What is the best way to build a party support class?

[Crl1981]

I am looking at a concept of a “conscientious enabler”. He doesn’t like being the one to do the damage, he would be the healer and party buffer. Right now top of my head I think I would start as some sort of Cleric, and go Divine Soul Sorcerer.

[Dudewithknives]

I am looking at a concept of a “conscientious enabler”. He doesn’t like being the one to do the damage, he would be the healer and party buffer. Right now top of my head I think I would start as some sort of Cleric, and go Divine Soul Sorcerer.

Bard, bard all day long.

Lore probably, they are solid gold.

[Crl1981]

Hmm, ok I can see taking Bard to lvl 6 max instead of Cleric, that is a ton of spell selection,

[Dudewithknives]

Hmm, ok I can see taking Bard to lvl 6 max instead of Cleric, that is a ton of spell selection,

Being able to cherrypick so many spells across so many levels, on top of being a better buffer and a very good healer, and the best skills in the game makes them amazing.

When it comes to lore bards, nobody is really going t have the advantage of better spells because of magical secrets.

You can make a case for better class features, sometimes.

Cutting words has saved so many lives at this point I lost count.

The only thing that cleric can do much better is have much better ac.

Nothing supports like a bard.

[RSP]

Yeah, Lore Bard 100%. Cutting Words saves 3-5 hits per Short Rest (at lvl 5, per LR before that).

Use an Additional Magic Secrets on Sanctuary (for casting on your tanks when they’re swarmed and the timing works that you can Sanctuary them, have all the enemies go, then the Tank goes and can break it).

CWs will eventually mean up to 5 attacks on your tanks miss per SR, Sanctuary gives them entire rounds of damage avoidance.

You can then cast Healing Word if someone does drop or use a CWs to reduce damage on a crit or AoE effect (CWs reduces the damage to all).

And none of that even uses Concentration so feel free to throw in whatever your favorite control spell is (I like Fear).

[Crgaston]

A Mastermind Rogue 3 /Lore Bard x is pretty solid, giving you an at-will Bonus Action Help out to 30'. This really comes online at CL8 once you get your short rest Inspiration so you can BA help, use an action, and Reaction Cutting Words in big fights. That's fully wringing out your action economy.

Depending on your party composition, a Glamour Bard is an AMAZING support character. The battlefield control they can wield is formidable. Mantle of Inspiration lets you spend one of your inspiration dice as a Bonus Action to grant THP and a free Disengage+Dash (uses their reaction) to your allies. It's the only way I know of to apply 1 Inspiration die to multiple targets. Also the L6 feature, Mantle of Majesty, lets you cast Command as a bonus action every round for a minute. That's up to 10 slot equivalents letting you make enemies flee (and draw AoO's) or disarm or prone themselves. And you still have your action available to cast something else or just Dodge and still be effective.

[BobZan]

Some ideas:

Have you checked the UA Order Domain? It will go live on Ravnica. Dunno the changes made to go live, but it's a very good enabler on UA.

Divine Soul Sorcerer has very good buff mechanics and have access to Aid, which is a 8h buff that can be upcasted. You can Quicken Bless, Twin Healing Word, Twin Haste, as an example. Consider Healer and Inspiring Leader feats.

Mastermind Rogue can use the Help Action

Battlemaster has Commanding Strike and Rally

Life Cleric 1/Bard x - access to Bless, Inspiration and better heals.

[dmteeter]

He is right the answer is lore bard....
You get a crap load of skills
Huge spell selection
And all your inspiration is great for buffing allies

[Man_Over_Game]

One thing I will say about Lore Bard: It generally does better in smaller parties, due to the fact that your Cutting Words is a reaction-based effect that can only affect a single creature at a time. If you're in a party of 7, you're going to have a hard time making a huge dent, spending a Bardic Inspiration a turn and deflecting a single attack. Assuming you're fighting a party of equal size, that means you're deflecting 14% of incoming attacks. In a party of 3, fighting another party of 3, you'd be deflecting 33% of incoming attacks. Generally, Lore Bards are best in smaller parties.

This is intentional. You'll notice that Valor Bard can do roughly the same thing, but while it requires an ally having your Bardic Inspiration beforehand, but they spend their own reaction. Generally, this means it's better in larger teams, since you're pulling from other people's reactions rather than just yours.

To make up for that fact, if your team is relatively large, look into investing in Inspiring Leader, which protects up to 6 people per short rest. It's incredibly helpful, especially at lower levels, and synergizes well with your Song of Rest.

Lastly, look into Paladin Auras and Find Steed. Since you can gain access to other classes' spell lists, and Paladin auras count, you can gain access to those auras about 3-4 levels before they're allowed to use them.

-----------------

The other thing that is worth paying attention to is the skillset of your team. You generally want 1 more melee fighter than you have ranged, and the Lore Bard wants to be as far from melee as you can get. Most Clerics can be considered 50/50, because of their medium armor, so they are often better support pick if you have too many wizards and rogues. In a fully ranged team, nothing is going to support your team better than an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian or a Conquest Paladin, so take your team composition into consideration. Since most casters are ranged characters, generally more players want to play casters than warriors, so picking a Lore Bard isn't always the best support choice.

[stoutstien]

My new favorite is a order domain 6+/ glamour bard x.
Pros: you have the best buffs in the game and when u cast them the target gets a reaction attack. Anyone with one big attack or a good rider will love it.
Bard gets you tons of enchantment spell to recycle with orders Dominion. If you plan ahead you can increase 1-5 spell slots by 60%.
Cons: if targets are immune to charm your control is hampered but you still have a deep pool of spells.
A tad mad but only need 13 Wis to multi class in/out of cleric which as a caster u want ok Wis saves.
Lots of resources to track but a lot of resources to use. Spells, channel divinity, bardic inspiration, s/l rest command spam, and just general tactics

[Crl1981]

Right now I am thinking
Half-Drow
Divine Soul Sorcerer 1
Lore Bard 6
Divine Sorcerer X

This seems to get the most out of the multiclass build.

[Crushgrip]

As others have said, Bard is a great choice. Another thought (and the character I am currently playing) is a Knowledge Cleric 1 / Abjuration or Divination Wiz x. Tons of control and utility and you get access to Bless, Sanctuary, Healing Word and Inflict Wounds. Inflict Wounds + Familiar = great single target damage from an upcast 1st level spell.

Cheers!

[Dudewithknives]

Right now I am thinking
Half-Drow
Divine Soul Sorcerer 1
Lore Bard 6
Divine Sorcerer X

This seems to get the most out of the multiclass build.

Divine soul/bard is a good combo with lots of potential for support and well, just MANY things to help out in lots of ways, but why Half-Drow?

Not that they are bad or anything, they are perfectly fine, just why them over a normal half-elf or half-highelf?

[Crl1981]

As others have said, Bard is a great choice. Another thought (and the character I am currently playing) is a Knowledge Cleric 1 / Abjuration or Divination Wiz x. Tons of control and utility and you get access to Bless, Sanctuary, Healing Word and Inflict Wounds. Inflict Wounds + Familiar = great single target damage from an upcast 1st level spell.

Cheers!

Thanks!

Interesting, I was thinking on the first ABI to be Ritual Caster - Wizard, just to get Find Familiar. For character concept I was looking at non-damaging spells. Though stuff the pushes an enemy away and does “incidental” damage would be ok.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

End game build grave cleric 6/lore bard 14.

Give vulnerability 2 times per short rest and then all the fun bard stuff.

[Eragon123]

I'm going to go against the thread and say Glamour Bard. Their bardic inspiration is so good for the THP and free positioning. The most successful DND fights occur when the party is all located properly. Responding to reinforcements by giving everyone THP and the ability to address a potential flank (military usage not the variant rule) is hard to understate.

Also being able to affect the whole team rather is also something I believe is currently understated.

[Aaron Underhand]

I'm currently running a vHuman Wiz1/Lore bard 7 with the healer feat in a party 6 with no other arcane caster.

I would recommend Knowledge cleric 1/lore bard x for the extra armour class and spell mix, or possibly arcana cleric 1 for magic missile and booming blade

Bard is great but I really value having additional level 1 spell selection, which frees up Bard spell picks for all the choice spells at higher level

[Ivor_The_Mad]

I like bards. they are a very versatile class they can fight and buff but I think the class best suited to your description is a cleric. Lots of heals for everyone. Plus as a bonus, you are quite tanky.

[Amdy_vill]

I am looking at a concept of a “conscientious enabler”. He doesn’t like being the one to do the damage, he would be the healer and party buffer. Right now top of my head I think I would start as some sort of Cleric, and go Divine Soul Sorcerer.

When i build thing like this i look at what the expected level cap of the game is form there i look at spells and other things i want to do and then build around those tow things.

I would think a bard cleric could be a good idea here but the paladin aura spells sound like they fit you character idea as well but paladins are damage focus for the most part. I would go 10 redemption paladin 6 bard and 4 cleric

[R.Shackleford]

I am looking at a concept of a “conscientious enabler”. He doesn’t like being the one to do the damage, he would be the healer and party buffer. Right now top of my head I think I would start as some sort of Cleric, and go Divine Soul Sorcerer.

Rogue.

Yeah, I know, sneak attack isn't up your character's ally, but having something when cornered will be nice.

Grab mastermind for bonus action help at 30'.

I like 6 levels of rogue.

The rest of your levels should be cleric. Knowledge or Life works well. Knowledge to stay sneaky and life for extra healing.

[Crushgrip]

Thanks!

Interesting, I was thinking on the first ABI to be Ritual Caster - Wizard, just to get Find Familiar. For character concept I was looking at non-damaging spells. Though stuff the pushes an enemy away and does “incidental” damage would be ok.

Agreed. My character is all about support and control. One thing I have learned though is you should have a couple damage spells up your sleeve for those times when you are already concentrating on a spell and the "best" help is to hit the BBEG with a good damage spell. Thing I have noticed is some of the best control/buff/debuff spells are all concentration, so you want to find other non-concentration spells that can help during combat (counterspell and dispel magic are amazeballs). Just some thoughts! Have fun and enjoy.

[Nidgit]

Really surprised I haven't seen any Druid suggestions. Both Dreams and Shepherd are fantastic support classes, though Shepherd in particular grants your party some excellent buffs. Druid is a great base class with a lot of utility.

[Citan]

I am looking at a concept of a “conscientious enabler”. He doesn’t like being the one to do the damage, he would be the healer and party buffer. Right now top of my head I think I would start as some sort of Cleric, and go Divine Soul Sorcerer.
Hi!

Well, you have a few ways to go at it.

1. Overcome challenges through a sheer number of options available.
With DM's fiat strongly in your benefit (and *only* with it), Wizard may be the best option.
Otherwise, Land or Shepherd Druid by miles. Especially Land Druid in fact thanks to the bonus spells (Grassland or Underdark are always good whatever party you get).
Shepherd is really good too but relies much more on invocations.

Really, if you don't know about your DM, go Land Druid.

2. Provide reliable and predictable support by getting a few useful spells that can be used very efficiently and in different ways.
Read: Divine Soul Sorcerer: access to 80% of the best of both Cleric and Wizard's world, although the comparatively little number of spell known may bother you a bit, in which case a single dip in Bard (easiest) or Druid/Cleric (better but more costly) may be in order.
Whatever metamagic you pick, you can pick up spells that really benefit from it.
For a support, by far Extended metamagic is the best. Depending on spells, Subtle, Careful, Twin or Heightened are great secondaries.

3. Get sustainable support through non-spell features
Read: Bard. Glamour Bard and Lore Bard especially shine thanks to the defensive variant of Bardic Inspiration they provide, and former by feature, latter by early access to Magic Secrets can net you useful ways to control what happens on battlefield.
Plus you can take care of at least two skills reliably (Expertise), and you can easily cope him with anything nobody is proficient in with Jack of All Trades + Enhance Ability.

4. Get sustainable support through short-rest features or rituals
Read: Warlocks, namely Tome Warlocks.
Get the Rituals Invocations, pick Repelling/Lethargy Invocations, then stack up free spells ones.
This is as dependent on DM as a Wizard character (since you have to find extra spells to copy), but between this and scalable spells that recharge on short-rest (Invisibility, Fly, Command from Fiend, Banishement, Hold Person), it can be even better than any other once the spell book is filled.


As an addendum...
1. From all quoted, Bard has a small edge in that he has both Catnap and Leomund's Tiny Hut built-in (and even Rope Trick with Magic Secrets).
Catnap is top tier spell as long as you have at least one character really reliant on short rest (Warlock, Monk, but also Battlemaster Fighter, and even Bard himself for Bardic Inspiration).
Rope Trick is a pretty decent way to get a short rest as long as nobody sees you when you open the door and get inside.
Leomund's Tiny Hut is one of the best spells ever to get a short rest since ritual, but can end as very impractical to use when you need the most (in a dungeon).

And if you want a few select spells, Bard may be the only one to get them (like Circle of Powers).

2. From all quoted, DS Sorcerer has the best potential for one or two chosen areas, thanks to expanded spell list and metamagics. Extended Aid/Death Ward/Longstrider are always very helpful, Extended upcast Invisibility / Fly for party transportation/sneak, Twin buffs like Polymorph/Haste... If you don't mind being a specialist and brainstorming your build in advance it rocks hard.
AND he gets the very important Counterspell.

3. From all quoted, Druid is the overall "best" and "simplest" to use without any further information about party or campaign because he has all kind of options available.
- Healing? Healing Words and Healing Spirit.
- Control by view? Fog Cloud, Sleet Storm to quote a few.
- Control by movement? Earth Tremor, Erupting Earth, Spike Growth, Plant Growth, etc...
- Damage? Ice Knife, Call Lightning, Flaming Sphere, Heat Metal, Ice Storm, Wall of Fire, Conjure Animals. Those are not the greatest damaging spells, but they pack enough punch to do the job usually (and compensate lower damage by useful rider).
Unless you go Land Druid, specifically Artic (Cone of Cold) or Mountain (Lightning Bolt)
- Utility? Locate spells, Speak With Animals, Water Breathing (great to take long rests undercover in a water pool, provided deep enough), Water Walking (that and previous great to assaults places securing themselves through water, or for any maritime section of adventure), Pass Without Trace (THE sneak party buff)...
- Buff? Longstrider, Polymorph, Freedom of Movement, etc...
- Debuff: the one area in which Druid pales compared to Sorcerer and even more Wizard, *unless* you go with Land Druid, especially Artic (Slow) or Swamp (Stinking Cloud) or Underdark (Web, Stinking Cloud).

He gets better spells for party adventuring at higher levels too, provided you can reach and beyond level 11.
One very important feature he lacks though is Counterspell. If nobody else in party can get it, it may be a dealbreaker.


4. The more important thing: when you get into it, any class could act as a pretty decent (at least) support, even the lest suited for that (Barbarian).

If you want to be purely support and don't care about being underoptimized on offense or not accessing higher level spells, make a single level dip in Life Cleric, three levels of Druid, then everything else on Divine Soul Sorcerer with Extend (Aid, Healing Spirit, Death Ward: your party will have stupidly good resilience) and whatever else metamagic you fancy..

As what is, for me, the best ever support character?

For theorical level 20...
Non-offensive: Life Cleric 3 / Druid 3 / Shadow Sorcerer 3 (Extend, Subtle) / Hexblade Warlock 1 / Glamour Bard 10: pick Circle of Power and Counterspell as Magic Secrets.

Offensive 1: Grave Cleric 3 / Shepherd Druid 3 / Lore Bard 3-5 / Sorcerer 9-11 (Quicken, Empower): you're still a great support character, but when you need to deal real damage, Action Channel Divinity followed by a Quickened single-target spell (hence option for Sorcerer 11 max to get Disintegrate).

Other builds may be nice.

Now for something workable from level 1 to level 10
Divine Soul Sorcerer 1 > Life Cleric 1 > Sorcerer 5 > whatever (more Cleric, or some Druid, or some Bard, or just more Sorcerer).

[Speely]

Bard, bard all day long.

Lore probably, they are solid gold.

First post nails it. Lore Bards are the epitome of "party support," so much so that outside of Magical Secrets spells, they have little capacity for good consistent damage.

But they can make the rest of the party GODS, and they have insanely-good out-of-combat utility in exploration and social encounters.

In many ways, the Lore Bard is the ultimate party helper. Bardic Inspiration/Cutting Words is crazy good, and things like Song of Rest are quiet champions during particularly grueling dungeon crawls. The spell selection is literally second-to-none given Magical Secrets, and they are also skill monkeys/amazing party faces.

This last point can't be emphasized enough. Having Expertise in social skills can help the party SO much. Supporting your party doesn't just mean helping in combat. Your social skills could let the party avoid a combat scenario altogether (this happened many times with my lore bard.) That is some great support.

Lore Bards are basically just party support units taken to the highest level. If you choose the best support spells from the Wizard and Cleric spell lists, you effectively have the most tools for any given situation. I would also nab at least one good damage spell from the Wizard spell list, like Destructive Wave or Bigby's Hand (I grabbed both) but aside from that you can just steal great support spells, and the bard spell list already has lots of great support, so you are basically a support god.

Cons: you are squishy, so those teammates you are supporting need to support you. You also have no real options for good resource-less damage.

Pros: Everything else. You are literally tailor-made for making the rest of the group amazing.

Caveat: take either Resilient: Con or Warcaster (or both) at some point. You will have tons of Concentration spells, and you will want them to stick.

[djreynolds]

What about redemption paladin?
It might fit also for story purposes.