I'm playing curse of Strahd currently as a winged tiefling with 3 levels in college of swords bard, 1 level in hexblade warlock, and the party just leveled up to level 5. The character is inspired by the idea of some sort of battle angel, in spite of his infernal heritage, swooping from the skies bringing fury down on his enemies and inspiring his party. I am planning on going bard 2 more levels to get level 3 spells and font of inspiration, but I am not sure exactly where to go from there. I have considered divine soul sorcerer dip for cantrips, story, as well as cleric spells, fighter to battle master, or just continuing in bard to keep getting better spellcasting. I am also trying to decide which feats to go for. Right now shield master and mobile seem to be really good but I am torn. (very good rolls for abilities scores so not super concerned there:(11 14 15 16 14 20) Any advice?
Am I correct in my guess that you're Strength 11? So Paladin is right out? You listed your stats as STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA?
College of Swords and Hexblade have some unfortunate overlap - for example, double proficiency in medium armor does nothing - but you're also proficient in shields now, so you can take the Dueling fighting style (and I hope you did) for very credible effect. On the other hand, you should have a strong interest in Booming Blade (which I hope you took from Warlock) + Mobile Flourish, so you should have a strong and genuine interest in War Caster. That's what I'd take, since you're already at Charisma 20.
For future leveling, I would gun for Warlock 4: with Pact of the Tome, Book of Ancient Secrets, and Devil's Sight or Mask of Many Faces or Misty Visions, you can fulfill the spellmonkey and face roles better that most parties count on their bard for. And you can go Pact of the Blade instead (Improved Pact Weapon, Devil's Sight or Misty Visions) if you want to lean harder into being a murdermonkey. And you can go Pact the Chain if you want Rebuke of the Talisman for even more Booming Blade shenanigans. Many good options here.
However, that needn't be top priority - or even done at all; I'm leaking my personal bias for how I play my bards. What is a bit of a concern is your stabbing output as you level. There are two ways immediately available to you for good stabbery, but they're not the only ones - here are the basics and an example alternate:
Bard 6 will get you Extra Attack. That's 1 level away from your plan.
Pact of the Blade 5 will get you an Invocation for Extra Attack with your Pact Weapon. That's 4 levels away from your plan.
If you just want to learn hard into Booming Blade, you have the Dex to multiclass into Rogue, subclassing into Swashbuckler at level 3, which will get you a truly impressive Initiative score. Between your wings and bonus disengage, Booming Blade will happen where you want it, when you want it, and Swashbuckler will provide all the Sneak Attack damage you want on that one Booming Blade swing. This may make Pact of the Blade more tempting: Improved Pact Weapon provides +1 to hit, helpful for making sure your one big weapon swing connects. This will also take you in a skillmonkey direction, since that's one thing Rogues are good at, but it's also something Bards are good at, so that will have some good synergy - Bard/Rogues can get a truly impressive amount of Expertise. This will halt your spellcasting progression, so it's all a question of your priorities. If you keep climbing Rogue, there's a bonus ASI in it, which can help if you're hungry for feats (Resilient Constitution will get you more hit points since you have an odd Con, and between it and War Caster, it'll take a lot of damage to break your concentration on Hex/Darkness). This is 3 levels away from your plan to really get going.
I wouldn't go Sorcerer without a specific plan, since Hexblade and College of Swords implies pretty strongly your favorite spell is Stab. Your nonsensical statline means you can freely multiclass into most of the classes in the game - anything but Barbarian or Paladin (a bit unfortunate - the amount of synergy your build has with Paladin is ridiculous). Don't feel constrained to Charisma casters - for example, 1 level of Cleric is easy to do without a single ability or spell that cares about your Wisdom.
Thanks for the Advice! I do indeed have booming blade, dueling fighting style, and in retrospect I am realizing my error in not applying a higher ability score in strength because Paladin would be awesome. Also yes those stats are in order of str dex con int wis cha. I like your idea of going swashbuckler, but I'll have to look into cleric stuff as well. I have been thinking about warcaster and I ruled it out for now mainly due to the fact that my sword is my spell casting focus so one of its benefits doesn't give me much and I don't plan on sticking around in melee after I strike for the opportunity spells but I suppose better concentration is always good so I will give it another look.
A few key concepts that I'd like to point out before adding my own thoughts and opinions to what Quindraco already voiced:
The Curse of Strahd adventure ends at level 10. Unless your DM intends to extend the adventure or continue the campaign after the final confrontation with the Lord of Barovia, your character is only expected to get to 10th level. Doesn't necessarily make or break anything, but I want to point that out, since you potentially have a limited number of levels to accomplish whatever character design you might be trying to obtain.
What other characters/classes are in your party? This concept might be a little more heavy-handed in the metagaming aspect, but it's something that most players want to keep in mind. Does your character need to be more of a spellcaster (i.e., bard)? Does your character need to be more of a sword-swinger (i.e., hexblade)? Do you need to have your character cover other aspects that would require another class (i.e., needing clerical spellcasting)?
Do you have a specific vision of what your character should be doing? You mention swooping from the skies and bringing fury to his enemies... Great! I love the idea, but what else do you need beyond a bard 5 / warlock 1 build to accomplish this tactic effectively. Okay, some of this answer is what you're asking for help with, so let's discuss options.
Assuming that your character will reach 10th level and ultimately stop there and assuming that we don't need to take any particular classes/feats/spells/etc. to compensate for potential gaps in your party's make-up, my personally suggestion would be to not multiclass further an take your warlock class to 5th level. The reason that I suggest taking the bard 5 / warlock 5 route is mostly to capture and maintain the vision mentioned in point #3 above.
Since you're a (un)holy avenger swooping done from the skies, I'm assuming that spellcasting is more of a secondary concern for your character. With that idea, you don't really need more levels of bard to gain 4th level spells.
However, a 5th-level warlock will still add two 3rd-level spell slots to your repertoire, which you will get back after every short rest. You might not be quite as magically potent as a 7th-9th level bard, but your character wants to gain those couple higher level slots back at each short rest.
Warlock gains a pact boon at 3rd-level, so you can take Pact of the Blade to have a pact weapon. Help bring down some fury upon the wicked with your magical weapon that you can conjure up on a whim.
A 5th-level warlock knows three (3) eldritch invocations. I would suggest taking Thirsting Blade and Eldritch Smite as two of them. The Thirsting Blade gives you the ability to attack twice with your pact weapon. Eldritch Smite provides you with the mystical variation of a paladin's smite, which is helpful in punishing those wrongdoers. Plus, those two 3rd level spell slots we mentioned above are replenished with a short rest. You can be a bit more liberal with your smites when you can get those two slots back.
As for the third eldritch invocation, that really depends on what else your character needs or does. As a winged tiefling, I would recommend taking Agonizing Blast or something else that augments your eldritch blast cantrip, since being able to fly and blast something from a distance can be advantageous at times.
Plus, if you take 5-levels in each class, that also means that you gain an ASI at 4th level from both classes. Other combinations of bard/warlock or adding levels of other classes might not give you a second ASI for a boost or feat.
So, a lot of options available, and there's absolutely no wrong way to go as long as you're having fun with your character. My suggestions above are mostly to build upon your winged tiefling's martial prowess (via hexblade) and gaining some mystical fighting abilities to augment their "swooping down to delivery righteous fury" concept.
Oh, as for which feats to take, my recommendations for your winged tiefling would be:
Mobile. I would definitely take this feat for your character. The fact that it increases your movement by 10 feet is a big bonus, especially with your wings providing you with a flying speed. Might not be your character's style, but you could also potentially perform flyby attacks with this feat as well. An enemy that you attack not being able to make an AoO on you would mean that you could swoop in and strike and fly away with any remaining movement left... Potentially being in the air and mostly out of harm's reach.
Resilient (Constitution). Agree with Quindraco's idea of having War Caster, but your bardic college feature removes the need to have a hand free. Having advantage on concentration checks would be helpful, but I don't foresee this character using a lot of long-term buff spells. However, increasing ALL constitution saving throws by becoming proficient in them not only helps with concentration but against other sorts of negative effects. Plus, your Constitution score would increase from 15 to 16, which improves the modifier to a +3. Extra hits for all your levels as well, right?
Shield Master is a decent option as well, although it might be a little more limited depending on your character's fighting strategies (and the rest of your party). You know that information better then we do, so you'd have to decide if you'll get better mileage from your shield than better movement and/or Constitution saving throws.
I wouldn't go int oa third class you are just spreading yourself too thinly.
I would probably aim for Bard 6/ Warlock 4 or Bard 7 / Warlock3. The formar gives you a feat the later 4th level spells. I would probably get to Bard 6/Warlock 1 to get a second attack before going further into warlock.
I would definately go for resiliant con over warcaster, with the impvoement to your con modifier resiliant con will give you a +4 to your con saves which is roughly the same as advantage (slightly worse when the DC is close to 13 worse when it is a long way from it). You will probably wont want to cast a spell as an op attack and you can use your sword as a focus. On the other hand with redilant con you get extra HP and proficeency in all con saves. If you are using concentration spellsquite a bit you could stack resiliant con with eldritch mind (something you can not do with warcaster)
I was thinking you would be likely to use concentration spells quite a bit even if it is hex. If you are as sword focused as Javier thinks then I would take pact of the blade and Eldritch smite as one of your invocations.
If you want to have a bit more focus on inspiring your party another feat to consider is inspiring leader.
Thanks for all the advice! I think I will go for mobile feat this level and go at least to 5th level in bard and then double back for warlock to at least level 5 as well. Until I get second attack booming blade should keep the damage up a fair bit for now. The campaign is sort of an ongoing thing and my DM says he has plans for if we defeat strahd or leave Barovia somehow or something. If my character makes it past level 10 I suppose I might just go another 5 levels in each or something but that is probably a long ways off.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm playing curse of Strahd currently as a winged tiefling with 3 levels in college of swords bard, 1 level in hexblade warlock, and the party just leveled up to level 5. The character is inspired by the idea of some sort of battle angel, in spite of his infernal heritage, swooping from the skies bringing fury down on his enemies and inspiring his party. I am planning on going bard 2 more levels to get level 3 spells and font of inspiration, but I am not sure exactly where to go from there. I have considered divine soul sorcerer dip for cantrips, story, as well as cleric spells, fighter to battle master, or just continuing in bard to keep getting better spellcasting. I am also trying to decide which feats to go for. Right now shield master and mobile seem to be really good but I am torn. (very good rolls for abilities scores so not super concerned there:(11 14 15 16 14 20) Any advice?
Am I correct in my guess that you're Strength 11? So Paladin is right out? You listed your stats as STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA?
College of Swords and Hexblade have some unfortunate overlap - for example, double proficiency in medium armor does nothing - but you're also proficient in shields now, so you can take the Dueling fighting style (and I hope you did) for very credible effect. On the other hand, you should have a strong interest in Booming Blade (which I hope you took from Warlock) + Mobile Flourish, so you should have a strong and genuine interest in War Caster. That's what I'd take, since you're already at Charisma 20.
For future leveling, I would gun for Warlock 4: with Pact of the Tome, Book of Ancient Secrets, and Devil's Sight or Mask of Many Faces or Misty Visions, you can fulfill the spellmonkey and face roles better that most parties count on their bard for. And you can go Pact of the Blade instead (Improved Pact Weapon, Devil's Sight or Misty Visions) if you want to lean harder into being a murdermonkey. And you can go Pact the Chain if you want Rebuke of the Talisman for even more Booming Blade shenanigans. Many good options here.
However, that needn't be top priority - or even done at all; I'm leaking my personal bias for how I play my bards. What is a bit of a concern is your stabbing output as you level. There are two ways immediately available to you for good stabbery, but they're not the only ones - here are the basics and an example alternate:
I wouldn't go Sorcerer without a specific plan, since Hexblade and College of Swords implies pretty strongly your favorite spell is Stab. Your nonsensical statline means you can freely multiclass into most of the classes in the game - anything but Barbarian or Paladin (a bit unfortunate - the amount of synergy your build has with Paladin is ridiculous). Don't feel constrained to Charisma casters - for example, 1 level of Cleric is easy to do without a single ability or spell that cares about your Wisdom.
Thanks for the Advice! I do indeed have booming blade, dueling fighting style, and in retrospect I am realizing my error in not applying a higher ability score in strength because Paladin would be awesome. Also yes those stats are in order of str dex con int wis cha. I like your idea of going swashbuckler, but I'll have to look into cleric stuff as well. I have been thinking about warcaster and I ruled it out for now mainly due to the fact that my sword is my spell casting focus so one of its benefits doesn't give me much and I don't plan on sticking around in melee after I strike for the opportunity spells but I suppose better concentration is always good so I will give it another look.
A few key concepts that I'd like to point out before adding my own thoughts and opinions to what Quindraco already voiced:
Assuming that your character will reach 10th level and ultimately stop there and assuming that we don't need to take any particular classes/feats/spells/etc. to compensate for potential gaps in your party's make-up, my personally suggestion would be to not multiclass further an take your warlock class to 5th level. The reason that I suggest taking the bard 5 / warlock 5 route is mostly to capture and maintain the vision mentioned in point #3 above.
So, a lot of options available, and there's absolutely no wrong way to go as long as you're having fun with your character. My suggestions above are mostly to build upon your winged tiefling's martial prowess (via hexblade) and gaining some mystical fighting abilities to augment their "swooping down to delivery righteous fury" concept.
Oh, as for which feats to take, my recommendations for your winged tiefling would be:
Shield Master is a decent option as well, although it might be a little more limited depending on your character's fighting strategies (and the rest of your party). You know that information better then we do, so you'd have to decide if you'll get better mileage from your shield than better movement and/or Constitution saving throws.
I have to agree with most of what Javier says,
I wouldn't go int oa third class you are just spreading yourself too thinly.
I would probably aim for Bard 6/ Warlock 4 or Bard 7 / Warlock3. The formar gives you a feat the later 4th level spells. I would probably get to Bard 6/Warlock 1 to get a second attack before going further into warlock.
I would definately go for resiliant con over warcaster, with the impvoement to your con modifier resiliant con will give you a +4 to your con saves which is roughly the same as advantage (slightly worse when the DC is close to 13 worse when it is a long way from it). You will probably wont want to cast a spell as an op attack and you can use your sword as a focus. On the other hand with redilant con you get extra HP and proficeency in all con saves. If you are using concentration spellsquite a bit you could stack resiliant con with eldritch mind (something you can not do with warcaster)
I was thinking you would be likely to use concentration spells quite a bit even if it is hex. If you are as sword focused as Javier thinks then I would take pact of the blade and Eldritch smite as one of your invocations.
If you want to have a bit more focus on inspiring your party another feat to consider is inspiring leader.
Thanks for all the advice! I think I will go for mobile feat this level and go at least to 5th level in bard and then double back for warlock to at least level 5 as well. Until I get second attack booming blade should keep the damage up a fair bit for now. The campaign is sort of an ongoing thing and my DM says he has plans for if we defeat strahd or leave Barovia somehow or something. If my character makes it past level 10 I suppose I might just go another 5 levels in each or something but that is probably a long ways off.