Both are good. Which is best depends heavily on your particular campaign and also your particular Bard build. Both are half-feats where you choose from a list of stats; both allow +1 charisma but Skill Expert also allows Dex or Con if those happen to be a stat you want to bump up.
For the Fey Touched feat, Misty Step can be anywhere from very strong to kinda useless depending on whether you play Theater of the Mind or combat maps; how much you want to stay in melee range (e.g. College of Swords); how often you need to escape from an enemy; etc. Most of the best Fey Touched 1st level spells are already available to Bards (e.g. Silvery Barbs, Dissonant Whispers), but Bless is a nice choice. Then on the Skill Expert side, Bards already get expertise in 2 skills so it really depends what you already picked and whether there is a 3rd skill that you use frequently enough for expertise to matter
Most of the best Fey Touched 1st level spells are already available to Bards (e.g. Silvery Barbs, Dissonant Whispers), but Bless is a nice choice.
Even if you choose something that's already on the Bard list, Bards get a fairly limited selection of spells that they can't change out on the fly like casters that prepare spells can do. So it's still a very strong boost. Plus you get a free casting of the spell that doesn't require a spell slot.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
My personal preference for a Bard tends to be for Fey Touched, as a quick escape is sometimes life saving for a Bard. Misty Step, to ME, at least, has been a BIG benefit for any character I have had that could get it. Instant pop in or out of melee as a BA can be the difference between a TPK and victory (though for such extreme cases things have already started going VERY poorly lol)
Skilled, for a Bard or a Rogue, again, only my opinion, is a less useful option, given they already get Expertise in a couple things. Your group may, however, be making a lot of use of skill checks and having that one more thing you can do exceptionally well may serve you best. It's something you really need to consider, for sure, as Fey Touched will tend more toward combat, while Skilled will be used out of combat. If you've been playing the campaign for a bit, you should have a good feel for which perk you'll cash in on more often, and that will help guide your choice.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Rogues and Bards in competition for Ultimate Ninja early on (Expert in: Acro/Athletics/Perception/SleightofHand/Stealth), Skill Expert is slightly more useful than the "poof! <gone>" maneuver of the Fey Touch.
Will say, Theater of the Mind combat environments that are three dimensional, Misty Step gets a lot more utility than it does on a lot of traditional battle maps, it's almost a Wrath of Khan thing.
It depends on whether you favor breadth or depth. Skill Expert makes a bard better at things they are already good at. Fey Touched gives a bard an ability they don't already have. It all depends on which one is more of a benefit the way you play your campaign.
Another possible option with similar mechanics is "Shadow Touched" you get the +1 and the spells ae very nice Inflict wounds and Invisibility are top notch
Another possible option with similar mechanics is "Shadow Touched" you get the +1 and the spells ae very nice Inflict wounds and Invisibility are top notch
True, but Shadow Touched is a lot more limited in choices, and those choices are not as good as Fey Touched
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See question.
Both are good. Which is best depends heavily on your particular campaign and also your particular Bard build. Both are half-feats where you choose from a list of stats; both allow +1 charisma but Skill Expert also allows Dex or Con if those happen to be a stat you want to bump up.
For the Fey Touched feat, Misty Step can be anywhere from very strong to kinda useless depending on whether you play Theater of the Mind or combat maps; how much you want to stay in melee range (e.g. College of Swords); how often you need to escape from an enemy; etc. Most of the best Fey Touched 1st level spells are already available to Bards (e.g. Silvery Barbs, Dissonant Whispers), but Bless is a nice choice. Then on the Skill Expert side, Bards already get expertise in 2 skills so it really depends what you already picked and whether there is a 3rd skill that you use frequently enough for expertise to matter
Even if you choose something that's already on the Bard list, Bards get a fairly limited selection of spells that they can't change out on the fly like casters that prepare spells can do. So it's still a very strong boost. Plus you get a free casting of the spell that doesn't require a spell slot.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
My personal preference for a Bard tends to be for Fey Touched, as a quick escape is sometimes life saving for a Bard. Misty Step, to ME, at least, has been a BIG benefit for any character I have had that could get it. Instant pop in or out of melee as a BA can be the difference between a TPK and victory (though for such extreme cases things have already started going VERY poorly lol)
Skilled, for a Bard or a Rogue, again, only my opinion, is a less useful option, given they already get Expertise in a couple things. Your group may, however, be making a lot of use of skill checks and having that one more thing you can do exceptionally well may serve you best. It's something you really need to consider, for sure, as Fey Touched will tend more toward combat, while Skilled will be used out of combat. If you've been playing the campaign for a bit, you should have a good feel for which perk you'll cash in on more often, and that will help guide your choice.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
I prefer Fey Touched as Bard are pretty skilled already.
Rogues and Bards in competition for Ultimate Ninja early on (Expert in: Acro/Athletics/Perception/SleightofHand/Stealth), Skill Expert is slightly more useful than the "poof! <gone>" maneuver of the Fey Touch.
Will say, Theater of the Mind combat environments that are three dimensional, Misty Step gets a lot more utility than it does on a lot of traditional battle maps, it's almost a Wrath of Khan thing.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It depends on whether you favor breadth or depth. Skill Expert makes a bard better at things they are already good at. Fey Touched gives a bard an ability they don't already have. It all depends on which one is more of a benefit the way you play your campaign.
Another possible option with similar mechanics is "Shadow Touched" you get the +1 and the spells ae very nice Inflict wounds and Invisibility are top notch
True, but Shadow Touched is a lot more limited in choices, and those choices are not as good as Fey Touched