I have a hypothetical scenario that I am trying to mull over in my head. Imagine a table with the following:
A Fighter A Barbarian A Ranger A Wizard
I believe that this group is missing a CHA based caster / face. Assume that we are able to plant any level 5 character down into that group and imagine that you were handed a Bard 3 / Warlock 2. The Bard is College of Eloquence with a knack for deception and stealth - with a Charlatan background that likes to attend high-end parties as an imaginary Duke. At these high-end parties this bard tends to borrow items from his new friends. Among these borrowed items, perhaps the most important borrowed item, was an old ring containing a Djinn which took a liking to our Bard friend and his clever ways. From there we get the Warlock 2 in the UA Pact of the Genie.
Now we have the whole backstory and the basis for this character - but to be perfectly honest I don't think I want to spend too many levels into Warlock. I would lose out on healing (which the party appears to need), expertise, and the Universal Speech ability. However, I think that taking too many levels away from Warlock undermines Invocations that may be necessary in non-social settings.
In brief, I'm not too familiar with the spellcasting of neither the Bard nor the Warlock at higher levels and for me, there are too many unknowns to decide. If you were to make this decision, given the circumstances, what would you pick?
You don’t need to be a Warlock at all to be a good bard. You don’t need to be a bard at all to be a good warlock. Other than both classes using Cha, I honestly don’t see much synergy there, just pick one or the other. Juggling two different types of focuses for your two different spell lists... bleh. The only benefit I see of multiclassing is picking up EB with Agonizing Blast, which only takes 2 Warlock levels and not a penny more.
Genie Warlocks seem like they’re okay EB specialists due to once/turn Genie’s Wrath damage, but not as good as Hexblades. Their gimmick is...camping? Weird UA subclass, Is recommend picking a real patron and just reskinning as a Djinn if you wanna play a warlock beyond 2 splash levels, but it’s first level features are OK.
Eloquence Bards are real good faces (reliable deception and persuasion at 3, universal speech at 6) real good support casters (good rebuff at 3, buff at 6, buff at 14), in addition to being full progression casters with a diverse spell list (even more so with magical secrets).
Warlock 2/Bard 3, and pure bard after that is my recommendation.
Chicken Champ is correct. Warlock is good for a couple of levels - 3 at most to get the invocations.
After that, it has nothing particularly interesting till 6th level and it is hard to waste a whole 3 levels just to get the 6th level feature. Especially since you are probably over 10th level and getting a measly 6th level feature.
So most warlocks builds get either 1 level of something then all warlock or no more than 3 levels of warlock and everything else into the other class.
I'm presently playing a Celestial Tomelock 4 | Glamour bard 3. My party is a barbarian|rogue, paladin|cleric, and wizard, so not too terribly different from your party. I do most of the healing and buffing presently.
The first thing I'd ask is how do you envision playing the character? What is it you /want/ to do specifically in combat? I do a lot of the talking for my party, so I feel pretty qualified to say that both lock or bard would do it well. My plan was always to be a blaster, so I am continuing with warlock. I'm supporting more than I planned on, but even so, EB lets me keep up with the damage that I wanted even when I use all my spell slots as control, buffing and healing. Ironically enough, although I am pushing warlock, and plan to continue pushing warlock, my character at this point identifies mostly as 'bard', and that's started to make its way into my spell selection. For example, we just leveled yesterday and I got another 2nd level warlock spell. I went with suggestion because it fits into how I've been playing the character.
I love warlocks. I'm pretty sure that I like them more than I like bards (I like blowing things up). What I am /not/ sure about is if I think that warlocks are /better/ than bards. I'd say at this point, the utility I get out of bard 3 is more than I got out of lock 3, and I would definitely play a single class glamour bard at some point. If I were offering generic advice without knowing your playstyle or what you're looking for out of the MC, I'd probably stay lock 2 and push bard the rest of the way.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
My favorite was a lw 6 eloquence bad/ lw 7-14 fire genie warlock.
Start with lw1 bard - then lw7 warlock - then lw6 bard - then rest warlock
(Face/Infiltration) Have actor feat + mask of many faces + misty visions to be high class illusionist and manipulator + eloquence bard + expertise in Deception and perception ( Rank S)
(Scouting ) Pact of the chain imp to scout situation + high perception from expertise (Rank A)
(Utility)---Even you your skills are not in History or arcane or religion you do have useful skills (Comp Languages, Detect magic, Identify) And jack of all trades for a little boost (Rank B) (Dps) Fireball for low lw crowds(Slots from bard and Warlock) + Concentrated damage from Eldritch blast and summon aberration while flying (Rank A)
(Control) Class has good combo ,Unsettling Words + Silvery barbs + Hold person/ Raulothim's Psychic Lance to almost guarantee a success on a boss. (Rank A)
(Survivability) You are not a tank but you do have Armor of agahtis + fly from genie + Misty step to avoid damage (Rank B) (Support) Class does not have good support but you can give healing potions if if party has goodbeRry to imp for easy heals for dropped players and bardic inspiration (Rank C)
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I have a hypothetical scenario that I am trying to mull over in my head. Imagine a table with the following:
A Fighter
A Barbarian
A Ranger
A Wizard
I believe that this group is missing a CHA based caster / face. Assume that we are able to plant any level 5 character down into that group and imagine that you were handed a Bard 3 / Warlock 2. The Bard is College of Eloquence with a knack for deception and stealth - with a Charlatan background that likes to attend high-end parties as an imaginary Duke. At these high-end parties this bard tends to borrow items from his new friends. Among these borrowed items, perhaps the most important borrowed item, was an old ring containing a Djinn which took a liking to our Bard friend and his clever ways. From there we get the Warlock 2 in the UA Pact of the Genie.
Now we have the whole backstory and the basis for this character - but to be perfectly honest I don't think I want to spend too many levels into Warlock. I would lose out on healing (which the party appears to need), expertise, and the Universal Speech ability. However, I think that taking too many levels away from Warlock undermines Invocations that may be necessary in non-social settings.
In brief, I'm not too familiar with the spellcasting of neither the Bard nor the Warlock at higher levels and for me, there are too many unknowns to decide. If you were to make this decision, given the circumstances, what would you pick?
You don’t need to be a Warlock at all to be a good bard. You don’t need to be a bard at all to be a good warlock. Other than both classes using Cha, I honestly don’t see much synergy there, just pick one or the other. Juggling two different types of focuses for your two different spell lists... bleh. The only benefit I see of multiclassing is picking up EB with Agonizing Blast, which only takes 2 Warlock levels and not a penny more.
Genie Warlocks seem like they’re okay EB specialists due to once/turn Genie’s Wrath damage, but not as good as Hexblades. Their gimmick is...camping? Weird UA subclass, Is recommend picking a real patron and just reskinning as a Djinn if you wanna play a warlock beyond 2 splash levels, but it’s first level features are OK.
Eloquence Bards are real good faces (reliable deception and persuasion at 3, universal speech at 6) real good support casters (good rebuff at 3, buff at 6, buff at 14), in addition to being full progression casters with a diverse spell list (even more so with magical secrets).
Warlock 2/Bard 3, and pure bard after that is my recommendation.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Chicken Champ is correct. Warlock is good for a couple of levels - 3 at most to get the invocations.
After that, it has nothing particularly interesting till 6th level and it is hard to waste a whole 3 levels just to get the 6th level feature. Especially since you are probably over 10th level and getting a measly 6th level feature.
So most warlocks builds get either 1 level of something then all warlock or no more than 3 levels of warlock and everything else into the other class.
Agree with the above, though I would look to get that 3rd level of Warlock at some point just to either get the Tome or Chain pact.
I'm presently playing a Celestial Tomelock 4 | Glamour bard 3. My party is a barbarian|rogue, paladin|cleric, and wizard, so not too terribly different from your party. I do most of the healing and buffing presently.
The first thing I'd ask is how do you envision playing the character? What is it you /want/ to do specifically in combat? I do a lot of the talking for my party, so I feel pretty qualified to say that both lock or bard would do it well. My plan was always to be a blaster, so I am continuing with warlock. I'm supporting more than I planned on, but even so, EB lets me keep up with the damage that I wanted even when I use all my spell slots as control, buffing and healing. Ironically enough, although I am pushing warlock, and plan to continue pushing warlock, my character at this point identifies mostly as 'bard', and that's started to make its way into my spell selection. For example, we just leveled yesterday and I got another 2nd level warlock spell. I went with suggestion because it fits into how I've been playing the character.
I love warlocks. I'm pretty sure that I like them more than I like bards (I like blowing things up). What I am /not/ sure about is if I think that warlocks are /better/ than bards. I'd say at this point, the utility I get out of bard 3 is more than I got out of lock 3, and I would definitely play a single class glamour bard at some point. If I were offering generic advice without knowing your playstyle or what you're looking for out of the MC, I'd probably stay lock 2 and push bard the rest of the way.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
4 years to late but here is mine
My favorite was a lw 6 eloquence bad/ lw 7-14 fire genie warlock.
Start with lw1 bard - then lw7 warlock - then lw6 bard - then rest warlock
(Face/Infiltration) Have actor feat + mask of many faces + misty visions to be high class illusionist and manipulator + eloquence bard + expertise in Deception and perception ( Rank S)
(Scouting ) Pact of the chain imp to scout situation + high perception from expertise (Rank A)
(Utility)---Even you your skills are not in History or arcane or religion you do have useful skills (Comp Languages, Detect magic, Identify) And jack of all trades for a little boost (Rank B) (Dps) Fireball for low lw crowds(Slots from bard and Warlock) + Concentrated damage from Eldritch blast and summon aberration while flying (Rank A)
(Control) Class has good combo ,Unsettling Words + Silvery barbs + Hold person/ Raulothim's Psychic Lance to almost guarantee a success on a boss. (Rank A)
(Survivability) You are not a tank but you do have Armor of agahtis + fly from genie + Misty step to avoid damage (Rank B) (Support) Class does not have good support but you can give healing potions if if party has goodbeRry to imp for easy heals for dropped players and bardic inspiration (Rank C)