I need some advice for a character I'm about to start playing soon. She's going to be a sword and shield swashbuckler with some levels in bard and warlock. I want to be able to get in and out of combat with things like booming blade and swashbuckler rogue abilities as well as aid my allies with things like faerie fire.
Here's what I have as far as early progression:
Rogue 1 for the weapons, skills and sneak attack.
Warlock 1 for the armor, shields, booming blade/green flame blade and wrathful smite.
Bard 1-6 and taking Lore Bard for the skills and Magical Secrets (Taking Spirit Guardians for sure here, not sure about my other pick)
Then take the rest in Swashbuckler Rogue.
The rest of my party includes a Moon Druid, Redemption Paladin and Undetermined Fighter.
Thank you for your time. :)
Edit: Forgot to mention I'm starting as an MToF Eladrin so any V. Human stuff is out the window.
Thanks to those who reminded me that I don't have to worry toooo much about DEX past 1st level. I'll definitely take that into consideration.
I started as a Bard for story reasons, and took College of Swords to level 4, then I took one level of Hexblade for the same reasons you did. One thing I noticed was that if your DM is strict about spellcasting components, you're going to want to pick up War Caster, or else you'll be stuck not being able to cast certain spells. The Shield spell, for example. After that I went Rogue Swashbuckler for 4 levels, placing me currently at level 9. I will say that I did notice that at level 8 I felt a little behind because I delayed an ASI, but everything kind of got tied together with that ASI. I think I'm aiming for Swords 6/Hexblade 3/Swashbuckler 11, but we'll see.
I think it's a great build and I'm having tons of fun. I'm super mobile with Cunning Action and Blade Flourish and I do decent damage being able to stack Sneak Attack on top of either Blade Flourish or Booming Blade, especially when I crit fish with Hexblade's Curse and Elven Accuracy.
Did you have a specific question?
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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!
One thing I noticed was that if your DM is strict about spellcasting components, you're going to want to pick up War Caster, or else you'll be stuck not being able to cast certain spells.
Well it seems like you're in a melee heavy group. Don't expect to be super competitive on melee damage, though you probably won't be too far behind. Spirit Guardians is a good AOE, I like to call it the lawnmower, but it's also concentration so maybe pick up something that isn't? Counterspell might be nice since your partymates don't have access to it and it would be nice to be able to shut down an enemy caster. Bards, especially Lore Bards, can be the best counterspellers in the game.
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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!
Yeah, I'm aware I won't be the star when it comes to battle. My moments to shine look like they're going to be in the RP and exploration sections of the game. Which I'm more than fine with. Counterspell seems to be the top pick at that level. Might just go with that.
Yeah, I'm aware I won't be the star when it comes to battle. My moments to shine look like they're going to be in the RP and exploration sections of the game. Which I'm more than fine with. Counterspell seems to be the top pick at that level. Might just go with that.
Do remember that sneak attack doesn't require a dexterity attack to trigger, just a finesse weapon. This means that you can go with medium armor, set your dex to 14, and then focus on charisma for your spells and melee attacks. You can boost your dex afterwards if you like or boost your con or go with feats. You may wish to pick up a second level of warlock for invocations and a second 1st level spell slot on a short rest. There are plenty of non eldritch Blast invocations that could work, Armor of Shadows gives one fewer AC than Scale Mail but scales better with dex and doesn't cause problems with stealth. Fiendish Vigor gives you temp hit points and can be cast at will, allowing you to have a steady stream of minor healing. Devil's Sight for dark vision that sees through magical darkness and 120 ft is insane. Misty visions for Silent Image at will. There are more and can give you quite a bit of versatility.
Counterspell is probably too good to pass, but Haste and Mass Healing Word would be considerations for me as well. A Druid and a Paladin in the party would probably mean that the extra healing isn't as needed, but haste on that fighter could get scary. It is a concentration spell and would conflict with Spirit Guardians in that aspect. Of course, you'll have a better idea what the group dynamic is when you get to at least level 8 to make that choice. Do remember that you won't get cunning action until 9 following your plan and rakish Audacity and fancy footwork until 10. I'd probably start bard unless you really want the rapier and the shortbow, plus the extra dagger and the thieves tools. I'd probably rather have charisma saves than int saves and Jack of All Trades will make up for the loss of the extra skill proficiency. On the other hand, starting hexblade gets you wisdom & charisma saves, you're abilities will help make up for the lack of dex saves, you can start with similar gear (light crossbow, leather armor and two daggers, no thieves tools, but that could be picked up through background).
Basically, your melee skills won't be awesome for a while so you may want to have some ranged abilities or focus on being a bard support until you're ready to start getting the levels in rogue.
All very good ideas. I think I am going to end up taking two levels in warlock for the extra spell slot and the invocations. Devil's Sight and maybe Mask of Many Faces will help me the most in RP/Exploration. Gonna tweak some numbers around and check with my DM if she'll allow me to have Mythril armor to avoid the disadvantage to stealth. I'm still open to more ideas/advice but thank you all so much for your advice so far
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I need some advice for a character I'm about to start playing soon. She's going to be a sword and shield swashbuckler with some levels in bard and warlock. I want to be able to get in and out of combat with things like booming blade and swashbuckler rogue abilities as well as aid my allies with things like faerie fire.
Here's what I have as far as early progression:
Rogue 1 for the weapons, skills and sneak attack.
Warlock 1 for the armor, shields, booming blade/green flame blade and wrathful smite.
Bard 1-6 and taking Lore Bard for the skills and Magical Secrets (Taking Spirit Guardians for sure here, not sure about my other pick)
Then take the rest in Swashbuckler Rogue.
The rest of my party includes a Moon Druid, Redemption Paladin and Undetermined Fighter.
Thank you for your time. :)
Edit: Forgot to mention I'm starting as an MToF Eladrin so any V. Human stuff is out the window.
Thanks to those who reminded me that I don't have to worry toooo much about DEX past 1st level. I'll definitely take that into consideration.
This is similar to my character: https://ddb.ac/characters/2725951/Xq2Hm6
I started as a Bard for story reasons, and took College of Swords to level 4, then I took one level of Hexblade for the same reasons you did. One thing I noticed was that if your DM is strict about spellcasting components, you're going to want to pick up War Caster, or else you'll be stuck not being able to cast certain spells. The Shield spell, for example. After that I went Rogue Swashbuckler for 4 levels, placing me currently at level 9. I will say that I did notice that at level 8 I felt a little behind because I delayed an ASI, but everything kind of got tied together with that ASI. I think I'm aiming for Swords 6/Hexblade 3/Swashbuckler 11, but we'll see.
I think it's a great build and I'm having tons of fun. I'm super mobile with Cunning Action and Blade Flourish and I do decent damage being able to stack Sneak Attack on top of either Blade Flourish or Booming Blade, especially when I crit fish with Hexblade's Curse and Elven Accuracy.
Did you have a specific question?
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!
I'm definitely taking warcaster.
Maybe advice on what magic secret to take to complement my spirit guardians choice and playstyle.
I was also looking for others experiences, like you provided.
Thank you!
Well it seems like you're in a melee heavy group. Don't expect to be super competitive on melee damage, though you probably won't be too far behind. Spirit Guardians is a good AOE, I like to call it the lawnmower, but it's also concentration so maybe pick up something that isn't? Counterspell might be nice since your partymates don't have access to it and it would be nice to be able to shut down an enemy caster. Bards, especially Lore Bards, can be the best counterspellers in the game.
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!
Yeah, I'm aware I won't be the star when it comes to battle. My moments to shine look like they're going to be in the RP and exploration sections of the game. Which I'm more than fine with. Counterspell seems to be the top pick at that level. Might just go with that.
Do remember that sneak attack doesn't require a dexterity attack to trigger, just a finesse weapon. This means that you can go with medium armor, set your dex to 14, and then focus on charisma for your spells and melee attacks. You can boost your dex afterwards if you like or boost your con or go with feats. You may wish to pick up a second level of warlock for invocations and a second 1st level spell slot on a short rest. There are plenty of non eldritch Blast invocations that could work, Armor of Shadows gives one fewer AC than Scale Mail but scales better with dex and doesn't cause problems with stealth. Fiendish Vigor gives you temp hit points and can be cast at will, allowing you to have a steady stream of minor healing. Devil's Sight for dark vision that sees through magical darkness and 120 ft is insane. Misty visions for Silent Image at will. There are more and can give you quite a bit of versatility.
Counterspell is probably too good to pass, but Haste and Mass Healing Word would be considerations for me as well. A Druid and a Paladin in the party would probably mean that the extra healing isn't as needed, but haste on that fighter could get scary. It is a concentration spell and would conflict with Spirit Guardians in that aspect. Of course, you'll have a better idea what the group dynamic is when you get to at least level 8 to make that choice. Do remember that you won't get cunning action until 9 following your plan and rakish Audacity and fancy footwork until 10. I'd probably start bard unless you really want the rapier and the shortbow, plus the extra dagger and the thieves tools. I'd probably rather have charisma saves than int saves and Jack of All Trades will make up for the loss of the extra skill proficiency. On the other hand, starting hexblade gets you wisdom & charisma saves, you're abilities will help make up for the lack of dex saves, you can start with similar gear (light crossbow, leather armor and two daggers, no thieves tools, but that could be picked up through background).
Basically, your melee skills won't be awesome for a while so you may want to have some ranged abilities or focus on being a bard support until you're ready to start getting the levels in rogue.
All very good ideas. I think I am going to end up taking two levels in warlock for the extra spell slot and the invocations. Devil's Sight and maybe Mask of Many Faces will help me the most in RP/Exploration. Gonna tweak some numbers around and check with my DM if she'll allow me to have Mythril armor to avoid the disadvantage to stealth. I'm still open to more ideas/advice but thank you all so much for your advice so far