Bard in Hell

[Anthiondel]

Hello



I'm playing a Knowledge Domain/Lore Bard (1/4 atm) in Descent into Avernus.



I'm trying to make a better spell list seeing so many enemies have magical resistance.



How would you pick the bard spells?



ATM I'm going with Bane, Faerie Fire, Dissonant Whispers, Feather Fall, Tasha's, Invisibility and Silence.

Cleric I always have Identify and Command from the Domain and keep preppared Healing Word, Protection from E/G and Bless

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Are you short on damage or punch against demons or devils with advantage on saves?

[Anthiondel]

Are you short on damage or punch against demons or devils with advantage on saves?

Short on debuffs/control if they pass their save, mostly, we have 3 combatants and a cleric hitting hard enough

[Tangleweed]

I have never played Descent into Avernus so take my advice with a grain of salt. But If I played a lvl 5 bard (I actually do that ATM) and was adventuring in a space where most of the enemies had resistance to magic, I would try to use more buff-spells on my allies as they can not be resisted. Then again, most of them are concentration-spells so you mat only be running one at a time. Once you put that bless into play there is not that much more to do. Maybe illusion spells for trickery is a way around magic resistance? Maybe even sleep if you are desperate.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Any spellcaster is going to dislike folks who have advantage on saving throws. Especially a Bard who just doesn't have many spells which use your attack modifier. You COULD take a feat like Magic Intiate when its available to get Eldritch Blast.

Healing Word and your Bardic Inspiration Dice are not affected by their advantage....

I think most Devils / Demons are resistant to non magical damage. The combo of Conjure Animals and Dissonant Whispers is VERY powerful against enemies who aren't. I think its still a decent choice.

Look forward to Conjuring Woodland Beings and Animate Objects in the future.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

As a general rule: Buffing your party isn't resisted. If you want to debuff anyway, use Faerie Fire. Most devils have relatively weak Dex saves compared to Wisdom and Constitution. Magic Resistance means it's not as effective as it should be, but it should land sometimes. It's worth noting that while it's not a great spell, Cloud of Daggers offers no saving throw and does magic slashing damage.

If you plan on advancing Lore Bard further, you might want to use Additional Magical Secrets at level 6 to grab some spells that use attack rolls instead of saving throws. Or Magic Missile. If you do get Animate Objects, remember most low level Devils are not resistant to silver. Try getting your hands on some silver objects to animate. If you survive long enough take Telekinesis with your Level 10 Magical Secrets, since it doesn't give a saving throw so no Magic Resistance applies, it's just their Strength against your Charisma (+Jack of All Trades, because Bards cheat).

A couple spells usually good against creatures with Magic Resistance, Contagion and Heat Metal do not work against Devils who are generally immune to Fire and being Poisoned.

[HolyDraconus]

We actually have a bard in this very campaign. He went Swords though. Seems to get more mileage out of tossing out Inspiration than his spell slots, though he DID heat metal a monster that won us outright a fight. He somehow also got Bless and when the wizard isn't tossing it out (yea, I said wizard. UA for her tho) he shores up the Paladin and Artificer with himself. Is currently running around with two scimitars cause he wants to be a badass.

[Xihirli]

At lower levels it’ll be rough to get spells that hurt your enemy without relying on a saving throw. I’ll echo the party and say that you’ll want buffs mainly.
Devil hordes may have advantage like imps but I don’t know if that’s true of nupperibos and the other low CR devils. If you can get a bunch of them in Faerie Fire, particularly ones that might use invisibility to escape that may help.
If you’re not using your cleric power to prepare Bless you may want to start. It’s a really nice spell that you might use in some fights all the way up in the teens. Uncommon, but against enemies with truesight, charm resistance and physical damage resistance it’s often the best you can do.

For additional magical secrets I’d be looking at counterspell and Healing Spirit, which I agree is a very good healing spell but don’t agree that it breaks the game - it’s just that there are only two good healing spells before you hit seventh level spells, so it’s unusual.

You’re not really going to get a “no save, just suck” until the standard Magical Secrets give you access to Wall of Force, which might let you pick one half of the enemy to just not do anything, or in a boss fight put the boss in time-out while you deal with the minions.