Lore Bard progression - check my thinking

[Tangleweed]

So me and the party just hit lvl 5 and are starting the second part of the campaign. With that I am planning my progression trough level 5 to 10-ish and I would humbly ask for some feedback as I am not very familiar with DnD, this is my second character, but have plenty of roleplaying experience but mainly from freeform play. I dont need my character to be optimized, but making choices that are so bad that my character is rendered useless or irrelevant is not very fun. Ill just write my intended choices and why I consider them. If anything is glaringly stupid, plslet me know. :D

Oh, this is a lore bard, and I will not multiclass. Obviously dipping 2 levels of Hexblade would be a good solution, but I will not do that.

Magical Secrets lvl 6: Eldritch Blast and Counterspell.
Counterspell seems like a good spell in general, Works good for a Bard, I am the only one in the party able to get it at lvl 6 and it would absolutely make sense for this somewhat know-it-all character to be able to deny other casters.
Eldritch Blast to give me something worthwhile to do without spending resources. I have found that I have a lot of impact-full spells and abilities when fighting "bosses" with stuff like hold person or dissonant whispers and mockery. But when fighting a bunch of goons I have found that I most often just preserve my resources for bigger threats. Mockery is nice, but against goons I would prefer to just straight up be able to kill them. I am also happy to leave the big blasting to the other players.

Isi or feat Lvl 8. Moderately Armored. I am sitting at a dex 13 and with a leather amor I have an AC of whopping 13. That means I will get hit a lot. Getting moderately armored would bump that ac to 16/18. I have Cha 18 and I feel like it is more important to get a bit more AC than up my Cha? Am I wrong here?

Another solution would be to take Magic Innitiate at lvl 8 for Eldritch blast and something else. But Lvl 8 is a long time away and I feel like really wanna up my AC a bit.

I feel like the bard spells are not so hard to pick as they can always be replaced if they dont work out.

Is this really dumb?:smallconfused:

(also sorry english not first language etc etc etc....)

[Bannan_mantis]

So me and the party just hit lvl 5 and are starting the second part of the campaign. With that I am planning my progression trough level 5 to 10-ish and I would humbly ask for some feedback as I am not very familiar with DnD, this is my second character, but have plenty of roleplaying experience but mainly from freeform play. I dont need my character to be optimized, but making choices that are so bad that my character is rendered useless or irrelevant is not very fun. Ill just write my intended choices and why I consider them. If anything is glaringly stupid, plslet me know. :D

Oh, this is a lore bard, and I will not multiclass. Obviously dipping 2 levels of Hexblade would be a good solution, but I will not do that.

Magical Secrets lvl 6: Eldritch Blast and Counterspell.
Counterspell seems like a good spell in general, Works good for a Bard, I am the only one in the party able to get it at lvl 6 and it would absolutely make sense for this somewhat know-it-all character to be able to deny other casters.
Eldritch Blast to give me something worthwhile to do without spending resources. I have found that I have a lot of impact-full spells and abilities when fighting "bosses" with stuff like hold person or dissonant whispers and mockery. But when fighting a bunch of goons I have found that I most often just preserve my resources for bigger threats. Mockery is nice, but against goons I would prefer to just straight up be able to kill them. I am also happy to leave the big blasting to the other players.

Isi or feat Lvl 8. Moderately Armored. I am sitting at a dex 13 and with a leather amor I have an AC of whopping 13. That means I will get hit a lot. Getting moderately armored would bump that ac to 16/18. I have Cha 18 and I feel like it is more important to get a bit more AC than up my Cha? Am I wrong here?

Another solution would be to take Magic Innitiate at lvl 8 for Eldritch blast and something else. But Lvl 8 is a long time away and I feel like really wanna up my AC a bit.

I feel like the bard spells are not so hard to pick as they can always be replaced if they dont work out.

Is this really dumb?:smallconfused:

(also sorry english not first language etc etc etc....)

The choice of spells at level 6 is good with counterspell being good for control and eldritch blast covering your ranged damage cantrip (the bard as a base doesn't have good damage for cantrips so it's really useful to have that.)

The level 8 asi for moderately armoured is a place I'd disagree. While AC is useful it's usefulness ranges, if you're fighting in melee (which is a bad idea for almost every bard who isn't a blade or valor bard) it's good but with eldritch blast and the spells you have you can keep your range. A buff to your charisma nets you more bardic inspirations, better spell DCs and attack rolls and better face skills with all of those being really useful on a bard.

Overall though you have some good thinking here and it's good to think out your options more.

[Contrast]

I've never been convinced by the argument of using a magic secrets slot to pick up a cantrip. Without agonising blast its a damage boost but...eh.

A lot of bard spells are concentration/save based so maintaining concentration and boosting save DC is usually quite important. Boosting AC depends what your party make up is like and how your DM runs the game in terms of how likely you are to be soaking a lot of hits.

Depending on the make up for the party and type of game your party may love you for picking up Revivify if no-one else has access already.

Edit -


...if you're fighting in melee (which is a bad idea for almost every bard who isn't a blade or valor bard)

I fixed that for you. :smallwink:

[Tangleweed]

Yeah, the argument for increasing Cha is a strong one. I am writing some thoughts about it below, not to argue against it, but to show my thinking.

The one extra inspiration use and buff to social skill is nice. But with getting new bardic inspiration every short rest, maybe I can get by with four? Also, with enhance ability to help with charisma checks, maybe I can get by with one less one the modifier?

I am steering as far away from melee as possible. But many spells, counterspell in particular, has a range of 60. So, I cant stay to far away and also counterspell. I am usually hanging back, casting buffs and "in game" try to direct the party. That makes me a prime target for enemy archers. I was thinking that the best way to keep concentration was to not get hit as often?

Also revyvify is awesome, as pointed out. But I shall leave it for the Cleric.

[Contrast]

Also revyvify is awesome, as pointed out. But I shall leave it for the Cleric.

It may be helpful to know what the rest of the party make up is. One of the best parts of Magic Secrets is being able to pick up the cool spells from a spell list that your party lacks access to.

Healing Spirit is an amazing spell but if your party already has a druid/ranger it may be a bit of a superfluous pick.

Edit - and while I agree with the principle of not stepping on the clerics toes, to play devlis advocate - they can't Revivify themselves :smallbiggrin:

[WilliamHuggins]

For magical secrets, take counterspell and spirit guardians, counterspell is obvious while spirit guardians gives you a nice aoe dmg/cc option to deal with mooks, though you might get into risky situations until you are level 8 and got your feat when trying to utilize spirit guardians, regretabbly you are very squishy, if you dont like it you may try slow, it is a great debuff and it is friendly fire safe. You might even take shield spell tbh, I am strongly against Eldritch Blast without the invocation.

As for feat, if you take moderately armored, you go from studded leather AC13 to half plate+shield AC19 (+1 Dex from feat gets you 14 Dex) which is a HUGE leap, this will allow you to stay alive, maintain concentration, and it will even allow you to utilize Spirit Guardians if you take it, tbh as a DM you would not last 2 encounters with 13 AC on my table.

[Gignere]

Get conjure animals don’t get EB for mook damage. Conjure animals ends encounters.

[Guy Lombard-O]

Looking at your choices, I don't see anything wrong with them. Since you're not looking to uber-optimize, but more just asking if you're making an obvious mistake, I think it's safe to say that the answer is "no".

I'm not sure if the Medium Armored feat is the best way to go at level 8. But then, I'm not sure it's not, either. Your reasoning is solid about AC and concentration (which is the main reason I like valor bards). So I can't say it's a bad choice. 18 Cha works fine for a bard, and you can bump it up at 12th level.

Eldritch Blast is sort of a sketchy pick for a magical secret. But then again, you are a lore bard, and you might well view those 6th level magical secret picks as "extra" over any other bard, so I think you should really do what you feel is right for you and your party. Counterspell is a standard, Playground-approved pick for magical secrets, so you're still optimizing pretty well anyway (personally, I went way off-road with my own magical secret picks when I was playing).

So, yeah. No big mistakes here.

[Tangleweed]

Thank you all! This is all really helpfull!

The party is probably a DMs Nightmare. In full force we are like 10 players, but its usually the same core of 5 players +1 of the others. In the Core-group we have my bard, a cleric, a wizard-cleric, a figher, a rogue and a druid. So its tricky to not steal from anyone's list. While we are all un-optimized, we try not to be useless either. Because of the large amounts of players I am trying to avoid summoning and other things that takes a lot of time. AC 13 is already low at lvl 5 and I quite sure it will not be up to snuff in a few levels. I also figured I could increase Cha at lvl 12 if we get there. I would rather survive with cha 18 than be a beatiful corpse with cha 20. :D

Upcasting Hold Pearson or an well placed Enemies Abound has also almost been able to shut down encounters.

All that said, I am not completely sold on the EB. The only thing going for it is that it does not expends any resources. Then again I feel fffect without spending resources is one of my bigger gaps. Yet again,meube that changes when I get even more spellslots?

Also, what list gives me both Counterspell and Spirit Guardians?

[diplomancer]

I agree with "don't take a cantrip with your magical secrets", cantrips do crappy damage anyhow. The only situation where I would even consider that was a game that had VERY long adventuring days (I'm talking at least 8 combat encounters per day).

I think moderately armoured for a Lore Bard with a low and odd Dex (and who doesn't want to multiclass for it) is almost mandatory. If you are fighting intelligent creatures, the moment you cast an effective Concentration spell you WILL be targeted, no matter if you are at range. With a crappy AC you will be a pincushion.

Finally, though I like the suggestions of both Spirit Guardian and Conjure Animals, I think Bards have so many great concentration spells that I would hesitate to get a Concentration spell as a magical secret, unless it's an out-of-combat one like Pass Without Trace, Healing Spirit or Enlarge/Reduce (which has interesting exploration uses).

If your campaign is going towards very high levels, consider spells that will be useful throughout your entire career. If not (let's say, ending around level 10), and depending on party composition, fireball is a solid choice. Revivify is also good if you play in a campaign where some degree of lethality is expected and you don't have clerics in your party.

Oh, and one important thing: You can choose spells from 2 different lists, you don't need to pick them all from the same list.

Now that I've seen your party, there is one other Concentration spell that you might want to consider, apart from the ones already suggested: Crusader's Mantle. It gets crazier the more people you have making attacks.

[Bobthewizard]

I like taking moderately armored for your character. It's like a permanent shield spell compared to what you have now. I prefer moderately armored and additional magical secrets over the armor, extra attack and any feat of a valor bard.

Once you have that better AC, spirit guardians becomes a better spell. It lasts a full 10 minutes so hopefully you can keep it up for more than one combat. You could use hypnotic pattern if the enemy is at range and then if they start close enough use spirit guardians instead. You'll likely do more damage with 3 rounds of spirit guardians than you will with a whole day of eldritch blasts.

Conjure animals is a more flexible spell that lasts longer but make sure you know your table and know if they'll be ok with you adding 8 wolves to a combat. If you can usually stay out of melee this might be a better choice.

While bards have a lot of concentration spells already, they don't get arcane recovery or font of magic and therefore have less effective spell slots during a day. So a long-acting concentration spell can be worth it.

If the cleric and druid already have those two spells, pass without trace and crusader's mantle would both be good choices in this party too. I'd rather multi class for it, but if you aren't willing to multi class, shield might be a good option for you.

[Keravath]

Just a quick comment ...

As others have said, I would be hesitant to take eldritch blast as a magical secret. Yes, it is a decent attack cantrip doing a rarely resisted type of damage. However, even assuming that both bolts hit in tier2 it will only do 6 damage more every round than vicious mockery on average and it doesn't have the rider effect of vicious mockery. Without the warlock invocations that boost the effectiveness of eldritch blast (e.g. with agonizing blast and 20 charisma, eldritch blast would do 16 damage more/round on average than vicious mockery ... which IS worthwhile).

If you have decent single target damage dealers in your party and you don't want to multiclass into 2 levels of warlock then I see eldritch blast as a waste of a magical secret.

If you are the only caster in the party capable of casting Counterspell then there aren't many arcane casters if any ... this would make Fireball a prime pick for a magical secret since there are an incredible number of times it can turn out to be useful.

If your party is short on healing magic then healing spirit or revivify can be good options (if you don't have a cleric/druid/ranger).

In addition, very soon, as you level up, you will have more spell slots giving you a lot more options even if you have 3-4 encounters/day.

Unfortunately, your AC isn't good. Equally unfortunately, moderately armored isn't going to fix that problem very well and on top of that, it will use an ASI that would be very usefully applied to increasing your charisma. As a primary caster, your spell save DC is the difference between success and failure in many cases. Getting more creatures to fail your save for hypnotic pattern is crucial. Every little bit of spell save DC makes a difference.

However, the other feat you need is resilient con. This is for con saves against both spell effects and concentration saves. If the bard is concentrating on a control spell with half the opponents locked down and his concentration breaks then an easy fight could turn into a hard one or even one your party will lose.

So, try to stay out of melee range of the fight, use your spells for control or damage (be sure to have some non-concentration spells that do control or damage ... shatter/fireball but especially blindness and suggestion can be very good ... suggestion depends a bit on your DM and how they interpret "reasonable suggestion".


Finally, I have a level 13 character 11 lore bard/2 hexblade warlock that works well. Variant human, started with resilient con, point buy for stats. Many folks don't like the delayed spell progression and it was a bit tough at level 5/6 when everyone else had 3rd level spells but the issue more or less went away at level 7. The big jump is 3rd level spells ... higher ones in my opinion are still cool and effective but the difference isn't that large. In your case, it sounds like 2 levels of warlock is off the table but for spells/spell slots/invocations/cantrips/armor and shields it is mechanically probably your best choice, you would just have to come up with the story and character evolution that would support them making such a decision.

[Tangleweed]

Again, thank you all for the input. I hope future bards stumble upon this thread as there is a lot of informed and different suggestions.

So far it has convinced me to pick Mod Arm at lvl 8 and Counterspell as one of the spells from magical secrets at lvl 6. Not sure about the other one, but feeling less attracted to EB after reading some good arguments. Fireball seems safe, but boring. but probably smart.

Originally I was hoping to play a non-combatant character but one that would really help put in the intriguing parts by rocking spells like suggestion and detect thoughts. My DM politely asked me to specifically not pick suggestion and detect thoughts, so I didn´t. DM is amazing though and I will always go along with my DMs requests. But now I am a bit all around useless and I try to catch up.

[Contrast]

I second that Crusaders Mantle might be a good fit for your larger than normal party (although it is concentration which is a pity as a bard you presumably already have a surfeit of conc spells). If you're looking for some more niche but flavourful options Galders Tower and Tiny Servant always both seemed very fun to me.

Spiritual weapon is also pretty reliable damage. You said you have a cleric and wiz/cleric but that could be part of the fun...all three of you summoning weapons to go beat up on some dude :smallbiggrin:

[KillingTime]

I echo the general thought that Eldritch Blast is a waste of Magical Secrets.
The real strength of EB is with the invocations that bump its damage and untility. Stick to vicious mockery and shooting a crossbow - your job is support not DPR.

As you've already stated, Counterspell is probably the No.1 top pick for lvl6 mgaical secrets. Lore Bards make great counterspellers, and it's such a powerful pick.
And yes, fireball is boring.

My other suggestions would be one of the following:
Pass Without Trace - Turns your entire party into ninjas. Even the dex 8 paladin in full plate will have a hard time flunking stealth checks with this up.
Spirit Guardians - Damage AND battlefield control.
Revivify - Magical defibrilator
Hunger of Hadar - Control and damage, but at a distance. I actually prefer this to Spirit Guardians, despite the former getting all the good press.

[Bobthewizard]

In the Core-group we have my bard, a cleric, a wizard-cleric, a figher, a rogue and a druid. So its tricky to not steal from anyone's list. While we are all un-optimized, we try not to be useless either. Because of the large amounts of players I am trying to avoid summoning and other things that takes a lot of time.

I missed this when I made my first comment. This is a hard party to be a bard in. Bards are great at filling holes in a party but this party doesn't really have any holes.

Spirit guardians might step on the cleric's toes and I don't think the damage would stack if you stand next to each other. I thought there was something about only being able to be affected by each spell once at a time, but I don't have my books right now. But you could increase the area if you both cast it. The cleric's protecting the front line and yours protecting you and the wizard.

Especially if the druid uses conjure animals, then crusader's mantle might be amazing but you'd need to be close to melee. That and counterspell and you are definitely all in on support.

Otherwise, you're almost down to just taking fireball. No party ever complained about too many people having fireball.

[Guy Lombard-O]

Originally I was hoping to play a non-combatant character but one that would really help put in the intriguing parts by rocking spells like suggestion and detect thoughts. My DM politely asked me to specifically not pick suggestion and detect thoughts, so I didn´t. DM is amazing though and I will always go along with my DMs requests. But now I am a bit all around useless and I try to catch up.

For the non-combat parts, you almost don't even need suggestion and detect thoughts if you take expertise in persuasion & deception, and then take them both to the next level with Enhance Ability/Cha spell.

In combat, I'm surprised to hear you're feeling useless. You seem like you know what you're doing. But FYI bards have lots of great debuff/BC spells even at low levels: Faerie Fire, THLaughter, Blindness/Deafness, Hold Person, and (situationally awesome) Heat Metal, just to name a few. They all take spell slots, but they all also last more than a single round (ideally) as well. If you have one (or more/Blindness) of them running during a combat, and do even the basic Vicious Mockeries while doling out some Bardic Inspirations or Cutting Words, then you're definitely NOT being useless in combat!

EDIT: Oh, and considering your party makeup, I'd second that Crusader's Mantle is probably a great pick for you. But I'd save it for one of your 10th level picks, only 1 level after the wizard gets Animate Objects (assuming he does so).

[Bobthewizard]

You don't need all of dissonant whispers, hold person and enemies abound. Replace one of those with hypnotic pattern or fear and suddenly you are amazing at dealing with large groups. Whichever one you pick the wizard should have the other one.

You are useful in combat. I get what you mean though about feeling useless. Sometimes if you are concentrating on a spell, buffing allies, and avoiding getting hit you don't have as much impact with your action and it feels like you aren't contributing as much. But those control spells are more important than any single character's damage.

[diplomancer]

You don't need all of dissonant whispers, hold person and enemies abound. Replace one of those with hypnotic pattern or fear and suddenly you are amazing at dealing with large groups. Whichever one you pick the wizard should have the other one.

You are useful in combat. I get what you mean though about feeling useless. Sometimes if you are concentrating on a spell, buffing allies, and avoiding getting hit you don't have as much impact with your action and it feels like you aren't contributing as much. But those control spells are more important than any single character's damage.

You should get hypnotic pattern; especially if you can get your hands in an instrument of the bards. It's so strong that, unless you are facing charm-immune creatures (or magic-resistant or very high wis-saves creatures, the only reason you will have to cast another spell is because fights are now too easy and you are bored

[Yunru]

If you can hold out, it's much better to pick up a Cantrip through a feat like Spell Sniper or Magic Initiate than it is to waste a Magical Secrets slot on it.

[Lyracian]

If you can hold out, it's much better to pick up a Cantrip through a feat like Spell Sniper or Magic Initiate than it is to waste a Magical Secrets slot on it.
That was my thought. Level 16 Feat Eldritch Blast for 4 attacks [from level 17] looks good; as a Magical Secret at level 6 it does not for me seem to stand out.

Not sure if you have thought about Multi-classing? I took a level of Cleric on my bard to sort out the lack of armour. I am the only healer in my party where as I know you already have 1.5 Clerics already so you may not want to go that route. If not then Moderately Armoured is going to be your best way to improve AC.

The only other spell I was thinking of for Magical Secrets was Good Berry and that only really works if you take a level of Life Cleric for creating lots of 4 HP heal 'potions' everyone can carry around.

[Tangleweed]

Even more good feedback. You guys are all awesome.

I think I should clarify. When I spend spell slots and inspiration points I feel far from useless. Its the fights where I dont wanna spent resources, like when we run into 10 random zombies or whatnot that I feel useless. Its hardly worth it to get involved. And the fact that my crappy AC and not to good Con menas I ve be spending most of my turns running from enemies chasing me or getting impaled by arrows and dropping concentration. But maybe this is a memory from lower levels as we just hit level 5 and get much more resources.

I also was just able to upgrade my armor to studded leather and got hold on a instrument of illusions at lvl 5. I am not holding my breath for an instrument of the bards. But yeah, Crusaders Mantle seems like solid pick, but probably at lvl 10 when I already got my AC up a bit.

I am really trying not to multiclass for a variety of reasons. But yeah, Knowledge Cleric and Hexblade are obviously good choices. Also, I played an Asimar life celric/dream druid heal bot in our last campaign and I try to avoid the healer route this time.

Also thank you Guy Lombard-O for claiming that I seem to know what I am doing. Its one of the nicer things Ive been told in a while. :smallbiggrin: Not being ironic.

Ill try to remember to get back here when I reach lvl 6 and tell you all what I actually picked and how I liked it.

[miggytron]

I’m personally taking Thunder Step as one of my lvl6 secrets. It gives me damage, teleportation, the ability to save a party member and gives me a panic button all at once. Also it works flavor-wise for my Yuan-Ti Bard who specializes in Psychic and Sound damage and wants to break Yuan-Ti stereotypes by becoming a famous hero

Counterspell will most likely be my other pick but I’d love to grab haste otherwise.

She is currently searching for a warlock patron in RP to hexblade it up since it’s hard to be a hero if you’re always running away from battle

[Gignere]

Since you have a Druid I’m going to recommend tiny hut.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I took friggin Fly of all things and Counterspell because no one else had Fly and Counterspell can be a game changer.

Since I've played a Warlock a bit and I find my Lore Bard WAY more interesting in combat than the "EB and do I wanna Hex" character. EB isn't bad per say, you'll us it, just don't let it get repetitive.

Fireball is also kinda meh if you already have Shatter. In my party the Wizard has Fireball and sometimes its a terrible choice, others the noise of Shatter is so its nice to have both in the party, maybe not on the same spell list though.

Enemies Abound, Haste, Lesser Demons, and all the 3rd level Wall spells should be considered IMO. But its your character so don't chase D2's added to damage but pick what FEELS right.

[Expected]

If you are truly interested in having an option to just kill enemies without wasting your resources, I would definitely choose to dip 2 levels in Hexblade Warlock. This allows two benefits: 1. You can take the Agonizing Blast cantrip, add your Cha mod to each beam and take another Eldritch Invocation; 2. You gain proficiency with Medium Armor and Shields, thereby saving you a feat and a Magical Secret on a gimped Eldritch Blast. If you are absolutely not willing to multiclass, then DO NOT take Eldritch Blast--it is a waste.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Oh, for pure damage think about the combo of Animated Objects and Dissonant Whispers.

[Tangleweed]

Cant believa OI still get advice. Lovely thread. Thank you all!

I think I am convinced not to take EB. I realized I will just try to get hold of a wand of magic missiles or something similar. Like I said, Ill get back when I have made it to lvl 6 and tell you what I pickedand how it works out.

[KnotaGuru]

For magical secrets at level 6, I agree counterspell is a great pick and EB is a wasted pick. Since you seem to be using a lot of concentration spells, picking another one is a tough choice. And please don't pick spirit guardians, which requires you to be within 15' of an enemy, not a good choice with 13AC.

How about spiritual weapon? It's a non-concentration bonus action damage boost. The bonus action competes with bardic inspiration but IMO, those are better used on cutting words (reaction) anyway.

If you really want another concentration spell, crusader's mantle is a great damage boost, especially in large parties.

For your level 8 ASI, you have 3 more levels to decide. Nothing wrong with moderately armored. But if you're not getting hit often, +2 CHA is good. Or, if you're losing concentration often, warcaster is good.

[Yunru]

Much belated, but if you want a source of good, repeatable, damage, take Moonbeam over Eldritch Blast.

[Lyracian]

Much belated, but if you want a source of good, repeatable, damage, take Moonbeam over Eldritch Blast.
I think I would prefer Spiritual Weapon over Moonbeam. Slightly less damage but it used your Bonus action not Action and does not take concentration.

[Yunru]

I think I would prefer Spiritual Weapon over Moonbeam. Slightly less damage but it used your Bonus action not Action and does not take concentration.
But if you're looking at Eldritch Blast you're wanting something to do with your action anyway.
Although the concentration thing is a very big point.

[Lyracian]

But if you're looking at Eldritch Blast you're wanting something to do with your action anyway.
Although the concentration thing is a very big point.
Well the OP was talking about wanting to deal with mobs rather than specifically something to use there action on. Both use up resources I just think it is easier for characters to find other uses for their Action rather than Bonus Action.

[Tangleweed]

While we have not hit lvl 6 yet, I am pretty sure that I will pick Spiritual Weapon and Counterspell. Spending a spellslot to get to do a bunch of damage for, most likely, the entire combat seems nice. I also think whacking with the spiritual weapon and trying to impose disadv with mockery is pretty strong bread and butter attack. I also like that it can be upcast and the fact that it does not use concentration is pretty big. Only downside I see is that as it is a bonus action in competes with healing word. That seems to be my most used spell. With all the devine magic we got i the party one would think that we would have that covered. But ...no.

[Lyracian]

With all the devine magic we got i the party one would think that we would have that covered. But ...no.Hopefully these spells will mean less of the rest of the party dying. You can always use your action on a medicine check or feeding someone a healing potion rather than missing a Spirit Weapon Attack.

[Bobthewizard]

While we have not hit lvl 6 yet, I am pretty sure that I will pick Spiritual Weapon and Counterspell.

While there are a lot of good options for level 6 magical secrets, yours are good choices. Have fun. If you haven't seen it yet, Treantmonk just released videos for each of the magical secrets. Here's his video for level 6. I think he talks about spiritual weapon in one of the other videos if it's not in this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4bLK_V11UQ

[Lyracian]

While there are a lot of good options for level 6 magical secrets, yours are good choices. Have fun. If you haven't seen it yet, Treantmonk just released videos for each of the magical secrets. Here's his video for level 6. I think he talks about spiritual weapon in one of the other videos if it's not in this one.
Twelve and bit minutes into his Level 10 video https://youtu.be/8uJyZfRLxzo?t=764