Non-Damage Dealing Bard

[LadyLexi]

I'm playing a lore bard who, because of things that happened in the story (resulting in my character being arrested and jailed), is motivated to avoid even having access to the ability to cause harm to others. I know where I want to go story and character wise, but I don't want to be a drag on the rest of the party by being wholly inept but I'd like to stick with avoiding damage causing spells. Currently I'm the only healer in the party and at 6th level I'll pick up Revivify and Aura of Vitality to help my companions.

Has anyone done something similar in another game? Any advice for playing the pacifist? Any key spells for a character who avoids the fray?

[SirGraystone]

At first level I would suggest spells like

- Healing Word : always helpful in combat even if you are not the main healer
- Faerie Fire : Help the group in combat without doing damage yourself
- Sleep : Great at low level, losing power later
- Tasha's Hideous Laughter : Win with the power of laughter

level 2

- Hold Person
- Suggestion
- Lesser Restoration

level 3

- Hypnotic Pattern

Those spells or some like them would let you help your group or control opponents (so the group can kill them I guess). Bard is a good class to play pacifist, but a lot depend of your DM and the kind of campaign he's playing. A more social character is more useful in Waterdeep then in the middle of the jungle of Chult.

[Gastronomie]

I pretty much read "the average Bard", perhaps the only difference being lack of Vicious Mockery. There is absolutely no problem with such a character, and in fact he/she will be no doubt extremely helpful for the party. Hell, trying to build a Bard who can deal damage will actually create a much weaker character.

Most of what you can do when not using a spell slot will be up to DM interpretation. For instance:
-Using Minor Illusion during combat for various purposes
-Using the Persuation skill during combat to propose surrender to an enemy who is obviously on low HP

You should check your DM on how willing he is to let you do the above.

Depending on the definition of "not dealing damage", attempting to shove or knock prone will work, but they might not fit your image of your character. What might is to, after someone else attempts to disarm an opponent, use Mage Hand to drag away that weapon (although this needs cooperation as well). Using Ball Bearings to cover an area is another example of an action that doesn't cause damage but can be sorta like field control. Perhaps with Mage Hand and a sack, if your DM allows it.

Prolly lots more I missed, but I think that's enough from me for now. Good luck.

[Slayn82]

Vicious Mockery deals damage, if you avoid it, your best substitute is the Friends spell. If you can convince the target to lower his guard for a moment, you may be able to let your team take the action initiative. On short notice, its pretty much a minute charm person, because if the target's impression is favorable enough they won't harm you until it ends.

Level 1 has Charm Person, but I'd say Animal Friendship or Speak with Animals can be as useful on several campaigns, specially due to less consequences. Healing word is a must.
Level 2 has Calm Emotions, the best spell to defuse situations and make people talk, while also suppressing Fear and Charm effects, on a Charisma save. On incapacitating enemies, it's Hold Person vs Blindness/Deafness. I favor Blindness.
Level 3 there's Hypnotic Pattern, Fear and Stinking Cloud. All have strong and weak points. The important thing is being able to cast for each saving throw. Stinking Cloud is kind of like an Improved Blindness, because causing an area to be heavily obscured can save your bacon against casters and ranged attacks, or you can deny an important objective.

My personal combo is Friends cantrip, Healing Word, Calm Emotions (AOE, no hard feelings later, can be a buff, Cha save, helps Friends issue), Blindness (Con Save, no concentration, cheap slot), Hypnotic Pattern (Sab Save, Charm effect), Pick web as one Arcane Secret.

[JackPhoenix]

Every time I see someone asking about playing pacifist character, I wonder if they haven't chosen the wrong game. It's not that it's impossible to be useful in combat without causing damage, but D&D is, at its core, about killing things and taking their stuff. And even if your character doesn't directly cause damage, it's a bit hypocritical for a pacifist to travel with a bunch of killers and helping them to be better at killing things. Being pure healbot isn't effective approach in any D&D edition I'm familiar with, and unless the whole party commits to non-killing, that Hold Person may not cause damage, but it'll lead to the victim being quickly killed anyway. It also requires cooperation from the GM, because getting the enemies to surrender or leaving them alive and unconscious leads to other issues.

D&D is also full of constructs, who aren't alive or sapient to begin with or undead, fiends or other monsters where thorough extermination is the only reasonable approach.

So... are you really sure that your planned character is good material for a D&D PC?

[Contrast]

I'm playing a bard at the moment and I'm level 5 and have done almost no direct damage without even purposefully aiming to (I would estimate I have done ~1% damage across the party).

With that said, I would strongly recommend against playing a purposefully totally pacifist character. It's certainly doable (and bard is the class to do it with) but the game is pretty heavily focused on killing people dead and in terms of the enjoyment of others at the table and yourself with regards to having meaningful things to do every turn I'd recommend playing a character who may be squeamish about doing direct damage but will do it when nothing else presents itself.

[Languid_Duck]

See if your DM would be willing to let you drop the damage dealing portion of Vicious Mockery. The issue with playing a pacifist is that you will want for an at-will option in combat, and there will be combat unless your campaign intends to neglect that pillar. Otherwise odds are you'll get bored with the character without options that don't require spell slots or wasting your turn to save slots.

[JakOfAllTirades]

The damage from Vicious Mockery is completely deniable anyway. "All I did was insult him! He shouldn't have taken it so hard...."

Same goes for Dissonant Whispers. Psychic damage doesn't leave any marks, so it's hard to prove anything, ya kno?

[Quoz]

Bards can make surprisingly good grapplers, which can add spell-free battlefield control to your options. Even with minimal strength, you can easily grab expertise in athletics, enhance ability for advantage, cutting words to reduce the opposed checks, and effect spells like silence to prevent casting. Sure you're a bit squishy, but the look on your party's face when you put someone in an arm bar with a lute is worth the risk.

[Man_Over_Game]

It’s doable. When I did it, I wanted a reliable at-will option and that was usually the Help action. I would steal Sanctuary at 6th level.

On this note, there's a lot to gain from a few levels into Divine Soul Sorcerer:

First off, the concept of being championed by a higher being is very on-point with becoming a pacifist.

Sorcerers have the most cantrips than anybody. Minor Illusion isn't applicable? What about Gust? Or Guidance? Now that you have access to Cleric cantrips, you won't have many turns where you'll miss your attack action.

Get Sanctuary with a single level dip.

Get two levels for more spell casts (important for Bard) and some awesome metamagics to switch up your game. Twin Shield of Faith on two allies while under the effects of Sanctuary, and if an enemy happens to hit you, add 2d4 to your saving throw to maintain Shield of Faith.