Looking to make a mountain dwarf or human valor bard who stands on the front lines and is a back up melee damage dealer while buffing up his comrades. I know I’ll never be THE damage dealer or THE tank but the “skald” concept in my head always seemed cool. (Thinking of a Skald class kind of in the dark age of Camelot games if that helps any) I’m not really locked into any race or build but I do know I want to make a valor bard
A couple of questions.. A) is this viable at all? I’m not a min/max player but I want to be useful. B) is strength valor bard worth it? Or should I just go Vuman and go dex build? C) the concept of a heavy armor bard seems awesome, but that requires me to use a feat AND buy heavy armor which seems like a lot to get minimal gain out of.
Certainly seems viable. You can get heavy armor sooner by going fighter or paladin at level 1. You will get extra attack later, but can get a fighting style (paladin level 2) and some extra health/healing, plus at level 2 action surge or smites and more spells.
You don't absolutely need Heavy Armor, though. You can max Str and Cha and still have room for Dex 12 or so, and that's definitely enough to be viable in the Medium Armor you get as a Valor Bard (which is often thematically pretty heavy...I mean, Half Plate is a thing). Your AC will really hurt until 3rd level if going this route on a non-Mountain Dwarf, though.
1d8+3 probably (unless you roll for stats), 1d8+5 with duelist fighting style. If you go paladin for smites, that's 2d8 extra. Otherwise, you will have to wait for extra attack at level 6. (Bards aren't really meant for weapon damage).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Looking to make a mountain dwarf or human valor bard who stands on the front lines and is a back up melee damage dealer while buffing up his comrades. I know I’ll never be THE damage dealer or THE tank but the “skald” concept in my head always seemed cool. (Thinking of a Skald class kind of in the dark age of Camelot games if that helps any) I’m not really locked into any race or build but I do know I want to make a valor bard
A couple of questions.. A) is this viable at all? I’m not a min/max player but I want to be useful. B) is strength valor bard worth it? Or should I just go Vuman and go dex build? C) the concept of a heavy armor bard seems awesome, but that requires me to use a feat AND buy heavy armor which seems like a lot to get minimal gain out of.
Any advice helps! Thanks in advance!
Certainly seems viable. You can get heavy armor sooner by going fighter or paladin at level 1. You will get extra attack later, but can get a fighting style (paladin level 2) and some extra health/healing, plus at level 2 action surge or smites and more spells.
You don't absolutely need Heavy Armor, though. You can max Str and Cha and still have room for Dex 12 or so, and that's definitely enough to be viable in the Medium Armor you get as a Valor Bard (which is often thematically pretty heavy...I mean, Half Plate is a thing). Your AC will really hurt until 3rd level if going this route on a non-Mountain Dwarf, though.
Weapon damage wise how would it do? Thinking a mountain dwarf with a Longsword or Warhammer and shield. Any spells to help me boost that?
1d8+3 probably (unless you roll for stats), 1d8+5 with duelist fighting style. If you go paladin for smites, that's 2d8 extra. Otherwise, you will have to wait for extra attack at level 6. (Bards aren't really meant for weapon damage).