Warlock/ Bard multiclass

Hi all,

Thinking of trying my first multiclass. I'm currently running a level 5 Horned King infernal tiefling warlock from the Crooked Moon. I was thinking of adding a few levels of bard because I wanted to try multi-classing, and we recently lost our Cleric, so it would add a little bit of healing. Just looking for some community feedback about possible builds that would synergize with The Horned King patron.

Basically warlock (especially hexblade) is the total package for a dip of 1-3 levels imho. Eldritch blast for damage, Armor of Ice (temp hp and damage return) and hex are really the only spells you need, and all available at lvl 1 iirc. Sword bard is ok, but you don’t need to go into swords for your subclass with hexblade multi as hexblade gives all the melee proficiencies you will need. If you go deeper to 3 you can even forgo a material blade/store a non artifact/sentient blade that can be summoned using a bonus action.

It’s basically one of the best subclasses for any caster, plus you get to spam Eldritch Blast at pretty much every opportunity and very rarely be wrong in the decision.

If you’re looking for more support with some nice damage options, there’s cleric (twilight/peace/light), but you’ll need to account for needing Wisdom for those spells, and you can only get cleric slots back on a long rest.

Hope this helps!

As a rule, healing isn’t enough of a priority in 5e that you should feel the need to dip for it. Warlocks also suffer for dipping because unlike any other caster, they don’t add their class levels into the aggregate level for multiclass spell slot progression. Being behind on max spell level will have a big impact on your performance relative to character level.

Is the Horned King your patron? I’ve heard a lot of good things about Crooked Moon but have not played it before. What are some features you want to make sure you take?

I'll assume "a few" levels of bard are 3-5 levels so that only the first subclass benefit matters. The best option IMO is Lore Bard because those extra Expertise is really great for giving your character a really unique niche, Eloquence is also very very good if you are the "face" of the party. Valor can be good if you go all the way to Bard-5 because there are so many ways your allies can use the Bardic Inspiration dice they will never go to waste.

If you just want to be able to heal, then one option is to take the invocation that gives an origin feat and pick magic initiate with a healing spell.

Now multiclassing can be a great way to make your character more interesting, but it's usually best to know what you're trying to accomplish rather than multiclassing for the sake of multiclassing.

Definitely not trying to multiclass to multiclass. My Warlock is a Tiefling from a tribe of Goliaths and I wanted to explore her more tribal nomadic side. I've discussed it with the DM, and he really likes the idea. Strength is her dump stat, 8, so something like a paladin is out of the cards. I do want to take her to 3 in bard, and just wanted to make sure that there wasn't specific drawbacks to certain schools when multiclassing. The Crooked Moon has a College of Whistles which is also pretty interesting. You can whistle somatic spells, and creatures have to make a wisdom save to tell you are casting a spell. You can also create a "bindle" that works as a bag of holding up to 50lbs, and your bardic creates a Haint that can grant certain buffs with a reaction on top of the bardic. I thought that might also play into nomadic life, speaking in whistles to hide and hunt.

Quote from Fignut142 >>

Definitely not trying to multiclass to multiclass. My Warlock is a Tiefling from a tribe of Goliaths and I wanted to explore her more tribal nomadic side. I've discussed it with the DM, and he really likes the idea. Strength is her dump stat, 8, so something like a paladin is out of the cards. I do want to take her to 3 in bard, and just wanted to make sure that there wasn't specific drawbacks to certain schools when multiclassing. The Crooked Moon has a College of Whistles which is also pretty interesting. You can whistle somatic spells, and creatures have to make a wisdom save to tell you are casting a spell. You can also create a "bindle" that works as a bag of holding up to 50lbs, and your bardic creates a Haint that can grant certain buffs with a reaction on top of the bardic. I thought that might also play into nomadic life, speaking in whistles to hide and hunt.

If you're multiclassing for roleplay reasons, then don't worry too much about the mechanics unless there's an outright conflict (i.e. multiple key features all fighting to use your Bonus Action or something like that)

Quote from AntonSirius >>

Quote from Fignut142 >>

Definitely not trying to multiclass to multiclass. My Warlock is a Tiefling from a tribe of Goliaths and I wanted to explore her more tribal nomadic side. I've discussed it with the DM, and he really likes the idea. Strength is her dump stat, 8, so something like a paladin is out of the cards. I do want to take her to 3 in bard, and just wanted to make sure that there wasn't specific drawbacks to certain schools when multiclassing. The Crooked Moon has a College of Whistles which is also pretty interesting. You can whistle somatic spells, and creatures have to make a wisdom save to tell you are casting a spell. You can also create a "bindle" that works as a bag of holding up to 50lbs, and your bardic creates a Haint that can grant certain buffs with a reaction on top of the bardic. I thought that might also play into nomadic life, speaking in whistles to hide and hunt.

 

If you're multiclassing for roleplay reasons, then don't worry too much about the mechanics unless there's an outright conflict (i.e. multiple key features all fighting to use your Bonus Action or something like that)

Honestly, my advice if one is multiclassing for roleplay reasons is "don't"; roleplay/characterization is free, and doesn't need a build to be stretched into some new dynamic to happen.

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Honestly, my advice if one is multiclassing for roleplay reasons is "don't"; roleplay/characterization is free, and doesn't need a build to be stretched into some new dynamic to happen.

The idea that a build can be "stretched" is just begging the question. You're already saying mechanics are more important than RP/characterization

If youre asking for how to multiclass into bard in a way that works well with the horned king warlock patron specifically and the crooked moon campaign in general,  from a flavor perspective, probably wanna look at college of whispers from xanathars.

Words of terror at bard 3 fits the flavor pretty well.

If youre asking about the best way to multiclass a warlock mechanically speaking, its 2 levels of warlock and everything else into bard or sorcerer, or maybe paladin.