Level 10 Magical Secrets - Lore Bard in Princes of the Apocalypse

[RogueJK]

I agree that at least one of the picks should be a non-Concentration spell of less than 5th level.

You've already mentioned Find Greater Steed and Pass Without Trace, which are the top two that fit the bill, but also described your reasons why they might not be optimal picks for you. So other good picks could include:

Misty Step: Bonus Action get-out-of-jail/grapple/mouth/etc. card

Spiritual Weapon: Bonus Action non-Concentration force damage that uses as little as a 2nd level slot but also upcasts well (useful for BA damage when you're not utilizing Animate Objects). Well suited for dungeon crawling, due to its limited movement; SW is tougher to utilize in more open areas against mobile foes.

Aura of Vitality (if the Cleric doesn't keep it prepared): This one's Concentration, but is best used outside of combat to top up the party; it heals as much HP as the Heal spell over the course of 1 minute (20d6 or 70 avg.) using only a 3rd level slot, and unlike Heal the healing can be spread around to more than one ally.

Eldritch Blast: Lets you cast a solid Concentration spell, then hang back and continue to do respectable damage from range without using further resources. Also gives you a good way to get around Magic Resistance/Legendary Resistances, since Bards normally have very few damage spells that don't involves saving throws.

Tasha's Mind Whip/Raulothim's Psychic Lance: Solid single target damage/debuff spells. These could be seen as a little redundant if you already have Dissonant Whispers (which you should), but while the psychic damage between all three spells of these are similar per slot level, either of these two's debuffs are stronger than DW, they also target INT instead of WIS, and importantly Mind Whip can be upcast to affect multiple targets. But if you already known Dissonant Whispers and Synaptic Static, these will rank lower on the list.

Hi,
I would always pick up a Summon from Tasha: they do a lot of damage and they absorb some of the enemy's attention. They are more party-friendly than Conjure Animals, and overall more effective to use.

The Summon X spells are certainly useful, and can be an efficient use of a slot and your Concentration thanks to the 1 hour duration. They also scale well with upcasting, if you're willing to use higher level slots. Summon Celestial is probably the best combat option, but is already available to the Twilight Cleric. So I'd go with Undead or Draconic Spirit here. (Draconic Spirit might be extra handy in this elemental-themed campaign, because the caster gets to choose the dragon's element each time you cast it, so you can tailor it to whatever you're fighting currently...)

Summon Undead/Summon Draconic Spirit are both useful for more than just combat too. The Draconic Spirit is Large, can fly, and can speak Draconic, so you can use it out of combat as a flying mount, or as a flying scout who can fully describe what it's seen. Similarly, the Ghostly Undead can fly and move through walls, so makes for a good scout and a means to bypass some blockades (fly through the locked door and unlock it from the other side/fly across the gap and activate the drawbridge crank/etc.), although it can't speak so can't fully express what it has seen while scouting (though it can still pantomime, draw, or potentially even write). And Summon Undead can be cast with as little as a 3rd level slot, so the cost for utility use is less than Draconic Spirit.


While either one of these Summon spells will be slightly better in combat than a pet from Find Greater Steed (thanks to their slightly better damage output and AC), these also require Concentration and only last 1 hour per spell slot. So I'd still strongly recommend Find Greater Steed as Plan A, even if you're not going to be utilizing it as a mount very frequently. You can still use the Griffon as another disposable combatant/meat shield and a flying scout. And if size is a concern, a Peryton is a Medium creature (although it's weaker than the Griffon). Or since your DM apparently has an objection to Large mounts in dungeons, it's worth asking if you can have a non-mount Griffon pet that's Medium sized.