The College of Legendary Steeds: A Bard Guide by StarStuff

[StarStuff]

The College of Legendary Steeds

A Bard's Guide to Find Steed

Bear by Dmitriy Barbashin

Bards can take Find Steed as a magical secret. The result is a hella fun mounted bard build. Though this guide focuses on bards, the gambits discussed are useful to anyone leveraging conjurations or multiple actions in combat. I'm particularly proud of the spells section.

Please share your feedback in the comments.

Use this guide to:

• Discover original D&D mechanics through bardic class features
• Inspire others to enjoy D&D
• Make decisions and adjudications that enhance the fun of the adventure whenever possible

[StarStuff]

Table of Contents

1. The College of Legendary Steeds
2. Why Find Steed?
3. Find Steed Rules
4. Ability Scores, Class Features & Races
5. Bardic Colleges
6. Range:Self/Find-Steed Spells
7. Other Spells
8. Feats
9. Multiclassing

Color Scheme
Red = blech
Purple = meh
Black = nifty
Blue = wicked!
Gold = OMGWTFBBQ

Spoiler: Credits

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For general bard guides, see EvilAnagram's Players Gonna Play and Mellored's, A party without music is lame.

There's a ton of guides on Giant in the Playground. Each of them have inspired me in one way or another.

Special thank you to KorvinStarmast and Free99 of rpg.stackExchange.com

[StarStuff]

Why Find Steed?

Link by Miyukiko

Boons of Find Steed:

• Movement Speed: Dwarf barbarian forgot his shortbow? Throw him on a warhorse. Don't want your Healing Word interrupted by the Lich? Ride out of Counterspell range. Opponent too far from a 200ft fall cliff? Ride to the opposite side of him and cast Dissonant Whispers; have the fighter shove him over. Good positioning has many applications.
• Utility: Like conjured elementals and familiars, Steeds are capable of performing their own actions in combat. The hardest part of pet management is balancing the creative potential of so many actions against the time it takes everyone to finish a turn. Other players will get frustrated with you if you take too long micromanaging.
• Obedient: On the other hand, Steeds can "Drag the wounded back to me." "Grapple the Lich once he's Silenced." "Trample and prone that Mind Flayer." "Don't let the mayor out of your sight." "Shove the fighter out of Fireball radius." "Scout the bandit's camp." And so on... Steeds are very much like another player and make solo bard adventures more realizable.
• Dual-casting: Many spells, when cast, affect both you and your Steed. DMs are not gentle with this aspect of the spell, nor should they be. The effects are hardly gamebreaking, but they warrant proactive communication. YMMV
• Size: Large creatures are able to grapple/shove huge creatures, with help. Huge creatures can grapple/shove gargantuan monsters, like the Demogorgon and Purple Worm. Depending on your Steed and support (like Enlarge/Reduce), your character could join the unique few who have wrestled the Tarrasque and won.
• Portable Wall: With cover mechanics, your Steed may confer anywhere from +2 to +5 on AC and Dexterity saving throws. It consumes only half of your bard's movement to dismount and exploit the Steed as cover. You can even position the Steed within 25ft of your halfling allies to prompt Naturally Stealthy.
• High Strength: Even without athletics proficiency, the warhorse’s +4 to grapple and shove is delightful - especially with Cutting Words + Bardic Inspiration. Like Unseen Servants, Steeds are perfect for carrying your stuff, lifting and dragging your allies, pulling doors off their hinges, wearing heavy barding and singing lullabies.
• Special Attacks: A DC14 prone on Trample is nothing to scoff at, even for a Strength saving throw. It's also an opportunity for chain control: grappled foes can't stand up with 0ft movement.
• Cheap: No feed, no stabling, no problem. A 2nd level spell slot is all you need to call forth a pseudo-Nightmare.
• Variable: There’s nothing stopping you from summoning a different beast on every cast of Find Steed. And you're always just one Minor Illusion away from changing said critter into a unicorn version of itself.

Limitations of Find Steed:

• Low HP: A lore bard with middling constitution has almost twice the HP of their mount by time they snag Find Steed at level 6. A Hill Giant deals an entire warhorse worth in equivalent HP damage with an average rock attack. Without DM-fiat scaling, the difference gets progressively more severe as your party levels.
• Poor Defenses: The mastiff clocks the highest AC at 12. A goblin has a 60% chance to one-shot him. This can be mitigated with armor, depending on your mounts carrying capacity and barding availability. Yet without proficiencies and lacking the aid of paladin auras or feats, beast mounts have the lowest saves in the game.
• Long Casting Time: 10 minutes!? Worse, at 0HP your Steed simply disappears back to whatever hellpit spawned it - meaning Stabilizing a Creature rules don't apply.
• Taxing: 2nd level slots are cheap, but not inexhaustible.
• Typed: Celestial, fey and fiend - just like the familiar. And just as susceptible to Detect Evil and Good, Divine Sense, Banishment, and the 20 or so other mechanics that key off of critter type. Technically, they can't even be targeted by spells like Beast Sense.
• Brick stupid: Int 6: it's all you need to graduate from this college. Still, Steeds are 3x smarter than any other critter. Is now a good time to mention the College of Legendary Steeds isn't academically accredited?
• Limited options (without fiat): The camel, pony and elk are strictly weaker warhorses, mechanically. Yet mastiffs - with their lower battle stats, hold their own to warhorses in utility. Not only are pooches much better at picking out sounds and smells, it's much easier for groups to conceptualize a mastiff next to them in a dungeon or other indoor encounter. That said, DM's are typically okay with injecting equivalent CR critters as Steeds. CR is awfully inconsistent, so consider using this guide to scale alternative mounts to your campaign: http://www.tribality.com/2015/11/16/...urer-handbook/
  

[StarStuff]

Find Steed Rules

Bard on a Llama - Akeiron & Paizo

This is the most open-minded interpretation of Find Steed within the boundaries established by the Player's Handbook and Jeremy Crawford of Sage Advice. To my knowledge, this guide meets the RAW criteria for Adventurer's League play, but occasionally veers away from RAI.

Unless you're a DM, skip to Abilities and Class Features and come back after you read the spells section.

Spoiler: The Conundrum

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If you didn't know already, there are 3 basic interpretations of D&D mechanics: rules as written (RAW), rules as intended (RAI), and rules as fun (RAF). Find Steed is notoriously unclear in how it's meant to be interpreted, particularly because of how this line is written:

"While mounted on your steed, you can make any spell you cast that targets only you also target your steed."

Many players interpret "targets only you" as "Range: Self," including lead designer Jeremy Crawford. According to him, "targets only you" is a spell with a "range of self and no area-of-effect parenthetical." Incidentally, this prevents the paladin from Steed-casting buffs like Death Ward and Protection from Evil and Good. Throughout this guide, I’ve referred to the “targets range:self (no parentheses)” identifier as “twin-casting,” “Steed-casting” and “dual-casting.”

Spoiler: Rules as Intended

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Google these Twitter posts on your own to see their original contexts. Jeremy Crawford's interpretation is considered RAW by most Adventurer's Leagues. He clarifies:

"A spell that targets only you is one that has a range of self and no area-of-effect parenthetical."

• Given this ruling, a spell like Longstrider doesn't affect both you and your mount with one cast. Longstrider is "Range: Touch" spell, not a "Range: Self" spell. You may not Steed-cast Cone of Cold either since the descriptor has a "(60ft cone)" parenthetical.

"The mount summoned by the Find Steed spell serves the summoner. It isn't an independent creature."

• Thusly, you can telepathically command the Steed to perform common actions, like attacking, falling prone, grabbing an allies arm, etc.

"Find steed: you can command your steed however you like while you're not mounted."

• Mounted or dismounted, your Steed obeys your commands.

"While ridden, the steed follows the normal mounted combat rules (PH, 198). Unridden, it has normal action options."

• Put simply, the steed can't attack while mounted. However, you could command your Steed to fall prone as free action. This prompts your PC's reaction to land on their feet without consuming their movement. (With a Dexterity saving throw, determined by the DM) The Steed, now unmounted, may be able to attack - possibly with Trample if it meets the movement requirements.

Free99 neatly summarizes the action limits of mounts/Steeds. “For your steed to smite something, you must:

1. Mount the steed
2. Cast one of your Smite spells
3. Dismount
4. Command the Steed to attack"

• This means you can cast a spell like Wrathful Smite and have your Steed deliver the attack.

"The caster of Find Steed picks from the list of beasts in the spell, unless your DM says otherwise. Limit set by DM."

• DMs like giving their players cooler pets to play with as they level, especially after circumstance kills one. On a related note...

Mike Mearls clarifies: "(The Steed)'s really meant to be a mount rather than something that fights, but I'd allow other forms that fit the paladin's need. For instance, a paladin shipwrecked on an island could summon an aquatic mount - DM's choice, based on deity's intent"

In short, the DM is the only obstacle stopping you from mounting an elephant named Jeremiah as your fantasy Steed.

Spoiler: Rules as Fun

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An excellent breakdown of Find Steed and Smite spells was posted to stackexchange back in 2015. (http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questio...ger-the-damage). For reference:

Case 1: A Smite spell is cast. When the Paladin lands a blow while the spell is still active (it lasts for one minute, basically it is a charge up) the effects are applied to whomever the Paladin hit with his attack.
Case 2: A Smite spell is cast, it charges up both the Paladin and the Steed, and whichever of them lands the first blow would trigger the effect within the next minute.
Case 3: A Smite spell is cast, it charges up both the Paladin and the Steed, and both the Paladin and Steed trigger the effect upon landing a blow within the next minute.

For this guide, we will assume the "charges" interpretation of Case 3 applies to smite AND non-smite spells, and work our way backwards from there. Additionally, we'll assume the Steed makes spell attacks with your proficiency and modifiers. Any effect that relies on a character ability uses the player’s instead of the Steeds, but the Steed holds its own concentration. Tampering with any of these assumptions will affect the spell ratings later on in this guide.

Even if you "can" dual-cast certain spells, that doesn't necessarily mean you should. Communicate your intentions with the DM in advance and respect their ruling, always.

[StarStuff]

Ability Scores, Class Features and Races

Goblin - Lee Wi

Bards considering Find Steed should elect the College of Lore subclass to access Magical Secrets as soon as possible. I assume as much in this guide.

• Ability Scores: Get Charisma to 20 as soon as you can. Steeds synergize well with Bardic Inspiration and you'll need Charisma for more uses.
• Hit Points: A skeleton does 5 damage per stabbing. You're getting a whole shanks worth of HP every time you level. By time you're level 11, you can soak about 9 and a half shanks (one will probably crit), plus however many more in Con mod.
• Proficiencies: a sorcercer or druid might earn a scowl if they tried to claim a Luckblade or a Flametongue, but you can actually use those weapons. Rapiers key off dexterity. Longswords provoke phallic, Freudian whiplash. Crossbow/shortsword fighting styles are more iconic than Errol Flynn. I sure miss having default whip proficiency, though. (RIP: Gimble, v3.5.) Light armor isn't particularly exciting, but there are many ways to get medium armor and shield proficiencies. Dexterity and Charisma are common saves and 3 skills of any class is more than most.
• Bardic Inspiration: The ultimate combo'er. Give a die to your Steed to buff saving throws and grapple/shove checks. Give one to your party members to make them like you more. Dole out one to every PC before a boss fight. ( Save yourself some bonus actions.) Saving throws are usually more threatening than raw HP damage, but don't give inspiration to players that hoard Bardic Inspiration for saves or they'll go to waste. The 10 minute duration is a small hassle considering there's no concentration requirement.
• Jack of All Trades: Applies to every instrument, vehicle, and artisan tool. To maximize this feature, you must literally try everything once. And now you have an excuse. May even apply to initiative. (Special thanks: JAL_1138)
• Song of Rest: Makes healing surges more efficient, but many players don't bother tracking their hit dice. Someone usually has Prayer of Healing, or Lay on Hands, or Inspiring Leader and godly ACs. Much more impressive in long adventuring days.
• Expertise/Bonus Proficiencies: The bard gleefully skips past the party rogue, singing "Anything you can do, I can do better." With Jack of All Trades and the free skills from race/class, you could argue that languages are a good expenditure for the College of Lore bonus proficiencies. Or you could just grab all the intelligence skills and pretend you have Bardic Knowledge from Pathfinder/3.5 D&D.
• Cutting Words: +1d6 to vanilla checks, before the results are called. The scaling on bardic inspiration dice is cacklingly delightful. Think of it this way: every time you deny an attack with Cutting Words, you save yourself a cure spell. If you heal an average of 7.5 HP on a 1st-Level Cure Wounds, then you only need to deny that much damage to make Cutting Words worth a spell slot. And there's no check; Cutting Words always happens. You can even use it to cut the auto-damage of Magic Missiles and save-for-half effects. Use it on Dragons breath. Pair it with a bonus action Bardic Inspiration to incite the most lopsided grappling matches in the realm. Great for saving your Steed. Best for helping your large Steed beat a giant in a an arm wrestling match.
• Font of Inspiration: Likely comes just after nabbing a charisma ability score increase, and not a moment too late. Cutting words is easy to spam. If you only use your words and inspiration on damage mitigation, then this is like free HP.
• Countercharm: "Snap out of it, Sniffles!" With their low saves, Steeds are super susceptible to charm and fear effects. A fleeing Steed is often more disastrous than a dead Steed. But with good vibes and bardic inspiration, anyone can overcome their fear (check) of the Demogorgon in their closet.
• Magical Secrets: And here's why bards are the best full-caster in the game. Accessing this early with College of Lore is how we access Find Steed in the first place. Conjure Animals and Counterspell are other crowd favorites, but then there's Spirit Guardians and Fireball and Misty Step. You know that Aura of Vitality spell that your paladin can't cast until level 9? You can cast it at level 6. Congratulations! You're an HP battery. Bards even have their own exclusive magical secret: Destructive Wave. It's a hidden spell that all the paladins forgot about.
• Peerless Skill: It's like the Rogue's Reliable Talent, but better! You can't use it as often, but you don't always need to and Peerless Skill works on any ability check - even the one's you aren't proficient with.
• Superior Inspiration: The best part about this feature is that you won't feel bad about losing it to multiclassing. By now, you have 5 1d12s to work with. What's one more?

Skills: Just my favorites for now. See the guides in my intro for a more comprehensive review.

• Athletics: Both Cutting Words and Extra Attack enhance special melee attacks that key off of Strength - namely grappling and shoving. Even with a middling strength, a bard can easily gain advantage (through spells like Enhance Ability) and hold their own in an Athletics check. Consider Expertise-ing this skill.
• Acrobatics: Do you remember that scene with Legolas and the elephants in Return of the King? That could be you.
• Animal Handling: Technically your Steed isn't an animal, yet some DMs still ask for Animal Handling checks to accomplish complex tasks. If you get more than 1 social skill, you might as well nab them all.
• Insight: It's like the Augury spell, but for people.
• Deception/Intimidation/Persuasion: Your bread and butter. I recommend getting all of them and Expertise. Combine with Friends and Charm Person for super-shenanigans, and try not to kill the campaign. This guy gets it.
• Performance: Beyond rallying the village militia, performance is essential to the bardic lifestyle. No matter where you go there's a business in need of promotion, and bards make the best hawkers. A successful performance check is needed to steer drunks to a competitor's bar, smear a sheriff's re-election campaign, or distract a gaggle of urchin witnesses.

• Smithing: Arguably the most useful trade skill in the game. To make barding and armor with the Fabricate spell, you need both the essential materials and proficiency in smithing. Or you need 6,000 gold or 1,200 downtime days. Some DMs will substitute Jack of All Trades for armorsmithing proficiency. For you, Fabricate comes late and it competes against other level 10 magical secrets. But for your level 7 wizard pal... Ask your DM if the spell can make Large barding with 2-4 casts of Fabricate. Large barding may be bigger than the Medium spell restriction, but IRL armor is made out of composite pieces - not one Large chunk. Ask your DM what happens if your flying, plate-barded mount drops to 0hp while hovering 200ft above your target... YMMV

Races: reference the other guides for char-op suggestions. Half-elves, tieflings and variant meat-popsicles are popular. The little folk get the biggest breaks: halflings, gnomes and other races of the Small size category are able to ride Medium and larger Steeds. Without Enlarge/Reduce, it’s impossible for a dwarf to mount a giant wasp. But for Halflings, wasps are the stairway to heaven.

[StarStuff]

Range:Self/Find Steed Spells

halfling on a dog - Wayne Reynolds

Spoiler: Consider how changes to the following will affect your game:

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a) When you cast a concentration spell with a range of self and no AoE parenthetical, the Steed uses their own concentration on a separate spell.

Alternative: a DM may rule that concentration spells do not dual-cast with Find Steed, or that they share the effect until the spell ends

b) Steeds use your proficiency and modifiers instead of their own to determine spell attack modifiers and spell save DCs.

Alternative: a DM might only allow the caster's proficiency with the Steeds ability modifiers, or only the Steed's modifiers

c) PCs must dismount the Steed to command it to attack.

Alternative: Steed's may use their special attacks and actions while mounted

d) PCs may access higher CR beasts (and other creatures) as they level

Alternative: PCs may only access the creatures listed in the Find Steed spell description

Having another creature to hold your concentration spell means the effect isn't lost, even if you drop concentration. For spells like Locate Object that's a significant boon, but it's unstated for other spells as well. Whether this interpretation of Steed-casting is more broken than comparable build options is a question of RAI. As these spells were reviewed through the lens of RAW, please show discretion when applying them to your table.

TLDR: when it comes to dualcasting, YMMV.

And finally! The spells...

Spoiler: 1st Level Spells

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Speak with Animals: Negan, the tyrannosaurus rex, playfully whips around his formidable tail. He terrifies the captured hyenas caged in a semi-circle around him. "I want you to work for me, but you killed my people." he says. "And for that you have to pay." The others howl as Regan crashes through a cage and sinks his teeth into the exposed neck of a helpless hyena. He snarls through grisled teeth, "Go back to your gnoll overlords and bring back what is mine." A bardic inspiration dice, a small Enhance Charisma spell buff, and suddenly your Steed is more compelling than you. You could also just wait for Tongues.
Disguise Self: Scooby-Doo villains rejoice! With Disguise Self and Find Steed, you may terrorize the unrighteous as a headless horseman atop a dreadful nightmare through the magic of dual-casting. Disguise yourself as a gnoll on the back of a war-hyena steed to scout an enemy encampment. Disguise yourself as Santa herniating the back of an unfortunate reindeer steed. Should a fool scrutinize the verisimilitude of your disguise, Cutting Words applies to the Investigation check he'll make against your lofty Spell Save DC. Easily my favorite combo in this guide, despite how circumstantial it is.
Hail of Thorns: Enter Organ Grinder, the ape Steed of a small lore bard. With a ranged Rock attack, he too can activate this smite-like spell. That's 2 dex saving throws with a scaling d10 damage die. Before you get too excited, the non-magical piercing damage dealt by this spell doesn't mean much to the Demogorgon. Still the reward for a 5th level slot on you and Organ Grinder is up to 10d10 on a small cluster of targets. An equivalent Fireball deals 10d6, with comparable resistance limitations...
Detect Poison and Disease: From 50ft away, Larry, the collective consciousness of a swarm of poisonous snakes making up your Steed, telepathically hisses back confirmation of several drow priestesses and warriors taking shelter in the opposite fork of a passage. The poison on their weapons gives away their ambush through a clever Detect Poison cast. Larry's companions prepare a surprise offensive. Is this worthy of a multiclass spells known slot? Maybe. But as a Magical Secrets pickup, this is simply too situational. Larry is hissapointed.
Expeditious Retreat: Dash and Dash and move all day. Throw Longstrider on your mount for maximum obnoxiousness. On a warhorse, that's 210ft of movement in a round. Plus another 75ft-120ft from you, maybe more if you can prone your steed. (Dismounting cost half your move) In the Kentucky derby of D&D, these mounts outpace even the Phantom Steed, but how often do you need a speed roided steed in an adventure?
Shield: Nice for keeping casters from auto-killing your mounted Steed with Magic Missiles. The +5 AC is nice too, but you're still basically trading a 1st level spell to protect a 2nd level spell. The spell or attack must target the caster to activate Shield, meaning a clever spellslinger could target your Steed without provoking the reaction requirement from Shield. You might be able to get around this with Mounted Combat and Cutting Words. It's still outstanding as a multiclass or Magic Initiate pickup.
Armor of Agathys: Experienced PCs have assured me this spell is worth taking, but I'm not convinced yet. There are plenty of ways to gain temporary HP in D&D. If you're considering this, check out Inspiring Leader too.
Comprehend Languages: It's fun to imagine Mr. Ed donning a monocle and turning a page with his hoof, but the mechanical advantages of dual-casting this on you AND your Steed are severely circumstantial.
Divine Favor: Find Steed is the only reason I'd take this spell, as a paladin. 1d4 radiant damage is nothing to scoff at when you're making 2 to 7 attacks per round (Charge/Trample/AoO, Attack/Extra/Bonus/AoO), as a paladin. The 1 minute limitation is a little meh, but at least it's a bonus action - for paladins. Paladins don't burn a Magical Secret in opportunity costs just to do more damage. Most bards shouldn't take this spell.
False Life: It should be easier to rationalize this spell at higher levels, when you have more slots than you know what to do with. But no. It's still just spell slots in exchange for temporary hit points. Besides proactivity, the only notch False Life has over Cure Wounds is it's ability to affect twice as many targets with temp HP while mounted on your Steed. But before you pull the trigger, consider Inspiring Leader for all of your temp HP needs. It scales by your modifier and only cost time - not spell slots.
Wrathful Smite: Now we're talking. The junk damage is surely an omen this spell was meant for Lore bards. The frightened condition forces disadvantage on ability checks AND attack rolls, so long as your foe is within line of sight. And anyone that fears you cannot come any closer. Having a mount makes it much easier to exploit frightened on the battlefield, totally denying melee attackers in some scenarios. Assuming they fail the first save, the suffering target must spend a whole action on subsequent turns to beat a wisdom CHECK against your save DC - just to break free from frightened! Cutting Words combos this smite into a nigh unbeatable, super save-or-suck. Who cares if this dual-casts? Take it for the lulz.
Ensnaring Strike: Vine-like coral wraps around the aboleth's tentacles, restraining the hideous terror. With an uncanny motion of his snout, Cosmo, the giant sea horse, rips his bloody barnacle back from the aberrations rubbery exterior. Much like Wrathful Smite, Ensnaring Strike pits a target's ability check against your spell save DC. Cutting Words away! Strength save mods are hit and miss on Monster Manual critters. But nothing RAW stops you from attempting to ensnare a gargantuan creature, like a dragon turtle.
Searing Smite: Constitution saves favor the HP sponges that might otherwise dislike damage-over-time effects. Why would you ever trade your concentration for a paltry 1d6 per turn? They don't even trigger on legendary actions!
Detect Magic: It isn't often that you need two of these, but why not! You won't find many steed casting rituals.

Spoiler: 2nd Level Spells

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Mirror Image: Our tiefling champion, Sasha, and her Steed, Delilah, enter the window trailed by 3 copies. Sasha laughs deliriously as 5 rugs of smothering assail the illusory clones of her and her mount. From the ceiling, she savages a rug with her radiant Sunblade, sundering it to ribbons. Mirror Image makes it much harder for weapon attacks to target you and your Steed. Use Cutting Words to extend the duplicates if you're hell bent on annoying your DM.
Locate Object: I never leave home without this spell. That necklace dangling around the sorcerer's collar bone, the magic sword stolen by that precocious pickpocket, the nearest lever in the room with the crushing walls trap - through walls, stealth and invisibility, Locate Object can find it. And now your Steed can too- either by splitting up into a 4,000ft wide radar or by searching for a second object altogether.
Detect Thoughts: Enter Sniffles, the prescient mastiff/dachshund. From his back, Scarlett, a halfling scoundrel, asks "What's he thinking, Sniffles?" The bard and her mount peer into the minds of two different targets - a young couple on a nearby balcony. The man's internal monologue clashes with Sniffles's telepathic report in Scarlett's mind, but barely she discerns the murderous plot of the young woman towards her lover. Even if your DM lets you and your steed target one creature each, spells known are precious and this doesn't quite make the cut.
Flame Blade: Find Steed is the best reason to take Flame Blade. Organ Grinder grips his firey sword tighter and lashes out at your assailant. 3d6 scaling on a melee spell attack. Twice if you attack too. Not bad. You still don't benefit from multi-attack, two-weapon fighting, or extra attack - but you've certainly won D&D through the rule of cool. Who doesn't love flaming weapons?
Pass Without Trace: sneaky. Sneaky! Noo.. Really though, in what situation does granting 20 people PWT do more than granting 10 people PWT? Someone will always roll a 1. I suppose if you split the party... Still generally useful without dual-casting.
Branding Smite: Delilah, the giant spider, sinks her gleaming, radiant stinger into the invisible thigh of a mind flayer acanist. A dull glow envelops it microseconds before the spider's master, Sasha, severs the mind flayer's head from it's forking tentacles with one fell swoop of her Sunsword. Branding Smite is neat for breaking invisibility, but just doesn’t compete well against the other choices at this level.
Misty Step: Sometimes, you just need a bonus action teleport. "That you can see" means you may never pass through brick walls, but the one time your mount passes by an arrow slit... Misty step has to be one of my top 10 favorite spells in the game. On the other hand, you have Dimension Door on the bard list and it can take a medium sized Steed. If you want to see a wicked series of shenanigans involving Misty Step and Benign Transposition, check this out.
Blur: This wouldn't be a bad way to protect your Steed if it didn't demand concentration. And a magical secrets slot. Fortunately, there are tons of other ways to impose disadvantage on an assailant.
Alter Self: Why not just recast Find Steed for an aquatic mount? Alter Self would be a strict upgrade to Disguise Self if it didn't demand your concentration for an hour. Since your Steed likely has a natural weapon attack and will frequently die in fights against creatures who are resistant to magic damage, the third bullet point is nearly irrelevant. Still, this is a handy spell for messing with people.
Augury: It's hard not to select the "Weal and Woe" omen as a DM. If there's treasure in a room but it's surrounded by wimpy zombies, is that still Weal? Or are you supposed to assess omens by weighing whether the player's actions align with their God's expectations? Steed-casting at least grants you two chances to make this spell meaningful. I'd sooner wait for divination.
See Invisibility: Casters and their Steeds can see into the Ethereal plane. Sure, that comes up every blue moon. I suppose we should be thankful it doesn't have a concentration requirement, and it's already on the bard spell list. Trumpet, the giant crocodile, loves grappling sneaky, invisible blokes and holding them prone for her buddies to beat on. "Eat him," she blargs.
Locate Animals and Plants: Another ritual! Perhaps there's a rare scene when you need to find a beast or a special flower to finish an adventure. Perhaps you're gunho about Animal Friendship and want to build a circus. Even then, is there anything steed casting this twice can do that you can't already do with one cast? And then there's the alternative, Locate Object (beast scat)...

Spoiler: 3rd Level Spells

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Vampiric Touch: Enter Darwin, the bloodsucking panda. Darwin likes to goose patrons with your spell attack modifier. Like you, he deals 3d6 necrotic damage and noms on life essence. Somewhere out there, the ears of a multiclass life cleric perked up as he realized Disciple of Life could be feeding his Legendary Steed an additional 2 HP+Mod on every Vampiric Touch. Unless you're that guy, it's still kinda meh.
Blink: Animal abuse is never hilarious, except when your celestial warhorse blinks out from under you into the Ethereal Plane while you plummet face forward into the ground below. What happens when the Steed rolls 11 and you don't? Insta-Karma! QED
Blinding Smite: Lite, the camel, high-tails it towards the hobgoblin, spitting in his eyes and biting his axearm. The hobgoblin's face flashes with a bright light and he fumbles for his weapon, flailing aimlessly away from Lite. There aren't many monsters with low constitution saves in the monster manual, but blindness is a devastating condition on top of the extra 3d8 radiant damage. Alternatively, you could hit a whole crowd with an 8d6 fireball. Meh. Sure wish it scaled.
Crusader's Mantle: Redundant unless you and your Steed split up to cover a wider area. In which case, it's still meh. Unless everyone rolled a fighter, your group probably isn't making THAT many weapon attacks. Cantrips, spells, and utility actions gain nothing from Crusader's Mantle, and it eats your concentration. That extra 1d4 radiant damage could be handy if there are lots of conjured critters or warrior types in your party, however.
Lightning Arrow: Organ Grinder the ape, at your service. Climbing down from his shoulders, our handsome halfling looses a bolt from her hand crossbow. Simultaneously, Organ Grinder launches a heavy Rock at the same woeful creature, a quaggoth 10ft from his drow priestess. The quaggoth takes 8d8 lightning damage, miss for half. The quaggoth and his priestess take another 4d8, save for half. And the priestess must make 2 concentration saves if she's managing a Web or other spell. Let's not forget Lightning Arrow scales...

Spoiler: 4th Level Spells

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Divination: Dante and his Steed, Virgil, lead their damned companions to food and shelter, guided by Divination. Some DM's take issue with ritual casting from the back of a mount. Most DM's take issue with divination magic - and with good reason! Revealing "the future" is the easiest way to rob a dungeon master of their fun and to trash the suspense of a campaign. That said, Divination encourages the use of cryptic rhymes and omens. If your DM enjoys making riddles and puzzles, then this spell creates twice as many opportunities for her to spotlight. Otherwise, don't be a jerk.
Fire Shield: It's hard to get a mob to hit your mount - let alone have your mount survive it. It's still a much more practical version of Protection from Energy, but it doesn't last long enough to function as a deliberate torch, and the cold Or fire limitation is a smidgen too restrictive. And yet its almost worth it for the human torch style points.
Locate Creature: Unlike Locate Object, this won't track a wizard's spellbook through Polymorph. Water on Locate Critter is also more restrictive than lead on Locate Object. But of course, the creatures you NEED to surprise don't typically carry objects. Still, like Locate Object, it's twice the area when steed-cast.
Staggering Smite: A brilliant save or suck on a wisdom saving throw ruined by concentration, melee weapon attack requirement and a 4th level spell known. Much better if your steed has multiple weapon attacks, but there are better ways to spend your magical secrets.

Spoiler: 5th Level Spells

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Contact other Plane: Step 1- prioritize Intelligence saving throws in your build. Step 2- find an Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location. Step 3- befriend a paladin with Aura of Protection, a high charisma and lots of patience. Step 4- pass a DC15 Int Save from Contact Other Plane. (that's hard) Laugh with your Steed as he goes insane. Step 5- prank call the gods. Step 9000- don't ever die. Obviously this is much easier for a Wizard, but anyone who CAN tick off an entire fantasy pantheon is obligated to give it their best go - especially when their Steed can get in on the fun.
Commune with Nature: Sniffles, the prescient mastiff/dachshund, is unimpressed. I suppose it's cool you can deduce the location of EVERY listed scary monster type with one cast, but 1 minute might as well be 11 minutes. And 11 minutes might as well be a few hours when you're 3 miles from danger. Does it matter if it dual-casts? Certainly not a bad Magical Secret, but you can do better.
Commune: What's more deadly than irritating a pantheon with Contact Other Plane? How about ticking off whoever loaned you the Steed. Still, I don't see any reason why your little pony can't counsel with their deific sire in the same scene that you do.
Dispel Evil and Good: Disadvantage attacks against you And your Steed. Cool. Two dispels, two banishments. Also pretty slick. 1 minute duration with concentration. Not so slick. 5th-level spell slot? What?!? Dispel Good and Evil is actually fairly versatile, depending on the campaign, but there are more creative and effective pick-ups for a level 10 Magical Secret.
Legend Lore: One of the most creative spells in D&D, Legend Lore gives your DM permission to veer the game off the rails and insert any magic item into the campaign in home campaigns. Adventurers League players occasionally use this to hunt down magic item certificates by gathering rumors and casting Legend Lore with a sponsored DM. How much gold is worth knowing there's always a legendary adventure just after this one? It works like this: Give your steed Tongues. Cast the spell over 10 minutes while mounted. The steed serves you by "naming or describing a person, place, or object." And you, of course, can deduce the same. Tada! You've cheesed material spell component costs. Now insist your talking warhorse with an intelligence of 6 explain who the Demogorgan is to the Stranger Things fans while your DM reveals which adventure has the Daern's Instant Fortress magic item card. (a magic item is an object) Theoretically, this works without breaking Adventurer's League rules. In the end, is this spell really that game-breaking?
Tree Stride: So if I Awaken 2 trees, I can have one follow me while the other chillaxes outside the pearly gates of Scary Dungeon Hell. If fit hits the shan, Treestride can zoop me and my Steed through tree 1 and outta tree 2. That's pretty cool.. oh wait. I already have Dimension Door on my spell list. Bahaha!
Banishing Smite: With advantage, Tostada, the giant shark, snaps it's teeth down into the wounded water elemental. It puffs harmlessly out of existence, banished to the elemental chaos. 5d10 isn't spectacular damage for a 5th level spell and the rider is little too conditional for reliable utility. You might one-shot a low hp demon or elemental with it - assuming you can reliably time the attack. But there are better ways for a bard to burn a high-level spell slot and a bonus action.
Scrying: Sniffles scours this plane of existence for the nobleman's sister. Her master, Scarlett, peers deep into a crystal ball from her saddle. "I've found him!" she says with start. Sniffles laps at the air, but detects nothing. A Scrying dual-cast is hardly indicative of a busted class feature/mechanic. If a player has an interest in casting 1 Scrying spell, they're probably the type who'd have cast another. Ask your Chain pact warlock friend with the Voice of the Chain Master (imp) invocation if dual-cast Scrying spells are broken...
Mislead: Take this if your DM is onboard with Being John Malkovich roleplay. Or if your campaign mirrors The Prestige. (RIP David Bowie.) FFS, how do you rate this? Can you see through your Steed's eyes when you cast this mounted? Can you switch from its senses to yours and then yours and back again? Probably not, but telepathic communication through 4 perspectives is philosophically kaleidoscopic. Arcane Eye is probably more useful to your day-to-day, carry-on kit.

Spoiler: 6th Level Spells

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Magic Jar: Do you love your Steed so much that you would trap a man's soul in a jar for eternity just so it could have opposable thumbs? Without Sequester or Demiplane, the upkeep on this spell takes an awful amount of effort. But it comes at no risk to your mount; Steeds recover their bodies on every Find Steed cast- even if the host dies. Your DM will probably say "Nah," but an Int 6 Steed in a man's body would make a great RP session. Druids and ethics be damned! Darwin, the bloodsucking panda, was meant to be a real boy.
Find the Path: Mapkwest conjures his Steed, Gglmaps. With Find Steed and Find the Path, our dual-casting heroes split ways for 1 day. Mapkwest departs to Neverwinter and Gglmaps guides his allies to Waterdeep. Snooze. If you have ever used this spell to great effect in your game, I demand you tell me about it.
Eye Bite: The most flagrant of rotten Limburger cheese, abuses like this give the College of Legendary Steeds a bad name. Sleep’ed, sickened, and panicked are great conditions to spam cast for 1 minute of concentration, let alone twice per round with dual-casting gimmicks. On the other hand, spells like Astral Gate and Create Undead are still way sexier. Eyebite and spells like it are why we need a better ruling on Find Steed than Crawford’s, “targets Range: Self (no parenthetical).” We’ll come back to this later.
Contingency: The descriptor practically screams, "Don't let your players abuse me!" That said, it's still really powerful for a Magical Secret without Find Steed.

Spoiler: 7th Level Spells

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Etherealness: 8 hours is a long time. There are usually better ways to spend your 7th level spell slot, but if you really want to scout a building from top to bottom, a Steed - with high movement speed - ensures you can do so before the duration of your Etherealness runs out.

Spoiler: 8th Level Spells

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Glibness: Given the warhorse's curiously low Charisma score of 7, I'm inclined to believe more equestrians are rocking this IRL than the game adequately reflects. Whoever says horses don't have strong personalities have clearly never been browbeaten into handing Mr. Ed an apple after falling off of him during a middle school field trip. Blue for the shenanigans.
Holy Aura: Sure feels like this should have an AoE parenthetical. Maybe it comes in handy when you and your Steed split up to cover more party members with the AoE. The blind condition Con save rider is awfully redundant, seeing as allies in the aura radius disadvantage attacks rolls already. Best when cast from a mobile, flying Steed, like a giant wasp. Then it can hover with impunity over the allies that split the party. Not a stellar use of an 8th level slot, but bardically creative.

Spoiler: 9th Level Spells

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Timestop: Unfortunately, our valiant Steed has his hooves tied by the "affects no other creatures or objects" limitation. Otherwise, you'd have 1d4+1 rounds for Mr. Ed to pants people and shove Huge creatures on the ground. Still, he gets Mirror Image buffs and he can take you to the edges of 1000ft in a jiffy. Once upon a time in a version long, long ago, this spell broke campaigns.
Wish: A conjurer wizard and his fellow adventurers discover the Luck Blade in the Curse of Straud. The wizard insists the paladin cast the only Wish still within the blade. He asks her for command over her giant spider Steed. The paladin Wishes to have their flaws from the Amber Temple rescinded. Mounted, her giant spider Steed wishes for a large castle, given coaching by the conjurer wizard. The spider fails the percentage roll and becomes the only Steed who may never Wish again. The party retires to a large castle, as per the DMG. Monkey paw: every room is loaded with traps and monsters, and lots of giant, tasty bugs. The reality is most DMs will discourage this type of Steed-casting. It's certainly as far from RAI as one can get, but before you write off ideas like this, consider the atmosphere in which it's cast. 9th-level spells are hard to come by, and this one in particular is pricey. By time you're seeing these combinations, you're likely near the end of a long overdue campaign. This type of Steed-casting, with two deliveries of Wish, is an excuse to send the game out on the highest note you can.
Shapechange: It's crap when you're limited by the "challenge rating equal to your level or lower." However, this spell rocks when you use True Polymorph to transform your mount into an object and then back into a CR9 critter. (Special thanks to Zene)

Spoiler: Cantrips

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Produce Flame: Organ Grinder the ape and our halfling hero conjure twin balls of flame to their hands. At level 6, 2 spell attacks at 2d8 fire damage per hit is nothing to scoff at. The obstacle shared by both munchkins and dungeon masters is the "hand" limitation, imposed on our hooven/pawed/taloned friends. That said, bellowing flame and smoke is the missing piece of your warhorse's Disguise Self (Headless Horseman/Nightmare) spell.
Blade Ward: Typically you're better off taking the Dodge action than wasting your turn on this cantrip. But since you CAN use it on your steed, why not?
Friends: Predictability is always exploitable: just ask any economics professor. You'll let him know you're out front and cast Friends on your Steed from cover. He'll come outside to a kind horse with handsome eyes and you nowhere to be seen. The more he looks around, the more your Steed seems to empathize with him, but soon your Steed grows cold and mean. Friends wears off. Suddenly aware of your horse's magical influence, your professor lashes out in anger... He can't explain why he loathes your Steed, but understands you had nothing to do with it's supernatural influence. In condolence, he grants your chaotic neutral character an A in class and signs up for weekly anger management sessions.

[StarStuff]

Magical Secrets and Bard Spells

ALEXANDRA SEMUSHINA

Some of these assume your DM takes "targets only you" of Find Steed in a different direction.

Spoiler: Cantrips

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Minor Illusion: plop the hostage (illusion) on the saddle. Split her captors on pursuit. Oh here’s one! Throw your voice. Some of you old fogies will remember when ventriloquism cost a 1st level slot back in v3.5. Did 4.0 spoil you? Throw your music. Throw your Steed’s whinnies. Throw the sound of a door unlocking, a lover’s quarrel, a “shhh.” RP that sound science, shaka.

Spoiler: 1st Level Spells

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Dissonant Whispers: Let's say your foe is 70ft away from you and 50ft away from your fighter. Your mount Dashes on your turn as it's action, on top of it's 40ft plus movement. A successful Dissonant Whispers sends your foe careening, now reaction-less, back into movement range of your fighter. Allies may move safely around your unfortunate target without provoking an Attack of Opportunity. Even without Find Steed, mounts are astoundingly useful for pinpoint battlefield manipulation.
Jump: Your warhorse can clear a 50ft chasm.
Protection from Evil & Good: Helps smooth the gaps in your Steed's low saving throws. What's with this concentration non-sense. Grrr.
Mage Armor: Spend a 1st level slot to protect your 2nd level slot investment. Nay, I say.

Spoiler: 2nd Level Spells

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Darkvision: Non-concentration. Thank the pantheon. Can probably get by without it, but sometimes you need your Steed to stay hidden within the shadows. Don't blow a Magical Secret on this.
Magic Weapon: Grr. Not another concentration spell.[/COLOR][/B] Maybe worth something if your DM interprets "targets only you" as "where the target is only you with no ancilitory benefactor."
Spider Climb: Don't leave your donkey chillin outside during your next spelunking adventure. Take 'em with you using this handy, dandy - dammit, why must it be a concentration spell. Booooooo...
Enlarge/Reduce: Remember, Huge caps at Gargantuan. So if you drop this on a giant elk, he's theoretically as large as the smallest kraken.
Gust of Wind: It's awfully situational, but it stacks with Plant Growth. You can't kill an adversary outright by penalizing their move distance, even with Freedom of Movement on your Steed. But I encourage you to try.

Spoiler: 3rd Level Spells

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Haste: #@$%! Concentration! #@$%! Only worth it if your DM dual-cast this on your Steed. Otherwise, there's better concentration spells.
Fly: Doh. Diminshed only by concentration.
Conjure Animal: Hook several loops to your Steed's barding. Conjure a flock of Giant Owls. Rope the owls to your Steed's barding. Mutter something about "poor man's pegasus." Bask in your DM's disapproving glare.

[StarStuff]

Feats - Under Construction

Mounted Combat:
Inspiring Leader:
Moderately Armored: If you're sticking around for Superior Inspiration, try to find a place for this in your build.

[StarStuff]

Multi-Classing

Mansick Yank

Anymore than 2 levels of multiclass will deny you the real bard capstone of Magical Secrets (Level 9 spells). You'll need that to cherry pick Wish, Timestop, and/or Shapechange off the Wizard spell list - even if your DM fiats no dual cast from Find Steed. The cleric and paladin multiclass features are pound for pound more powerful than another ASI or Superior Inspiriation, but some of the other dips may draw your fancy.

Barbarian: If you're an aspiring bar(d)barian, more power to you. No one screams death metal like equestrians.
Cleric: More spells, more armor, cool class features. What's not to love? Knowledge of the Ages is an odd workaround for Fabricate proficiencies, Disciple of Life doesn't have a "cleric spells only" limitation, and Acolyte of Nature gives you Shillelagh that keys off Cha. Awesomesauce.
Druid: Back in 1e, a bard had to begin as a fighter, MC as a rogue, and then cap off their career under the clerical tutelage of a druid. Unfortunately, it's an unbearably wonky build in 5e.
Fighter: Even with Action Surge, PCs are restricted to one spell per turn - excluding cantrips. Why not just be a cleric?
Monk: When everybody is Kung-Fu fighting, you are Carl Douglas. This multi-class died fast as lightning.
Paladin: What filthy rotten liar told you the bard don't roll attacks for damage? Oh wait, that was me. Divine Smite is especially powerful early on in the game: a 20th level paladin has as many spell slots to burn on this as the bard, effectively. 6th-Level+ slots are too cool to blow on damage support. But a Bard 8/paladin 2 can burn up to 6 more slots more than an equivalent paladin 10. Consider beginning your career in reverse to grab the extra HP and Heavy Armor proficiency. Wisdom saves are just as threatening as Dexterity. The protection fighting style gets interesting if you don't use Cutting Words or run out of Bardic Inspiration, and Divine Sense and Lay on Hands are handy toys to have in your kit. You could even pair Lay on Hands with Song of Rest for more efficient HP recovery on a short rest. Add another spell level at paladin 2 to cherry the cake.
Ranger: Maybe if you're really commited to adding Ensnaring Strike, Hail of Thorns, and Goodberry to your kit. There may be something in the re-write. I'll check it out later.
Rogue: Love. So much love. If you snag this MC late, late in the game, then your Steed is already dying to the first round of initiative. Having the extra dash as a bonus action goes a long way in sans-mount mobility. Not as good as other options for CoLS bards, but certainly a flavorful pickup.
Sorcerer: Font of Sorcery is just another slot in the absence of Metamagic - which isn't worth that level 18 Magical Secrets. If you're addicted to Wild Magic Surge procs, then by all means take that 1-level dip.
Warlock: Playing a warlock feels like cheating no matter which build you use. I recommend Awakend Mind to eliminate verbal spell limits, Agonizing Blast for passable force damage and Mask of Many Faces for Find Steed mischief.
Wizard: More slots, spells known and low-level rituals. Minor Conjuration pairs well with the jack-of-all-tradeskills concept. Picture the Adventuring Gear page as a list of class features.

[StarStuff]

Appendix A

This space is reserved for future content. Let me know what you'd like to see here.

[StarStuff]

Appendix B

This space is reserved for future content. Let me know what you'd like to see here.

[StarStuff]

After extensive revisions and with more to come, I submit for your approval The College of Legendary Steeds.

[Specter]

A few notes on the Multiclassing section:

- Cleric/Druid's Shillelagh will key off Wisdom, not Charisma. To get CHA Shillelagh you'd need to get it through Magical Secrets.
- If you have Action Surge, you definitely can cast two spells. The only thing you can't do is cast a bonus action spell and then a leveled spell.

[TrinculoLives]

Hahaha, a labour of love indeed. I commend the technical presentation of this guide too.

I have one thought that I don't see being addressed: what about the obvious problem of how several of the advantages of the steed from find steed are negated by dungeon-delving? Limited space removes the advantage of speed, vertical movement is difficult with a steed (to say the least), etc.?

[Zene]

I had trouble understanding a lot of this. Take the Legend Lore entry, for example. I have no idea what that is trying to say.

Is it just me?

I do appreciate the effort and the presentation. Will do a re-read again later to see if I'm just having a brain fart currently.

[Tetrasodium]

interesting start. with the MC druid, I suspect that circle of spirits2 will be worthy of strong consideration for those aura projections.

There are a couple things that you miss though. PHB198 says "A willing creature that is at least one size larger than you and that has an appropriate anatomy can serve as a mount", that can include a moon druid if your bard is more in your face melee capable. By extension, a moon druid in wildshape is type:beast & could be considered an acceptable stand in for the "Your DM might allow other animals to be summoned as steeds." from find steed & if said moon druid is a kobold has much to gain as a result:D

[Flashy]

I had trouble understanding a lot of this. Take the Legend Lore entry, for example. I have no idea what that is trying to say.

Is it just me?

I do appreciate the effort and the presentation. Will do a re-read again later to see if I'm just having a brain fart currently.

I have no idea what it's trying to say either. What does casting Tongues on your horse have to do with a self-range spell that conjures exposition about a person/item/place?

Spoiler: Text of Legend Lore

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Name or describe a person, place, or object. The spell brings to your mind a brief summary of the significant lore about the thing you named. The lore might consist of current tales, forgotten stories, or even secret lore that has never been widely known. If the thing you named isn't of legendary importance, you gain no information.

The more information you already have about the thing, the more precise and detailed the information you receive is. The information you learn is accurate but might be couched in figurative Language. For example, if you have a mysterious magic axe on hand, the spell might yield this information - Woe to the evildoer whose hand touches the axe, for even the haft slices the hand of the evil ones. Only a true Child of Stone, lover and beloved of Moradin, may Awaken the true powers of the axe, and only with the sacred word Rudnogg on the lips.

[Corran]

Ok, I haven't even begun reading this, but thank you so much for this! I've been dying to make a (lore) bard mounted combatant, but I was so bored to try it and just wanted someone to tell me how to go about it. So a HUGE thanks!!!
*begins reading*

Edit: Wow!!! I feel the red rating for armor of agathys is a bit off. I'll just keep reading though, to see with what else this spell has to compare. Really enjoy the style of the guide so far!

[Zene]

Despite my earlier comment, I'm really digging the idea/concept of this guide. One of the things that's kept me from playing a bard in the past is how wide open they are ...like how undefined the path you could take is (and thus there are lots of decisions to make without a clear objective). I like the fact that this guide presents a way of structuring the bard around a goal.

Is there anywhere someone's collected the best/most fun/most interesting bard builds? I don't think I've seen that in any of the main bard guides. I'm not looking for anything super detailed, just enough to get the concept and mechanics of the builds across. Like:

-Mounted bard: (this guide)
-Grappler bard (luchador): Valor, expertise in athletics, enhance ability for advantage, possibly shield master feat, magical secrets for enlarge at 10
-Archer bard: Valor, sharpshooter, max dex (helps to be vhuman given the feat dependency), magical secrets at 10 for swift quiver, note that this build peaks around 10 and is overshadowed by fighter/rogue/ranger archers at low and high levels --but gets all the bard's other tools on top of being the best archer at 10
-Super healbot: Lore, take goodberry and aura of vitality at 6, dip life cleric 1 right afterward, consider sorcerer 3 dip next for extended spell; helps to go with a race that's good at hiding (gnome/halfling/half(wood) elf/goblin/firbolg) for defensibility while healbotting in combat
-Minion bard: Lore, cherry picking conjure animals and animate objects

(Disclaimer - those builds are just examples, I don't know if they're actually good examples)

[Maxilian]

Well this is a Bard mainly guide, but it would be nice to have this guide based on the idea of going Paladin (5 paladin, instead of Bard, that way maybe other MC options would be nice), also i think there are some subclasses that are note worthy, like the Crown Paladin, cause it give you the ability to let your mount survive area effect damage, so its quite useful for the sake of the mount.

[Talionis]

-Grappler bard (luchador): Valor, expertise in athletics, enhance ability for advantage, possibly shield master feat, magical secrets for enlarge at 10

I'm very interested in this variant. Especially what small multiclass dips might make it work better.

I'd also add a variant focused on Armor of Agathys... When its cast in an up slot it can pack a punch and Cutting Words is very good at reducing the amount of damage you take so the AoA lasts longer.

[Maxilian]

I'm very interested in this variant. Especially what small multiclass dips might make it work better.

This guide may help

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthr...in-5th-Edition

I'd also add a variant focused on Armor of Agathys... When its cast in an up slot it can pack a punch and Cutting Words is very good at reducing the amount of damage you take so the AoA lasts longer.

If you happen to be a Goliat you can reduce the damage by 1d12 + lvl, that way your AoA does more damage and could take more.

[StarStuff]

I had trouble understanding a lot of this. Take the Legend Lore entry, for example. I have no idea what that is trying to say.

Is it just me?

I do appreciate the effort and the presentation. Will do a re-read again later to see if I'm just having a brain fart currently.

No that isn't you. I meant you can get two uses from Legend Lore with one cast. Theoretically, your steed could use the cast on Demogorgan. And you can use your cast on a magic item. (Daern's Instant Fortress)

If you do this at an Adventurer's League, you could ask the DM, "Do you know which adventures have a Daern's Instant Fortress?" and it might not be illegal for him or her to answer. Then it becomes useful to have 2 casts.

[Flashy]

No that isn't you. I meant you can get two uses from Legend Lore with one cast. Theoretically, your steed could use the cast on Demogorgan. And you can use your cast on a magic item. (Daern's Instant Fortress)

If you do this at an Adventurer's League, you could ask the DM, "Do you know which adventures have a Daern's Instant Fortress?" and it might not be illegal for him or her to answer. Then it becomes useful to have 2 casts.

This is actually really charming and clever.

[StarStuff]

Hahaha, a labour of love indeed. I commend the technical presentation of this guide too.

I have one thought that I don't see being addressed: what about the obvious problem of how several of the advantages of the steed from find steed are negated by dungeon-delving? Limited space removes the advantage of speed, vertical movement is difficult with a steed (to say the least), etc.?

I'm glad you like it. :-)

I tried to address this in the Boons and Limitations section. Many groups are okay with mastiffs in dungeons, but yeah, Find Steed is only almost always useful.

[StarStuff]

This is actually really charming and clever.

You cannot know how much it means to me to hear you say that. Thank you.

[JAL_1138]

A note on Jack of All Trades that may rank it higher than black: it applies to any nonproficient ability checks, including Initiative, and including the ability check to Counterspell (if it's taken as a Magical Secret or gained via multiclassing, since it's not on the bard list).

[KhepriUltJesus]

This has a bunch of clever ass ideas, unlike anything I've really seen in a 5e guide before. You thinking of finishing the spells considering you only got 1-3 rn?

[Talionis]

Any updates in the works for new books?

[Zene]

Came here to see whether Warding Bond was listed. Strange spell in terms of targeting, not sure how it'd work with the "share a spell" feature of Find Steed.

Any updates in the works for new books?

Find Greater Steed definitely makes this route (bard steedmaster) way stronger. Greater steeds (potentially) bring flying, massive speed, and of course a much larger HP pool. They're meant to be Tier 4 paladin boosts, but of course that makes them Tier 2 bard boosts lol

The Dragon's Breath spell is also a pretty massive boon for Find Steed. Cast it on yourself, your steed gets it too; it's not an attack action, so your steed can use it even while you're mounted. Even if you have better uses for your action, giving your steed the option to do 3d6 fire/lightning/acid/cold/poison each round, scaling with spell level, is pretty sick. It's very thematic for my dragonborn sorcadin, too. Oh and if you're a sorcerer with find familiar, you can hit your mount and twin it to hit your familiar as well, for double the fire-breathing minions.