I'm going to be starting a new game shortly where I actually get to play rather than DM thanks to my wonderful GF. it's a family game where we have myself, a player/DM with years of exp, and our kids who have played but are not real confident in their playstyles yet. I plan on playing a Bard/Warlock faceman, social guy with combat utility and EB/AB from warlock. Chain pact for the familiar scout could be awesome as well.
Any ideas on the best Race, skills, feats, spells combos for the most utility?
You already have eldritch blast and vicious mockery, two of the best cantrips in the game. After that? Its going to depend on what role you want to play going forwards. What kind of character are you planning on playing? What's your concept beyond mixing those two classes?
Like you said, I plan to get EB and viscious mockery. Expertise in persuasion and deception. Proficiency in perception, stealth, intimidation, insight, maybe a couple others as things play out to add utility. I'll probably do 3 Warlock for EB and Agonizing Blast with Mask of Many Faces, the Warlock familiar for help and scouting would be sweet.
The idea is the face of the group, the front man to handle negotiations and deal with social interactions. Major damage isn't needed persay, but what out there would help a couple melee classes and a cleric?
So, to start with, you'll only get five skills from your background and class (three from starting or MCing into bard), so that means your race either needs to be elf (specifically, mordenkeinen's eladrin), half elf, or human for the extra skill. Alternatively, drop Mask of Many Faces and get Beguiling for more skills. That will give you the six skills you want to start with.
What kind of melee classes? Do you have a ranger/rogue/monk for scouting? Cleric can probably handle most of your healing. Anyone playing a full caster other than the cleric, such as a Bladesinger? If not, then I recommend either focusing on the fiend warlock after the first three levels of bard, or raise lore bard to 5 and get fireball/counterspell/dispel magic, since having AoE and anti-magic options are important in both combat and in exploration. Hypnotic pattern can replace fireball if necessary. Alternatively, an arcane or light cleric can cover the AoEs.
Is there someone in the group with access to Arcane checks? Sometimes that's important when running into traps, as is access to Religion. The other INT skills aren't as useful. Well, sometimes Investigate, depending on GM, but I haven't seen it personally.
Are you going for lore or glamour bard? Both are pretty decent, and glamour might be worthwhile if your group wants the extra speed at start of combat. For warlock, I recommend either fiend or GOO. The former gives you a bit more survivabilty, while the latter gives you the ability to send regardless of language. You'll need detect thoughts to read the information back. I find that imps make the best scouts, given their ability to see in any darkness and invisibility.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm going to be starting a new game shortly where I actually get to play rather than DM thanks to my wonderful GF. it's a family game where we have myself, a player/DM with years of exp, and our kids who have played but are not real confident in their playstyles yet. I plan on playing a Bard/Warlock faceman, social guy with combat utility and EB/AB from warlock. Chain pact for the familiar scout could be awesome as well.
Any ideas on the best Race, skills, feats, spells combos for the most utility?
You already have eldritch blast and vicious mockery, two of the best cantrips in the game. After that? Its going to depend on what role you want to play going forwards. What kind of character are you planning on playing? What's your concept beyond mixing those two classes?
Like you said, I plan to get EB and viscious mockery. Expertise in persuasion and deception. Proficiency in perception, stealth, intimidation, insight, maybe a couple others as things play out to add utility. I'll probably do 3 Warlock for EB and Agonizing Blast with Mask of Many Faces, the Warlock familiar for help and scouting would be sweet.
The idea is the face of the group, the front man to handle negotiations and deal with social interactions. Major damage isn't needed persay, but what out there would help a couple melee classes and a cleric?
So, to start with, you'll only get five skills from your background and class (three from starting or MCing into bard), so that means your race either needs to be elf (specifically, mordenkeinen's eladrin), half elf, or human for the extra skill. Alternatively, drop Mask of Many Faces and get Beguiling for more skills. That will give you the six skills you want to start with.
What kind of melee classes? Do you have a ranger/rogue/monk for scouting? Cleric can probably handle most of your healing. Anyone playing a full caster other than the cleric, such as a Bladesinger? If not, then I recommend either focusing on the fiend warlock after the first three levels of bard, or raise lore bard to 5 and get fireball/counterspell/dispel magic, since having AoE and anti-magic options are important in both combat and in exploration. Hypnotic pattern can replace fireball if necessary. Alternatively, an arcane or light cleric can cover the AoEs.
Is there someone in the group with access to Arcane checks? Sometimes that's important when running into traps, as is access to Religion. The other INT skills aren't as useful. Well, sometimes Investigate, depending on GM, but I haven't seen it personally.
Are you going for lore or glamour bard? Both are pretty decent, and glamour might be worthwhile if your group wants the extra speed at start of combat. For warlock, I recommend either fiend or GOO. The former gives you a bit more survivabilty, while the latter gives you the ability to send regardless of language. You'll need detect thoughts to read the information back. I find that imps make the best scouts, given their ability to see in any darkness and invisibility.