The Swords Bard: d4 #81

hi there everybody how's it going welcome to d4  dnd deep dive this is the show where each week we   take a deep dive into one sometimes two specific  character builds for dungeons and dragons and we   theorycraft about a character we crunch  numbers on the character in the attempt   not to necessarily tell you the right way or the  best way to play a character but to explore one   potential option of a character in the hopes of  creating something that is both really fun but   also really powerful to play in game so if you  enjoy creating characters for d almost as much   as you enjoy playing the actual game itself or  even if you're just looking for tips or ideas   on a character that you want to play then welcome  home this is where you belong and i'm really glad   that you're here so thanks for being here my  name is colby and i'll be your host before we   jump in if you would like a written guide to this  build that gives step-by-step directions on how   to recreate the character yourself then please  consider joining the channel as a member there   should be a little button down there somewhere  that says join for two dollars a month you help   me create more and better content but also you can  get a cheat sheet guide as it were that i create   for this and for pretty much all of my builds that  i put in my write-up library and yeah it'll just   make it a little bit easier for you to access  that and also support the channel so thanks for   considering and even if you're not considering  joining the channel thanks for being here anyway   watching liking subscribing commenting all of  those things are also a great way to support   me so thank you so i've had a lot of requests for  a swords bard build over the last several months   and my initial response when i see those is to  think well i've done a few swords part builds but   the truth is with really only one exception  that being the bard locker many many months ago   usually when i take swords bard it's not much more  than a dip and so it feels a little disingenuous   to say i've done a lot of sword sparred builds and  in fact even that bard locker was a hand crossbow   ranged bard build so it arguably wasn't even for  like a real swords board so i thought today i'd   try to just give it the full deal treatment build  a character who is mostly a swords bard who takes   levels in swords bard very early and who actually  uses swords something probably a little bit closer   to what most of us think of when we envision what  a swords bard should look like a charismatic gish   character right who wields both blade and spell to  great effect they might be a bit rakish a bit of   a rogue using that as an adjective not speaking  of the dnd class of course but they can inspire   insult their enemies buff debuff and even hit like  a freight train once in a while with a lot more   panache and pizazz than their lesser gishes sounds  fun so that's what we're gonna do today now due to   the nature of the abilities that swords birds get  most especially their flourishes i think it makes   the most sense to build them for like nova damage  or burst damage that is trying to build them in a   way that with the expenditure of limited resources  they could pump out massive amounts of damage in   a single round in the hopes of eliminating an  enemy or maybe even two early on in the fight   taking advantage of superior action economy for  your entire party so yeah that's the preamble   that's it that's gotta be a record for me for the  shortest preamble ever i mean there is gonna be   a lot of exposition later on so don't get too  excited but anyway let's jump in to episode 80   the swords part and as always a big thanks to my  friend randall hampton for creating this fantastic   artwork that he does for each of my episodes i  present him with the character concept and he   draws these amazing character creations based on  the little amount of detail that i give them and   they're all fantastic and this one is no exception  to that i love the detail and the personality that   he gives each of his drawings if you would like  to follow randall i'm gonna put links in the video   description as always on how to do so big thanks  to randall and let's jump into the build all right   at level one let's just address this right at  the beginning you need to make a decision right   away if you are going to take a hex blade dip on  this character or not if you want to be as good at   hitting stuff as you are at casting spells and you  want to have more points at character creation to   put into your constitution score then you take  a hex blade dip don't get mad at me wizards of   the coast are the one who made hexplate so good  if on the other hand you're fine with just being   pretty good at the spell casting bit and really  good at hitting stuff or vice versa for that   matter and you can live with a constitution  modifier that's one or two points below where   it otherwise could be or for that matter if you  just really don't like what a dip in warlock does   to your character story wise then don't take a  hex blade dip that's fine now i have said that i   am building this character for burst damage and as  such i for this build care a little bit less about   our spell casting stat and the other bardy things  that i can do than i care about hitting stuff   so for me for this version of the build it's a  little less painful to pass on hex blade we will   miss hexblade's curse in particular for our nova  round when it comes to damage but other than that   we won't miss the other hex blade benefits too  much when we're just thinking about the damage   that we do on our nova round and for that matter  not having to lose a level for that hex blade dip   means that we can get an ability score increase  or feet before our first damage report at level   6 which is going to do wonders for our damage in  fact it's even going to make our nova round better   at 6 than it otherwise would be i'll get into that  later perhaps the biggest reason that i decided   not to go hexblade on this character though is  that eventually at least we are going to be pretty   bonus action heavy there's going to be a little  bit of a traffic jam with our bonus action here   and so having one more thing hex blade's curse as  good as it is to further clog up our bonus action   just didn't feel really great to me anyway if you  decide to go hexblade here i don't think it's a   bad idea i won't be angry other people might be  many of the commenters on my videos whenever i   take a hex blade dip but if you do i would  recommend doing so right at level one as for   us what should we start with bard right nah i'm  planning on taking paladin levels eventually and   so i think i would rather start paladin here for  a few reasons first off um we get better equipment   proficiencies for one with you know our armor  and weapons we get more health of course but most   importantly our wisdom score on this character as  we will see in a minute is going to be really bad   it's going to be a dump stat in fact and wisdom is  one of the more important saving throws for player   characters in dnd 5th edition since paladins get  wisdom-saving throw proficiencies and bards do not   i would say we start with paladin to pick  up proficiency in our wisdom saving throws   to help make up for that low wisdom score that  we're gonna have if you would rather start   barred go for it but when we first meet our hero  i think they might be a squire to another paladin   perhaps striving to follow in their footsteps  preparing themselves to swear their own oath   or maybe they're working in a temple somewhere  training and learning i know most paladins in 5e   don't have to be religious necessarily but i think  my character here would probably be a servant   of the goddess miliel goddess of poetry and song  or perhaps helm god of protection but you might   decide that they've simply sworn for now to uphold  justice and or defend those who cannot defend   themselves or something like that that's fine as  for our race i'm gonna recommend that we go half   elf here the stat bonuses that half elves get are  really nice of course and like all paladins we're   going to be a bit mad multiple ability score  dependent so getting a plus two and a plus one   and a plus one is really great but there's an even  more important reason to go half elf or elf if you   prefer we'll get into that later as for our sub  race of half elf i'd suggest mark of detection   if you can play with the eberron book as the extra  spells that they get access to are really nice or   mark of the storm as an alternative there but if  you can't or don't want to because you think those   mark races are overpowered i think drow half elf  drow are a strong option here as well potentially   giving us the ability to cast some additional  spells as well though aside from the dancing   lights can trip you only get those spells once per  day as opposed to the mark of the storm which are   just added to the spell list of your spell casting  class as for our ability scores i'm assuming that   we're using the point by method as always and that  we are using tasha's cauldron of everything which   tells us that we can assign our racial stat  bonuses to whatever ability scores we want   so i'm saying we take a 15 dexterity and a plus 2  there a 15 charisma and a plus one there and then   a 13 strength and a 12 constitution with a plus  one there giving us a 13 constitution not great   i know but we needed that 13 strength because of  multi-classing requirements with paladin as for   equipment i would recommend that we go with the  gold buy method and that we purchase some scale   mail a couple of short swords or scimitars if we  can afford it and we just like the look and feel   of summiters and whatever other necessities we  have and can afford we don't have the strength to   wear plate mail anyway without suffering a move  speed penalty so we're gonna commit to medium   armor on this character as a paladin then at level  one we get divine sense first of all which lets us   as an action one plus our charisma modifier times  per day so that's four for now basically reach   out and try to sense any celestial fiend or undead  that's within 60 feet of us not behind total cover   that's situationally kind of useful once in a  while but then we do of course get the lay on   hands ability which gives us five points per  paladin level that we can use as an action   to heal ourselves or an ally one hit point of  healing per lay on hands point spent or we can use   five leon hands points to cure a disease or  poison and if we're just using healing to   bring back allies that have gone unconscious  which is arguably the most effective way to   use healing in fifth edition this is actually  a really potent ability when someone's gone   unconscious they only need one hit point of  healing to come back so you could use this   potentially five times to bring back somebody from  being knocked down at level two we could of course   go paladin two here as that would get us spells  and divine smite and those are both good and   very important for this build i just don't want to  delay our bard levels any longer if you wanted to   go pali 2 here go for it for us our champion now  has either i think decided that the best way to   proselytize for their deity will be to take their  show on the road and use their innate talent for   music and or oration combined with their  martial skill to show people the truth or   perhaps they simply cannot contain the song of  righteousness that exists within themselves and   they see no reason why they can't perform while  they fulfill their more zealous duties they have   so much charisma it's just bursting out of them  and it cannot be contained whatever your reasons   we're going to take bard levels here and so as  a bard one we get bardic inspiration of course   that lets us charisma modifier times per day so  three for now use a bonus action and then give   an ally that's within 60 feet of us and who can  hear us bardic inspiration for the next 10 minutes   they can use that bark inspiration to add a d6 to  any ability check attack roll or saving throw that   they make or actually if you're using tasha's  cauldron of everything they can also add it to   a spell that heals or does damage it's the bard's  calling card and your allies will love you for it   we also get spells we get barred cantrips and  first level spells for the most part i'm gonna   just say pick your favorite though i do think  every bard should have vicious mockery because   it's just awesome and killing somebody with an  insult might be the pinnacle of hilarity in dnd   but the only one that i'm gonna highlight here and  say that i will plan on using during combat for   now is fairy fire fairy fire is a great spell  for first level especially if your party has   no other reliable way to get advantage on their  attacks since i can't know of course what party   members you're traveling with and what buffs and  debuffs they might be throwing out i'm gonna say   let's plan on using fairy fire for now for our  concentration as it covers each creature in a   20-foot cube who fails a dexterity saving throw  with a colored light and then for the next minute   any attacks against them are made with advantage  now taking an entire action to cast this may   seem like a steep price to pay but considering  the benefits that it can potentially give to your   entire party against potentially multiple enemies  i think it worth it you are a bard after all so   throw out those buffs and debuffs it's partly  why you're here at level three we would be a bard   two we get jack of all trades which is one of my  favorite bardic abilities any ability check you   make that doesn't already include your proficiency  bonus including initiative roles which do in fact   benefit from jack of all trades you can add half  of your proficiency bonus rounded down lovely and   then we get song of rest which tells us that when  you and your allies spend hit dice to recover hit   points during a short rest you can add a 1d6 for  now of extra healing as you soothe the party with   song or oration level four would be a bard three  and it's like christmas we get so many fabulous   things at this level so first up we get second  level spells there are so many great ones of   course but none that i'm gonna plan on using when  i crunch numbers so i'm just gonna say pick your   favorites we get expertise which is fantastic it  lets us pick two skills that we're proficient in   and double our proficiency for those skills  again i would say pick your favorite i think   as a bard you kind of have to go performance but  maybe you're more interested in being stealthy or   improving your perception checks which come up all  the time i think in most campaigns at most tables   do what you think best and then of course we get  our bard college our subclass and we are going   with the swords bard and as a swords bard we get  some great things we get bonus proficiencies first   of all so we get proficiency with medium  armor and scimitars which we already had   but also you can now use your weapon as a spell  casting focus and since the rules tell us that we   can use the same hand for material components as  somatic we shouldn't need to pay the warcaster tax   if we ever wanted to cast spells now with our  hands full at least for our bard spells and we   only have bart spells at the moment so and just  in time because we also get a fighting style as   a swordspart but we only get two choices dueling  or two weapon fighting i would take two weapon   fighting here primarily because if we're planning  on getting a big burst round of damage right   being able to use our bonus action to make another  weapon attack means more potential damage on that   round and if we are thus to weapon fighting we  might as well take the fighting style that lets   us add our ability score modifier to the damage of  that bonus action weapon attack since we couldn't   do so without taking this fighting style that said  as we'll see and as i kind of mentioned already   at the beginning this character is going to  suffer a little bit from some bonus action bloat   and so if you decide that you would just be  better off grabbing a shield to improve your   survivability and then sticking to attacks with  just one hand each round saving your bonus action   for everything else that you want to do with it i  think that would be perfectly understandable and   then of course you should take the dueling feet  to add two damage to your weapon attacks but the   best part about swordsparts of course is their  blade flourish so first up with blade flourish   whenever you take the attack action on your  turn your move speed just increases by 10 feet   that's awesome next if you hit a creature  with a weapon attack once per turn you can   expend a use of your bark inspiration to do a  blade flourish and we get to choose from three   options on our blade flourish each of them add  your bardic inspiration die to the damage of the   attack but then do something else cool depending  on which option you choose right slashing flourish   lets you add that little bonus damage from your  bardic inspiration die to a second target that's   within five feet of you mobile flourish lets you  push the target away from you and then use your   reaction to move up to half of your move speed so  long as you stop moving within five feet of the   enemy that you pushed but i think that defensive  flourish is the one we will probably be using   the vast majority of the time with this character  unless an ally has placed a nice cloud of daggers   down or something that we really want to push  our enemy into with defensive flourish you get   to add the number that you rolled on your bark  inspiration die for damage right to your armor   class as well until the start of your next turn so  it lasts the entire next round of combat this is   really strong it's gonna raise our ac by three or  four on average right now i mean if we had half   plate armor right now and we're level three so  that might be a bit of a stretch but that would   put us at a 20 or a 21 armor class on average  without a shield as a level three character you   know i've got plans for a swords bar tank one day  right at level five we would be a bard four and we   get our first ability score increase or feet and  i'm going to recommend that we take elven accuracy   i haven't actually used oven accuracy for quite a  while now seems like it used to be in every other   build that i would do with elven accuracy if you  have advantage and you're attacking with something   other than strength basically or constitution i  guess it is an incredibly strong feat it lets us   first off bump our dexterity intelligence wisdom  or charisma by one we'll take dexterity of course   on this version of the character bringing us up  to an 18 dexterity now and then when you make an   attack with advantage you basically get to roll  three d20s instead of two so long as again you're   attacking with dexterity wisdom intelligence  or charisma now yes we could have gone with a   strength based build here and been less multiple  ability score dependent as i was planning on   getting advantage regularly with this character i  wanted to go with like a dex-based attack so that   we could benefit from this really fantastic feat  but if you wanted to get a higher constitution   and not take a hex blade dip you could very easily  go with a strength-based swords bard build here   skip elven accuracy and so you know our damage  would be a little bit lower but our survivability   would go up you know it's a trade-off that you  got to make a decision on i actually also though   i think for a swords bard personally envisioned  them mostly as being more life and dexterous   than big bulky and strong but maybe you want  to do something different go for it at level 6   we are going to return to our paladin ways for a  moment here to pick up some really nice features   so we would be a paly 2. first off we get paladin  spells and while there are some great options   there's nothing that i would plan on using in  combat here necessarily so i will just say pick   your favorites although bless should definitely be  given some serious consideration for us especially   with elven accuracy we benefit a lot more from the  advantage we get from ferry fire but if you think   the enemy is likely to make their dexterity saving  throw against fairy fire or maybe the enemies are   spread out too much and you couldn't get more than  one in the area of effect of the spell or couldn't   avoid hitting your allies with it for example two  because allies that get hit by ferry fire have   to make the deck save too and if they failed the  enemies are gonna have the same advantage on them   so that's potentially really bad anyway if any  of these things are at play in your combat bless   is a very strong runner-up consideration for  a concentration here i think granting a d4 to   you and two other party members or just three  other party members if you want to be totally   selfless and you get to add that d4 to all of your  attack roles and saving throws for the next minute   it's one of the best buffs in game i think and  it stays good throughout your character's life   also as a paladin 2 we get another fighting style  i'm probably gonna go with the defense fighting   style here i think to just add one to my armor  class but if you wanted to pick up a really nice   protection option interception lets you reduce  damage done to an ally within five feet of you   using your reaction and i'm sure your allies  will love you for that once in a while but the   main reason that we're here of course is for  divine smite with divine smite when you hit an   enemy with a melee weapon attack you can spend a  spell slot and deal 2d8 additional radiant damage   plus one more d8 if they're undead or fiend  plus one more d8 for every spell slot higher   than first level that you spend on divine smite  and here's the really nice thing about what we're   doing with this character as a paladin 2 bard  4 we already now have third level spell slots   thanks to our multi-classing so right when we get  the ability to use divine smite we can smite for   48 damage and we've almost hit this the smite cap  already which is a 5d8 or 4th level spell slots   that is really fun and just in time for our very  first damage report at level six so our tactics   here are fairly straightforward on round one we're  throwing out fairy fire and on round two we're   making two attacks against our enemy one with  our action and one with our bonus action using   our other hand if we wanted to burst as hard as  possible we could blow up arctic inspiration for   an extra d6 of damage for a flourish and two third  level spell slots for 48 each for a total of three   d6 plus eight d8 plus eight from our dexterity  modifier both of those attacks being made with   elven accuracy's triple advantage assuming your  fairy fire stuck of course or you otherwise have   advantage somehow i appreciate that this won't  always be the case but assuming best case scenario   numbers as always and asking you to adjust  accordingly if you need to against an enemy with a   10 armor class we would do on average during this  nova round 61 damage and against an enemy with a   15 armor class it wouldn't be much less it's 59  damage and that's really strong it puts us at   the lower end of tier 1 for this level compared to  other nova builds that i've done and in case you   don't know check the video description and you'll  find graphs and spreadsheets and things comparing   these burst damage builds to one another and yeah  that's pretty solid now let me pause for a moment   here i get a lot of comments on almost every video  that i do that ask me can you optimize a character   for like level five or six and my response to  those comments is always the same with very few   exceptions in fact i can't even think of any but  there's probably some out there i try to optimize   every single one of my builds for low-level  play and mid-level play and high-level play   this is the whole reason why i do damage reports  at level 6 9 13 and 17. i really care a lot about   making each character as powerful as i possibly  can at each of those levels because before i   started this channel i got so tired of all of the  character builds that i would see online where   people were like look how amazing this character  is at level 20 right who plays the game at level   20. i certainly never have i've never even played  it at level 17. so i really want to see what this   amazing super uber powerful build looks like all  along the way and what the best path might be   to get there and how it compares to other things  that you could have done all along the way right   and so for this build as i've said i'm trying to  make it so that we can do as much burst damage as   possible as early as possible but it's important  for us to understand what we would be sacrificing   if we make that our top priority going paladin  2 here by level 6 is absolutely the best route   to go if we want to make our burst round of damage  hit as hard as possible early on i have crunched   numbers for lots of different options but nothing  else even comes close to divine smite here in fact   believe it or not the route that i've taken as  i mentioned is even better than had we gone with   a hex blade dip because taking a hex blade dip we  wouldn't have been able to get both elven accuracy   and divine smite going if we wanted to get swords  bar levels of course which is the whole point of   this build but delaying our extra attack and other  bard features like font of inspiration to get our   nova damage this high is going to mean that a lot  of other aspects of our character suffer of course   so you just need to decide right do you care about  burst damage above all else like i'm prioritizing   for this build if so make the sacrifice go this  route and you're gonna put out some amazing nova   damage at fairly early levels but if you care more  about having higher level spells more inspiration   uses and extra attack sooner among other things  then delay paladin cool at level 7 we would be   a bard 5 and we get third level spells so yes of  course you should be seriously considering fear   hypnotic pattern tiny hut cat nap dispel magic but  the only one that i might consider using during   our nova round at least would be the slow spell  slow is such a fantastic spell it forces up to   six enemies who fail their saving throw to choose  between an action or a bonus action not both they   lose any benefit from multi-attack if they have  it they lose their reaction they can only move at   half speed and potentially have difficulty casting  spells it also lowers their armor class by two and   lowering their ac by two is essentially the same  thing mathematically as raising your plus to hit   by two but also everyone else in your party so if  you have another means of gaining advantage via   something else that someone in your party is  doing slow is probably what i would use for my   concentration here at least if we're looking  at bumping our damage and also improving your   party's survivability by decreasing the efficacy  of your enemies our bark inspiration here does   jump up to a d8 now and so that is gonna mean a  slight increase to our damage when we're using   it for a flourish but best of all at bard 5 we get  font of inspiration and that means that our bardic   inspirations now reset on a short rest instead  of a long rest ensuring many more uses of our   inspirations and our flourishes at level eight we  would be a bard six and we get fourth level spell   slots first of all thanks to multi-classing that's  important and that means that we could potentially   smite for 5d8 if we decided to burn that spell  slot for it we also get counter charm as a bard   six which is one of the more questionable bardic  abilities i think with counter charm as an action   you can start a performance that gives you and  your nearby allies advantage on saves against   being frightened and charmed it only lasts for  one round until your next turn but at the cost   of your action i really think this only gets used  once in a great while but still i'm sure that your   party will be happy about it once in a great while  most importantly for us as a swords bard at six   we get extra attack finally it was a bit of a wait  but like i said our nova round at least was better   by delaying this in favor of divine smite but  now yes when we take the attack action we can   attack twice with our action meaning that we can  potentially make three attacks in a turn using our   bonus action as well and that means three smites  as well potentially but at level nine here's the   thing having to rely on fairy fire to get us  advantage makes me chafe a little i can't quite   get the cream on the chaff spot for one thing our  charisma isn't great right unless we dip tax blade   of course which i didn't do and so i'm a little  bit squeamish about just assuming that fairy fire   will have stuck to the target that we're trying  to burst down fairy fire also doesn't have a   fantastic area of effect it's not very big right  and like i said it can potentially affect allies   as well so it can be problematic in that way for  another thing it's using up our concentration and   i would love to at least have the option to  concentrate on something else whether it's a   nice control spell or something to increase our  damage even further so i'd really like to find   another way to get advantage reliably if possible  and thus free up our concentration and so now that   we have extra attack secured i'd think i'd like  to go back to paladin here for one more level so   at this point in our character's career they are  ready to swear their oath that all paladins swear   in the pursuit of some ideal or creed perhaps your  character was planning on swearing this oath all   along something in your backstory having set your  feet on this path right from level one but perhaps   something some great loss or tragedy has happened  during your adventure now that has caused a sharp   shift and where your character maybe thought they  were headed they might have had plans to swear the   oath of glory or oath of the crown but whatever  your reasons we are actually going to take the   oath of vengeance here let's read about the tenets  of the oath of vengeance because they're really   cool the tenants of the oath of vengeance  vary by paladin but all the tenants revolve   around punishing wrongdoers by any means necessary  paladins who uphold these tenants are willing to   sacrifice even their own righteousness to meet out  justice upon those who do evil so the paladins are   often neutral or lawful neutral in alignment the  core principles of the tenants are brutally simple   fight the greater evil no mercy for the wicked  by any means necessary and restitution it's a   little chilling right a little dark almost which  i actually kind of like for a character that's   primarily barred i don't really see most bards as  being like the lawful good type maybe yours is but   anyway i mean what happened to our charismatic  charming swords part and i actually really like   stories story-wise what this does for us here  it lets us have a chance to be more than just   a stereotypical seduce everything i see bard  right there's a darker side that lurks under that   winning smile and it's delicious so we do pick  up a couple of additional spells as a vengeance   paladin thanks to our oath spells that are just  always prepared for us we get bane which is sort   of like the anti-bless that you cast on your  enemies and hunter's mark let's talk about   hunter's mark for a sec so it requires our  concentration it uses a bonus action to cast   it doesn't allow for a saving throw it just works  and then adds a d6 of damage to every weapon   attack that you land on a creature that's marked  until they're dead whereupon you can with another   bonus action transfer the mark to a different  enemy now the argument against hunter's mark   and hex i think too is if you would have done  more damage with your bonus action than getting   an extra d6 on your other weapon attacks that  round then it's not a particularly good spell   and i think i generally agree with that but that  said there are definitely times when it would be   worth using i think our bonus action right now  could give us an extra attack right which is a   d6 of damage for a short sword plus four for our  dexterity bonus so that's 7.5 damage on average if   we used our bonus action for hunter's mark instead  it would be an extra d6 for our two attacks that   we get with our action so an extra 7 damage on  average so looking at it from that angle it's   almost a wash right of course if we would have  used divine smite on that bonus action weapon   attack that we gave up by casting hunter's mark  then it's no longer a wash naturally on the other   hand if the creature that we're attacking survives  until our next turn and we're attacking them again   well now those d6s are really starting to add up  if we were to get even more attacks later on then   now it's almost as strong as making a weapon  attack and piling a divine smite on top of it   so i'm not suggesting that we use hunter's mark  all the time i'm just saying that it may be worth   it sometimes depending on what you're fighting on  what resources are available to you how quickly   your teammates tend to dispatch the enemy that  you're targeting etc etc it's a decent arrow to   keep in your quiver especially now that we're not  concentrating on fairy fire for advantage during   our nova round because when paladins swear their  oath they get channel divinity which lets them   do one of two neat things depending on their oath  once per short rest and the vengeance palette and   option that i'll assume we're using primarily for  our channel divinity is vow of enmity which lets   us as a bonus action to my everlasting dismay gain  advantage on all attack rolls against a target of   your choice within 10 feet of view for one minute  or until it drops to zero hit points so we now   have our concentration free advantage yay now yes  it's only against one target per short rest but   we are building for burst damage being absolutely  devastating with limited capacity is kind of our   thing we also could use our channel divinity for  abjure enemy which lets us use an action to force   an enemy to make a wisdom save or be frightened  of us it would also reduce that enemy's move speed   to zero even if they succeeded on their saving  throw it would reduce their move speed to half   until they take damage situationally useful but i  don't imagine that we would be using it all that   much on this character don't forget though that  we do also get harness divine power here thanks   to tasha's cauldron of everything which lets us  use our channel divinity to regain a spell slot   as a bonus action if you don't need the advantage  from vow of enmity or i guess if you really need   the spell slot it's a nice option to have you  can only do this once per day and the spell slot   can be no more than half your proficiency bonus  rounded up so a second level spell slot for now   and so for our level 9 damage report let's discuss  what our best case scenario nova round might look   like right now with the understanding that  it might only come up once in a great while   assuming that you're fighting like a big bad boss  with a lot of hit points and you were confident   that you would get a few rounds of combat against  them on round one you're going to use valve enmity   as a bonus action and make a couple of attacks  on round two hunters mark and make a couple more   and then on round three you're making three  attacks all with hunter's mark and even going   full nova burning a fourth level spell slot and  two third level spell slots for a total that round   of 66 plus 13 d8 plus 12 damage that's awesome  but yeah that level of damage isn't happening   until round three right so a little less awesome i  think the reality is what you're probably doing is   just crit fishing on those first two rounds right  with elven accuracy and advantage you're sitting   at a 14.26 percent chance to crit so you vow  of enmity and if you crit smite right next turn   hunter's mark and whack if you crit smite and now  your hunter's mark damage gets to get doubled also   round three the big bad's still up you have the  spell slots for it sure go full ham and just   smite on every swing regardless to try and take  it down i think during non-like boss encounters   you're probably just picking up the deadliest  enemy using your vow of enmity and then foregoing   hunter's mark most of the time i would guess  anyway assuming that big boss scenario against   an enemy with a 10 armor glass we would do  108 damage on average during that nova round   and against an enemy with a 16 armor class  it would be 104. that's still quite good   but we've maybe slipped just a skosh compared to  other nova builds putting us more firmly like in   the top quarter of tier 2 builds by comparison at  level 10 as much as it pains me to do so honestly   i think with both our extra attack and now  advantage secured we'd be crazy at least from a   mechanic's perspective to not try and get action  surge if we're really trying to build the best   nova character that we can here so our hero  decides now to forgo their performance magic and   zealotry here for just a little bit to focus  solely on perfecting their swordsmanship if   you'd rather not and you care more about  getting those later bard features and   higher level spells etc go for it but for us we're  gonna take a slight fighter detour now so we'd be   a fighter one and as such we get second wind which  lets us once per short rest as a bonus action   heal ourselves for d10 plus our fighter level this  is a lot stronger in early game but you know we'll   use it in a pinch or more likely i think between  combats to save on a hit die or two but we also as   a fighter one get yet another fighting style and i  love having three fighting styles on one character   i'm even tempted to go ranger just to pick up a  fourth we could take defense or interception you   know whichever one you passed on with the paladin  i think it's not a bad idea but for me focused   on burst damage like i am especially i think i  would go with superior technique here so that we   can learn a battle master maneuver and get a 1d6  superiority die to go with it that we can use once   per short rest to fuel one of our attacks and i  think i go with trip attack here for the maneuver   this lets us you know when we land a weapon attack  on our enemy deal that extra d6 of damage from   our superiority die and then force them to make a  saving throw or be knocked prone giving us and our   other melee allies advantage on attacks against  that enemy now if we have our vow of enmity on   them of course we shouldn't need advantage but our  allies might appreciate it for one and of course   we only get that vow of enmity once per short  rest so if you want to save trip attack and use   it against another enemy you could enjoy a second  slightly less impactful nova round per short rest   if you wanted or needed to at level 11 we'd be  a fighter 2 and we get action surge and that's   why we're here of course letting us again once for  short rest take another action on a turn meaning   that we could potentially now be making five  attacks against an enemy in a single round right   your action two attacks action surge two more  attacks bonus action fifth attack potentially even   smiting on all five of those attacks if we  wanted to burn the spell slots and coincidentally   hunter's mark of course gets even better now doing  almost as much damage if we add that d6 to four   attacks as we would have done had we instead used  the bonus action to make a weapon attack and smite   to say nothing of course of the additional damage  that hunter's mark could bring us on subsequent   rounds at level 12 though i think we're going  back to bard and staying there for the rest of our   career so we'd be a bard seven and we get fourth  level spells and of course you should take things   like polymorph and dimension door but i will also  mention greater invisibility as a strong option   for our damage it lets us be invisible and remain  invisible even if we attack or cast spells unlike   regular invisibility meaning that most creatures  won't be able to see us and if they can't see us   all of our attacks would be made with advantage  and all of their attacks against us would be made   with disadvantage and especially for someone with  elven accuracy who likes to smite when they get a   critical hit the power of that should not be  underestimated if you have vow of enmity and   or trip attack up for a fight maybe don't worry  about it but if you get into combat again before a   short rest greater invisibility will do more for  our damage to say nothing of our survivability   than probably any other concentration spell  that we have access to right now of course   unless someone else in your party is getting  you advantage somehow or the enemies have true   sight or something at level 13 we would be a bard  eight and we get another ability score increase or   feat and i would recommend bumping our dexterity  so we're capped now at 20. that of course is going   to do more for our damage than anything else we  could take here and coincidentally our armor class   would be just as good in studded leather now as  it would be in half plate so feel free to switch   if you've been using half plate thus far if you  don't want disadvantage on your stealth checks   or of course especially if you have access to some  really great magical light armor it's nice to have   options we also would have a fifth level spell  slot right now thanks to multi-classing for more   smites and or probably if you're smart another use  of like polymorph or fear or slow or something for   our damage report then at level 13 compared to the  last time we checked we've capped our dexterity   and we could now if we chose to smite for 5d8 on  three of our attacks action surge and smite for   4d8 on two more we've also added a superiority  die potentially to our nova round for another   d6 of damage as always i'm not really suggesting  that we should blow all of these expensive limited   resources in a single round of combat just trying  to figure out what our potential might be and so   if we did do all of those things against an enemy  with a 10 armor class we would on average do 192   damage during our nova round and against an enemy  with a 16 and against an enemy with a 17 armor   class it would be 188 damage yikes that's almost  double since last time we checked and we're now   more firmly back in like the bottom of tier 1  compared to other burst damage builds at this   level and thus we see the undeniable potential of  action surge especially when coupled with divine   smite at level 14 we would be a bard 9. our  song of rest goes from a d6 to a d8 so that's   a little bit more healing during your short rest  and then we get fifth level spells all right   there are a lot of great spells here that we need  to be thinking about first off i'm gonna say get   greater restoration it's a fantastic spell that  heals and cures lots of stuff that nothing else   in the game can heal or cure and as a bard i think  people are going to be looking to you to provide   some support and healing potential right but as  for what we might potentially use for our damage   let's start off with animate objects this is  potentially a really powerful spell but it depends   a lot on the enemies you're fighting and how your  dm rules things at your table i think most people   would agree that rules as written the objects you  animate though you're using a spell to animate   them they don't by default do magical damage now  if that's not the case at your table and or you're   fighting creatures that don't have resistance  to non-magical bludgeoning piercing and slashing   damage and at this level i think most probably  will but if they're not and you're not fighting   something with an area of effect attack or spell  that can just like wipe out all of your little   coins or dinner forks or whatever you've animated  then it's going to be a pretty good use of a fifth   level spell slot but because there are so many  qualifiers around it i just don't feel great   frankly about assuming that we're just going to be  able to realize the full potential of this spell   with a lot of regularity at this level i think  it's a good one to have in your quiver pull it   out in the right situation but i'm i'm not going  to rely on it for number crunching purposes what   about awaken awaken is a potentially great spell  that also makes me slightly squeamish no one gets   access to the spell other than bards or druids and  you can essentially bring like a tree to life and   have it charmed for 30 days without concentration  but there's nothing in the spell that says that   this tree that you've awakened must obey you  right there's no like as a bonus action you can   command it to blah blah blah or anything like that  it's just charmed so you have advantage on social   interactions with it oh and it takes eight hours  to cast and it consumes an expensive material   component and even if your dm decides that it will  just join your party and fight with you under your   command and and do what you tell it to and now  it's just another companion it only has a 13   armor class and 59 hit points and we're level 14  characters right so it might have died last fight   again i think it's a good one to have in your  quiver potentially but i just don't feel real   comfortable assuming it's just going to work at  all tables and in all combats like we would hope   okay what about hold monster if you're playing the  game at this level and you didn't take a hexplay   dip this is the point at which you might regret  that decision but maybe not i mean hold monster   is amazing in that it can paralyze an enemy  meaning that attacks against that enemy would have   advantage and successful attacks made against them  from within five feet are automatic critical hits   right tried to take advantage of this in the crit  lander build the problem with hold monster is that   it requires an action to cast they get to save  against it initially and then again at the end   of each of their turns now we didn't take sorcerer  levels or anything to give us like the chance to   quicken hold monster and then make a bunch of  attacks against them on our turn right we could   use action surge to cast it but that means we're  giving up two potentially really strong attacks   so that we could crit on three of them which  means yes we would do a little more damage   overall but not a ton more and of course if they  succeed on their saving throw against our decent   but not amazing spell save dc you're gonna be  really mad that you burned both action search   and a fifth level spell slot on this spell i  think if you're confident that the enemy has   a pretty low wisdom saving throw and or like maybe  you have an ally that can reduce their saving   throw chance or something then sure go for it if  you really want to try to burst something down   and i mean you know don't forget that sure you  would do more damage if the spell landed but if   you've got melee allies especially that are  going before the creature's turn it's gonna   be a ton more damage for your whole party right  and you'd be wasting the enemy's turn as well if   the spell stuck so potentially very very strong  but i just don't think that on this character i   can assume that it's gonna work all the time when  we need it i'm gonna say have that arrow in your   quiver no one to pull it out but when i crunch  numbers i'm not to assume that we're using any   of these fifth level spells and i don't actually  feel that bad about it because at level 15   we would be a bard 10 and we are potentially now  going to get something that's arguably better   than any of those spells that i just mentioned in  that it just kind of works all the time and does   great things for our damage because at bard 10  we get magical secrets which lets us learn two   spells from any class's spell list so long as it's  of a level we can cast as per the bard spell table   meaning that even though yes we do now have six  level spell slots thanks to multi-classing right   now we can only cast fifth level bard spell so  it has to be a fifth level spell or lower right   and boy howdy are there lots of good fifth level  spell slots when we can choose from any classes   spell list first up i think we probably need to  take wall of force here it's just such an amazing   control option spell that we don't otherwise get  access to as for the second spell that we'd learn   with magical secrets i think the two options  we should consider would be shadow blade and   spirit shroud you guys know i love shadowblade it  might be my favorite spell in the game as silly as   that may sound to some of you the big problem with  using it of course is and especially at this level   that magic weapons exist in dnt and if you compare  the additional damage that we would get from an   upcasted shadow blade to an upcasted spirit shroud  like using both of them at fifth level and some of   you were like why would you use either of those  at fifth level that's crazy because i want to   hit stuff hard with my weapons that's why but  anyway a straight across comparison shadowblade   is the clear winner but we are character  level 15 right now if you have a couple of   like rare short swords say plus two short swords  which i think is probably pretty likely at most   tables at this level then spirit shroud is going  to take the lead damage wise at least at the enemy   acs that you are likely to be fighting at this  level and again i have to believe at most tables   in most campaigns the likelihood that you're going  to have a couple of rare quality magic weapons by   this point if not better is really high i mean you  might have you might have a very rare weapon or   even like a legendary weapon right even a couple  of flame tongue short swords right now puts spirit   shroud way ahead of shadow blade and they're only  rare quality you know i do think that there is   an argument to be made for shadowblade if you're  playing in a really like low magic item setting or   if you're playing an adventure where you're more  often in dim light or darkness than bright light   since shadow blade gives you advantage in  dim light or darkness or of course if you   just really love the spell and you like feeling  like a jedi using a lightsaber in d like i do but otherwise i think you probably have to go with  spirit shroud here if you're looking at something   to boost your damage i think it's just going  to more likely give a bigger benefit for most   of us most of the time so with spirit shroud you  cast it as yes a bonus action but thereafter so   long as you maintain concentration all of your  attacks against enemies within 10 feet of you   deal an extra d8 of damage 2d8 if you upgassed  it to 5th level the damage can be cold necrotic   or radiant you choose when you cast the spell and  you have the added benefit of reducing the speed   of all enemies by 10 feet if they start their turn  within 10 feet of you oh and it's way better than   hunter's mark of course not only for the better  damage and the slow effect but you don't have to   use a bonus action to transfer it to a different  target every time your current one dies as the   spell affects you and all of your attacks you're  not casting it on an enemy right i think it's a   fabulous spell and a lot our bark inspiration does  go up to a d10 now so that's great and then we do   get another round of expertise here so we can  pick two more skills that we're proficient in   double our proficiency bonus and that's awesome at  level 16 we would be a bard 11. we get sixth level   spells and i mean i'm gonna say pick your favorite  but your favorite should really be mass suggestion   concentration free group control it just cannot  be ignored and finally for us at level 17 we   would be a bard 12. we get another ability score  increase or feet i mean we could bump our charisma   right but i kind of almost feel like we've gone  this long with our 16 charisma i feel like by this   point we've sort of made peace with the fact that  we just don't have a great charisma score on this   bartedin i think if it were me i'm probably taking  resilient constitution and in fact we probably   should have taken that a long time ago right since  we're relying on concentration spells so much and   this would increase our constitution to 14 which  is fantastic plus gives us proficiency in our   constitution saving throws honestly i think if i  were playing this character in game i might have   done this back at part eight and don't forget  we do have a seventh level spell slot now at   this level and that means we could up cast spirit  shroud now to do 3d8 damage per hit if we wanted   to and yeah that's what i'll assume that we're  gonna do though i don't know that i necessarily   recommend it for our final damage report at level  17 here so yes you know we could even if we chose   spend our other high level spell slots for 5d8  smites on each of our five attacks that we would   get with action surge oh and don't forget that  our inspiration has gone up now to a d10 for that   flourish and thus against an enemy with a 10 armor  class we would on average do 261 damage during our   burst round and against an enemy with an 18 armor  class it would be 255 damage on average and that   is very strong obviously and puts us firmly in  like the bottom half of tier 1 compared to other   nova builds at this level and so final thoughts  the tier score for this character when you average   all the damage that they could do against all  enemy armor classes at each of the four damage   reports is a 152.4 putting them just above last  place in tier one which was the hex blade lockadon   which was a 152.3 so very close anyway very very  strong great damage great nova damage potential   and you know looking back on the character the  real question for me is if i really rolled this   character exactly as i've laid out here how would  i play them in game with our not amazing armor   class outside of when we use defensive flourish  and the fairly low concentration saving throw   that we that this character would have for most  of their career as i've laid out anyway i really   don't think i want to be in melee all that often  i would say that it's a character who would run in   go nova just as hard as you can but once your  vow of enmity enemy is dead once your nova   round is over i probably want to just back  off and play more of a support and or like   secondary striker role finishing off low health  targets you know maybe putting yourself next   to a tank your ally and like i'm okay with  that i mean didn't we play bard for a reason   and wasn't that reason at least in part because  we wanted not just to like hit stuff in combat   but be the all-singing all-dancing crap of the  world you went towards bard so like maybe you   want to hit stuff a little more effectively than  most bards but you still made a bard right surely   there's a sizeable part of you that wants to  inspire your allies and make them better in   combat and make your enemies worse in combat heal  and entertain and enthrall of course there is what   a shame it would be if we were to use every single  one of our bardic inspirations on ourselves so i   almost feel like thank goodness that we're better  off just stepping up and destroying a foe and then   standing back and inspiring our allies for the  rest of the combat encounter with a song about   how amazing it was when we destroyed that foe  right that is the essence of bard to me and i'll   be honest as someone who's playing a character  built for burst damage right now in our tales   of an area campaign i get a little bit jealous  of these kinds of builds ones that do fantastic   burst damage on demand and then afterwards have  some really cool fun flavorful ways to support   and buff and debuff with my current hex blade  character i feel like i get to do a ton of like   amazing burst damage and then just sort of  okay mediocre damage that can sometimes feel   a little lackluster and even a little mundane part  of me really craves the ability to do something   like this where i can hit like a truck when i need  to and then do other things you know throughout   the combat encounter that are going to help my  allies and it just would give you some additional   versatility to your combat encounters into your  play style and that is exactly what we get to   do with this swords bard build and it's exactly  why i love it so much so that's the build for   the week i hope you enjoyed it i hope that you'll  check out the other content in the channel if you   aren't typically in the habit of doing so and that  you'll like and subscribe and comment and all of   those things that i'm supposed to tell you to do  more than anything i hope you know how much i love   you and how grateful i am for you guys thanks  for watching i hope you have a fantastic week   and i hope to see you again soon and until then  be good and kind and happy and safe take care bye all right all right all right time for lunch break homemade  spaghetti so good half half elf do do my whole heart will be yours  forever this is a beautiful start   to a lifelong love letter  um ah the joys of recording   on a holiday when school's out can you guys hear  the the neighbor kids playing basketball outside   hopefully the mic isn't picking it up too much if  you have headphones in you can probably hear it   and to you i apologize taking advantage of  superior man i'm struggling today la la la la oh spaghetti sauce um don't even say  any of that what is that a sunset just trying to figure out that was loud yeah cut all of that i always  screw this up let's just confirm something shaw check this out yes i totally  splurged on myself when i was in   disneyland with my kids last week  and i have no regrets i love it

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 93,209

Keywords: D&D Optimized, dnd, dungeons & dragons, swords bard, guide, how to, 5e, burst damage, nova damage, oath of vengeance, paladin, divine smite, bardadin

Id: nT6gio6vph4

Length: 59min 19sec (3559 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 01 2022