The problem is your character is level14 which makes it a little tricky for most people to try and judge.
- I will say, race and background are good picks.
- I think most people tend to make wisdom the higher ability score between wis and int.
- I think a lot of people undervalue the strength of a good constitution or the feat resilient (con). Drastically improves your ability to make your concentration checks on spells.
- Shillelagh is definitely a unique pick. As a spellcaster bard, you don't really want to be stuck in close combat. In fact, when I start the game out, I usually opt for a light crossbow instead of a rapier as my starting weapon. Obviously, you would choose the rapier if you are going the swords or valor subclass but tbh those are strictly worse than the caster bard subclasses.
- I don't know if I agree with the feat selections. Lucky may be more useful if you were a class that was making more attack/spell attack rolls. You're playing a lore bard so even the out- of-combat application is weakened by your jack of all trades, proficiencies, and expertise features. Leader is a decent pick, resilient (con) is very good, moderately armored is kinda good and most people wouldn't consider (boosting your ac from a typical 15 to 18). You could give 14 to wis, 10 to int, 13 to con, select resilient (con) & moderately armored for feats, and use the last asi or feat to give a +1 to cha and dex. This will increase your con saving throw from a +0 to a +7, your cha and dex to 18 and 16, initiative from +4 to +5, and your ac from 16 (shouldn't it be 15? studded leather<12+2 + elven chain<1 = 15?) to 19 at the cost of swapping your +2 to int skills with +2 to wis skills, losing out on lucky (which isn't the most useful for this character in particular) & metamagic adept (which can only be used once per day since it should really only be used for quickened spell) & observant (probably most useful for improving passive perception and investigation which is underwhelming).
I'm not sure if you gave the +1 from observant to int or wis so keep in mind the number's I mentioned for them after the removal of observant could be off. Also don't feel obligated to swap int with wis if you don't want to (it can be interchangeable but perception is a pretty strong skill to have and int skills become a bit less important if you already have an int player in the party).
The problem is your character is level14 which makes it a little tricky for most people to try and judge.
- I will say, race and background are good picks.
- I think most people tend to make wisdom the higher ability score between wis and int.
- I think a lot of people undervalue the strength of a good constitution or the feat resilient (con). Drastically improves your ability to make your concentration checks on spells.
- Shillelagh is definitely a unique pick. As a spellcaster bard, you don't really want to be stuck in close combat. In fact, when I start the game out, I usually opt for a light crossbow instead of a rapier as my starting weapon. Obviously, you would choose the rapier if you are going the swords or valor subclass but tbh those are strictly worse than the caster bard subclasses.
- I don't know if I agree with the feat selections. Lucky may be more useful if you were a class that was making more attack/spell attack rolls. You're playing a lore bard so even the out- of-combat application is weakened by your jack of all trades, proficiencies, and expertise features. Leader is a decent pick, resilient (con) is very good, moderately armored is kinda good and most people wouldn't consider (boosting your ac from a typical 15 to 18). You could give 14 to wis, 10 to int, 13 to con, select resilient (con) & moderately armored for feats, and use the last asi or feat to give a +1 to cha and dex. This will increase your con saving throw from a +0 to a +7, your cha and dex to 18 and 16, initiative from +4 to +5, and your ac from 16 (shouldn't it be 15? studded leather<12+2 + elven chain<1 = 15?) to 19 at the cost of swapping your +2 to int skills with +2 to wis skills, losing out on lucky (which isn't the most useful for this character in particular) & metamagic adept (which can only be used once per day since it should really only be used for quickened spell) & observant (probably most useful for improving passive perception and investigation which is underwhelming).
I'm not sure if you gave the +1 from observant to int or wis so keep in mind the number's I mentioned for them after the removal of observant could be off. Also don't feel obligated to swap int with wis if you don't want to (it can be interchangeable but perception is a pretty strong skill to have and int skills become a bit less important if you already have an int player in the party).
Hopefully this helps!
Thank you, good sir!
wrt Shillelagh, it comes from the Bardic Instrument. I didn't specifically choose it. The Bardic Instruments each have some good spells and some "Why?" spells.
wrt Lucky, thank you! I had not considered the reasoning you gave. I think your feat selections are very appropriate. My thoughts were to use Metamagic Adept primarily for Subtle. This would permit the out-of-combat use of Subtle Mislead during social encounters which could be useful when investigating or as a prelude to combat or similar.
As you said, this is 14 levels. I know you put a great deal of time into this and I appreciate it!
If you could just take a look at it and give me your thoughts, I'd really appreciate it.
Statline: Bizarre. Why are you S10 W13? S11 W12 would be strictly better, not that I understand why you've invested so heavily in S or I in the first place. With D and C that low you're going to be very easily hit (well, theoretically, see inventory commentary below) and then lose concentration in very short order.
Something is very wrong if you reached Bard 14 with Charisma 17. One of your roles in the party is succeeding at Persuasion and Deception checks and another role is having your spells work. You should take your job seriously. See Feat discussion below for specific advice.
Inventory: Next-level sus. Hell, you have 2 Immovable Rods, which is a gamebreaking combo by itself, and then you have Marvelous Pigments, which can overcome almost any possible challenge a DM can conceive of. You're clearly operating under some sort of house rule for magic item inventory that you haven't specified, so I can't comment on any of it. I'm going to analyze this ignoring your magic item inventory, so I won't e.g. assume you have access to Elven Chain (or Serpent Scale).
Feats:
If you want to burn a feat on a whopping 1 metamagic per day due to only having 2 SP, you shouldn't take Subtle Spell, which is usually worthless because so many spells have an M component (like Friends, which you took). Twinned will often serve you better, although bear in mind it will easily scale past how many SP you get. Not a huge deal, since you'll generally use all your SP on 1 Quickened Spell per day.
Observant is functionally hot garbage compared to Skill Expert for you, because you're Charisma based and it forces you into INT/WIS. Don't underestimate other Charisma half-feats: Fey Touched and Elven Advantage are both strong contenders if you don't feel the need for Skill Expert.
Having examined your feat selection, it's just odd. Here's a baseline you should feel free to deviate from so you have an idea what an L14 Bard should more-or-less look like:
Half-Elf: CHA 17 DEX 16 CON 16 (you need Wisdom for exactly 2 Ability checks, so we'll fix that later, don't worry)
ASIs 3
+2 Charisma
+1 Charisma/+1 Constitution
Resilient Constitution
Final Statline: CHA 20 DEX 16 CON 18
Skill Proficiencies 3 (Bard) + 3 (Lore) + 2 (Half-Elf) + 2 (Background) = 10; your 4 Expertises have a *
Athletics
Stealth
Arcana
Investigation
Perception*
Insight*
Survival[1]
Deception*
Persuasion*
Intimidation[1]
[1]: 10 skills is more than half of the 18 that exist, so it's hard to pick that many strong candidates. You should be able to play your Bard in such a way that Survival and Intimidation only come up when the DM basically forces your hand, and the same is true of the other 3 lore skills (History, Nature, and Religion), so it's not a huge deal which 2 of the 5 you actually take. Without knowing anything about your DM, History is generically more useful than Nature or Religion in most campaigns I've personally witnessed, because 100% of campaigns have a history, while not all of them have religions or nature, if the DM's gotten weird about it (e.g. imagine a campaign set in the real world of The Matrix where almost all life is wiped out and the only pseudoreligion is hope for The One). Point is, take any 2 of the 5 you feel most strongly about.
Not going to get into the weeds of spell selection, way too much to get into for an L14 Lore Bard.
You have an AWFUL lot of concentration spells, particularly low level ones.
You are 14th level, you low level spells should not be used for concentration, unless they are particularly powerful. You also have learned SIX 5th level spells but can only cast 2 a day. Drop a couple down to lower levels.
Yes, you cannot change the magic item granted concentration spells. I can see the non-combat ones being useful. But I would definitely replace the following spells:
Tasha's Hideous Laughter
Phatasmal Force
Mislead and/or Telekinesis (both good spells, but two more concentration spells? Get something that is NOT concentration so you have something to actually cast in the 2nd round of combat.
Consider Command and Charm Monster.
You have Magical Secrets and did not get either Counterspell or Dispell Magic? Get at least one (Counterspell is slightly better).
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https://www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/briannewman1_437447.pdf
If you could just take a look at it and give me your thoughts, I'd really appreciate it.
The problem is your character is level14 which makes it a little tricky for most people to try and judge.
- I will say, race and background are good picks.
- I think most people tend to make wisdom the higher ability score between wis and int.
- I think a lot of people undervalue the strength of a good constitution or the feat resilient (con). Drastically improves your ability to make your concentration checks on spells.
- Shillelagh is definitely a unique pick. As a spellcaster bard, you don't really want to be stuck in close combat. In fact, when I start the game out, I usually opt for a light crossbow instead of a rapier as my starting weapon. Obviously, you would choose the rapier if you are going the swords or valor subclass but tbh those are strictly worse than the caster bard subclasses.
- I don't know if I agree with the feat selections. Lucky may be more useful if you were a class that was making more attack/spell attack rolls. You're playing a lore bard so even the out- of-combat application is weakened by your jack of all trades, proficiencies, and expertise features. Leader is a decent pick, resilient (con) is very good, moderately armored is kinda good and most people wouldn't consider (boosting your ac from a typical 15 to 18). You could give 14 to wis, 10 to int, 13 to con, select resilient (con) & moderately armored for feats, and use the last asi or feat to give a +1 to cha and dex. This will increase your con saving throw from a +0 to a +7, your cha and dex to 18 and 16, initiative from +4 to +5, and your ac from 16 (shouldn't it be 15? studded leather<12+2 + elven chain<1 = 15?) to 19 at the cost of swapping your +2 to int skills with +2 to wis skills, losing out on lucky (which isn't the most useful for this character in particular) & metamagic adept (which can only be used once per day since it should really only be used for quickened spell) & observant (probably most useful for improving passive perception and investigation which is underwhelming).
I'm not sure if you gave the +1 from observant to int or wis so keep in mind the number's I mentioned for them after the removal of observant could be off. Also don't feel obligated to swap int with wis if you don't want to (it can be interchangeable but perception is a pretty strong skill to have and int skills become a bit less important if you already have an int player in the party).
Hopefully this helps!
Thank you, good sir!
wrt Shillelagh, it comes from the Bardic Instrument. I didn't specifically choose it. The Bardic Instruments each have some good spells and some "Why?" spells.
wrt Lucky, thank you! I had not considered the reasoning you gave. I think your feat selections are very appropriate. My thoughts were to use Metamagic Adept primarily for Subtle. This would permit the out-of-combat use of Subtle Mislead during social encounters which could be useful when investigating or as a prelude to combat or similar.
As you said, this is 14 levels. I know you put a great deal of time into this and I appreciate it!
Statline: Bizarre. Why are you S10 W13? S11 W12 would be strictly better, not that I understand why you've invested so heavily in S or I in the first place. With D and C that low you're going to be very easily hit (well, theoretically, see inventory commentary below) and then lose concentration in very short order.
Inventory: Next-level sus. Hell, you have 2 Immovable Rods, which is a gamebreaking combo by itself, and then you have Marvelous Pigments, which can overcome almost any possible challenge a DM can conceive of. You're clearly operating under some sort of house rule for magic item inventory that you haven't specified, so I can't comment on any of it. I'm going to analyze this ignoring your magic item inventory, so I won't e.g. assume you have access to Elven Chain (or Serpent Scale).
Feats:
You have an AWFUL lot of concentration spells, particularly low level ones.
You are 14th level, you low level spells should not be used for concentration, unless they are particularly powerful. You also have learned SIX 5th level spells but can only cast 2 a day. Drop a couple down to lower levels.
Yes, you cannot change the magic item granted concentration spells. I can see the non-combat ones being useful. But I would definitely replace the following spells:
Consider Command and Charm Monster.
You have Magical Secrets and did not get either Counterspell or Dispell Magic? Get at least one (Counterspell is slightly better).