Bard Spells

[Trandir]

Any advice for the spell selection for a lore bard created at 4th level?
I got a fochlucan bandore and the party is a barbarian a druid a rogue and a ranger.

[diplomancer]

For concentration, normally i'd say Polymorph, but with a Druid in the party greater invisibility might be better.
Dimension door is useful in many different ways.
4th level spells are, relatively to the other casting classes, probably the least exciting for Bards

[Trandir]

For concentration, normally i'd say Polymorph, but with a Druid in the party greater invisibility might be better.
Dimension door is useful in many different ways.
4th level spells are, relatively to the other casting classes, probably the least exciting for Bards

Maybe the OP is poorly worded. What I meant is that I am looking for spells for a lv 4 bard not 4th level spells for a bard

[diplomancer]

Maybe the OP is poorly worded. What I meant is that I am looking for spells for a lv 4 bard not 4th level spells for a bard

Oh sorry. In that case, dissonant whispers, healing word, Tasha's hideous laughter, unseen servant, Phantasmal Force (campaign dependent) Blindness/Deafness, Heat Metal (campaign dependent, and only if Druid is a moon druid). Suggestion is also good, specially in a combat light campaign.

Charm person will almost always work because of your instrument, but how useful it is depends a lot on the campaign, and on how your DMs deal with it, specially the clause "afterwards, the target knows it was charmed by you". You can still get around that problem with disguises, though.

For cantrips, Vicious Mockery and Minor Illusion are probably best, but I have used dancing lights very effectively against dumb monsters.

[Aaron Underhand]

Enhance ability, detect thoughts, shatter. Party has single target damage covered, but needs utility and aoe

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Fearie fire
Dissonant whispers
Hideous laughter
Enhance ability
Suggestion
Shatter

Blindness/Deafness
Calm emotions

(I usually take ritual caster wizard to have all the utility).

[Aaron Underhand]

(I usually take ritual caster wizard to have all the utility).

Dropping a 1 level dip into wizard can also be fun...

especially if you then find a headband of intellect :-)

[HiveStriker]

Any advice for the spell selection for a lore bard created at 4th level?
I got a fochlucan bandore and the party is a barbarian a druid a rogue and a ranger.
Hi!

Well...
1. Barbarian means melee heavy: Longstrider would help but that one could be picked up by Druid when needed. Anything helping reach melee, reduce threat from range or enemy mobility would help... But Druid also has that kind of spells available.

2. Rogue means high single target damage if advantage, AND high incentive to get another attack on another turn than him. -> Dissonant Whispers should definitely be one of your pick, since it "makes enemy decide to move" so is a valid trigger for Opportunity Attack (hence Sneak Attack).

3. Ranger will probably mix melee and range, so won't care too much about what you do.

4. Druid will probably have Healing Words, and imo a good array of 1st and 2nd level spells to prepare would be Longstrider (for Barb when needed), Entangle (targets STR, still efficient against many creatures at that level), Faerie Fire (definitive spell to have really: advantage on both melee and ranged attacks is perfect), Healing Spirit (at this level mainly for out of combat), Pass Without Trace, Ice Knife or Earth Tremor, and one among Moonbeam, Flaming Sphere or Heat Metal.

Where does that leave you?
Personally I'd try to mix "pure Barding" with "always good to have" spells.
So I'd pick Healing Words (always good), Comprehend Languages (pure Barding), Dissonant Whispers (pure Barding).
Then I'd pick Faerie Fire IF Druid is really not interested in using it (for example because he prefers using concentration on something else).
I may pick Feather Fall if I feel it would come handy during campaign, but only then.
I'd definitely pick Invisibility: not only is it a Bard exclusive (speaking in the context of your party), but it's also scalable.
I'd also pick Phantasmal Force, Bard exclusive, targets INT, so efficient in distracting a single target.
For "good damage and little cost", I'd definitely pick Heat Metal: although it's "situational in essence" because of the "wearing metal" requirement, imx it's still usable in 90% of encounters up until level 12 (it's just that you usually concentrate on something with a more potent effect at that time, but enemies wearing armors or relying on their weapons for attacks are very common).

We are at 5-7 spells already depending on Faerie Fire and Feather Fall.
Other good spells are Suggestion (great for shenanigans) and Magic Mouth (marvelous ritual) or Hold Person (situational in essence, but like Heat metal, fat chance you fight humanoids in mostly every fight until level 10 at least).

NOTE: I love Enhance Ability, Blindness, Shatter, Warding Wind, Sleep, Speak With Animals, Silence but I do not suggest here because of the following...
- Enhance Ability and Speak With Animals are on Druid list: it's easier to coordinate with him and try and anticipate when those would be useful, since he can just prepare them for those days, than learn "in case of" as a Bard.
- Sleep is still a great spell at that level for some non-combat situations, but considering the number of spell known...
- Warding Wind is great in essence, but party-wide you usually have better things to concentrate upon, especially with several allies that can try and aggro threat.
- Silence is a great ritual, but in fight, you should not yet face many casters, for sneak, you can instead rely on Druid's Pass Without Trace, for "openings" you have a Rogue who probably took proficiency in lockpick (and your Druid pal could also use Wild Shape to create tunnels or something).
- Blindness is nice because non-concentration and scalable target, but it aims CON, and enemies get extra saves every turn. So imx lasts 2 turns average. On the plus side, it gives advatange AND imposes disadvantage. But you don't need to impose disadvantage that much (only one of your pal is a full melee guy, others can attack from range). And as far as advantage goes, Faerie Fire is overall much better: targets DEX (lesser save in general), group, no save besides the first, only 1st level slot.
- Shatter is "just damage". Imo it's much better to use that 2nd slot on debilitating a single target with Phantasmal Force / Hold Person / Heat Metal.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Dissonant Whispers!
Healing Word!

When you get Magical Secrets youwant Counterspell and something. I did not consider Conjure Animals strongly enough. Not sure you should if the DM is going to pick you silly animals or if you might step on the toes of other party members

[sithlordnergal]

For Bards, I tend to pick:

---Cantrips---

Minor Illusion

Message

Vicious Mockery


---1st Level Spells---

Healing Word

Dissonant Whispers

Tasha's Hideous Laughter

Bane


---2nd Level Spells---

Shatter

Calm Emotions

Hold Person


*The four I bolded are what I consider to be "must have" spells. Dissonant Whispers and Shatter are pretty obvious, as they're some of the best early damage spells a Bard can get.

Hideous Laughter is probably the best single target debuff spell in the game, as it makes your target become incapacitated and prone, is not considered a charm spell, the only requirement is that the target has an Int score of 5 or more, and the two effects are separate from each other. That way, even if a target is immune to Prone, like say a Ghost, they're still incapacitated. This is an ENCHANTMENT spell that WORKS on nearly ALL Undead, because most Undead have an Int score of 5. Skeletons? Int of 6. Ghosts? Int of 10. Shadows? Int of 6.

And finally, Calm Emotions is a powerful spell for almost any situation. It ends Charm and Frightened effects, or it can make targets indifferent to creatures of your choice. Which means this can, temporarily, suspend a group of people who are attacking you, or you can temporarily end a Frightened effect that's been cast on the party. Its also one of the few spells where you can choose to fail the saving throw.