Honey wake up, new build just dropped

A note on Counterspell: Bard is actually the strongest character to counter spells of 4th level and higher because Jack of All Trades allows them to add half their proficiency bonus to the caster check.

Whenever you use the word "flavorful", I mentally replace it with "tasty" and it's usually pretty funny. "Those are both very powerful and very tasty ways to build this character."

i rly just watch your bg3 build guides. u always have what i want to learn about next

Good build of my two favorite classes! I think duelist prerogative could also be a great weapon for this build and for any lore bard. Having two reactions per turn to let you double your usage of cutting words and counterspell is super useful for bards.

Did NOT foresee Nature's Snare being recommended as an endgame weapon! Love it.

Thanks again for more great ideas!

Dope! I left a comment asking for this exact build a few months back for an H.P. Lovecraft themed goolock lore bard. Time to go dust of that save. I went so far as to make them look as close to lovecraft as I could, I chose noble for the background and even researched the noble families of the city to find which family mirrored the Philips family most. Like the author my character fell from riches and from the upper tier of society where he was a great bard/author. In his despair he plunged himself into the occult and mysticism. where he eventually made a GOO pact with a dang Cthulhu monster. The creature nearly drove him to madness and one ritual nearly blinded him but his spectacles reduced the impact of the event. Though this left him with emerald demon eyes, the cool cultist tentacle eye tats and a scar on the bridge of his nose where his glasses once rested. Eventually he was picked up by the nautaloid. He is initially tempted by the ilithid powers bestrode upon him but he has also gained a strong respect and scenes of caution when dealing with the matters of the dark arts.

Love your builds!

So this is actually basically my Tav. It just fits into any party and being dialogue-forward for your main character makes a lot of sense.

You didn’t mention which instrument to take. Im not sure what to do!

Stellar work on this. I’ve been wanting to do a playthrough as Cyclops and there’s a lot of ideas from this build that I’m going to use.

So I did testing with freedom of movement. It does not prevent slipping on grease or ice, nor does it prevent damage from spike growth. It does however prevent enwebbed, ensnared and entangled.

I think a strong variation on this would be to eschew 4th level spells entirely and go 1 Life Cleric/5 Warlock/6 Bard, especially if you're going the Mass Healing Word/buff on heal route (and even more especially if you're going a race route that doesn't get shield proficiency on its own). You give up 4th level spellcasting in exchange for being an even tankier backline general, sitting in your darkness with ridiculously high AC, plus the Life Cleric heal bonus means your Mass Healing Word is healing for 20 more HP across your party. You still hit 5 Lock for 3rd level spells and 6 Lore Bard for 3rd level spells/Magical Secrets. I don't think this is objectively better than going Bard 7 for 4th level casting, but I think it's a fun variant that should be at a similar level of effectiveness. Plus, heavy armor just kind of fits the "General" archetype aesthetically!

Finally v.good character to lead the party, thank you. I'll use this build when the patch 7 comes out, and we can see what is broken or not in Patch 7, as per Larian anti player bias? So far Nature Snare works sometime on mine melee attacks, I have problem with any range attack (bow or spell) when I have Nature Snare in my hand. For sure Nature Snare is good early staff, allowing (sometimes) to stop enemy (ensnare) and run away for my caster. Here for sure I will use ALERT as 1st feat, it is my 1st feat on Honour or Tactician mode if I don't take Sharpshooter or Tavern Brawler. I also use 17 for my character main stat, and move to 18 around level 4 or 5 by getting the hair. Generally on highest difficulty I use a different stats split: DEX 16 (for Initiative) and CON 14, going 1st is crucial and, if you kill or disable the enemy ,you don't need high CON.

About what I ended up playing for my first finish of the game, albeit with less optimal choices, and it was a lot of fun! Drow Archfey Warlock/Lore Bard. You are the worst enemy of casters. I actually built it intending a blade lock first but it was just so fun to have all that control, that I visited with a certain class-changing npc after a brief flourish trial. Also, love the Actor feat, I get it so much. :D GOO is really appealing though, if I didn't have my love for the fey... Anyway, I think I might just do a HM run with this now, especially since I know have a better idea with the 2 last levels.

Again, great video, every time I'm learning so much! ❤ If you are open to suggestions, I would very very much like to see a video (or multiple videos) on combat tactics. What I mean is a kind of masterclass which teaches you general tactics, positioning ideas and so on. I'm veeery bad at tactical gaming, but it's fascinating and I would absolutely love to dig into it. Of course, there a many tips concerning specific powerful combos (such as the wet condition plus cold/electricity), but very few on actual tactics. Examples might be how to actually pull off hit and run tactics, how to set up ambushes or foremost how to act "better" in combat, meaning anything besides buffing your party and charge... in this vein, this video was great not only because of the build, but also because of offering the "safety bubble" tactic. Just an idea. Anyways, I love your videos, they have been and are tremendously helpful!

Thank you for all of your builds. They've been super helpful for me. I'm probably in the minority and I know it would be a lot more work, but I would totally read a written version of these builds. It would be easier to reference and make quick choices, but again I know it's more work! Just wanted to say I would read it if you ever did it.

That thumbnail is wild

I struggle maintaining interest in warlock builds, but this one seems suited for breaking (or at least mitigating) the repetitive play style it favors. Will give it a shot on a half-drow Tav for next honor mode playthrough. Plus, I'm eager to use the buff-on-heal item set on a character other than the party cleric. Voila!

I'm at Level 6 with a character very much like this! However, I went straight warlock for 5 levels and then I did a 1-level dip into War Cleric so I can put her in the Adamantine Splint armor and Shield. I'm gonna take the next five levels in Bard and then, I dunno, flip a coin (or, I guess, roll a dice would be more on brand) and pick what het last level will be in. "Great minds think alike..." and so do we!

Enjoy these build guides

Thanks for another excellent guide! I am still learning stuff from these videos. I had no idea that Natures Snare gives you Ensnaring Strike on any attack, not just an attack with that weapon. i’ve rarely used it because I misread the tooltip! also i thought Daredevil Gloves only allowed melee casting without penalty - I never noticed the attack roll bonus.

@Cephalopocalypse Can you do a guide on how you would build and gear four pure/hybrid wizards? I have started one in Honour mode, and having stuff like 4x counterspelll, 4x magic missiles, 4x fireball can be pretty hilarious. I multiclassed Shadowheart (wiz/cleric), just to keep her somewhat relevant to the story. I have am basically focusing each char on fire/lightning/cold/thunder damage for gearing purposes.

Wyll is really the most main character coded of them all

whats a great party comp for this build?

Have you (yet) posted a guide to the Jack of All Trades achievement? I’m super-curious how you would approach the constraints of only taking one level in each class. How would you order your selections? Maybe start by discussing which classes give you the most for a single level and how might you pace that throughout a play-through. (I’m personally halfway thru such a play-through with an origin Karlach; i realized around character level 3 the limitations of not using a custom PC that result from all those odd stat values but oh well)

Let’s goooooooo

Cool video! It would be cool to see a gloomstalker/spores druid build if you don’t have one and if you do let me know what it called so I can watch it lol

First Like, pls, Bard Torrent Crossbow build

the best in slot items are..... everything i missed out by failing quests, doing teh lines in a different order so i lose access to traders, or just left behind in act 1 and 2 because i didnt think they were going to be any good yay me

I believe nature's snare was fixed, nothing happens on spell attack rolls

How to combine successfully Sorcerer with Warlock ? Any suggestions ?

What instrument should I pick ?

Patiently waiting for a Dexadin Rogue/Paladin build

Nature's Snare works even when not melee attacking with it?!

Would an option be to take resilient for con proficiency and drop wisdom completely (17 char, 16 dex, 15 con)? I was using that instead of the actor feat and getting ethel's hair.

Mizora leading from behind x)) and other places x))

Did i miss an optimized swords bard build

build daddy ily pls notice me

Why not just have a party with a warlock, a bard, a cleric and a martial class?

Gameplay-wise, I don't see the strength of this build.

skibidi toilet