The Swords Bard: d4 #81

Our D&D 5e character build this week is for those of us who like to slice and dice, but do so with a song and a mischievous smile on our lips :). Enter the Swords Bard.
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Character Concept:(0:00)
Level 1:(4:13)
Levels 2-6:(10:56)
Levels 7-9:(26:04)
Levels 10-13:(36:56)
Levels 14-17:(42:45)
Final Thoughts:(53:40)
Outtakes:(57:31)
Math/Graph for this episode:
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Master Nova Damage Comparison:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Thanks to LudicSavant for the amazing DPR calculator! forums.giantitp.com/showthrea...)
Music Credits:
Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Angevin 120 loop by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Celtic Impulse - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Fiddles McGinty by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Master of the Feast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/

[@DnDDeepDive]

Errata: Mark of X Half-Elves only get +2 to one Ability and +1 to another, *not* +2, +1, +1.

[@thor498]

Custom linage two handed

[@sindustrialist]

So which of the correct +1's do you recommend? Charisma I'm guessing over the Con?

[@DnDDeepDive]

@@sindustrialist I think so, yes, though it *does* make drow that much more compelling...

[@tidaltorrent]

@@DnDDeepDive Personally, I would choose the Wood Elf for Fleet of Foot. As you said in the final thoughts, you would take a secondary slasher role after your nova round, so you can use the AC bonus from Defensive Flourish to hopefully avoid an opportunity attack and be out of melee range of most creatures.

[@Swimavidly]

Idea: what if instead of Randall making art for your character concept, you make a character based on Randall's art?

[@ManualdeSobrevivencia]

😲🤯

[@Trial88]

Seconded!

[@hayleykaye1751]

Oooo yeah that would be fun! Maybe you could actually have him on the show at the same time

[@Trial88]

@@hayleykaye1751 the whip Poor will was a fun episode with Randall involved. Would be fun to have him on again.

[@wallybarry4511]

This is a great idea.

[@davidpritchett855]

So the one thing I'll throw out there about hunters mark. It has a lot of out of combat utility. There are a lot of dnd streams I've watched where a major enemy that they were trying to catch to interrogate etc gets into combat and mid way through dimension doors or misty steps across a chasm etc and the party is like dang we failed. Then the vengeance paladin or ranger is like, "wait a second hunters mark is active. Where are they now?" Commence the epic chase scene. Additionally, since hunters mark doesn't do anything to the target I think it is arguable that you could cast it on someone without them noticing. This has a big affect in a "let the prisoner escape and he'll lead us to the rest of the gang members" type scenario.

[@logancuster8035]

That Hexblade Dip also snags you the Shield spell, which is a pretty big deal

[@quendi5557]

as someone playing a bardlock(lore bard but still) I can agree

[@andrewpaul8732]

And a smite. If you're in the moon to play a tiefling you can pick up some more smites. And you get to RP a spell laster who sold his soul for power but got pranked by a trickster who now sings in his mind constantly forcing him into the bard class

[@Synetik]

I actually saw countercharm used for the first time today. I'm currently playing in a the wild beyond the witchlight campaign and pretty much all of our party got frightened. Countercharm came into play and actually saved us. lol

[@BLynn]

Level 1:(see above) [paladin 1 & race] Level 2:(see above) [bard 1] Level 3:(@13:30) [bard 2] Level 4:(@14:03) [bard 3, sub-class & fighting-style] Level 5:(@18:04) [bard 4 & ASI] Level 6:(@19:37) [paladin 2 & fighting-style] Level 7:(see above) [bard 5] Level 8:(@27:34) [bard 6] Level 9:(@28:41) [paladin 3 & sub-class] Level 10:(see above) [fighter 1 & fighting-style] Level 11:(@) [fighter 2] Level 12:(@) [bard 7] Level 13:(@) [bard 8 & ASI] Level 14:(see above) [bard 9] Level 15:(@) [bard 10] Level 16:(@) [bard 11] Level 17:(@) [bard 12 & ASI]

[@HossTheBauce]

I've been waiting for a Swords Bard build! Can't express how excited I am to listen to this! Absolutely love your work and perspective on the mechanics and flavor of 5e, thank you for providing constant entertainment and insight!

[@DrAndrewJBlack]

I have been looking forward to a Swords Bard as well

[@btsg7935]

Too true!

[@dienezdarcprowlyr9406]

Sword bard has been my favorite bard since they were first introduce as 'Blades' in AD&D. I love the idea of a entertainer who can't sing a note and performance with weapon katas, juggling, and dagger throwing.

[@Robert-iu4bx]

me too, but when I will play him, I will use every occasion where to demonstrate he really cant sing

[@ClintonJohnson1]

Loved playing a blade in Baldur's Gate 2. They got Tenser's Transformation though... Still mad WotC took that out of the Tasha's options (it was in the UA).

[@TheJeSTeR7530]

My most recent character is a College of Swords/Hexblade build. I made them a Dhampir (because of backstory reasons), and turned them into pretty strong melee control fighter who can deliver some decent damage but excels at dodging attacks due to an incredibly high Armor Class (using Defensive Flourish and the Shield spell + debuffing enemies with Bane at lower levels (the rest of my party has two character's who can Bless already, and one who can Faerie Fire seperately), and eventually grabbing stuff like Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon via Magical Secrets). The fact that the sword's bards flourish can trigger on the Dhampir's vampiric bite attack also gives me the ability to restore a lot of hit points with my bite. By grabbing the Fey Touched i can even further increase the effects of the vampiric bite. I also do have some more higher damaging options, using War Caster to make Booming Blade oppertunity attacks, and using the Mobile Flourish plus an AOE spell to get high single or even multiple target damage.

[@cultivatedjerk5574]

ALL HAIL THE SWORDS BARD! Thank you so much for covering this subclass, it’s my favorite!

[@codymikolitch1369]

This is by far my favorite show on KZbin, thanks so much Colby we love you too!

[@willsszz8521]

Finally! I'm so excited for this one. I love bards, and having a way to deal crazy melee damage is so fun

[@Wicked_Ways09]

I played your Zealous Bardbarian for a high level one shot recently and it was an absolute blast! Thank you for these videos and keep up the great work!

[@Fenix31799]

Your videos never fail to spark my character creation creativity!

[@michaeljr6130]

Awesome! I've been wanting to play a wandering ronin who discovers a love of music on his travels and becomes a bard. This fits that so well

[@abydosianchulac2]

Wait, so countercharm means that your Bard is so proficient, so adept, so powerful, that when he starts playing he's only able to hold his own party's attention for _6 seconds_ before their attention wanders and they're open to being frightened or charmed again? Wow, that's a slap in the face.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Right?

[@itspabbs]

Love this build!

[@samuelpaquin4377]

love it! Sounds very fun!

[@louisschlechtweg8634]

Everytime you say: „welcome Home“ i kinda have to smile - Thanks for making awesome content

[@DnDDeepDive]

Mission accomplished! :)

[@KingofKnifEz]

I just found your channel and I've been binge watching old videos, nice to watch a current one

[@lloydlineske2642]

This is one of the best character build ever. I'd also love to play this build. Also thank you for continuing to do the bloopers. I know that's probably hell on the editing. All that extra you gotta do. But thank you. Not many youtubers would care enough to do this

[@DnDDeepDive]

Thanks, glad you enjoy :). And tbh, adding the bloopers really only takes a few extra minutes :). I cut so much... I just throw it at the end and clean it up a bit instead of deleting :P.

[@kleyo9179]

Oh my gosh thank you for posting this 😊! Ive been playing a swords bard/ paladin for a good year now and Im so happy to see this

[@BraveBob13]

Just began my first DnD game and this is nearly exactly what I’ve been thinking for my first character cheers!

[@ctherians]

This is by far my favorite video of the channel. I like the build itself less than many others but I love how this time between faire fire, vow of enemity, trip attack, Greater invisibilty etc you fought of having accees to lots of ways to get advantage. Usually the nova builds are less well rounded, this one I find it actually playable. Additionaly as by the final toughts section it is still useful outside of nova rounds.

[@maryjones104]

40k! Congratulations!

[@GryphonDes]

This was absolutely a Fun build !

[@Vivereftw]

Great videos. Watching this one reminded me of how I've always wanted to make a melee nova Cleric that plays a similar role to this bard. One that goes in, slaps the crap out of something, then supports allies. I've always liked the idea of a heavily armored Cleric with a huge maul that can stay in combat while supporting allies and occasionally destroying something.

[@vernontwinkie]

40k! Super excited for you!

[@HighPhoenix1754]

Ah yes. My Favorite Bard Subclass combined with my favorite primary class. Such a combination I like to call, "The Knight of Song." This is a thing of beauty. It really sells that image of a dashing dervish of blades and magic. It also has so many roleplay capabilities, just built RIGHT in. Just got done playing a swords bard in a campaign that I was in and I gotta say, it was a blast, and I know my next one will likely follow a similar path to the build displayed in video, though, I'm thinking of sticking to half elf, Paladin 2/Bard X, sticking to strength and charisma maxing with heavy armor. Going for a knightly theme. Might lose out on some damage, but I like the utility that this eventually brings. Keep up the good work! Your vids are always awesome for sparking ideas!

[@zacharyharwell351]

As someone who only occasionally interacts with your channel this may be a bit odd to say, but every video I've seen of yours I've thought this: You have an almost ASMR, relaxing quality to your voice my guy And then the optimizing wakes me back up and lights fire behind my eyes for even MORE character ideas lol

[@johngillan4475]

Interesting build. Thank you for your information video

[@ryanscanlon2151]

This build reminds me of my world of warcraft days, back in Wrath of the Lichking I think. The Paladins taunt ability had a talent that it would deal damage if the target wasn't targeting you. When npcs would run away they would stop targeting you so I would taunt them to death. I just imagine in my head I just yell at them "Hey get back here" and they just have a heart attack.

[@bradwoodard8289]

Great video. I'm currently in a campaign (just hit level 4) with a small party (Warlock, Dex Fighter, Tempest Cleric and me.) I started with a very similar build but after a lot of crunching went in a different direction. My concept was to be able to lean into any role effectively according to what was needed with a small party. Race: Variant Human, Ritual Caster Feat. Find Familiar Spell. The familiar has been game-breakingly useful, especially at low levels, and the help action gives me advantage. Plus collecting ritual spells helps with the limited spell selection of a bard. Level 1: Hexblade. Shield and Armor of Agathys, Eldritch Blast, Booming Blade Cantrip. Longsword and shield with medium armor, AC 17 (22 with Shield). At level 4 I have more level 1 spell slots to play with than inspiration slots and get one back on a short rest, so I'm counting on Shield to up my AC and using my inspiration on party members. AoA lets me pump my HP up to fighter level if I have to go front line. Eldritch Blast and Booming Blade will also help on the level 5 speed bump where I'm lagging as multiclass because they improve on overall level. Plus I'm SAD now. Level 2 - up: At the last minute I went Lore Bard instead of Swords. Why? Trading extra attack and flourish for Booming Blade and extra magical secrets at level 6 Bard. I'll be taking Spirit Guardians. I'm debating Spiritual Weapon but it eats up bonus actions, so I'll probably go Counterspell. Level 10 I plan on taking Steel Wind Strike.

[@ericpowell8563]

I could see Holy Weapon being a viable magical secrets option too

[@HealingSwordsman]

Swords Bard? Im pumped for this!!

[@horbi3683]

Yay, a Shadow Blade from Disney Land 😆 Thanks for the build!

[@vinspad3]

50:20 I've watched this multiple times getting ready for one shots and every time I have to stop and rewatch this moment.

[@quendi5557]

This was really cool, saw the Vengeance Pally coming but hey, it really adds something to the build.

[@trollpatsch.]

Haven't watched it yet, but damn am I excited... coincidentally I'm building a swords bard character for a campaign starting the end of this month. Thank you very much Colby! ♥

[@inskeeprulerable]

Fantastic! Just in time for my lunch break.

[@TheElectrikCow]

36:00 Honestly? I love the way this sounds. Starting the fight doing a decent amount of damage with maybe a lucky strong hit, then next round building it up a little more, then leading up to the full barage of attacks on that third round and just unleashing your fury. Like a minigun reving up

[@skiloh1819]

I didn't even finish the video, but the like and the comment are here already! Big fan from Brazil!

[@Morkftw]

I've been waiting for a swords bard build for a couple of years now and now all 3 of the dnd channels that I follow (d4, Treantmonk and the Dungeon Dudes) made one, and I'm really happy about it! I've also been having so much fun playing a similar build in the past (haven't for a few months now). It's great to see different takes of my favourite build in d&d. I've played it to lvl 11 in AL and would really like to take it to a long campaign that would last to high levels as well. Although, personally, I'm not fond of nova builds, I like being able to smite on a good crit as it feels very gishy and cool.

[@tensazangetsu8189]

Great vid Colby! For the future tank version you might consider looking at the cavalier for a dip! Currently playing a Cavalier 3/Swords bard 14 and between the Marks and defensive flourish it makes a great tank!

[@merlannin2108]

This is very close to our bard who was a vampire hunter in one of our games. Was a fantastic "do everything" type build.

[@timscott7151]

Soooooo close to 40k subs!! I remember the days at below 5k!! Lets gooooooo to 40k!!!! Keep up the awesomeness Colby!!

[@nickharwood2501]

Mate I don’t know what it is about your voice but it’s so relaxing. Legit tuck me in kiss my forehead and read me character creation sheets till I fall asleep… I don’t even play dnd, thanks for the bed time stories!

[@ProfBrunoClemente]

11:40 I love that concept of Bards as divine casters. In 5e they dropped that Arcane/Divine casting from 3.x and the source of power from 4e and that is great. I've played a Neutral Good Drow Elf that has fled the Underdark with a lot of followers of Ellistraee to try to live life in the surface. As one of the founders of the settlement, he was a charismatic leader and his Bardic music and magic was perceived by himself and others as Ellistraee's blessings through music, poetry and swordplay.

[@beowulf.reborn]

"My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

[@dakotawalton3101]

Oh man am I excited for this. I’m getting ready to play a swords bard in an upcoming campaign so this is perfect. My initial thoughts were Paladin 2/Hexblade1/Swords X. Starting level 13.

[@dawsonmurray2822]

This is super interesting! I saw this come up on my feed and instead of immediately clicking like usual, I thought I might make a College of Swords Bard myself. It came out a lot different. My first thought was that as a Swords Bard, I wanted them to feel like one, first and foremost. In contrast to that, though, I took fighter for the first level. Of course, this was for the proficiencies, but it also makes a lot of sense with the Soldier background. This character started out as an ordinary soldier, but it was during his time in the military that he discovered his passion for music. I thought about going up to Fighter 3 here and have them remain a soldier for a bit, but instead I went up to Bard 3, mainly because spells earlier are better than spells later. Finally, the last big part was Hexblade Warlock 3. The first level, of course, makes the build much less mad, but the other two are my favorites. For the second level's invocations, I picked Mask of Many Faces and Misty Visions. This makes them an incredible performer, since they and their environment can take on any guise at will. And the pièce de résistance: Pact of the Chain. Online at level 7, you have the Disney Hero. Bonus points if instead of Bard 15, you go Fighter 3 for Champion (Battlemaster is also a good pick, but Champion makes more sense thematically imo).

[@TheRobversion1]

i think you're underselling misty visions here. misty visions is arguably the best surprise generator in the game (with a cooperative party) as well as an excellent advantage generator for ranged folks.

[@ProfBrunoClemente]

Oh, a subclass themed video! I'll start hoping for a College of Spirits Bard!

[@trentmcnabb3470]

After watching this swords Bard and your Bard-barian build I kind of combined the two. I like the idea of a strength based swords bard but I didn’t want to worry about dropping rage of not. Burst damage then changing to support seems fun. So I plan on following this build path but with bard-barian starting stats and ability score increases.

[@marsrocks247]

I went straight 12 levels of Sword Bard with my Gith in BG3. I didn't ever have shield proficiency so I had to go dual longswords, luckily BG3 hands out a couple really strong finesse longswords early on. Eladrin or some other variant of a strong base that has misty step or something would be fine too; but I went for RP with "I'm the one nice Gith" and named myself Dandelion and took Sage background. Sword Bard cannot, and I repeat, CANNOT compete with true martial classes or true spellcasters for damage, but they are amazing for utility. A very core loop for my turns might be like... see someone in trouble on the front line, shoving arrow an enemy off them, bardic teleport to the shoved enemy, defensive flourish to tank up for a round to stand on the front line Once I had the gloves that let you cast enchantment magic as a bonus action after you land a hit with your weapons, hoooOOoooEeey. I was a blur of steel and death screaming fear as I washed over the battelfield (dealing pretty reasonable 20ish damage attacks and attacking twice, with an AOE utility disable bonus action). Add in bardic inspiration for saving throws and checks, add in a swiss army knife worth of ritual spells and out of combat utility, add in being 20CHA party face with +8 perception and +6 insight... ABSOLUTELY. SICK.

[@StriderZessei]

I'm so excited to re-visit this if One D&D goes through with letting us take Pact of the Blade as an invocation. You'd get to just focus on taking your CHA to max, get that CON, and then basically pick whatever feats you want.

[@intothekey]

Very true, and the free, lucky, first level feat will mean crit fishers will be eating well.

[@mattdahm4289]

Yes! Swords Bards are the best- thank you!

[@Jedibigfoot]

was just thinking about a bard build, possibly swords bard too though with a dip in warlock for hexblade and more illusions and trickery with invocations

[@hectortoledo8938]

I played this character as a Paladin of the Silver Flame winged tiefling on our Eberron campaign. It was amazing

[@fasterpet]

Sword bard is pretty awesome. Love the defensive flourish for a tank build. I tried multiclassing a bladesinging sword bard for a LV20 fight vs tarrasque and had a blast. While very MAD, I could get my average armor class into the 30's so I could fight in melee with the tarrasque and not go down. And I used foresight + elven accuracy... For a caster-tank, Foresight is an amazing offensive + defensive tool. Magic secrets are so awesome to choose ! I just wish I had more! Still hope you look into a Dragon's breath breathing find greater steed combo for some bard build...

[@knightghaleon]

Animate objects can be incredibly fun when the objects are, oh lets say, alchemist's fire or acid flasks. A group of small guys beating on an opponent and if the opponent breaks them they basically become small bombs and acid puddles. I think I wouldve taken Shadowblade and Steel Wind Strike. Being able to teleport and attack multiple targets with shadowblade and smites would make groups of tough enemies begin to look like swiss cheese.

[@SpiderWaffle]

15:07 That's only if that hand is fulfilling Material component requirements, if the spell doesn't have Material but does have Somatic you need a free hand for Somatic. Usually you can just drop your weapon on /your turn/ to cast without incurring any downside, but reaction spells are usually cast not on /your turn/ so you can't drop things as free action or object interaction before using your reaction to cast.

[@delibirdite]

It would be fun to see the stats behind which feats, races, classes, weapons, etc, you choose most often A fun interaction I learnt the other day is that warlock/paladins can use both divine AND eldritch smite, which gives me a cool image in my head of a gold plated paladin dropping a hammer on a dragons neck, while the hammer is surrounding by conflicting black and white auras, and the impact is a glorious monochrome explosion Just thought I should share for the sake of the algorithm :)

[@hayleykaye1751]

Sounds really cool Deli, you should totally make that character if you haven't already!

[@jbowers56]

I feel like that would actually be a pretty potent character once you got both smites up and running. I did some maths but I made a crucial error, if I fix it I'll post here.

[@TheRobversion1]

yup that build works and gives you an excuse to take hexblade. did that in the past and it's a very potent burst striking gish that can switch between range and melee seamlessly.

[@Jedibigfoot]

for paladin 2 fighting style I'd go for the blessed warrior fighting style for 2 ceric cantrips, as guidance fits a bard so well and is basically bless for ability checks

[@filipstrotmann1112]

Nice Build! Definitely love gishes and bards too.... Also love this style/mix of on demand offensive power and support as needed. Immidetialy envision this one as someone who took an oath to unsheath his blade or unleash his full power only on enemies worthy of it! Could be some roleplay element to explain his nova round :D

[@TheRobversion1]

oh cool. reminds me of a certain ronin samurai from anime.

[@kinetik6154]

One of my absolute favorite characters ive played is an elven swashbuckler/swords bard with magic initiate for find familiar feat to get a parrot (owl) and booming blade. Eventually getting evasion in rogue, magical secrets picking up holy weapon and spiritual weapon.

[@denali1566]

Str based swords bard could take crusher instead of elven accuracy, use a "club" and flavor it as his lute or w/e Edit: it's 2h and I call it a "hunting horn"

[@Nightwalker170]

Personally, I've rarely if ever fought foes who went down in a single round after level 3 unless you hit them with something like disintegration :/ So for me, using the first bonus action to prep for the rest of the fight is generally worth it. Pop hunter's mark ect, then close the distance and begin combat. A fun combo is to take 2 levels as a Grave Cleric, then head to Rogue for Assassin. Take the Shadow Touched feat for free invisibility, enter stealth, tag them with Path to the Grave for double damage, then hit them with assassinate for an auto crit for x4 damage once per short rest. Get your hands on a sword of sharpness deal max damage on hit and an additional +14 slashing damage on crit. For fun, roll a 1d20 to see if you cut off a limb or significant portion of their body! As a cool freebie from our 2 level dip, grave domain lets you stabilize a friend within 30ft as a bonus action, and guidance is always useful.

[@Finnssssss]

As most people have figured out, you get the extra 10' movement every time you take the attack action on your turn. So +10 regular action attack, +10 more using Hasted Action to attack, +10 more if you were to Action Surge and take attack action again ect ect. An another interesting interaction is when you land a critical hit and spend an Inspiration to perform a Defensive Flourish with that crit, you would then add 2 dice to your AC. RAW is you add the same number to your AC that you used to add to the damage. Nothing too crazy but some fun little situational bonuses.

[@benpauls7851]

This is everything I wanted in a Bard. We have a mini 4 session campaign coming up for level 11 and I think this just has to be my character for that.

[@mr7oclock346]

I also use a supplement, by Mr Rhexx, called What They Didn't Tell You About Magic Items. This book compiles the rules about making magic items. So, it's entirely possible to get weapons that crit on 19 or 20. I've used that with Faire Fire to get some pretty epic crits in. Let's just say, nothing gets a tables attention quite like laying down a Bardic Smite on an enemy, when the players don't realize how bad ass bards can be

[@DnDDeepDive]

Yay @mrrhexx!

[@dicksonmattxenoblade6491]

I’m not too sure if you take suggestions from the comments here, but I thought of a build idea I figured you’d probably like. The premise is that you primarily use the spells Shadow Blade and Spiritual Weapon for damage. You could add damage from other sources, but you primarily use those 2 spells to do the damage. I’d like to see how you would handle that character concept, given your love of Shadow Blade.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Ok will put it on the to do list :).

[@Xorgrim]

I am currently playing a swords bard-adin. 2 Pala/5 Bard at the moment. Looking forward to 2nd attack next level. Dual wielding scimitars with smites. My character is a Dragonborn, so strength based in heavy armor.

[@leebroyles6309]

Yay, a new bard build!

[@July_Wave]

One of the first characters I ever built that I wish you could make a build for is a Two-Handed Melee Ranger Horizon Walker. The idea of bamfing around somebody while swinging at their blindspots has always been appealing for me.

[@TheRobversion1]

nightcrawler eh? tier 3 start? i could theorycraft one for you if you like and share me the typical midpoint level of the campaign. horizon walkers typicaly shine at level 11-13 so hopefully the campaign goes up to tier 4 so we have wiggle room with the build or at least 16.

[@TheRobversion1]

ignore those people who say hexblade dips are bad. if it works the build, take it. if it doesn't skip it. nice to see a swords bard main btw. lots of swords bard bashers out there who think they aren't good for striking. thanks for proving them wrong. as for gaining advantage without consuming concentraton, other options include quick tossing a net, taking the blind fighting style and casting pyrotechnics (2nd level bard spell), shoving prone with one of your attacks and simply pick up expertise with your bard levels with athletics and if you went the hexblade route, eldritch smite. take note hold person doesnt specify using melee. you just have to be within 5ft. any ranged attacker or spell attacker in you party can simply move to within 5 ft of the held monster and auto-crit. the magical secrets i'd take at 10th level is guardian of nature. bonus dmg (if you went str based or a bunch of defensive benefits for dex based) and advantage on all of your attacks from your bonus action slot. i'd actually pick something else than mass suggestion at 6th. i think heroes feast is a great way to support your party and programmed illusion is like having contingency: major image which you can set up to occur as soon you hit melee range. setup an illusion of a fog, smoke, heavy mist, etc basically any atmospheric effect that wont cause a creature to disbelieve the illusion because something physical passes through as soon as you hit melee range. that's your no action economy cost advantage generator and they'd have disadvantage to hit you. glad you went fighter by the way. rob approves!

[@spectralfire4842]

I planned on my next character being a very quixotic grung Paladin 2/swords bard 18. As a younger brother in a noble family he was training to be a Paladin but chaffed at the formalism and zealotry of paladins so skipped out before the oath. I love the idea in this video of one day taking Paladin 3 and swearing an oath of vengeance if something happens that makes it a great story beat.

[@TheRedneckGamer1979]

I went with Swords Bard/ Shadow Sorc multiclass for the test build I did that was absolutely amazing for the oneshot I ran it in, it's hilariously good with the darkness ability plus metamagics plus hound of ill omen if you run high enough level

[@minaly22]

I'm playing a Paladin Swords Bard, starting Paladin at lv1 get to Smite then switch to full bard. This works very well since you get all the spell power of a Bard and can still fight close range with Smite damage!

[@kaemonbonet4931]

I had a bunch of fun using find greater steed and tensers transformation. Me and my griffin/ pegasus recking shop.

[@kaemonbonet4931]

It also works with spirit shroud.

[@Laufbursche4u]

It's always nice to return to a welcoming home.

[@binolombardi]

Human variant. Polearm master. Dueling fighting style. Spear/quarterstaff with a shield. Use with strength investment to alleviate dependence on hexblade dip. Damage would probably go up with bonus action attack and somewhat reliable reaction attacks. Especially since you could make a pole arm attack as a reaction the same round that you might cast one of your spells.

[@robertomachin8914]

Men, i have been watching your content recently and i give tou an honest 10/10. Thanks for the effort. Btw I would love to see a super kiter build using the Horizon Walker Ranger. It should be able to move 120 ft+ in one turn while making attacks. So if you can, give it a look.

[@joltzerx4019]

Wow, I love the build! Bravo 👏 Idea for a build - Thorn whip + Swarm Keeper Rangers lv3. ability gives you a whopping 25ft pull! Was trying to think of a character that specializes in pulling enemies in from far away like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat or Roadhog from Overwatch. Maybe a Pull Tank character? Would love to see you try to optimize this! Thanks for your hard work and have a great day. ❤️

[@jonroda6627]

I might point out that if your DM allows (the incredibly overpowered) silvery barbs spell like my DM does, all those spell slots can go in a hurry as reactions, so you won't smite that often. This spell is so (over)powerful that it should probably change a lot of bard builds.

[@Byrenious]

The using the same hand for your somatic component that you has your somatic focus only applies if the spell has both components. You'd still need warcaster to cast a spell with somatic components but no material components

[@taejaskudva2543]

Seems like a character from that series about the rock star mercenary bands. I think the first book is called Kings of the Wylde.

[@jussikankaansydan5645]

Once again! by adding the slow spell is a very out of the box but still a bomb spell for this wombo combo!

[@MachineWraith]

Looks like a very fun build! I'm interested in the idea of a Swords Bard tank, though. I'm picturing something like a Viking skald, maybe as a half-orc or something. Just go full death metal! Edit: Also, Paladin/Bards are the best at sleeping around. Immunity to disease, haha

[@midwesternpickle]

Great work as always. Bards and Novas are both not my cup of tea but it's still fun to see 250+ burst damage.

[@RecklessFables]

Now I need to see if he did that Swords Bard Tank build.

[@Moleje1337]

A level 20 one shot is bonkers fun.

[@iancunningham9297]

Got the notification just as I was reaching for my phone to look for todays video

[@KingOfGoblins1234]

I've been wanting to make a fun gish style melee bard for a while, and never have I ever considered Pally on the table. This gave me inspiration to make one of my own. Ultimately settled on a mostly bard (Whispers bard), Paladin (probably optimal as Vengeance, but love Conquest so I went that, Thematically ties with it as well) l and of course a 1 level Hexblade dip. Gonna give it a trial run when my campaign raps and I get to play a PC again!

[@johngleeman8347]

"Because I want to hit things with melee weapons!" XD

[@bobswag710]

I’m sure you have dozens of build ideas but there are two ideas that I would be very interested in seeing brought to the highest level. 1) pseudo-smite nova: add as many extra dice to an attack without using divine smite (booming blade+superiority die+swords bard+favorite foe+etc.) 2) never miss Nancy: just stacking as many dice and bonuses to hit in order to never miss an attack (bless+war gods blessing+inspiration die+elven accuracy+superiority die+divination wizard) If anyone else has toyed with builds similar to these lmk!

[@francescoremelli8215]

Great build!! I would love to see your take on something that could potentially be similar to this, but personally, with tasha’s monk dedicated weapon, I would build it as a monk + ranger/cleric: a sword dancer of Eilistraee

[@DnDDeepDive]

On the to do list! Although... I think I got close to it (sans the Cleric) here... kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6S7ZHqebtqnl6s

[@ericpowell8563]

“I like it a lot” - one of the greatest comedies of all time

[@bourdinantoine6897]

I'm currently playing a lvl10 valord bard in descent in avernus official campaign (18 Charisma + 16 Dext). Since I knew the campaign end at lvl12, i decided to pick Spirit Shroud + Call greater steed to deal massive damage since both me and the steed will benefit from the spell, and i'll multiclass my 11th and 12th level into paladin to get the divine smites. Didn't test it yet but sounds amazing !

[@callmeconvay7977]

When you make that swords bard tank, you should try to use battle master goading/menacing attacks with ranged weapons (maybe thrown weapons for two weapon fighting + thrown weapon fighting) in combination with flourishes to make your ac high and give enemies disadvantage

[@besteger]

Liked for the custom sabre!