Cleric vs Bard Support

[Pamparampampamparam]

Which one is better?

Personally I feel the Bard would be since they can do most of what a Cleric can (healing, buffing, debuffing) while also coming with a boatload of skill proficiencies to act as a skill monkey.

[Fast]

Bard

Healing is useless
Just take bard and grab bless with magical secrets if you truly need it. Otherwise, you can go 1 life cleric and 11 lore bard - this gives you 2x magical secrets , heavy armour prof and bless, remember disciple of life with healing word will make up for no wisdom.
You can go all charisma and dex + some con with this build and ignore wisdom as you are not using wisdom for damage, the cleric is just for buffs that are nott affected by it.
Bards also get inspiration and song of rest.

[rservello]

I changed Shadowheart to bard and it's SO MUCH BETTER. She's actually a decent fighter when she needs to be. She can talk her way out of anything, she still has support spells...and she also gets inspiration and a larger bonus for other characters rolls.

[Nathiri]

I think light domain cleric is fun, but i'm not using healing spells.

[Kyutaru]

Cleric. Healing Word is a godsend in battle, characters go down multiple times per fight and you just pick them right back up with a bonus action from range. Additionally, the rest of the spell slots are used on better things like Spirit Guardians that offer tremendous amounts of Radiant damage, a damage type very few enemies resist.

[Fast]

Originally posted by Kyutaru:

Cleric. Healing Word is a godsend in battle, characters go down multiple times per fight and you just pick them right back up with a bonus action from range. Additionally, the rest of the spell slots are used on better things like Spirit Guardians that offer tremendous amounts of Radiant damage, a damage type very few enemies resist.

Guardians is available in magical secrets, we can boost charisma to 24 if we want, which makes it stronger than with wisdom ironically since magical secrets spell benefit from charisma. We can also take haste and counterspell. Make bard stronger.

[Pamparampampamparam]

It just doesn't feel right to respec any of the companions : (

Hope we get a Bard companion at some point. I was really surprised Rollo didn't join us considering he basically lives in my camp without paying rent.

Here's hoping whoever we get is a Halfling or something for some Short King representation.

[Fizzie]

While im hesitant in changing companion classes, ive been enjoying them more when I do so. Ive only changed Gale into a sorcerer so far, and I really like how the sorcerer points work. Thinking of changing Shadowheart into a bard. Havent really needed much healing since im playing a paladin, granted its the revenge version so not much healing. Changing to bard will make me miss out on having a wisdom oriented character, but i think itll be worth it

[Fizzie]

Originally posted by Pamparampampamparam:

It just doesn't feel right to respec any of the companions : (

Hope we get a Bard companion at some point. I was really surprised Rollo didn't join us considering he basically lives in my camp without paying rent.

Here's hoping whoever we get is a Halfling or something for some Short King representation.

Ya I really wish there was a Bard companion. Feel like they couldve had a lot of fun creating them too with entertaining dialogue and side quests

[Balkoth]

Originally posted by Fast:

Originally posted by Kyutaru:

Cleric. Healing Word is a godsend in battle, characters go down multiple times per fight and you just pick them right back up with a bonus action from range. Additionally, the rest of the spell slots are used on better things like Spirit Guardians that offer tremendous amounts of Radiant damage, a damage type very few enemies resist.

Guardians is available in magical secrets, we can boost charisma to 24 if we want, which makes it stronger than with wisdom ironically since magical secrets spell benefit from charisma. We can also take haste and counterspell. Make bard stronger.

I can get my wisdom to 22 without any potions, how are you getting it to 24? An elixer or a story choice?

[VladK02]

cleric hands down. Not for healing, but for offensive casts like hold, command, silence, ward glyph (hits as hard as a fireball) and other willpower-based shenanigans.

My favorite is enter turn combat: command - drop weapon. Which my rogue then instantly steals. makes fights trivial.

By the way, vampire hunter in act 1, near hag's house, has a sick crossbow. +1, holy, hurts undeads. take it from him this way. edit - you know, for its level its sick, i mean. by level 5 theres better stuff there.

[hairlessOrphan]

Cleric 1 / Bard 11.

[Izuzul]

Lore Bard. Cutting Words. Never getting hit is the best heal spell.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

As much as i hate bards.
Bards are overpowered in 5e.
Shame on wotc.

[Clive Hawkins]

Lore Bard is the strongest crowd controller in the game, one of the best party faces, and the second strongest skill monkey. Though they are squishier than a Wizard / Sorcerer (no Shield spell) that changes greatly if you take the Moderately Armored Feat (Medium Armor + Shield.) "Cutting Words" (Reaction) can be used on enemy Saving Throws which means the enemy subtracts a 1D6/1D8/1D10 from their save. Almost guaranteed to land powerful CC. Very fun overall.

Cleric is stupidly tanky. 24+ AC when you get magic items. Sanctuary is stupidly strong for a Bonus Action (infinitely stronger than tabletop), upcasted Spirit Guardians solo's encounters, and upcasted Spiritual Weapon as a non-concentration Bonus Action is very strong. 6th level Heal spell on Karlach is like an additional 140HP, and upcasting the Aid spell to 5th level after a long rest is an extra 80-300+ HP for the party depending on the number of minions you have. And Daylight makes Act 2 a joke. Light Cleric in particular also has the AoE spellpower of a Wizard. That all being said, I was getting bored of Shadowheart by the end of the game (War Domain.)