FOR HIGH QUALITY, WRITTEN GUIDES check out my Patreon: www.patreon.com/nizargg hey guys, hope you enjoyed my lore bard build and video! this build can do everything to control the flow of the battle, making it an ideal pick for your controller in your party.
@misterepic0456 Yea, I don't believe they covered that part. If I had to guess, it probably doesn't matter terribly much. Mainly thanks to the proficiencies granted by the two classes. Could argue wood elf, for the move speed mainly along with perception.
@@misterepic0456 Elf or Drow is nice for sleep immunity which allows you cast glyph of warding sleep on yourself if surrounded. But otherwise, Lightfoot Halflings are overall probably best due to luck (re roll all 1's) and advantage on stealth if using greater invisibility later on.
@@misterepic0456 Since the recommended weapon is Phalar Aluve, a race that has longsword proficiency I guess. That's the main problem I have right now 😅 I picked human (boring I know). Since I started as a cleric, I didn't get the longsword proficiency even though it's one of the proficiencies you get as Bard Lvl 1. I checked Reddit and they're saying that you have to be a Bard at level 1 to get all the Bard weapon proficiencies.
For people who dislike idea of cleric dip on bard you can replace it with 2 levels of rogue turning build into "working" arcane trickster (not to be mistaken with accual subspec) or 3lvl thief/9 Lore Bard for that sweet double bonus action if you dont care about lvl 10 secrets.
I have played a lot of Lore Bard, so I will share a few tips thoughts. I understand loading up on a bunch of concentration spells and using them like a Swiss army knife effect, but you really miss out on stacking some effects. Limiting concentration is actually allows more flexibility. For example, you are using the gear combo to get Bless and Blade ward effects instead of casting Bless. Hold X spell line is really all you need. In addition you have Command, Laughter, and Glyph. Hunger of Hadar is very good but if you are going to use a magical secret make sure you will readily use the ability. You do not need both Cloud of Daggers, Pattern and HoH etc. I think Counter-spell would be a better pick. Feat: Alert - This will ensure that "YOU" always first on the turn order, this feat is essential to ensuring that nobody spends their first round without bless, blade ward, or haste. It is not only important to not be last but to be 1st in your party. You do not need to rush magical secrets and can get 2 levels in Cleric right away. With how much CC you have healing is not needed. Additionally, you are using the healing to apply buffs not really for healing. The Amulet of restoration should be enough to hold you over 1 level. Confusion is very strong. It lasts 3 turns, does not affect allies, has a big AOE, can be upcasted to basically cover an entire room, and will make enemies useless thralls. Expect to solo win fights with this spell late game. Darkness - This is probably one of the best CC’s in Baldurs Gate 3, you can cast it offensively to shut down Ranges Enemies. If you cast it between yourself and an enemy, they can't shoot you through it, you can also cast it so enemies are just on the edge of it, allowing your melee team members to hit with advantage due to blindness, or you could use it as a mini globe of invulnerability, dipping your ranged users and spell casters in and out to shoot at enemies. Yes, I said cut down on concentration spells. But I would suggest you don't use it in spell form anyway. In as early as the first 30 minutes you can buy it as an arrow from the first 2 merchants you meet. They are as cheap easy to horde. Shooting these as an arrow doesn’t require concentration either. Darkness arrows are strong. Plant Growth - Great surface, and good radius, no concentration. You can be really smart about this, not only can you drastically slow enemies in the radius, but you can also use it to control traffic around it. Enemies not caught in it will actively avoid surfaces like this, so you can use it to create choke points on the map. Combine this with darkness in a tight hallway for some insane denial. Be careful for candles, lamps and Karlach which will set it on fire immediately.
Very interesting and I completely agree that Darkness (especially generated with arrows) and Plant Growth are really great in BG3. I have never used Confusion before but it sounds and looks very powerful. But I have a few questions since I'm trying to build a Lore Bard and I would be really interested to know what exact changes you'd make to Nizar's build. Do you advise taking the Alert Feat at character level 6? What spells would you recommend instead of all the concentration spells? (If I understand correctly, you're saying that Hold Person and Hold Monster are enough.) And what would be your Magical Secrets recommendations both at Lore Bard level 6 and 10?
Agree 100% about counterspell - especially in the late game. In earlier battles you have less casters but in act 3 counterspell made a lot of difference for me especially in House of Grief where they are casting darkness every 2 seconds =P it's a lot of fun to shut them off I also decided to respec at some point and reduce the concentration spells strategically. It feels like a waste
@@juauke Nizar's build is really good as is, the only thing I do not recommend is Cloud of Daggers, Hunger of Hadar, and Hypnotic Pattern. Plant Grow is definitely a must IMHO. I would also get Enhanced ability and Disguise self for the same reasons as Speak with animals. Disguise self is very underrated but you can bypass so much stuff by turning into the right creature. Enhanced Ability is vital to a Lore Bard and Face functions. Even though it requires concentration it is not used in battle. You can even use Cat's Grace on your thief to help him steal easy very early. I would only use Glyph of Warding if I was trying to do damage (which Lore bard is not) or if I was Elf, Half Elf, or Drow since they are immune to Sleep they can run into the middle of a pack and cast Glyph right on top. As a magical secret, I would choose Counterspell over Hunger of Hadar. Since we have Plant Growth and Darkness Arrows. At level 10, I agree with Nizars choices. Conjure Elemental for Myrmadons are amazing. My Current Build drops 4 levels of bard as the Myrmadons are not needed when the rest of the party is so strong. Karlach, Wyll, Laezel will all be doing serious damage. Those 4 Bard levels really add much. Sure, Myrmadons and better inspirations are good, but I think it is just better to haste the damage dealers. So the last 4 levels go into Sorc so we can get metamagics and be able to twin haste. Haste will be the chosen secret over Counterspell.
@@juauke counterspell and misty step are generally my picks for magical secrets. Hunger is a strong pick as is Haste. I personally would set my CON to 13 and then take resilient constitution feat which bumps it to 14 and gives you proficiency in CON saving throws (I know ppl really like warcaster but I rarely lose concentration with resilient). If I multiclass I tend to go for 2 levels of paladin for smites and take magic initiative cleric to get sanctuary. I generally have druid & cleric in party so tend to just take healing word for the bard.
I totally respect your opinion, but adding a mod that strips concentration requirements off a ton of otherwise never-used spells is probably the most important mod to me. I get the idea of concentration, and I even like it, but it feels like waaaaaaaay too many spells have concentration on them. And for a lot of them, it's just not worth casting them when you could just use a better spell that takes up that concentration slot. Stripping the requirement off a fair number of spells actually makes them worth using. I do still prefer the AD&D era for spell complexity, but changing how broadly applied concentration is at least fixes that problem for me. I don't think it should go away completely. I think it's a fantastic tool to leave certain spells powerful, but I think they put it on way too much.
I replaced Phalar Aluve with the infernal rapier meant for Will. The +1 to spell save dc was a huge advantage and the fact it scales of Charisma and is a +2 rapier meant that when silenced or for opp attacks it actually stacks Plus the free cambion summon which can coincide with Us and scratch
This! While I was pumped to deck out my bard with all of the early game bard gear that was an absolute game changer for my more martial bard with 2 lvls in fighter 1 lvl wizard 5 lvl way of the hands monk and 4 in collage of sword bard with 2 weapon fighting and battlemaster and lucky as my second feat and the cats grace Armour my other part members are mostly irrelevant I generally run thrower karlach and life domain shadowheart with the last slot used purely to cycle throw part members depending on the quests I'm doing or fights I'm heading into but unless it's a numbers battle it's usually over before anyone else gets a turn my action bar looks like a rainbow of spell slots inspiration slots superiority points and luck points, I've got all the special summons and the lower ones with roughly 8-9 reactions on my dark urge human character I'm currently at the end of the nighttime camp event just before bauldrs gate getting ready to go dominate the whole city with evolved illithid powers about half the outer ring unlocked...idk yet if it's possible but weird both the raiper and the phalar aluve but adding it to my dark bow I'm tempted to try dropping the part and wreak havoc for a minute
I think the only thing I'd like to have is a couple of lvls in Rouge for the extra bonus action....maybe if they add a new lvl cap I see a lot of requests for it and conversations around it with more content coming maybe....
Your videos could massively benefit from having timestamps/chapters for each section and level. I'm following a few of your builds for honour mode and it's hard to find each level as I get there.
My first playthrough was a forest gnome lore bard. It was a whole lot of fun just ganking the mechanics of the game. Done right, this build attacks the rules of the game itself.
I used this as the template to respec my Durge build. Just finished and had a blast. And I just wanted to say, thank you for recommending taking speak with animals! Always the first thing I did after every long rest.
I would say, for this build, Warden of Vitality spell is a must have as a Magical Secrets spell. It is a very action and spell slot efficient healing spell and does not even require concentration.
Lore Bard has been my bread and butter subclass since my first 5e character. It's does anything you want and more. I've played other classes and subclasses, but if we play one-shots, it's a solid 50% chance I'm rolling up a Lore Bard lol
Been playing a tiefling lore bard (for thaumaturgy) and I have been absolutely loving it. Super fun outside of combat. Only complaint is that as the face of the party, I can’t take advantage of bardic inspiration in skill checks since you can’t use it on yourself
I saw a nice build of rogue & bard. Makes Astarion more powerful and in this case he can aid you with his inspiration. Or just re-class any of your companions, that won't hurt their storytelling 😊
Dude. You're a friggin' Bard. The masters of interactions. You'll have so many bonuses in speech that you don't NEED to buff it up with limited Bardic Inspiration. Hell, roll a Halfling Bard and you'll pretty much never roll a critical fail either.
really well produced video. The intro is very well explained. Only thing I might do differently is also take one level of fiend warlock to get command from that so it is charisma based. Use bless, sanctuary and something like shield of faith/ healing word from cleric that don't have saving throws. This also gets you access to hex. remainder of levels 10 lore bard with high charisma and constitution as you point out here. i went with githyanki for the astral knowledge as well.
after a bit more testing, I think 2 paladin is a good mulitclass here. You get command plus smites and healing aura Also get all armor and weapons as well as another fighting style.
I believe you have to start with bard and then multiclass as a cleric so you get armor proficiecy, and be able to use all the bard class weapons. If I'm not mistaken, you have heavy armor proficiency if you multiclass to life cleric (and some other domains).
I am currently doing a full lore bard play-through and it didn't occur to me to dip into cleric for armor and shield. I thought I'd do a fighter but didn't think it would be worth to lose the spell slots, but then you solved the issue for me.
2 levels in paladin is pretty strong for the bard, personally I am always reluctant to miss out on magical secrets so tend not to take more than 2 levels in another class.
Imo Warden of Vitality is the better choice for a healing spell from the Magical Secrets list. It doesn't heal the entire party simultaneously, but you get to heal someone in your party for 2d6 hp per turn for 10 turns without concentration. Cast sanctuary on yourself, then cast WoV on the next turn and just run around as a healing machine for the rest of combat. The only other class that gets this spell is Paladin, and they don't get it until level 9.
I think you missed a crucial part of the build. The build is not looking for "the best" healing spell. He is using The Hellrider's Pride a pair of Gloves that grant a creature resistance to the physical damage of weapon attacks when healed by the wearer of these gauntlets. With The Whispering Promise Ring that grants a bonus to Attack Rolls and Saving Throws to creatures healed by the wearer. This gives Blade Ward and Bless to the whole party but only if the whole party was healed. Thats is why you want Healing word and because it is a bonus action. This allows you to buff the whole party with a bonus action then cast a CC spell. Later in the game Preserve Life heals quite a bit. Between the buffs and control enemies do not deal that much damage and combat is over faster.Plus being a bard you have more short rests.
@@DavionAngeles Your healing options in combat are very limited, that's where Warden of Vitality shines. It also uses bonus action after the initial cast, you can cast it repeatedly and it also applies buffs on heal with the same gear. Once you get it, Healing Word becomes moot unless you don't have lv3 spell slots left.
@@LastSecBloomer it's really just down to preference. If you're team is on the tanky side and they can handle taking a few hits while u prep up sure take WoV but healing word gives the buffs to everyone immediately guaranteeing more hits from turn one improving your action economy overall rather than spending a few turn trying to give that buff to one person at a time when the combat is prob gonna be over in max 4 turns anyways
@@LastSecBloomer Did you even read my whole comment or did you start typing after a few sentences? I am not debating which one is a better heal card. The build is not a dedicated healer and being able to heal is just a bonus. The heals primary function is to proc Hellriders Pride and the Whispering Promise. This gear combination gives Bless and Blade ward to allies healed. You want your team to get those buffs "1st turn" You are not trying to heal over time. This build is casting Mass Healing Ward turn 1 to apply buffs. We want the heal to be a bonus action turn 1, not after the initial cast. Because MHW into a CC spell. With all allies having Blade ward and enemies being CC's there is never much damage being dealt. And in times when things go bad, you can just use Preserve life. Nizar even said this in his video. He even explained the gear combo. Again, the gear combo is why MHW is chosen.
This spell is incredibly overrated. The amount of healing this does later on is so negligible that I found myself not using it at all. Mass Healing Word is so much better in the long run, especially with the ring and boots that buff people you heal.
I love your videos just because you go through each level with just enough detail and thoughts behind it, I find other vids are too detailed or vague. Also I really appreciate the animations and editing work you put into them, you clearly have a passion for this ! Can you make a build around melee DPS bard for RP purposes ? maybe like college of swords with battle master using college of swords ? I want to use an elf dual wielding larethian's wrath and phalar aluve with lethal elegance. Wanna have a full bard party for my 2nd run lol
Sword Bard works better with ranged because Slashing Flourish can hit same enemy twice using ranged weapons, while it can't do that with melee. But you can certainly make a melee bard, why not. Sword Bard 6 and Battlemaster 6, for example. You won't do much casting though. You will need Dual Wielder feat in order to use a non-light weapon in your offhand BTW, and Two Weapon Fighting will apply your ability modifier to the offhand weapon damage. A better idea might be Bard 6/Blade Warlock 5/Fighter 1. You will have 3 attacks instead of 2, attacks with your pact weapon will use CHA so you can disregard STR/DEX and focus on CHA for everything, and you'll get some spells to play with effectively. The problem is that you can only have one pact weapon, the offhand will not use CHA. That can be circumvented by using the Sylvan Scimitar (Jaheira's weapon) or Infernal Rapier in your offhand because they use your spellcasting ability for attacks...
I am almost through the end of act 2 in my first play of BG3, and I started as a bad, then added Cleric. Sure wish I had this guide before, but I was also trying not to cheat and see what was coming too much. Sure glad I could screen shot and freeze the video a lot to write notes down, you talk so fast! Thank you for putting this together!.
I like RP'ing too much. I played a college of Lord bard but he was a absolute moron so I didnt play him will 1/2 on purpose (the other half admittedly cause I sucked LOL) Stupid charecters are so much dang fun its not even funny
@@SkyHighClawright, what's funnier than a halforc wizard beating a goblin to death with a spell book he can't read? I cast fi,, ffh, fyg. Arr I hit it with my book.
I did a similar build but instead of the second level into cleric i took one level into sorcerer. Con proficiency with warcaster makes so i never lose concentration, i can now fly everytime i cast a spell, and i also got shield and magic missle, both very useful. Also got some different spells from magical secret, since i wasnt focusing on healing. Haste is pretty good but wasnt mentioned, but the real crime was not taking counterspell at level 7.
Love the guide. very well done Nizar! Just a couple of tips for those that want to try the build. 1. you dont HAVE to start as cleric. but you do want to spec into it at some point. especially on the higher diffeculties you might want to get to lv 5/6 bard asap to get acces to level 3 spells and magical secrets, because this is a huge power spike and heavy armour in the early game isnt readily available or very good. missing the shield can kinda suck but i feel like this is managable until you get to lv 6/7 2. At the first picks of magical secrets i would highly recommend taking warden of vitality. Its a paladin exclusive spell which is why it may not get a lot of attention but its not consentration and lasts for 10 turns. you can bonus action heal every turn without expending any more spell slots and its great to keep the blade ward and bless up as well as healing a decent amount of hp every turn. 3. if you go this route you might have to pick up different spells at the lv 10 secrets. you can maybe even skip healing word at 6 and go spirit guardians as you can get a use of it from an amulet and use the other bonus actions for warden. if you dont do that i would take spirit guardians at lv 10 bard just because its so strong. especially with sanctuary up. Hope this helps someone out there going for that honour mode achievement ;)
Not only are your builds great but your videos are entertaining to watch. Discovered your channel when looking for Elden Ring builds and so glad you're doing BG3 now. Thanks!
This is the bard i am looking fo. also amazing that you show the gear and armour for act 1 cause as a new player it is sometimes so hard to pick the gear/weapons
Something to note regarding Command (or any spell you take as Cleric levels): Anything that is an attack roll or forces a saving throw (such as Command) will scale off your WISDOM, not your CHARISMA, so do keep in mind if you take Command, you'll have a generally lower chance to have it stick than if you tried to use it on a 16+ Wisdom Cleric instead. You could also ditch Healing Word (Bard) at a higher level to replace it with some other spells (instead of dumping Blindness, which is useful at any point since it never requires Concentration) and pick up Healing Word (Cleric) instead. You'll lose a few HP per cast of it (since it's now based off WIS instead of CHA), but the primary use of it isn't to heal big numbers, it's to apply Bless, Blade Ward, and/or potentially pick up a unconscious ally.
Your comment about the Command spell is not completely accurate. It is true for spells that require a roll to hit. Command does not require a role to hit, it has a save an enemy must make. "The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw in order to resist the effects." The Save is entirely based on your target's Wisdom, not yours. They roll their d20 and add their Wisdom modifier to it.
@@DavionAngelesHe’s actually right - the DC of your spell is decided by 8 + ability modifier + proficiency bonus + any gear modifiers and arcane acuity. By level 12 without gear comparing 12 wisdom to 20 charisma that’s a DC of 13 vs 17 which is potentially quite significant.
@@flemsha Maybe my gear is increasing my DC. My current build took Command as a Magical secret and I am not having problems failing saves. I will have to double check. Thx.
Don't delay Bard 6 by starting Cleric just for shields, you can get shield and reach weapons proficiency from Wood Half-Elf race, which also comes with increased movement, Darkvision and charm immunity. It's probably the best race for casters or any class which doesn't get shield proficiency but benefits from having a shield. Instead of 2 levels in Cleric, I'd get 1 in Wizard so you can scribe Conjure Elemental (or other nice spells) from a scroll and save a high level spell slot. The other non-bard level can go to Fighter for CON proficiency plus access to heavy armor and all weapons, as well as Fighting Style. CON proficiency combined with 16 CON can allow you to skip War Caster (there are other ways to get advantage on CON saving throws) and get another +2 CHA for a better chance to land those CCs and better speech checks or Alert to ensure you start combat first or early. Just remember to respec and start as Fighter. You can also get restoration effect from a potion, no need to waste another high level spell slot on it. Counterspell is a must, it can prevent so many nasty things. Get Warden of Vitality, it's the best healing spell in the game. Plant Growth is a great CC, just keep fire away from it.
If you're going life cleric I'd argue level 1 should be bard because then you get better weapon proficiencies (you get armor and shield proficiency from the life domain regardless)
I highly recommend taking slow and Mass Healing Word as your first Magical Secrets. Slow is debilitating: halved movement, -2 to AC and Dex saves (which is roughly equivalent to disadvantage mathematically), only, only an action or bonus action (a bit else useful against most statblocks but more useful on tactician+), no reactions and a 50% chance to make spells take an extra turn to cast meaning the target has to concentrate causing them to maybe lose a buff spell they were concentrating on and allowing you to possibly break concentration and waste the spell. It’s spectacular
Honestly I'm surprised how many folks aren't running sorcerbard with mental inhibition gloves. Twin cast vicious mockery, with a higher success rate has been pretty good to me.
I think 10 bard 2 cleric is nice, but I'd rather just go 11 swords bard, 1 War Cleric. That much CC is probably overkill, and so is the healing. You've only got one concentration spell, and healing potions are basically as good as spells, but they don't waste casting slots. One AoE CC, and one targeted CC is all you really need, and you get the best ones at 11 bard. So, overall, you get enough good CC and heals without being a lore bard, and as a benefit you can do a lot of damage in melee. In BG3 only minimal CC and healing is necessary because if you lean into damage, you kill everything so fast anyway. The best CC is death, the best healing is not taking damage.
I have never player a bard in my life. In fact, Except for when i played a warlock, for me charisma was the default dump stat. But i used a mod to start as a hexblade warlock so i could use could use CHA for attack and damage and then i went with sowrds bard so i could add flourish moves to my fighting but at some point i found another perk. One that i´ve never had before: I was able to talk my way out of troubles. I made goblins think i didn´t poison them, even when i was standing right there. I liberated the gnomes slaves from the duergar just by telling them they would slow them down. I made that weird doctor had his nurses kill him. I was discovering a gameplay mechanic i had never even considered and i was having incredible fun with it.
Very fun build! I am planning a run with a Lore Bard 1 / Light Cleric 1 / Wizard 1 / Lore Bard again to 12. This maxes out skills, lets you learn all scroll spells, and gives magical secrets at 8 and 12. An almost perfect main character build.
This was my build on the first play through. Still my fav run to date! Being able to learn spells from scrolls was a game changer. As a face character, Bards can’t be beat. Got to keep the Quasit as a permanent summons, too!
@@SR-kh6yq there are a few ways to get as many skills as possible, and expertise in as many skills as possible. One of the easiest is to play a College of Lore Bard. Lore Bards start with proficiency in three skills, then get in the “jack of all trades“ ability, giving them 1/2 of their proficiency bonus in all skills in which they are not proficient, then gain additional proficiencies and expertise as they level up. You can stack this with background & racial proficiencies, the Githyanki Astral Knowledge ability, and the Knowledge Domain Cleric’s Knowledge of the Ages (if you multiclass). Basically, if you don’t want to play with multiclassing much, a Githyanki College of Lore Bard and ends up with a bonus to or proficiency or expertise in every skill. Take two levels of knowledge domain cleric on top if you want to get even closer to being a pure caster who knows everything. Or you can throw in a level of Rogue at the start, slow down your spell progression a little, and get even closer.
hey Nizar! I was trying out your lore bard build (Amazing btw) And I noticed that Phalar Aluve is a longsword and for some reason my drow cleric/bard is not proficient in. I'm not sure if it was a patch or not, but it's no longer considered a proficient which is a bummer.
Using this for my MC in honor mode, synergies really well with a radiant orb light domain cleric to prevent enemies from hitting then you can kinda run whatever you like for other characters since you will pretty much have enemies on lockdown. Though I would say I use different gear. Since I have hirelings at camp I have warding bond on quite a few of my characters so I don’t need the hand gear, though I’m considering the braindrain gloves to help inflict mental fatigue. In the early game I use the staff of arcane blessing for making bless all the more powerful but don’t use the whispering promise until I replace it out since they conflict. I also use the ring of mental inhibition from early act 2 so I inflict a negative to my opponents saving throws per stack whenever they fail a save. For the helmet I use birthright in act 3 so I have more charisma though the hood of the weave is a good substitute. The shield I actually prefer the sentinel shield so I have a +3 to initiative and can act before my enemies though Kenthric’s shield for spell save DC is also good.
I don't like everyone else's spell selections but every Bard build is still very effective and basically required in every party by name. Bard, tank, healer, damager.
I wasn’t able to use the long sword starting with Cleric at level 1. I started with Bard for level 1, then cleric for level 2 and back to bard for level 3. I was still able to get the proficiencies for the long sword as well as the armor and shield this way. Awesome guide and loving this build all around otherwise! Fun as hell too!
A nice addition to the 'hunger of Hadar' is a druidic spell that makes an area of spiky thorns on the ground. Take a druid with you and let him cast this in the same area as your toxic-freezing cloud. Enemies will walk slowly, taking damage every step they make. Works even better if a druid summons a dryad, she casts the thorns, you cast 'hunger' and the next turn the druid casts a cloud of insects. Total annihilation.
I really wanted to like Lore Bard, but it feels like their utility gets cut by at least half the instant you go up against anything immune to most bard-castable CC effects. Sure you can still Haste and it's not like they're useless by any stretch, but man. Their power level swings really hard back and forth depending on what you're fighting. Still a strong class, but.
I'm in the same boat. I played Lore Bard up to max level and... hated it. The Lore Bard is basically just a worse version of a Wizard or Cleric. Lore Bard is largely limited to the spells that are on both their lists... but not spells on a single list like Web or Grease. The one exclusive spell and other "mystic secrets" doesn't out balance the lack of options the cleric and wizard get. And their other class features don't stack up either. At least the Sword and Valour Bard get two attacks and medium armor. Even that little bit with the Arcane Synergy type items that make weapon attacks buff spells and vice verse make the other two Bards feel unique from a game play perspective. The Lore Bard lacks that. Have a limited spell selection like the sorcerer, but without the metamagics. Their single attack and light armor makes them useful as a rogue without sneak attacks. Plus, all their spells are save based and many limited to certain enemy types. Plus, all their CC use concentration, so no stacking. I'm happier with a CC wizard or cleric. The Lore Bard is just... boring to play. Not to confused with other bards. My Bardlock stabs once to get +2 on save DCs, then bonus action Mockery to added CHA to melee, melee twice more. The next round melee one more time, then casts Hold Person with +7 save DC, then huts for two more auto-crits. He is fun, devastating, and honestly frightening. My Lore Bard... casts the same spells that my cleric or wizard don't because they have more useful spells, and misses half the time because he can't build stacks of acuity to improve his Save DCs, plus by Act 3 the guys you can CC are the guys everyone else can one or two shot. Why spend a slot CCing a few guys when you could just kill them instead. Sorry. That became a bit of a gripe fest. I spent 40 hours trying to love the Lore Bard as much as my Valour and Sword Bard... and I am just so disappointed.
I don't like starting with a level in cleric, getting to level 5 bard as soon as possible for font of inspiration is HUGE, it's not only 4 times more cutting words per day, but they also become d8, and lvl 6 for magical secrets before mountain pass is better than anything one cleric level gives you. Also, command with 12 wisdom it's usually just a waste of an action. You're better off getting something that doesn't require a save And another thing, hold person is great, but not that early in the game. A lvl 1 hideous laughter does almost the same as a lvl 2 hold person. I would rather take heat metal that always works, either the enemy drops their weapon and get fucked, or they don't, and get fucked regardless.
Me too. I love the mix of dialogue options, it'll be like 1) Yes! 2) No! 3) [Bard] I shall tell you a tale of magic and wonder if you give me all your belongings... 4) [Githyanki] Tchk! Your skull will look better split in two!
My problem with Banish is that it requires you to to actually successfully hit the enemy with a ranged or melee weapon. And our entire build does NOT really do anything to help with landing successful hits with weapons on our high-AC enemies. I can totally understand a swords bard using the banishing smite, but Lore bard - I can't.
One detail I wasn’t aware of is that the Aluve sword requires a proficiency not included in the build, so picking any race without martial weapons isn’t ideal. Unfortunate.
in the character creator every race mentions a martial weapon proficiency? And I don't find myself actually using it to hit things, more for the effects
@@PutperSeems the description of weapon proficiency confused me, I thought you weren’t able to use the unique weapon effects like abilities/spells. So yeah, definitely a non-issue now that i know that.
2 levels cleric asap. preserve life especially with staff of arcane blessing is super broken early it's a waste to not run it. you also have a circlet available that gives mass healing word so no need to rush it for that either. hadar on this build just seems like "not their job" to me. Overall great addition to the team but it could do with some tweaking.
Combine this bard build with your fighter build and your warlock build and finally your monk build..... God team. It feels like i am playig honour mode on baby mode now haha
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hey guys, hope you enjoyed my lore bard build and video! this build can do everything to control the flow of the battle, making it an ideal pick for your controller in your party.
Don't know ow if I missed it but what race do we pick?
@misterepic0456 Yea, I don't believe they covered that part. If I had to guess, it probably doesn't matter terribly much. Mainly thanks to the proficiencies granted by the two classes. Could argue wood elf, for the move speed mainly along with perception.
@@misterepic0456 Elf or Drow is nice for sleep immunity which allows you cast glyph of warding sleep on yourself if surrounded. But otherwise, Lightfoot Halflings are overall probably best due to luck (re roll all 1's) and advantage on stealth if using greater invisibility later on.
@@misterepic0456 Since the recommended weapon is Phalar Aluve, a race that has longsword proficiency I guess. That's the main problem I have right now 😅 I picked human (boring I know). Since I started as a cleric, I didn't get the longsword proficiency even though it's one of the proficiencies you get as Bard Lvl 1. I checked Reddit and they're saying that you have to be a Bard at level 1 to get all the Bard weapon proficiencies.
@@misterepic0456 I like Wood Half Elf as it grants Shield and Polearm proficiencies from Civil Militia service plus stealth and extra movement.
- L1 - Cleric 1
- Ability Points : 8/14/16(15+1)/8/12/16 (14+2)
- Subclass: Life Domain
- Cantrips: Resistance, Guidance, Sacred Flame
- Prepare spells: Sanctuary, Command
- L2 - Bard 1
- Cantrips: Vicious Mockery, Friends* (anything)
- Spells: Healing Word, Dissonant Whispers, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Long Strider
- L3 - Bard 2
- Spells: Speak with Animals
- L4 - Bard 3
- Subclass: College of Lore
- Spells: Hold Person
- L5 - Bard 4
- Cantrips: Mage Hand
- Spells: Blindness
- Feat: Ability Improvement - Cha (+2)
- L6 - Bard 5
- Spells: Hypnotic Pattern
- L7 - Bard 6
- Spells: Glyph of Warding
- Magical Secrets: Mass Healing Ward, Hunger of Hadar
- L8 - Cleric 2
- Spells: Create Water, Preserve Life
- L9 - Bard 7
- Spells: Confusion
- L10 - Bard 8
- Spells: Cloud of Daggers
- L11 - Bard 9
- Spells: Hold Monster
- Swap: Blindness with Dominate Person
- L12 - Bard 10
- Cantrips: Light
- Spells: Greater Restoration
- Magical Secrets: Banishing Smite, Conjure Elemental
- Gear
- bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Whispering_Promise
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Ring_of_Salving
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Boots_of_Aid_and_Comfort
- bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Reviving_Hands
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Hellrider%27s_Pride
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Amulet_of_the_Devout
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Helm_of_Balduran
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Cloak_of_Protection
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Adamantine_Splint_Armour
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Viconia%27s_Walking_Fortress
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Darkfire_Shortbow
- bg3.wiki/wiki/Phalar_Aluve
Thank you for this!
The wiki links too? ur my hero
😮
THANK YOU SO MUCH
For people who dislike idea of cleric dip on bard you can replace it with 2 levels of rogue turning build into "working" arcane trickster (not to be mistaken with accual subspec) or 3lvl thief/9 Lore Bard for that sweet double bonus action if you dont care about lvl 10 secrets.
You’re a lifesaver Nizar, literally. Was looking for a build like this all night.
really? you were looking for 10 bard / 2 cleric build all night?
I think bro is just glazing 😂@@AndrewSte
I have played a lot of Lore Bard, so I will share a few tips thoughts. I understand loading up on a bunch of concentration spells and using them like a Swiss army knife effect, but you really miss out on stacking some effects. Limiting concentration is actually allows more flexibility. For example, you are using the gear combo to get Bless and Blade ward effects instead of casting Bless.
Hold X spell line is really all you need. In addition you have Command, Laughter, and Glyph. Hunger of Hadar is very good but if you are going to use a magical secret make sure you will readily use the ability. You do not need both Cloud of Daggers, Pattern and HoH etc. I think Counter-spell would be a better pick.
Feat: Alert - This will ensure that "YOU" always first on the turn order, this feat is essential to ensuring that nobody spends their first round without bless, blade ward, or haste. It is not only important to not be last but to be 1st in your party.
You do not need to rush magical secrets and can get 2 levels in Cleric right away. With how much CC you have healing is not needed. Additionally, you are using the healing to apply buffs not really for healing. The Amulet of restoration should be enough to hold you over 1 level.
Confusion is very strong. It lasts 3 turns, does not affect allies, has a big AOE, can be upcasted to basically cover an entire room, and will make enemies useless thralls. Expect to solo win fights with this spell late game.
Darkness - This is probably one of the best CC’s in Baldurs Gate 3, you can cast it offensively to shut down Ranges Enemies. If you cast it between yourself and an enemy, they can't shoot you through it, you can also cast it so enemies are just on the edge of it, allowing your melee team members to hit with advantage due to blindness, or you could use it as a mini globe of invulnerability, dipping your ranged users and spell casters in and out to shoot at enemies.
Yes, I said cut down on concentration spells. But I would suggest you don't use it in spell form anyway. In as early as the first 30 minutes you can buy it as an arrow from the first 2 merchants you meet. They are as cheap easy to horde. Shooting these as an arrow doesn’t require concentration either. Darkness arrows are strong.
Plant Growth - Great surface, and good radius, no concentration. You can be really smart about this, not only can you drastically slow enemies in the radius, but you can also use it to control traffic around it. Enemies not caught in it will actively avoid surfaces like this, so you can use it to create choke points on the map. Combine this with darkness in a tight hallway for some insane denial. Be careful for candles, lamps and Karlach which will set it on fire immediately.
Very interesting and I completely agree that Darkness (especially generated with arrows) and Plant Growth are really great in BG3.
I have never used Confusion before but it sounds and looks very powerful.
But I have a few questions since I'm trying to build a Lore Bard and I would be really interested to know what exact changes you'd make to Nizar's build.
Do you advise taking the Alert Feat at character level 6?
What spells would you recommend instead of all the concentration spells? (If I understand correctly, you're saying that Hold Person and Hold Monster are enough.)
And what would be your Magical Secrets recommendations both at Lore Bard level 6 and 10?
Agree 100% about counterspell - especially in the late game.
In earlier battles you have less casters but in act 3 counterspell made a lot of difference for me especially in House of Grief where they are casting darkness every 2 seconds =P it's a lot of fun to shut them off
I also decided to respec at some point and reduce the concentration spells strategically. It feels like a waste
@@juauke Nizar's build is really good as is, the only thing I do not recommend is Cloud of Daggers, Hunger of Hadar, and Hypnotic Pattern.
Plant Grow is definitely a must IMHO. I would also get Enhanced ability and Disguise self for the same reasons as Speak with animals. Disguise self is very underrated but you can bypass so much stuff by turning into the right creature. Enhanced Ability is vital to a Lore Bard and Face functions. Even though it requires concentration it is not used in battle. You can even use Cat's Grace on your thief to help him steal easy very early.
I would only use Glyph of Warding if I was trying to do damage (which Lore bard is not) or if I was Elf, Half Elf, or Drow since they are immune to Sleep they can run into the middle of a pack and cast Glyph right on top.
As a magical secret, I would choose Counterspell over Hunger of Hadar. Since we have Plant Growth and Darkness Arrows. At level 10, I agree with Nizars choices. Conjure Elemental for Myrmadons are amazing.
My Current Build drops 4 levels of bard as the Myrmadons are not needed when the rest of the party is so strong. Karlach, Wyll, Laezel will all be doing serious damage. Those 4 Bard levels really add much. Sure, Myrmadons and better inspirations are good, but I think it is just better to haste the damage dealers.
So the last 4 levels go into Sorc so we can get metamagics and be able to twin haste. Haste will be the chosen secret over Counterspell.
@@juauke counterspell and misty step are generally my picks for magical secrets. Hunger is a strong pick as is Haste. I personally would set my CON to 13 and then take resilient constitution feat which bumps it to 14 and gives you proficiency in CON saving throws (I know ppl really like warcaster but I rarely lose concentration with resilient). If I multiclass I tend to go for 2 levels of paladin for smites and take magic initiative cleric to get sanctuary. I generally have druid & cleric in party so tend to just take healing word for the bard.
I totally respect your opinion, but adding a mod that strips concentration requirements off a ton of otherwise never-used spells is probably the most important mod to me. I get the idea of concentration, and I even like it, but it feels like waaaaaaaay too many spells have concentration on them. And for a lot of them, it's just not worth casting them when you could just use a better spell that takes up that concentration slot.
Stripping the requirement off a fair number of spells actually makes them worth using. I do still prefer the AD&D era for spell complexity, but changing how broadly applied concentration is at least fixes that problem for me. I don't think it should go away completely. I think it's a fantastic tool to leave certain spells powerful, but I think they put it on way too much.
I replaced Phalar Aluve with the infernal rapier meant for Will. The +1 to spell save dc was a huge advantage and the fact it scales of Charisma and is a +2 rapier meant that when silenced or for opp attacks it actually stacks
Plus the free cambion summon which can coincide with Us and scratch
This! While I was pumped to deck out my bard with all of the early game bard gear that was an absolute game changer for my more martial bard with 2 lvls in fighter 1 lvl wizard 5 lvl way of the hands monk and 4 in collage of sword bard with 2 weapon fighting and battlemaster and lucky as my second feat and the cats grace Armour my other part members are mostly irrelevant I generally run thrower karlach and life domain shadowheart with the last slot used purely to cycle throw part members depending on the quests I'm doing or fights I'm heading into but unless it's a numbers battle it's usually over before anyone else gets a turn my action bar looks like a rainbow of spell slots inspiration slots superiority points and luck points, I've got all the special summons and the lower ones with roughly 8-9 reactions on my dark urge human character I'm currently at the end of the nighttime camp event just before bauldrs gate getting ready to go dominate the whole city with evolved illithid powers about half the outer ring unlocked...idk yet if it's possible but weird both the raiper and the phalar aluve but adding it to my dark bow I'm tempted to try dropping the part and wreak havoc for a minute
I think the only thing I'd like to have is a couple of lvls in Rouge for the extra bonus action....maybe if they add a new lvl cap I see a lot of requests for it and conversations around it with more content coming maybe....
Your videos could massively benefit from having timestamps/chapters for each section and level. I'm following a few of your builds for honour mode and it's hard to find each level as I get there.
You could timestamp it in the comments for us
I don’t think it boosts/helps at all. Dudes doing just fine w/o helping the “helpless”
@@buttkissery2k caught in 4K smoking on clown pack
@@buttkissery2klmao you doing alright?
@@buttkissery2kman was just asking for some QOL you don’t have to shoot him in the toes lol
My first playthrough was a forest gnome lore bard. It was a whole lot of fun just ganking the mechanics of the game. Done right, this build attacks the rules of the game itself.
Did you use your spells outside of combat at all?
@@christiancoronado2140 Wherever needed. Set up. Execution. Prebuff. Whatever.
I used this as the template to respec my Durge build. Just finished and had a blast. And I just wanted to say, thank you for recommending taking speak with animals! Always the first thing I did after every long rest.
I would say, for this build, Warden of Vitality spell is a must have as a Magical Secrets spell. It is a very action and spell slot efficient healing spell and does not even require concentration.
I chose this as well on my first playthrough and haven't found a better spell to replace it.
Lore Bard has been my bread and butter subclass since my first 5e character. It's does anything you want and more. I've played other classes and subclasses, but if we play one-shots, it's a solid 50% chance I'm rolling up a Lore Bard lol
To further the gear info, next to Alfira in the grove is a hat called Cap of Curing that heals 1-6 hp whenever you use bardic inspiration on someone
Been playing a tiefling lore bard (for thaumaturgy) and I have been absolutely loving it. Super fun outside of combat. Only complaint is that as the face of the party, I can’t take advantage of bardic inspiration in skill checks since you can’t use it on yourself
That's actually a really easy fix: just have your barbarian do the talking!
What could go wrong?
I saw a nice build of rogue & bard. Makes Astarion more powerful and in this case he can aid you with his inspiration.
Or just re-class any of your companions, that won't hurt their storytelling 😊
Dude. You're a friggin' Bard. The masters of interactions. You'll have so many bonuses in speech that you don't NEED to buff it up with limited Bardic Inspiration. Hell, roll a Halfling Bard and you'll pretty much never roll a critical fail either.
@@A11ie_Russo
really well produced video. The intro is very well explained. Only thing I might do differently is also take one level of fiend warlock to get command from that so it is charisma based. Use bless, sanctuary and something like shield of faith/ healing word from cleric that don't have saving throws. This also gets you access to hex. remainder of levels 10 lore bard with high charisma and constitution as you point out here. i went with githyanki for the astral knowledge as well.
after a bit more testing, I think 2 paladin is a good mulitclass here. You get command plus smites and healing aura Also get all armor and weapons as well as another fighting style.
I believe you have to start with bard and then multiclass as a cleric so you get armor proficiecy, and be able to use all the bard class weapons. If I'm not mistaken, you have heavy armor proficiency if you multiclass to life cleric (and some other domains).
I came here to say the same thing. Tested and verified on Xbox.
Not many TH-camrs can do well in more than one game. Recognized you from Elden Ring. Bravo. 🎉
I just tried this build at level 7 it's so good, great job!
I am currently doing a full lore bard play-through and it didn't occur to me to dip into cleric for armor and shield. I thought I'd do a fighter but didn't think it would be worth to lose the spell slots, but then you solved the issue for me.
If you only want 1 lvl of multiclass, you won't lose spell slots. 2+ lvl, you start losing slots.
2 levels in paladin is pretty strong for the bard, personally I am always reluctant to miss out on magical secrets so tend not to take more than 2 levels in another class.
You can also dip into warlock, it's pretty good built right
As a Half Elf or Human you will gain Shield and Polearm proficiencies from Militia service.
@@-Pol- I was playing a full drow
Imo Warden of Vitality is the better choice for a healing spell from the Magical Secrets list. It doesn't heal the entire party simultaneously, but you get to heal someone in your party for 2d6 hp per turn for 10 turns without concentration. Cast sanctuary on yourself, then cast WoV on the next turn and just run around as a healing machine for the rest of combat. The only other class that gets this spell is Paladin, and they don't get it until level 9.
I think you missed a crucial part of the build. The build is not looking for "the best" healing spell. He is using The Hellrider's Pride a pair of Gloves that grant a creature resistance to the physical damage of weapon attacks when healed by the wearer of these gauntlets. With The Whispering Promise Ring that grants a bonus to Attack Rolls and Saving Throws to creatures healed by the wearer.
This gives Blade Ward and Bless to the whole party but only if the whole party was healed. Thats is why you want Healing word and because it is a bonus action. This allows you to buff the whole party with a bonus action then cast a CC spell. Later in the game Preserve Life heals quite a bit. Between the buffs and control enemies do not deal that much damage and combat is over faster.Plus being a bard you have more short rests.
@@DavionAngeles Your healing options in combat are very limited, that's where Warden of Vitality shines. It also uses bonus action after the initial cast, you can cast it repeatedly and it also applies buffs on heal with the same gear. Once you get it, Healing Word becomes moot unless you don't have lv3 spell slots left.
@@LastSecBloomer it's really just down to preference. If you're team is on the tanky side and they can handle taking a few hits while u prep up sure take WoV but healing word gives the buffs to everyone immediately guaranteeing more hits from turn one improving your action economy overall rather than spending a few turn trying to give that buff to one person at a time when the combat is prob gonna be over in max 4 turns anyways
@@LastSecBloomer Did you even read my whole comment or did you start typing after a few sentences? I am not debating which one is a better heal card.
The build is not a dedicated healer and being able to heal is just a bonus. The heals primary function is to proc Hellriders Pride and the Whispering Promise. This gear combination gives Bless and Blade ward to allies healed.
You want your team to get those buffs "1st turn" You are not trying to heal over time. This build is casting Mass Healing Ward turn 1 to apply buffs.
We want the heal to be a bonus action turn 1, not after the initial cast. Because MHW into a CC spell. With all allies having Blade ward and enemies being CC's there is never much damage being dealt. And in times when things go bad, you can just use Preserve life.
Nizar even said this in his video. He even explained the gear combo. Again, the gear combo is why MHW is chosen.
This spell is incredibly overrated. The amount of healing this does later on is so negligible that I found myself not using it at all. Mass Healing Word is so much better in the long run, especially with the ring and boots that buff people you heal.
literally watch all your videos for BG3. Your monk video made my early game go from bearable to God mode! Keep it up dude!
I love your videos just because you go through each level with just enough detail and thoughts behind it, I find other vids are too detailed or vague. Also I really appreciate the animations and editing work you put into them, you clearly have a passion for this ! Can you make a build around melee DPS bard for RP purposes ? maybe like college of swords with battle master using college of swords ? I want to use an elf dual wielding larethian's wrath and phalar aluve with lethal elegance. Wanna have a full bard party for my 2nd run lol
Sword Bard works better with ranged because Slashing Flourish can hit same enemy twice using ranged weapons, while it can't do that with melee. But you can certainly make a melee bard, why not. Sword Bard 6 and Battlemaster 6, for example. You won't do much casting though. You will need Dual Wielder feat in order to use a non-light weapon in your offhand BTW, and Two Weapon Fighting will apply your ability modifier to the offhand weapon damage.
A better idea might be Bard 6/Blade Warlock 5/Fighter 1. You will have 3 attacks instead of 2, attacks with your pact weapon will use CHA so you can disregard STR/DEX and focus on CHA for everything, and you'll get some spells to play with effectively. The problem is that you can only have one pact weapon, the offhand will not use CHA. That can be circumvented by using the Sylvan Scimitar (Jaheira's weapon) or Infernal Rapier in your offhand because they use your spellcasting ability for attacks...
I am almost through the end of act 2 in my first play of BG3, and I started as a bad, then added Cleric. Sure wish I had this guide before, but I was also trying not to cheat and see what was coming too much. Sure glad I could screen shot and freeze the video a lot to write notes down, you talk so fast! Thank you for putting this together!.
You are so good at this man your videos are incredible thank you for uploading
The Charismatic Commander sounds like a very fitting title for this build.
Everyone who's played 5E knew. Literally one of the most broken subclasses since 5E released.
I’d argue Eloquence is stronger. But it’s not by much IMO. Lore is stupid haha.
I haven't played DND so idk
I like RP'ing too much. I played a college of Lord bard but he was a absolute moron so I didnt play him will 1/2 on purpose (the other half admittedly cause I sucked LOL)
Stupid charecters are so much dang fun its not even funny
@@SkyHighClawright, what's funnier than a halforc wizard beating a goblin to death with a spell book he can't read? I cast fi,, ffh, fyg. Arr I hit it with my book.
Artificer has entered the chat
Thank you very much! I've been looking forward to this video. Lore Bard looks very impressive!
Thanks for explaining how to use the build too, this is a rare gem!
I did a similar build but instead of the second level into cleric i took one level into sorcerer. Con proficiency with warcaster makes so i never lose concentration, i can now fly everytime i cast a spell, and i also got shield and magic missle, both very useful. Also got some different spells from magical secret, since i wasnt focusing on healing. Haste is pretty good but wasnt mentioned, but the real crime was not taking counterspell at level 7.
Love your videos, on my second playthrough and got so many ideas thanks to you
Love the guide. very well done Nizar!
Just a couple of tips for those that want to try the build.
1. you dont HAVE to start as cleric. but you do want to spec into it at some point. especially on the higher diffeculties you might want to get to lv 5/6 bard asap to get acces to level 3 spells and magical secrets, because this is a huge power spike and heavy armour in the early game isnt readily available or very good. missing the shield can kinda suck but i feel like this is managable until you get to lv 6/7
2. At the first picks of magical secrets i would highly recommend taking warden of vitality. Its a paladin exclusive spell which is why it may not get a lot of attention but its not consentration and lasts for 10 turns. you can bonus action heal every turn without expending any more spell slots and its great to keep the blade ward and bless up as well as healing a decent amount of hp every turn.
3. if you go this route you might have to pick up different spells at the lv 10 secrets. you can maybe even skip healing word at 6 and go spirit guardians as you can get a use of it from an amulet and use the other bonus actions for warden. if you dont do that i would take spirit guardians at lv 10 bard just because its so strong. especially with sanctuary up.
Hope this helps someone out there going for that honour mode achievement ;)
Nice detailed description of the build. Definitely going to try this!
Im learning quite a bit about whay synergizes well from yoir videos. Your explanations are great and make plenty of sense.
Great videos!
Not only are your builds great but your videos are entertaining to watch. Discovered your channel when looking for Elden Ring builds and so glad you're doing BG3 now. Thanks!
He got that sexy accent too. He's the Saltbay of BG3 content lol.
Loving your videos friend. Keep up the great work. Subbed. Trying this build now. Trying to get to level 4 today!
This is the bard i am looking fo. also amazing that you show the gear and armour for act 1 cause as a new player it is sometimes so hard to pick the gear/weapons
Great build, appreciate the work that went into this.
Something to note regarding Command (or any spell you take as Cleric levels): Anything that is an attack roll or forces a saving throw (such as Command) will scale off your WISDOM, not your CHARISMA, so do keep in mind if you take Command, you'll have a generally lower chance to have it stick than if you tried to use it on a 16+ Wisdom Cleric instead.
You could also ditch Healing Word (Bard) at a higher level to replace it with some other spells (instead of dumping Blindness, which is useful at any point since it never requires Concentration) and pick up Healing Word (Cleric) instead. You'll lose a few HP per cast of it (since it's now based off WIS instead of CHA), but the primary use of it isn't to heal big numbers, it's to apply Bless, Blade Ward, and/or potentially pick up a unconscious ally.
Your comment about the Command spell is not completely accurate. It is true for spells that require a roll to hit. Command does not require a role to hit, it has a save an enemy must make. "The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw in order to resist the effects." The Save is entirely based on your target's Wisdom, not yours. They roll their d20 and add their Wisdom modifier to it.
@@DavionAngelesHe’s actually right - the DC of your spell is decided by 8 + ability modifier + proficiency bonus + any gear modifiers and arcane acuity.
By level 12 without gear comparing 12 wisdom to 20 charisma that’s a DC of 13 vs 17 which is potentially quite significant.
@@flemsha Maybe my gear is increasing my DC. My current build took Command as a Magical secret and I am not having problems failing saves. I will have to double check. Thx.
@@DavionAngeles If you took Command as a magical secret, it is using your charisma not your wisdom. It uses wisdom if you select it as a cleric spell.
Don't delay Bard 6 by starting Cleric just for shields, you can get shield and reach weapons proficiency from Wood Half-Elf race, which also comes with increased movement, Darkvision and charm immunity. It's probably the best race for casters or any class which doesn't get shield proficiency but benefits from having a shield.
Instead of 2 levels in Cleric, I'd get 1 in Wizard so you can scribe Conjure Elemental (or other nice spells) from a scroll and save a high level spell slot. The other non-bard level can go to Fighter for CON proficiency plus access to heavy armor and all weapons, as well as Fighting Style. CON proficiency combined with 16 CON can allow you to skip War Caster (there are other ways to get advantage on CON saving throws) and get another +2 CHA for a better chance to land those CCs and better speech checks or Alert to ensure you start combat first or early. Just remember to respec and start as Fighter.
You can also get restoration effect from a potion, no need to waste another high level spell slot on it. Counterspell is a must, it can prevent so many nasty things. Get Warden of Vitality, it's the best healing spell in the game. Plant Growth is a great CC, just keep fire away from it.
If you're going life cleric I'd argue level 1 should be bard because then you get better weapon proficiencies (you get armor and shield proficiency from the life domain regardless)
This is what I did
Hey Nizar - third game you've helped me with. Thank you!
Gnnnaaahhhh i will never reach ACT 3 because i Always wanna start new Thanks to the Builds 🤣😭
I have seven " main" characters so I feel your pain
I highly recommend taking slow and Mass Healing Word as your first Magical Secrets. Slow is debilitating: halved movement, -2 to AC and Dex saves (which is roughly equivalent to disadvantage mathematically), only, only an action or bonus action (a bit else useful against most statblocks but more useful on tactician+), no reactions and a 50% chance to make spells take an extra turn to cast meaning the target has to concentrate causing them to maybe lose a buff spell they were concentrating on and allowing you to possibly break concentration and waste the spell. It’s spectacular
PLEASE KEEP MAKING THESE
I have been waiting for this video! Thank you, Nizar!
Honestly I'm surprised how many folks aren't running sorcerbard with mental inhibition gloves. Twin cast vicious mockery, with a higher success rate has been pretty good to me.
The animations man, love them!!
I think 10 bard 2 cleric is nice, but I'd rather just go 11 swords bard, 1 War Cleric. That much CC is probably overkill, and so is the healing. You've only got one concentration spell, and healing potions are basically as good as spells, but they don't waste casting slots. One AoE CC, and one targeted CC is all you really need, and you get the best ones at 11 bard. So, overall, you get enough good CC and heals without being a lore bard, and as a benefit you can do a lot of damage in melee. In BG3 only minimal CC and healing is necessary because if you lean into damage, you kill everything so fast anyway. The best CC is death, the best healing is not taking damage.
Yes make sense
@@vitorcristovao4037sword bard is boring though
@@FinalOven_Mint i try play ... but very very boring
nice!
thank you for another great build :)
Absolute fire!
Thanks! This is a great guide
thank you, that sounds really fun. gonna try that in a future plythrough.
very impressive, I have been definitely using the bard class wrong. Will try this build in my next playthrough for sure
I have never player a bard in my life. In fact, Except for when i played a warlock, for me charisma was the default dump stat. But i used a mod to start as a hexblade warlock so i could use could use CHA for attack and damage and then i went with sowrds bard so i could add flourish moves to my fighting but at some point i found another perk.
One that i´ve never had before: I was able to talk my way out of troubles. I made goblins think i didn´t poison them, even when i was standing right there. I liberated the gnomes slaves from the duergar just by telling them they would slow them down. I made that weird doctor had his nurses kill him.
I was discovering a gameplay mechanic i had never even considered and i was having incredible fun with it.
Great editing on this video 👍
Very fun build!
I am planning a run with a Lore Bard 1 / Light Cleric 1 / Wizard 1 / Lore Bard again to 12. This maxes out skills, lets you learn all scroll spells, and gives magical secrets at 8 and 12. An almost perfect main character build.
This was my build on the first play through. Still my fav run to date! Being able to learn spells from scrolls was a game changer. As a face character, Bards can’t be beat. Got to keep the Quasit as a permanent summons, too!
Omg this sounds so cool
What do you mean by "maxes out skills" (I'm a newbie at this game)
@@SR-kh6yq there are a few ways to get as many skills as possible, and expertise in as many skills as possible. One of the easiest is to play a College of Lore Bard. Lore Bards start with proficiency in three skills, then get in the “jack of all trades“ ability, giving them 1/2 of their proficiency bonus in all skills in which they are not proficient, then gain additional proficiencies and expertise as they level up. You can stack this with background & racial proficiencies, the Githyanki Astral Knowledge ability, and the Knowledge Domain Cleric’s Knowledge of the Ages (if you multiclass).
Basically, if you don’t want to play with multiclassing much, a Githyanki College of Lore Bard and ends up with a bonus to or proficiency or expertise in every skill. Take two levels of knowledge domain cleric on top if you want to get even closer to being a pure caster who knows everything. Or you can throw in a level of Rogue at the start, slow down your spell progression a little, and get even closer.
@@SR-kh6yqgets proficiency / expertise in most skills (persuasion, insight, sleigh of hand, etc..)
Beautifully edited video 🎉
Try 1 dip Wizard together with 1 dip War Cleric on either 10 levels Swords or Lore Bard. That is the ultimate Jack of All trades build, master of all.
I prefer Bard 10/Sorc 2 for metamagic, to extend the duration of spells and twin them.
this is the harsh reality of the best bard multiclass
I don't find it interesting, but it is the best
which?@@thatguy00271
Plus 2 more choice cantrips and 4 1st level spells. Start soc for con save bonus, really tough to beat.
Be mindful when using sanctuary, it only prevents targeted attacks. Not aoe attacks
Great build ty.
I'm currently planning a Lore Bard run so this couldn't be more perfectly timed...😄
You will enjoy it even with just 12 bard, the control is amazing. You don't attack the mobs, you attack the game itself.
I am a simple person, wondering "what kind of new build I could try on the Minthara mama this time?"..."oh wait a new video from Nizar!!!"...done
Love your builds and you have the best editing! Makes everything really easy to understand - thanks for your hard work!
Love your content, as always. If you ever get the chance to do a spore Druid build I’d be over the moon. Thanks for all the amazing content!
That "In my humble opinion" sounded suspiciously like "No offense".
hey Nizar! I was trying out your lore bard build (Amazing btw) And I noticed that Phalar Aluve is a longsword and for some reason my drow cleric/bard is not proficient in. I'm not sure if it was a patch or not, but it's no longer considered a proficient which is a bummer.
it doesn't matter! you just want to use it for the buff, not for the melee attacks. You have much better things to spend your actions on.
Using this for my MC in honor mode, synergies really well with a radiant orb light domain cleric to prevent enemies from hitting then you can kinda run whatever you like for other characters since you will pretty much have enemies on lockdown.
Though I would say I use different gear.
Since I have hirelings at camp I have warding bond on quite a few of my characters so I don’t need the hand gear, though I’m considering the braindrain gloves to help inflict mental fatigue.
In the early game I use the staff of arcane blessing for making bless all the more powerful but don’t use the whispering promise until I replace it out since they conflict.
I also use the ring of mental inhibition from early act 2 so I inflict a negative to my opponents saving throws per stack whenever they fail a save.
For the helmet I use birthright in act 3 so I have more charisma though the hood of the weave is a good substitute.
The shield I actually prefer the sentinel shield so I have a +3 to initiative and can act before my enemies though Kenthric’s shield for spell save DC is also good.
following this for my honor mode pt, thanks!
9:28
I don't like everyone else's spell selections but every Bard build is still very effective and basically required in every party by name. Bard, tank, healer, damager.
I wasn’t able to use the long sword starting with Cleric at level 1. I started with Bard for level 1, then cleric for level 2 and back to bard for level 3.
I was still able to get the proficiencies for the long sword as well as the armor and shield this way.
Awesome guide and loving this build all around otherwise! Fun as hell too!
Also… loved how you did this video, so… subscribed!
A nice addition to the 'hunger of Hadar' is a druidic spell that makes an area of spiky thorns on the ground. Take a druid with you and let him cast this in the same area as your toxic-freezing cloud. Enemies will walk slowly, taking damage every step they make.
Works even better if a druid summons a dryad, she casts the thorns, you cast 'hunger' and the next turn the druid casts a cloud of insects. Total annihilation.
23:00 I just realized you never mentioned anything about what Amulet you chose to use
Great build. Necromancer or druid next. 👏
Note on the 2nd healing word: It's more powerful! I was very confused why we would pick up another on bard 1, but it's 4-7 as opposed to 2-5.
Thanks for the awesome bard video! Please do Paladin class. Thankyou🙏🙏
Ring of Salving and Boots of Aid and Comfort fall off hard mid to late game. Definitely upgrade eventually.
What Party composition would you go with this build considering the lore bard can take care of healing/control/lock picking?
Sorlock, battlemaster fighter, and a Nizar's Monk/Rogue build would be pretty unstoppable with all the short rests that Bard gives.
The Sabaton build I was needing
24:12 but when do you get proficient with longswords?
Respec n choose bard as your starting class gives you longsword proficiency ✌️
@@4p4chi ohh yeah that might work. but will I have heavy armor proficiency than ?
@@verygoodverynice8295 yeah think so that's what i did n still got it. Just save before respecing just to be safe 😅
I really wanted to like Lore Bard, but it feels like their utility gets cut by at least half the instant you go up against anything immune to most bard-castable CC effects. Sure you can still Haste and it's not like they're useless by any stretch, but man. Their power level swings really hard back and forth depending on what you're fighting. Still a strong class, but.
I'm in the same boat.
I played Lore Bard up to max level and... hated it.
The Lore Bard is basically just a worse version of a Wizard or Cleric. Lore Bard is largely limited to the spells that are on both their lists... but not spells on a single list like Web or Grease.
The one exclusive spell and other "mystic secrets" doesn't out balance the lack of options the cleric and wizard get. And their other class features don't stack up either.
At least the Sword and Valour Bard get two attacks and medium armor. Even that little bit with the Arcane Synergy type items that make weapon attacks buff spells and vice verse make the other two Bards feel unique from a game play perspective.
The Lore Bard lacks that. Have a limited spell selection like the sorcerer, but without the metamagics. Their single attack and light armor makes them useful as a rogue without sneak attacks. Plus, all their spells are save based and many limited to certain enemy types. Plus, all their CC use concentration, so no stacking.
I'm happier with a CC wizard or cleric.
The Lore Bard is just... boring to play.
Not to confused with other bards. My Bardlock stabs once to get +2 on save DCs, then bonus action Mockery to added CHA to melee, melee twice more. The next round melee one more time, then casts Hold Person with +7 save DC, then huts for two more auto-crits. He is fun, devastating, and honestly frightening. My Lore Bard... casts the same spells that my cleric or wizard don't because they have more useful spells, and misses half the time because he can't build stacks of acuity to improve his Save DCs, plus by Act 3 the guys you can CC are the guys everyone else can one or two shot. Why spend a slot CCing a few guys when you could just kill them instead.
Sorry. That became a bit of a gripe fest. I spent 40 hours trying to love the Lore Bard as much as my Valour and Sword Bard... and I am just so disappointed.
I may be missing something simple, but how do you get a cleric/bard to use a long sword? The Phalar Aluve
Take Bard for first level to get the weapon proficiencies, then take Cleric second for the armor proficiencies. I just tested it on Xbox.
Race proficiency
I don't like starting with a level in cleric, getting to level 5 bard as soon as possible for font of inspiration is HUGE, it's not only 4 times more cutting words per day, but they also become d8, and lvl 6 for magical secrets before mountain pass is better than anything one cleric level gives you.
Also, command with 12 wisdom it's usually just a waste of an action. You're better off getting something that doesn't require a save
And another thing, hold person is great, but not that early in the game. A lvl 1 hideous laughter does almost the same as a lvl 2 hold person. I would rather take heat metal that always works, either the enemy drops their weapon and get fucked, or they don't, and get fucked regardless.
With Wisdom at 12, does Command ever work?
This is a very good question
no
Aren't you missing longsword proficiency for phalar alluve?
What is shadow heart’s purpose in your party if the bard can do basically everything?
Make shadowheart the bard :D
Just a note, you cant use that sword with just any race. So just for those who want to follow this guide, consider that.
I play a Gith Bard...it's such a good mix!
Me too. I love the mix of dialogue options, it'll be like
1) Yes!
2) No!
3) [Bard] I shall tell you a tale of magic and wonder if you give me all your belongings...
4) [Githyanki] Tchk! Your skull will look better split in two!
Since phalar aluve was nerfed, why not use staff of arcane blessings, to make our normal bless way better?
Let’s star Honour mode as a Gnome Bard then! 🎉🎉🎉
My problem with Banish is that it requires you to to actually successfully hit the enemy with a ranged or melee weapon. And our entire build does NOT really do anything to help with landing successful hits with weapons on our high-AC enemies. I can totally understand a swords bard using the banishing smite, but Lore bard - I can't.
Bouta make Brinna Brightsong overpowered
staring with a life cleric, you don't have proficiency with phalar aluve. is that a problem?
One detail I wasn’t aware of is that the Aluve sword requires a proficiency not included in the build, so picking any race without martial weapons isn’t ideal. Unfortunate.
in the character creator every race mentions a martial weapon proficiency? And I don't find myself actually using it to hit things, more for the effects
@@PutperSeems the description of weapon proficiency confused me, I thought you weren’t able to use the unique weapon effects like abilities/spells. So yeah, definitely a non-issue now that i know that.
Wondering if a dip into wizard instead of cleric 2 for scrolls would be worth the loss of the extra heal
Hey Nizar, have you considered doing some videos on Lies Of P?
It would be cool to get some build for that game from you!
Thumbnail goes hard, anyway you have the photo without the text? I want to use this as a background for my comp
2 levels cleric asap. preserve life especially with staff of arcane blessing is super broken early it's a waste to not run it. you also have a circlet available that gives mass healing word so no need to rush it for that either. hadar on this build just seems like "not their job" to me. Overall great addition to the team but it could do with some tweaking.
Can this build work for Shadowheart?
Yes
The bard is also supposed to symbolize the god Pan who also played music
Combine this bard build with your fighter build and your warlock build and finally your monk build..... God team.
It feels like i am playig honour mode on baby mode now haha
The bard from The Gamers died hundreds of times so this bard could destroy.