Magic Initiate as a Bard

[SleepIncarnate]

First off, let me get a bit of a TL;DR up front here, because the story/fluff bits are gonna be long. My party just hit level 3, so I'm looking ahead to level 4, and am eyeing the Magic Initiate Feat. Thing is, I play a bard, so a lot of the traditional "get this" combinations don't work as well for me. Like the "go Warlock for Hex and EB" argument. Hex is almost entirely useless to me as a.) I have so many better concentration spells to be using to control the battlefield, and b.) I'm not exactly doing a lot of damage to benefit from it. So I'm looking for some suggestions on what I could go with that also fits my RP. Which leads to the wall of text below describing the RP situation.

Anyway, my party consists of four regular members:
Half-Orc Barbarian (not sure which path he's taking)
Monster Slayer Wood Elf Ranger (who will eventually MC into rogue at 6+)
Divine Soul Dragonborn Sorcerer
Tiefling Bard (taking a homebrew college that is akin to lore, but more focused on language than skills, but with its own version of magical secrets)

In her backstory, my bard is literally a child of the various planar conflicts that are constantly occurring. She's from Sigil (of the Planescape setting), and is descended from a succubus/incubus in service to Dispater (using the Dispater subtype from MToF) and something else (my DM and I have been discussing that maybe the other parent was aasimar), and that even as a child, she was an unwitting pawn of, among other things, the Blood War. For one reason or another that we haven't decided on yet, one of the various factions sent my character on a messenger mission with a package, and in the process of running the package, she ran through a portal and ended up in the world in which our game takes place. With no way back, she opened the package to discover a lute crafted from some kind of living wood from one of the planes. More importantly, the lute began speaking to her, and became her mentor growing up, teaching her, among other things, the bardic arts.

We're unclear if the lute is itself sentient, or is merely a channel for some planar entity that has its own agenda, but that's something we're working out with the taking of the magic initiate feat. We're approaching it as being sort of like a minor pact. Not a full blown warlock pact with a major player, but some kind of power and knowledge provided by the lute (or whoever is on the other end of the channel). It gives us a good story hook to use for explaining why I'm gaining various feats throughout the story (such as teaching me skills for Skilled, magic for Magic Initiate, etc.), as well as a plot device the DM can use to try and prod us one way or another. That said, I'd love to brainstorm some ideas with folks for what that entity is. One option is that the lute is a sentient item, and has these powers of its own. But some ideas I've had for a planar entity route include my infernal parent trying to use me as a pawn still, a celestial being who was trying to take me away from the Blood War and other conflicts, a different kind of celestial/divine being with ties to whatever divinity has granted our sorcerer his power, or even just something from the Feywild that was bored and looking for a new toy.

Whatever entity my DM and I finally settle on will also influence which class I take spells from with the feat. Like the fiendish parent might grant access to warlock stuff, but could also grant wizard stuff. Likewise, something celestial/divine could grant cleric spells, but might also touch on the sorcerer list for that tie to the divine soul sorcerer. On the mechanics side of things, while my charisma is great, my intelligence and wisdom are only above average, so any spells from cleric, druid, or wizard should be ones that don't necessarily rely on spell attacks or save DCs.

Basically, during character creation, our DM went the rolling 4D6 route, but he a.) let us reroll the first 1 or 2 for each of our ability rolls, and b.) let us move up to two points from our final totals. Because of that first bit, I got one great roll (17) and the rest were merely decent (a single 12 and four 13s). I popped the 12 into strength, the 17 into charisma, and then moved one point from the 13 in intelligence to my charisma. After applying my +2 charisma and +1 dexterity from my race, that left me with 12 strength, 14 dexterity, 13 constitution, 12 intelligence, 13 wisdom, 20 charisma. So I won't suck at anything, but clearly charisma based casters are the stronger choice for any kind of attack cantrips.

That said, with our party makeup, attacking with spells isn't my top priority. Something like Eldritch Blast is not as great for me as it might be for another, and in fact, in the case of EB, I'd be better off taking a couple levels in warlock for the invocations to allow it to be used for battlefield control with push/pull effects than taking it just for the damage. I'd be better off taking Toll the Dead for pure damage as I'll be spending the first couple rounds of combat casting battlefield control spells, and when I get the chance to hurt something, it's almost certainly already going to have taken damage from someone else in the party.

So does anyone have any good thematic ideas for what my "patron" could be, and what class/spells it would provide? Maybe even some RP bits about why it took an interest in me in the first place. About to include a second message on this thread with some example ideas I came up with.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, but because of some of the flavor aspects of my character, she is physically incapable of casting magic with any kind of subtlety. Specifically, she's a tiefling who for the most part looks human or half-elven (the other characters in the party think she's a half-elf at the moment), aside from strange colored hair and eyes. However, whenever she casts magic, her infernal heritage shines through more. With cantrips, her eyes turn into solid black orbs (kinda like the demons on Supernatural) for the duration of the casting/concentration. However, anything with a spell level (including the first level spell gained from this feat) would go full blown, taking that and adding in small horns, fangs, and spectral bat wings that appear. As such, she couldn't even use something like Hex to try and cause disadvantage on someone's social rolls without having the whole "by the gods, a devil among us!" reaction from NPCs.

[SleepIncarnate]

So for some examples:

Patron: Something from the Feywild, possibly an elemental of some sort
Class: Druid
Cantrips: Druidcraft, Shape Water/Conjure Bonfire
Spell: Faerie Fire/Goodberry

I like this one because a.) it gives me access to the full trifecta of Druidcraft/Prestidigitation/Thaumaturgy, and b.) lets me either gain a nice survival benefit spell that only needs to be used once a day or lets me replace Faerie Fire from my bardic list with something else. As we're a low combat campaign, I doubt I'll need FF more than once a day as is.


Patron: Infernal parent
Class: Wizard
Cantrips: Any 2 of Mage Hand/Mending/Message/Prestidigitation
Spell: Find Familiar

I also really like this one, as the cantrips are ones that fit well with my already having bardic magic (going great with the theme of illusion/enchantment being specialties from my heritage), as well as letting me turn my pet mouse from my urchin background into a familiar. Again, a good spell I wouldn't really need more than once a day anyways.

Patron: Infernal parent
Class: Warlock
Cantrips: Toll the Dead, Friends
Spell: Cause Fear

Honestly, I have a hard time finding stuff to work with warlock on. They don't have the largest spell list available, and so many of them are either concentration based or blasting based. I'd love to see something that really works well with my character. Especially since she can't cast spells with any kind of subtlety.

Patron: Celestial being
Class: Sorcerer
Cantrips: Fire Bolt, Shocking Grasp
Spell: Feather Fall

I think I like sorcerer a bit better than warlock, because they have access to most of the same spells a wizard does, but work with my charisma. Spells like feather fall are those ones that you don't need them often, but when you do, it's good to have them on hand. Also, it doesn't require concentration after casting, and provides all the same blasting power with cantrips that a warlock initiate might.

[saucerhead]

So for some examples:

Patron: Something from the Feywild, possibly an elemental of some sort
Class: Druid
Cantrips: Druidcraft, Shape Water/Conjure Bonfire
Spell: Faerie Fire/Goodberry

I like this one because a.) it gives me access to the full trifecta of Druidcraft/Prestidigitation/Thaumaturgy, and b.) lets me either gain a nice survival benefit spell that only needs to be used once a day or lets me replace Faerie Fire from my bardic list with something else. As we're a low combat campaign, I doubt I'll need FF more than once a day as is.

This one I find interesting. It could work with a neutral entity leaving lots of room for different sides to try and recruit you to their individual agenda, whether chaos, law, evil or good. The background you have already worked out involves different planes making you someone that touches all of them, but isn't central to them exactly. You would be more on the edges of them. Still in a low combat, storytelling campaign it could be more about influencing popular thought through your music as you adventure near and far getting more powerful.
Very cool backstory you are working on.

[Crushgrip]

In her backstory, my bard is literally a child of the various planar conflicts that are constantly occurring. She's from Sigil (of the Planescape setting), and is descended from a succubus/incubus in service to Dispater (using the Dispater subtype from MToF) and something else (my DM and I have been discussing that maybe the other parent was aasimar), and that even as a child, she was an unwitting pawn of, among other things, the Blood War. For one reason or another that we haven't decided on yet, one of the various factions sent my character on a messenger mission with a package, and in the process of running the package, she ran through a portal and ended up in the world in which our game takes place. With no way back, she opened the package to discover a lute crafted from some kind of living wood from one of the planes. More importantly, the lute began speaking to her, and became her mentor growing up, teaching her, among other things, the bardic arts.

We're unclear if the lute is itself sentient, or is merely a channel for some planar entity that has its own agenda, but that's something we're working out with the taking of the magic initiate feat. We're approaching it as being sort of like a minor pact. Not a full blown warlock pact with a major player, but some kind of power and knowledge provided by the lute (or whoever is on the other end of the channel). It gives us a good story hook to use for explaining why I'm gaining various feats throughout the story (such as teaching me skills for Skilled, magic for Magic Initiate, etc.), as well as a plot device the DM can use to try and prod us one way or another. That said, I'd love to brainstorm some ideas with folks for what that entity is. One option is that the lute is a sentient item, and has these powers of its own. But some ideas I've had for a planar entity route include my infernal parent trying to use me as a pawn still, a celestial being who was trying to take me away from the Blood War and other conflicts, a different kind of celestial/divine being with ties to whatever divinity has granted our sorcerer his power, or even just something from the Feywild that was bored and looking for a new toy.


Love the backstory. So, I guess an avenue could be to flesh out who sends a living wood lute package in the Blood War and who was the package for? Was the lute supposed to act as a "spy"? Is the living wood really "living" and transforms into a Treant or some other beast under certain conditions? Maybe was supposed to be a weapon to sabotage the enemy?

With the description of living wood I really like the Feywild as a source of the Lute, although a piece of living wood that was made in the Abyss or in the 9 Hells could have been warped. Maybe the Lute required a bit of its creators soul in the making process and , in turn, that soul is what your character is interacting with. Over time, as this soul/intelligence learns, it starts to act like its original creator and could become some form of BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy/Girl)?

Just some ideas!

[SleepIncarnate]

Love the backstory. So, I guess an avenue could be to flesh out who sends a living wood lute package in the Blood War and who was the package for? Was the lute supposed to act as a "spy"? Is the living wood really "living" and transforms into a Treant or some other beast under certain conditions? Maybe was supposed to be a weapon to sabotage the enemy?

With the description of living wood I really like the Feywild as a source of the Lute, although a piece of living wood that was made in the Abyss or in the 9 Hells could have been warped. Maybe the Lute required a bit of its creators soul in the making process and , in turn, that soul is what your character is interacting with. Over time, as this soul/intelligence learns, it starts to act like its original creator and could become some form of BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy/Girl)?

Just some ideas!

One of the ideas we've been discussing is that the lute may be a third party completely. Maybe the lute delivery was just a means of getting the young, gullible girl to somewhere that the demons could kill her or corrupt her with ease, away from the prying eyes of Sigil. Maybe the devil parent found out and redirected things to cause the bard to go through the portal, essentially taking the pawn off the board for a time. But a third party speaks through the lute, maybe an agent of the Feywild from where the wood was taken, or maybe one of the Creators of this plane we're on (which has largely been cut off from the other planes) who is gone from the plane and looking to use the bard as a means back in.

The story elements are fun, but they do raise the question of what those respective patrons woukd grant. The specific Creator on question would give druid (or maybe bard) spells, per my DM. She created aquatic life, language, etc., in this world. Maybe it was a water elemental (one of her creations) who speake through the lute. That would justify Shape Water as a cantrip over something like Thorn Whip or Create Bonfire.

[Crushgrip]

Dang, this can go so many different ways. I guess another thing to ask would be, does the DM plan on using the lute as part of a greater story line/plot for the campaign or would the lute be more of a side story? I say this because in my campaign with 4 players I have two backgrounds that I have intertwined into the main campaign and two with side story's. With the intertwined backgrounds I added/incorporated some unknowns and twists that build up over the campaign, and thus, helped me decide what to do with said "starting" items. For example, I have a (White) Dragonborn Vengeance Paladin of Savras (LN god of divination and fate) that went for the Sage background (which I totally loved). As his bond he rolled "I have an ancient text that holds terrible secrets that must not fall into the wrong hands". So, I made this one of the Five Tomes of Prophecy (my own creation).

Each word in the title of the tome (as well as the text) contains both celestial and infernal letters. The maddening part of the book is that the text will morph and change depending on the light source and angle at which the text is read. The writing on the pages in the book change daily and vary from anecdotal stories to pictures to old sayings and proverbs to utter jibberish.

Our Paladin believes that he may have found one of the Tomes of Prophecy. Instead of letting the tome fall into the hands of Wuyax and Thyra, he decided that it was time to leave the Temple and take the tome far away. His goal is to learn about the tome, explore the world that has been unknown to him and champion Savras as a paladin of fate.


I use the book as a way to randomly interject "prophecy" as well as just random stuff and some things I think would be fun. There is quite a bit more to it but I am pretty sure my players frequent this forum and I don't want to give too much away. If you're DM wants to do something like this or have it be more than just a random item, then you may just pick the Magic Initiate route (Druid/Wiz/etc.) and then let the DM fit a backstory?

[1Pirate]

You didn't mention which cantrips you already have and which cantrips your Divine Soul sorc has, which can make a difference. My initial suggestion would be Cleric for Guidance and Spare the Dying plus Bless, but your sorc may have a lot of that already covered(however having extra Spare the Dying casters doesn't hurt, especially if your sorc is the one who goes down).

[SleepIncarnate]

You didn't mention which cantrips you already have and which cantrips your Divine Soul sorc has, which can make a difference. My initial suggestion would be Cleric for Guidance and Spare the Dying plus Bless, but your sorc may have a lot of that already covered(however having extra Spare the Dying casters doesn't hurt, especially if your sorc is the one who goes down).

Sorcerer has Chill Touch, Toll the Dead, Mage Hand, and Dancing Lights. My cantrips are Thaumaturgy (racial), Minor Illusion, and Vicious Mockery. I know that I will be taking Prestidigitation at level 4, either as my new cantrip or through the feat. Sorcerer does have Bless. Keep in mind that a.) during combat, I'd have more important spells to be using that take up my concentration, and b.) out of combat, using magic or even maintaining concentration on a spell makes me obviously a tiefling, which can have social issues.

EDIT: Also, I already have healing word which is superior to spare the dying, and guidance can be picked up from druid. I can encourage the sorcerer to get spare the dying for if I go down, but we're not a combat heavy campaign. Our DM doesn't like how combat bogs things down. We play in shorter sessions (2-3 hours at a time instead of 4-6 like his other group), and everyone at the table has been a DM at one point or another, so we tend to think outside the box and find non-combat solutions to problems.

[Corran]

Very nice.

I like a lot the idea of a fey that was bored and looked for a new toy, but I prefer the one about the celestial parent that managed to get this lute in your hands and trap you in a dimension where you would be away from all the bad influences. I'd go with sanctuary (parent's concern, to keep you out of harm's way), and for cantrips I would probably pick light (appropriate to celestial themes) and guidance (very fitting and can be easily fluffed by the lute's advice).

[SleepIncarnate]

Very nice.

I like a lot the idea of a fey that was bored and looked for a new toy, but I prefer the one about the celestial parent that managed to get this lute in your hands and trap you in a dimension where you would be away from all the bad influences. I'd go with sanctuary (parent's concern, to keep you out of harm's way), and for cantrips I would probably pick light (appropriate to celestial themes) and guidance (very fitting and can be easily fluffed by the lute's advice).

Well, at closest relation, a celestial would be a grandparent. It's generally accepted that fiends and celestials are incompatible, but it's unclear if that applies with their half-offspring (e.g. if a fiend an an aasimar or a celestial and a tiefling) could work. Thematically, it fits well for the concept, an incubus seduces an aasimar in an attempt to make her fall, and pregnancy is just a complication that isn't expected, with the aasimar parent discarding the tiefling child at birth, as the child is a reminder of her fall. It would also explain why an incubus and a mortal had a tiefling instead of a cambion (which the monster manual says they would have). Then again, the MM is contradicted by Xanathar's having the parental option for tieflings of a parent that is a devil with either a human or another tiefling. Still, an interesting way to go about it, and a way of explaining how the child survived at all on the streets of Sigil at such a young age, at least until getting caught up in the various conflicts.

[jiriku]

For your situation, wizard with mending, prestidigitation, and find familiar would be a solid choice. Normally I'd recommend message over prestidigitation, but the inability to cast it without drawing attention to yourself limits its usefulness. Prestidigitation is usually cast when you want to draw attention to yourself, and the whole tiefling flashing eyes thing actually reinforces the cantrip and makes it more useful. Mending and find familiar really facilitate outside-the-box thinking and creativity, which seems to be more the focus of your group's play style.

[SleepIncarnate]

For your situation, wizard with mending, prestidigitation, and find familiar would be a solid choice. Normally I'd recommend message over prestidigitation, but the inability to cast it without drawing attention to yourself limits its usefulness. Prestidigitation is usually cast when you want to draw attention to yourself, and the whole tiefling flashing eyes thing actually reinforces the cantrip and makes it more useful. Mending and find familiar really facilitate outside-the-box thinking and creativity, which seems to be more the focus of your group's play style.

Message isn't exactly subtle to begin with, since it requires pointing at the target, so a brief flicker of the eyes going solid black for an action won't make it too much more obvious. It's still one of the major cantrips on my list of wanted ones, along with mending and prestidigitation. And friends is on the list, with the eyes thing maybe even augmenting it if I'm using it for intimidation purposes (along with my half-orc barbarian partner). So if I took mending and prestidigitation from wizard, I could get message or friends at 4 and the other at 10 as my bardic cantrips. I'd include mage hand as well on the wanted list, but the sorcerer has that covered.

[SleepIncarnate]

Also, let me be clear that we're not sold on the aasimar parent thing. It could just as easily be that the parent was a human or half-elf paladin seduced in such a way as to cause them to break their oath, or a cleric seduced away from their deities teachings. The reason we like aasimar is that it creates an explanation for why my character is a tiefling rather than a cambion: that the divine/celestial influence came about in such a way that the child is able to break free from the lawful evil roots of their devil parentage. Basically, it's not strong enough to remove the taint and curse of thr infernal completely, but enough that the resulting child isn't themselves a devil, and could potentially choose a better path.

You know, rather than going the more traditional "I'm a new race that's half demon and half celestial, and it's called the edgelord. I'm too beautiful for anyone to behold, so I cover myself completely in a flowing black cape with hood and mask and everything." There's goth and then there's stereotypical. Although now I kinda want to make a perky goth character based on Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman. But that's another topic.

Point is, we're not tied to the other parent necessarily being part celestial. They could have been an ordinary mortal who was seduced simply to keep them out of the way or distract them from doing something the devils didn't want. Maybe even a mortal working for the abyssal/demon side. Or someone unaffiliated with any side, but instead with ties to Sigil itself that could stand in the way of a move by the devils to claim more territory in the city.

[Vorpalchicken]

I think you'll have a good time with the wizard option. Familiars are great.

[SleepIncarnate]

A lot of people are rooting for wizard. Keep in mind I could get ritual caster as a feat to get familiar as well (as well as opening up spells known slots from things like detect magic and identify), so not 100% sold on it. I will be hijacking all the spell books we uncover as is (my college's level 6 ability is to translate spells from any class that I can find in written form into bardic spells and tattoo them in my flesh, basically magical secrets on steroids), so ritual caster is something I've been considering.

That said, if I do go wizard, who is my patron for the spells? Why are they helping me? Any suggestions on that?

[SleepIncarnate]

Basically, three feats I have in mind to eventually take are ritual caster (right now, I'm the only one who can cast ritual spells and especially Identify), magic initiate, and infernal constitution (I'm the rogue replacement and our DM loves poisonous traps). So who can we justify serving as the patron and teaching me this stuff and unlocking hidden potential?

[dgnslyr]

Seconding Wizard as your Magic Initiate choice mostly for Find Familiar; everyone is saying it's great but nobody has said why, and the reason is because it can use the Help action to give you advantage on all your Attacks.

In terms of Cantrips, Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade are great if you're planning to hit things, and Toll the Dead is great if you aren't.

[SleepIncarnate]

So, DM and I decided that the lute is sort of an id for my bard. It's essentially a fiendish spirit within the living wood, used as a proxy for the Creator of this world who is wanting me as a tool to further her goals of returning to the world she helped create. So, while she (the creator) is something like a cross between a shepherd druid and a bard, the spirit within the lute (whom we've named Lieska) is unlikely to teach druidic/clerical spells. Though the creator IS technically my patron, not the lute. The patron has ties with elementals, particularly water elementals, so if I did go wizard, my familiar would be of the primordial/elemental spirit type, rather than the core choices of celestial, fey, or fiend.

If I do go wizard, the only spell allowed from cantrips and 1st level spells that is neither on bard nor druid spell lists as well would be find familiar (to go with the theme of her being a shepherd). So what cantrips should I take? Basically, my options would be:

Blade Ward
Control Flames
Create Bonfire
Dancing Lights
Friends
Frostbite
Gust
Infestation
Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Mold Earth
Poison Spray
Prestidigitation
Shape Water
Thunderclap
True Strike

I'm not a close range type, as my character is something of a coward. Her flaw is the "I'd rather kill someone in their sleep than fight fair" sort, and she's always looking at ways to change the odds in her favor, rather than simply fighting in the hopes of winning. If things look like they might be turning toward even equal odds, she'll turn tail. Her weapon of choice at the moment (since we're restricted to simple weapons until we find/buy better) is a light crossbow, and her magic.

We're a rather aquatic based adventure (our home base, as it were, is a pirate/slaver ship that we liberated for ourselves), and my patron creator is tied to the water heavily, so I'm thinking Shape Water as one very fitting cantrip. Combined with find familiar, that leaves me with one other cantrip to pick. Any suggestions on what seems fitting/would benefit me most?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Your back story is something imaginative and intricate.

Pick a path for your character that makes sense for her not some weird contrived optimization. If she has some weird dragon magic in her let her grow scales and go Sorcerer. If a patron seems like the logical path go Warlock.

Check this out: During a DM bathroom break my Lore bard once was bantering with our Wizard about his spell book, the expensive ink, all the studying and stuff he does. His Intelligence is about 9 higher, double, my Bard's mind you. She says, "I just look at what you or others do, get in sync with the vibe of the rhythm and movements of the cosmos and want the spell to happen really badly. And it does". So Magic Initiate seems a natural for my Bard The Feat gives soo little explanation of how you get the spells it fits right in.

[dgnslyr]

Toll the Dead from Xanathar's is probably the best damage cantrip, and also thematically appropriate for you. It deals 1d8 Necrotic damage on a failed will save and goes up to 1d12 on an injured target with any amount of missing health, with the usual cantrip scaling.

Besides that, it's really your choice for your other cantrip; if Shape Water seems useful and fun then you should definitely take it.

[SleepIncarnate]

Your back story is something imaginative and intricate.

Pick a path for your character that makes sense for her not some weird contrived optimization. If she has some weird dragon magic in her let her grow scales and go Sorcerer. If a patron seems like the logical path go Warlock.

Check this out: During a DM bathroom break my Lore bard once was bantering with our Wizard about his spell book, the expensive ink, all the studying and stuff he does. His Intelligence is about 9 higher, double, my Bard's mind you. She says, "I just look at what you or others do, get in sync with the vibe of the rhythm and movements of the cosmos and want the spell to happen really badly. And it does". So Magic Initiate seems a natural for my Bard The Feat gives soo little explanation of how you get the spells it fits right in.

Yeah, that kinda thing will come later with my tattoo spell stealing (sorta like magical secrets) thing, but for this, we're going with flavor from the patron/lute. So looking for suggestions of something that fits the character, but will also see use. Like, DM and I are talking about if I went druid and took the thorn whip cantrip, flavor wise, it'd manifest as a tendril of water to fit the water elemental theme of my patron. If I'm really lucky, DM will let me pick from any of the three spell lists (druid, bard, or find familiar from wizard) all at once instead of pick just one (he hinted he might, wants to look at the feat in more detail first), which would then open up all druid cantrips for pickings while letting me still get find familiar. Find familiar fits my character well, as her closest friend is her pet rat (which she named Tabaxi) that she got from her urchin background. Well, that and the lute, but the lute isn't necessarily a moral guide, and sometimes has to be ignored. Like during tonight's session, it was constantly whispering to me to steal or kill, all to get ahead, without thinking to the consequences of what would come from those. Like, stealing from one group to get money from another, without thinking of the trouble that could come from making enemies.

[SleepIncarnate]

Dang, this can go so many different ways. I guess another thing to ask would be, does the DM plan on using the lute as part of a greater story line/plot for the campaign or would the lute be more of a side story? I say this because in my campaign with 4 players I have two backgrounds that I have intertwined into the main campaign and two with side story's.

Well, as of our latest session and the DM and I deciding on who the overarching patron is, the lute is definitely tied into the overarching plot for the campaign. I guess I should explain a bit about our campaign.

Our DM's intention with this campaign was to have a living world where things are going on regardless of the players, and in fact refersbto it as a sandbox game where we can do what we want (as opposed to a specific route we're expected to take from point A to point Z). As such, he describes things as being in tiers, with tier one being our personal stories and tier three being the overarching stuff that affects the whole world.

In the world's back story, a group of beings known as the Creators came together tp create this world. Common knowledge says that there were 11 of them, and that eventually they elected to allow themselves to die and be reborn, time and time again, returning when the world needs it or maybe just when they feel like it.

What's not common knowledge is that there was a 12th creator, and she left long before the whole death and rebirth bit. In fact, the death and rebirth bit came about as a conflict among the remaining 11 as to whether they should cut off this world from the other planes or let it remain connected. It finally sided with shutting it off. As a consequence of being shut off from the planes, it is a VERY low magic world, and the fact that the sorcerer and I have access to level 2 spells puts us among the most powerful casters on this world.

Thing is, that overarching tier three plot is a combination of things. On one hand, it's the return of the 11 creators for this cycle, and our sorcerer is one of their heralds, hence why he has his power. On the other hand, the 12th creator is trying to return, and her manipulating of events to tunneljack me from Sigil and place me in this world is basically like her firing a cannon at the walls of the world, creating cracks for her to try and come through. If I had to venture a guess to the plot as a whole, as we grow in levels, so too will more openings to the other planes. The lute will serve as a source of information about those openings, and a narrative tool to help direct us to the third tier of story if we somehow deviate too far from things. Basically, the sorcerer and I serve as pawns for two opposing sides in a divine conflict that may end up brewing.

That said, the DM has said that the lute is not created by my patron, nor is it her speaking through it. It's the voice of a fiend spirit that she manipulated into basically serving as my guide to help keep me alive as a pawn for her in the future. The spirit within the lute is what helped me awaken my magics despite being stuck in this horrible, magicless world. Between a combination of a natural inclination toward enchantments and illusions from my tiefling subtype and the influence of my patron, I became a bard.

So the ultimate question becomes, what do I take with magic initiate at level 4?

[dgnslyr]

So the ultimate question becomes, what do I take with magic initiate at level 4?


Toll the Dead from Xanathar's is probably the best damage cantrip, and also thematically appropriate for you. It deals 1d8 Necrotic damage on a failed will save and goes up to 1d12 on an injured target with any amount of missing health, with the usual cantrip scaling.

Besides that, it's really your choice for your other cantrip; if Shape Water seems useful and fun then you should definitely take it.

Toll the Dead is good as heck and you have one cantrip left to take whatever seems fun.

[follacchioso]

Friends is a great cantrip for a bard. You get advantage in charisma rolls, and the opponent does not even get a saving roll.

[SleepIncarnate]

Toll the Dead is good as heck and you have one cantrip left to take whatever seems fun.

Except it's not on the druid or bard lists. The only spell not shared with those lists that I can take from the wizard list is find familiar, because it's thematically fitting for my patron. If I'm going wizard, then my damage cantrip option becomes poison spray as it is shared with druid. Basically, druid or bard, but an argument can be made for shared spells on wizard list and find familiar.

That said, as we're about to go into our first big fight (up to four waves of goblins, 10ish per wave), I'm kinda wishing I had more offensive cantrips. I can put some to sleep though.

[dgnslyr]

Except it's not on the druid or bard lists. The only spell not shared with those lists that I can take from the wizard list is find familiar, because it's thematically fitting for my patron. If I'm going wizard, then my damage cantrip option becomes poison spray as it is shared with druid. Basically, druid or bard, but an argument can be made for shared spells on wizard list and find familiar.

That said, as we're about to go into our first big fight (up to four waves of goblins, 10ish per wave), I'm kinda wishing I had more offensive cantrips. I can put some to sleep though.

I'm not sure if I understand the issue. You take Magic Initiate, and choose Wizard; that you get two Wizard cantrips and one 1st level Wizard spell. Currently you're leaning towards Find Familiar as your 1st level Wizard spell, for good reasons, and you still have your choice of any two Wizard cantrips. From the Wizard cantrip list, Toll the Dead is the strongest damage option and also fits your character, and Shape Water is on the list too, which might be a good fit for your character and campaign. Is there something I'm misunderstanding?

[Enjiel]

Thanks for your input. Sleep has put a ton of work into Blood's character and I've been very pleased to have her on the crew. You can check out the character in play on our Youtube channel "Enjiel's Dream".

The first session has been posted, I'm hoping to have the next 3 sessions posted this week. Be gentle, we are running on a budget of $0 and we're all amateurs at the streaming bit. I think the crew does an amazing job and hopefully I'll get better with practice.

You can also join us on our stream Monday at 6:30PM CST on our twitch channel Enjiel's Dream Tabletop Stream.

I can't really input on existence of a 12th creator. The story of the 11 creators is generally considered myth or religious lore. The Church of Creation, for instance, argues that there was only one creator and the others were his first creations.

The role of Blood's lute will mostly depend on how she plays the character throughout the campaign and whether or not she survives long enough for it to count. Admittedly, I'm rooting for her because I would feel bad if her character died given the amount of time and effort she has put into this character. I can't play favorites, though. Whether the lute is actually sentient and Blood is the only one that can hear it, or whether Blood is just insane has not been determined yet and I do not intend to make a decision on this matter until much later when it becomes relevant.

[Vogie]

If you want a companion, and also not take something from the wizard list, why not Druid for Animal Friendship? It can give you something very much akin to a familiar, except it can attack, but can't communicate psychically nor be pokeball'd out of the way. AF is shorter to cast, and would be recast each day (which doesn't really matter, as you only get one/day anyway), unless your DM decides that the charmed animal decides they like you and continues hanging out without having to recast it.

[SleepIncarnate]

Whether the lute is actually sentient and Blood is the only one that can hear it, or whether Blood is just insane has not been determined yet and I do not intend to make a decision on this matter until much later when it becomes relevant.

Would it affect the betting pool if I put money on insane?

[Enjiel]

Would it affect the betting pool if I put money on insane?

The player isn't allowed to bet. This isn't Deadpool. ;)