The majority (like 99%) of Bard combat spells require concentration.
I can only maintain concentration on one spell at a time.
So, when my turn in combat comes around, I have two options a.) maintain concentration on my existing spell and use my hand xbow to do inconsequential amounts of damage this round or b.) feel like I'm making a contribution to the fight be casting a new spell which the enemy will now have to adapt to.
The result is that I'm casting spells too often and running out of spells too quickly. What can I do differently than I'm doing now which will slow down how quickly I'm running out of spells.
You lose concentration on a spell if you cast another that requires concentration. While concentrating on a spell, you can cast other spells without losing concentration as long as the other spells do not require concentration. Just make sure you have a good mix of concentration and non-concentration spell when you choose spells for your character.
First of all, concentration should definitely be a point of interest when picking your spells. A quick search for lv1 spells tells me that 6 out of 22 of the PHB have concentration, so far from those 99% you claim. Do the BEST spells require concentration thought ? Yes. That's kind of the point.
As for other things to do, you should probably get a crossbow or something, to attack on your turn. You won't be as efficient as a barbarian wielding a greataxe, sure, but you'll do some damage, AND you're supporting the party with your bardic inspiration, and a few well placed spells can change the tide of a fight.
There's also the possibility that you have simply too many encounters per day, which may result in it being hard to keep some slots available.
Finally, these issues will also partially resolve as you level up, and you earn get more spell slots for your day.
A quick search for lvl1 spells tells me that 6 out of 22 of the PHB have concentration, so far from the 99% you claim
A moment's thought on your part before posting would have alerted you to the fact that I said "99% of bard combat spells require concentration." See that word I put in bold? It is important.
Apologies, i did miss the word combat. Even then, you're supposed to make use either of cantrips or weapon attacks. Vicious mockery may not be extremely damage effective, but giving disadvantage to enemies is quite efficient.
As for lv1 spells, Dissonant Whispers is a nice non-concentration spell, making the enemy use their reaction and giving your allies attack of opportunities against them. For level 2, Pyrotechnics could be used to blind a group of enemies before they reach you.
But yes, the bard doesn't have a lot of offensive spells, that's kind of the point. And since your spell slots are precious anyway, you don't really want to use more than 2 on a "regular" fight, so one for concentration, and a second one as required. That's already 2 rounds, and an average fight doesn't last a lot longer than that.
I suggest you use a basic dual wield with short sword/scimitar over hand crossbow or even go short bow instead. Dex is one of your proficiency stats, and these option would work for support damage and also support Extra Attack better. Vicious Mockery is low damage dealing but, may allow you to off tank or mitigate a lot of damage. Don't forget to use your class features, using all these options on your turn should help your spell slots last longer.
Disadvantage on a roll means roughly a -5, so that's a much bigger chance to miss. I believe enemies with multiattack tend to have their bigger attack first as well, so that's also a factor.
Your HP are a precious resource, and having a chance to negate hits is better than healing. As a lore bard, you can also combo it with your Cutting Words to further increase the chance of negating a hit. This will become even more effective once you hit level 5, and regain your bardic inspiration on a short rest.
But bards are not blasters, and you shouldn't look for straight damage, which mean you'll often be looking at a saving throw, with an effect scaled with the level of the spell used. That's a cantrip that can regularly negate a strike, Dissonant Whispers can give your stronger allies free attacks, as well as dealing a little damage, and you may even be able to delay the enemy for a turn if your allies move away.
If you're against a group of enemies that you can Faerie Fire, then vicious cantrip, and maybe pass a Dissonant Whispers at some point, it will mean that your party had advantage for the fight, an enemy had disadvantage, your party got extra attacks, and an enemy was removed from the fight for a whole turn (with smart play). This can turn the tide of a battle. Obviously, this is assuming that all goes well and that the enemies fail their saving throws, but such is the lot of spellcasters who sometimes find themselves throwing everything they have, just to find the dice facetious.
That's already 2 rounds, and an average fight doesn't last a lot longer than that.
Just want to say this...
what kind of bard are you playing? I have a combat focused Valor bard casting Dissonant Whispers at the end of my turn after everyone else’s, along with the Paladin who Smites, and we can’t ever take something out in 2 rounds or less. The closest we’ve gotten is a Ogre Zombie in barely 3 rounds.
My mini-rant, not much, and not contributing, but it does say this: It depends on your party. If you’ve got mainly melee fighters, a concentration spell can be really helpful. Same for the opposite.
My point was that an average fight is around ~4 rounds. If you use spell slots on 2 of these rounds, it's already quite an investment, especially at low level. At level 3 (which is the lowest you could be for a Lore Bard), you have 6 spell slots. At this pace, you would last 3 fights, but would have no slots available for anything else.
At higher levels you can be more generous with your spell slots, but at low level, you're definitely gonna use either a crossbow or a vicious mockery, depending on the context.
I dont think I would ever use a crossbow personally, unless it was a range based character with the crossbow mastery feat. Bards get versatile weapons that do 1d8 and as I pointed out earlier, anyone can make 2 attacks per round with dual wield if they have simple weapons as a proficiency.
Maintaining concentration on a spell that helps the rest of your party is a huge contribution to combat! Even just taking the Dodge action to make yourself harder to hit is worth it if it enables your allies to be more effective than you’d be as a team if you lost concentration and did a little bit of damage. It may seem as if you aren’t doing anything, but you’re accomplishing a lot.
I'm playing a wizard right now how specializes in support in combat. I actually spent one entire combat session where I cast 2 strategic concentration spells and spent the rest of the combat using Mage Hand to administer berries from Goodberry, moving out of melee, and maintaining one of the concentration spells.
So, just because there is a frontline character, no enemies ever move to the range classes? If you look at the proficiencies given, they are considered melee worthy, it's not like a sorcerer going in with a dagger or staff with most likely no Str or Dex.
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I'm playing a Lore Bard.
The majority (like 99%) of Bard combat spells require concentration.
I can only maintain concentration on one spell at a time.
So, when my turn in combat comes around, I have two options a.) maintain concentration on my existing spell and use my hand xbow to do inconsequential amounts of damage this round or b.) feel like I'm making a contribution to the fight be casting a new spell which the enemy will now have to adapt to.
The result is that I'm casting spells too often and running out of spells too quickly. What can I do differently than I'm doing now which will slow down how quickly I'm running out of spells.
You lose concentration on a spell if you cast another that requires concentration. While concentrating on a spell, you can cast other spells without losing concentration as long as the other spells do not require concentration. Just make sure you have a good mix of concentration and non-concentration spell when you choose spells for your character.
The point is that you can't have a good mix of concentration and non-concentration spells because 99% of bard combat spells require concentration.
First of all, concentration should definitely be a point of interest when picking your spells. A quick search for lv1 spells tells me that 6 out of 22 of the PHB have concentration, so far from those 99% you claim. Do the BEST spells require concentration thought ? Yes. That's kind of the point.
As for other things to do, you should probably get a crossbow or something, to attack on your turn. You won't be as efficient as a barbarian wielding a greataxe, sure, but you'll do some damage, AND you're supporting the party with your bardic inspiration, and a few well placed spells can change the tide of a fight.
There's also the possibility that you have simply too many encounters per day, which may result in it being hard to keep some slots available.
Finally, these issues will also partially resolve as you level up, and you earn get more spell slots for your day.
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A moment's thought on your part before posting would have alerted you to the fact that I said "99% of bard combat spells require concentration." See that word I put in bold? It is important.
1st level Bard combat spells include
Bane
Charm Person
Faerie Fire
Heroism
Hideous Laughter
Sleep
Thunderwave
2nd level Bard combat spells
Blindness / Deafness
Enhance Ability
Heat Metal
Hold Person
Invisibiltiy
Silence
Suggestion
3rd level Bard combat spells include
Bestow Curse
Fear
Hypnotic Pattern
Major Image
Stinking Cloud
All the spells in red require concentration
Apologies, i did miss the word combat. Even then, you're supposed to make use either of cantrips or weapon attacks. Vicious mockery may not be extremely damage effective, but giving disadvantage to enemies is quite efficient.
As for lv1 spells, Dissonant Whispers is a nice non-concentration spell, making the enemy use their reaction and giving your allies attack of opportunities against them. For level 2, Pyrotechnics could be used to blind a group of enemies before they reach you.
But yes, the bard doesn't have a lot of offensive spells, that's kind of the point. And since your spell slots are precious anyway, you don't really want to use more than 2 on a "regular" fight, so one for concentration, and a second one as required. That's already 2 rounds, and an average fight doesn't last a lot longer than that.
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I suggest you use a basic dual wield with short sword/scimitar over hand crossbow or even go short bow instead. Dex is one of your proficiency stats, and these option would work for support damage and also support Extra Attack better. Vicious Mockery is low damage dealing but, may allow you to off tank or mitigate a lot of damage. Don't forget to use your class features, using all these options on your turn should help your spell slots last longer.
You spend your entire action to stop, (no not even stop, give disadvantage to), only some of the enemy's action. How is that efficient?
If you cast it on an enemy that is doing massive damage to you party tank, how is that NOT useful?
Bard is a support class not a spell nuke, maybe that is the real problem you are having.
You know this is a lore bard, right? where is extra attack coming from?
Disadvantage on a roll means roughly a -5, so that's a much bigger chance to miss. I believe enemies with multiattack tend to have their bigger attack first as well, so that's also a factor.
Your HP are a precious resource, and having a chance to negate hits is better than healing. As a lore bard, you can also combo it with your Cutting Words to further increase the chance of negating a hit. This will become even more effective once you hit level 5, and regain your bardic inspiration on a short rest.
But bards are not blasters, and you shouldn't look for straight damage, which mean you'll often be looking at a saving throw, with an effect scaled with the level of the spell used. That's a cantrip that can regularly negate a strike, Dissonant Whispers can give your stronger allies free attacks, as well as dealing a little damage, and you may even be able to delay the enemy for a turn if your allies move away.
If you're against a group of enemies that you can Faerie Fire, then vicious cantrip, and maybe pass a Dissonant Whispers at some point, it will mean that your party had advantage for the fight, an enemy had disadvantage, your party got extra attacks, and an enemy was removed from the fight for a whole turn (with smart play). This can turn the tide of a battle. Obviously, this is assuming that all goes well and that the enemies fail their saving throws, but such is the lot of spellcasters who sometimes find themselves throwing everything they have, just to find the dice facetious.
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True, my bad. All the more reason to go dual wield. Attack and offhand bonus action attack.
Just want to say this...
what kind of bard are you playing? I have a combat focused Valor bard casting Dissonant Whispers at the end of my turn after everyone else’s, along with the Paladin who Smites, and we can’t ever take something out in 2 rounds or less. The closest we’ve gotten is a Ogre Zombie in barely 3 rounds.
My mini-rant, not much, and not contributing, but it does say this: It depends on your party. If you’ve got mainly melee fighters, a concentration spell can be really helpful. Same for the opposite.
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My point was that an average fight is around ~4 rounds. If you use spell slots on 2 of these rounds, it's already quite an investment, especially at low level. At level 3 (which is the lowest you could be for a Lore Bard), you have 6 spell slots. At this pace, you would last 3 fights, but would have no slots available for anything else.
At higher levels you can be more generous with your spell slots, but at low level, you're definitely gonna use either a crossbow or a vicious mockery, depending on the context.
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The cost is your round. The benefit is a -5 to only part of the enemy's round.
That's a relatively high cost for only a moderate gain.
I dont think I would ever use a crossbow personally, unless it was a range based character with the crossbow mastery feat. Bards get versatile weapons that do 1d8 and as I pointed out earlier, anyone can make 2 attacks per round with dual wield if they have simple weapons as a proficiency.
Yeah I wouldn't put a squishy bard with d8 hit die and light armor on the front line.
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Maintaining concentration on a spell that helps the rest of your party is a huge contribution to combat! Even just taking the Dodge action to make yourself harder to hit is worth it if it enables your allies to be more effective than you’d be as a team if you lost concentration and did a little bit of damage. It may seem as if you aren’t doing anything, but you’re accomplishing a lot.
I'm playing a wizard right now how specializes in support in combat. I actually spent one entire combat session where I cast 2 strategic concentration spells and spent the rest of the combat using Mage Hand to administer berries from Goodberry, moving out of melee, and maintaining one of the concentration spells.
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So, just because there is a frontline character, no enemies ever move to the range classes? If you look at the proficiencies given, they are considered melee worthy, it's not like a sorcerer going in with a dagger or staff with most likely no Str or Dex.