be Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, or Mage Hand

1st level spells for buff/debuff
-Sleep. This spell just plain rocks at early levels. It can trivialize encounters.
-Healing Word. The best buff for an ally is keeping them alive. This does it and keeps them at a distance.
-Faerie Fire. A great buff in that it makes opponents easier to hit. You will have to be careful to avoid dropping it on allies though.
-Heroism. Drop this on your tank to give them 3 temp HP every turn for 10 rounds. This is pretty huge at early levels.


2nd level spells for buff/debuff
-Blindness/Deafness is powerful to make melee people suck at hitting (and help your allies hit them with advantage)
-Enhance Ability is interesting and can be useful, but is situational
-Heat Metal is an amazing damage dealer and debuff at the same time. Drop it on the enemies armor and they suck at attacking. Put it on their sword and you just disarmed them.
-Invisibility, this isn't great in combat, but does allow you to safely move around combat and use the help action
-Silence, amazing verses casters
-Phantasmal Force, this one is limited by your imagination and what your DM allows you to get away with. Possible uses include caging people, blinding people, scaring them away... etc. This could be used for poison effects too.


3rd level spells for buff/debuff
-Hypnotic Pattern. Because incapacitated is a brutal conditions.
-Dispel Magic. It's flat out amazing.


As for bardic colleges, you have the choice of Valor or Lore due the book restrictions.
Personally, with your stats I think you would be best of going for Valor. This would give you a gigantic boon in your AC (moving to medium AC and getting shields). Plus combat inspiration is a good buff for your allies. It especially helps that Rogue land a sneak attack or the Paladin land a hit to smite.

However, if you party needs more of a skill monkey Lore is the way to go. 3 more skill proficiency is pretty amazing and cutting words is flat out fun.

[sophontteks]

Well, I sure wouldn't trust a CE snake person to support me, but that's your party's problem.:smallcool:

In 5e buffing is not what you remember from 3.5. You can only concentrate on one spell at a time, and most of the effects that added to rolls are gone. You won't be casting a bunch of spells before combat to increase everyone's stats in 5e. I'm tempted to say the roll of "buffer" doesn't really exist, but there are ways to buff the party as a buffer would.

Worse, the few buffing spells that exist aren't in the bard spell list. Aid, bless, haste, enlarge/reduce, etc. Bards don't get those. A sorcerer with twin spell could cast haste on two party members, for example. A heck of a solid buff for one action.

The inspiring leader feat comes out as one of your strongest buffing options. It gives temp HP before combat based on your CHA. That alone would provide a lot of damage mitigation to your whole party, so its a must.

Alternatively, you could be a glamour bard and use their inspiration to give temp hp to the party. It doesn't stack with inspiring leader, but you could continue giving temp hp as a bonus action mid-combat as long as you have inspiration to give. As a bonus each party member can also use their reaction to move without provoking an opportunity attack as well.

As for spells. There isn't much. Enhance ability is probably the buffing spell. Its cats grace, bulls strength, owls wisdom, etc. All wrapped into a single spell. It doesn't have much for in combat potential, but its versitile and can give players advantage on their most important stat. Give cats grace to your rogue. Give owls wisdom to your spotter. Give eagles splender to your party face. Its a great spell. Polymorph is another decent buffing spell, in the right situations.

Otherwise, your a bard. Inspiration is a great way to buff party members on the fly. Glamour and lore bards doubly so.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Thank you two for the information, it helps me a lot.

Moving from 3.5e to 5e is hard for me(I am not stopping to DM 3.5e, I am adding 5e as a player so it is harder).

:)

[Unoriginal]

Unless I'm mistaken, the Lore Bard can grab spells from the other classes' spell list at lvl 5, no?

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Unless I'm mistaken, the Lore Bard can grab spells from the other classes' spell list at lvl 5, no?

It look like it is at level 6.
I am going only to 5.

[CTurbo]

Instead of 12 Con and 17 Cha, go 14 Con and 16 Cha instead. There is no benefit to starting with 17 Cha unless you are specifically planning on taking a +1 Cha half feat at level 4.

Lore Bards make the best buffers/supporters but if you're thinking about using weapons more times than rarely, go Valor. Lore Bards don't really needs weapons.

The Inspiring Leader feat is awesome for a Bard, but I would probably add +2 Cha at level 4 before considering any feat.

[Crushgrip]

I am currently playing a "buffer/de-buffer" Knowledge Cleric 1/Wizard 4 and am loving it! Depending on your party composition, you may want to look at the spells Faerie Fire and Silence as well. If you have any Human (Variants) that have taken the Great Weapon Master Feat or Sharpshooter feat, Faerie Fire can be a great way to get advantage for all their attacks! It is also only on the Druid and Bard spell list. Silence is also a great support/de-buff that not many casting classes get on their spell list.

As others have noted, watch out for grabbing too many concentration spells. You can only be concentrating on one at a time so plan accordingly! Have fun with 5th ed!

Edit: lol, somehow I missed nickl_2000's description of Faerie Fire and Silence...what nickl said!

[sophontteks]

Thank you two for the information, it helps me a lot.

Moving from 3.5e to 5e is hard for me(I am not stopping to DM 3.5e, I am adding 5e as a player so it is harder).

:)
Well here is the big difference. You do not need help making good builds in 5e. They just work, straight up, as advertised. Just pick a class, pick a race that gives a bonus to the main stat of that class, and you are good to go with a solid competitive build.

Paladins are amazing now, on their own, as a full class.
Bards are amazing now with a clear role in the game.
Even monks function well as a powerful mobility fighter with one of the most powerful CC effects in the game.
And martial vs. caster balance in 5e is commendable

Focus your energy coming up with a good backstory and developing your character. That's what 5e is about. Getting people away from researching optimized builds and back into roleplaying.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Well here is the big difference. You do not need help making good builds in 5e. They just work, straight up, as advertised. Just pick a class, pick a race that gives a bonus to the main stat of that class, and you are good to go with a solid competitive build.

Paladins are amazing now, on their own, as a full class.
Bards are amazing now with a clear role in the game.
Even monks function well as a powerful mobility fighter with one of the most powerful CC effects in the game.
And martial vs. caster balance in 5e is commendable

Focus your energy coming up with a good backstory and developing your character. That's what 5e is about. Getting people away from researching optimized builds and back into roleplaying.

I still like to do both.

You can optimize and roleplay, after all it is fun when your character can do what you want(last one I played as a player in 3.5e I was optimizing Chaos, that was fun because I cold be truly Chaotic).

If you can't come up with a good backstory and developing your character why do you play?

The system has nothing to do with the player ability to roleplay, it only there so you will be able to do stuff in the world.

[sophontteks]

I still like to do both.

You can optimize and roleplay, after all it is fun when your character can do what you want(last one I played as a player in 3.5e I was optimizing Chaos, that was fun because I cold be truly Chaotic).

If you can't come up with a good backstory and developing your character why do you play?

The system has nothing to do with the player ability to roleplay, it only there so you will be able to do stuff in the world.

That depends on the players experience. 5e has done a lot to help new players get into roleplay. Its designed to help players get into their characters right off the bat and I've had a lot of luck with it where new players could walk through the process they laid out and understand their characters quirks, flaws, strengths, and history right out the gate.

I'm not trying to start this big 3.5 vs. 5e thing. I'm just saying that you really don't have to worry about optimizing. You can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that you won't need to spend a bunch of time researching your concept. A straight bard with any archtype is really, really strong.

The best source for what spells to pick can be found in the forum's guide here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?427508-Player-s-Gonna-Play-A-Bard-s-Guide
It does a great job pointing out the best spells.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

That depends on the players experience. 5e has done a lot to help new players get into roleplay. Its designed to help players get into their characters right off the bat and I've had a lot of luck with it where new players could walk through the process they laid out and understand their characters quirks, flaws, strengths, and history right out the gate.

I'm not trying to start this big 3.5 vs. 5e thing. I'm just saying that you really don't have to worry about optimizing. You can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that you won't need to spend a bunch of time researching your concept. A straight bard with any archtype is really, really strong.

The best source for what spells to pick can be found in the forum's guide here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?427508-Player-s-Gonna-Play-A-Bard-s-Guide
It does a great job pointing out the best spells.
Thank you for the guide :)

And I really like optimization, a party is always happy to have a good buffer :)

[RSP]

Just my 2 cent addition: go Lore Bard. One of the best support abilities in the game is Cutting Words: make an Attack against your teammates miss, or lessen that AoE that hit your group do less damage to everyone. It also helps in social situations with contested rolls.

It’s the best support ability in the game, in my opinion.