So I've been waffling on this for a long while now, and figured it can't hurt to get opinions; I'm playing a bard character who is on level 2, riiiight on the cusp of level 3. So soon I need to pick a bard college for her. The problem that is making me really, really indecisive about what to chose is the fact that she has really poor stats. We rolled for stats at the start of the campaign and well... you can see for yourself, ha.
She doesn't have the strength to work all that well as a melee specialist with college of valor, but most if not all of the other colleges require you to use inspiration points to make use of their features, and her charisma is so low she doesn't have many inspiration points either. I'm mostly between Lore or Valor, since they are the least hampered by her low inspiration, but I'm not really sure. Thoughts?
EDIT: Just for further context, the rest of the part consists of a ranger (archery specialization), a cleric (life domain) and a fighter.
The college that's least impacted by having low CHA is arguably Whispers since the uses of its abilities aren't tied to your CHA modifier, and with Expertise in Deception you can still make great use of Mantle of Whispers.
However I'd still suggest a subclass you'd personally enjoy. If you're leaning towards Lore, you can try to fill skill gaps in your party. If you're leaning towards Valor, you don't need to use melee weapons; you're better off with ranged weapons since you'll want to stay out of harm's way.
Lore arguably brings more to the table with the extra skill proficiencies and Additional Magical Secrets, but having better AC from Medium armor is helpful with your low DEX and CON.
That is a good point! I just wouldn't prefer to go for Whispers for story reasons; the character is deeply uncomfortable with the moral ambiguity of magic related to charming and manipulation. So she isn't going to pick up any of those sorts of spells. (Which I know charming is the bread and butter of the Bard class, but I want to experiment with a different sort of bard).
That is a really good point about the armor class, and it had occurred to me to. I just hadn't really considered ranged weapons since the party has a ranger with a +6 to archery, and my lack of dex means I'd likely just spend a ton of money on arrows that missed more often than not. I do find that I get the most mileage in combat from spellcasting rather than fighting directly, which is why I'm looking at Lore, but I definitely can't dismiss the additional AC out of hand... hm...
So I've been waffling on this for a long while now, and figured it can't hurt to get opinions; I'm playing a bard character who is on level 2, riiiight on the cusp of level 3. So soon I need to pick a bard college for her. The problem that is making me really, really indecisive about what to chose is the fact that she has really poor stats. We rolled for stats at the start of the campaign and well... you can see for yourself, ha.
She doesn't have the strength to work all that well as a melee specialist with college of valor, but most if not all of the other colleges require you to use inspiration points to make use of their features, and her charisma is so low she doesn't have many inspiration points either. I'm mostly between Lore or Valor, since they are the least hampered by her low inspiration, but I'm not really sure. Thoughts?
EDIT: Just for further context, the rest of the part consists of a ranger (archery specialization), a cleric (life domain) and a fighter.
Those stats. Ouch.
I guess Lore and just choose spells that don't have attack rolls or saves?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.
So I've been waffling on this for a long while now, and figured it can't hurt to get opinions; I'm playing a bard character who is on level 2, riiiight on the cusp of level 3. So soon I need to pick a bard college for her. The problem that is making me really, really indecisive about what to chose is the fact that she has really poor stats. We rolled for stats at the start of the campaign and well... you can see for yourself, ha.
She doesn't have the strength to work all that well as a melee specialist with college of valor, but most if not all of the other colleges require you to use inspiration points to make use of their features, and her charisma is so low she doesn't have many inspiration points either. I'm mostly between Lore or Valor, since they are the least hampered by her low inspiration, but I'm not really sure. Thoughts?
EDIT: Just for further context, the rest of the part consists of a ranger (archery specialization), a cleric (life domain) and a fighter.
Those stats. Ouch.
I guess Lore and just choose spells that don't have attack rolls or saves?
What spells don't use saves or attacks?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Halt your wagging and wag your halters, for I am mastercryomancer!"
There aren't many spells that don't require an attack roll from you or a save from the target. You'll just have to dig around and find something.
Personally, I'd petition your DM for a reroll of stats. Rolled stats should never be lower than what you'd get using Standard Array, unless your DM is strict about rolling. RPing bad stats can be fun, but not when they're ALL bad. This is a really bad stat block for any character. If not a full reroll, maybe they'll allow you to just reroll your main and one secondary stat or a switch to Standard Array. At least that way your options can stay relatively open.
I play a Valor Bard in my main game (Standard Array for stats). He is far from optimized, but even with average stats, I can still take advantage of all the things he can do and feel useful to my party.
So I've been waffling on this for a long while now, and figured it can't hurt to get opinions; I'm playing a bard character who is on level 2, riiiight on the cusp of level 3. So soon I need to pick a bard college for her. The problem that is making me really, really indecisive about what to chose is the fact that she has really poor stats. We rolled for stats at the start of the campaign and well... you can see for yourself, ha.
She doesn't have the strength to work all that well as a melee specialist with college of valor, but most if not all of the other colleges require you to use inspiration points to make use of their features, and her charisma is so low she doesn't have many inspiration points either. I'm mostly between Lore or Valor, since they are the least hampered by her low inspiration, but I'm not really sure. Thoughts?
EDIT: Just for further context, the rest of the part consists of a ranger (archery specialization), a cleric (life domain) and a fighter.
Those stats. Ouch.
I guess Lore and just choose spells that don't have attack rolls or saves?
What spells don't use saves or attacks?
Spells used on allies like healing, Haste, Fly, Bless, Shield, etc.
Bards have a bunch, but Magical Secrets would be able to fill in major holes like Shield.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.
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So I've been waffling on this for a long while now, and figured it can't hurt to get opinions; I'm playing a bard character who is on level 2, riiiight on the cusp of level 3. So soon I need to pick a bard college for her. The problem that is making me really, really indecisive about what to chose is the fact that she has really poor stats. We rolled for stats at the start of the campaign and well... you can see for yourself, ha.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Voidshinko/characters/5432530
She doesn't have the strength to work all that well as a melee specialist with college of valor, but most if not all of the other colleges require you to use inspiration points to make use of their features, and her charisma is so low she doesn't have many inspiration points either. I'm mostly between Lore or Valor, since they are the least hampered by her low inspiration, but I'm not really sure. Thoughts?
EDIT: Just for further context, the rest of the part consists of a ranger (archery specialization), a cleric (life domain) and a fighter.
The college that's least impacted by having low CHA is arguably Whispers since the uses of its abilities aren't tied to your CHA modifier, and with Expertise in Deception you can still make great use of Mantle of Whispers.
However I'd still suggest a subclass you'd personally enjoy. If you're leaning towards Lore, you can try to fill skill gaps in your party. If you're leaning towards Valor, you don't need to use melee weapons; you're better off with ranged weapons since you'll want to stay out of harm's way.
Lore arguably brings more to the table with the extra skill proficiencies and Additional Magical Secrets, but having better AC from Medium armor is helpful with your low DEX and CON.
That is a good point! I just wouldn't prefer to go for Whispers for story reasons; the character is deeply uncomfortable with the moral ambiguity of magic related to charming and manipulation. So she isn't going to pick up any of those sorts of spells. (Which I know charming is the bread and butter of the Bard class, but I want to experiment with a different sort of bard).
That is a really good point about the armor class, and it had occurred to me to. I just hadn't really considered ranged weapons since the party has a ranger with a +6 to archery, and my lack of dex means I'd likely just spend a ton of money on arrows that missed more often than not. I do find that I get the most mileage in combat from spellcasting rather than fighting directly, which is why I'm looking at Lore, but I definitely can't dismiss the additional AC out of hand... hm...
Those stats. Ouch.
I guess Lore and just choose spells that don't have attack rolls or saves?
Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.
What spells don't use saves or attacks?
"Halt your wagging and wag your halters, for I am mastercryomancer!"
Check out my Expanded Signature
There aren't many spells that don't require an attack roll from you or a save from the target. You'll just have to dig around and find something.
Personally, I'd petition your DM for a reroll of stats. Rolled stats should never be lower than what you'd get using Standard Array, unless your DM is strict about rolling. RPing bad stats can be fun, but not when they're ALL bad. This is a really bad stat block for any character. If not a full reroll, maybe they'll allow you to just reroll your main and one secondary stat or a switch to Standard Array. At least that way your options can stay relatively open.
I play a Valor Bard in my main game (Standard Array for stats). He is far from optimized, but even with average stats, I can still take advantage of all the things he can do and feel useful to my party.
Spells used on allies like healing, Haste, Fly, Bless, Shield, etc.
Bards have a bunch, but Magical Secrets would be able to fill in major holes like Shield.
Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.