My lvl 11 Bardlock is (probably) a mess

[Fairy]

Yup, my party got TPK'd on our first proper encounter in a new 11th level campaign.

Our clever and magnanimous DM has, however, introduced some 'gods playing chess' subplot wherein upon our deaths a goddess offered us a second life in exchange for servitude. After the session the DM (hint-hint) mentioned that if we want to make minor adjustments to our characters then he'll allow us to do so upon this moment of revival.

So I wonder if ye kind folk would offer me advice. I'm inexperienced as a player and beyond that lvl 11 is by far the highest level I've ever played, or even seen played.
'Minor adjustments' is of course vague but in particular I'm looking at my spell list for alterations and I'm considering possibly taking a feat in exchange for stats.
One important thing of note: the main antagonists of our current campaign (appear to be) mind-flayers.

Half-Elf
Warlock 8 (Great Old One) / Bard 3 (College of Whispers)

Cantrips
Eldritch Blast
Friends
Message
Minor Illusion
Vicious Mockery
(Pact of the tome)
Guidance
Thaumaturgy
Shocking grasp (I've never used this and I'm feeling like it's a mistake. At this high a level surely I should just disengage if I need to)

1st level
Charm person
Cure wounds
Disguise self
Hideous laughter
(Book of ancient secrets)
Find Familiar
Unseen Servant

2nd level
Crown of madness
Darkness
Invisibility
Silence
Suggestion

3rd level
Counterspell
Dispell Magic
Hypnotic Pattern

4th level
Banishment
Evard's black tentacles
Sickening radiance

Invocations
Book of Ancient Secrets
Aspect of the moon (Borderline necessary for RP)
Agonizing blast (Necessary? I think I've only used eldritch blast once in two fights. But without it my damage seems outrageously low)
Devil's sight (Somewhat important for RP. The darkness spell is a big part of how my character acts. He acts like a bard but casts darkness is combat and shoots spells/EB from within while laughing maniacally. Then comes out all innocent and sweet like :D)

Features/extra stuff to do in a turn
Bardic inspiration
Psychic Blades (possible source of damage if I forego agonizing blast?)
Word of terror (social - easy source of fear and good for RP)
Entropic Ward

*And I have no feats*. That was dumb right? I'm pretty sure that was dumb. I could maybe convince our DM to allow me to swap stats for a feat; war-caster would surely be good? Otherwise is there something to potentially counter the spell-like ability of mind flayers to stun? Quick recovery isn't in 5e, right?..

Some additional context:
The party consists of me, a circle of the moon druid, a grave cleric, and a monk (I forget the variant).
In our TPK we faced two mind flayers + some lizard men things (and intelligence drainers. Walking brains, whatever you call them). Our cleric was stunned then killed in the first few rounds of combat and I wasted two actions trying to use control spells on mind flayers - yeah... I didn't know they were flayers because I'm a noob and didn't know flayers had magic resistance anyway, because I'm a noob.


What I'm currently thinking:
Hideous laughter, suggestion, charm person and crown of madness all seem to serve the same purpose? Suggestion has some out of combat utility though and crown of madness is superior to the others in combat.
So dump charm person? My out of combat persuasion roles are outrageously high anyway. Maybe also dump hideous laughter? Although having a lvl 1 control spell seems useful for spell slot reasons.
Also spell wise, I realised in that last fight that if we're fighting monsters rather than humans then I have banishment and the two aoe spells and that's about it - and all of those often seem like overkill.

Also, I should swap stats for a feat? War-caster? Does quick recovery still exist?

... Alternatively, considering our party has so much support, I could pitch to our DM more drastic changes: rebuilding this bardlock to focus more on damage. An EB build, maybe with the 'pull' effect to combo with tentacles/sickening radiance and our cleric's hold person? The reason I didn't go for this in the first place is the bard levels. Surely if I built damage on warlock I'd effectively be playing 3 levels behind. That said since the characters are new and our combat was such a disaster maybe the DM would be on board for me switching to Bard 1 / Warlock 10 (bard is necessary for character RP) just to balance our party dynamics. I'd prefer to keep the college of whispers lvl 3 bard things, it fits my flavour well - but I don't want to be dead weight to the party in combat.

tl;dr: Just read my spell list and tell me why I'm dumb.

*EDIT* stats:
Cha 20
Con 18
Dex 16
Wis 14
Int 10
Str 6

[Unoriginal]

Four questions:

-What are your stats?

-Where did you put your ASIs?

-What is the campaign like/about?

-How did the first session result in a TPK?

Feats are far from necessary, especially as a multiclassed caster like your PC. They're spice for the main dish.

I'm no optimizer, but to me your PC seems to be built in a logical and thematic manner, with no reason why it couldn't perform well mechanically.

[Mud Puppy]

I'm no optimizer, but to me your PC seems to be built in a logical and thematic manner, with no reason why it couldn't perform well mechanically.

Seconded. Unless you did something dumb like dump your Charisma stat I don't see why this build wouldn't serve the party as face out of combat and controllery/blastery in combat.

[KorvinStarmast]

I'm inexperienced as a player and beyond that lvl 11 is by far the highest level I've ever played, or even seen played. 'Minor adjustments' is of course vague but in particular I'm looking at my spell list for alterations and I'm considering possibly taking a feat in exchange for stats.
One important thing of note: the main antagonists of our current campaign (appear to be) mind-flayers.

Half-Elf
Warlock 8 (Great Old One) / Bard 3 (College of Whispers)
What are your ability scores?


Cantrips
Eldritch Blast
Friends
Message
Minor Illusion
Vicious Mockery
(Pact of the tome)
Guidance
Thaumaturgy
Shocking grasp (I've never used this and I'm feeling like it's a mistake. At this high a level surely I should just disengage if I need to)

I still use shocking grasp on my level 8 Warlock; I'd keep it. I'd dump friends, though, and pick up a Mage Hand or something like Ray of Frost.

1st level
Charm person
Cure wounds
Disguise self
Hideous laughter
(Book of ancient secrets)
Find Familiar
Unseen Servant

When is the last time you used Charm Peson? That's the only one I'd consider removing. If you use it a lot, then that's a decent line up.
2nd level

Crown of madness
Darkness
Invisibility
Silence
Suggestion

When's the last time you used Crown of Madness? If you use it with some frequency, nvm; otherwise, I'd consider a different spell.
3rd level

Counterspell
Dispell Magic
Hypnotic Pattern

Solid choices all around.
4th level

Banishment
Evard's black tentacles
Sickening radiance
Solid choices. .
Invocations

Book of Ancient Secrets
Aspect of the moon (Borderline necessary for RP)
OK, I'd sub in repelling blast but if you need this then you need this so keep it.

Agonizing blast (Necessary? I think I've only used eldritch blast once in two fights. But without it my damage seems outrageously low) Keep it.

Devil's sight (Somewhat important for RP. The darkness spell is a big part of how my character acts. He acts like a bard but casts darkness is combat and shoots spells/EB from within while laughing maniacally. Then comes out all innocent and sweet like :D)
Yeah, it's a fine invocation.

Features/extra stuff to do in a turn

Bardic inspiration
Psychic Blades (possible source of damage if I forego agonizing blast?)
Word of terror (social - easy source of fear and good for RP)
Entropic Ward


*And I have no feats*. That was dumb right? I'm pretty sure that was dumb. I could maybe convince our DM to allow me to swap stats for a feat; war-caster would surely be good? Otherwise is there something to potentially counter the spell-like ability of mind flayers to stun? Quick recovery isn't in 5e, right?.. If you have a chance, get a feat at 12. But What Are Your Ability Scores? I'd suggest maybe a resilient INT feat if you find that you need INT saves a lot ... but please post those scores and what you used ASIs for. (And yean, war caster is nice, and no, Quick Recovery isn't in 5e, but the spell Catnap is. Read up on it and see if you'd like to swap that in and swap out Crown of Madness ...)

Some additional context:
The party consists of me, a circle of the moon druid, a grave cleric, and a monk (I forget the variant). In our TPK we faced two mind flayers + some lizard men things (and intelligence drainers. Walking brains, whatever you call them). Intellect Devourers. nasty, they are.

Our cleric was stunned then killed in the first few rounds of combat and I wasted two actions trying to use control spells on mind flayers - yeah... I didn't know they were flayers because I'm a noob and didn't know flayers had magic resistance anyway, because I'm a noob. Hmm, lack of fireball or Ice Storm might be an issue here.

What I'm currently thinking:

Hideous laughter, suggestion, charm person and crown of madness all seem to serve the same purpose? Suggestion has some out of combat utility though and crown of madness is superior to the others in combat. OK, keep Crown.

So dump charm person?
Yep.

My out of combat persuasion roles are outrageously high anyway. Yep.

Maybe also dump hideous laughter? Although having a lvl 1 control spell seems useful for spell slot reasons. It sure is handy.

Also spell wise, I realised in that last fight that if we're fighting monsters rather than humans then I have banishment and the two aoe spells and that's about it - and all of those often seem like overkill. Banishment is very, very useful.
Can you pick up a damage spell, like Shatter?
Might be another way to use a warlock slot to up cast the damage?

Also, I should swap stats for a feat? War-caster? Does quick recovery still exist? No, but see the spell Catnap. Might be of interest to you. In Xanathar's.

... Alternatively, considering our party has so much support, I could pitch to our DM more drastic changes: rebuilding this bard-lock to focus more on damage. An EB build, maybe with the 'pull' effect to combo with tentacles/sickening radiance and our cleric's hold person?
The reason I didn't go for this in the first place is the bard levels.
Surely if I built damage on warlock I'd effectively be playing 3 levels behind.
Three EB's plus agonizing blast isn't bad damage.

That said since the characters are new and our combat was such a disaster maybe the DM would be on board for me switching to Bard 1 / Warlock 10 (bard is necessary for character RP) just to balance our party dynamics. I'd prefer to keep the college of whispers lvl 3 bard things, it fits my flavour well - but I don't want to be dead weight to the party in combat. Bard 1 / Warlock 10 (Keep Tasha's for sure!) And you get some level 5 spells ... if you'd gone Celestial you could get Greater Restoration and Wall of Light. :smallbiggrin: And since a Deity is bringing you back, consider going Celestial for your Warlock. Very nice kit and fits with pact of Tome nicely. Plus, Sacred Flame targets a dex save ... and you add your cha mod to it ....

Another Possible Course of Action: Go Warlock 11 (Celestial/Tome), get a mystic arcanum, (and level 5 spells) and three spells per short rest; add an invocation that gives you a boost to deception and persuasion, drop Moon and get either repelling blast or Arms of Hadar, and be a face without being a bard. It can be done.

[Corran]

Some very general suggestions (as I didn't think much of mindflayers and your allies when writing this):

I'd replace cure wounds with healing word. It heals less hit points, but the advantage is that you can do it from range (which is good, since it's not ideal for your character to get too close to enemies), and that it is a bonus action (which is also good, considering that you have a strong cantrip in EB + the relevant invocations, so you generally want to find ways to keep your action free if you can help it).

I agree that shocking grasp is not looking that great. In some cases it might even be better to just use repelling EB, which is good anyway. But since you have extra 2nd level slots from being a bard, I'd just take misty step and I would count on either misty step or repelling blast (and in rare cases on disengage too, that is for when I would prefer not to spend a 2nd level slot at the cost of using my action for something else, eg with EB) for when I want to get out of melee. Better for a singleclass warlock, you can easily live without thanks to those extra low level bard slots.

About darkness. Darkness can be a great spell sometimes. Like when you want to neutralize/hinder enemies that count on being able to see you in order to hurt you (eg beholders and spellcasters that rely on spells that require seeing the target), or it can be great for when you want to cancel advantage on enemies which will (collectively) hit hard. It is a spell that has its uses generally. But as a combat routine, I'd say it's not so great for a character at your position. If it's too important for the image you are going for, then dont let me discourage you from keeping using it. But if you wouldn't mind just throwing EB from some dark corner behind (which might get you advantage if you are paying attention to sight ranges and illuination), then consider going easier on darkness and start using other more powerful spells or combos. A nice combo for certain warlocks, is to use repelling EB along with some concentration spell that creates a harmful zone (ie you cast a spell like web, Evard's, wall of fire, sickening radiance, and the like, and you use repelling blasts to push enemies back to the spell's area again, and again, an again. Evard's and sickening radiance are both great for something like that (Evard's is better for most cases I can think of), but web can be a useful alternative since you have 2nd level spells from being a bard, for when you'll want to keep your pact slots intact to be used with something else (either in that same fight or in one that is ahead of you).

About agonizing blast, yes, I'd say that you should try and hold on to it (also, try start using EB more, because with 3 beams and agonizing blast on top of it, you'll be dealing lots of damage; hex can help too, and though not the best concentration spell, when it's time to be an archer more than a caster, it's good to have hex handy for the boost in dpr will be significant at this level). I'd also advise you to try and make some room for repelling blast in there. Again, with 3 beams, it's going to do great things for you, especially since you have access to spells that synergize with repelling EB beams. Devil sight can be useful if you want a way for free advantage in some cases, or if you do lots of scouting (increase how far you can see in the dark, and how well you can see in the dark, ie no penalty on perception checks like characters with normal darkvision), and it will be a decent boost for when you might have to rely on darkness, but I'd definitely put the two EB onvocations higher on my list (even if it's only by a tiny margin). I'd definitely want all 3 of them.

[Houster]

Yup, my party got TPK'd on our first proper encounter in a new 11th level campaign.

Our clever and magnanimous DM has, however, introduced some 'gods playing chess' subplot wherein upon our deaths a goddess offered us a second life in exchange for servitude. After the session the DM (hint-hint) mentioned that if we want to make minor adjustments to our characters then he'll allow us to do so upon this moment of revival.

So I wonder if ye kind folk would offer me advice. I'm inexperienced as a player and beyond that lvl 11 is by far the highest level I've ever played, or even seen played.
'Minor adjustments' is of course vague but in particular I'm looking at my spell list for alterations and I'm considering possibly taking a feat in exchange for stats.
One important thing of note: the main antagonists of our current campaign (appear to be) mind-flayers.

Half-Elf
Warlock 8 (Great Old One) / Bard 3 (College of Whispers)

Cantrips
Eldritch Blast
Friends
Message
Minor Illusion
Vicious Mockery
(Pact of the tome)
Guidance
Thaumaturgy
Shocking grasp (I've never used this and I'm feeling like it's a mistake. At this high a level surely I should just disengage if I need to)

1st level
Charm person
Cure wounds
Disguise self
Hideous laughter
(Book of ancient secrets)
Find Familiar
Unseen Servant

2nd level
Crown of madness
Darkness
Invisibility
Silence
Suggestion

3rd level
Counterspell
Dispell Magic
Hypnotic Pattern

4th level
Banishment
Evard's black tentacles
Sickening radiance

Invocations
Book of Ancient Secrets
Aspect of the moon (Borderline necessary for RP)
Agonizing blast (Necessary? I think I've only used eldritch blast once in two fights. But without it my damage seems outrageously low)
Devil's sight (Somewhat important for RP. The darkness spell is a big part of how my character acts. He acts like a bard but casts darkness is combat and shoots spells/EB from within while laughing maniacally. Then comes out all innocent and sweet like :D)

Features/extra stuff to do in a turn
Bardic inspiration
Psychic Blades (possible source of damage if I forego agonizing blast?)
Word of terror (social - easy source of fear and good for RP)
Entropic Ward

*And I have no feats*. That was dumb right? I'm pretty sure that was dumb. I could maybe convince our DM to allow me to swap stats for a feat; war-caster would surely be good? Otherwise is there something to potentially counter the spell-like ability of mind flayers to stun? Quick recovery isn't in 5e, right?..

Some additional context:
The party consists of me, a circle of the moon druid, a grave cleric, and a monk (I forget the variant).
In our TPK we faced two mind flayers + some lizard men things (and intelligence drainers. Walking brains, whatever you call them). Our cleric was stunned then killed in the first few rounds of combat and I wasted two actions trying to use control spells on mind flayers - yeah... I didn't know they were flayers because I'm a noob and didn't know flayers had magic resistance anyway, because I'm a noob.


What I'm currently thinking:
Hideous laughter, suggestion, charm person and crown of madness all seem to serve the same purpose? Suggestion has some out of combat utility though and crown of madness is superior to the others in combat.
So dump charm person? My out of combat persuasion roles are outrageously high anyway. Maybe also dump hideous laughter? Although having a lvl 1 control spell seems useful for spell slot reasons.
Also spell wise, I realised in that last fight that if we're fighting monsters rather than humans then I have banishment and the two aoe spells and that's about it - and all of those often seem like overkill.

Also, I should swap stats for a feat? War-caster? Does quick recovery still exist?

... Alternatively, considering our party has so much support, I could pitch to our DM more drastic changes: rebuilding this bardlock to focus more on damage. An EB build, maybe with the 'pull' effect to combo with tentacles/sickening radiance and our cleric's hold person? The reason I didn't go for this in the first place is the bard levels. Surely if I built damage on warlock I'd effectively be playing 3 levels behind. That said since the characters are new and our combat was such a disaster maybe the DM would be on board for me switching to Bard 1 / Warlock 10 (bard is necessary for character RP) just to balance our party dynamics. I'd prefer to keep the college of whispers lvl 3 bard things, it fits my flavour well - but I don't want to be dead weight to the party in combat.

tl;dr: Just read my spell list and tell me why I'm dumb.

Taking stuff because RP is great, but I can't really advise there, it's your thing. And noob is a term for video games. This is dnd, you can't suck at dnd, it's a story about your character and the party, even if they die.

Given that,
Optmizer-combat-wise:
It seems your party lacks some frontliner power, I don't know how your moon druid plays but if he casts spells you are actually low on frontline, monk is not enough. And grave cleric- also a half frontliner.

You will not be a frontliner, you clearly wanted a caster and I will not take you that way. So in that case, control/summoning is paramount so you can cover your lack of frontline. I really know nothing about summoning so... control.

The "worst" thing about your build is the class levels, no 5th or 6th level spells at char level 11, and high on warlock levels which do not offer many spell slots at all. But it is surely playable, especially with agnoizing+repelling blast.


I suggest:
Take only 2 warlock and 9 lore bard.
Take agonizing blast and repelling blast (grappled by a mind flayer? Blast him away and end the grapple).

Lore bard gives you cutting words as a reaction(mind flayer about to eat your cleric's brain? make him miss his attack). Also gives you 2 more spells from any class at 6th. Better than whispers- psychic blades is frontline damage- it's not you.
Take at least the following bard spells-
1
Faerie fire
Healing word

2
Web(6th level magic secrets)-repelling blast creatures back to the web if they escape.

3
counterspell(magic secrets at 6th)
Hypnotic pattern(which you already have)

4
Polymorph

5
Animate objects
Wall of force(magical secrets at 10th bard)


Now if no class levels are changes allowed/wanted, replace aspect of the moon for repelling blast, and take lore instead of whisper bard.

Spells:

Replace cure wounds for healing word(much better)
Replace charm person for faerie fire(adv. For everyone is super)
You are missing out hex... you have 4 1st level slots, on none critical encounters just concentrate on hex and blast away. I would remove crown of madness, it's a soso spell for control. Tasha's beat crown of madness.

Replace dispel magic(2 party members has that) for something else like fly/major image.

Replace sickening for dimension door or somtjing else(you have evard's, they kinda serve a similar purpose and I think evard's wins in the control department)

Not sure about a third 4th level spell(banishment). You have only 2 4th level slots per short rest(that cover your 3rd level spells too). Maybe replace that for a 1st or 2nd spell you like. Like charm person.

So list should be
Bard spells
Disguise self
Healing word
Tasha's
Faerie fire
Invisibilty
silence

Warlock spells
Hex
Darkness
Suggestion
Counterspell
Fly
Hypnotic pattern
Banishment
Evard's
Dimension door

About feats- make your cha 18/20 first, then take warcaster, you want to be able to use those 2 warlock spell slots and not lose concentration.
If you can get to 18 or 20 by taking elven accuracy, do so. Triple adv. When using darkness... ouch. But no big deal if you just take +2 cha.

[Fairy]

Four questions:

-What are your stats?

-Where did you put your ASIs?

-What is the campaign like/about?

-How did the first session result in a TPK?

Feats are far from necessary, especially as a multiclassed caster like your PC. They're spice for the main dish.

I'm no optimizer, but to me your PC seems to be built in a logical and thematic manner, with no reason why it couldn't perform well mechanically.

Ah, I just now added the stats to the bottom of my original post.

My first asi was +2 cha and second was +1 dex +1 con


To be fair it was our 2nd session, haha. The first session was set in a town so we played highly social roles and talked our way out of multiple fights.
We were TPK'd on the 2nd fight of our 2nd session... Mind flayers man. Our monk and cleric were both stunned by the mind flayers spell-like aoe ability and the cleric (who happened to be our most important player) was then dominated by the effect of the intellect devourer. So not only did we lose a player early in the fight but said player turned against us.

Not going to lie, it was actually great fun.

Anyway, it should be mentioned that the DM had been using material from an adventure book and, as a rule our party doesn't play particularly optimally. This early TPK was a bit of a wakeup call saying we all have to pull our weight in fights if we want to face the challenge of this adventure head on - which we all do.

[Fairy]

And to Korvin:
A lot of solid information here. It's hard to reply to all of it at the moment because there seem to be a few branching paths as to how I could (or should) alter the character and I need to think them all through. Regardless thanks for the recommendations.
Catnap seems like an interesting spell by the way but sadly it doesn't seem to be on the warlock or bard list and my 'take from any class' traits only work for cantrips and lvl 1 rituals.

[Fairy]

About agonizing blast, yes, I'd say that you should try and hold on to it (also, try start using EB more, because with 3 beams and agonizing blast on top of it, you'll be dealing lots of damage; hex can help too, and though not the best concentration spell, when it's time to be an archer more than a caster, it's good to have hex handy for the boost in dpr will be significant at this level). I'd also advise you to try and make some room for repelling blast in there. Again, with 3 beams, it's going to do great things for you, especially since you have access to spells that synergize with repelling EB beams. Devil sight can be useful if you want a way for free advantage in some cases, or if you do lots of scouting (increase how far you can see in the dark, and how well you can see in the dark, ie no penalty on perception checks like characters with normal darkvision), and it will be a decent boost for when you might have to rely on darkness, but I'd definitely put the two EB onvocations higher on my list (even if it's only by a tiny margin). I'd definitely want all 3 of them.

Thanks for all of this, and you've absolutely convinced me on repelling blast (or I'll consider the pulling one a bit also).
By the way about EB, as far as I can tell I only have 2 blasts because I only have 8 warlock lvls. The 3rd comes at warlock 10 or 11 I think right? I had understood that my 3 bard levels doesn't effect my EB or progress towards casting a mighty 3 of them. I'll double check later, but let me know if I'm wrong!

[Fairy]

So list should be
Bard spells
Disguise self
Healing word
Tasha's
Faerie fire
Invisibilty
silence

Warlock spells
Hex
Darkness
Suggestion
Counterspell
Fly
Hypnotic pattern
Banishment
Evard's
Dimension door

About feats- make your cha 18/20 first, then take warcaster

You've convinced me on quite a few things here. Firstly I will mention I don't think a character/class levels change so large would be allowed, but I really like the spell list you've posted. It would break my heart to drop sickening radiance even though I also have Evard's, but I agree that
they're both serving the same role and I can't ever see myself using both. In any case I'll take more time to myself to think about this suggestion and the others. Crown of madness I've used a bit and it served me well but I see the argument in favour of tasha's and I do think overlapping spells is a problem with this character.

All in all thanks again you (and your many fellow commenters) have been a great help!

[Unoriginal]

Thanks for all of this, and you've absolutely convinced me on repelling blast (or I'll consider the pulling one a bit also).
By the way about EB, as far as I can tell I only have 2 blasts because I only have 8 warlock lvls. The 3rd comes at warlock 10 or 11 I think right? I had understood that my 3 bard levels doesn't effect my EB or progress towards casting a mighty 3 of them. I'll double check later, but let me know if I'm wrong!

All cantrips' powers are based on total character levels, not on class levels. So your PC gets 3 blasts.

[KorvinStarmast]

And to Korvin:
Catnap seems like an interesting spell by the way but sadly it doesn't seem to be on the warlock or bard list and my 'take from any class' traits only work for cantrips and lvl 1 rituals. Maybe ask the druid to take it? (Not near xanathar's and if it's not on druid's list let me rething)

[Amechra]

Catnap is on the Bard spell list. It's a 3rd-level Bard spell, so you can't pick it up unless you take at least 5 levels of Bard.

[Gignere]

I don’t think it is your build, level 11 group against 2 mindflayers and intellect devourers and TPKed. I don’t know what to say, I was in a group that ran into 3 mindflayers and we were level 6 and we melted their faces along with their intellect devourers. Barely even got hurt.

[Houster]

Ah, I just now added the stats to the bottom of my original post.

My first asi was +2 cha and second was +1 dex +1 con


To be fair it was our 2nd session, haha. The first session was set in a town so we played highly social roles and talked our way out of multiple fights.
We were TPK'd on the 2nd fight of our 2nd session... Mind flayers man. Our monk and cleric were both stunned by the mind flayers spell-like aoe ability and the cleric (who happened to be our most important player) was then dominated by the effect of the intellect devourer. So not only did we lose a player early in the fight but said player turned against us.

Not going to lie, it was actually great fun.

Anyway, it should be mentioned that the DM had been using material from an adventure book and, as a rule our party doesn't play particularly optimally. This early TPK was a bit of a wakeup call saying we all have to pull our weight in fights if we want to face the challenge of this adventure head on - which we all do.

I suggest you replace that 1 con/dex with resiliant(con). Much better for concentration and closer to what you took than warcaster.
That +1 ac is irrelevant on a caster- positioning is way more important. If you are worried about defence- drop one spell( banishment) for mirror image.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

I mean, you're inexperienced and you are starting characters at level 11. Then when it ends badly in an encounter that should be doable the DM suggests bringing the characters back for another kick at the can.
I've played a lot of DnD, but only DMed and played 4 1st to mid teenth 5e campaigns, and only now are we starting a group at 7th level. What you are trying to do is hard: a multi-class 11th level caster right out of the chute. If you are all inexperienced I'd suggest starting somewhere in tier 1, which would be option A for me as I like tier 1 and 2. Option B: if it's just you then try to find a more straightforward character if everyone else is committed to level 11. Sounds like you could use a proper front line character anyway.

[Nidgit]

Is College of Whispers integral to your rp? Because it's not doing very much for you mechanics-wise, particularly against aberrations. I'd suggest the College of Eloquence as an alternative as a way of boosting the effectiveness of your control spells by debuffing enemy saving throws. If you're planning on telepathically communicating with enemies and NPCs, reliable Persuasion and Deception rolls could go a long way.

Is there a particular ability you're looking forward to? It's relatively rare to see a primary Warlock with a dip in something else so I'm curious of there are any things you specifically want that we can potentially build around.

[Snivlem]

I mean, you're inexperienced and you are starting characters at level 11. Then when it ends badly in an encounter that should be doable the DM suggests bringing the characters back for another kick at the can.
I've played a lot of DnD, but only DMed and played 4 1st to mid teenth 5e campaigns, and only now are we starting a group at 7th level. What you are trying to do is hard: a multi-class 11th level caster right out of the chute.

This. Starting at 11th level seems to be the DMs decision, however, so there is little you can do there. However, honestly, If you are allowed to, I suggest just going straight warlock. 11th level is a sweet spot for them anyway, you now get 3 spells per short rest + a 6th level spell per long rest. This is a huge increase in your spellcasting ability. I also suggest cheking out Treanmonks recent warlock videos (you can find them on youtube)

[KorvinStarmast]

Sorry, my brain was registering catnap as a 2d level spell; I'll go back to my suggestion of Celestial Warlock 11th level, pact of the tome. Negotiate with your DM on maybe having picked up a few other random ritual spells (DM pick) that you'd have found along the way.

Celestial has some nice features: healing, adding your cha bonus to radiant and fire damage, some spells like wall of light and wall of fire that are really handy, extra cantrips, greater restoration. Granted, that does overlap a bit with your cleric, but if you are having trouble surviving the added back up healer factor can't hurt.

[Keravath]

It depends on how much optimization you really want to do ...

If I was building a level 11 character like this I would focus more on bard than warlock.

I would go with either

9 lore bard/2 hexblade warlock

or

8 lore bard/3 hexblade warlock

Depending on whether the pact boon (tome or chain) was worth the level - probably not - so 9 bard/2 warlock for 5th level spells.

2 Hexblade warlock gives medium armor and shield proficiency, the shield and hex spells, 2 short rest spell slots, hexblades curse (1/sr), 2 invocations (devils sight and agonizing blast are good choices).

Start variant human instead of half elf. Take resilient constitution as your starting feat. If you are using point buy start with the stats.

8 13+1 13+1 12 12 15+1 (boosts wis and int to have +1 - maybe more fun for role playing)

or

8 13+1 15+1 10 10 15+1 (more optimized for con saves and hit points).

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Use ASIs at level 4 and 8 bard to bump charisma to 20.

This gives you a large selection of skills, maxed spell DC, spell slots for a 9th level caster including 5th level spells, agonizing blast for single target damage with both maxed to hit and damage from 20 charisma. Medium armor + shield for a starting AC of 18 (with 14 dex) which will go up with half-plate armor or magical armor and shields. Better hit points if you went with 16 con to start, proficiency with con saving throws which will help a lot with maintaining concentration on spells, 6th level bard magical secrets where you can pick up fireball and counterspell for greatest flexibility. It is both a fun character to play and better from an optimization perspective ... the biggest issue is that other than being a bard/warlock it isn't much like your original :)

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P.S. In response to some of the OP comments ...

1) The character as is should be more or less fine unless the DM is throwing you into a campaign requiring a lot of optimizations.
2) Intellect devourers are nasty and hit far above their CR if given a chance. They are one of the few save or die type creatures in 5e.
3) Do not drop agonizing blast - it gives you competitive ranged damage - at level 11 you are firing 3 bolts every time which can do d10+5 each and you have advantage on the attack rolls if you are using darkness+devils sight.
4) Your stats are really good - I would second the suggestion of resilient con - very useful if you are going to have spells you need to concentrate on (also helps hit points).
5) I prefer the 2 warlock/X bard type builds since bardic inspiration becomes a short rest resource at 5th level but from the sounds of it the character is supposed to be a warlock X/bard 3. Unfortunately, psychic blades and whispers bard doesn't do much for you since you aren't a melee character. You don't have the AC or hit points to get into melee but if whispers is essential to role playing then just go for it. However, you might find some of other bard options better. Cutting words from a lore bard can be very useful since it can help prevent opponents from hitting your friends - though the die gets bigger as you get to higher levels in bard.
6) Depending on how the campaign goes, try to get your party to take short rests relatively often if possible so you can refresh your spell slots.
7) If you are in a situation where damage is most important, consider using hex to boost the damage on agonizing blast. Circumstantially it can be useful when facing magic resistant creatures since your spells won't be as effective.
8) The biggest weakness of the character is probably AC. You don't use a weapon most of the time so medium armor+shield would be your best option to reduce your chances of getting hit. The medium armor feat might be an option to consider if you can work in a level of something giving you proficiency. You don't use a weapon so your other hand is likely to be free for casting spells anyway.
9) Consider straight up warlock 11 - I realize that you have bard as part of the character but 11 warlock gets 3 spell slots/short rest, level 5 spells, and their level 6 mystic arcanum and more invocations. In addition, as pact of the tome, you will be able to use up to 6th level rituals with the invocation which offers quite a bit of utility (e.g. Rary's Telepathic Bond)
10) You should ask your DM what other spells you might have already added to your Book of Ancient Secrets ... you only start off with 2 but adventuring to level 11 you might have found a few more spells so discuss with your DM if you can add some more ... at the very least - detect magic, comprehend languages, identify - could be very useful level 1 rituals. Higher level ones would include - Leomunds Tiny Hut, Water Walking, Water Breathing, Rary's Telepathic Bond among others.
11) Your spell selection is pretty good. I would drop charm person since it doesn't actually do much in this version of the game and you already probably have good social skills. I would also swap out cure wounds and take healing word. Healing word heals less damage but it is only a bonus action, works from 60' and will be just as effective at getting a character up that drops to zero hit points.


As for your TPK ... I suspect it was more the "fault" of inexperience or the DM rather than the characters. For your party, the encounter is going to be challenging since both the mind flayers and the intellect devourers target intelligence saving throws. None of the characters in this party are likely either proficient with these saves OR have a high intelligence. The intellect devourer is DC12, the mind flayer is DC15 and causes the stunned condition.

The party's best chance was probably the monk running in and using stun to try and shut down the mind flayers while the moon druid shifted to an elemental form after up casting Conjure animals or something else that would give the opponents lots of targets. You could have tried hypnotic pattern on the intellect devourers - though the mind flayers are unlikely to be affected with a +6 to wisdom saves and advantage. The cleric should have probably upcast spirit guardians and used that slow down the attackers and have a decent chance of killing the intellect devourers in a round or two. Alternatively, the cleric also has banish and a lot more spell slots - though they did get stunned early and with a typical int of 10 they will only have a 30% of removing the effect every turn.

Also, although your character would probably not have been aware of it, intellect devourers need to be able to see the target to use their devour intellect ability, so throwing up your darkness spell would actually protect the party from that aspect of the intellect devourer attack.

Anyway, the biggest issue in this encounter is the mind blast of the mind flayers with a DC15 intelligence save stun effect (and a recharge on 5-6). If everyone has an intelligence of 10 and just happens to be in the cone of the attack (which extends 60') there is a significant chance that everyone could end up stunned which could well be a TPK no matter what your characters might be and no matter how they were optimized.

[Gignere]

Don’t give OP multiclass options because his and his party’s problem isn’t a build issue. Their problem is novice players being forced to play at a high level and the DM didn’t ease into it. The players probably have zero ideas how their abilities work individually much less in tandem.

Builds matter when experienced players are being challenged by a tough DM and they need to squeeze the last 5-10% of efficiency.

The OP’s original build is not unplayably bad. I like the posters recommending straight warlock as that is kind of like a beginner caster.

OP needs advice on what to do when in combat like are they buffing, coordinating with one another are they doing crowd control and who is doing the AoE to clear the mooks. It is much more basic than creating the most Punpun like build because I can assure even if punpun is doable in 5e the OP will have no clue what to do with it.

My two pennies.

[Fairy]

Rest assured those asking, the whole party and (especially) the DM is well aware that as relatively new players we should be handling lower tiers and building our ways up to the higher levels. Some context I didn't bother mentioning is that we're something of a test group for several adventure writers. Our DM's given a one-shot or short campaign by a write and he streams our sessions on Twitch. We got a tier 3 campaign so we play a tier 3 campaign... We all in enjoy it frankly and the writers and DM are good. We've played a decent number of other campaigns and one shots and typically we get away with treating the combat somewhat casually as our DM adjusts to our RP heavy styles.

I have a lot to work with here. I've been thinking things over more and I haven't fanalised everything but I think:
- I won't change his character levels. It's a wise suggestion and I suggested I'd be willing a few times but having given it more thought, it wouldn't fit with the backstory I've already laid out for the character. In the campaign we're being canonically revived so I'd like to stay true to what I've set up from earlier, even if what I've set up is a mistake. That said:

- My bard college is not integral to the character and I've barely used college of whispers at all. I'll be changing it, probably to college of lore - maybe to College of Eloquence. It's a tough choice and I love the idea of using eloquence to make spells like banishment all the more powerful, although I think in the end I'll go college of lore just for the heightened chance of protecting my allies against hard stuns from mind flayers and the likes. We otherwise have nothing to counter spell-like abilities.
Pity though, I had half a dozen speeches prepared for words of terror! I'll find some other use for them I suppose :(

- Our DM has hinted that as the campaign is short (being only a few sessions from an adventure book) we will be leveling up at an unnaturally fast rate. With that in mind I'll be hitting 12 soon and I can take warcaster / resilient.

- I'm changing my spell list a decent amount. Big things I'm thinking of taking is faerie fire, fly, hex & maybe dimension's door as some have suggested. I'm looking at dropping crown of madness, charm person, sickening radiance and - I don't know what else I'll have more of a think.

- And... I'll spend some time researching a few more tips and tricks about playing a control-based caster. I'd figured it'd be as simple as 'use the fancy spells on the big guy' but I'm quickly realising it's more complicated than that and I need to know a lot more about what fancy spells work on what big guys anyway.

Oh, also a thousand thanks to those of you who pointed out I have 3 EBs... If we'd played on without any of us catching onto that error I'd have seriously nerfed myself... Like seriously. My damage output just increased by a third.

@Gignere While it's pretty terrible that we died in that specific fight we do at least have some idea of what we're doing. We're not totally new, and our experienced grave cleric tends to give us solid combat advice without trying to be meta. Sadly said cleric was dominated and turned against us in like 2 or 3 rounds in this fight so it was our best player + said flayers and devourers. Not to mention our monk was stunned on the same round as the cleric which left our ability to kill the dangerous squishies neutered.
In other words, I have some idea of what I'm doing. Combat tips are welcomed but build advice is not wasted.
To add to that, I do plan on discussing group tactics in or out of character next session as we hadn't properly done that before. As well as that I'll probably try to search for a library or something in session to help us get more in-game info about what type of creatures we're fighting. Had we known more about intellect devourers specifically that last fight would have went differently.

&
@Keravath Very good shoutouts there especially in your comments and I will indeed have a chat with our DM about rituals. I knew I could take some but I hadn't thought of asking the DM for older ones. For a short campaign like this one that makes a lot of sense to do since I won't have much time in the long run to pick up other rituals.

[KorvinStarmast]

OK, so is it Lore Bard 3 / Warlock (GOO?) 8, or are you thinking of changing warlock patron?
And yes: Warcaster at 12 is a brilliant choice. (I am guessing Lock 8 Bard 4 so that you get a feat?)

[Gignere]

It typically takes a few sessions to get into a groove even for low levels to figure out what to do. Yeah I think a few meetings with the party members to discuss tactics and capabilities will serve you well and can help you decide the bard subclass that best fits the group.

Even spell selections should be a group discussion this will sort of simulate your party leveling up together and finding the right tactics that work well together.

As for the getting stunned in the scenario yeah I guess the group didn’t realize that against Mindflayers there is no grinding it out you need to bring the guns out blazing.

When my group faced three mindflayers and their attendant intellect devourers we threw 3 fireballs right off the bat. So killing one just from fireball damage alone outright and basically eliminated the intellect devourers, barbarian and rogue focus fired down another so by the time round one was over the last remaining mindflayer was beating the retreat and we just chased it and killed it quick, before it can go back through the portal and get more reinforcements. Only character that got stunned was the barbarian.

Just need to go balls to the walls because mindflayers for their CR don’t actually have high hps. With their magic resistance it’s hard to crowd control them so it’s just a DPR race.

[Fairy]

OK, so is it Lore Bard 3 / Warlock (GOO?) 8, or are you thinking of changing warlock patron?
And yes: Warcaster at 12 is a brilliant choice. (I am guessing Lock 8 Bard 4 so that you get a feat?)

I'll stick with GOO; I've heard others can be better but GOO basically defines the character. So yes lore bard 3 GOO warlock 8. Upon levelling up I'll have a think to myself again (if we level up twice in a short timespan there's an argument for aiming for warlock 10/11) but yeah for immediate rewards bard 4 makes the most sense to me.

[Keravath]

I'll stick with GOO; I've heard others can be better but GOO basically defines the character. So yes lore bard 3 GOO warlock 8. Upon levelling up I'll have a think to myself again (if we level up twice in a short timespan there's an argument for aiming for warlock 10/11) but yeah for immediate rewards bard 4 makes the most sense to me.

Warlock 9 also has the appeal of 5th level spells and another invocation. Depending on how many levels you get to play with for the campaign you could aim for warlock 9/bard 5 or warlock 11/bard 3 but the latter doesn't give you another ASI. On the other hand, :), magical secrets at bard 6 can offer some additional options :)