I am fairly new to DND and am creating my character for the waterdeep dragon heist, this campaign will lead into other adventures so overall I’ll be reaching level 20. I am making a drow follower of eilistraee and am going to be creating a sword bard, my only concern is that they are so squishy!!! should i multiclass to combat this? my rolled stats are 17, 15, 13, 13, 11, 10. I am looking forward to multiclassing as for my two other campaigns I'm going pure solo class. Any help would be appreciated!
Multiclassing 1 or 2 levels of Hexblade Warlock gives you a lot of survivability. You get medium armor and shield proficiencies as well as the Shield spell. Being able to use CHA for all your attacking needs also frees up ASIs for fun feats.
Swords bard is an interesting approach to the standard bard. I played a Drow swords bard myself. Here are a couple of my thoughts.
1. Levels 1-2 you are not a swords bard. You are a bard. Just because you want to play a more aggressive style and get in the combat doesn't make it a good idea until you have the swords bard tools. 2. Levels 3-4 you are a swords bard but the long rest refresh of inspiration is a serious problem. Defensive flourish is a great tool, but you won't have a lot of inspiration to throw around until it refreshes on a short rest. 3. Levels 5+ you will start to feel more swordsy, and level 6 you get extra attack. 4. Ability scores and decisions. Dex/Con/Cha. Dexterity makes you better at fighting and helps AC (a little). Con gives you HP and saves needed to maintain concentration. Cha gives you bardic inspiration which means more uses of your blade flourishes (also boosts your saves). You will need at least a 16 in both Dex/Cha by 5th level if possible. Only have 2 blade flourishes is not going to work well, and only having +2 mod for Dex is not going to work well. For Con it gets what is left, but things like resilient con or warcaster are considerations for whatyou want to choose to cast. As you level up you get ASI's Feats and you get to choose two (dex/cha/con save) or even one of these.
If you don't choose constitution save protection then you need to be choosy about your spell choice and combat style. You can't just concentrate on a spell and go in brawling because you will drop concentration.
A level 12 build with one form of concentration protection and a 16/18 in dex/cha is pretty reasonable, but you could go 18/18 with no concentration protection, or 16/20 or 20/16.
*The multiclass option of hexblade above for two levels is a GREAT recommendation. Two levels gets you a blade cantrip, eldritch blast, weapon attacks with charisma, and eldritch mind gives you advantage on con saves. Devil's sight works well with darkness which you get from Drow. It delays extra attack and spell progression, but EB provides a good ranged option to get you to extra attack. Hex works well as does armor of agathys. If you get a 1st level background feat and can take magic initiate warlock that would be great, but I wouldn't blame someone for taking tough as well.
Another important consideration for your particular build is how elven accuracy could affect your spell choices. You may not need a 20 dex to hit things if you are consistently getting advantage via devil's sight/darkness, faerie fire, improved invisibility, web, etc. For those concentration protection will be more critical and maybe you want your save better and more blade flourishes.
Final really dumb important note: know what version of encumberence your DM will be using. If it is the 5xstr version then you can't fully stat dump strength and use half plate. The 15xstr version is a bit more forgiving, but at 40 points half plate is still pretty heavy. The difference between breastplate and half plate is only 1 point, but it maybe important.
There’s the tough feat. Otherwise just increasing dexterity or constitution. I personally started with two classes in Paladin, but I probably still suffer from the same condition as you (it’s not my main build.) Items in-game can possibly help, but you need to talk to your DM about that.
I am making a drow follower of eilistraee and am going to be creating a sword bard, my only concern is that they are so squishy!!! should i multiclass to combat this?
I played a bard with hex dip in dragon heist it was hella fun. 1st level bard, 2nd level - warlock (eldritch blast, armor of agathys, shield spell) 3 level onwards - bard. On bard 4 get polearm master (using a spear on one hand) or fay touched +1 CHA - bless and gift of alacrity is best choice. Level 10 grab holy weapon from magical secrets.
Swords bard 1lvl hex dip is one of the tankiest characters you can make. Shield, shield spell, defensive flourish and upcasted armor of aghathys makes for a monster tank. While also being able to deal a good amount of damage.
Or you can start with Tortle for your speicies. Gives you a natural AC of 17. Since you can't wear heavy armor anyway, finding magical armor later on will usually not be a big hit.
Or choose Goliath as starting species, then go with Stone Giant. Deducting damage by 1d12+CON bonus of damage using your reaction is great at early levels when you are at your squishiest.
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I am fairly new to DND and am creating my character for the waterdeep dragon heist, this campaign will lead into other adventures so overall I’ll be reaching level 20. I am making a drow follower of eilistraee and am going to be creating a sword bard, my only concern is that they are so squishy!!! should i multiclass to combat this? my rolled stats are 17, 15, 13, 13, 11, 10. I am looking forward to multiclassing as for my two other campaigns I'm going pure solo class. Any help would be appreciated!
Multiclassing 1 or 2 levels of Hexblade Warlock gives you a lot of survivability. You get medium armor and shield proficiencies as well as the Shield spell. Being able to use CHA for all your attacking needs also frees up ASIs for fun feats.
Swords bard is an interesting approach to the standard bard. I played a Drow swords bard myself. Here are a couple of my thoughts.
1. Levels 1-2 you are not a swords bard. You are a bard. Just because you want to play a more aggressive style and get in the combat doesn't make it a good idea until you have the swords bard tools.
2. Levels 3-4 you are a swords bard but the long rest refresh of inspiration is a serious problem. Defensive flourish is a great tool, but you won't have a lot of inspiration to throw around until it refreshes on a short rest.
3. Levels 5+ you will start to feel more swordsy, and level 6 you get extra attack.
4. Ability scores and decisions. Dex/Con/Cha. Dexterity makes you better at fighting and helps AC (a little). Con gives you HP and saves needed to maintain concentration. Cha gives you bardic inspiration which means more uses of your blade flourishes (also boosts your saves). You will need at least a 16 in both Dex/Cha by 5th level if possible. Only have 2 blade flourishes is not going to work well, and only having +2 mod for Dex is not going to work well. For Con it gets what is left, but things like resilient con or warcaster are considerations for whatyou want to choose to cast. As you level up you get ASI's Feats and you get to choose two (dex/cha/con save) or even one of these.
If you don't choose constitution save protection then you need to be choosy about your spell choice and combat style. You can't just concentrate on a spell and go in brawling because you will drop concentration.
A level 12 build with one form of concentration protection and a 16/18 in dex/cha is pretty reasonable, but you could go 18/18 with no concentration protection, or 16/20 or 20/16.
*The multiclass option of hexblade above for two levels is a GREAT recommendation. Two levels gets you a blade cantrip, eldritch blast, weapon attacks with charisma, and eldritch mind gives you advantage on con saves. Devil's sight works well with darkness which you get from Drow. It delays extra attack and spell progression, but EB provides a good ranged option to get you to extra attack. Hex works well as does armor of agathys. If you get a 1st level background feat and can take magic initiate warlock that would be great, but I wouldn't blame someone for taking tough as well.
Another important consideration for your particular build is how elven accuracy could affect your spell choices. You may not need a 20 dex to hit things if you are consistently getting advantage via devil's sight/darkness, faerie fire, improved invisibility, web, etc. For those concentration protection will be more critical and maybe you want your save better and more blade flourishes.
Final really dumb important note: know what version of encumberence your DM will be using. If it is the 5xstr version then you can't fully stat dump strength and use half plate. The 15xstr version is a bit more forgiving, but at 40 points half plate is still pretty heavy. The difference between breastplate and half plate is only 1 point, but it maybe important.
There’s the tough feat. Otherwise just increasing dexterity or constitution. I personally started with two classes in Paladin, but I probably still suffer from the same condition as you (it’s not my main build.) Items in-game can possibly help, but you need to talk to your DM about that.
this is great! thank you for the helpful response. what level would you recommend i dip into hex?
Start off as Hexblade and multi into Bard is probably the best way.
I played a bard with hex dip in dragon heist it was hella fun. 1st level bard, 2nd level - warlock (eldritch blast, armor of agathys, shield spell) 3 level onwards - bard. On bard 4 get polearm master (using a spear on one hand) or fay touched +1 CHA - bless and gift of alacrity is best choice. Level 10 grab holy weapon from magical secrets.
Swords bard 1lvl hex dip is one of the tankiest characters you can make. Shield, shield spell, defensive flourish and upcasted armor of aghathys makes for a monster tank. While also being able to deal a good amount of damage.
Or you can start with Tortle for your speicies. Gives you a natural AC of 17. Since you can't wear heavy armor anyway, finding magical armor later on will usually not be a big hit.
Or choose Goliath as starting species, then go with Stone Giant. Deducting damage by 1d12+CON bonus of damage using your reaction is great at early levels when you are at your squishiest.