I remember trying my hand at a Monk/Bard since you can combine the two much more easily in 5e. The idea I had was a monk that focused on his musical talents as a form of mental, spiritual and physical discipline. The grace of a dancer, the purity of spiritual meditation and the mental focus to play instruments.
One of my favorite Bards I've made was something of a social saboteur, a master of secrets, manipulator of people, and expert in extracting information. She was a Half-Elf Rogue (Inquisitive) and a Bard (College of Whispers). With her insane combination of skill proficiencies and absurd Expertises, she could talk her way into anywhere with a smile and a wink (and sometimes the occasional Enchantment spell), and once alone with her quarry, use Words of Terror to force their cooperation, or to turn them against their allies with sheer paranoia. Sweet and friendly on the outside, insidious and cruel on the inside. I even kept her sheet and most of her abilities a secret from the rest of the group, as they were never truly able to figure out her next move or her true motives. I'm also currently playing a College of Swords Bard in another game with a sword of oriental sword-dancer flair to her, and I'm wondering if there's any options I might consider to beef up her swordfighting skills? I'm thinking of multiclassing into Monk to really maximize the potential use of Blade Flourish; perhaps Way of Shadow to aid in her subterfuge and infiltration abilities that have already proven useful.
A Bad Idea oooh I did something similar, I made a half elf Whisper Bard/ Assassin Rogue. His name was jester and he grew up with a split personality disorder ( that explains his wide array of proficiencies. Good golly in battle he just keeps hiding casting sneak attack viscous mockery which is like spicy Dissonant Whisper. But my god is he a good face. He also wears a neat mask with a jesters hat
Swashbuckler is nice for guaranteed sneak attacks (though you may not want to combine the same classes again), hexblade is great for armour proficiencies, the curse and the shield spell, battlemaster gives you a second fighting style (blind fighting and whatever the armour one is called would be my favourites) and combat maneuvers (basically a flourish on top of your flourish) and paladin smites with full caster spell slots, also another fighting style and advantage on attacks (if vengeance) work well, too. Those are the options I've considered, at least. Probably a bit late of a comment but hey :D
Iv been using a bard lately that uses cards rather than musical instruments. He has a deck of tarott cards that he uses to cast spells. He is collage of whispers and comes across as a fortune teller. I love using detect thoughts to make it seem like he can tell the future by suggesting little things and then reading the surface thoughts of the targets. I also love stealing souls of people who die and trapping them in cards. Also spending a minute reading a fortune let's you use his ability to make someone fear him
I built a Necrodancer/Dirge Singer Bard for a campaign I was in, never got a chance to play her though. She was a historian and an anthropologist, and used her abilities to speak to undead to tell the stories of those who have fallen. She uh, was also a little cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs and ever since her wife died, she's carried around her skull which talks to her (Or at least she thinks it does, never decided whether it actually did or if she was just crazy). The idea was that she was convinced that she was a good guy, animating the dead to use for good deeds, telling the stories of these fallen warriors, but really, she was a menace and was incapable of really seeing the harm she did to people by reanimating these corpses.
This doesn't involve multiclassing but I recently had an inspiration for an unconventional bard. The puppeteer. Using minor illusion and silent image you can do a lot of things with this. Also if you want to creep someone out you could have an unseen servant move a puppet and have minor illusion repeat "I'm coming for you....." Using charm person and suggestion you can essentially make people your puppets. As a lore bard you could use magical secrets to get Tiny Servant. At higher levels you can get Animate object. You could carry a puppet around and use vicious mockery on people and when they get angry you can swear it wasn't you but the puppet doing it. If you want to go a more grisly route you could use Animate Dead to make zombies and put makeup on them. You could also have a woodcarver (if that's not your background) make caricature wooden helmets to put over skeleton heads and put clothes on the skeletons. Or just put paper mache' faces on the skulls. I am about to play a bard in a Dragonheist game and initially I was going be the "commando" valor bard you suggested. Then the unseen servant idea hit me and it took off from there.
Congratulations on getting monetized again, you definitely deserve it. I've been fortunate enough to have a few DM's who agree with my view of the individual classes. They are tools for making your character concept as amazing as possible. Everybody cries when somebody 'min-maxes' like it's a crime to have a character that works well within the rules of a game. I've never had any DM question my role playing ability or accuse me of just being a munchkin. I would like to see you attempt a video or two just making a character concept. Without being beholden to just one or two classes. An example would be this Archer/ Scout build. After I explained my concept (Archer who got trapped in the underdark during a military campaign and adapted to his new environment) to the DM he didn't have any problem with my excessive multiclassing. As I always follow the rules. The final build was Assassin 3/ Gloomstalker 3/ Pact of the Chain Warlock 3/ Battlemaster 11. You have three attacks. 120ft darkvision that can see through magical darkness. Invisible to creatures that rely on dark vision. Among other tricks can also Goad, Trip, or Disarm an opponent. Has an invisible scout (Imp) that it can both see and speak through with a telepathic bond who's only limit is planar. Combining the first round skills of the Gloomstalker and the Assassin make for a very potent combination while scuttling around in the underdark. With the the DM's help working The Archers progression into the overall story, this character became the most memorable in that particular adventure. The other players still talk about her occasionally LOL.
A couple levels of hexblade would be great for a Bard. You get medium armor and shield proficiency, you get the hex ability and spell, and you can take the shield spell. You also get Eldritch blast which synergizes really well with your high charisma.
So... I took your commando build from the unconventional valor bard and gave him an interesting backstory. Former urchin turned street fighter turned musician, Jake looks for a way to make a living and keep off the streets without using his fists, but old habits die hard... Add in an ex-teacher who is also an ex-lover for some romantic pathos and you have a very interesting character. I can't wait to build him up to level 5. Thanks for the concept.
I'm trying to understand how you can grapple, hold someone prone without becoming prone and stab them. Wouldn't you both be on equal footing if you become prone?
I’ve come up with a character I’m absolutely in love with so I figured I’d share her with you. She’s Nix the false prophet. Nix is a Changeling who takes the form of a human priestess to infiltrate communities and steal whatever isn’t nailed down. Mechanically I see her as a Whisper Bard 19 Draconic Sorcerer 1, you take the Sorcerer level for natural armor so you don’t have to worry about anybody asking why the helpless priestess is decked out in adventuring gear not to mention as a bard you want the extra cantrips bad. If you aren’t feeling like a caster then you can definitely go rogue Instead of bard but that seems a bit too predictable.
Excellent Series. Very interesting concept of the Evangelist. It got me thinking. I have been having trouble with a character concept for some time and how to build it. Concept: I want to play the character that becomes the Villain. > Adventures go out to kill a bunch of Cultist. What happens to that one cultist that got away. I want to appear as a Cleric to "aid" adventures get me into dangerous tomes, temples, dungeons etc. to procure the otherwise discarded or destroyed cultist artifact. I need to deceive my party of adventures to my true intention as a cult member of X God, deity, devil. So that I can preserve and reestablish my "temple to X" with the artifacts that I had taken. Make no mistake, he does not care for adventures. They come and go by the dozens and if there is a motley band of fools willing to risk there live for a couple of shinny coins then let them. Im seeking the artifacts to my God to gain power and influence. Cause chaos from the inside. I was thinking of a Warlock Cleric build. Stats might be 8,8,8,15,15,15. Now Im thinking that there might be levels of Bard or Rogue.
Congrats bud been here for AGES! Been messing with something really fun a warforged bladesinger and get this I started at level 1 and had an AC of 21 when singing. I also put heavy focus on buffing spells to help in melee. God damn legend
I’ve been thinking about a bugle boy bard who’s one of the few survivors from a militia that got slaughtered by orcs. In his attempts to rebuild his village and regain what he’s lost, he realizes that while revival spells cost a lot and have time limits, animate dead has far less limitations… and it goes downhill from there into a support based puppet master for a crew of zombie soldiers. The dirge singer gave me some ideas to help the build, so thank you
My bard is a member of the college of whispers. He actually is a legit performer and a very good one despite having the charlatan background. He's polite and friendly and will delight his audience. However he's also very chaotic, unpredictable, and downright deadly if you get on his bad side. My build uses the sharpshooter and crossbow expert feats. So if you make him mad enough he will ditch the instrument altogether pull out a modified crossbow and mop the floor with you.
My most recent character is a College of Valour Warforged Bard who I play as a professional wrestler with maxed out strength and low-moderate charisma. Grappling and shoving almost all enemies and using my spells for emergencies/healing. It is a blast playing, and always fun when people forget the character who suplexed the monster is technically a bard
this was great! I'm actually playing something similar to your 'evangelist' now. 1 level life cleric, then 3 levels in lore bard. As the only primary caster in my group, it really gives me some serious added flexibility. It's also great to role play the cleric who felt like his stuffy upbringing in the church really wasn't the best way to please his diety, but that causing laughter and joy in the good, and terror in the bad, was the best way to spread the good news. and having medium armor proficiency is nice too! I would love to see your ideas behind a nature-based bard, though. I'm already splitting my character between charisma and wisdom, so in theory it could work pretty well for a druid. The only problem is that level 1 druids don't get almost anything! (and my current DM has us leveling up very, very slowly). How far would you have to take it to make a bard/druid combo worthwhile?
The evangelist bard was actually something I’ve been wanting to play for a while. But I was thinking a couple levels in fiend warlock to really push into the deceit
My favourite bard character: Odin's chosen, a travelling skald, warrior and seeker of knowledge for its own sake Much like odin himself, he will be proficient in both combat and magic, combining the two into a deadly flurry of steel and arcane might Race: Human (Variant), Illuskan Feat Warcaster, Magic initiate or Inspiring leader Attributes should be 14 con, 16 cha, 13 str for heavy armor. Rest can be allocated freely but I would dump dex. Start with 2 levels in paladin, then one level of hexblade (your oath to odin/your initiation into Seidr through a near-death experience, a dream or anything similar, the magic of old norse witches said to only have been mastered by one male before, Odin himself), rest valor bard. Your weapon of choice will be the lance (in homage to odin's weapon gungnir), as you can wield it with charisma from hex warrior RAW By lvl20 you will be able to cast 9th level spells, deal close to or in some cases as much melee damage as pure martial classes, be a treasure trove of skill and knowledge due to bard expertise and jack of all trades and have ridiculous nova damage capabilities. By then you will be the avatar of Odin himself. 1 Paladin (Heavy armor prof) 2 Paladin (protection fighting style + divine smite) 3 Warlock-Hexblade (Hex Warrior, Pick up booming blade and Eldritch Blast) 4-20 Bard (College of Valor) At 4th level bard, ASI to bump Cha to 18 At 8th level bard get either warcaster or inspiring leader Magical secrets to pick Lvl10 find greater steed (summon the aspect of sleipnir, odins steed, use pegasus stat block) and either thuderous smite or spiritual weapon to boost your damage capability even further. 14th level bard gets war magic, attack as a bonus action after casting a spell, so combine this with booming blade to get high damage for free, no spell slots required. Smack smites on top for serious damage. You will have high AC on horseback (plate 18 + 2 shield (+5 shield spell from warlock hexblade if required), all without even magic items! Your average damage per round without smite or spells is equal to raging barbarians', combine with animate objects or spiritual weapon as your magical secrets pick for even more damage. Inspire your allies, buff them with spells, defuff the enemy with spells, be the party's face, you can pretty much do it all with this build. In case your DM is a stickler for rules and doesn't let you use battle magic with warlock cantrips, you can take the cantrip at lvl 10 again through magical secrets and swap out the warlock BB with some other cantrip. Just for Comparison: A lvl14 raging barbarian with a nonmagical greataxe and max str deals (1d12+5+3)x2 or (5+6+3)x2=28 dmg average per round if all attacks hit. Same conditions for Odins chosen nets you 1d12+5+2d8+1d12+5 or (6+5)+8+(6+5)=29 average dmg guaranteed, + the potential offset bonus from booming blade of 3d8 or 12 extra average dmg, a whopping total of 41 average dmg without using any kind of resource.
My own plan for whenever I'll actually get to play a character myself: 1 Bard - 2 Hexblade - 3-4 Bard (Swords) - 5-6 Paladin - 7-10 Bard - 11-12 Paladin (Vengeance) - 13-20 Bard Picks up slowly but scales very well, the further you get into the higher levels. Thematically a suave spy type guy with melee combat prowess (yes, I'm playing James Bond) who in his search for power maybe found a cursed instrument or some such and then later atones for his deeds, seeking vengeance on his former patron. Sth. like that. I mean I guess the warlock into paladin thing ain't unconventional but it's not a bad pairing with the spy guy. Anyways, would basically play as a SAD (bc hexblade and aside from 13 Str to multiclass) gish with ridiculous AC (fighting style, defensive flourish, medium armour and shield, shield spell, haste -> 20 unbuffed and 33.5 avg with everything up, both at level 20; obv. less at lower levels) doing 4 attacks per round (haste, swords bard) with advantage and big smites (vengeance paladin with bard spell slots) and adding a spiritual weapon for a little bonus on longer fights. Without any special items, that character actually has a decent chance of soloing an Ancient Dragon. Loses some power without haste but animate objects, greater invisibility and faerie fire are good until then. Drawbacks: losing haste (rare with the proper feats but still dangerous) makes you an instant target with just avg HP and smite slots go quickly with all those hasted attacks. A more sustained version would just get more bard levels instead of paladin or maybe battlemaster fighter or swashbuckler rogue instead. That way, anything you expend can be gained back on a 10 minute catnap rest. And both classes fit perfectly into the swashbuckling melee spy guy theme.
My Unconventional class currently playing a kenku whispers bard espionage criminal background, not a musician but a ink mage writing and painting from a arcane focus ink well given to her from her "granny" annis hag
Hahaha, you actually showed my comment. Cool! I also use Toll the Dead because of the necromancy and sound aspects of the spell. That one is in the Bard spell list so you can get it easily. PS: Glad you got de-demonitized
I've had the idea of a bard multiclassing as a warlock so they can have an undead dragon as a pet/familiar??? my dm friends been trying to help out but.....still troublesome like I'm better at roleplaying the happy bard but I wanted to try something where they only rose this dead cause they felt bad for it and the dragon resents them but they are bound together... so not full raise undead army but just the one time now were cursed thing...
I just recently made a pretty unconventional bard for a game I just joined he's a Saytr Bard College of Whispers and a Wizard School of Necromancy, his instrument of choice Bagpipes. lol
Unconventional: my Halfling dex barbarian is at 8th level and is now branching out as a nature inspired bard. Vicious mockery at the beginning of combat in the form of a wolf howl. Her instrument is a flute she carved from the femur of an ogre.
So, I have a question about creating an Evangelist/Revival preacher character without multiclassing. If I were to take Glamour College and take the Magic Initiate feat, allowing me to put my best numbers in Charisma rather than splitting it into Wisdom for the Cleric and use Warlock or Sorcerer spells (2 cantrips and 1 1st level spell), could I achieve a respectable version. I know I'm giving up Cutting Words for the Mantle of Inspiration and the various controlling abilities as well as the ability score improvement for a feat that mimics Additional Magic Secrets at a lower level. Also, I plan on playing a Tiefling, so I get the race bonus to Charisma already. TL:DR For a Tiefling Bard that will be acting as a Revival style preacher without multiclassing, is the Glamour College's Mantle of Inspiration, Enthralling Performance, Mantle of Majesty, and Unbreakable Majesty plus the Magic Initiate feat worth giving up the Lore College's Additional Magic Secrets and Cutting Words?
Oooo necrobard Love it so much! ^^ Will make a Warforged of this. >:) A sort of soul vessel ie. formerly loving being in an eternal suit devoid of flesh who wants to show others the weakness of flesh.
I'm currently playing in a campaign that's heavily inspired by arabic culture. A muezin (who calls people to prayer) ought to be a wonderful concept for an unconventional bard in my campaign
Please make a video about the most/least used monsters. I'm thinking about being a DM and I keep seeing the same monsters used and it gets old. We need to bring out those monsters no one uses.
Hiya, could you do a “winter warrior” type build? Any class combo. Armor of Agathys was the inspiration so I’d like to see how your idea compares to mine
I'm trying to understand how you can grapple, hold someone prone without becoming prone and stab them. Wouldn't you both be on equal footing if you become prone?
Unconventional wizards? Or maybe just some interesting wizard stuff (Like you did with the bladesinger analysis) war mage, maybe? I mean if you want to do a wizard subclass analysis, I would totally appreciate it. But that is an awful lot of work.
Just have a finesse weapon and bring your barbarian into rogue. Sneak attack just needs a finesse weapon not a dex based attack so rage and sneak attack work well together. If you have barbarian brutal critical, and some sneak attack, maybe fighter champion for the expanded crit range would be good especially with reckless attack ensuring you can sneak attack whenever
There is a Bard sub-class in "Xanathar's Lost Notes to Everything Else" (see DMsGuild) called the College of Discord, which gives the bard teleporting & El-Kabong (look him up on RUclips) like abilities so it will mix well with the barbarian IMO.
The thing that keeps me from embracing concepts like a battle bard, is that they're casters. I can see a Bard dip in an otherwise martial character as interesting. But, if you've invested 5 levels to get good use of your inspiration dice, you're already better at casting than you'll ever be at melee.
I remember trying my hand at a Monk/Bard since you can combine the two much more easily in 5e. The idea I had was a monk that focused on his musical talents as a form of mental, spiritual and physical discipline. The grace of a dancer, the purity of spiritual meditation and the mental focus to play instruments.
I still every time I play a character come back to ur whole unconventional series
I freaking love these ideas
One of my favorite Bards I've made was something of a social saboteur, a master of secrets, manipulator of people, and expert in extracting information. She was a Half-Elf Rogue (Inquisitive) and a Bard (College of Whispers). With her insane combination of skill proficiencies and absurd Expertises, she could talk her way into anywhere with a smile and a wink (and sometimes the occasional Enchantment spell), and once alone with her quarry, use Words of Terror to force their cooperation, or to turn them against their allies with sheer paranoia. Sweet and friendly on the outside, insidious and cruel on the inside. I even kept her sheet and most of her abilities a secret from the rest of the group, as they were never truly able to figure out her next move or her true motives.
I'm also currently playing a College of Swords Bard in another game with a sword of oriental sword-dancer flair to her, and I'm wondering if there's any options I might consider to beef up her swordfighting skills? I'm thinking of multiclassing into Monk to really maximize the potential use of Blade Flourish; perhaps Way of Shadow to aid in her subterfuge and infiltration abilities that have already proven useful.
A Bad Idea oooh I did something similar, I made a half elf Whisper Bard/ Assassin Rogue. His name was jester and he grew up with a split personality disorder ( that explains his wide array of proficiencies. Good golly in battle he just keeps hiding casting sneak attack viscous mockery which is like spicy Dissonant Whisper. But my god is he a good face. He also wears a neat mask with a jesters hat
Swashbuckler is nice for guaranteed sneak attacks (though you may not want to combine the same classes again), hexblade is great for armour proficiencies, the curse and the shield spell, battlemaster gives you a second fighting style (blind fighting and whatever the armour one is called would be my favourites) and combat maneuvers (basically a flourish on top of your flourish) and paladin smites with full caster spell slots, also another fighting style and advantage on attacks (if vengeance) work well, too. Those are the options I've considered, at least.
Probably a bit late of a comment but hey :D
I love this series man, it's so unique and always gives me great inspiration for my own characters.
Agree this is my favorite d&d series done anywhere on the webs.
Iv been using a bard lately that uses cards rather than musical instruments. He has a deck of tarott cards that he uses to cast spells. He is collage of whispers and comes across as a fortune teller. I love using detect thoughts to make it seem like he can tell the future by suggesting little things and then reading the surface thoughts of the targets. I also love stealing souls of people who die and trapping them in cards. Also spending a minute reading a fortune let's you use his ability to make someone fear him
The cards could also become weapons with animate objects.
I built a Necrodancer/Dirge Singer Bard for a campaign I was in, never got a chance to play her though. She was a historian and an anthropologist, and used her abilities to speak to undead to tell the stories of those who have fallen. She uh, was also a little cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs and ever since her wife died, she's carried around her skull which talks to her (Or at least she thinks it does, never decided whether it actually did or if she was just crazy). The idea was that she was convinced that she was a good guy, animating the dead to use for good deeds, telling the stories of these fallen warriors, but really, she was a menace and was incapable of really seeing the harm she did to people by reanimating these corpses.
This doesn't involve multiclassing but I recently had an inspiration for an unconventional bard. The puppeteer. Using minor illusion and silent image you can do a lot of things with this. Also if you want to creep someone out you could have an unseen servant move a puppet and have minor illusion repeat "I'm coming for you....." Using charm person and suggestion you can essentially make people your puppets. As a lore bard you could use magical secrets to get Tiny Servant. At higher levels you can get Animate object. You could carry a puppet around and use vicious mockery on people and when they get angry you can swear it wasn't you but the puppet doing it. If you want to go a more grisly route you could use Animate Dead to make zombies and put makeup on them. You could also have a woodcarver (if that's not your background) make caricature wooden helmets to put over skeleton heads and put clothes on the skeletons. Or just put paper mache' faces on the skulls. I am about to play a bard in a Dragonheist game and initially I was going be the "commando" valor bard you suggested. Then the unseen servant idea hit me and it took off from there.
Congratulations on getting monetized again, you definitely deserve it.
I've been fortunate enough to have a few DM's who agree with my view of the individual classes. They are tools for making your character concept as amazing as possible.
Everybody cries when somebody 'min-maxes' like it's a crime to have a character that works well within the rules of a game. I've never had any DM question my role playing ability or accuse me of just being a munchkin.
I would like to see you attempt a video or two just making a character concept. Without being beholden to just one or two classes.
An example would be this Archer/ Scout build. After I explained my concept (Archer who got trapped in the underdark during a military campaign and adapted to his new environment) to the DM he didn't have any problem with my excessive multiclassing. As I always follow the rules. The final build was Assassin 3/ Gloomstalker 3/ Pact of the Chain Warlock 3/ Battlemaster 11.
You have three attacks. 120ft darkvision that can see through magical darkness. Invisible to creatures that rely on dark vision. Among other tricks can also Goad, Trip, or Disarm an opponent. Has an invisible scout (Imp) that it can both see and speak through with a telepathic bond who's only limit is planar. Combining the first round skills of the Gloomstalker and the Assassin make for a very potent combination while scuttling around in the underdark.
With the the DM's help working The Archers progression into the overall story, this character became the most memorable in that particular adventure. The other players still talk about her occasionally LOL.
Bard is one of my favorite classes and I love the suggestions here!
I am all about the Dirgesinger since 3.5 and in 5e sounds great they did put this back in!
A couple levels of hexblade would be great for a Bard. You get medium armor and shield proficiency, you get the hex ability and spell, and you can take the shield spell. You also get Eldritch blast which synergizes really well with your high charisma.
So... I took your commando build from the unconventional valor bard and gave him an interesting backstory. Former urchin turned street fighter turned musician, Jake looks for a way to make a living and keep off the streets without using his fists, but old habits die hard... Add in an ex-teacher who is also an ex-lover for some romantic pathos and you have a very interesting character. I can't wait to build him up to level 5. Thanks for the concept.
I'm trying to understand how you can grapple, hold someone prone without becoming prone and stab them. Wouldn't you both be on equal footing if you become prone?
5e continues to endear me to the bard and warlock (even did a 10/10 in a one shot), love the vid man thanks.
These are pretty cool! I'm starting a curse of strand game as a beard, and the dirge singer fits what I wanted so so well!
I’ve come up with a character I’m absolutely in love with so I figured I’d share her with you. She’s Nix the false prophet. Nix is a Changeling who takes the form of a human priestess to infiltrate communities and steal whatever isn’t nailed down. Mechanically I see her as a Whisper Bard 19 Draconic Sorcerer 1, you take the Sorcerer level for natural armor so you don’t have to worry about anybody asking why the helpless priestess is decked out in adventuring gear not to mention as a bard you want the extra cantrips bad. If you aren’t feeling like a caster then you can definitely go rogue Instead of bard but that seems a bit too predictable.
So good to see a new upload Bard! Keep up the good work!
Rogue/monk makes a good secret agent with a lot of nice flavorful combos
However if you want to go black ops, shadow monk/Bladelock
Excellent Series. Very interesting concept of the Evangelist. It got me thinking. I have been having trouble with a character concept for some time and how to build it.
Concept: I want to play the character that becomes the Villain. > Adventures go out to kill a bunch of Cultist. What happens to that one cultist that got away. I want to appear as a Cleric to "aid" adventures get me into dangerous tomes, temples, dungeons etc. to procure the otherwise discarded or destroyed cultist artifact. I need to deceive my party of adventures to my true intention as a cult member of X God, deity, devil. So that I can preserve and reestablish my "temple to X" with the artifacts that I had taken.
Make no mistake, he does not care for adventures. They come and go by the dozens and if there is a motley band of fools willing to risk there live for a couple of shinny coins then let them. Im seeking the artifacts to my God to gain power and influence. Cause chaos from the inside.
I was thinking of a Warlock Cleric build. Stats might be 8,8,8,15,15,15. Now Im thinking that there might be levels of Bard or Rogue.
I would say take the evangelist build that was suggested and use the charlatan background
Wonderful to see another video from you as always some fun ideas on display here once again. Might be something I come back too for an NPC later on.
Congrats bud been here for AGES! Been messing with something really fun a warforged bladesinger and get this I started at level 1 and had an AC of 21 when singing. I also put heavy focus on buffing spells to help in melee. God damn legend
I’ve been thinking about a bugle boy bard who’s one of the few survivors from a militia that got slaughtered by orcs. In his attempts to rebuild his village and regain what he’s lost, he realizes that while revival spells cost a lot and have time limits, animate dead has far less limitations… and it goes downhill from there into a support based puppet master for a crew of zombie soldiers.
The dirge singer gave me some ideas to help the build, so thank you
My bard is a member of the college of whispers. He actually is a legit performer and a very good one despite having the charlatan background. He's polite and friendly and will delight his audience. However he's also very chaotic, unpredictable, and downright deadly if you get on his bad side. My build uses the sharpshooter and crossbow expert feats. So if you make him mad enough he will ditch the instrument altogether pull out a modified crossbow and mop the floor with you.
My most recent character is a College of Valour Warforged Bard who I play as a professional wrestler with maxed out strength and low-moderate charisma. Grappling and shoving almost all enemies and using my spells for emergencies/healing. It is a blast playing, and always fun when people forget the character who suplexed the monster is technically a bard
this was great! I'm actually playing something similar to your 'evangelist' now. 1 level life cleric, then 3 levels in lore bard. As the only primary caster in my group, it really gives me some serious added flexibility. It's also great to role play the cleric who felt like his stuffy upbringing in the church really wasn't the best way to please his diety, but that causing laughter and joy in the good, and terror in the bad, was the best way to spread the good news. and having medium armor proficiency is nice too!
I would love to see your ideas behind a nature-based bard, though. I'm already splitting my character between charisma and wisdom, so in theory it could work pretty well for a druid. The only problem is that level 1 druids don't get almost anything! (and my current DM has us leveling up very, very slowly). How far would you have to take it to make a bard/druid combo worthwhile?
The evangelist bard was actually something I’ve been wanting to play for a while. But I was thinking a couple levels in fiend warlock to really push into the deceit
It's been a while since I've been able to actually play 5e, cause I'm always dming. This gave me inspiration...to play again for once.
My favourite bard character:
Odin's chosen, a travelling skald, warrior and seeker of knowledge for its own sake
Much like odin himself, he will be proficient in both combat and magic, combining the two into a deadly flurry of steel and arcane might
Race: Human (Variant), Illuskan
Feat Warcaster, Magic initiate or Inspiring leader
Attributes should be 14 con, 16 cha, 13 str for heavy armor. Rest can be allocated freely but I would dump dex.
Start with 2 levels in paladin, then one level of hexblade (your oath to odin/your initiation into Seidr through a near-death experience, a dream or anything similar, the magic of old norse witches said to only have been mastered by one male before, Odin himself), rest valor bard.
Your weapon of choice will be the lance (in homage to odin's weapon gungnir), as you can wield it with charisma from hex warrior RAW
By lvl20 you will be able to cast 9th level spells, deal close to or in some cases as much melee damage as pure martial classes, be a treasure trove of skill and knowledge due to bard expertise and jack of all trades and have ridiculous nova damage capabilities. By then you will be the avatar of Odin himself.
1 Paladin (Heavy armor prof)
2 Paladin (protection fighting style + divine smite)
3 Warlock-Hexblade (Hex Warrior, Pick up booming blade and Eldritch Blast)
4-20 Bard (College of Valor)
At 4th level bard, ASI to bump Cha to 18
At 8th level bard get either warcaster or inspiring leader
Magical secrets to pick
Lvl10 find greater steed (summon the aspect of sleipnir, odins steed, use pegasus stat block) and either thuderous smite or spiritual weapon to boost your damage capability even further.
14th level bard gets war magic, attack as a bonus action after casting a spell, so combine this with booming blade to get high damage for free, no spell slots required. Smack smites on top for serious damage.
You will have high AC on horseback (plate 18 + 2 shield (+5 shield spell from warlock hexblade if required), all without even magic items!
Your average damage per round without smite or spells is equal to raging barbarians', combine with animate objects or spiritual weapon as your magical secrets pick for even more damage.
Inspire your allies, buff them with spells, defuff the enemy with spells, be the party's face, you can pretty much do it all with this build.
In case your DM is a stickler for rules and doesn't let you use battle magic with warlock cantrips, you can take the cantrip at lvl 10 again through magical secrets and swap out the warlock BB with some other cantrip.
Just for Comparison:
A lvl14 raging barbarian with a nonmagical greataxe and max str deals (1d12+5+3)x2 or (5+6+3)x2=28 dmg average per round if all attacks hit. Same conditions for Odins chosen nets you 1d12+5+2d8+1d12+5 or (6+5)+8+(6+5)=29 average dmg guaranteed, + the potential offset bonus from booming blade of 3d8 or 12 extra average dmg, a whopping total of 41 average dmg without using any kind of resource.
Bard. Have you seen the PDF Xanathar's Lost Notes to Everything Else? They have some really cool subclasses including a College of Mourning for Bards
My own plan for whenever I'll actually get to play a character myself:
1 Bard - 2 Hexblade - 3-4 Bard (Swords) - 5-6 Paladin - 7-10 Bard - 11-12 Paladin (Vengeance) - 13-20 Bard
Picks up slowly but scales very well, the further you get into the higher levels. Thematically a suave spy type guy with melee combat prowess (yes, I'm playing James Bond) who in his search for power maybe found a cursed instrument or some such and then later atones for his deeds, seeking vengeance on his former patron. Sth. like that. I mean I guess the warlock into paladin thing ain't unconventional but it's not a bad pairing with the spy guy.
Anyways, would basically play as a SAD (bc hexblade and aside from 13 Str to multiclass) gish with ridiculous AC (fighting style, defensive flourish, medium armour and shield, shield spell, haste -> 20 unbuffed and 33.5 avg with everything up, both at level 20; obv. less at lower levels) doing 4 attacks per round (haste, swords bard) with advantage and big smites (vengeance paladin with bard spell slots) and adding a spiritual weapon for a little bonus on longer fights. Without any special items, that character actually has a decent chance of soloing an Ancient Dragon. Loses some power without haste but animate objects, greater invisibility and faerie fire are good until then. Drawbacks: losing haste (rare with the proper feats but still dangerous) makes you an instant target with just avg HP and smite slots go quickly with all those hasted attacks. A more sustained version would just get more bard levels instead of paladin or maybe battlemaster fighter or swashbuckler rogue instead. That way, anything you expend can be gained back on a 10 minute catnap rest. And both classes fit perfectly into the swashbuckling melee spy guy theme.
My Unconventional class currently playing a kenku whispers bard espionage criminal background, not a musician but a ink mage writing and painting from a arcane focus ink well given to her from her "granny" annis hag
Hahaha, you actually showed my comment. Cool! I also use Toll the Dead because of the necromancy and sound aspects of the spell. That one is in the Bard spell list so you can get it easily.
PS: Glad you got de-demonitized
I've had the idea of a bard multiclassing as a warlock so they can have an undead dragon as a pet/familiar??? my dm friends been trying to help out but.....still troublesome like I'm better at roleplaying the happy bard but I wanted to try something where they only rose this dead cause they felt bad for it and the dragon resents them but they are bound together... so not full raise undead army but just the one time now were cursed thing...
I just recently made a pretty unconventional bard for a game I just joined he's a Saytr Bard College of Whispers and a Wizard School of Necromancy, his instrument of choice Bagpipes. lol
Welcome back Bard.
Unconventional: my Halfling dex barbarian is at 8th level and is now branching out as a nature inspired bard. Vicious mockery at the beginning of combat in the form of a wolf howl. Her instrument is a flute she carved from the femur of an ogre.
So, I have a question about creating an Evangelist/Revival preacher character without multiclassing. If I were to take Glamour College and take the Magic Initiate feat, allowing me to put my best numbers in Charisma rather than splitting it into Wisdom for the Cleric and use Warlock or Sorcerer spells (2 cantrips and 1 1st level spell), could I achieve a respectable version. I know I'm giving up Cutting Words for the Mantle of Inspiration and the various controlling abilities as well as the ability score improvement for a feat that mimics Additional Magic Secrets at a lower level. Also, I plan on playing a Tiefling, so I get the race bonus to Charisma already.
TL:DR
For a Tiefling Bard that will be acting as a Revival style preacher without multiclassing, is the Glamour College's Mantle of Inspiration, Enthralling Performance, Mantle of Majesty, and Unbreakable Majesty plus the Magic Initiate feat worth giving up the Lore College's Additional Magic Secrets and Cutting Words?
Hmm a bard summoner is a interesting concept buffing your Pets and bargaining for favors
Oooo necrobard Love it so much! ^^ Will make a Warforged of this. >:) A sort of soul vessel ie. formerly loving being in an eternal suit devoid of flesh who wants to show others the weakness of flesh.
I would probably never have thought to make a Bard a religious zealot. Brilliant.
I'm currently playing in a campaign that's heavily inspired by arabic culture. A muezin (who calls people to prayer) ought to be a wonderful concept for an unconventional bard in my campaign
For Dirgesinger I would use magical secrets for Finger of death fo some more zombies. Maybe even create undead for some 3xpensive mussles.
When comes the wizard? Thx
I'm gonna be trying to play a half-drow bard for my campaign focused around the college of whispers any tips?
How was the bard
Please make a video about the most/least used monsters. I'm thinking about being a DM and I keep seeing the same monsters used and it gets old. We need to bring out those monsters no one uses.
Hiya, could you do a “winter warrior” type build? Any class combo. Armor of Agathys was the inspiration so I’d like to see how your idea compares to mine
ruclips.net/video/SCq4loCO8SI/видео.html
this may be an interesting start for you.
i made a Bard/Barbarian that was a flamboyant pro-wresler type. think Dalton Castle
I'm trying to understand how you can grapple, hold someone prone without becoming prone and stab them. Wouldn't you both be on equal footing if you become prone?
Think MMA fighter pinning someone to the ground with their legs and bodyweight while maintaining full use of their own arms for attacking.
Unconventional wizards? Or maybe just some interesting wizard stuff (Like you did with the bladesinger analysis) war mage, maybe? I mean if you want to do a wizard subclass analysis, I would totally appreciate it. But that is an awful lot of work.
Are you going to do a barbarian/ Rogue unconventional build eventually?
Just have a finesse weapon and bring your barbarian into rogue. Sneak attack just needs a finesse weapon not a dex based attack so rage and sneak attack work well together. If you have barbarian brutal critical, and some sneak attack, maybe fighter champion for the expanded crit range would be good especially with reckless attack ensuring you can sneak attack whenever
What about unconventional wizard?
What about a vengeful bard
How about a bard that's a philosopher like diogenes, Plato, etc, etc.
There is a Bard sub-class in "Xanathar's Lost Notes to Everything Else" (see DMsGuild) called the College of Discord, which gives the bard teleporting & El-Kabong (look him up on RUclips) like abilities so it will mix well with the barbarian IMO.
Do fighter next!
really wish you would balance your audio some more. But ty, good video.
I don't like the level by level thing, keep it how it is.
The thing that keeps me from embracing concepts like a battle bard, is that they're casters. I can see a Bard dip in an otherwise martial character as interesting. But, if you've invested 5 levels to get good use of your inspiration dice, you're already better at casting than you'll ever be at melee.