I went with a hexblade dip for now (I am playing AL and can change things up for a while yet). From a story perspective, my character has found the sheath to a lost singing sword and through that has gained the level in hexblade. But I am playing it as if she has not noticed anything and sees these new powers as coming from Eilistraee. My DM has otherwise let me reskin the abilities with divine flavor and otherwise I have selected spells that are protective and more in line with the idea of her as a dancing bard.
So far I like this build and am looking forward to level 3 bard so that I can gain the flourishes from Swords bard.
But I was hoping for some guidance for what I should do in regards to ASI and Feats. There seems to be quite a few feats out there that really play up what I am looking to make with this character. (A sword dancer, weaving in and out of combat). I am thinking anything that allows me a higher AC, more mobility, more attacks/damage output or a higher initiative or other things that might be nice?
I went with a hexblade dip for now (I am playing AL and can change things up for a while yet). From a story perspective, my character has found the sheath to a lost singing sword and through that has gained the level in hexblade. But I am playing it as if she has not noticed anything and sees these new powers as coming from Eilistraee. My DM has otherwise let me reskin the abilities with divine flavor and otherwise I have selected spells that are protective and more in line with the idea of her as a dancing bard.
So far I like this build and am looking forward to level 3 bard so that I can gain the flourishes from Swords bard.
But I was hoping for some guidance for what I should do in regards to ASI and Feats. There seems to be quite a few feats out there that really play up what I am looking to make with this character. (A sword dancer, weaving in and out of combat). I am thinking anything that allows me a higher AC, more mobility, more attacks/damage output or a higher initiative or other things that might be nice?
Drow High Magic Mobile Shield Master Sentinel
one of those could work but if you want to really multiclass you could go bladesinger
Yeah, I get where you are coming from with the bladesinger multiclass. But I have just played a wizard to level 19 and would prefer to try something a bit different.
I am also playing a character who is touched by Eilistraee. I went College of Swords/Hexblade/Swashbuckler. I am having a lot of fun with this character. Charisma is my stat for spellcasting, for melee, it adds to Initiative. It's great!
Is it the swashbuckler that allows you to add charisma to your initiative? Do you feel like you use more abilities from a certain class compared to the others? :D
Would love to hear your backstory in regards to being touched by Eilistraee. Either here in the chat or via private message. :D
Yes, it is Swashbuckler that lets me add Charisma to Initiative. I actually use abilities from all my classes just about equally, I feel they all tie together very nicely. See I started playing as a College of Swords Bard. This is my first 5E character and I wanted to make a gish, who enhances their swordplay with a little bit of magic. After a few levels of Bard, though, I realized that the Bard class is definitely a full caster and that even taking College of Swords only made him like 1/3 of a martial character at best. So I started looking around for ways to make him a half caster and this is what I thought would work best for me. I also could have gone Battlemaster instead of Swashbuckler, but I thought this build was more nimble and fleet rather than damaging.
That was my in character lore for how I took Eilistraee as my Hexblade Patron. My DM said later that technically it's Eilistraee's Moonblade that's my Patron.
What a great read Ophidimancer! I have put my characters backstory up as well. Be warned that it is kinda long but anyone here is welcome to read it. If you have any comments or feedback to it then please just add it to the document. :D
I am very tempted to go Swashbuckler as well. Thankfully, I have a few more sessions before I have to set anything in stone. The only downside I feel right now is that I really give spell progression a kick... and that second bard attack.
Thanks for great feedback Jabour! I will absolutely be looking debating on ASI or going for the mobile feat once I am able to choose.
___________________
Not sure if it helps. But like I have said before, I picture my character dancing through the battlefield with her longsword. Weaving in and out of combat, while also stopping to help any of her friends in need. She is a very religious bard that wants to be kind and helpful to those in need. Haha, I kinda see her as being a bard but behaving like a good Paladin/Cleric, if that makes any sense at all.
I almost chose this but ended up with fighter instead. Expertise, cunning action, some sneak dice that you can always use, +cha to initiative, free skill what is not to love.
Fighter gave me 1ac, second wind (meh), action surge (damn it's good) and some extra dice that play well with flourishes. I even played around with going sword bard 14 rogue 3 fighter 3. Warlock 1 kills that and I wouldn't take 13 levels in bard. I would stop at 10 or 14.
My only regret about multiclassing isn't slowing spell progression. Being bard 6 gave me enough spell slots and magic that it is still very useful. It is those damn magical secrets that seem so far away. They can be so thematic to your character build even if they are low level spells. Haste, yes please. Spirit Guardians, Fly, so many iconic spells you can build or flavour a character around.
I totally agree with you on the magical secrets! You can do so much with some of those spells thematically.
I have been building different combinations to look over and see if I finds something that I like. So was just wondering what you went with for the fighter level 3 build? Battlemaster?
I am still a couple levels out from bard 10. Damn story reasons I dipped 1 level into sorcerer haha. Provided a few useful tools though.
We killed our first adult white dragon and I play a dragonmark race and the dm said I absorbed some of the dragons powers. He gave me the dragon breath (cold) spell to add to my spell list. I leaned in hard and took a draconic bloodline dip on that level up. Shield and absorb elements are both great spells. Both of which I considered using a magical secret on.
The plan was always haste to get 4 attacks in a round plus 19ac + 2 + flourish + shield spell. I am looking at cone of cold as well now for those same story reasons.
With war caster and con proficiency I wasn't worried about the concentration loss.
Steal wind strike looked fun and thematic but I think it will be a bit to high of a level and reduce the amount of times I can actually use it.
Any chance you can share the link to your character, Jabour? I would love to see what you have done. :D
I play adventures league and we are level 3 at the moment. I started with Bard 1, took Hexblade 1 and lastly Bard 2. Really looking forward to the level up so that I can play with the flourishes.
I think the only thing that is not AL are that we rolled stats / hp and the dm gave a version of the dragons breath spell. Self only and can only cast the cold version.
To get this on my character sheet I had to make a homebrew race. Seemed like the easiest way to add a spell known. The race is mark of shadow elf with dragons breath added.
Spell selection is not nearly optimal. I only chose spells that fit thematically. She has her powers from a shadow dragon and now an ice dragon. Mark of shadow elves are also known for their illusions and performing. This guided all of my spell selections. She recently took identify to help with her jewelry crafting.
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Back again and looking for guidance! :D
Here is a link to my character in case anyone would like to take a look. (I hope it works)
https://ddb.ac/characters/37353098/C87LDD
I went with a hexblade dip for now (I am playing AL and can change things up for a while yet). From a story perspective, my character has found the sheath to a lost singing sword and through that has gained the level in hexblade. But I am playing it as if she has not noticed anything and sees these new powers as coming from Eilistraee. My DM has otherwise let me reskin the abilities with divine flavor and otherwise I have selected spells that are protective and more in line with the idea of her as a dancing bard.
So far I like this build and am looking forward to level 3 bard so that I can gain the flourishes from Swords bard.
But I was hoping for some guidance for what I should do in regards to ASI and Feats. There seems to be quite a few feats out there that really play up what I am looking to make with this character. (A sword dancer, weaving in and out of combat). I am thinking anything that allows me a higher AC, more mobility, more attacks/damage output or a higher initiative or other things that might be nice?
Drow High Magic
Mobile
Shield Master
Sentinel
one of those could work but if you want to really multiclass you could go bladesinger
I am leader of the yep cult:https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/82135-yep-cult Pronouns are she/her
Yeah, I get where you are coming from with the bladesinger multiclass. But I have just played a wizard to level 19 and would prefer to try something a bit different.
I am also playing a character who is touched by Eilistraee. I went College of Swords/Hexblade/Swashbuckler. I am having a lot of fun with this character. Charisma is my stat for spellcasting, for melee, it adds to Initiative. It's great!
https://ddb.ac/characters/2725951/X8fx02
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Is it the swashbuckler that allows you to add charisma to your initiative? Do you feel like you use more abilities from a certain class compared to the others? :D
Would love to hear your backstory in regards to being touched by Eilistraee. Either here in the chat or via private message. :D
Yes, it is Swashbuckler that lets me add Charisma to Initiative. I actually use abilities from all my classes just about equally, I feel they all tie together very nicely. See I started playing as a College of Swords Bard. This is my first 5E character and I wanted to make a gish, who enhances their swordplay with a little bit of magic. After a few levels of Bard, though, I realized that the Bard class is definitely a full caster and that even taking College of Swords only made him like 1/3 of a martial character at best. So I started looking around for ways to make him a half caster and this is what I thought would work best for me. I also could have gone Battlemaster instead of Swashbuckler, but I thought this build was more nimble and fleet rather than damaging.
As for the story behind his encounter with Eilistraee: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mVeFuHbNw53qlb4aqZXkE_qU3aQyvvwe8yl5_v_q8PU/edit?usp=sharing
That was my in character lore for how I took Eilistraee as my Hexblade Patron. My DM said later that technically it's Eilistraee's Moonblade that's my Patron.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Inspiration dice will be tight until bard 5. With that said once they come back on short rests 16 cha can be fine depending on your spell selection.
Bumping dex is a great choice. Ac, initiative and a melee boost.
Mobile is thematic and just a great feat.
Martial adept isn't as good but can be good if their is one specific maneuver you would want. I still think it is too limited by only having one dice.
Defensive duelist can be good as a cheaper but worse version of your shield spell.
I think I prefer mobile or dex.
What a great read Ophidimancer! I have put my characters backstory up as well. Be warned that it is kinda long but anyone here is welcome to read it. If you have any comments or feedback to it then please just add it to the document. :D
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bUU8z8sBYQo0xqCXWStkws1j1JmJdbbxYde_N7-rPBI/edit?usp=sharing
I am very tempted to go Swashbuckler as well. Thankfully, I have a few more sessions before I have to set anything in stone. The only downside I feel right now is that I really give spell progression a kick... and that second bard attack.
Thanks for great feedback Jabour! I will absolutely be looking debating on ASI or going for the mobile feat once I am able to choose.
___________________
Not sure if it helps. But like I have said before, I picture my character dancing through the battlefield with her longsword. Weaving in and out of combat, while also stopping to help any of her friends in need. She is a very religious bard that wants to be kind and helpful to those in need. Haha, I kinda see her as being a bard but behaving like a good Paladin/Cleric, if that makes any sense at all.
Swashbuckler , my other love haha
I almost chose this but ended up with fighter instead. Expertise, cunning action, some sneak dice that you can always use, +cha to initiative, free skill what is not to love.
Fighter gave me 1ac, second wind (meh), action surge (damn it's good) and some extra dice that play well with flourishes. I even played around with going sword bard 14 rogue 3 fighter 3. Warlock 1 kills that and I wouldn't take 13 levels in bard. I would stop at 10 or 14.
My only regret about multiclassing isn't slowing spell progression. Being bard 6 gave me enough spell slots and magic that it is still very useful. It is those damn magical secrets that seem so far away. They can be so thematic to your character build even if they are low level spells. Haste, yes please. Spirit Guardians, Fly, so many iconic spells you can build or flavour a character around.
I totally agree with you on the magical secrets! You can do so much with some of those spells thematically.
I have been building different combinations to look over and see if I finds something that I like. So was just wondering what you went with for the fighter level 3 build? Battlemaster?
I am still a couple levels out from bard 10. Damn story reasons I dipped 1 level into sorcerer haha. Provided a few useful tools though.
We killed our first adult white dragon and I play a dragonmark race and the dm said I absorbed some of the dragons powers. He gave me the dragon breath (cold) spell to add to my spell list. I leaned in hard and took a draconic bloodline dip on that level up. Shield and absorb elements are both great spells. Both of which I considered using a magical secret on.
The plan was always haste to get 4 attacks in a round plus 19ac + 2 + flourish + shield spell. I am looking at cone of cold as well now for those same story reasons.
With war caster and con proficiency I wasn't worried about the concentration loss.
Steal wind strike looked fun and thematic but I think it will be a bit to high of a level and reduce the amount of times I can actually use it.
Any chance you can share the link to your character, Jabour? I would love to see what you have done. :D
I play adventures league and we are level 3 at the moment. I started with Bard 1, took Hexblade 1 and lastly Bard 2. Really looking forward to the level up so that I can play with the flourishes.
https://ddb.ac/characters/10625271/j24Jju
I think the only thing that is not AL are that we rolled stats / hp and the dm gave a version of the dragons breath spell. Self only and can only cast the cold version.
To get this on my character sheet I had to make a homebrew race. Seemed like the easiest way to add a spell known. The race is mark of shadow elf with dragons breath added.
Spell selection is not nearly optimal. I only chose spells that fit thematically. She has her powers from a shadow dragon and now an ice dragon. Mark of shadow elves are also known for their illusions and performing. This guided all of my spell selections. She recently took identify to help with her jewelry crafting.