Lore Bard help for high powered campaign

[MikeRoxTheBoat]

Looking for advice on my Tabaxi Lore Bard 4/Wizard 1. I built him mainly for the social/exploration/RP pillars of the campaign, which he did great in, but we had our first combat today and I realized that I'm pretty far behind the power curve.

For some background, we're playing in a homebrew campaign with a lot of UA and homebrew allowed, with DM approval. When we were creating our characters, we weren't allowed to discuss our choices with the other players (DM wanted it to be a "you're all people who came randomly into this, not an optimized premade party), which I was worried about, but we ended up with a good spread. I'm unfamiliar with a lot of UA, so I just went Lore Bard so I knew I'd have an answer to most things and I took the Wizard level so I'd have the option of going War or Divination if I wanted to and to cover Wizard stuff if we didn't have enough casters.

Group is an Order of the Immortal Mystic, a Sorcadin, a Fighter/Knowledge Cleric archer, a Fighter 1/Conjuration Wizard 4, a Fighter 5 that's some homebrewed class with that mixes some brute/champion/barbarian bits, and myself. We were all given a homebrewed magic item to start that's story-centric and quite powerful. For instance, mine give me a +2 cha, advantage on Wis/Cha saves, and gives enemies disadvantage on Wis and Cha saves against my spells. The Wizard has one that lets him cast two spells in the same round. Not sure of the others, but I'm positive they're all equally busted. I was worried at first, but the DM seems to be going for a superhero thing, where we're all extremely powerful, but the enemies are just as powerful.

And the rest of the party is really damn strong. The mystic can tank, heal, dps, and she has skills that let her absorb health and fly. The Sorcadin is a Sorcadin (21 AC, 23 with Shield of Faith, 28 with Shield), the Fighter is a damage monster that crits on a 19 and does extra weapon damage on hits (also AC of 20) and his weapon casts an AoE slow on hit 1/lr on up to 6 targets, the Wizard was flinging shatters, magic missilies, enlarges, and hold persons, usually two per turn, and the cleric was doing beast ranged damage as well as smashing things in the face with a mace when they got too close. I've pretty much come to terms that party support and campaign face/skill monkey is going to be my role in this campaign (both of which I'm fine with), but I want to make sure I'm supporting the best I can both in and out of combat (I've just been casting Faerie fire, flinging inspiration, and doing the occasional healing word so far).

Tabaxi Lore Bard 4/Wizard 1. Stats: 8, 16, 12, 14, 8, 20 after racials and my magic item.
Cantrips: Vicious Mockery, Message, Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Mending, Ray of Frost (Wizard)
Level 1: Absorb Elements, Alarm, Comprehend Languages, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Disguise Self, Faerie Fire, Find familiar, Feather Fall, Healing Word, Identify, Mage Armor, Shield
Level 2: Enhance Ability, Invisibility, Suggestion
I have 3 more spells known than I normally would, because the DM let me copy spells that Bard and Wizard shared into his spellbook, so I've been switching in rituals on level up, copying them to the Wizard spell book, then swapping them out with a different ritual on the next level up. I have Shield, Absorb Elements, and Mage Armor prepared from Wizard each day.

Really just looking for advice on the best way to go from here in order to best support a party of superheroes, as well as get some use out of my own busted magic artifact. Disadvantage to all Wis and Cha saves is pretty nasty, so I'm thinking battlefield controller/buffer/inspiration machine is where I'm headed. Any advice on spells to swap out, magical secrets, and when to use my cutting words so I don't get blasted and regret it later would be appreciated. Also if/when I should take that 2nd level of wizard and what school I should go.

Also, advice on other magic items that could be useful. It's hard to find specific PHB magic items, but it's a high magic campaign and getting someone to enchant something custom made seems pretty easy (our Mystic got a bandanna that gives her +1 str for, like, 50 gold and our Fighter got his club enchanted to cast slow once a day for 100 gold).

[FabulousFizban]

take one more level of wizard for divination tradition. combine your portent with suggestion for guaranteed save fails and mother****ing suggestion. done. you win. the game. you won it. (just wait until you have Geas!)

don't worry about power-scaling, once you hit bard 6 you'll gain magical secrets and all will be right with the world. choose the 2 most powerful spells of, i'm assuming 4th level, and you'll be right back on track.

PROTIP: Don't forget these count as bard spells, which means you can change your magical secrets every time you level

also, don't worry about power-scaling. the game is more than just combat, and throwing up debuffs like faerie fire is always useful, even at level 20. eat, drink, and be merry; D&D is about having fun above all else.

[Dork_Forge]

I would go for your next level in Bard to hit 3rd level spells and then switch to pick up a Wizard tradition (I'd suggest War or Divination, if you go Divination pick up Lucky at your next ASI and feel like a part time god).

Item wise something that boosts your dex, gives you a defensive bump/ability or grants you more slots should be a priority. Pick up a cheap magic rapier if gold allows for just in case scenarios.

In your situation I'd aim to pick up Find Steed (or later on Find Greater Steed) to go along with Find Familiar. Free enhanced mount and potential scout/battle companion.


PROTIP: Don't forget these count as bard spells, which means you can change your magical secrets every time you level

Whilst Magical Secrets are Bard spells, on level up you can ONLY swap them out for other Bard spells. You can only choose from other lists on level ups that grant another instance of the Magical Secrets feature.

[Talionis]

Your party crossed fifth level where martial classes get Extra Attack. It’s a normal feeling. Bard is not a high damage class especially not Lore. Wizards can blast but you don’t have access to a lot of those spells. Some of the Wizard cantrips are decent and they scales on character level not class level. Getting Eldritch Blast as a cantrip could help as its useful for a high Charisma Bard even without invocations to enhance it.

But honestly you aren’t a blaster in role. You are the face and you are a supporter. Choose spells that make the whole party better and you’ll still be contributing in combat.

[Bobthewizard]

Many multi class builds feel behind at level 5. You'll catch up next level.

I would take two more levels of bard as your next two levels. Level 5 gets you hypnotic pattern or fear. Either one can effectively end encounters. You could also trade out one of your spells for dissonant whispers. Giving your teammates opportunity attacks is a great use of your action while you're concentrating on something else. You might want shatter too if you aren't taking fireball with magical secrets.

Level 6 bard gets you magical secrets. With your party, I'd take conjure animals as one of them, then maybe either counterspell or fireball.

Then you can go back to wizard for a subclass. Divination is my favorite, but war wizard or enchantment would both work. Or you could take a level of hexblade, instead, which is always great on a bard.

[Keravath]

Get to 5th level of bard and your DM may be a bit unhappy with the magic item they gave you.

Hypnotic pattern can completely end encounters. There is no recurring save and the creatures stand incapacitated for 10 rounds. It is a wisdom save. You have boosted charisma and thus a higher than average DC. Hypnotic pattern is an area of effect spell.

The first time you use hypnotic pattern with your magic item you are likely to completely shut down the entire encounter if you place it properly.