(In one of my campaigns...) I play Kallista, Tiefling Bard, College of Glamour. She plays her lute and is primarily a utility/support caster for her party, a group of initiate guild members she "babysits." (Important note - all party members character level is 4. In this homebrew campaign, she is a trainer who oversees the party's missions as long as the mission is beneficial to her own ends to become the leader of the bards' within the guild.)
As such, most of my spellcasting is focused on healing, control, etc. At level 8 I intend to take the Magic Initiate feat and grab the warlock class spells of eldritch blast and toll the dead (I feel like I need a few more effective offensive options in between supporting actions) and the hex as the level 1 spell. This feat allows cantrip to be cantrips, but the 1st level spell is once per long rest.
Thoughts? Is there a better option for the level one spell?
And, yes. I know I can just multiclass, but I don't really want to. I like the loophole.
I did the same thing on my most recent Bard but with different cantrips (Green Flame Blade and Create Bonfire for me, as I wanted more fire damage options), but I likewise went for Hex. While once per long rest doesn't seem like much, it can last up to an hour (and is transferable) so with the right timing you can get a lot of value out of it and I've been happy with it.
If you mostly focus on support then you may already have a feel for when you most need to switch to damage dealing; I usually found that certain fights would be "all hands on deck" type affairs where I needed to get my hands dirty, or get in there to give our Rogue an adjacent ally. Usually these are the ones with more enemies and chaos, or bigger boss fights (and the run up to them, where the hour long duration can be important), though it will depend a lot on your own party's dynamic.
While there have been a couple of occasions where I've used hex too soon and regretted it, I've got so much out of that once per long rest that I've been happy with it overall. You can always fish for hints from your DM like "can I hear more enemies in the next room?" (there's going to be another fight, or another wave in this one) or "does this seem like the last of the enemies?" and so-on; my DM was usually happy to let me make a perception check and then I could inform my decision based on that, and it's not really meta-gaming as situational awareness is something we do just sometimes forget about.
The one other consideration is; how many other concentration spells do you have? If you have any other favourites then you need to be wary of how often they might conflict, because having to interrupt your once per long rest Hex is unpleasant.
The one other consideration is; how many other concentration spells do you have? If you have any other favourites then you need to be wary of how often they might conflict, because having to interrupt your once per long rest Hex is unpleasant.
I really only have a couple of spells that require concentration and by the time I can take my next feat (level 8), I doubt those spells will be as useful during combat. Except maybe silence, our campaign seems to put our party against casters quite often, I took it because sometimes you just need the bad guys to sshhh!
I mean, they're good spells and they scale off Charisma. The only person who's going to know whether this is a good fit in your party is you though.
I've always kinda wanted to use Hex to synergize with a grappler by hitting STR or DEX. It also can help your Rogue hide from a highly perceptive enemy by hitting WIS. So it has some niche use as a support type spell. But realistically it's a damage multiplier most of the time.
Occasionally you'll be in the situation where if one of your allies hadn't rolled crap, an enemy would be dead this turn, but your Vicious Mockery isn't likely to kill them so it feels like you can't do much. I'm assuming this is the scenario you're trying to safeguard against. I don't really feel like it's my fault when that happens, so I'm not concerned about fixing it lol. Follow your heart though. There are very few genuinely bad build choices and this isn't one by a long shot.
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(In one of my campaigns...) I play Kallista, Tiefling Bard, College of Glamour. She plays her lute and is primarily a utility/support caster for her party, a group of initiate guild members she "babysits." (Important note - all party members character level is 4. In this homebrew campaign, she is a trainer who oversees the party's missions as long as the mission is beneficial to her own ends to become the leader of the bards' within the guild.)
As such, most of my spellcasting is focused on healing, control, etc. At level 8 I intend to take the Magic Initiate feat and grab the warlock class spells of eldritch blast and toll the dead (I feel like I need a few more effective offensive options in between supporting actions) and the hex as the level 1 spell. This feat allows cantrip to be cantrips, but the 1st level spell is once per long rest.
Thoughts? Is there a better option for the level one spell?
And, yes. I know I can just multiclass, but I don't really want to. I like the loophole.
~ May all your rolls Crit ~
I did the same thing on my most recent Bard but with different cantrips (Green Flame Blade and Create Bonfire for me, as I wanted more fire damage options), but I likewise went for Hex. While once per long rest doesn't seem like much, it can last up to an hour (and is transferable) so with the right timing you can get a lot of value out of it and I've been happy with it.
If you mostly focus on support then you may already have a feel for when you most need to switch to damage dealing; I usually found that certain fights would be "all hands on deck" type affairs where I needed to get my hands dirty, or get in there to give our Rogue an adjacent ally. Usually these are the ones with more enemies and chaos, or bigger boss fights (and the run up to them, where the hour long duration can be important), though it will depend a lot on your own party's dynamic.
While there have been a couple of occasions where I've used hex too soon and regretted it, I've got so much out of that once per long rest that I've been happy with it overall. You can always fish for hints from your DM like "can I hear more enemies in the next room?" (there's going to be another fight, or another wave in this one) or "does this seem like the last of the enemies?" and so-on; my DM was usually happy to let me make a perception check and then I could inform my decision based on that, and it's not really meta-gaming as situational awareness is something we do just sometimes forget about.
The one other consideration is; how many other concentration spells do you have? If you have any other favourites then you need to be wary of how often they might conflict, because having to interrupt your once per long rest Hex is unpleasant.
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I really only have a couple of spells that require concentration and by the time I can take my next feat (level 8), I doubt those spells will be as useful during combat. Except maybe silence, our campaign seems to put our party against casters quite often, I took it because sometimes you just need the bad guys to sshhh!
~ May all your rolls Crit ~
I mean, they're good spells and they scale off Charisma. The only person who's going to know whether this is a good fit in your party is you though.
I've always kinda wanted to use Hex to synergize with a grappler by hitting STR or DEX. It also can help your Rogue hide from a highly perceptive enemy by hitting WIS. So it has some niche use as a support type spell. But realistically it's a damage multiplier most of the time.
Occasionally you'll be in the situation where if one of your allies hadn't rolled crap, an enemy would be dead this turn, but your Vicious Mockery isn't likely to kill them so it feels like you can't do much. I'm assuming this is the scenario you're trying to safeguard against. I don't really feel like it's my fault when that happens, so I'm not concerned about fixing it lol. Follow your heart though. There are very few genuinely bad build choices and this isn't one by a long shot.