Have a melee Valor bard I adore. She is in a party with plenty of ranged casters, so the niche she needed to fill was heals and back up melee. I went valor bard over cleric for one reason; 2 melee attacks per action at level 6 for bard, clerics never unlock a true extra attack. Went 1/2 elf with chr/str/con focus. Level 1&2 she pretty much hid in back and just healed, but those levels were over quickly. Half plate and great sword at level 3. Went War caster as 4th level feat with lucky at 8. She "came into her own" at level 10 by choosing searing smite (low buy in and stacks with spell slot used) and banishing smite (at level 10, suck it pallies waiting till 17 for that one) as her magical secret spells. She was a decent back up meat shield before that, but the paladin lite upgrade means she can put out some decent melee damage when needed now.
So my melee damage plan with my Valor Bard is to take 4 levels in Rogue (Magical Trickster) and the remaining 16 in Bard. This helps my melee attack out by: -2d6 for sneak attack. -Find Familiar (Wizard spell) to help get advantage for sneak attack. -Booming Blade (Wizard spell) to help get extra damage (up to 3d8+4d8 at level 20) on my weapon attack (and more if the target moves). -Magical Secrets, Hex or Hunter's Mark @ level 10 for extra 2d6 (extra attack to trigger it twice) and Simulacrum @ level 14 for double melee damage. So at 20th level I have: -My first attack (Rapier + Booming blade + Sneak Attack + Hex/Hunter's Mark): 8d8+3d6+5 = 16-87 (avg 51.5) -My second attack (Rapier + Hex/Hunter's Mark): 1d8+1d6+5 = 7-19 (avg 13) -My simulacrum's 2 attacks: 9d8+4d6+10 = 23-106 (avg 64.5) So the total: 46-212 (avg 129) If we're assuming the target moved, that's another 1d8+1d6+5 for Opportunity Attack so looking at another 7-19 (avg 13) damage.
Alternatively, go Variant Human, pick up the great weapon master feat at level 1 and heavily armored at level 4. You will have enough ASIs to get both Charisma and Strength to a score of 20! This pairs especially well with 2 levels of paladin if you are allowed to multiclass (in this case, start with Paladin 1 so you won't need the heavily armored feat). At level 14, pick up booming blade, since you will get to attack again as a bonus action after casting a bard spell.
Actually it doesn't. It states "When you use the Attack action and attack with a one handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding." A hand crossbow is a one handed weapon so it fills its own requirement. Hope this helps!
@@DapperSnapperGaming Let me clarify. All crossbows have the ammunition property. Per the errata, the ammunition property requires a free hand to load. Crossbow allows the loading property to be ignored but not the ammunition property.
Yes ok I'm on the right page now. In my games I've always allowed someone to be able to reload as long as they have ammo and have crossbow expert. This is not RAW so this is definitely something to talk to your DM about. The alternative is to put away the shield when you need to fire twice and get it back out when someone is getting up on you.
@billholderman1861 I know this is a year old comment, but the crossbow expert feat says you ignore the loading quality of the weapon. Basically meaning you are so skilled with it that you are in a sense John Wick and loading it is trivial.
I have zero issue leaving it at 1. Bard has 4 slots to work with, and if they spam barbs, they quickly have no healing, fairy fire, charm, etc etc etc.
@Verb the Noun eh forcing a boss to reroll a save with no save and giving someone advantage for a reaction is strong. Also a wizard and sorcerer can learn this. As well as anyone with fea touched
@@mapledaz3353 And? There are lots of strong spells. Blow spell slots on it, by all means, has always been my take. It's OP if you let your players rest between every encounter, but thats a tough choice to make when dungeon crawling. Might be the best bang for the buck among level 1 spells, but what did you give up? "Oops sry, cant cast XXXXXXXX now. But damn, wasnt that last fight fun?" To me, a juicy cheese spell like that is more of a trap for players long term. "Really? You want to try to long rest now? You guys have only cleared 5 rooms so far..."
If you have to multiclass to make a "good build" then this isn't a "good" subclass. And Silvery Barbs is a cheat spell. Every character with access to it always takes it. Like Spirit Guardians, it's broken. Especially at that level. Strixhaven is kinda crap, if I'm being honest. And they knew it when they published it. And now character optimizers are raiding the corpse for any broken advantage they can. But hey, that's just like my opinion, man.
Have a melee Valor bard I adore. She is in a party with plenty of ranged casters, so the niche she needed to fill was heals and back up melee. I went valor bard over cleric for one reason; 2 melee attacks per action at level 6 for bard, clerics never unlock a true extra attack.
Went 1/2 elf with chr/str/con focus. Level 1&2 she pretty much hid in back and just healed, but those levels were over quickly. Half plate and great sword at level 3. Went War caster as 4th level feat with lucky at 8.
She "came into her own" at level 10 by choosing searing smite (low buy in and stacks with spell slot used) and banishing smite (at level 10, suck it pallies waiting till 17 for that one) as her magical secret spells. She was a decent back up meat shield before that, but the paladin lite upgrade means she can put out some decent melee damage when needed now.
I think the thing I like most about the 2024 PHB is the death of the Crossbow Expert/Sharpshooter monopoly.
So my melee damage plan with my Valor Bard is to take 4 levels in Rogue (Magical Trickster) and the remaining 16 in Bard. This helps my melee attack out by:
-2d6 for sneak attack.
-Find Familiar (Wizard spell) to help get advantage for sneak attack.
-Booming Blade (Wizard spell) to help get extra damage (up to 3d8+4d8 at level 20) on my weapon attack (and more if the target moves).
-Magical Secrets, Hex or Hunter's Mark @ level 10 for extra 2d6 (extra attack to trigger it twice) and Simulacrum @ level 14 for double melee damage.
So at 20th level I have:
-My first attack (Rapier + Booming blade + Sneak Attack + Hex/Hunter's Mark): 8d8+3d6+5 = 16-87 (avg 51.5)
-My second attack (Rapier + Hex/Hunter's Mark): 1d8+1d6+5 = 7-19 (avg 13)
-My simulacrum's 2 attacks: 9d8+4d6+10 = 23-106 (avg 64.5)
So the total: 46-212 (avg 129)
If we're assuming the target moved, that's another 1d8+1d6+5 for Opportunity Attack so looking at another 7-19 (avg 13) damage.
That's a pretty sweet combo my guy. This is why Simulacrum is busted lol
Alternatively, go Variant Human, pick up the great weapon master feat at level 1 and heavily armored at level 4. You will have enough ASIs to get both Charisma and Strength to a score of 20! This pairs especially well with 2 levels of paladin if you are allowed to multiclass (in this case, start with Paladin 1 so you won't need the heavily armored feat).
At level 14, pick up booming blade, since you will get to attack again as a bonus action after casting a bard spell.
That also sounds fantastic!
What stat allocation methodology are you using? I've only been able to get one ability score to 17 at character creation but you have two
This is modified standard array. 17 15 13 12 10 8. I use it at my table but it's not originally my idea. Many people, both on and off YT, use it
Crossbow expert requires a free hand.
Actually it doesn't. It states "When you use the Attack action and attack with a one handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding." A hand crossbow is a one handed weapon so it fills its own requirement. Hope this helps!
@@DapperSnapperGaming Let me clarify. All crossbows have the ammunition property. Per the errata, the ammunition property requires a free hand to load. Crossbow allows the loading property to be ignored but not the ammunition property.
Yes ok I'm on the right page now. In my games I've always allowed someone to be able to reload as long as they have ammo and have crossbow expert. This is not RAW so this is definitely something to talk to your DM about. The alternative is to put away the shield when you need to fire twice and get it back out when someone is getting up on you.
Yeah. Loading property
@billholderman1861 I know this is a year old comment, but the crossbow expert feat says you ignore the loading quality of the weapon. Basically meaning you are so skilled with it that you are in a sense John Wick and loading it is trivial.
Silvery barbs is a bit too good for a first lvl spell i made it lvl 2 so it made it less useable and i think its fine
I've been seeing a lot of this and I can't say that I disagree. For sure it's less spammable
I have zero issue leaving it at 1. Bard has 4 slots to work with, and if they spam barbs, they quickly have no healing, fairy fire, charm, etc etc etc.
@Verb the Noun eh forcing a boss to reroll a save with no save and giving someone advantage for a reaction is strong. Also a wizard and sorcerer can learn this. As well as anyone with fea touched
@@mapledaz3353 And? There are lots of strong spells. Blow spell slots on it, by all means, has always been my take.
It's OP if you let your players rest between every encounter, but thats a tough choice to make when dungeon crawling. Might be the best bang for the buck among level 1 spells, but what did you give up?
"Oops sry, cant cast XXXXXXXX now. But damn, wasnt that last fight fun?"
To me, a juicy cheese spell like that is more of a trap for players long term.
"Really? You want to try to long rest now? You guys have only cleared 5 rooms so far..."
If you have to multiclass to make a "good build" then this isn't a "good" subclass. And Silvery Barbs is a cheat spell. Every character with access to it always takes it. Like Spirit Guardians, it's broken. Especially at that level. Strixhaven is kinda crap, if I'm being honest. And they knew it when they published it. And now character optimizers are raiding the corpse for any broken advantage they can. But hey, that's just like my opinion, man.
I think Valor Bard is good on its own.