Hexblade worth the dip on lore bard?

[Quoz]

Just rolled up a character for a new game, looking for direction to make the concept work.

I want to play a dim-witted perpetual optimist Kobold bard. The kind that will ride a magically enlarged pug into battle with a straight face, and will be blatantly overconfident of both the abilities and good intentions of the rest of the party.

I love the aesthetic of the diminutive warrior poet charging into battle protected only by a cheerful outlook so strong it shapes reality around to fit his view. I'm considering 3 paths, and could use help deciding.

Kobold bard, level 3. Rolled stats before racial mods 18/15/13/11/11/10.

1st option is straight caster - high Cha/Dex, stay out of melee and trouble when able and be prepared to pull out a rapier when things get dicey. Primary duty is buff casting/control.

2nd option is a dip in Hexblade for Cha-based melee attacks, medium armor/shields, and better weapons. Would go for a bigger weapon and melee attack cantrip, perhaps lance and spell sniper for booming blade with reach.

3rd option is to use magical items for stat fixing - a bard can easily abuse the buying magic items rules to get gauntlets of ogre power or belt of giant strength, which saves the level dip and makes me competent if squishy in melee without losing spell progression. Would still need magic initiate or a dip for attack cantrips.

These are what I am thinking of but have not played a bard before so open to new suggestions. Almost certain to get find steed as one of my magic secrets, so anything that pairs well with that is also good.

[Antarx]

A 1 level dip is totally worth it. Even if you never try to melee, you will gain medium armor plus shield

Also, it opens you the door of damage per round. Eldritch blast and booming blade and/or green flame blade makes you a very decent at dealing damage in and out melee. Hex and Shield spells are also totally worth, and in both scenarios, you are using charisma to attack rolls.

You are just delaying your career one level. Warlock 2 is also useful, but it does not gives you the same bang for your bucks as hexblade 1. You can take that level later in your progression if need it.

Other than that, IF you can find a gauntlets of ogre power at some point, you can become a great melee. But otherwise, I suggest you to take a dip in hexblade. 18 char, 15 con, 13 dex, whatever. You can round those stats with feats in the future.

[Misterwhisper]

If you were going for a more martial type of bard like a valor or blades bard it would be solid gold.

On lore it is mostly just for defense. Medium armor and shields.
Eldritch blast is nice if you take 2 levels.

I would do one of these:

1. Go valor bard and get your armor and defense fixed that way.

2. If you are going all caster type of lore bard I would not bother with the multiclass but if you did take 2 levels, for the 2 invocations.

3. Just play a warlock. You can play very bard like anyway with optimism and music. Go hexblade pact of tome for a more caster feel, or celestial and chain.

[Foxhound438]

Not sure why you would on a lore bard, but it does sound like your concept should be a blade or valor bard anyways, warrior poet and all. On one of those, maybe, but if you do go lore you aren't going to get much mileage from one level boosting your attacks- by the time you're level 5 or 6 you would have one attack still, and you would be doing that in place of casting a big spell (and as a pure bard you would have stronger spells half the time anyways).

[Ganymede]

How does making an eldritch pact with a sentient weapon forward your concept?

[Quoz]

I really like the theme of the derpy Don Quixote style adventurer. I don't want to play as a paladin, but want the options of find steed (comically refluffed, of course) which I can get as a magical secret. A lance would be the ideal thematic weapon, but lore bards aren't proficient and reach is not compatible with the SCAG attack cantrips unless I pick up a feat.

I will look again at the other bard subclasses and see if I pick up enough to justify losing out on cutting words and extra secrets.

[CTurbo]

I would not dip on a Lore Bard. If you want to be tougher, the Moderately Armored feat will give you that and you can stay full class.

If you want better melee, go Valor Bard.

You could start 15 Dex, 15 Con, 18 Cha and take Moderately Armored at 4 to bump Dex to 16, and Res(Con) at 8 to bump Con to 16. Alternatively, you could take Magic Initiate for Warlock if you need it want a damage boost with Eldritch Blast and Hex.

[GorogIrongut]

Your question is going to run straight into the teeth of the purists. Players who don't like the concept of multi classing and thus will find functional ways of getting around MC'ing to help further your character idea. And that's okay. Their style of play/fun is just as valid as the group of players who enjoy the thought of MC'ing.

If you, personally, like the idea of MC'ing, then yes. A Hexblade dip is excellent for ANY charisma based caster. It makes you more durable, gets you access to excellent cantrips, adds a level of short rest complexity to your casting... and in the case of a bard who is largely a support caster, gives your spells some bite.

I personally think a level 1 dip is great. You get lots of good stuff. A level 2 dip is even better. Invocations, invocations, invocations. Level 3 is pretty good (pact and level 2 spells on short rest) but might be commitment too far for you.

Either way, play how YOU want to play. Cause it's your fun, not ours.

[BaconAwesome]

I'd talk to your DM - some allow more reskinning of hexblade than others. (I'm also amazed a lance is not a heavy weapon, but it's not.)

[Kadesh]

I want to play a dim-witted perpetual optimist Kobold bard.
That is not a Hexblade.

No.

[Nhorianscum]

Fluff is flexible and this is some fun fluff.

As a 1 level dip taken early? Yes hexblade jacks your AC by something insane like +10 and gives you a very solid damage cantrip for one level of bard progression. There's no reason not to take a 1 level dip for bulk on any frailmage and bards are the frailest.

A 2nd level for invocations may be worth it after 10 or 11 bard.

Don Kobold here should probably avoid mele when we're not intending to comedicly dismount into Cower Grovel and Beg (our only reason to be in mele) for entirely mechanical reasons. Ideally we'll phase into a more stable BC role (that can still pull off our old tricks) for RP reasons, we can still CGB as needed though.

[Citan]

Just rolled up a character for a new game, looking for direction to make the concept work.

I want to play a dim-witted perpetual optimist Kobold bard. The kind that will ride a magically enlarged pug into battle with a straight face, and will be blatantly overconfident of both the abilities and good intentions of the rest of the party.

I love the aesthetic of the diminutive warrior poet charging into battle protected only by a cheerful outlook so strong it shapes reality around to fit his view. I'm considering 3 paths, and could use help deciding.

Kobold bard, level 3. Rolled stats before racial mods 18/15/13/11/11/10.

1st option is straight caster - high Cha/Dex, stay out of melee and trouble when able and be prepared to pull out a rapier when things get dicey. Primary duty is buff casting/control.

2nd option is a dip in Hexblade for Cha-based melee attacks, medium armor/shields, and better weapons. Would go for a bigger weapon and melee attack cantrip, perhaps lance and spell sniper for booming blade with reach.

3rd option is to use magical items for stat fixing - a bard can easily abuse the buying magic items rules to get gauntlets of ogre power or belt of giant strength, which saves the level dip and makes me competent if squishy in melee without losing spell progression. Would still need magic initiate or a dip for attack cantrips.

These are what I am thinking of but have not played a bard before so open to new suggestions. Almost certain to get find steed as one of my magic secrets, so anything that pairs well with that is also good.
Hi!
In one line: "For any Bard, Warlock dip is *never* required but in most cases *worth it* (as long as you know why you are considering it in the first place)."

If you don't care about dealing good damage, and don't fear about your survivability, and you don't care about extra cantrips, then Warlock is not worth the delay in spellcaster progression.
If one of those is useful to you, then it will usually be. :)

If you envisioned your character as an armored gish using Booming Blade in melee while using bonus action on Bard spell, then it's totally the best way to go.

A middle ground, though, could be to NOT pick Warlock dip right now if you planned on going Swords/Valor Bard anyways (giving you good enough AC for your stats): the Hexblade curse is nice but not that big a deal for someone who will spend half turns using spells one way or another, and Eldricht Blast is completely forgettable at the very least until you get the 2nd ray (and only being strictly better than Vicious Mockery), same with Booming Blade.

So you could start as a straight Bard, see how it goes and how you like it, and still pick your dip whenever you feel like "damn, I would love to use X (gotten only from Warlock) right now".