Pure lore bard?

[X Lord X]

Is a pure lore bard viable (good?) or is it worth dipping into another class?

[leighkater]

Only multiclass if its for RP. 5e pure is better, and lore bard scales well.

[Yojo0o]

Yeah, they're great. They're among the best utility casters, and they get to steal several spells from other spell lists.

[Ghiron]

They're the fastest way to get Elemental Weapon.

[GrandMajora]

Of course it's good. They make Rogues obsolete.

[fulf]

one of the best subclasses in the game

[Clive Hawkins]

Lore Bard 12 is one of the strongest pure classes in tabletop. They are the strongest Counter-spellers, the strongest crowd-controllers (Cutting Words), and these remain strengths even without Feats. Because you can max your Charisma by level 8 you get to ignore the Feat at level 12. Which opens up some options.

Your weaknesses are:

Being very squishy. Low AC and low HP.
-This can be fixed with a 1 level dip in Paladin or Fighter.

Low consistent damage. Vicious Mockery is equivalent to attacking with a dagger
- This can be fixed with Warlock 2 or even Paladin 2.

They lack natural AoE burst damage options
- This can be overcome with Magical Secret spell selection at level 6 and 10


Or the simplest solution:
Just have party members who cover your weaknesses.

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Clive Hawkins:

Lore Bard 12 is one of the strongest pure classes in tabletop. They are the strongest Counter-spellers, the strongest crowd-controllers (Cutting Words), and these remain strengths even without Feats. Because you can max your Charisma by level 8 you get to ignore the Feat at level 12. Which opens up some options.

Your weaknesses are:

Being very squishy. Low AC and low HP.
-This can be fixed with a 1 level dip in Paladin or Fighter.

Low consistent damage. Vicious Mockery is equivalent to attacking with a dagger
- This can be fixed with Warlock 2 or even Paladin 2.

They lack natural AoE burst damage options
- This can be overcome with Magical Secret spell selection at level 6 and 10


Or the simplest solution:
Just have party members who cover your weaknesses.

The Moderately Armored feat is a great alternative to that level dip, for the record.

[Conker]

depends on what kind of bard you intend to play

the gist is

college of lore is the classic supportive bard with improved magical options and support abilities
lore doubles down on the bards core features and adds more expertise, more magical secrets, and new support options

college of valor serves as the front-line melee version of the bard
it adds some martial capabilities to the bard like medium armor, shields, martial weapons, and extra attack

lore bards may not be on the front line but they elevate the rest of the party to reach new heights that wouldnt be possible without a bard

iam gonna play a lore bard myself ;)

[Spoonardo]

Originally posted by leighkater:

Only multiclass if its for RP. 5e pure is better, and lore bard scales well.

Literally everything is "viable". You can play any available class combination that you want. It's not like playing a certain class or combination is going to make the game unplayable or unbeatable. just not as optimised or easy as some. I feel sorry for people who restrict themselves to min-max builds only...

[2LambBuna]

yes, the best bard sub class, possibly the best sub class in d&d

[Clive Hawkins]

Starting as Fighter 1 gives Heavy Armor, Shields, +1 AC Fighting Style, CON Saving throws, and second wind. That's a non-magical AC of 21, stronger concentration spells, and more effective HP. Plus you still get your 6th level spells.

It's just straight up stronger than a pure Lore Bard 12 BUT it is completely optional based on what you want from a Bard. You are still a spellcaster that doesn't want to be hit and there are other ways of achieving that then multi-classing.

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Clive Hawkins:

Starting as Fighter 1 gives Heavy Armor, Shields, +1 AC Fighting Style, CON Saving throws, and second wind. That's a non-magical AC of 21, stronger concentration spells, and more effective HP. Plus you still get your 6th level spells.

It's just straight up stronger than a pure Bard 12.

For the price of one level slower for every spell level, and working under the assumption that heavy armor has no requirements in 1.0, which I'll believe when I see.

Moderately Armored represents one less AC than with Fighter, two with the loss of the defensive fighting style, but can be grabbed without any loss of spell progression throughout your journey. And if heavy armor does wind up requiring strength, it'll be much easier to handle with a bard's preferred ability score distribution.