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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > Character Builds  > Multi-Class Character Builds in Dungeons & Dragons 5e (The Bard)

Multi-Class Character Builds in Dungeons & Dragons 5e (The Bard)

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition - Custom Race - Rodent-kin
Witch Hunter, The Movie, The Nerdarchy Game and the Backstory

BardHello fellow Nerdarchests, Art here. I’m back with the second installment of my series Multi-Class Character Builds in Dungeons & Dragons 5e. If you missed my previous article on the Barbarian just click HERE!

Today we are going to be singing along with… The Bard

Allot of you may think of the Bard as a musical little nuisance at the game table from previous D&D editions. In 5th Edition the Bard has taken quite a dramatic turn. They have become both a healer as well as one of the highest damage dealers at lower levels. They are in my opinion the most versatile class in the game by far.

How do You Play a Bard?

Let’s take a look at the power levels of the bard in general. From what I’ve experienced from players as a DM the Bard really caps its usefulness at around level 10-12. This leaving quite allot of room for 8 levels of a dip into other classes. Thus in my opinion making the Bard that much more powerful.

The first of the Bard Colleges we are going to explore is the College of Lore, which I think is their best one by far. Dungeons & DragonsMost people argue that it is the weakest due to the other college of valor gains an extra attack. Here is my reasoning for saying it is better overall. The college of Lore has reactionary abilities the character can do during combat such as its Cutting Words ability, thus taking up reactions that allot of characters don’t have at lower levels. Later at 6th level the Lore bard gains spells from other classes that makes him or her even more versatile.

One thing I’d like to mention about the Bard is their 1st level spell Dissonant Whispers on page 234 of the Player’s Guide. This spell is the I think the highest base damage of all the 1st level spells as well as its other effect to force an opponent to run away as a reaction makes this spell a must have for Bards. The spell also deals Psychic damage which NO monster in the Monster Manual has resistance to. In my opinion the spell is just too good!

As far as multi-classing goes I’d say the 1st and most formidable is taking eight levels of Sorcerer for obvious reasons the first being the class also prioritizes Charisma as its’ main attribute. The reasoning behind this is the Sorcerer gains their Sorcery Point class feature allowing the bard to gain spell slots back on the fly (again very versatile). With this the bard also has no need to wear studded leather armor as with the Draconic Bloodline feature the unarmored armor class is 13. This allows the Bard to be unassuming and appear non-threatening in a role-playing situation. Also with this bloodline the Bard gains resistances and additional hit-points thus adding to the resilience of the character.

What is the Best Way to Play a Bard in Dungeons & Dragons?

bardNext in the line of multiclassing we turn to the Bard’s next and most intriguing build based on pure combat. This will use the Bard’s next college, the College of Valor. Combining with the Warlock class which is also based on Charisma. To build this you will take the Warlock class feature Pact of the Blade. This allows you at 5th level of Warlock to gain an extra attack with the Invocation called Thirsting Blade at level 5. The patron chosen is strictly up to you as a player, however to be the most combat effective I would honestly choose the Fiend to gain the temporary hit-points granted upon you dropping an enemy to zero hit-points. This combined with the Extra Attack feature from the Bard’s College of Valor gives the Bard almost as many attacks as a Fighter making him or her very effective in combat.

As an honorable mention the next build would be the Rogue and most likely using the Roguish Archetype of the Arcane Trickster. This is particularly viable because both the Rogue and the Bard use Dexterity as a main attribute. The build is especially fun as you are able to pull off some amazing feats of tomfoolery and Sleight of Hand and the Bard’s College of Lord feature called Cutting Words when using either of the Bard’s Colleges. My personal favorite is the College of Lore with this one just because of the reactionary ability allowing you to get away with nearly any skill check as well as having multiple skills that gain Expertise. If you wish to choose the College of Valor I’d recommend taking the Roguish Archetype of  Assassin to gain the Sneak Attack and Assassinate feature to gain advantage on attacks as well as advantage on the spell casting on the first turn of combat making casting to-hit spells quite nasty. This is clearly a build meant for those who like the 007 James Bond style of play.

Well that’s all I have for you this time. Tune in next time “Same Bat Time! Same Bat Channel!’ when we will be taking a look at multiclass builds with the holeyest of thou…the Cleric.

So until next time… Stay Nerdy!

 

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Art Wood

I'm a nerd from the days of OLD! Nuff Said!

12 Comments

  • Edward Brown
    November 1, 2015 at 3:30 am

    Hate to throw water on your second idea, but page PHB 164 under Extra Attack – they do not stack, only the Fighter's Extra Attack at levels 11 and 20, conviently named Extra Attack (2) and Extra Attack (3), can grant more than two main attacks per turn.

    • Art Wood
      September 21, 2017 at 9:22 pm

      I posted these articles a while back before these were ruled on.

    • Art Wood
      January 26, 2018 at 12:17 am

      1 and 3 levels of a class in ant admixture can give you quite a few options, but personally I like feats or stat bumps.

  • Art Wood
    November 7, 2015 at 6:50 am

    I guess I missed that thanx for pointing that out 🙁 Although I think it's odd that it would have one ability denounce another from a different class. Just my opinion.

  • Edward Brown
    November 7, 2015 at 4:25 pm

    Art Wood i guess we 3.x players miss our +11/+6/+1, and believe Extra Attack should stack. House Rule made.

  • Art Wood
    November 9, 2015 at 3:32 am

    Edward Brown I just go by what was stated…lol House rule Made 😉

  • Dan Dannington
    May 24, 2016 at 9:19 pm

    1 neat trick of mixing bard and rouge happens with 2 levels of bard and like 11 of rogue. With bard's Jack-of-All-Trades you get to add 1/2 your prof bonus to initiative, with reliable talent from rogue you get to replace any (on a roll that uses your prof bonus) roll below a 10 with a 10, so you can never roll less than 10 (+dex+1/2 prof) for initiative. Go swashbuckler from Sword Coast Adventurers book and and CHA to that initiave roll. and for the win take the alert feat, now you ALWAYS go first

  • Greg Gidney
    September 21, 2017 at 7:08 pm

    What about the College of Glamour? I am creating a Zendikar Vampire Glamour Bard who’s function will be control.
    Charms, controls and holds will be the main focus.
    Also, I don’t want to lose the 9th level slot, so only a 2 or 3 level dip is what I’m looking for.
    ….thoughts?

    • Mx. Kit (@mx_kit)
      January 25, 2018 at 11:39 pm

      Taking 3 levels of Sorcerer will get you three Sorcery Points and two Metamagic options to play with. That’s not much, admittedly, but being able to Extend or Subtle a charm three times per long rest could still work out very well for you! Draconic would be great for you for the reasons the article listed, but Divine Soul could also be quite good, Shadow Magic would be very thematic, and Storm would give you a little bit of (very limited, mind, but very cool) flight.

      Alternately, taking even just 1 level of Warlock, choosing the Archfey patron, would be thematically consistent with Glamour AND let you try to charm or frighten everyone in a 10-foot cube around you once per short or long rest. Go 2 levels in and you can choose a couple of Invocations to taste; go 3 levels in and you can grab a Pact Boon (I’d recommend Chain in your case, for advantage and scouting, though Tome is also great for grabbing cantrips you wouldn’t otherwise have access to sans spending one of your Magical Secrets on them).

      • Doug Vehovec
        January 26, 2018 at 12:14 am

        Thank you for sharing your ideas! I don’t think we had Storm and Shadow sorcerer options back when this was written but those sound fun. Personally, the Archfey dip sounds awesome. I love that sort of stuff 🙂

  • Greg Gidney
    January 26, 2018 at 12:55 am

    Cool!
    Also, thematically, I’m playing a Vampire race.
    So having multiple charms would be super awesome!

  • Joshua Nielsen
    August 1, 2018 at 1:49 am

    You forgot to mention the warlock invocation Armor of Shadows as another alternative to get that armor class up without looking dangerous. You could also Magic Initiate Wizard/Sorcerer to gain access to mage armor and a couple more cantrips (and just hope you don’t need mage armor again after eight hours). I really like the mechanical implications of a warlock/bard multiclass, whether as a pure caster or a gish build. For one thing, you can run lore/tome for extra spells and spend your invocations on cast-at-will spells like speak with animals, detect magic, or mage armor, or on upgrading eldritch blast to give you some extra damage potential. This actually got me thinking about dipping archfey warlock with my current lore bard; my intent up to now was to dip life cleric for more support. But I do love the idea of not concerning myself with armor and weapons other than maybe a dagger.

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